Tenebras Equum

Chapters

II: Memory
III: Fear
V: Hunted
VI: Pain
VII: Respite
VIII: Torrent
I: Rainfall
IV: Heart

II: Memory

Her mind, like her memory and the palace itself, was dark and empty. No other thoughts ever rose to her mind, apart from the newer ones the she beckoned forth from the mental ether. She could not recall any memory that existed beyond the point where she had woke up, aside from a few core details ingrained into it. She had tried to focus, but these only succeeded in summoning an unpleasant headache, which discouraged any further attempts.

And yet, once she gazed long and hard at the room, she felt something peculiar rise up from the recesses of her psyche. Something familiar, but unsettling. Like a surge of water, some thing washed into her head, overcoming her to the point where she was shocked into stillness. What was this feeling? She could barely recognize nor comprehend it, but it was happening nevertheless. And quite frankly, it was scaring her.

Without warning, her vision suddenly became flooded with whiteness.

“Wh-what’s going on?” she fearfully asked the air, feeling lightheaded as she lost all sense of spatial awareness.

“Welcome to the Gala!” a powerful, yet gentle female voice called out in greeting. “You are all looking simply delightful this evening.”

“Thank you so much, princess!” a smaller, more gently feminine voice said in reply. The mare still couldn’t see anything; it was as if she was in a white void, with those echoed voices ringing across the expanse. Why did they sound so familiar? ‘Princess’? Who were these ponies?

“I presume it was Rarity who designed them for you?”

“Yeah yeah yeah! Aren’t they so amazing?!” spouted another voice, carrying far more energy than the last. Sounded as if somepony had a little too much sugar recently…

“Calm down, Pinkie Pie. We know that they’re totally awesome.”

“Oooooooh! I know, right?! You were totally into it, Rainbow Dash! You squealed with joy soooo much!”

“H-hey! I just thought they were cool, is all!”

“Alright, settle down girls.” The mare perked up at the voice that just spoke. “We should probably get going, Princess Celestia. We’ve decided that we’ll stick together tonight.”

The voice that spoke was innately familiar to the mare. She had already heard that voice several times before. That voice, she thought, is that…? No, it can’t… Is that… me?

“Very well, then. I can see that you girls have your evening planned, so please, go ahead and enjoy yourselves! The Grand Galloping Gala awaits!”

“Hey! Maybe tonight really WILL be our ‘Best Night Ever’, huh girls? It’s gonna be fan-tasty-tastical!”

“Haha, it sure will, Pinkie. It sure will...”

The whiteness of the void soon faded, as did the echoes of the voices. Panting, as if she had somehow run a marathon standing still, the mare fell backwards onto her haunches and spent two minutes staring ahead blankly into the room. She blinked several times, before finally realizing that the bizarre experience had ended.

Her mind raced to comprehend what just occurred to her. The voices, the names she heard, and most importantly, her own voice mixed into that cacophony of audio. Every single word spoken, it seemed so familiar! So frustratingly familiar! She just couldn’t recall the full connection! Who these ponies were…

Rarity…

Pinkie Pie…

Rainbow Dash…

Princess Celestia…

All of these names, however peculiar they were, must have meant something! But what? What?! And what about the others that spoke? What were their names?! The mare let out a frustrated scream as she clutched her temples and slammed her forehead against the stone-cold floor. She quickly regretted doing so.

With a cry, the unicorn jerked her head backwards and vigorously rubbed her forehead to stem the pain. “Well, that was dumb,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Now that stupid headache is back…” She noticed that she had dropped the can of those red crystals again as well, but she didn’t care. She only wanted to get out of there.

That’s when she remembered exactly where she was. As she before realized, it was quite a large, open room. Skylights adorned the ceiling, and a very gaudy-looking chandelier hung there as well. In the center of the room, a grand marble staircase ascended and split two ways, each leading to an east and west wing of the upper levels. There were four doors on the bottom level; one she just came out of, two were on the direct opposite sides of the room, and one very large gate was positioned at the front of the chamber.

“That gate,” mused the unicorn, eying the wooden entryway up and down. “Maybe—just maybe—it might be the way out!” She figured that it was a logical enough decision, given the size of the door. But what if it was locked? Or if it did not lead out of the palace, and instead only went deeper inside? Who was to say that there wasn't merely further to go past it? She had no way of telling either of these things.

The mare took her chances. Getting off the floor, she slowly trod across the hall toward the imposing wooden gate. It had to have been at least five times her height. Maybe more, she speculated. As she approached the giant double doors, she started to reach out with her hoof towards the handles. She could already feel a gentle breeze seep through the crack in the center. All it would take it would be a simple (or maybe a rather hard) push, and she would be outside.

However, her assumptions were quickly foiled when the stony tiles, and for that matter the entire chamber, began to tremble and shake.

Grrrroooooooooaaaaaaahhh…

“Wh-what the—?!”

To her horror, the entire room around her was trembling. Dust fell from the ceiling in clouds, and several loose tiles and stones fell loose and clattered to the floor with a horrible crash. The mare had to jerk her hoof back and jump away from the door to avoid a falling chunk, mere instants before it caved in her skull. She couldn’t believe it. Was it some kind of earthquake? But earthquakes don’t just happen because of a loud noise. On that note, where was that noise even coming from? It sounded, quite vaguely, like a distant roar.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Another noise demanded the unicorn’s attention. She turned to look towards the door, and gasped with shock. With the disgusting, squelching sound of flesh being stretched and squashed, a web of red, organic essence began to cover the entire door top to bottom. Within seconds, the entire mass of goop had formed a complicated, stringy mesh that blocked off the entire gate. And worst of all, it seemed… alive. The web of flesh would twitch and spasm in places, and a thick, caustic brown fluid leaked from various areas, dripping from the mass like a foul syrup.

The unicorn fought back the urge to heave, and she took several steps away from the ghastly wall of unknown substance. “Where—where did that thing come from?!” she found herself asking out loud. “What is it?!” The empty room had chosen not to reply, as the “earthquake” had by this point subsided. The substance was, to put it bluntly, quite nauseating to look at. And the smell was certainly none too pleasant, either. In any other circumstance, she would have preferred to distance herself from such a catastrophic mash of organic gunk as much as possible. But as this mess was in her way of freedom, she at least had to try and see if would be a hindrance; there were few other options, after all.

Slowly walking back towards the slime-like organic compound, she raised a hoof towards it. Just a small touch, she told herself. Hopefully, she could just scrape it aside or something. When her hoof finally made contact, it felt as much as could be expected—that is, it was extremely moist and slimy. However, it was still quite firm. There would be no way she could remove all of this stuff in short order. She sighed, and pulled her hoof away—only to discover that a smearing of the organic substance had gotten all over it.

“Oh, yuck!” she wailed, her face contorting with revulsion as she looked at the goo that covered her hoof. “Guh, get off! Get off!” She started furiously scraping the slime off of her hoof, gagging as she did so. It felt as though it was clinging directly to her, but she managed to get the chunks of fleshy matter off. That was so disgusting! she thought, shaking her hoof and scraping it against the floor to ensure that every speck of goop had been removed. It—it felt like it was crawling all over me! As if she needed any more reason to suspect it was alive. This stuff was unnaturally sticky; once it grabbed on, it didn’t want to let go easily.

Once she was able to shake off the horrid substance, the mare backed away from the door again. She groaned with both repulsion and disappointment. Scratch one escape route. If she didn’t know any better, it would almost seem as if the castle didn’t want her to leave, and cast a “net” over the door to stop her from escaping. She caught herself. “Wait…what? No, that couldn’t be possible,” she reassured herself, wondering how that thought had possibly occurred to her. “It’s too implausible to make sense.”

But then again, a little voice in her head refuted, how much more likely is it that a beastly roar from afar and a horrid wall of flesh can come out of nowhere? The unicorn stopped to think about this, and quietly conceded that it couldn’t have been a coincidence. She idly shook her head, and drew a shuddering breath. “I… I don’t like this.”

Whether she liked it or not, the poor purple unicorn knew that she was going to have to find another way out of this place. If only there were a better place to start. The grand staircase, which might have looked quite lovely and grand in the right light, just looked extremely ominous now. The two doorways on the right side of the chamber begged attention, but they would most likely lead to dark places as well. Where would she even start?

Other than the almost painful feeling of familiarity with this place, she had no idea where each passage would lead. The door she just came out of (on the hall’s left side) was out of the question. So, she chose the closest door on the right side. As she approached it, she could make out the words on a nameplate directly adjacent to the doorway: ‘Old Archives.’

“Maybe that’s where they… store stuff?” the unicorn speculated, attempting to tie a definition to the word. “If it's really that old, who knows... I wonder if there would be a way out through there.”

The other doorway, she noticed, had a similar sign. But this one read: ‘Winery.’

Hmm… Winery? she thought, reading the sign and noting the small image of a bundle of grapes beside it. Where they make—um, wine? I think that’s it. She shrugged. “Well, I suppose I am feeling a bit thirsty. And at this rate, I guess I can't be choosy...”

She hadn’t even thought of it until now, but the mare was actually starting to feel rather parched— and maybe a slight bit peckish as well. While her odds of finding something to sate her biological needs anywhere were slim at best, there wasn't harm in trying. The mare trotted up to the door, and placed a hoof on it—for a moment, she was petrified with the mental image of more of those fleshy things covering this door as well, but thankfully those fears were unfounded. She gave a push, but it wouldn’t budge.

Maybe it just needs a little more ‘oomph’, she thought, and braced herself against the door and heaved. Still, it barely moved. That’s when she noticed a metal padlock tightened around the door latch, sealing the door shut. “What the… Locked?” She sighed with defeat. Ugh, that’s just great.

Discouraged by this setback, the mare glumly walked back to the Old Archives door and tried opening that one instead. Mercifully, it swung inward with barely a hooftap. As she looked inside, she noticed that the hallway within was, as fortune would have it, almost fully lit with torches.

Putting on a face of confidence, the unicorn strode inside the doorway, and pushed the door shut behind her.

For some reason, despite being fully lit, the Old Archives felt terrifying. Was it because of the aging walls and substructure around her, which looked so old-fashioned and eerie compared to the white marble cleanness of the Entrance Hall? Or maybe it was a feeling that there was always something waiting around the corner. The mare had yet to see anything unusual here, but she had a feeling that something was bound to happen.

She trod lightly down the winding hallways of the archives, every now and again seeing a mouse scurry across the stony floor. Somepony obviously hadn’t been cleaning this place, the mare noted. There were many doors that she passed while walking, most of which were stuck shut while others led to empty rooms.

After the fourth turn in the hallway, and the twelfth door she passed, her patience was already wearing thin. How long would this hallway go on? She certainly wasn’t getting any younger. Another thing; why hadn’t she even so much as caught a glimpse of anypony else since waking up? Was this place truly deserted? The way that things seemed, she was willing to believe so.

Just as she was approaching the next door on her left (which would, incidentally, be the thirteenth one), the unicorn heard a familiar sound: The loud whooshing and swooshing of wind gusts. On first hearing it, the wind sounded distant—muffled, almost. And then, another second later, the door to her immediate left flung wide open.

A pitched scream managed to work its way out of her lungs as she leapt back, echoing through the halls of the Archives. Somepony was there! Here! Just now, having swung open the door with all of his or her might! Her heart pounding through her chest, the mare darted her eyes towards the now-open entryway—and was forced to raise a confused eyebrow.

The doorway, and the small room it led to, was empty. Nopony was in there, let alone a mouse. A large hole in the ceiling, exposing the room to the elements, was letting in outside air and leftover rain. It was all the wind, once again. The wind, it seems, may be the true horror of the night—a simple blast of air, a terror! The notion made her release a relieved and bemused chuckle.

As if on cue, another blast of wind tore through the hallway. It escaped through the open doorway, and out into the corridor. The force of the air managed to snuff out the torches, and everything became dark. The unicorn let out a frightened squeal as the bone-chilling air rushed through her mane and over her coat, and started to shiver.

Cold. Now everything was cold. And dark. Cold and dark. The two seemed to go so well together. She ground her teeth with anxiety as she processed the sudden shift in mood. Was this deliberate? A ploy to fool around with her instincts? To plant the seeds of paranoia, and stymy her progress? If so, then it was certainly working.

A sudden clatter of something metallic demanded her attention. “Wh-what was that?” she asked aloud, her eyes trailing towards the source: the room that had just been opened. Her curiosity soon returned despite herself, and she tentatively stepped into the open room. For safety’s sake, the unicorn closed the door behind her again. It wouldn’t do any good if another wind gust came around, but it satisfied her rising paranoia for the moment.

The room wasn’t large, but the hole in the ceiling certainly was. Runoff from the earlier storm was still pouring in and collecting in pools near the corner of the room, and a cold breeze was blowing throughout. A closet of some kind was nearby, pushed off to the darker corner of the room away from the gaping hole. At the far end of the room was—what appeared to be—a simply, wooden table.

And lying dead center in the middle of the room was an old brass lantern.

A lantern? she thought, staring fixedly at the lamp. What is this doing here?

She could reasonably deduce that the metallic clang she heard moments ago was from when the lantern fell during the wind gust. The unicorn suddenly perked-up as this fact slowly sunk in. A lantern! Something that lights up! The mare, feeling somewhat giddy at having something to belie the darkness, walked to the lantern and went to pick it up in her mouth.

That is, until an all-too-familiar whiteness filled her view, and she once again felt herself begin to weaken and disconnect from reality.

“Oh, not again…!”

“Hello princess! You said you wanted to see me?”

“That I did, my student. Do you see this?”

“Ooh, is that a—um, a lantern?”

“Yes. Well, a kind of lantern, yes. It’s very special. It’s not powered by normal magic.”

“Really? I thought all regular lanterns were lit that way.”

“Once again, you are learning something new. This is a Dragonfire Lantern. It uses the essence of a dragon’s flame as its fuel, and it does not require any traditional method of fire-starting to make it function. It can help ward off special types of darkness.”

“But isn’t darkness just an absence of light? How are there ‘special’ kinds?”

“By ‘special’, I refer to the “evil” varieties of darkness. You see Twilight, there are good sides, and bad sides to magic. As I am ruler of Equestria, I must be proficient in both forms. You, however, should never explore this bad side. Am I clear on that matter?”

“I understand, princess.”

“Good. As I way saying, some varieties of bad magic are capable of creating darkness that can harm and corrupt the soul. This darkness is as thick as fog, and sap energy from those in it. Normal unicorn magic, or traditional earth pony fire, can’t dispel it.”

“So, this lantern can?”

“All forms of dragonfire is capable of dispelling all forms of darkness. And it is most useful in its crystallized form, which is what fuels this lantern. You could say that it is capable of ‘burning away’ the darkness, but Dragonfire is actually quite tepid to the touch, wouldn’t you know. Unless you were a creature of shadows, which I think is fair to assume we are not. Would you like a demonstration?”

“Would I ever! …Uh, I mean, yes. Yes please, princess.”

“Heh, alright. Now, pay attention, Twilight…”

The white faded away again, the voices following after. It was just two voices now, but they were also present during the previous vision: a princess, which must have been this ‘Princess Celestia’ from before, and another named ‘Twilight’…

…Goodness, why did that name sound so familiar? Forget simply prodding at nerves; that name was yanking on them. And why was the voice that used that name so uncannily her own? What was the meaning of this?

Was that… me?

She turned to look down at the lantern, and spent a moment observing it. Perhaps the ‘lantern’ that was being spoken of by those voices… was this one? ‘Dragonfire Lantern’? The mare went back to picking up the lamp by the handle, and set it upright on the floor. Feeling experimental, she gave a little ‘key’ on the side a twist.

Instantly, a red light erupted from inside the tempered glass casing. The light slowly grew brighter before finally coalescing into a vibrant green flame which cast a warm, luminous glow over the room. Somehow, the light felt oddly comforting. The stress she was feeling seemed to just… melt away.

Picking up the lantern again in her mouth, the mare caught something glinting on the table. The light from the lantern was reflecting off of a small grouping of tiny red crystals. Almost adjacent to them were small, frail, pink…

…Petals?

The unicorn approached the table at the end of the room slowly, her eyes fixated on the grouping of petals resting so delicately on the table. To her surprise, some of the petals appeared to be still attached to a still-fresh plant stem. Could it be? Could these be the source of the petals? If so, then… what does it mean?

That’s when she also noticed the written note lying nearby. A quill lay beside it, the end spotted with long-dried ink. She was still unsure of the note’s origins, but decided that perhaps there may be something interesting written down. Setting the lantern onto the table, casting an ample amount of reading light, she got on her haunches and started to read.

Twilight,

There’s not much time. After I eat these petals, I will in all probability forget everything. I don’t know how much you will remember, or if you will remember anything at all, but I decided that a failsafe would be needed regardless. You need to trust me. You may think of this note as nothing more than a rambling of a mare gone crazy, but please hear me out. Listen to my instructions carefully.

I—or rather, you—have a job to do. I made the mistake of meeting a pony by the name of Alack Zander. By Celestia’s tiara, I pray that the name fills you with fury as it does me now! Zander… He tricked me, tricked me into doing unspeakable acts… all because he had a puppeteer’s control over me. But no longer! Do not concern yourself with what I did; focus on what you need to do!

I need you to… I don’t want to say it, but it’s the only way: destroy him. Kill Alack Zander. Show no mercy upon that twisted equine’s soul. Though I too deserve punishment, and losing the memories of all I hold dear won’t even be enough, do not fret about what sins I committed. Zander is dangerous. He is the ringmaster. Destroy him, and everything will become right again. I still have no clue as to his motives, so I am forced to assume he did it because it is his nature to hurt others. Find the old colt, and snuff him out.

My friends—your friends—are in terrible danger. It may even be too late now, but…I will try and retain what optimism I can muster. Zander seeks all of them: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Even if the names may seem unfamiliar to you now, they are my—your—friends. They are your fellow Elements of Harmony. It’s because of this that Zander deceived me. He secretly needed to get a hold of their power, and he offered me a… interesting proposition. It seemed legitimate at the time… but there is no time for lamenting. If you can, save them. Please. That’s all I ask. The princesses are both gone. Zander used the Elements to banish them somewhere, and I can’t say for certain where they are. Maybe beating Zander will bring them back. Maybe. I don’t know.

Save us both, Twilight! Atone for our sins, and we will be free!

Your former self,

Twilight

The unicorn stared in disbelief at the note. Of all the things she could have expected, this was not one of them. A note? To herself, apparently? There was so much information to take in, but was it all true? And the name of the intended recipient and the writer— they were the same? But how did that even make any sense? And the petals, the same kind of petals that were at her hooves when she woke up…

My name is… is… Twilight?

As she came upon that realization, it all made sense. The voices from her earlier ‘flashback’, the same names used by the note and visions… it was all coming together! She was Twilight! She had written this note! Finally, she could remember her name!

…And yet, that was all Twilight remembered. The names of her friends suddenly felt more important than ever, but…she still had no clue who they were. And the note right off the bat said something about ‘forgetting everything’… She looked at the tender little petals attached to the stems and wondered.

“Did those petals make me…?”

All of a sudden, her ears picked up a sound. It wasn’t wind. Or a metallic clatter. It wasn’t even that creepy ‘roar’ from earlier. And it certainly wasn’t a door slamming shut.

It was a door opening.

III: Fear

III: Fear

Something’s found me.

