Night Wanderer – a dark blue batpony with a white mane that went just below her shoulders, with a single crimson stripe on it and an iron compass as cutie mark – flew slowly, so she could appreciate the scenery. Even from afar, Canterlot was still a charming city. The leaves starting to yellow out and the cool breeze marked the start of autumn, which was Night’s favorite season. The city itself was a few minutes away, but she could already see the towers from Canterlot Castle, home to the Princesses of the Sun and Moon.
Her brother, Purple Blaze, came to Canterlot a few months ago, to work in the Canterlot Guard. He had the ambition of becoming a member of Her Highness Luna’s Royal Guard – which was composed completely of batponies – and Night, with nowhere to go after another of her failed quests for magical artifacts, decided to visit her brother – and who knows, maybe he would invite her to stay for a few days, before she had to beg him for a bed, warm food and some bits to survive the week.
She was amazed when she crossed the city gates. Now walking, instead of flying, Night saw the beauty of Canterlot for the first time. Sure, she had read about it in books, but to see the city personally was something completely different. The expertly made buildings, the gorgeous gardens, the variety of ponies, with even Changelings and Gryphons among them, all of this mixed with the colors of the autumn… It was Night’s visual paradise.
Even though she was in her dreamland, Night had no time to lose – it was almost sunset, and she had to find Purple Blaze if she didn’t want to sleep on the street. It would probably be an easy task, she just had to ask a guard about the local guard station, and once there, gather some information about her brother’s whereabouts.
She then proceeded to ask one of the two guard unicorns stationed on the gate.
“Good evening, mister guard,” Night started, being as polite as she could – as she learned in her adventures, you never know when you are going to need some help, or from where it will come. “Can you please tell me the location of the guard station?”
“The guard station is two blocks to the right,” said the guard. “There’s a big statue of a shield in front of it, so it’s impossible to miss.”
“Well, have you heard about a batpony named Purple Blaze?” asked Night. “He’s supposed to be in the Canterlot Guard, and joined about three months ago…”
“No,” the guard answered. “I’m almost all the time on gate guarding duty, so I don’t know any of the recruits, but you’ll find some info on the station. Now, big shield in front of building, don’t forget!”
Night nodded and smiled in gratitude, then trotted toward the indicated direction.
***
The guard station was a big, white and somewhat sturdy, and the shield statue in front of it was remarkably well crafted, probably out of marble.
As Night came in, she noticed the reception booth right away, with a bored looking middle-aged mare siting behind it.
“Oh, someone who is not a bulky guard, or someone messing with one,” said the mare, with a sarcastic look on her face.
“But forgive my manners, and welcome to Canterlot City Royal Guard Station. How can I help you?”
Night was uncomfortable with the initial statement, was Canterlot a city where fusses occurred with frequency? Anyway, she answered the receptionist mare.
“I’m searching for a specific guard,” Night said, “a batpony like me, named Purple Blaze, he came here a few month ago, to join the Canterlot Guard…”
“Give me a moment, I’ll check the records for anyone with this name,” said the mare, who turned to her right and started going through a thick book, with the title “Canterlot Guard Personnel Report”.
After a few minutes, the mare said, “Well, my dear, there are records for a batpony with this name, but not as a member of the guard. It says here that he indeed tried to join as a recruit, but an issue happened, and he is now in the castle’s dungeons…”
“What!?” said Night, surprised by the news, the thought of sleeping on the streets flashing through her head – “Why is he in the dungeons???”
“Well,” the mare answered, with a stern look on her face – “first you must calm down, dear… The records about the jailed ponies and their crimes are not held here. But you might want to go to the castle, there you are sure to find such records-”
Night stormed out of the building before the mare finished talking. She was worried about finding somewhere to sleep, but discovering why her brother was in jail – and taking him out of there, if possible – was more important.
You see, Night’s parents died in an accident before she was even old enough to understand what the word accident meant, so it was Purple Blaze who took care of her, and taught her everything she wouldn’t learn in school. He was a very caring brother, and up to that day, Night’s only true friend.