Twilight could not process any other thought besides that. It wasn’t the wind. No, it couldn’t have been. Somepony had taken the handle, and pulled the door open. The accompanying hoofsteps made her realize that there was somepony else there, right behind her. Friendly? Hostile? Perhaps neither?

Whatever the case, she had been discovered. If what was written in the note was true… then who could possibly be there, looking for her? And how is it that she couldn’t hear them coming beforehand?

…And what was that smell?

“Grrrrraaaaaagh…”

Oh no. No no no no no. Twilight stood rigid, her features frozen with fearful agony. There was an odd, all-encompassing sensation of weakness that swept over her body as she began to imagine what could have possibly made that horrid growl. Slowly, she turned her neck around to look at what was behind her.

An open door. And nothing more.

She stood there with bated breath, staring at the dark and empty entryway. Nothing was there. Nopony. But how could this be? She could see nothing, and yet, the door opened by some mysterious force. It couldn’t possibly be the wind again, could it? No, she distinctly heard hoofsteps! Something had to be there!

…And darn it, the stench was still present! Ugh, it smelled like somepony hadn’t showered in ages! It lingered in the air, mixing with the already damp and soggy climate of the room. It was almost as rank-smelling as that fleshy stuff (but not quite).

Twilight, bewildered as she was, didn’t budge from her spot. Since turning to look behind her, everything had become oddly silent. The odd snarl that she heard seemed to come from the door’s direction, but there was nopony that could have made that noise…

…Or at least, nopony that she could see.

I can’t see anything… but… can it see… me?

Another low growling was the reply to her thoughts, and she shuddered with apprehension. What kind of pony just growls like that?! Either he or she has a major attitude problem, or… something else is up…

…From her field of view, she could see a dark shape moving in the corridor beyond the doorway. The hoofsteps returned, as did more growling noises.

Hide.

The single thought occurred to Twilight almost as an afterthought. It wasn’t until the gravity of the situation fell upon her that she realized she was in deep trouble.

Hide! …HIDE! Quick!!

Her mind screamed at her to run and hide, but she could not. Dread filled her mind, and with it came images that self-predicted what fate awaited her. And none of them were very happy, to say the least. Her hooves almost seemed rooted to the floor, and her body was paralyzed with fear.

No, no! Move, darn you! HIDE!!

Twilight gave her head a fierce shake, and, with a slight stumble, she rushed to the darkest corner of the room, opposite the hole in the ceiling. Her hooves clattered on the stone floor, making a fair bit of noise, but she didn’t care. The unicorn almost crashed into something large and wooden on the way, and when she saw what it was—a closet—she had an idea.

Nopony ever checks the closet!

Pulling on one of the doors on the freestanding closet open (thank the goddesses that it wasn’t locked), Twilight leapt inside and was greeted by a face-full of unwashed linens. Shoving them aside to make room for herself, she grabbed the inside of the closet door and gently closed it shut.

The mare let out a long, drawn-out sigh of relief. Was she finally safe? She pressed her ear against the wall of the closet to try and listen to what was going on outside…

Clop… clop… clop…

Hoofsteps. Somepony was in the room now. If Twilight had stayed still much longer…

Clop… clop… …

Here, the steps seemed to stop. More of that guttural snarling and growling was audible for a minute. What could possibly be out there? Twilight dared not sneak a peek; it would be too dangerous.

CLANG!

Twilight nearly slammed her head on the roof of the closet, having jumped at the sudden, jarring racket. A cry of fear nearly escaped her mouth, but she was able to stifle it. It was something metal, as if it were being tossed to the floor… Ah! The lantern! She forgot about the lantern! And the note, too…!

“Bleeeearrrgh…”

Why did that groan sound so close by?

Clop… clop… clop…

Why were the hoofsteps getting louder?

Clop… clop… clop…

“No…” Twilight whispered to herself, her heart pounding faster and faster. It… it found her! It knew she was there!

Clop… clop… … … …

The hoofsteps suddenly stopped, and they were extremely close by when they did. Copious amounts of sweat started running down her forehead, but she made no motion to wipe it off. Twilight couldn’t move. The combined feeling of a racing pulse, horribly sick feeling in her gut, and the return of her headache all manifested in a single, primal sensation.

She was experiencing pure terror.

Please don’t find me… Please don’t find me…!

A creak. The door was starting to open. Twilight jerked back, pressing herself against the back wall of the closet. A tiny stream of the outside light was starting to peek in…

Dead. She was dead. Whatever was out there was looking for her, and it wanted her dead. Twilight tried to find solace in her ‘happy place’, but found that she could not as she possessed no memories of such a place. As the amnesiac unicorn came to realize, she was well and truly alone in this strange-yet-so-familiar castle.

The closet door opened wider, and Twilight held her breath. She could smell it again! And by the goddesses, it reeked! Sweat, grime, and bile, all rolled up into one! Clenching her eyes tightly, she prayed over and over again that it would stop and leave her alone…

“Urrraaaarghh…”

It was so close now. The growling was so close. It was almost right in her ear. And the smell was terrible. She just wanted it all to end. Why won’t it listen? Why did it want to find her? She couldn’t understand. Her head ached so much. Twilight waited for it all to end…

…and waited…

…and waited, and… hang on, why wasn’t she dead yet? Or rather, what the heck was taking so long? Twilight let one eye crack open to see what was going on. The closet door was open by almost a full half-hoof… but there was nopony there.

Twilight opened both eyes fully, and ventured a glance out into the room from the partially open closet. It was completely empty. The doorway leading outside was still open, and there was not a shadow to be seen in the corridor beyond. She strained her ears to try and pick up any sounds, but none reached them.

Still trembling with anxiety, she gently pushed the door of the closet open and stuck a hoof out onto the floor. Twilight paused, anticipating any sounds (for all she knew, it might have been trying to lure her out), and placed her other hoof out of the closet. Halfway there.

With agonizingly slow pace, Twilight abandoned the safety of her closet—her only hiding place that was nearly compromised—and found herself planting all four hooves on the stony floor. As she looked the room over again, the mare concluded that it was well and truly empty.

…And she then fell to the floor with her forelegs crossed over her face as she sobbed and cried.

“Why… is this happening… to me?” she asked herself pointlessly in-between choked sobs. “I… I’m so scared… I can’t remember any of my friends… or anything like that… What am I doing here? This… is so… stupid!”

Twilight continued to snivel and moan for many minutes. The thought of being backed into a corner by somepony—something—that she didn’t even see… it was just too terrifying to endure again. Why was she stuck here? Why can’t she just leave this horrible, horrible place?

She finally looked up, dried tears still staining her muzzle, and immediately noticed the still-lit lantern directly in front of her, on its side. Of course, the pony (she sure hoped it was just a pony) had apparently knocked it down earlier, though it certainly leads one to wonder why.

It was odd; as Twilight looked at the lantern, letting it casting its weak light over her, her fears seemed to… go away. She slowly got back on her hooves, and set the lantern back upright. The flame got a little brighter, and thus Twilight felt a little bit better as the horrors from earlier were gradually let loose from her mentality.

She bent over to pick the up lantern’s handle with her teeth, and hoisted it aloft as high as she could manage. The warm, green glow illuminated nearly a full circle around the unicorn, radiating its energy all around her. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the familiar glint of the crystals on the table, though a few of them were now scattered on the floor.

Twilight trotted back to the table to examine the crystals, and then realized that the note was still there. That note, her only real “connection” to her past self, at this point. She looked over the contents again, making sure to now fully take in the implications. As she reread the note over and over, she began to piece together some patterns.

In its most distilled form, the note was asking her to take a pony’s life, and at the same time, save other lives.

What this rather nasty-sounding individual, this "Alack Zander" had done... it seemed quite terrible. Capture and possibly torture her friends? Banish the princesses? Willingly bring harm to others? Just what kind of pony is this? Twilight could think of no other proper word to describe him except for “horrible”. Perhaps her “former self” was right. Maybe he did deserve to die.

And her friends, they… were in danger, it seemed. Zander may have already ‘dealt’ with them by now, however. But… was it really too late? Would she really put her own tail on the line to save them? Even though she still has no memory of whom they are? How close friends were they, anyhow? Would it be worth the effort it expends...?

“Never lose faith in your friends. They are an amazing source of strength, and can even help you overcome your greatest fears…”

Twilight caught herself, and blinked. Did she just say that? Where did that come from? It was rather peculiar; as soon as she thought about the prospect of her having friends, the words just…came out of nowhere. Was she remembering stuff again?

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. This was all so much to consider, so much to contemplate. What else could she do? Twilight remembered those words she spoke earlier, and spent a moment in deep thought. She absent-mindedly turned the note over… and found that there was something written on the back.

‘SHADOWS DON’T HAVE HEARTS’

…Huh? It looked as if somepony had scrawled down the message in ten seconds flat. That and they didn’t care much for penmareship. But what did it mean? The hoofwriting bore almost no resemblance to what was printed on the other side, so perhaps somepony else wrote it. But who? And for that matter, why?

Ugh, these constant questions are making my head hurt…

Twilight looked up from the table, turning an ear towards the door for any hoofsteps or other noises. She heard none, so she looked back down at the cryptic note. At the same time, she couldn’t help but notice what looked like a pair of leather bags attached to some kind of saddle under the table. It looked like somepony had just blindly shoved it under there; Twilight just didn't notice it until now. An idea materialized in her otherwise vacant mind. “Hey…”

She set down the lantern again, and made a grab for the saddlebags. Though it was tricky to throw the bags over her back and fasten them securely, Twilight soon wore a rather old and tattered pair of saddlebags atop her back. Oh well, these will have to do. At least I won’t need to carry everything in my mouth.

Figuring it would be handy to keep around, Twilight picked up the note with her mouth and gently slipped it inside one of the bags. At the same time, she noticed that the red crystals would likely serve some kind of use, recalling the minor detail of the lantern’s “fuel” in the earlier flashback she had, and stuffed those in the bag as well.

The unicorn also took note of a small blue bottle off to the edge of the table, filled with a viscous green fluid. Curious, Twilight stooped down to look at the label: 'Laurenum.' She wasn't sure what it was, honestly. She'd never seen or heard of such a chemical before. The universal sign of healing, the Red Cross, was present just below the name, so it had to have had medicinal properties. Into the bag it went.

Satisfied, she picked up the Dragonfire Lantern and turned to leave the room. Here, she hesitated. Was whatever that was in here still roaming about? Twilight listened, but heard nothing. It was still dark out in the hallway, but at least she had the lantern. It would keep everything nice and lit (even if the slightly odd green color of the light was a bit unusual compared to the normal orange/yellow light of a torch).

Whatever’s out there… well, at least I can see if something happens…

Twilight took a deep breath (through her nostrils, as her mouth was occupied with the lantern), and released it. Feeling slightly calmer, she trotted back outside into the dark corridor. The darkness was instantly cast aside by the vibrant green light of the dragonfire in the lantern, and the hall became brighter all around her.

As she was now back in the hallway, what was there to do? Should she go back to the Entrance Hall, and forget about this place? Or should she finish what she started, and explore the rest of the Old Archives? Every other room up until this point was empty, so maybe the same would be true for the rest of the area. But then again… there might be something of important value somewhere. Another clue to who she was, perhaps? Or who her friends were? Or to just figure what went on here?

Eventually, her curiosity won out. It didn’t seem like there was any sign of that growling thing from earlier, so Twilight decided to take the bravery approach. She turned to the left, and began slowly—carefully—trotting down the corridor, with the brass lantern gripped tightly by her teeth.

As she walked, Twilight pondered the emotions she felt as she was trapped in the closet. Just what is “fear”? Perhaps it involves but a simple dread of those things that bother you most? Others may debate that a fear of something requires a lot of running and screaming for when that ‘something’ decides to make an appearance. But what is true fear? Is it something primal? Is the need to feel afraid simply hard-wired into our minds, as a basic survival instinct?

Whatever the meaning and cause of fear may be, it is truly a powerful emotion. But for Twilight, what she felt was worse than fear. Loneliness. She felt so alone. There would be no one there to help her if something went wrong… and it already almost did. No one could comfort her, or even care what happened to her. It seemed at this point, that her greatest fear... was simply being alone. She shuddered with nervous energy, and bit down harder on the lantern’s handle. The metallic taste in her mouth suddenly seemed much less ignorable.

The unicorn pressed onwards, following the hallways after numerous turns and passing more doors (all of which were either sealed or led to empty rooms). When the hallway finally ended—at another doorway, no less—she discovered, to her frustration, that it was locked. Darn.

Feeling disappointed and a little bit cheated, Twilight turned to walk back the way she came… until she noticed that a doorway to her right was open slightly. Cautiously, she approached the door and gently pulled it open with a hoof.

Unlike the others, this room was full of stuff. As she brought the lantern to bear, the majority of contents in this somewhat small room were revealed to be: Bookcases. A lot of bookcases, all lined with extremely old-looking tomes and volumes. She spared them a passing glance, not really interested in a bunch of dusty old books. A peculiar longing to read and study them poked at her brain, but she shook it off.

Twilight focused her attention on the table off to the side of the room. An old-looking piece of parchment lay on it. Another note, of some kind. Maybe there was more information on her, or her friends? She walked over to the table, set down her lantern, and started to read it.

16th of May, 994

Celestia has been most humble in welcoming me into her castle. I must admit, I’ve been around Equestria and beyond, and I’ve never quite seen a castle like this. The elegantly-designed curves and shapes of the castle structure never cease to amaze me. She tells me that the very form of the castle is maintained by her magic, as it was what made it in the first place. I presume all the Earth Pony stonework, combined with Unicorn magic, can create structures more fantastic than any other. It would make sense, considering that Canterlot is built into a mountainside. Any other rudimentary construction would likely fail to gravity within days.

She has been a good host; showing me around the castle and its grounds, having her chefs prepare me meals of the finest quality, and even offering to let me stay in a guest bedroom nearly the size of a common pony’s house. I’m well aware of my high standing with the Canterlot Royal Court, but even this seems a little much. The Princess is extremely generous and kind… and I’m quite grateful.

Today, I took a walk through the castle archives. The amount of literature stored down here is simply amazing; every other room I enter is filled with books, tomes, scrolls, and countless more. I really could use a good studying break when I have the time. On that note, while I was down there, I happened to notice the princess speaking with a small unicorn filly in one of the storage rooms. I did not hear very much what it was they were talking about, but I presume from the context that the filly was the ‘prodigy’ I’ve heard Celestia go on about. Apparently, the princess took her in as a personal student. I’d really like to meet her someday.

Twilight read the note over once again, and scrunched her muzzle in confusion. What was this? It looked like a journal entry of some kind; the edge appeared as if it had been torn out of a book. And judging from all the dust, it was really old. That and the fact that the entry alludes to a “full” archive while there’s barely anything left in there besides this one room.

Sighing, the unicorn haphazardly picked up the parchment and stuffed it rather carelessly into one of her saddlebags. There was nothing else of interest besides the books, which Twilight cared not about, so she walked rather glumly out of the room.

There were many things on Twilight’s mind as she trotted back down the corridor, lantern hanging from her mouth and saddlebags mounted over her back. What was a mare to do? How would she save her friends? And how was she supposed to kill somepony? It’s not like she was fully capable of ponycide with her bare hooves… and she doubted a lantern is much use as a battering weapon…

…And what about that thing that she was nearly discovered by? She didn’t get to see it, but she could sure as hay smell it. A rank, putrid odor that stank of dirt, sweat… and bile. She nearly retched at the recall of the odor. Somepony would have to not have a shower since they were born to smell like that! Or at least, would have to be dragged through a sewage pipe! If the smell was terrible, just think of what he or she even looked like…

Regardless of whom or what that pony (or thing) was, Twilight had a job to do. She didn’t like it, but there was no other way out of the situation. Her friends would have put faith in her. And what good would it do if she let them down? Plus, whatever scheme that this ‘Zander’ pony had thought of sounded like it would be big trouble. She had to put a stop to it… whatever it was he had planned.

Even so, Twilight furtively hoped that she needn’t kill him.

After finally making it back to the door that she first entered the archives from, Twilight gave the door a push, to which it mercifully swung open. Before she knew it, she was back in the uneasy peace of the Entrance Hall. She slammed the door shut behind her with her hind hoof, and shut off the lantern since the light already present in the room rendered it unnecessary.

As Twilight placed the Dragonfire Lantern in the other, empty saddlebag (so as not to damage the papers stored in the other), she looked around the hall to see if anything was different. It was basically as she left it; the main exit door to castle was blocked off by that tangled mass of flesh, the other doors across the room were shut, as they should have been, and the staircase was empty and ominous as…

…Wait. Who is that coming down the stairs…?

“P-please… help… me…”

V: Hunted

Without Raindrops, Twilight soon began to feel lonely again. Somehow, she didn’t want her to go away. Running away, in retrospect, had been a cowardly thing to do. But then again, the poor pegasus almost died because of…

Twilight briskly shook her head. No, she didn’t need to think such horrible things, especially not at a time like this. Everything was going to be just fine. Right?

As it was, the Entrance Hall was now a little too quiet for her tastes. The Old Archives were already explored, and considering that the Winery was still locked up tight, there was now no place else for her to go besides up the staircase. Which was where Raindrops had come down from, bleeding out from a huge wound. Twilight gulped. This would not be pretty.

Keeping the lantern lit, for security’s sake, Twilight started to ascend the steps of the marble staircase, until she reached the first landing where the stairs broke off into left and right directions. Now, which way to go?

Let’s see, if Raindrops had come in from the right side… I think I’d rather take the left side.

And take the left side she did. The stairs led straight up to the second floor, whereupon she ended up in another corridor. It was cleaner and a lot nicer looking than the ones she’d been in… and it was also a lot darker. But that was why she held a lantern, of course. Although, she did note that it didn’t quite seem as bright as it used to…

Twilight walked forward into the hallway, passing many large and ornate doors with royal engravings on them. Many of these were locked, however. What was with all these locked doors? The ones that weren’t locked just led to a random closet, or empty bedroom, or whatever else. She was starting to get annoyed at the sheer emptiness of this place.

Finally, after a lot of walking, she happened upon a directory mounted on the right side of the wall, near a stairwell that led both upwards and downwards.

Floor Two:

Entrance Hall -->

Guest Bedrooms ->

<-- Library

<- Archives

Twilight spent a moment looking at the directory and pondering. There’s another Archive? She hoped that it would be more “full” than the other one... The Library seemed to simply beg for her attention, however. And why was that? She didn’t know. Somehow, she just felt that there would be something there.

So, ignoring the stairwells for now, Twilight continued making her west down the hallway. The hall also branched out into north and south passages, but another directory told her to keep heading west. The Library (or Archives, whichever came first) weren’t too much farther now.

Finally, after a few minutes, she came upon a much larger door than the others. A plate mounted next to the doorway read, clear as day, ‘Archives’. The hallway continued on west, but Twilight decided that whatever was in the Library could wait. There had to be something interesting in here.

With only the slightest hesitation (and feeling of dread) Twilight pushed the doorway open and stepped inside…

Well, if one thing’s for sure… This place is a lot more cluttered that the other one…

Twilight stepped cautiously around the many shelves and bookcases of the room she was in. Unlike the Old Archives, the current ‘new’ Archives weren’t one big running corridor; it was a series of interconnected rooms, chambers, and storage closets… and some of them seemed to go upwards for hundreds of yards. Perhaps it was all an effort to conserve space?

Even then, she feared that the random series of rooms might get her lost. Twilight was sure that she’d already passed the same statue three times… unless there were just three of the same statues, but in different places… Ugh, it was just so confusing.

And… why did she have the feeling that somepony was watching her?

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. A chill had just run down her spine, and it wasn’t from the colder-than-normal air. Lantern still held firmly in grip, she turned around to look behind her. Nopony was there. She ventured a look in every other direction, but it seemed that she was alone.

Sighing, the unicorn continued onwards. She was starting to get tired of constantly opening and closing doors every ten trots, and Twilight sincerely hoped there was something useful or interesting here.

She got her wish. After nearly eighteen separate rooms and halls, she walked into a room that didn’t appear to lead anywhere else. Nestled in the corner, she could make out a familiar glint on one of the bookcases: Another bottle of Laurenum! Twilight wasted no time in rushing in to grab the precious healing tonic, leaving the door wide open as she did so…

The unicorn was quick to grab the bottle off the bookcase and stuff it into saddlebags. To her amazement, there was yet another prize to be claimed, right where the bottle had been resting: Another note! She swiftly set about reading it, not noticing that her lantern’s flame was slowly diminishing…

To all servants,

As many of you are all aware, the elevator system in the Archives is still under maintenance. Under no circumstances should—

Twilight’s reading light suddenly vanished, rendering her unable to finish making out what was written. And her reading light also happened to be the only light that was available at the moment. With the fizzle of a flame being snuffed out, the entire room became pitch black.

Wh-what the…?! What happened to the light?!

Twilight stuffed the note into the bag—there would be time for it later—and set the now-unlit lantern on the floor. What was wrong with it? She furiously tried turning the igniter key… but it wouldn’t start. All she would get was a slight fizzle, followed by silence… and no light.

She tried to activate the lantern again numerous times, her heart pounding faster and faster with each unsuccessful attempt, but it was the same tired result. Twilight eventually came to the terrifying conclusion that the lantern must have finally run out of fuel.

And it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“Hush now, quiet now…”

Ice ran through Twilight’s veins at the sudden voice. It wasn’t so much what was said, as it was how it was said that scared her. The voice sounded soft and, if she dare say, friendly, but there was a peculiar undertone to the voice. It was as if the voice had a low, demonic echo to it.

“It’s time to lay your sleepy head…”

And with the voice, came the shuffling of hooves on a wooden floor. Twilight darted her eyes toward the door… and remembered that she left it wide open. A dull light from the outside hall made a pony-shaped shadow visible on the floor in front of the doorway.

“Hush now, quiet now…”

Twilight stifled a gasp of fright, and her heart leapt to her throat. Somepony was coming. Somepony had found her. Again. But it didn’t sound like the same one from last time. Rather than make all varieties of guttural growling, this one was… singing a lullaby?

“It’s time to go to bed…”

…And why did it feel so familiar? Like… like she had heard it somewhere before…

The shadow of the pony in the hall outside was getting larger, and the source of the lullaby was getting closer. From what Twilight could tell, the voice sounded female… not to mention it was prodding some very familiar nerves. Where did she hear this voice before?

After the lullaby’s lyrics had run their course, the voice chose to continue the song simply by humming the tune. The shadow of the mare in the hall soon started to shrink, but that was not because it was leaving. No, the source of it was already there, standing in the doorway and looking inside.

Twilight dared not move. She was in pitch darkness after all; maybe she could use that to her advantage to stay hidden. All it would take was her to stay as absolutely still as possible. But standing so still was starting to become uncomfortable. She just had to sit down. And maybe lie down flat while she was at it, to ensure she was as hidden as possible.

That strange mare in the doorway hadn’t budged an inch, which both confused and frightened Twilight. Had it already seen her? If so, why wasn’t it attacking? Wait… why “it”? It was clearly a pony—a female pony—so why refer to her as an object?

Swallowing deeply, she decided to take the gamble. Very slowly, she started lower herself down to sit on her haunches. The mare didn’t move. Twilight then lifted a hoof so that she could lie down…

Clang!

…but she accidentally struck the lantern, knocking it onto its side and ringing out with a noise that almost gave her an aneurysm. Silence reigned for what seemed like forever, until it was at last broken again by a simple question:

“Twilight? Are you there?”

...! How does she know my name? she thought, astonished. Is she…? Against all faculties of logical reason and common sense, Twilight decided to respond. “Y…yes! Is that you…? Um… Rainbow Dash…?”

“…Rainbow Dash? Oh my, no. She’s out playing somewhere else.”

‘Playing’? Somehow, Twilight felt as if that term wasn’t exactly right-minded. And at the same time, she began to regret ever opening her mouth. The mare in the doorway—Twilight still couldn’t quite make out her features—took a hoofstep inside the room, and the unicorn cringed.

“It’s me, Twilight… Fluttershy.”

“Fl-Flutter…shy…?” Twilight slowly stood back up. Fluttershy… That was one of her friends! The ones that she was trying to save! She’d found one of them! (Well, Fluttershy found her, but did it really matter?) “Fluttershy! Oh goodness, I was looking all over for you! I thought you were in huge trouble!”

“I was looking for you too, Twilight…” The mare took a few more hoofsteps forward, and Twilight started to see the mare in better detail (her eyes having adjusted to the dark better).

Fluttershy was a pegasus pony, with a yellow coat that at first reminded her of Raindrops, until she saw the flowing, pink mane and tail. The sight of her friend seemed to trigger several memories in her psyche; at last, she could finally recognize her. She looked unusual for some reason, but perhaps it was just the lack of details seen in the dark.

“How did you get here, Fluttershy?” Twilight inquired, now starting to approach her friend and feeling comforted. “It was so dark and scary in the rooms, and I think there are monsters lurking around here…”

“Oh my, that does sound scary,” Fluttershy said, and Twilight could see the pegasus put on a small smile. “But don’t worry, it will be alright now. Now, um, if you don’t mind… if it’s okay… would you please die?”

…What?

“Oh, um, I mean… Master wants me to bring you to him first… and then you have to die. …I-is that okay?”

What? What is she talking about? She… wants to… see me… die?

Twilight was stunned. She let out a gasp and leaped backwards in fright. “What are you talking about?!” she yelled, unable to comprehend what she was hearing. “Who’s the ‘master’? W-why do you…?!”

“Master wasn’t very happy when he heard that you were still here, even after what he did,” Fluttershy explained, taking another step towards her. “So, Master Zander told me that he wanted to talk to you… and he wanted me to come and get you.”

So it was Zander that was responsible for this. By this point, Twilight had learned to associate the name with the highest of ills. Why would he want to talk to her? And more importantly… what was this about dying?! “The-then why do I have to die?!”

“Oh, no, you don’t understand… You don’t have to die… He just wants you to. Um… that is, if you don’t help with his plans…”

Help?! Like that’ll ever happen! Twilight continued backing away as Fluttershy slowly advanced on her, but she soon felt her flank bump against the back wall. There was nowhere to run now. “B-but… why are you doing this to me? I… I thought we were friends!!”

“…” The pegasus stopped suddenly, as if thinking this through… and then she frowned. An expression of hatred, condescension, sadness, and disappointment… all rolled-up into a simple facial expression. “…Yes, Twilight. We were.”

Fluttershy continued to advance on Twilight, and the unicorn pressed herself against the wall. She had never felt this terrible in her life. Just when Twilight thought she’d catch a break… one of her friends had turned against her. Who’s to say the others had as well?

“No! Please…! Leave me alone!” Twilight cried, but the pegasus ignored her. Fluttershy was barely a foreleg’s distance from her now, and Twilight could see her “friend” fully now. She screamed.

It wasn’t easily seeable in the dark, but at such close distance it was hard to miss such horrible disfigurations. Fluttershy appeared as if she’d been starved for weeks, and her frame looked extremely thin. Her body appeared to have vein-like bands of black run across her legs and body, as if they were strange tattoos. Her pink mane was, though still quite smooth, a bit frayed in some places. Some kind of disc-shaped metal brace was riveted—actually riveted; rivets were attaching the brace—around her neck. Another brace, only it looked more like a too-tight ring, was fitted around her torso (it appeared to be binding her wings, rendering her flightless). But the worst were her eyes. The looked as if there was nothing there; her eyes were literally colored onyx black.

Twilight was aghast at the sight of her appearance. She knew, in her mind and limited memory, that this was not how she normally looked. “Fl-Fluttershy… What has that monster done to you?!”

“Master Zander has done nothing to me…” Fluttershy said, her tone slowly lowering to become a snarl. “You should ask that to yourself, Twilight…”

“What do you mean?” Twilight fearfully squeaked, but Fluttershy stayed silent. The pegasus started to raise a hoof—to do what, Twi was uncertain—but before anything else could happen… Twilight’s instincts of survival kicked in. And did they ever “kick” in. The unicorn shrank back, turned around, and bucked Fluttershy straight in the muzzle.

“Aaaugh!” Fluttershy yelled, holding her nose and groaning with pain. That kick was surprisingly strong. And it also distracted her long enough for Twilight to gallop past the pegasus and into the hall of the Archives. She heard Fluttershy let out a howl of fury from behind her, but she did her best to ignore it and kept running.

Twilight entered the next immediate door she came across, and slammed it shut behind her. In a place like the Archives there were countless places to hide. But would any of them keep her safe for long? The room she was inside contained nothing more than a few small boxes and bookcases, and those were no good. She ran through the door to the next room, and shut it as well.

Panting, she began looking for another hiding place. This room was much larger than the other ones she’d been in prior, and a little brighter as well. It appeared to be some kind of crate storage room; there were stacks and rows of crates much higher than her all around. Maybe somewhere in here would do?

The muffled sound of something crashing open made her jump. It was the door of the previous room she was in, which meant… Fluttershy was already on her tail! Panicking, Twilight bolted deeper into the room, and let herself get lost in the maze of crates and boxes.

Turning the sixth or so corner in the crate maze, she finally happened upon a gap between two crates. Upon closer inspection, she found that the gap lead to a tiny crawlspace behind the crates. It wasn’t very visible at all from the outside, and Twilight reasoned that it would be too ‘small-looking’ of a place to bother checking.

Immediately after deciding to hide here, she heard a distant crashing sound of a door being thrown open. Fluttershy had to have been in the room now. That thought alone made Twilight cringe with fear. She anxiously checked around the maze-like passages for any sign of the pegasus, and hastily crawled behind the crate.

From this hiding place, she could peek around the corner of the box through the gap to see if anypony was coming, and still remain mostly hidden. She was virtually invisible in this spot. Knowing this, Twilight almost smiled. Maybe she would, for a change, finally be safe… for a while, at least.

A few minutes passed with very little actually happening. Twilight snuck a glance out into the maze row every now and again, but everything was unusually quiet. Just when the unicorn was about to venture another peek, she heard the voice.

“Oh where, oh where, can my Twiiiiilight be?”

Twilight gulped, and decided to take a quick look outside. She froze. Fluttershy was in this row of the crate maze now, and slowly approaching her position. The higher lighting situation made it easier for Twilight to see those horrible marks and rings around her body and neck. Easier to see, that is, not easier to accept. It was just repulsive what Zander could do to a pony and expect to get away with it.

“Twiiiiiiiilight…” The voice, with its demonic undertone, was starting to become very singsong and playful. That could not have been a good sign. “I can smell your fear… I know you’re hiding… Just come on out so I can take you to Master… I mean, um… if that’s okay with you…”

The unicorn dared not respond to that, and continued ducking down and hiding in the crawlspace. She had been fooled once by this...thing, and heavens condemn her if she let it happen again. It couldn’t have been her friend. It had to have been a fake, or… maybe Fluttershy was being controlled…?

“Hey Twilight… if you’re nervous, I can sing you a lullaby… Here’s my favorite one: Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head… Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed…”

What kind of demon sings a lullaby like that? Twilight felt as if she should know the lullaby… but where she knew it from eluded her somewhat. She looked out into the maze row again, and stopped short. Fluttershy had just started to walk past her hiding place.

And, for some reason, the pegasus had stopped and was sniffing the air.

“You’re here, aren’t you…”

Twilight shrank back into her hiding spot, putting as much distance between herself and the gap between the crates. How could she know? Did she see accidentally let herself be seen? Had she made a noise? Or did Fluttershy…

…did she actually smell her, even in the hiding place?

“Why are you hiding, Twilight? If you wanted to play hide-and-seek, you should have told me… I mean, um… if you wanted to…”

There were some more sniffing sounds, followed by a period of silence. Every muscle in Twilight’s body begged to move, but the unicorn wouldn’t let them. If she even so much as twitched, it could be all over. She had never felt so helpless.

Soon there came a sound that she had been dreading: A metallic clang of something colliding with wood, coupled with the sudden shaking of the crates around her. Fluttershy was trying to get in!

“Come out, Twilight! COME OUT!!”

Twilight started to hyperventilate and pressed herself against the walls of her crawlspace as they shook and swayed around her. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard, she thought it would explode from the strain. Please just go away…!

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I GET IN THERE!”

The dull, hollow thudding and clanking of metal striking wood continued for nearly a full minute. Twilight was perplexed by this somewhat. Fluttershy seemed ever smaller than she was; how could she not get in?

And that’s when it hit her: the ring that was fastened around the pegasus’s neck.

It must be too wide for her to fit through! I guess when Zander stuck that thing on her he never considered that it would be such an impediment.

Twilight was almost about to laugh at the realization, but the continued smashing and bashing of metal versus wood stymied her. Just because Fluttershy didn’t fit, didn’t mean that she couldn’t just break down the crates altogether! Despite the pegasus appearing physically weak, the amount of force being applied could have made the toughest earth pony envious.

“Please come out! I promise I won’t hurt you! At least not until the Master tells me to rip out your throat!”

Fluttershy’s angry shouts and threats had devolved into pleading and bargaining, but as they were extremely poorly phrased, Twilight wasn’t about to let herself be caught. She could have been lying through her teeth for all the unicorn knew.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the banging and crashing of wood ceased. Twilight could hear the raspy, tired pants of Fluttershy from beyond the crate barrier. Was she getting tired?

“Why are you… being so… scared, Twilight? Master Zander… only wants… to talk to you! …And then kill you… afterwards…”

The unicorn dared not to reply to that.

“Twilight… Please? Come out?” There was a slight pause, and then a strange, hollowed-out sigh. “But, uh… you know, um… whatever you wanna do is fine…”

It was strange. Fluttershy’s voice sounded different now… that is, not quite as demonic. It was still peculiarly distorted, but it wasn’t as “malicious” as before. There was another bout of silence, before Twilight could hear gentle hoofsteps trotting away from her position. Another minute later, they were gone.

Has… has she gone? She just got up and… left?

Twilight was confused more than ever. What was going on? One minute, Fluttershy is trying to break down the crates separating them; the next, she just resigns and walks away? Had the pegasus really given up, at least for the moment?

…Or did she just want to lure her out?

The unicorn soon found the courage to move from the corner she was pressed against, and peeked out of the gap between the crates that had sheltered her. Nopony was out there. As a point of fact, the only things out there were just the walls of wooden crates. In these close confines, an ambush was more than likely.

Twilight, as anxious as she was, slowly drew herself out of her hiding spot. She cast a look down one way, and the other. The current corridor of crates was decidedly vacant… almost suspiciously so. But the nervous mare was in no position to not take advantage of Fluttershy’s absence.

Taking long, slow breaths, the lavender unicorn stepped out into the maze passage. The way was decently lit, but she quickly took notice of how dim it was… If only she had some extra light, or someth—

Twilight suddenly remembered her lantern. She’d left it behind in that room, when the fuel ran out! When Fluttershy came, she had been in such a panic to run away that she forgot it! Ah, cripes! She needed to get it back, and quick! Without light, she’d be traveling blind for the rest of the castle!

But… I’d have to go all the way back there, wouldn’t I?

Sighing miserably, Twilight slowly began to retrace her steps around the maze. It was difficult; every other row or passageway she took in the maze of wooden crates seemed to only get her even more lost. And she had to keep an eye and an ear out for Fluttershy. There weren’t many other places to run to or hide on short notice.

The unicorn spent almost forty minutes lost in the surprisingly large maze of boxes. Twice she had heard a distant sound of shuffling hoofsteps in the direction she was going and “casually” turned around and tried another path. Twilight was scared to death that around the very next corner she might bump muzzle-to-muzzle into Fluttershy, and there would be nowhere to run.

Thankfully, none of that happened. Twilight finally felt a slight fresh breeze to her left, and she took that as a good sign. A few more turns later, she had finally left the crate maze and was standing before the door she had first come in from.

Finally! I can’t believe I got lost in a maze with a murderous “friend” of mine and still got out okay!

She mentally sighed with relief. A slight smile graced her features as she stepped outside the door into the next room. Twilight was careful to tread lightly, and slowly closed the door behind her as she left the crate storage room.

A little while later, she had found her way back to the dark room where she had left her lantern behind. Twilight spent a moment observing the Dragonfire Lantern and chose to give the ignition switch a try. Like before, it fizzled, spit, and went quiet. Oh, but of course. It was out of fuel.

Now that she had some time to herself, Twilight remembered what that flashback that she had in the Old Archives had said:

“All dragonfire is capable of dispelling darkness. And it is most useful in its crystallized form, which is what fuels this lantern.”

Running those words of the ‘princess’ she heard through her mind like a tape recording, she reached into her saddlebags and took a few of those glowing red crystals out with her mouth. They felt quite warm, and tingly. Setting them next to the lantern on the floor, she began questioning exactly where the fuel was supposed to go.

Squinting to see better in the darkness, Twilight could notice, in the center of the lantern’s glass chamber, there appeared to be a claw-like holder of some variety. Perhaps that was where the crystals are set? Twilight reasoned that it must be, and swiftly set off to refill the lantern.

Carefully (and quietly, lest something else possibly hear) the unicorn undid the lock holding the lid and glass portion to the base, and pulled it off. She picked up one of the crystals that she set down, and with cautious precision, set it into to claw-shaped holder. Twilight placed the upper half of the lantern back onto the base, and relocked it.

Now was the moment of truth. Twilight gripped the igniter key as tight as she could… and twisted it. There was a sputter, a spit, and… a tiny red flame started to spring forth from the new crystal. After a few seconds, it reached its maximum size and brightness, before shifting to the same green fire as before. Why was it always green fire? Why not red, like the crystals? Oh well. It didn’t matter.

Stashing the other remaining crystals she’d taken out, Twilight picked up the now-lit Dragonfire Lantern and left the room. For some reason, she felt like there was something she should have remembered to do…

…Ah well. It probably wasn’t very important. Right now, she needed to get out of the Archives before she ran into Fluttershy again. The threat of being killed didn’t seem worth the potential prize of some scraps of paper or… whatever.

Twilight started walking back the way she remembered coming, the light of the lantern comforting her and illuminating the way ahead. The rooms she passed by were still so full of books, boxes, and other junk. Who did they pay to keep it organized—do they even organize at all? The unicorn couldn’t help but sigh at the state of some of the rooms. Somepony could easily trip over something.

At some point, Twilight was sure that she had taken a wrong turn. She had ended up in some kind of small room with other exits, but a desk in the middle. A lit candle was resting atop it, next to a scrap of parchment. She slowly approached it with wonder. Could it be? Another note?