Night flew as fast as she could, in hope of getting to the castle before the ponies that worked there went away for the night – mostly because of being worried for her brother, but, well, she really didn’t want to sleep on somepony’s roof again this week.
***
As Night got to the castle, she felt some relief over seeing that most of the offices were still open, and probably the one with the records about her brother would be as well. The thing is, she had no idea of which one of these offices could be it. Night would have to go through a lot of asking… Or she could cause some trouble, and she would be tossed into the dungeons for the night, solving both her problems.
In fact, Night never gave the first option much thought. Causing some chaos was a thing she did with certain frequency – most of the time on accident, mind you – and she knew right how to start it, especially on such organized place.
“THE ARCHIVE IS BURNING!” Night screamed, “EVERYPONY, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”
As soon as she finished, the mess started. The librarians started running toward the archives, as did most of the lawyers, probably to end such fire as fast as possible. Everypony else was running towards the doors, with the exception of the guards, who were trying to control the crowd. It didn’t take long until one of them wrapped Night on a magic field. She faked a struggle to free herself, but even if she wanted, she wouldn’t be able to.
“There’s no fire in Canterlot Castle!” announced the guard who was holding Night, a white stallion in a standard issue Royal Guard armor, in a very loud and firm tone. “It was this pony,” he said, levitating Night over the crowd, “who made it up! Now, everyone calm down, and go back to your normal affairs!” the stallion finished talking to the crowd, who looked at Night with angry faces.
“You’ll spend the night in the dungeons, you little criminal!” the stallion said, as he took night in the direction of the castle’s prison.
The plan was going fine, so far.
***
“Since no one got hurt,” the guard stallion said to Night as they entered the dungeons, “A night in here is all you’re getting. Now, explain your reasons to me, and I might not make a note in your criminal record,” he said, placing Night on the ground, and releasing her from the spell.
In the end, Night had no reason to lie, and she felt that she could trust the guard.
“Really, what I wanted was to get in the dungeons,” Night started, and the guard raised an eyebrow, probably thinking about a breakout attempt, “Because I found out that my brother is jailed here, and I wanted to discover why, without having to deal with the paperwork.”
“Well, you really were creative… But never do that again, or I’ll really have to fill in a proper report,” said the stallion, with a small smile showing up on the corner of his mouth, “But you never told me your name, did you?”
“My name’s Night Wanderer,” said Night, “What about you, if I may ask?”
“I’m Lieutenant Bastion Deepvoice, of the Royal Guard, Miss Wanderer. Now, on to your cell, right? I’ll place you next to your brother, so you can have a fraternal conversation,” said the lieutenant. “He can explain his situation to you better than anyone, I believe.”
As Bastion said, Night’s cell was the one in front of her brother’s. Purple Blaze was barely visible in the darkness, having a coat of a purple so dark that without direct light upon it, it could be mistaken as black, and a mane of true black. The only thing she could properly see was his cutie mark, a red heart enveloped in white wings.
Blaze didn’t seem to notice Night entering the cell.
“Umm… Blaze?” asked Night. “Blaze, are you awake?”
No answer.
“Blaze?” she said, in a slightly higher tone.
Still, no answer.
“BLAAAAZE WAKE UP YOU LAZY YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF THE TROUBLE IT WAS TO GET HERE!!!” Night screamed.
The dark figure on the other cell grumbled.
“Huh? What the hell?” Blaze said, confused. “NIGHT!!!” he screamed, startled by the sight of his very sister, standing on a cell just in front of his. “WHY THE HECK ARE YOU IN JAIL!? I DIDN’T RAISE YOU FOR THIS!!!”
“WELL, LOOK WHO’S TALKING!!! I’M ONLY IN JAIL BECAUSE OF YOU, UNGRATEFUL BROTHER!!!” screamed Night, at the top of her lungs.
Then they both heard a tumbling voice, coming from the dungeon’s entrance.
“SILENCE IN THE DUNGEONS!!!” said the voice, which Night recognized as being Bastion’s, probably amplified by magic.
“IF I HEAR ONE MORE SCREAM COMING FROM DOWN THERE, YOU ARE BOTH GOING TO REGRET IT!!!”