…Or wait, no; it was another one of those journal pages. Still, Twilight was curious. She hunkered down and started reading.

9th of August, 997

It would seem that fate insists on me staying at Canterlot Castle for longer than I anticipated. Three years, it’s been. Despite my high status, the situation in Gerpony hasn’t improved, even with my constant negotiations with the High Council for Equestrian support. Celestia has been supportive of my plight, bless her kind heart, but the bureaucrats are proving to be less cooperative.

I’ve sent and received letters from my colleagues in Braynenmare, and from what can be gathered, things in my home province are getting worse. Equestria is so fortunate to have a perfect food supply, strong economy, and political strength to boot, while Gerpony still only just manages to get by on poor crop soil, struggling commerce, and a governing system so weak an autumn breeze could bowl it over. If worst comes to worst… I may have to advocate allowing the annexation of Gerpony to Equestria. This will cause much outrage back home, I’m sure… and we will lose our independent heritage… but if it will ensure that our ponies do not starve, then I am willing to make sacrifices.

Twilight stuffed the page away in her bag when she was done reading. From the looks of it, it looked like it was written by the same pony from the last journal page. It sounded awful… political. What were these places being talked about? Canterlot? Equestria? Braynenmare? Gerpony? The first two sounded incredibly familiar, and she was sure she heard them before… but the last two escaped her a bit…

Seeing as how there was nothing else here, Twilight trotted out of the small study, and continued on her way in finding the exit.

Gosh, this whole place is like a labyrinth…

The unicorn forged onwards, opening door after door and passing room after room. Just as she was about to exit one room, Twilight heard something that made her blood run cold.

The door of the room behind her, the one that she had before closed, had reopened itself.

Her breath caught in her throat. No… it can’t be… Not again… She slowly turned her neck to look behind her, lantern still in the grip of her mouth, and her eyes grew wide and fearful.

“Oh goody… I finally found you, Twilight…”

Fluttershy had found her. She was standing in the now-open doorway across the room from Twilight, and the light from the lantern reached far enough for the unicorn to see those glossed-over black eyes and neck brace of hers. The sight was almost too horrible to comprehend.

“No…” Twilight began to shake with terror. “No, not you… I thought you were gone…”

"Sorry, but… um… no, I’m not… Master told me to get you, and that’s what I have to do… I mean, um, if that’s okay…”

“I-it’s NOT okay!! Leave me alone, you freak!!” Twilight suddenly screeched, and she quickly threw open the door she was about to exit through and went inside the room. In two winks, the door was slammed shut behind her again.

Knowing full well that Fluttershy could bash open a doorway, Twilight braced her own weight against it while her eyes darted furiously around the room for another hiding place. To her horror… there wasn’t anything to hide in or behind. There wasn’t even another doorway leading out.

She was trapped.

And right upon coming to that conclusion the door she was blocking suddenly lurched and buckled, as if somepony had thrown themselves against it. The impact almost knocked Twilight to the floor, but she held steady. She almost dropped the lantern, and was forced to bite into tighter, making her teeth rather sore.

“Open the door, Twilight! I’ll… I’ll break it down! I will!”

Twilight couldn’t help but snort. “I’d like to see you try!” she challenged, but knew full well that Fluttershy could break it down. A shout of anger was the response, followed up by another collision with the door, making the wood bend inwards. Twilight barely kept herself standing after that.

There has to be some way out of this mess!

Casting her eyes around the room in a last, desperate search for somewhere to hide, Twilight caught sight of… something. It appeared to be a cage of some kind, stuck inside a far wall between a couple of bookcases. She’d earlier passed it off as a fancy storage thing or something, but it wasn’t until she noticed the sign that read ‘Elevator’ next to it, that she got an idea.

Another hard crash at the door made Twilight stumble, and the rebounding wood hit her on the side of her head, briefly dazing her from the pain. Unable to keep herself against the door, Twilight finally stepped away and shook her head to try and ward off the new headache she was experiencing.

Gah, my head… That hurts…

Finally composing herself, Twilight looked to her goal—the elevator cage—and broke into a gallop towards it. At the same time, Fluttershy had collided with the door again, nearly making it fly off the hinges as it swung open with a crash.

“Twilight! Stop running! You’ll only die tired!”

The unicorn tried to ignore the pegasus’s shouts, but she could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage faster and faster now. Being chased by somepony wanting to kill you has that effect.

Twilight reached the fence-like gate of the elevator doors, and hastily drew them open before stepping inside. Turning around, she let out a cry of fright and shut the gate just before Fluttershy could run straight into her. She turned a key that locked the gate, for good measure.

Few places were as safe and terrifying at the same time. A strong metal fence separated her and Fluttershy by barely a half-hoof. Through the fence, Twilight could also see the pegasus’s look of absolute fury up close… and frankly, it was just plain disturbing.

“You can’t hide forever Twilight…” Fluttershy said lowly, a knowing smile creeping onto her mangled features. “I can just wait here until you smarten up and decide to come with me to see Master Zander.”

Twilight glanced to her side. A lever, with the sign, “Elevator Control” and two directional arrows pointing up and down was mounted on the wall of the elevator beside her. Remembering why she had this idea in the first place, Twilight reached up with a hoof and yanked the lever into the ‘Down’ position. “I’m afraid I won’t,” she said simply, and gave an eloquent smirk of her own while Fluttershy’s look of smugness fell away.

From both above and below, Twilight could hear the mechanisms of the elevator sputter and come to life. The cage began to lower as a drone of a motor running filled the air around her…

And then the car suddenly lurched. Twilight’s smile became a look of bewilderment as nothing more happened. And then, a horrible screech of clanking gears became audible, followed by a sound of something giving way.

Just as the unicorn wondered what was wrong, the elevator car lurched again, and began to lower. Only this time, it was lowering rather fast. A little too fast, actually. One more stomach-churning lurch later, and the elevator was in an outright freefall to oblivion.

Twilight’s screams were slowly drowned as the cage fell into the dark abyss of the shaft below…

VI: Pain

There were so many things that Twilight felt as she slowly picked herself off the ground. Confusion of what was going on. Exhaustion from whatever ordeal she had just went through. Anger at what that monster Alack Zander did to her best friends. And of course, pain. Lots of pain. She had never been in this much agony in her life. At least, not as far as she could remember, though that was not saying much.

The instant that Twilight raised to all fours, a sudden stab of pain ran up her front-left leg, and she collapsed again. Letting out tired moans of anguish, Twilight forced herself to look down at the offending limb, and cringed. Legs were not meant to be bending at such an extreme angle.

Twilight felt like crying. Her leg was broken. She’d also pulled a few muscles near her hind legs, and maybe a few more cuts and bruises here and there, but they were considered negligible at the moment. With a broken limb, she was essentially immobilized and helpless. Anything could come to get her now, and then she would not even be able to run…

Pain. Agony. Soreness. Ache. There were so many words for a single feeling, it seemed. And why wouldn’t there be? Ponies have experienced every kind of pain since they first founded Equestria.

Throbbing. Stinging. Suffering. Anguish. All of it was running through Twilight’s mind. So, this is how it would all end. A shattered leg bone, struck down with torturous amounts of pain, and left to die in the bottom of an old elevator shaft.

…Elevator shaft. Right. What was once her only ticket to freedom was now a practical one-way trip straight to the Grim Reaper himself. All that she had left to do was wait. And before long, whatever dark force behind everything that night would soon come around and claim her. Twilight was actually regretting the fact that the fall didn’t just kill her outright, rather than letting her live and continue to suffer.

It was nearly pitch dark at the shaft’s bottom, though a faint light was visible from a door-shaped opening roughly two meters up. The elevator cage itself was utterly destroyed, and pieces of the metal fencing that made it up were scattered here and there. It was a wonder Twilight managed with just a broken limb. The Dragonfire Lantern had fallen down the shaft with her, and the fire had been snuffed out from the impact. Her saddlebags had been thrown clean off from the crash, and the contents were strewn about here and there.

Twilight managed to will her body to drag itself to the nearby lantern, using her good legs to move whilst carefully cradling the broken one. She could hardly believe the sight of her own leg, bent and drooping powerlessly as she went. The pain was still so bad, almost too much to handle, but the unicorn managed to make it to the lantern and turn it on.

Fortune favored her as the bottom of the shaft became lit with a vibrant green light from the lantern. Twilight breathed a cautious sigh of relief, and winced when another spasm of pain went through her leg. Well, she had light now. At least she didn’t have to die in the darkness.

The unicorn looked down on the floor beside the lantern, and spotted a slip of paper lying there. It was the note she had picked up in the Archives. Which reminded her; she never did get around to reading it in full…

To all servants,

As many of you are all aware, the elevator system in the Archives is still under maintenance. Under no circumstances should anypony use the elevator until it has been repaired, as it still shows few signs of stability.

The usual safety features to prevent dangerous freefalls (via frictional brakes) are also out of order, so operation of the elevator car is certain to result in serious injury or death.

Another announcement will be made when this problem has been addressed. Until then, DO NOT operate the elevator in the Archives. The elevators in the Library and Servant’s Quarters, however, are still properly functional and are safe to use.

As she read over the note, Twilight mentally slapped herself. The note was a warning to NOT use the elevator! If she had paid more attention, then she wouldn’t even be in this mess! She had made a mistake… a stupid, stupid mistake. And now, it was already too late for regrets. She could feel her energy being sapped away by the pain.

I… I’m sorry…

Twilight could hold on to her remaining strength no longer. With a strained gasp, the unicorn’s body fell slack, and her eyelids slowly closed shut. Before they did however, she could’ve sworn that she caught a glimpse of somepony else down there with her… though, that may have been merely the delirium of a dying mare.

The world meant nothing at that moment as every sense that she had began to waste away into oblivion…

“She managed to escape, you say…”

“Yes Master… I’m so sorry that I failed you… I-I don’t think that Twilight managed to survive that fall.”

Alack Zander gave a wry chuckle. His eyes showed no apparent signs of anger or disappointment. If anything, they seemed… knowing. “You underestimate her. If what I know is fact, and judging from what my servant tells me, she cannot possibly be dead. Not from such a simple fall.”

Fluttershy seemed slightly confused, though her mangled features made it difficult to detect. “But doesn’t the elevator shaft go down really… really… um, far?”

“Indeed. It goes down to the lowest levels of Canterlot itself. The Cisterns, to be precise,” Zander explained. “All the water that is diverted from the waterfall flows through there.” He chuckled again. “As for Ms. Sparkle, she would have no trouble surviving. She may be… incapacitated, yes, for a short while… but it won’t be long until she starts moving again.”

The pegasus shifted uncomfortably. Her inability to retrieve the unicorn still stuck out in her mind, and a part of her still felt ashamed at that. Was it still possible to make up for it? “Should I… um… go and get her once more? I promise I won’t screw up again… uh, I mean, if that’s okay with you…”

Zander’s smile faded, and he softly shook his head. “No. I require you to be present for the ritual here. I will soon send for the Bearer of Loyalty to undertake the task instead,” he said coldly, and Fluttershy lowered her head with disappointment. An afterthought struck him. “Incidentally… have the other Remnants already been… taken care of?”

“N-not all of them,” Fluttershy admitted. “A few just, well… won’t die. They’re still being kept in the dungeon.”

“…Hm. What of the prisoners?”

“Three are unaccounted for, Master. I-I’m sorry, I don’t know where they went, we can’t find them…”

“I see…”

The blue stallion turned to look out of the window. Night was still present, and the silver moon still shone bright, as it would be for several more hours. But the ritual had to be done before sunrise, or…

“…” He sighed. Things were starting to get complicated. First, one of the prisoners taken during the Gala escaped, and now… a Remnant was wandering around unsupervised. She was moving about, and at a pace that was somewhat… disconcerting. The Cisterns were also disturbingly close to the Dungeons… If she somehow made it there, and perhaps tried to intervene in the ‘process’…

A sudden sound of wind gusts echoed across the Throne Room. Zander turned around, and recognized the new presence in the room as the pony-shaped shadow creature. It had, apparently, just then materialized into the chamber to check with its master. “Ah, impeccable timing,” he mused, making a slight hoof motion to dismiss Fluttershy (to which she quietly complied). “I have need of you.”

While Fluttershy walked away to deal with other matters, Alack Zander proceeded to deliver his orders to the shadow. “The Remnant of Magic is still about. Inform the Bearer of Loyalty that she is to be… dealt with. Permanently.”

The silver-maned stallion smiled darkly. “That is, if the Ardyh doesn’t get to her first.”

…

“Where… where am I?”

…

“Is… is there… anypony out there…?”

…

“H-hello…?”

…

“…Anypony…?”

…

...Twilight...

“W-who’s there?”

…

...Twilight... you must...

…

“I must… what?”

...you must... forge on...

…

...time is nearly up...

...you can’t let him win...

…

…you have to pull through.

You can do it.

“B-but… but I can’t!”

…

…And why not?

“Because… because, he…”

Because he took away your friends.

“Y-yes…”

And you have lost all of your memories.

“Th-that’s right!”

…But are those reasons to give up…

…or are they reasons to go on?

“What do you mean?”

Giving up is what he wants.

Fighting back is what he fears.

“But--”

What do you fear, Twilight?

“…”

…

“I… I just don’t want to be alone.”

You are never alone. Someone, somewhere, is always thinking of you.

“…”

Just like how I am thinking of you now…

…and how your friends are as well.

“…”

And we believe that you can make it.

“But… who are you?”

…

I am the life that you left behind.

Life sure is a strange and wonderful thing. It practically rose from nothingness to become the most dominant presence in the world. Animals, plants, ponies, and more. But if history teaches us anything, it’s that life is extremely durable. Not to mention very persistent.

In Twilight’s case, her eventual reawakening was a prime example of such persistence and durability. Common ponies would have died instantly from such a fall. She’d somehow managed to hold on to consciousness with cuts, scrapes, bruises, and a broken leg, but was otherwise intact. And when she lost her senses again, Twilight woke up not even twenty minutes later.

“What… what happened…?”

The pain was still there. But, now it seemed… dull. Like the aches of an old war wound, or something. Her leg was still the epicenter of it, but it was something that would be manageable. With a grunt of effort, Twilight managed to heave herself off the floor. Pain shot up her leg again, but it wasn’t enough to make her fall.

Twilight examined the sore leg closely. It was still bent rather strangely, but otherwise seemed okay. Somewhat okay, in any case. To her, it wasn’t the most important thing on her mind. The most important thing was, after a moment of quiescent consideration, the fact that she was still alive.

I’m…alive? But, that shouldn’t be right… My leg was broken… I could feel my life just fading away… Another thought occurred to her. …And what was the weird dream I had?

Twilight shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about things that only served to make her head ache more than it should. She had to find a way out of this place, and fast.

Looking around her, aided by the glow of the still-lit Dragonfire Lantern, Twilight remembered that she was still in the bottom of the elevator shaft. The twisted and mangled remains of the elevator cage around her reminded the unicorn of her brush with death.

At first, Twilight was afraid that there was no possible place to go. But that fear was soon quashed when she spotted the familiar outline of a door, on the opposite side of the shaft. A sign placed on the door read, “Cistern – Maintenance Workers Only.”

There wasn’t anyplace else she could go, so she quickly decided that the best option at this point was to keep moving. If Fluttershy—or anypony with not-so-nice intentions for that matter—was still hunting her, then staying down here and hiding wasn’t necessarily the best option.

The broken leg, however, was still a problem. While it somehow seemed to miraculously heal on its own rather fast, it still hurt to put too much weight on it. That would no doubt be a serious issue if, say, a monster finds her and decides to chase her around again. Nay, it would likely be a potentially deadly issue. Would she even risk it?

Twilight was at an impasse. She could stay and try to heal some more, and possible be found by somepony she wouldn’t want to be found by… or, she could go out there, and risk a handicapped journey where a single misstep could mean the difference between life and a very family-unfriendly death. If only there was a third option…

…Oh, wait, didn’t she pick up a bottle of Laurenum back in the Archives that she hadn’t used yet?

Ah! Of course! she nearly said out loud, and hobbled over to the saddlebag on the floor. Twilight carefully checked both pockets, but to her horror they were both empty. It was then that she remembered that the contents (papers, the crystals) were all strewn about from the fall she had, and the Laurenum was likely among them as well. Well, great.

Exhaling sharply with frustration, Twilight began to carefully scour the floor of the elevator shaft for the blue bottle of healing brace. To her growing worry and anxiety, she couldn’t find it anywhere. There were just those red crystals spread about here and there; they were important too, yes, but weren’t what she was looking for specifically.

Darn it! Where could it be?! …Oh no, don’t tell me that I lost it!

Alas, it was true. Twilight searched every corner of the relatively tiny shaft, looking under objects and on top of them. She couldn’t even imagine how she could have lost a bottle of precious medicine so easily. Twilight concluded, after rigorous searching, that she must have dropped it somewhere out in the Archives, likely when being chased by Fluttershy. As if she didn’t have enough problems.

With the third option eliminated, and the first one long-since discredited, the unicorn had no choice aside from the second: leave the seclusion of the shaft and venture forth.

Sighing with resignation (and cringing as a slight wave of pain throbbed in her leg again), Twilight managed to gather up whatever items she could scrounge up, put her saddlebags back on, and pick the Dragonfire Lantern up in her mouth again. A last look around at the tangled mass of the elevator she once rode in reminded her of how just about anything could go wrong in this place.

Twilight took in a deep breath, and released it. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered through her teeth, and gently pushed the door open…

Water. There was a lot of water. The room she had just entered was a long, wide corridor, running both to the left and the right directions. She wasn’t concerned about there being a lighting problem here; in fact, the whole place was lit quite well enough for the unicorn to stow the lantern back in her saddlebag. Torches lined the walls on both ends, still wreathed in orange flame. But Twilight had learned to be wary of even the best-lit areas, thinking back to the Old Archives, and was ready for any sudden shift in mood…

In the center of each corridor was a valley-shaped depression, where a flow of clear, shallow water was flowing freely down the way. To either side of the water channel was a concrete walkway, where the staff may have presumably traveled alongside the water flow while on maintenance duty. The current of the water may have suggested where a nearby exit was, and at present, it was flowing in the right direction.

Taking that as a sign, Twilight began walking along the pathway adjacent to the waterway. She kept sure to walk at a relatively slow pace, so as not to trip over her still-injured leg. For a while, the unicorn didn’t seem to be coming across anything; the path and the water channel just kept going on and on and on… And even worse, the lights seemed to be getting sparser and sparser as she went on.

…But then, Twilight could see something, just at the edge of her vision. It was a… pony? Wait… another pony! She stopped herself, and spent a moment gazing at the figure in the distance. Whoever it was, the pony was walking on the opposite side of the water channel, and hadn’t seemed to have noticed Twilight yet.

Walking forward with more caution this time, Twilight struggled to get a better look at the equine. The ever-growing dimness made it difficult, but she was able to make out it was a gray-coated earth pony mare, with an ash-black colored mane and tail. Was that another pony that she knew before? Or was she just a random pony that she didn’t know, like Raindrops? If anything was certain, this mare certainly wasn’t prodding any familiar nodes in her mind.

Once Twilight had gotten close enough to see the gray mare in full view, she thought about calling out to her, to see if she was alright. But the other pony had beaten her to it. Rather, the other pony had spotted Twilight, put on a look of utter horror, and turned tail and galloped away while letting out whines of fear.

“W-wait!” Twilight found herself calling out, and started to chase after her (though it quickly turned into a ‘hobble’ on the account of her leg). “Don’t go! I can help!”

The other mare either didn’t hear her or didn’t care, as she kept on running and was momentarily out of sight. Twilight slowed her steps to a halt and sighed miserably. Great, she thought. Another pony that looks like she might’ve needed some help, and she just runs off for… some reason. What is going on in this place?!

Whoever that mare was, she was gone. Twilight decided to just forget about it. Who knows, maybe she was just seeing things. There would have been stranger things that happened that night…

There weren’t any bridges that connected both sides of the walkway, so when Twilight decided to try her luck searching the other side, she had to walk down the slope of the channel and wade through the waterway.

The current of the water wasn’t at all strong, thank goodness, but it was deep enough that it went up to Twilight’s neck. It was nice and pleasant, actually. The cool water felt satisfying, and it did wonders to help dull away the pain in her leg even more. All the dirt, dust and grime that had gathered on her coat washed away as well, so Twilight took advantage of it and gave herself a short bath. She didn’t know what this water was used for, or where it came from, but it hardly mattered at the moment.

Twilight was actually, for a change, enjoying herself for the moment. She briefly forgot about her desire to cross to the other side, and chose to continue on half-walking half-swimming down the Cistern corridor. She sustained this behavior for a couple of minutes, until a distant sound made her pause.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

It sounded like somepony—or something—slogging it through water that was at least higher than the knees. The sound was distant at first, but it slowly drew closer.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Before long, Twilight could see what seemed to be the water’s surface ahead being parted and disturbed, as if some entity was walking through it. But, how could that be possible… if there wasn’t even anypony there? She couldn’t see anything, even as the splashes drew closer and closer with fairly consistent speed.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Twilight was starting to get nervous at whatever was causing this phenomenon, but curiosity kept her rooted to the spot. Was it a sudden surge of water from beyond, causing an extreme change in current that was approaching her? Or was it some kind of unseen entity, strange and implausible as that sounded?

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the oncoming clattering of hooves on concrete, and a voice yelled out, “What are you doing?! Get out of the water, quickly!”

“H-huh?!” Twilight leapt in place, turning to look up at the walkway.

The gray mare from before had, apparently, decided to come back. Her expression suggested extreme fear and urgency. “Get out of the water, NOW! Quickly, or you’re as good as dead!”

Twilight blankly stared at the odd mare, and then at the rapidly approaching disturbance in the waterway. It couldn’t have been three meters away. A slow-burning sensation of fear began to sweep through her as she digested the situation for what it was.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

That thing in the water probably wasn’t friendly.

“For Celestia’s sake, OUT OF THE WATER!”

At that, the unicorn snapped back to reality. She started to panic, and began paddling madly towards the other end of the waterway. The depth of the water greatly impeded her movement, but it didn’t seem to even slow the mysterious invisible thing in the water.

The gray mare, meanwhile, had slid down the edge of the slope to get as close as possible to Twilight, and held out her foreleg towards the unicorn. “Here! Take my hoof, quick!”

Twilight wasn’t going to turn that offer down. She stuck out her good hoof towards the earth pony, still struggling to get ashore on her own, and the pony managed to grab onto it. “Got you!”

With a mighty pull, the gray pony managed to haul Twilight onto the cobblestone-lined slope of the water channel, safely on dry land. And not a moment too soon, as the strange entity in the water had just made it to where Twilight was in the water a moment ago… and stopped. The splashes suddenly ceased, and the corridor became oddly silent.

Twilight managed to heave herself back onto the proper walkway, and the mare followed after. “Thank you… uh, for helping out,” Twilight managed to say to her savior as she shook the excess water out of her coat. “What was that thing?”

The mare cast a look with her amethyst eyes at where the thing in the water was. “I honestly have no idea. But, from what I know, it only attacks things in the water," she explained. "It’s invisible as well, which is quite strange. As soon as you step in the water, no matter where you are, it can find you… that is, as long as you are in water. Outside of the water… well, not so much.”

Twilight grimaced at the thought of nearly being killed by something she couldn’t even see. There appeared to be more things in this castle trying to kill her than she thought. “W-well, thanks… again. I had no idea what it was, and I didn’t really think it was dangerous.”

“That’s what a friend of mine thought as well… until…” The mare shook her head briskly, and shivered. “Never mind. To be honest, I thought you were one of those other creatures I’ve seen around here… so, that’s why I ran away earlier. Terribly sorry about that, I was just being cautious.”

“C-creatures?” Twilight repeated, her thoughts drifting back to Fluttershy. “What would make you think that I’d look like one of… them?”

The gray earth pony kicked at a pebble absentmindedly. “Well, your coat and mane were absolutely filthy, and extremely unkempt." She chucked. "Looking at you now, I suppose you did require a brief bath…”

Twilight hadn’t really thought about it, but she was pretty dirty earlier. The crash in the elevator shaft hadn’t helped matters on that front, either. She supposed that somepony might mistake her for a ‘monster’. “I guess so. Anyway, I should probably find a way out of here…”

“Oh?” The mare suddenly perked up. “I presume you are like myself, then? That is, trying to find a way out of this…” She made a noise of evident disgust. “…Luna-forsaken pit of despair?”

“Actually, I’m trying to save my friends… or… whatever might be left of them…” Twilight bit her lip. “The only problem is, uh… I took a wrong turn, and… here I am.”

“I see…” The mare looked away for a moment, a blank look of quiet consideration on her face, and then turned back to Twilight. “Hm, obviously you lack a good sense of direction. That vacant look in your eyes gives it all away. You clearly have no idea where you are going.”

Twilight stammered for a moment, somewhat taken aback by the bluntness of the statement. “W-well, I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but I do feel kind of lost sometimes…”

“Listen here; I’ve been around Canterlot for years, so I know of many paths through the castle and grounds. If you wish, I could show you the way out of the Cisterns. You'd be on your own from that point forth, however.”

“You’d… do that? For me?”

“Mainly because I can’t trust you to not have a close encounter with those beasts again. It’s for your own safety, really.” The gray mare turned to walk down the path along the channel, and called back to Twilight. “It’s not far. Just be careful not to stray back into the water.”

The unicorn, without a lot of conscious thought, began trotting after the strange mare. She noticed the cutie mark on her flank, which appeared to be... a purple treble clef? Who was this mare, anyway? “My name is Twilight, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

The gray mare turned to look at her, and smiled. “Charmed. I’m Octavia. Though right now, I suppose our birth-names aren’t the most important things needed to be preserved, aren't they?”

“Oh, yeah, uh… heh…"

"…Come along then, I'll lead the way."

Twilight didn’t know why, but she felt like she could trust this ‘Octavia’. She’d never met her before (she could not even feel slight familiarity with her), but then again, she’d never met Raindrops before either. And even then, Twilight had sacrificed her time to ensure the pegasus had healed before helping her get out of the castle. Why wouldn't she allow another pony to help her out? It was funny how things worked out. She’d saved the life of one pony, and now, a completely different pony had just saved her life.

Twilight could hear a rather disturbing growl emanate through the corridor, but Octavia assured her it was just the strange invisible beast that made it. But even then, the knowledge by itself that there was a feral killer lurking in the water wasn’t at all reassuring, even though she was perfectly safe and out of the water. The unicorn didn't feel like sticking around, so she hurried after the earth pony mare without any hesitation.

As it seemed, Twilight had experienced a lot of pain so far that night. Not necessarily just physical pain, like when she barely survived that elevator crash with a broken leg (the mysterious mending of which had since then baffled her still), but emotional and psychological pain as well. Knowing that her best friends were either being tortured as she walked, or have been made into possessed monstrosities by Zander was almost too much for her to handle.

Fear, in retrospect, can also be considered a type of pain. And there was plenty of that to go around in this castle. Being chased around, backed into corners, being isolated in darkness with nothing but a lantern for company… it was all so very taxing on Twilight’s sanity. And even then, she had persevered. After all, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

Even so, Twilight still had no idea what kinds of suffering awaited her in the coming hours.

VII: Respite

VII: Respite

Twilight thought it quite fortunate to have crossed paths with Octavia. The mare’s elegance and sophistication proved to be a somewhat refreshing experience, even if her slightly uptight attitude made her difficult to have an in-depth conversation with. But Twilight didn’t mind; at least she wasn’t alone again. Even better, Octavia was the one that was leading her to safety.

She knew better than to question providence, but Twilight couldn’t help but notice how… convenient this all seemed to be. What was this refined mare doing all the way down in the sewers? Surely, a pony of her class had better places to be than a soggy (and water monster-infested) tunnel? Twilight decided to pose this question to Octavia, and she shrugged.

“I was originally several floors higher than this,” she explained, “but any conventional means of escape by land were… unfeasible. The only exits I could locate were blocked.”

“Let me guess: that fleshy gunk?” Twilight supposed, and the gray mare slowly nodded.

“Gunk… What a repulsive word, but I suppose it would be appropriate. Nasty substance. It wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard I tried to scrape it away.” She shuddered as the memory came back to her. “Ugh... It actually started to burn me the longer I was in contact with it.”

Twilight bit her lower lip. The flesh-like matter that covered the Entrance Hall’s doorway… there was more of it elsewhere in the castle, according to Octavia. Finding a way out seemed less and less likely. And what was this about ‘burning’? The unicorn felt fortunate to not have foaled around with the stuff longer than necessary…

“It makes me wish I were a pegasus; I could just fly out,” the gray mare lamented. She sighed. “I know that most of the guests here that got away were pegasi, and a few unicorns escaped as well. Most of the earth ponies however, sans myself, were…” Octavia’s lip quivered, and her gaze fell to the floor. “…Pardon me… It’s very difficult to relive…”

Twilight’s expression turned into one that expressed concern. “W-what happened?” she inquired, her tone becoming quite gentle. “You can tell me…”

Octavia shook her head. “I-I can’t… Forgive me, but… I’d rather not have to recollect such horrid memories again,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Sorry… It… it must’ve been hard… t-to go through that, I mean…”

“Yes… it was, indeed… If I didn’t know any better, I would believe that the demons of Tartarus were loosed upon Canterlot…”

There was that name again, ‘Canterlot’. Twilight felt the name itself ring a few bells in the recesses of her mind. She had heard it several times that night, mainly from those journals and Octavia herself. But just what was it? Was it somepony’s name? Was it an object, or a treasure? Without thinking, Twilight asked, “Umm… what’s ‘Canterlot’?”

Octavia stopped and stared at the unicorn with a flummoxed gaze. “The… capital of Equestria? Home of the princesses? The sewers of which we are currently traversing through?” she answered, eying Twilight curiously. “Are you a sightseer from afar, or something of that regard? How would you not know that?”

“I…” Twilight stopped, and swallowed deeply. Was she a sightseer? No, that wouldn’t make any sense, would it? Twilight lived in Ponyville, from what she remembered, and that should be somewhere close by. But just how far away was Canterlot from Ponyville anyway? “I… I’m from Ponyville,” she said, wondering if that would be a satisfactory response.

“…Ah, so you are from the so-called ‘boonies’,” the mare commented rather icily. “I’ve heard tell that ‘Ponyville’ is a pleasant enough burg, but the average intelligence quotient leaves… something to be desired.”

The bluntness of the comment was almost like a slap in the muzzle to Twilight. Of course, it was like a pony of such upscale class to throw around remarks like that. It didn’t make the unicorn feel any less indignant, though. “H…hey! Are you calling me… stupid?!”

“I said no such thing,” Octavia replied, not even blinking at Twilight’s outburst. “If you recall, I said the ‘average intelligence’ is poor. But that does not mean that there are ponies from there that aren’t gifted in some cerebral degree, however few and far between those may be. Apologies if my viewpoint offended you, but that is how things are apparent to most Canterlot nobility.” She let a somewhat arrogant smile form. “And besides, you can’t blame me for coming to that conclusion anyway. You did almost let yourself get devoured by that… thing… before I showed up and saved your sorry flank.”

Twilight fell silent when that was brought up. In hindsight, it was a bit ridiculous of her to just stand there in the middle of the canal when something that wasn’t even visible started approaching her. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, yet again. But at least now she had a new rule: Land good, water bad.

“So, as I was saying, yes, you are in Canterlot; or at least, the Cistern levels underneath Canterlot,” Octavia went on. “And seeing as how that petty confusion is out of the way… Please, indulge me with a question. How in Equestria did you end up here? I don’t seem to recall there being any other survivors still roaming the halls.”

The unicorn paused, and she frowned with uncertainty. Should she tell her? But what are the odds that a mare of such upper class and obvious intellect would believe such a tale; waking up with amnesia, and not a clue what was going on… although, to be fair, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing that happened tonight. If anything, it was the least unusual thing.

So, with a soft sigh of weariness, Twilight began to recount her experience. It was surprisingly easy to recall what few memories she had both recovered and gained, and she found herself practically pouring out her tale to Octavia. No matter how strange, disturbing, or boring it got, the mare listened with a patient ear. Not once did she ask any questions; she simply let Twilight speak her mind.

After several minutes of generous exposition, Twilight had explained a bulk of her current situation, including her most troubling problem. The one she had since she had woken up.

“…Memory loss, you say?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah… As far as I know, I can’t remember anything from before I woke up. I had no idea where I was, what I was supposed to do, or what had happened to this place.”

“I see. That would explain why you were confused as to where you were.” Octavia frowned. “I… feel that I must apologize again for my earlier remark.”

“That’s okay, I’m over it.”

“However, something does not make sense to me. How had you lost your memory? Surely you were not careless enough to let yourself get struck on the head, right?”

“N-no, it wasn’t like that. See, apparently my old self did this on purpose. She left—I mean, uh… I left a note… to myself. Apparently, it was a kind of flower petal that had amnesiac properties that wiped away my memories. I can’t understand why, though.”

“There must have been a reason, however ridiculous it may have been.”

“I suppose…”

“So, it’s true? You truly have no recollection of anything beyond what happened before you woke?”

“Well, I could remember that I lived in Ponyville, and I had to save my friends… That was it, though. I’d even forgotten my name. I-I’ve learned… or rather, I’d relearned a lot of things since then, though.”

“Surely you’d have at least remembered how to breathe, correct?”

“W-well, yeah! That’s like… I dunno… a hardwired instinct, or something!”

“You really must learn to take a joke.”

Twilight sighed. “Jokes aren’t exactly what I’m in the mood for…”

“Well, nor am I in the mood for such things. But what choice is there to be had? Humor is a proven stress release, and I find it helps maintain my composure in difficult situations.”

“Can’t argue with that…”

“Anyway, are you certain that you can remember nothing else? No other missed details?”

“Well…” The unicorn placed a hoof to her temple in recollection. “Occasionally, I get these really weird ‘visions’, of sorts… It’s… as if I’m remembering stuff, I think… I haven’t been able to make much sense of them, but from what I can recall, I think I arrived here at this ‘Gala’ with my friends…”

“You were invited to the Grand Galloping Gala? Hm… You don’t say. Who are these friends, if I may be so bold to ask?”

“Well, their names were… Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie—” Octavia noticeably winced at this name. “—Rarity, and Fluttersh… huh? What’s wrong?”

The gray mare shook her head. “It’s nothing, really… but… I believe I might know a pony that goes by the name of ‘Pinkie Pie’…” She grimaced with distaste. “It was at last year’s Gala. That untamed mare somehow convinced me and my fellow bandmates to play a… folk song. The ‘Pony Pokey’, if I am not mistaken.”

“I… can’t seem to recall anything like that,” Twilight mused, looking at the ceiling in thought.

“You did just say you have amnesia, so it’s not surprising,” Octavia reminded her, rolling her eyes. “Why, this year, she tried to get us to play… goodness gracious… she wanted us to play ‘Yankee Doodle Donkey’. Let’s just say that… her request was kindly declined that time.”

Despite everything, Octavia and Twilight shared a short, good-natured chuckle.

“Even so,” she went on, “I must admit… Whenever I look back on those moments, I can’t help but feel… amused.” She laughed again. “Why is that? I have no idea. Perhaps right now, I’m just trying to find anything to laugh at. There’s certainly nothing to be laughing about now, after all…”

Twilight sighed, and trailed her eyes towards the floor. “You got that right…”

As the two mares trotted alongside each other down the Cistern, they continued to exchange loose banter about the circumstances of the night. Twilight learned, after a few questions, that Octavia was a ‘cellist’ for the Royal Canterlot Symphony Orchestra. She had been playing an instrument called the ‘cello’ (Twilight was intending on asking just what kind of positions and instruments these were, but decided that it wasn’t important) along with her band-mates for the Grand Galloping Gala, just as they had every year.

While Octavia was hesitant to shed light on what exactly happened during the Gala that went so wrong, Twilight was eventually able to coax out what she had been through. “All I know,” the mare explained, “was that this ‘Alack Zander’, or whatever name he called himself, had… done something. He called forth this odd magic… Well, it was like normal unicorn magic, only… it was colored almost pitch-black.”

“Pitch-black magic…?”

“If I had to choose the best word to describe its effects, I would only have to say… darkness. It was so… frightening. Never had I felt so cold, so… afraid… It was like a living nightmare. The crowd scattered, panicked… my friend Ivory Keys—the pianist—took me by the hoof and led me away from the ballroom before the… screaming… and crying… of stallions and mares alike…”

“…And where did you go?”

“To the Storage cellar, of course. I knew of the way just as much as he did. There was a passageway that led directly into the Cisterns. We encountered nopony else along the way, and everything appeared safe, so we both established a… shall we say, ‘hiding spot’. In my naïveté, onset by confusion and terror of what happened, I only assumed that we would wait until the princesses had everything under control.”

“But I suppose that didn’t end up happening, huh…”

Octavia sighed. “No, sadly. When we decided to venture back into the castle, there were these… things roaming the halls. They looked like ponies, but… dear Celestia, the smell… they clearly weren’t normal. We got chased once, by those things. I tripped, and fell… and it got me.”

“Wait…! But if it got you… then how are you here…?”

“That’s just it. The last thing I remember is fainting from the sheer horror of it all… and the next thing I knew, I was waking in some kind of filthy dungeon. Nopony else was there with me, and I dreaded of thought of what those creatures wanted, so… I tried escaping.”

“And… you did, right?”

“No. I ended up failing, quite miserably I might add.” She half-heartedly chuckled. “And I thought that was it for me. For my career, my passion, and my life. I remained there for almost a day… until he came for me.”

“…Who?”

Something of a mournful frown appeared on Octavia’s features. “Ivory. He’d been tracking me down apparently. When he eventually found my cell, all it took was a quick buck to demolish it. Nopony’s ever been thrown in the Canterlot dungeons in so long, I suppose the cell doors weren’t quite as strong as my captors had hoped. He broke down the door, we made a gallop for it… but for the longest while, we hadn’t been able to find a way out. Again, that horrid substance.”

“Right…”

“We decided to return here the Cisterns, hoping that there would be a way out of Canterlot via the maintenance tunnels. We’ve... I’ve… yet to actually find a way out, but it’s not my fault the tunnels are so maze-like…”

“Wait, if you were both trying to find a way out, then… where is this ‘Ivory Keys’? Is he somewhere close by?”