They both heard a small laughter coming from the door after the impressive display of authority. And they both chuckled afterwards.
With their nerves calmed, a civilized conversation could actually take place.
“I don’t think he knows we heard him laughing…” said Night, her chuckles coming to an end.
“Well, let’s keep it this way, that one is a crazy pony,” affirmed Blaze. “But now, really, how did you end up down here? Did you steal something, as usual?” he said, with a hint of disappointment on his face.
“No! I didn’t stole anything this time!” said Night, defending herself. “In fact, it’s not stealing! It’s finding artifacts and trying to take them away to their righteous place on a museum!”
“Yeah, except you never actually did that, you were always caught in the middle, and I had to save you…” said Blaze, chuckling a little.
“The point is, I created a confusion and got thrown down here, on purpose.”
“On purpose? Yeah, sure…”
“Yes it was!” Night affirmed, “I found out about your new ‘housing’, and wanted to speak to you! Why are you even here, on the first place?”
“Well…” started Blaze, with an uncomfortable look on his face, “You see, it’s a long and complicated history… But I didn’t do anything wrong! At least, knowingly…”
“We have the whole night, my brother” said night, with a mischievous smile forming on her face.
Then Blaze told a story about how he accidentally entered the caves below Canterlot and went a little too deep, triggering a series of alarms of the Royal Guard, and how Bastion commanded the troops to “find and capture the dangerous invader, who was trying to disrupt Celestia’s peace and order”.
“I believe that this is how he was promoted to lieutenant,” said Blaze. “Anyway, whatever is down there, must surely be important.”
“And ancient…” Night said, distracted, her eyes glistering with the possibility of finally getting something important.
“Don’t even think about it, young miss!” said Blaze, breaking her trance. “I got near its first defenses by accident and now I’m stuck in jail, waiting four court martial-”
“Wait, what?!” interrupted Night. “You said nothing about court martial! This is really serious, they might exile you, or even worse!” she said, worried and with tears forming on the corners of her eyes.
“Hey, sis! Calm down, it’s nothing that serious! Since I didn’t actually do anything wrong, I can even get Celestia’s royal forgiveness!” Blaze said, trying to get her attention.
It was useless. Night was worried beyond measure, fearing she would never see her beloved brother again. Tears run through her face.
A thought sparkled up. What if she went down the caves, got whatever was inside, and…
Her line of thought was interrupted.
“SNAP OUT OF IT!!!” Blaze screamed. “Sis, really, it’s not all that of a big deal! Calm down!” he said, wanting to hug and comfort her. He cursed the iron bars between them.
Then a voice came from upstairs, in a tone way less intimidating than last time.
“I heard that!” said Bastion.
Night was curled in her cell. Blaze was sure that he was going to be well – or at least wanted her to think so – but what if they sentenced him to death, or to life in prison, working in the underground mines near the edge of the Everfree Forest? Of course, if he was sentenced to exile, she could join him, and they would travel to everywhere outside of Equestria…
She told her brother she was going to sleep, and that she would find a way to talk to him before his judgment, and she slept with the thought of traveling with her brother in mind.
***
On the following morning, Night woke up with the sound of hooves hitting the stone of the dungeons. She believed that the guards were coming to free her.
Her supposition was spot-on.
Night was surprised that the one to take her of her cell would be Bastion himself.
“Your time here is over, young one,” said Bastion. “I believed you and your brother solved the pending issues between you?”
“Yeah…” Night looked over to Blaze’s cell, who was still asleep.
“So, you are a free pony now,” Bastion said, accompanying the batpony up the stairs. “But your brother is not. His judgment happens on three days, and I have my motives to believe that he’s going to get a few years in the mines, for what he did.”
Night didn’t say anything, but was clearly paying attention to Bastion’s words.
“But,” he continued, “I might be able to do something for him, and I’m willing to do so. You see, I was promoted for catching your brother down in the caves, and so I am grateful to him. What I don’t understand, however,” a puzzled look formed on his face, Night still listening closely – maybe this was her chance of getting him out of jail – “is why they would make so much noise about a seemingly unimportant case.”