Octavia’s breath hitched in her throat, and her expression became pained for a moment. “Ah… he’s… close, in a sense… but… still very far away…”

“But, hang on, you mentioned a friend before too, right? It was when you said that your ‘friend thought the same’… which was about me thinking that the monster in the water was harmless… so…” Twilight’s brain was soon able to put two and two together. And as realization dawned upon the unicorn, Octavia’s frown was deepening into outright sorrow. “Wait, so your friend is…”

“…Dead.” A single tear slid down Octavia’s cheek, and she hastily wiped it clean as she sniffled. “We used to wade through the water, since we were hoping that by following the stream, we’d eventually lead to where it drains out… that is to say, the exit. But then we heard the splashes… and we both wondered what it was… and then it got close… and…” She sniffled again, and veiled her face with a raised foreleg as she slumped onto her haunches. “…it… completely tore him apart…”

Twilight knew that she should have felt something. Anything. Shock at hearing her friend was dead. Empathy for the poor, sniveling mare in front of her. Maybe even some anger towards the vicious creature that did this. But she felt none of these. Her emotions had become a blank slate, wiped clean by a damp cloth. The only comment that escaped her lips was, “That’s… terrible.”

Perhaps it was psychological shock. She’d been close to death only once before… and that was when she was looking after Raindrops. Back then, the thought of the pegasus dying at her hooves was too terrible to comprehend. Twilight would have blamed herself for letting her die if she did. But now… why did the news of another pony’s friend dying not seem to affect her?

Octavia didn’t seem to catch on to Twilight’s relatively emotionless statement, but that may have been simply because she was weighed down by her own emotion too much to notice. “I know… I-it was awful, simply awful… to watch, to hear, and to… smell…” The gray pony shivered, and the tears started to flow. “I ran… as fast as I could… t-there was naught I could do… I… I… left him…”

Twilight noticed that any shred of aristocratic dignity that Octavia held prior had truly gone with the wind. All that was left was a broken mare; a sobbing, blubbering wreck of a pony who had no purpose nor meaning in this world. The emotions that the cellist held… she had been trying to contain them, confident that her refined mannerisms would hold out against the pain of losing somepony she had worked with for so long. But the pain won out, and in its wake left Octavia broken and dejected, left to wade in a torrent of her emotions.

…For some reason, Twilight couldn’t feel pity at all. Sure, she was sad that somepony had died, and quite violently as well, but… she couldn’t ‘feel’ sad. Perhaps it was just shock? Maybe, since she had no contact or attachment to this pony being described, Twilight wasn’t in a position to feel much remorse for this?

However, if anything did get through to her compassion, it was the sight of the crying mare before her. “Hey… don’t cry…” she said softly, putting a hoof on Octavia’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’ll be… okay…” It may have been a half-flanked attempt on Twilight’s part, but it seemed to work nevertheless. At least, it mostly did.

“It’s… alright,” Octavia said, wiping away the tears and sniffling. “I… I should be better than this. Look at me; I’m an absolute wreck…” She shook her head vigorously. “No, I should not let my emotions get the better of me. Why should I? They’d… just slow me down. I can’t be weak; I need to be strong… Otherwise, all that Ivory ever did for me would have been in vain…”

Twilight felt bad for Octavia. The poor mare seemed like she had been through Tartarus and back… and didn’t have the good fortune of not remembering it. Twilight had never thought of it until now, but perhaps her not knowing what happened to herself was a good thing. Perhaps that is why her ‘past self’ induced her own amnesia; to protect herself from remembering the truth… likely because it would be too horrible to comprehend.

And for what? She already figured out that her friends had been taken and turned into twisted monstrosities, and that ponies had died this evening. What more could possibly be worse than that? Unless, there was a deeper and even more horrifying secret just waiting…

…ugh. There was no time to ponder such thoughts. Nothing good would come of it. She already knew the most important part of the arrangement: ‘kill Alack Zander.’ That’s what the note had said. Nothing more was written or needed, besides saving her friends (whom already seemed beyond help already). It seemed like a fairly cliché plan to undertake, but it always was the most basic, and therefore, the easiest.

If only it were so.

Twilight spent a moment comforting the depressed earth pony, when her vision started getting a little blurry for some reason. Before long, a sudden stab of pain shot through her skull, and the unicorn let out an abrupt and stifled cry. She rubbed her temples to massage the pain away, but it continued getting worse.

All at once, her vision was suddenly obscured by a familiar white void.

…But it didn’t remain that way for long. It was almost like being blinded for a moment by a camera flash. The light in her vision died down again rather quickly, and her sight was restored… however, everything seemed… different. Her view was still blurry, and there was a peculiar orange tint to everything she could see. And her hearing was abnormally distorted as well; like there was some kind of bizarre double echo or stereo effect going on in her head.

Twilight wasn’t sure what to make of this. She’d never experienced such an event before. Even her earlier ‘visions’ weren’t to this kind of level. She could see, not just hear.

And what she saw, on the walkway with her, was a small, pink-coated unicorn filly. Her mane was fluffy and yellow, and eyes a pale blue. A mark that bore resemblance to a tiny red heart graced her flank.

The unicorn stared at the filly with combined shock, curiosity, and distinct familiarity. Was she really seeing this? A filly had appeared basically out of the ether? This made absolutely no sense! Surely there could not be a real live foal, just standing there… and yet, here she was.

Curiously though, the filly’s face seemed to be contorted into one of abject terror. Even more, she was backing away nervously, while staring directly at Twilight with those big pink eyes.

“No… Get… get away from me! Leave me alone!”

The voice was tiny and shrill, and yet had a strange cave-like echo to it. It sounded so close, and yet, so far away. Twilight couldn’t understand why the filly seemed so scared. Without thinking, she began to walk towards her and held out her hoof in a (somewhat) gentle and beckoning manner. “Hey now… Don’t be scared, I… I won’t hurt you…”

“NO! Go away! I don’t wanna die!”

Twilight felt herself moving closer to her, phasing out the fact that this filly was experiencing terror. What was this filly yammering about, anyway? There was nothing to be afraid of. “Shh… Nothing is going to happen… You’re going to be safe… Just relax…”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

After letting out a terrified squeal of fright, the filly turned tail and galloped away on her tiny hooves, quickly vanishing beyond Twilight’s field of vision into the darkness beyond. Without thinking, the unicorn broke into a brisk run after her, the lantern still hanging from her mouth as it clattered about wildly. She could hear Octavia calling out to her from behind, but it meant nothing at the moment.

She just had to chase her.

VIII: Torrent

Twilight ran fast, and ran far. The filly that she was chasing for no obvious reason was somewhere around these tunnels, and she didn’t care where her search would take her. All other thoughts seemed to have become shut out from her mind, as if somepony had shoved them in a closet and locked it up thrice. She couldn’t even ask herself why she was feeling this way; she only knew that she had to find that foal.

At last, she had reached an intersection in the tunnels. It was a four-way junction, with a large metal grating covering the center of the connection. The grating appeared to be meant to walk on, which must have allowed for any maintenance workers to change position on the walkways. Considering that the grating hovered precariously over the water, where that invisible beast was sure to be lurking, it seemed not quite as safe as the designers of the Cisterns may have hoped.

But all of this was lost on Twilight. She was still stuck on a peculiar autopilot, chasing after some filly that she thought she knew, and felt like she did, but ultimately did not know. Twilight pondered for several moments on which direction to go, before finally deciding on a leftward turn and running along the water tunnel in that given direction.

It wasn’t long before fortune favored her. The filly that she had been so avidly chasing was once again within sight. The unicorn’s spirits leapt; she had found her at last! The foal’s vividly pink eyes stared at Twilight with abject terror as she approached.

“No! NO! Stay away from me! Get away, get AWAY!!”

Twilight, in her current state, ignored the filly’s cry of fear. She had found her quarry. She had fulfilled the master’s desires. There would be one more for the cages. And maybe, just maybe, another one for the—

Just as she reached out to make a grab, the foal suddenly released a shrill, earsplitting scream. It actually hurt to listen to the sound—it was enough to make Twilight wince with pain—but she pressed on after only a moment’s pause. She reached out with her hoof…

The filly screamed again. And as before, the unicorn flinched, and withdrew her hoof. Twilight wasn’t sure what to make of this. All attempts at comprehension resulted in a rather nasty headache. But, hearing the scream… it seemed to awaken some unknown feeling deep within her, but she couldn’t quite place it…

Perhaps it was… guilt?

As soon as this thought entered her mind, many others took its place. Horrid thoughts. Nightmarish thoughts. Incomprehensible thoughts that would make anypony sick just by thinking about them. Ghastly, terrifying thoughts. And though she hardly batted an eyelid at any of them, that sick feeling in her gut continued to escalate. What was amiss all of a sudden? What felt so wrong about this?

The filly screamed yet again, jarring Twilight from her thoughts once more. She never felt so confused in her life. Her mind was a swirling pool of emotions and memories, each and every one of which was trying to vie for her total attention.

D o n ’ t d o i t !

G e t h e r !

S a v e h e r !

K i l l h e r !

R u n a w a y !

G e t t h a t f o a l !

N o ! D o n ’ t !

O b e y m e !

F i g h t b a c k !

While she struggled internally, the foal had, unbeknownst to Twilight, taken the chance to run off into the darkness again. She was screaming the whole way still. Twilight had little time to dwell on her dilemma, however, as her vision once again flashed white…

…and she finally became aware of herself.

What… happened?

The light died away, and Twilight blinked. She was still in the Cisterns. Still alive, and still active, it seemed. Her leg throbbed with the ghost of its earlier injury, but was otherwise intact. The sound of gentle flowing water and rather pungent odors of the tunnels still lingered in the air. Her surroundings were dark, and she could barely see beyond a range of a few yards. Everything seemed as it should.

And yet, everything was not. Her memory now possessed a significant gap. One moment, she was with the cellist player Octavia, and the next, she ends up in another section of the Cistern… completely alone. What had she been doing? How did she end up here? Why could she suddenly not even recall what had been going on?

Feasible answers to these questions did not come to mind, and Twilight began to worry. She couldn’t have just forgotten something again, could she? Or was… was it something that she didn’t want to remember? Trying to focus on what just happened only succeeded in bringing on a ringing headache, so Twilight decided to let it be for the time being.

Tasting metal in her mouth, the unicorn remembered that she still held the Dragonfire Lantern clumsily by her teeth. It was a wonder that she hadn’t dropped it yet, but Twilight wasn’t one to question her fortune. Without light after all, she would have almost no chance in the dark.

Twilight raised the lantern a little higher, and checked her surroundings once more. Empty, as far as she was concerned. Not a sound was heard, save for the sloshing of the gently-flowing water canals below. Not one pony besides herself was present as well, and—

Wait a minute… where’s Octavia?

Panic quickly set in. The only other pony that she knew was still alive in this place was now missing. Twilight’s heart sank as this realization finally took root in her psyche. Where had she gone? She had been right by her side a moment ago, and now…

“Oct…Octavia?” the unicorn meekly called out, swapping glances between both directions in which the tunnel ran. “Octavia…? Are you out there? Please say something…”

The sound of running water answered her.

Twilight bit down harder on the lantern, and she edged herself closer to the wall. She felt so small, so vulnerable all of a sudden. Where had her feeling of security gone? Perhaps, like Octavia, it had gone as well. To Twilight’s credit, it was rather impressive how far she had come, all by her lonesome. But now, having finally met a pony that was actually on level grounds with her, willing to cooperate, the notion of continuing on alone was unthinkable. Perhaps even suicidal.

But if Twilight were to try and locate the other mare, then where would she even begin to look? Her memory gap must have spanned a fairly significant amount of time, if she had ended up in a completely different section of the Cisterns as before. Who was to say that Octavia wasn’t looking for her, right at this moment?

Grrrroooooooooaaaaaaahhh…

The walls of the tunnel shook, and dust fell from the ceiling as yet another tremble struck the Cisterns. Twilight cried out with distress, and threw herself to the ground while shielding her head from any falling debris. Why were these ‘earthquakes’ becoming more and more common? What was going on in this place? And just where was that resonant growling coming from?

Twilight didn’t even care for these questions to be answered; she only wanted it all to end. Squeezing her eyes shut, the unicorn could only ask one simple question. One that, throughout history, was always the hardest to answer.

Why?

======< O >======

—Throne Room—

Alack Zander stumbled as the entire palace was shook by yet another quake. Out of the window, the stallion glimpsed the upper section of the Archives breaking away from the rest of the structure. He watched grimly as the tower collapsed and tumbled into the valley below, joining the heaps of stonework that lay there in a mangled pile of marble and granite.

“We’ve not much time,” Zander noted solemnly, turning away from the window with a dour expression. “…Servant. I summon you.”

At his prompt, the shadow appeared before him. The twisted, darkened form of pitch-blackness that somehow resembled a pony stood there, awaiting its master’s command with eternal patience. Alack Zander observed the subtle intrigue of the supernatural being for the slightest of moments, and then spoke.

“The situation has changed. Likewise, I am altering our plan. Order the Bound to suspend the disposal of the Remnants,” the silver-maned stallion commanded. “Instead, have them moved to the Mortuary, and lock them up. The Remnants can rot for all I care. Also, have the Bearers of Generosity and Laughter begin to oversee the preparations immediately.”

The shadow silently nodded once with acknowledgment.

Zander briefly looked out the window, deep in thought, and then added, “Should the Remnant of Magic somehow evade Loyalty and escape the Cistern, the gardens would be the next place she would likely end up in. Most of the channels that don't lead straight out of the city and into the valley would go through there. Have the Bearer of Honesty in place to intercept her, in case of such an event.”

Once more, the shadow servant gave its assent. With a flash of dark light, it was gone again.

The blue-coated unicorn smiled forebodingly. He turned to face the back of the room, where a pony-shaped figure was being suspended in the hold of a floating, metallic cage to the right of the golden throne.

“…Though of course, there’s always a third option that one can take.”

Alack Zander slowly approached the magical prison, and spent a moment observing the prisoner within: a green-coated unicorn mare, unconscious and wholly unaware of all the horror that had transpired in this place, or what role her presence would soon play.

“And I know for a fact that it will not fail. She will not fail.” He grazed a hoof along one of the bars, and his eyes narrowed. “After all… your life depends on that fact. She cares too much about you not to succeed.”

The stallion sighed wistfully, and gazed at the giant stained-glass windows of the famed Elements of Harmony, and of the many others dedicated to friendship and peace. Reminders of a bygone era, and of happier times. Reminders of the time before everything he had fell apart.

“Love… It brings out the best… and the worst in us.”

======< O >======

—Cisterns—

Twilight heard a noise. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was loud. And close by. Still reeling from the earlier trembles, the unicorn turned to face the direction of the sound while bringing the lantern forward.

While the tunnel was indeed empty, the distant noise continued to persist. The darkness hindered Twilight’s vision, even with the aid of the Dragonfire lantern, so she strained her eyes to try and see ahead more broadly.

And yet, nothing revealed itself to her.

Taking tentative steps forward, Twilight braved a walk back the way she had come; and to where the noise was audible now.

The mare wondered what she would find. If she was fortunate, perhaps it was simply Octavia, perhaps calling out to her from a great distance. Although, other and more gruesome thoughts slithered into her mind. What if she was in trouble? What it was another monster, making indiscriminate noises to lure her?

Twilight forced herself to swallow, and tightened her mouth's grip on the lantern. The darkness was starting to get to her again, she realized. This place just didn't feel right. It made her feel slightly ill, as if this place was somehow sickening and wearing at her mind. The actual smell of the Cisterns, of course, notwithstanding.

Tense minutes passed as the unicorn trotted down the Cistern tunnel, and she suddenly, and involuntarily, came to a halt. An abrupt chill ran through her body, and her vision blurred as she felt another headache coming on. Is this going to become a regular thing? she mentally groused, clenching her eyes shut and hissing with pain.

Passing almost as swiftly as it arrived, the throbbing in her skull subsided, and Twilight opened her eyes again.

Something seemed… different. Unusual.

Why... why do I feel so... cold? A-and so... numb...

Twilight shook her head in an attempt to jostle a sense of feeling back into herself, but it did little good. A sense of dread began to rise within her, filling up the vacant spaces in her psyche. Something was wrong.

She turned her head, lantern still held shakily, and spared a gaze at the closest wall to her right. The lantern clearly lit up the spot she was looking at. Her eyes widened with shock.

Blood. Still fresh, and smeared across the crumbling stone wall in crude writing:

'SHADOWS DON'T HAVE HEARTS'

It was everywhere, now that she looked. The ceiling, floors, walls; everywhere. As if somepony had managed to paint everything around Twilight without her even noticing. All speaking the same, cryptic message.

The noise was starting to get louder.

Twilight let out a strained squeak as she backed away from the wall; far enough that her rear hooves were now perched precariously over the edge that led directly into the waterway. She stared with wide and fearful eyes at the message written in blood. It was the exact same message that had been scribed on the back of her self-addressed note, which she found many hours ago.

Reaching back into her saddlebags, Twilight pulled out the note in question, and checked the message again. To her shock, the message's bad hoofwriting was nearly identical in style to that of the message on the wall.

It... it can't be...

The noise was getting even louder now.

Questions mercilessly clawed at Twilight's mind, discarding all of her other concerns at moment. How did the message suddenly appear all over the walls? What did it even mean? And who wrote the message? And perhaps, most importantly… why?

The source of the sound was getting closer. With a slow-burning realization, Twilight identified the sound as the last thing she had wanted to hear in a place like this. At first, her mind wanted to file aside the noise as being produced by the thing that lurked in the water, idly splashing to and fro. But she had gotten so used to that sound already, and she knew that it was not that same sound.

No. It was something else entirely.

“Rrrrraaaaaaagh… Grrraaagh…”

Angry, guttural growling. That is what the noise was. No longer was it distorted by distance, corrupted by the acoustics of the tunnel. It was close. Very close. Someone — or something — was distinctly growling. And it wasn’t the monster in the water.

With achingly slow pace, Twilight turned her head to the left just in time to catch sight of an equine-esque figure shambling down the corridor towards her. Her mind instantly thought of Octavia, but then swiftly rescinded that assumption.

After all, Octavia didn’t have wings.

“Who are y…” the unicorn began to say, but then stopped herself with a strained gulp. A blue pegasus (a mare, judging from its physical build) was striding towards her with a swift, coordinated gait. Her mane seemed to proudly display every color of the rainbow, though the colors appeared washed-out and greyed; even her coat seemed dull, lacking the lustre that it may have once possessed. Her wings, as before indicated, were both extended to their full length. And it wasn't by choice, either; around her midsection was a metal band, with six sharpened rods extruding outwards, forming a loose half-circle that the wings appeared pinned to.

The pegasus mare continued approaching Twilight with steady, determined paces. With every other step it took, the tinny sound of metal on concrete rang out. Out of nervousness, the unicorn began to take tentative steps backward. Upon mustering up enough courage, Twilight chanced another attempt at speaking. “H-hello? W-who are you?”

The pegasus did not reply. Instead, she only hastened her pace. Twilight quickened her pace backwards, interpreting the non-response as a bad sign.

That’s when she noticed that one of the pegasus’s forelegs was, in fact, not a leg. No leg was perfectly straight, never bending at some kind of joint. They don't glisten when the shine of a lantern catches it just right. And they most certainly aren't fashioned from metal.

It was no leg. It was an oversized blade.

Twilight's breath hitched in her throat, and she stumbled backwards. Her rear hoof slipped. She craned her neck around backwards to see why it felt as if the floor had dropped out from beneath her. Her answer was given in the form of a decidedly vacant space beneath her, with the looming, black depths of the water channel gazing up at her in cold welcoming.

Twilight yelped with surprise, and in her desperation, thrashed her rear hooves around violently in a vain attempt at finding ground. In her scramble, the lantern had fallen from her mouth's grip and clattered down the steep angle of the Cistern, falling into the water and putting out the fire with a sharp hiss. Only the dim torchlight of the Cisterns now lit the tunnels. She managed to keep her front hooves planted on the walkway, but as she turned back to face forward she found herself staring straight into the face of the monster she had been frightened by.

Those eyes. They weren't black as coal; not like Fluttershy's. Magenta irises, with a distinct shine and liveliness. They were... alive. She could almost see something hiding behind them. They seemed... sad, in a way. Twilight wasn't sure what to make of it. The pegasi's expression of feral hatred was all-too-clear on her face, but the eyes didn't go along with it. They seemed to... resist it, somehow.

"T...Twi...light..."

The voice sounded hollow and strange; like it took a great effort to utter each syllable. And it was familiar. This monstrosity somehow knew her name, which meant only one thing to Twilight: it had to have been one of her friends. Another victim of Alack Zander's cruelty. A name instantly rose to the forefront of her mind, and she felt tears well in her eyes as she whispered,

"Rainbow Dash..."

For a moment, the pegasus seemed to take in the sound of her own name. Her expression never changed, but something in those magenta eyes seemed to acknowledge her voice. For a moment, they seemed... shamed. Mourning. Heartbroken. Lonely.

Lonely...

That was how Twilight felt, as well. Lonely without her friends, or anypony else around for that matter. Octavia was lonely, too; she had lost her friend forever, and would likely never fully recover from that. Rainbow Dash seemed lonely, a part of the monster Twilight now saw seemed to have accepted that things would never be the same. Even Zander might have been extremely lonely for a large portion of his life (though it still would not excuse him from such atrocities that he had committed). When it really came down to it, they were all so lonely.

Now that Twilight was looking, the pegasus once known as Rainbow Dash seemed to be trembling. Her entire body was shaking like a leaf. The blade that now replaced one of her forelegs seemed to spasmodically twitch every few moments, as if trying to make itself move. Her expression became strained, and something dark seemed to flash behind those eyes. Whatever it was, she was trying desperately to keep herself from doing something. And the unicorn wasn't in the mood to find out.

"R...run... Run..."

The words were extremely forced, pleading to Twilight: Run away. Flee. Get away from here. Make yourself scare. Whichever way it could have been described, she wouldn't argue. But having nowhere else to go, she let her hooves relax, and her forelegs — sore from keeping herself up for so long — slipped away from the edge. Time seemed to dilate as she fell backwards into the canal. Seconds became minutes as she hung in the air, still staring directly into those magenta eyes as they were, slowly, consumed by a torrent of darkness.

Splash!

Twilight didn't like water that much. She had come to think of it as a deathtrap, given the latest input her mind had received on the subject recently. It was dark, cold; unforgiving, in a way. But she had to admit, it had its share of benefits. The coldness felt good sometimes, especially now, when she needed to take her mind off things. Washing away the pains of truth could often be easy, and it helped in a way. That didn't necessarily erase the problems, however, and she knew that.

The current was quite stronger than she remembered. Not quite rapids-level, but it was clearly stronger here than it was further back in the Cistern, back when that monster had almost...

...no sense worrying about that now. If it did come to that again, Twilight thought, then... well, it wouldn't matter. None of it would matter much, anymore. For the first time since her nightmare began, she just let everything go. Her hope had, though inappropriate as it is for the situation, dried-up. The constant image of those eyes being finally overtaken by something unspeakably horrible played itself again and again in her mind.

While she was being swept away down the channel by the increasing current, she heard one final thing in the rapidly growing distance: A scream. An unspeakable, indescribable wail of anger, pain, and sorrow. It echoed through the tunnels, amplifying the cry to the point where its volume became deafening. The walls themselves seemed to cry along with it, creating a heartrending and cacophonous melody of despair.

As Twilight's awareness slipped away, brought on by the frigid cold of the water that carried her onwards, she came to the horrible realization that, deep in her heart, she felt absolutely nothing.

I: Rainfall

Darkness. That was all she could feel. It invaded her mind, penetrated her thoughts, and obscured her sight. Her faculties of consciousness faded in and out as she stumbled blindly against the shadows that she was swift to curse. Throbbing spasms of pain wracked her skull, as if it were threatening to crack open from some kind of intense internal pressure. The mare clutched at her temples blindly and swore under her breath for the nth time.

“Must not forget,” she managed to speak with great effort. “Some things – I can’t let go! Where I am—augh!” Another wave of pain radiated through her cranium, and she stopped. Her breathing became labored as the strength threatened to abandon her body and leave her in the dark. “My name — my name is… ugh, I can’t—!”

She stumbled again, managing to step down the hallway towards the next room. The darkness still gripped at her. Even as she strained her eyelids open to see the path ahead, the edges of her vision were severely blurred and distorted. She was forced to close them tightly again; the pain was simply too much. “I live in Ponyville,” she gasped out, falling to the cold floor as she groaned in pain. “My name – my name…!” She shook her head to ward off the agony. “Augh! N-no! My friends, all gone… I have to save…!”

Urging her body to stand, the mare staggered forward again through the nearest doorway. With a grunt of effort, she forced the wooden door to swing open, and she collapsed to the wet, stone tile floor on the other side of it. She could not bring herself to open her eyes again to see where she was.

The sudden sound of thunder and rainfall seemed to rise above the pain for the briefest of moments, and a white flash of lightning was bright enough for her to see from beneath her eyelids. Groaning and panting, she managed to drag herself several yards along the floor, blindly crawling towards nothing. She was rapidly losing her will to go on; every fiber of her being screamed at her to stop this madness and give up.

But she wouldn’t. Not without a fight, at least.

“This is crazy… I need—ugh!—find… Urgh… I c-can’t remember where…”

What little vigor that had managed to bring the mare here at last departed, and the darkness quickly set to work seeping into her consciousness. Her memories began to fade as her awareness slipped into a state of unknowing. The sound of precipitation and thunder began to quiet as her thoughts became hopelessly blank.

“C-can’t stay awake,” she breathed, feeling her body go numb. “I’m so sorry… I was too weak…”

Finally admitting defeat, the mare allowed her body to fall limp as she lapsed into unconsciousness. The final thought that her mind could manage to process before failing outright was but a simple question:

What have I done?

Rain.

The soft and delicate patter of water dribbling onto stone was somehow loud enough to make the mare stir. She shifted in place slowly, feeling the smooth and wet texture of the tiles she was lying on. As soon as her mind registered this feeling, many more became known to her—not all at once, but gradually. Almost as if each individual sense was waking up with her, one at a time.

Her ears pricked-up automatically; she could hear the gentle rain that woke her, and spent a moment of quiet indolence listening to it. Smell came next, with the mare taking in the general scent of the wet air around her. She, however, did not care for the odor that her own body was producing, as she found that the musky, unwashed aroma of her own fur coat assailed her.

With two major senses accounted for, she started to fully regain her feeling. But she did not like what she felt, for the most part. Her head throbbed with a dull ache, and the mare unconsciously reached a hoof up to rub it as she moaned. She wasn’t sure why she was in such pain. As far as she knew, she hadn’t struck herself on any low joists, or had fallen from any height. She felt something hard and bony protruding from her head—but pulled her hoof away from it rather quickly, as she found that the pain only worsened as she touched it.

With a groan, the mare slowly opened her eyes, and became aware of her surroundings. She was in a hallway, one that ran along the outer edge of some kind of ornate palace. As this particular hall had large, glassless windows that were open to the outside air, a cool and gentle breeze was running through the hall and across the mare’s moderately-soaked coat. It was almost tranquil, in a way; she felt somewhat grateful for this moment of serenity.

The stony tiles she was splayed out onto were wet with rainwater, and only when a wayward drop of water fell on her muzzle did she look up. Portions of the ceiling were littered with holes—how they had gotten there, she wasn’t sure—and the runoff from the recent rainstorm was still pouring down them onto the floor below.

“Wh-where…” She swallowed deeply, realizing how dry and scratchy her throat was. Her voice had cracked, too; she was surprised by the sound of her own voice. “Where am I?”

The mare already felt foalish for asking such a question. Of course she knew where she was. She was in — actually, no. She didn’t know where she was. Upon trying to recall where this place was, and what it was called, her mind turned-up empty. How strange, she thought. Somehow, she could not remember that. Everything from before she woke up was a mere blur, aside from feeling pain. To her, it felt like a long, long time since she had last woken up.

In fact, why was she here, apparently having decided to take up sleeping on the floor? How did she get here? When did she get there? What had happened to her?

…For that matter, who was she?

“I can’t… I can’t remember anything,” she quietly conceded. Her mind was utterly blank—a fact that should have caused her more distress than it was. She had yet to come to full realization of the problems this would cause, however. “I don’t know what happened to me… What was I even doing?”

Summoning what little, frail strength that she possessed, the mare heaved her sorry body off of the cold hard floor and checked her surroundings. It certainly was dark. If not for the moonlight that shone through the wide-open windows (and the few wayward holes in the ceiling), then it would have been pitch black. Instead, the hallway was in a mediated state of both faint illumination and gloom—a harmonization of light and dark that felt rather ominous to the mare.

She shivered a bit. It’s not that the dark scared her much, no; it simply felt rather cold. Icy, almost, despite the lack of snow or actual ice. The constant blowing of the wind may have contributed to that, though her dampened coat and the wetness of her surroundings weren’t making it any warmer either.

She took a hesitant step forward, and as she put her hoof on the floor she heard a tiny splash-ing sound. A bit startled at feeling a wet sensation on her frontal hoof, she turned to stare down at what she had stepped in. A puddle of water, as it happened, that had collected from what little rainwater that flowed through here. Nothing odd or unusual about that, she supposed. Except—

“Hang on,” the mare said with a start, squinting her eyes to make sure she was seeing properly in the low lighting. “Are these… petals?”

Floating tenderly on the surface of the puddle were four tiny pink petals. From what kind of flower, the mare had no idea. A few other petals of the same variety were nearby, resting nice and dry on the stone floor. Something else caught the mare’s attention as well when she gazed at the puddle: her own reflection. By the moon’s faint white glow, she could make out her features.

She was obviously a mare, of course. Her disheveled-looking lavender coat was matted, and her dark-purple mane and tail was split and frayed in some places. A stripe of pink accented her mane as well. From out of her mane, she saw the conical shape of what appeared to be a horn protruding from her forehead—that would explain the thing that she had felt on her head earlier, the mare supposed. She reached up with a hoof to feel it again. Not surprisingly, it still felt extremely tender and sore. But, to her surprise, it also glowed slightly at her touch.

“So… that’s who I am? What even am I?” the mare thought, taking in her appearance; examining herself as best she could, trying to remember if this was what she was supposed to look like. Obviously equine, with a distinctive horn... “Uh… a unicorn, I think… Yeah, I think that’s it.”

Having succeeded in placing the species, she then tried to place a name to the face. Any name. She scoured every recess of her mostly empty mind for an answer to this riddle, but it eluded her all the same. The mare felt frustrated. Her face contorted in anger as she slapped the puddle and muddled up the reflection. She couldn’t remember anything! Why? Why couldn’t she remember?!

She grumbled a curse, and sat back on her haunches to try and think her situation through. The only things that stood out in her mind were but a hoofful of simple points; short, bare-bone memories. She wasn’t fully aware of their full meanings, but she somehow knew they were important. It felt like they were being cradled—protected, almost—from her memory loss.

I live in Ponyville.

My friends are gone. I must save them.

My name is… … …

That last bit, the all-important identity of her psyche, her name — it was missing. She felt so empty—so incomplete—without a name. Who cares if she lived in Ponyville, wherever that was? And these friends of hers; why did she have to save them? Just because they were “gone”? She didn’t even remember having any friends! It didn’t make any sense!

Now she was getting even more frustrated. Where was she now? It certainly didn’t look like any ‘Ponyville’ that she could think of. If there was one thing for sure, she just wanted to get out of this place. The darkness was starting to make her feel nervous, and the oddly quiet atmosphere made her wonder if she was even supposed to be here. Where was everyone else, she wondered? Weren’t there supposed to be others around here, as well?

Just then, another gust of wind kicked up. It was slightly more powerful than last time, she noticed, and her mane was almost blown completely to one side because of it. She didn’t have the audacity to simply curse it out loud. The wind gust picked up some dust and dirt along the way, blowing up a tiny cloud of detritus…

…and pink petals.

The unicorn mare watched with a mild sense of curiosity and fascination at the way the petals flitted and swam through the air. Somehow, she felt like she should have been making an observation of this subtle phenomenon — study the patterns, calculate how and why the lightweight petals were moving as they were.

She shook this intrusive thought from her head. It didn’t matter much to her at the moment. A part of her felt somewhat disappointed at missing out on this apparent “opportunity”, but the unicorn shrugged off the sensation.

The wind carried those alluring petals down the open-air corridor, swishing and sashaying from left to right, until they disappeared out of sight into a doorway that she noticed was left wide open. It couldn’t have been more than a dozen hooves from her current position.

“That was a bit… abnormal,” the mare observed, still watching the door that the petals had just been blown into. “I wonder where they went…”

Unsure of the validity of the mysterious petal’s guidance, she nevertheless decided that she should—goodness gracious, she was about to follow a bunch of petals to freedom? Unbelievable.

But somehow, it had to be right. It’s not like there was another way out of this place. Unless, of course, she was completely wrong. The petals could be little more than odd coincidence, and she would just get herself hopelessly lost by following them deeper into the darkness—

The unicorn dispersed the bleak thoughts stirring in her mind; there were more urgent matters to deal with. Right now, she kept but a simple point in mind: follow the trail of petals. She wasn’t sure why, but when she thought about these petals, something seemed to click inside her brain – like a puzzle piece sliding into the right place. The mare, for the life of her, couldn’t imagine how they were significant, but she somehow knew that they were. In this instance, she decided to follow her gut instinct.

She released a breath that she hadn’t realized that she was holding. “Follow the leader I guess,” she muttered, seeing no other reason to stay in this area.

Walking with uncertainty, taking small, treacherous steps at first, the mare soon found her stride. Her head still ached, though the pain was merely distracting at worst. She still couldn’t quite walk straight, or that fast even, but it was certainly an improvement over “completely immobile”. Perhaps if she had a better sense of direction, then she could count on her own judgment to guide her; not fragile petals like the ones that she had chosen to follow. The thought hurt what little pride she had, but the mare tried not to let it bother her.

Trotting over to the open doorway, the unicorn suddenly felt an odd sense of déjà-vu. This door was familiar. Very familiar. Somehow. She didn’t quite know why. After a moment of contemplation, with nothing further surfacing in mind, the mare decided it wasn’t worth wasting precious seconds on. She ignored the feeling, and slowly trotted inside.

Rather than close the door (which would only be the polite thing to do, so as not to allow a draft inside), she simply left it open. This was not laziness; she left it open so that the hallway beyond would be at least partially illuminated. If the mare had not done so and closed it behind her, she would have been quickly plunged into complete darkness.

But even with the light that was now filtering in from behind her – casting a menacing-looking shadow inside – the hall was still quite dark. Not utterly, no, but the unicorn could not see much further than a few meters ahead of her. She found herself gulping. Everything was still. Almost too still. It reeked of something nasty waiting to happen.

“Dark,” the mare observed quietly, shivering. Whether it was from the cold or from fear at this point, she wasn’t even sure. “It’s really… dark. Just what’s in there?”

She gulped again. Oh well, waiting around wasn’t going to solve her situation anytime soon. Help could not be counted on to come and find her if she was to stay in a darkened corner of this place. She stepped further into the corridor, and nearly tripped over something.

“Ah!” she yelped softly, finding herself unable to stay silent. She backed up and looked at what she had tried to step over. It appeared to be a cylindrically-shaped metal object of some kind. The top end was open, and what the mare presumed to be the cap was lying nearby. She must have accidentally kicked it open, then. Curiosity piqued, she bent down to examine the object, and squinted her eyes to see in the low light.

Inside the open container appeared to be several tiny crystals. Each one had a dull reddish glow to it, as if there was a fire burning inside each individual gem. The mare breathed softly, admiring their subtle beauty. But what were they doing in a capsule such as this? Answers once again failed her, as did her sense of curiosity. They were just some weird rocks; they weren’t worth staring at.

The unicorn was just starting to continue on down the hallway and leave the thing alone, but an insistent thought tugged at her mind. She looked back toward the small cylinder containing the gems, and hesitated. Maybe they would useful for something? She shrugged, turned back around, and bent down to pick up the case of crystals in her mouth. Perhaps she would just carry it around for just a bit…

“Guess I’ll take these with me then,” she spoke through her teeth, her voice slightly muffled. “Now, where was I go—?”

There was a sudden SLAM of the door she had just entered through, ringing out through the hallway with a terrible noise. The light from outside was cut off just as swiftly. She flinched and let out a small yelp, accidentally dropping the metal cylinder to the floor with a hollow clang. A scream rose in the unicorn’s throat and died again almost simultaneously. Her breathing quickened, and her pulse raced.

“Who’s there?!” she questioned aloud, her primal sense of dread beginning to take hold. “What’s going on!? Oh no, no no no…!”

Fueled by adrenaline, the mare jerked her neck around to look at the door behind her. Aside from the soft light peeking from below the door, it was but a wall of darkness to her eyes. It had clearly been slammed shut. But, how did the door close? Who closed the door? Was this place not completely deserted minutes ago?

The equine started to panic as her imagination ran wild. Anything could be out there; rationality and logic be damned. And, in her current mental state, she could only think of the single sensible thing that a scared filly in her situation would do: curl up into a ball, and cower. And that is precisely what she did. She knew next to nothing about dignity; she couldn’t even remember the importance of such values anyway.

From somewhere, the unicorn could hear a terrible rasping. It echoed through the pitch-dark hallway, finding its way to obstructions and reflecting in another direction entirely. She soon realized, however, that the rasps of breath were nothing but her own; a revelation that brought on both relief and a distant sense of embarrassment.

Eschewing from the act of respiration for a moment, she strained her sensitive ears for a sound. If there were another presence nearby, then surely she could manage to hear it. In the silence of the pitch-black surroundings, she remained quite still; the slightest tap of hooves on tiles were like a firecracker to the mare’s ears. From beyond the closed doorway, she could soon make out the faint whooshing of the outdoor breezes as they kicked up again.

“The wind,” she repeated to herself, thinking through what this could have meant. “…Ah! Wind! The wind must have blown the door shut!”

She sighed with placid relief, and uncurled herself from her protective stance before bringing herself back on all fours. At least there was now a plausible explanation for the door slamming. Logic and reasoning had won the day, it seemed. Still, that event had truly alarmed her, and she was still feeling more than a little tense; the darkness still surrounded her, after all. She couldn’t see hide or hoof of anything around her, except for…red?