“Because there is something important hidden there!” said Night, a smile bolting through her face.
“Indeed!” continued Bastion, with the look a salesman had in his face while selling a product of doubtful quality for a high price. “And I would like to find out what it is! Now, I heard about your past deeds, and I know you would be interested in such adventure. But, I know that many of your expeditions failed, some more miserably than others. Then, I propose a deal, so you put an extra effort in this one. Do you want to hear it?”
Night nodded, with a serious look on her face, and the attention of a child who’s learning an interesting secret.
“First,” Bastion said, “know that by no means are you forced to do this, and if you choose not to, you will not suffer any consequences. The deal is this: I’ll help you go in the caves, and once there, you’ll have two and a half days to find whatever it that they’re hiding is. You shouldn’t take it, just discover what it is. If you come back before the two days, I’ll grant that your brother gets Celestia’s Royal Forgiveness, from Her Highness herself. If you fail, not only will he be sent to the mines, but so will you. Even in this case, I’ll do my best so that you go to the same mines. So, are you in?”
***
“Ummm, why was a lieutenant taking care of the jail?” asked Night, as they neared the entrance of the cave. It was at least a few hours before dawn, so there was no one to see the guard and the batpony crossing Canterlot Castle’s gardens.
“Someone had to do it, right?” said Bastion, smiling. “Now, let’s review the plan, to make sure everything will go smoothly. You go in, wait about half an hour so I can go back to my post without anyone noticing. Right?”
“Right!” agreed Night.
“Then you’ll see a small passage, barely reachable for someone with no wings or magic. I believe you’ll have no problems finding it, nor going through it.”
“Yes, that’s right!” answered Night, excited with the possibility of entering to the history books.
“As soon as you cross the passage, the alarms will be triggered. A unit of Royal Guards will be sent, and I’ll be leading them. Since I can’t really let you go if you’re found, I’ll shout my orders loudly, so you can pinpoint our location. Understood?” Bastion had a serious look on his face.
“So far, yeah!”
“Then, while evading us, you have to find a way to get deeper inside the caves, and that’s completely up to you, because I only know so much about the place.” finished Bastion.
“Understood!” agreed Night, with a serious look on her face. She was sure she would succeed, even because failure was really not an option, with her freedom at stakes.
They got to the cave. Night was excited to go in, and she was sure that, as a batpony, she would have no issues finding the way. With her sonar-like abilities, and a pair of strong wings, there was nowhere she couldn’t go.
“Oh,” said Bastion, “I have a few things for you here.”
His horn glowed yellow, and from a hole nearby, came a pair of saddlebags and a tightly paper package.
“You see,” said Bastion, smiling. “Since you got in jail yesterday, you haven’t eaten even once!”
Night had forgotten about this detail, for she was too busy searching for her brother and getting worried for him afterwards. She was indeed really hungry, for the last meal she had was composed of some blackberries on the way to Canterlot – really, she ate all the blackberries on a bush, but with her being so agitated, it only held for the night.
“Owwww…” Night said as she felt her stomach grumble. “Yeah, I could really use some food… And water, too!”
“Well,” said Bastion, “in this saddlebags are a few bottles of water, and on the package there are some fruits I bought yesterday, so they should be fresh. Those supplies are enough for three days, I believe. That is, if you don’t eat it all at once like a dragon…” he said, with a relaxed smile. No one would ever guess that he was actually helping in the execution of a crime. “Oh, and take this” he said, taking a clock from his saddlebags. “It’s actually a magical clock, enchanted it myself!” the last phrase was soaked in pride. “You see, it’s stopped right now, but in approximately thirty minutes from now, it’ll ring and the pointer will start to move. But, instead of showing the hours, it’ll show how much time you have left. Once it completes a whole cycle, it’s because the two-and-a-half days have ended,” a trusting smile formed on his face. “And maybe it’ll bring you good luck!”
***
The alarms were set closer to the entrance than Night expected, probably as a reinforcement measure. Bastion’s squad wouldn’t take long to get there, so she had to find the passage as soon as possible. Every minute was precious.
Night stopped, and concentrated on the sounds around her. All she could hear was a flow of water in the distance. Then, she screeched loudly, not unlike a true bat would. After a fraction of second, she could practically see in detail everything in her surroundings. The passage she was looking for was on a wall some meters away, and about 5 meters from the ground.
Her wings stretched, Night flew to the passage as fast as she could. It would obviously take some time for the guards to reach that hole, or at least that was what she chose to believe.
Her eyes quickly adapted themselves to the complete darkness ahead of them, being a batpony was amazingly useful for cave exploring. The passage wasn’t simply a hole in the wall, it was a tunnel going steeply downwards, with some curves preventing Night to see what was ahead of her, and barely space enough for a pony to cross it without being stuck.
In the distance, Night heard hoofsteps coming into the cave. No turning back now.
Night’s wings would be no use now. With that in mind, she ran as fast as her legs could, which was quite speedy, as she had experience in running from guards.
The descent felt like it would never end. Even running as fast as she could, Night could always hear the clopping of the Royal Guards behind her, and even heard Bastion’s magically amplified voice, as he said she would.
After what Night believed to be an hour of running downwards, she finally reached the tunnel’s end. It ended in a vast underground room, and she could notice that the tunnel exit was too perfectly round to be natural.
Once again, Night concentrated in the surrounding sounds. The sound of water flowing came from here, after all, and it was not just a small cave river, it was more like a large torrent, coming from ahead of her. Then, she screeched.
What Night saw when the echoes came back was nothing like what she expected. Of course, she knew that there were going to be some ponymade ruins, but she would never have guessed on finding a whole underground city. She was astounded, excited, and a bit frightened.
No time for observing, though. The guards heard her screech, and were running even faster through the tunnel.
Night flew to the ceiling of the cave, well beyond twenty meters from the cave’s ground, where she hid behind a stalactite formation, and found a small hole to peep on the oncoming guards.
Bastion was the first to leave the tunnel, and about fifteen Royal Guards came after him. She noticed that there were pegasi and unicorns, but not a single earth pony. Nor a single batpony, by the way. Night saw Bastion move his lips, but couldn’t figure out what he was saying. Then, she heard him announce with his magically amplified voice:
“We’ll set camp here!”
So far, he was loyal to his end of the deal.
After the unicorns had set a force field and a few magical lights, Night decided to go deeper into the city. She couldn’t take the most important relics that were down there, but if she brought proof of the city’s existence, she could even get a statue in honor of her deeds!
Just one problem: complete darkness. Even with Night’s eyes already used to it, she could barely see anything that wasn’t near the guard’s camp, and screeching again was not an option, if she did, the guards would be all over her.
With no time to lose, Night focused on her “sonar” image, and searched for interesting landmarks.
One of them stood out from everything in the underground city. It was a mighty palace, with columns and all sorts of statues built around it. If what Night was looking for was not there, she could at least learn about the people from this dead place.
Wings out, Night flew to the palace. She would have to inspect everything carefully and slowly because of the darkness, but it was a rather good start nonetheless.
Arriving on what seemed to be the entrance, Night noticed that there was only a huge door, but it was tightly closed, she wouldn’t force it open – neither breaking an ancient relic or making much noise were interesting things to do in her situation.
Her only option would be flying really close to the structure, and hope to find a window.
Night found what she was looking for quickly. Just over the big door there was a hole, which looked like it was recently made. Leaving caution for afterwards, she flew inside.
The room Night entered was not the same room the door led to. It was a small room, with what was likely the remnants of a wooden table and some chairs, and on the walls, shelves carved in stone filled with pottery, and a door.
Night noticed something strange: although not much, the inside of the room was illuminated, like there was a light source in one of the adjacent rooms. She would check that right away, for it could be a magical device! Imagine how wonderful it would be, the batpony taking a magical artifact that produced light for hundreds of years from an ancient underground city to Canterlot, for the Princesses themselves to see!
She opened the door with as much care as possible, so it wouldn’t break, but it wasn’t enough. The wooden door crumbled to her touch with a cloud of dust, as if the wood inside were made of it. Past the remnants of the door, there was a corridor that went on three directions, and every now and then, there were shining crystals on the walls. Although still amazing, crystals that shined for very long periods of time were nothing new, and the shine of those around her was dwindling. That, however, indicated that they were there for quite a long time.