To her surprise, the crystals from the open container she had picked up (and subsequently dropped when the door slammed shut) were glowing faintly; their dull illumination was much more noticeable than before. They seem even more breathtaking when fully able to cast their own light.

Having found a means of lighting (dim as it was), the unicorn mare picked up the box again and scooped up the crystals that had spilled onto the floor. When she was done, she turned and slowly walked back down the silent hallway, keeping a firm grip on the box. By now, she was about a dozen hooves away from the now-shut door behind her, and the light from her crystal box was almost too dim to see even a half-hoof through the darkness ahead.

Thankfully, after another minute of slow ambling she had finally reached the end of the hallway. Another door—a wooden one with an antique handle on the front—stood in her path. She immediately noticed the petals that rested directly at the base of the door, their pink color now vivid from the similarly-hued light source.

“Well, that was easy enough,” she observed, glad that she was making steady progress. But now was not the time to celebrate just yet. It was still very dark, and the unicorn was not sure if this door would lead someplace brighter, someplace just as dark, out of the castle, or to the pits of Tartarus itself. At this point, what more could be lost or achieved?

She steeled herself, and put a hoof to the door and pushed. It wouldn’t budge. She tried again, harder this time. It shifted slightly, so it wasn’t locked. Still, it didn’t look like it would very easy to move. A look of grim determination appeared on the unicorn’s face.

“Oh well,” she muttered, positioning her body against the door as she dug her hooves in the tiles. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained…!”

She put all of her weight and flank against the exit, teeth biting tightly on the cylinder as she strained against it. With a dreadful creaking of the hinges, and discordant scraping of wood against stone, the door slowly swung open. The mare smiled victoriously as she pushed her way through, but then put a hoof to her head and moaned. All that stress made her head hurt again. And her teeth were a tad sore too, from clenching the cylinder so hard.

She managed to shrug off the pain and walked into the adjoining room, leaving the dark hallway behind. With a slight gasp, she realized that at least one of her predictions had indeed come true: The room in here was significantly brighter.

Though, it was still a tad murky. There were flickering candles here and there, the ceiling was adorned with large square-shaped holes paned with glass—skylights, she realized—with the moon shining down through them, and somepony who designed this place apparently thought it would be chic to hang a chandelier as well. A large, marble staircase went straight up the center of the room, and branched off in both left and right wings that led to the upper levels. If nothing else, she felt that this chamber was extremely familiar.

“It looks like a,” she started to say, but then stopped herself. Like a what? She honestly did not know. While she could not deny that this room looked rather important, and was extensively familiar, the exact purpose of this chamber was lost on her. “Like a… uh, what kind of room is this?”

And that is when she started to remember.

IV: Heart

For the longest while, Twilight believed that she was alone in this foreboding castle. The empty hallways and otherwise dilapidated appearance of much of the structure gave the impression that this place was old and crumbling. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought that the place was in advanced disrepair by a good several centuries.

And yet, somehow that couldn’t be right. The entrance hall still appeared to be relatively new; there were smooth, white and black tiles on the floor and a pretty red rug that went straight from the main gate up the staircase for heaven’s sake. So why did everything else seem like it was crumbling?

Regardless, her thoughts of the castle being abandoned were first dashed away back in the Old Archives when she was cornered by… something. Twilight didn’t know what it was, but she sure as hay didn’t want to find out. Even then, she was still certain there were no real ponies anywhere else in the castle.

But now, her beliefs were well and truly buried when she saw a yellow pony with a light-blue mane and tail shambling down the right-wing of the staircase, a look of pained despair on her face.

“Please… help… me…”

After uttering those weakened words, the mare slumped and fell. She tumbled and went down the rest of the shallow staircase, and came to rest at the foot of it, where she lay on her side quite still.

Twilight wasn’t sure how to react at first. When she first saw this pony arrive out of nowhere, the unicorn’s first reaction was fright. What if it would try and hurt her? However, she immediately perished the thought when the poor mare called out to her for aid and collapsed on her side.

Though delayed as they were, Twilight’s base instincts clicked on like a switch. In seconds, she had rushed to the mare’s side. “Hello? Hello?! Are you okay?!”

The yellow-coated mare didn’t reply. Horrified, Twilight placed a hoof on the mare’s chest to check for signs of life. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a beating heart, however weak it was. The mare’s chest gently rose and fell also, so she was still breathing at least. Good, good…

But… what was wrong with her? Twilight checked the unconscious pony over once again, trying to diagnose the issue. She was no doctor, but it didn’t take a genius to recognize that this poor mare was in pain. Taking a glance over her body, the unicorn discovered that this pony seemed to have… wings? In an instant, she realized that this mare was, if truth be told, a pegasus.

Twilight examined the pony’s entire body for signs of distress, but found no clear wound of any sort. At least, not any from her angle. Then what was the problem with this mare? Was she just exhausted, or what? She grunted with frustration and nudged the pegasus’s cheek with her hoof. “Come on… wake up…”

“…” The pegasus mare still did not stir. Twilight brushed aside a lock of the pony’s light-blue mane and forced one of her eyelids open. Besides the blue-colored eye facing in a completely off-center direction, the pupil was severely dilated. Letting the eye shut again, the unicorn knitted her brow in confusion. The pony’s breathing was getting weaker by the minute. What was wrong?!

…And then, slowly, Twilight realized that she seemed to be stepping in some kind of puddle.

She looked down, and spent a moment processing what she saw. It was red. A thick, red fluid. She lifted a hoof up and looked at it. There was red staining it as well. Twilight gave it a cautious sniff. It seemed to have a… strangely pungent and metallic scent…

Her brain spent a moment connecting the dots. And when the realization finally hit her, a surge of horror swept over her being like a blast of arctic air. She was standing in a still-growing pool of this pony’s blood.

A scream echoed throughout the chamber and beyond.

Gasping and blubbering with alarm, Twilight grabbed onto the mare and flipped her body onto the other side. The unicorn almost screamed again, but she held it down with a strained gulp. A large, gnarly laceration was gouged in the pegasus’s side, reaching from the flank to as far as under the wing. It was still hemorrhaging badly.

Twilight was in shock. What kind of creature could inflict a wound this large!?! It must’ve been huge, or something! This poor pony would die if she didn’t do something!

…But what could she do? She had no medical experience to speak of. She was unsure if her “past self” knew such things, but did know that, right now, it didn’t matter. Somepony was dying right in front of her, and she could do naught about it.

…Wait a second! Th-there has to be something!

In a rush, Twilight threw the saddlebags off of her back and started rummaging through them. She took out the lantern, turned it on, and set it off near the pegasus. At least it could help her see what she was doing. The only other things she could find were the red crystals (“Useless!”), the two note pages (“Need those!”), and… that bottle. The one with the…

Ah! Of course! This should work!

Taking the bottle of ‘Laurenum’ out of the bag, the unicorn went back to the unconscious pegasus and spent a moment observing the wound and weighing her options. The sight was sickening, but there was no time for weakness now. Twilight yanked to cork off of the bottle with her teeth, and proceeded to pour the green fluid over the wounded area. It came out as a blob of semi-gelatinous gel, so she had to spread the substance over the wound with a hoof.

Even as she did so, the thought ran across her mind that the wound was still open and bleeding. Directly applying a medicine might not help any infection, or stop the flow of blood at all. But the only remotely medical item she had was the Laurenum, and if she tried to look elsewhere for proper bandages and first aid, the pegasus would likely die before then. Twilight just had to hope that this would be enough.

“Please be alright… Please…”

As she said that, another notion awoke in her psyche. Why, in all of the land, was she helping somepony that just waltzed in out of nowhere? She didn’t even know her! …But, she was injured… and the thought of letting somepony else die without cause was just… just… terrible.

…And who knew, maybe this pony was one of her friends that she was supposed to save.

Twilight observed her “patient” for the next hour. Any improvement seemed almost nonexistent. There were times when the pegasus’s breathing seemed to stop for a minute, only to resume another minute later. Those few times may have given the unicorn one too many heart attacks.

The gray pegasus hadn’t improved much. However, the wound was, astoundingly, almost fully healed. The once-large and deep gash across her side had since scabbed over and stopped bleeding, and it appeared that it was healing properly. Twilight was amazed that the Laurenum did its job of healing wounds so well… but the mare still wouldn’t wake up…

Seeds of worry began to take root in Twilight’s mind. Why wasn’t she waking up? What if it was too late? What if the pegasus had already lost too much blood? What if… she was in hemorrhagic shock? Was she… still going to die?! After all that she went through…!

N…no! Come on, wake up! WAKE UP!

Twilight nearly kicked the unconscious mare; she was that frustrated. It just wasn’t fair! Why did ponies have to die? Why?! Why did there have to be pain?! What kind of madness was going ON in this castle?! She let out a scream of aggravation, stomping the floor with her hooves.

After a moment of venting her emotions, all of the stress and anger she held bottled up worked their way out of her system. All that was left afterward was a feeling of quiet worthlessness. She hadn’t noticed the tears that had formed in her eyes and dripped to the floor.

“Why… why does all of this have to happen…? What did that horrible pony do to this place? What did he do to me?”

Twilight couldn’t say that she had any recollection of this Alack Zander. All she knew about him currently was what that note she wrote before losing her memory said. And it was those darned petals that made her forget, apparently. If she hadn’t forgotten, then maybe she’d know what she was supposed to do…

“…Ugh…”

The unicorn’s ears perked up. She craned her neck around to look at the unconscious mare… only to discover that she wasn’t as unconscious anymore. Twilight could hardly believe her eyes. The butter-yellow pegasus, with that flowing cyan mane, was shifting around.

Twilight was hovering over the mare the very next instant, and found, to sweet reprieve, that the pegasus was still alive. And, from the looks of it, was now regaining her senses. One of the mare’s eyelids slowly opened, revealing the blue-colored eyes hidden beneath. The eyeball trained itself on Twilight, who was absolutely jovial with relief. “You’re okay… You’re awake…”

A few seconds passed, with the pegasus quietly regarding the purple unicorn before her. And then she smiled.

“Th…thank you…”

With that simple expression of gratitude, her eye slid shut again… and she fell asleep, still smiling.

Twilight found herself, for the first time since waking up in this awful place, smiling as well. Not a simple relieved smile or a smile of amusement… a genuine, blissful smile.

She had just saved a pony’s life.

“So. She is still alive, then.”

The stallion who spoke those words, so coldly and concisely, glared down at the creature that stood before him. The equine-shaped thing, one that looked as if it was constructed out of the shadows themselves, gave its master a slow nod.

“And she wanders the castle halls as well… That should be impossible. I know what I did to her. …But, it changes nothing. You brought no harm to her?”

Another nod. The stallion sighed, partly of relief, and partly of uncertainty.

“Good. Even considering the… unusual circumstances, she could still prove useful… in due time.”

Turning around to face the stained glass window to his left, the unicorn stallion frowned. The depiction in the tall windowpane showed the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, blasting the Spirit of Chaos, Discord, with pure magic. He was familiar with the occurrence. After all, he had attended the celebratory ceremony after that incident was dealt with, and the new window was revealed then. It was a more pleasant time…

“……” He turned his head to face the shadow servant. “Bring me the Bearer of Kindness. I have a task for her.”

The shadow blinked its solid white eyes once, and bowed once with acknowledgment. At once, the spectral entity vanished into the ether, gone before the stallion could bat an eye.

With a long, thoughtful sigh, the blue-coated stallion looked up at the huge chamber around him. What was once the princess’s throne room, the symbol of political power in Canterlot… was now all his. He almost granted himself a smirk at the thought. A simple pony like him, after all that he went through to get here…

…finally, his life would be restored. Once the Bearers and Elements were synchronized, and the preparations for the ritual complete… everything will be as it should have been, before it all went wrong. He would have back at long last what was so cruelly taken from him, his—

A sudden tremor interrupted his thoughts. He stumbled on his hooves for a moment as the floor shook underhoof, before finally regaining traction. The stallion turned to look out of a clear section of the window, just in time to witness a large section of a nearby tower break away from the castle… and fall down the almost vertical slope of Mt. Mare into the forested valley below.

The unicorn shook his head with quiet lament. The castle was deteriorating faster than he had imagined. It was such a beautiful structure, too… But these things were necessary. And with the preparations nearly complete, it wouldn’t matter what happened to the castle.

He smiled. Everything would soon be right again.

Twilight spent the next half-hour making sure the sleeping pegasus was kept comfortable. A few mild “earthquake” tremors happened again, along with distant sounds of something crumbling, but they were relatively minor. She wasn’t going to worry about that at the moment, though.

It wasn’t until another half an hour passed by that the pegasus mare woke up again. She still hadn’t much energy to try and get up, so the mare simply lay there as she was. Relieved to see she was still alright nevertheless, Twilight hoped to try and get to know the mare she just saved a little better. “Um… Hello. Are you feeling okay?”

“…I could be…better,” the pegasus replied, flipping a lock of her cyan-dyed mane out of her eyes. She coughed, and cast a withering look to the scabbed-over wound on her side. “For a while… I thought I was going to die in this Celestia-forsaken castle…”

“But you didn’t die.”

“Yeah… I guess I have you to thank for that, huh...”

Twilight smiled and shied away modestly. “It was nothing… I just couldn’t stand to see somepony hurt like that.”

“You’re too kind, really… Thank you so much…” The pegasus stopped for a moment, as if thinking about something. “…My name is Raindrops, by the way.”

“Oh? Why do they call you that?”

“Because…” Raindrops gestured towards a mark on her flank: a trio of blue water droplets. “…I’m one of the best weatherponies from Ponyville. Rain is my specialty.”

Ponyville…?

Upon hearing that name—the name of the only place she could remember living—Twilight snapped to attention. If this pegasus was from Ponyville, does that mean… “W-wait! You’re from Ponyville?”

“Um, yes?”

“So am I!”

Raindrops blinked with surprise. “Oh… That’s quite a coincidence.”

“Yeah, it is…I guess. Anyway, um…” Twilight remembered the names of her friends that the note specified. Raindrops may not have been one of them, but she might at least know something about her friends if she was from Ponyville too… “Do you know the names Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash? They’re my friends… I’m trying to find them.”

“…” The blue-maned pegasus looked at the floor, obviously upset about something. “I know Rainbow Dash well… Me and her are both weathermares, so we often run into each other while on duty… But…tonight, she…” Raindrops trailed off, and slowly shook her head.

Twilight looked at the pegasus with confusion. “Do you know if she’s here? Or if my other friends are?”

“Oh, they’re here alright,” Raindrops replied rather darkly, and gave a harsh cough. “The Gala this year was a bust, I’ll tell you that…”

“The… Gala…? Why? What…what happened?”

The butter-yellow pegasus gave Twilight the most incredulous look she could manage. “Are you serious? You… you don’t know what’s going on here?”

A moment of hesitation passed by before Twilight bit her lower lip and shook her head. She only knew that her friends were in danger, somepony was hatching a grisly plan, and that the princesses themselves were gone. But everything else besides that was a blur…

“Did you get hit on the head or something?” Raindrops inquired with a deadpan expression. “There’s been all kind of buckin’ horseapples flying around. The castle’s crumbling, the Grand Galloping Gala’s ruined for the second year in a row, and some crazy pony went and captured the Elements of Harmony themselves!” She shuddered. “Just think of what he’s done to them… To think, that he made her do this…”

Twilight’s gaze fell down to the remnants of the wound on the mare’s side, and frowned. She had to know what did this. “So, what happened to you? You were nearly on the brink of death! That wound on your side looked horrible! Just what even did that to you?!”

“…” Raindrops let her eyes wander to the staircase, and she visibly started to shake. For the first time since waking up, the pegasus looked extremely afraid of something.

Starting to catch a hint of dread in the pit of her stomach again, Twilight pressed the question again. And all Raindrops did in reply was say two words that cut into the unicorn’s heart like a dagger:

“Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight wasn’t sure if she could accept it, or if her sanity would even allow her to accept it. If what Raindrops had told her was true, then one of her supposed best friends… was now nothing but a… a… She couldn’t even find the right way to express it. How could one express it?

She knew nothing about what Rainbow Dash was like (or even of her basic appearance), but that was an obvious side-effect of having a severe lack of memory. The unicorn found herself cursing her past self more and more for making her forget all this important information.

Thankfully, Raindrops was kind enough to fill her in on a few key details about what the “bad occurrence” was. Apparently, Raindrops had come to this castle for an annual event called the “Grand Galloping Gala”. She’d attended last year as well. Twilight recalled the first flashback she had, after she’d come into the Entrance Hall, and could reasonably deduce that she and her friends had also come here because of such an event.

“I used to be wearing a nice little dress,” Raindrops lamented, sighing. “But I had to ditch it and leave it behind before that… thing started to k…” She shivered. “…You get what I mean. The Gala started out fine… until it all went to Tartarus, of course. Anyway, I spent a lot of time hiding… almost two days, and well… just a little while ago, I was discovered. Those monsters… they weren’t taking prisoners. I can’t believe I managed to get away with just a mortal injury… If I wasn’t a pegasus, then…”

The poor pegasus did not want to discuss it much more thoroughly than that however, and started ignoring Twilight’s ceaseless torrent of questions (much to the unicorn’s vexation).

After regaining enough energy to move of her own accord, Raindrops promptly informed Twilight that they should both leave the castle as soon as possible. The unicorn pointed out the wall of flesh blocking the gate, but directed the pegasus to the outer corridor that she first awoke in. Within minutes, the two had gone back through the hall Twilight first passed through, and into the outside hallway that ran along the edge of the castle. The large, open windows were more than wide enough for a pony to jump out (for Raindrops, it would be sweet freedom; for Twilight, it would be suicide (which is kind of the same thing)).

“Are you… sure you want to… stay here?” Raindrops asked, looking back towards Twilight. “There is a lot of scary stuff going on in there. Hay, I barely managed to get out of the Gala chambers alive after that Zander pony showed up and made a mess of things.”

“I’m very sure,” the unicorn informed her curtly. “My friends are still here. And that ‘Zander pony’ is somepony I need to stop. This madness can’t go on…” She thought back to the fleshy substance on the door, the thing that cornered her in the closet, and then to when she saw Raindrops shambling down the staircase with a horrid-looking wound…

“…” Raindrops stared at Twilight with beguiled curiosity. What was it about that pony that reminded her of somepony else…? It had been bugging her for so long… That messy and ragged-looking coat and mane made it hard to recognize her well, though… “…Alright then, but it’s your funeral.”

Pegasi are well-known for their skills in aerial maneuvering and acrobatics. Raindrops, while not quite as fast as the other weathermares, could still fly quite well. Even though her wound hadn’t completely healed, and still stung a bit, she was a tough mare. She easily managed to extend her wings, leap from the wide, glassless windowsill, and take off into the night sky.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile again as the pony gradually faded into the distance, giving a final wave goodbye. At least one pony made it out alive tonight, she thought. The crushing notion soon made itself known that others weren’t so lucky. Even so, there just might be time to save at least some of them. Her friends included, in a best case scenario.

But the possibility was all-too-real that she herself might not make it through the night. To her knowledge, there were now two monsters trotting around this castle.

And one of them was one of her best friends.

A single tear slid off her muzzle and mingled with a puddle of water on the floor. And I don’t even remember her anymore… Sighing with despair, Twilight picked the Dragonfire Lantern she had set down back up and lit it. As there was nothing more for her here, she made her way back into the dark corridor towards the Entrance Hall.