Night took the three nearest crystals and carefully placed them on her saddlebags. Now she had a portable light source, and her explorations would not be limited by darkness anymore.
The corridors around her, even while not completely dark, had an eerie feel to them. It was like they were filled with emptiness. Night advanced through the corridor in front of her.
As she advanced, Night noticed that the light the crystals produced was getting weaker, as if the ones deeper inside were there for more time. But the difference in the time the crystals were there would have to be of at least a few hundred years, for it to be noticeable! She continued to advance, for a good thirty minutes, without seeing a single door, or anything worth her attention.
Not much time later, the crystals in the pathway ahead of Night were completely dark. She reached for her saddlebags, to pick up a crystal. To her surprise, they were dark as well. The only explanation to this was magic, and a magic that sucked the light out of crystals couldn’t be a good thing.
Night focused on the sounds around her. The only thing she heard the sound of flowing water from the supposed river, and it was, apparently, coming from the dark hall in front of her. She knew exactly where to go, no need to screech now.
She went deeper. A feel of dread took place in Night’s heart. Whatever was in front of her, emanated evil. She started to feel a strange agitation inside of her. Her body and her instincts were all telling her to go away as fast as she could.
She reached a door. Out of the darkness, the shape of the door was shining strangely, as if it was, in fact sucking the light out of the place. While she felt the urge to go away, Night remembered her brother in jail. She wanted to go back to him.
She pushed the door, with all the strength she had.
What she saw inside, no one could have guessed. A garden, a garden of unmatched beauty, with the greenest grass, the most beautiful trees, and flowers of the most varied shapes and colors. But before Night could enter the garden itself, there was a small path. Small enough to cross in one jump, if she wanted to. She decide, however, to walk it.
As she set a hoof in the beautifully crafted marble tiles, the door behind her slammed shut. Night didn’t even try to open it, she knew it was magically sealed. As she looked onto the garden, she could now feel an evil presence within.
The garden itself was not too big, she saw bigger ones in Canterlot. But what was strange, is that its ceiling was a half-sphere made of glass, with a strange ball of light floating just below its top. Beyond the dome, there was nothing. It was not like the darkness of the caves, it was deeper, and darker. The only definition for it was nothingness.
Night walked to the center of the garden, as if attracted to it. She was only half-aware of her decision. When she stepped in the exact middle, marked by a big round white marble tile, a figure appeared, from behind a tree.
The figure was not unlike anything Night had seen, its shape resembled an alicorn. But it was covered with darkness, as if the darkness flowed out of it.
Night was ready to fight whatever it was, every muscle of her body tense. Inside, she felt fear, as she never felt before. The figure in front of her, although not so bigger, was intimidating. The evil she felt near the door, and when she gazed into the garden, came from the figure. As far as she knew, all the evil in the world could have come out of the creature.
“Are you afraid, my dear?” Night heard a feminine voice, but it didn’t came out of the figure. It came from inside her head. The voice itself was a whisper, with the malice of a lover, and all the evil in the world. “There’s nothing to fear here. You are safe. Let my darkness cover you, and it’ll make you warm…”
Night was almost paralyzed by the fear. She would die today, on that strangely beautiful garden. The voice was tempting, and that was the worst part. It had a magical lure. Night didn’t know if she could resist it for much more time.
“Come join me, my love…” the voice whispered again. “Don’t be afraid, your brother will be joining us as well, the first stallion to come near that door in thousands of years… How sad I was, when he slipped away of my grasp…”
The mention of her brother stirred something inside Night. The fear was becoming adrenaline, she had to escape that place.
“Oh, my darling… Will you resist my lure? Don’t you want to feel the warmth and the care of the truth?” whispered the voice, once again. “Abdicate from the light, and come into me, for I will take the lies out of every single being’s heart…”
Night noticed that the being was getting closer. She could feel its power, for it was so great, that it came close to solidifying. A burst of adrenaline came, she opened her wings and pushed herself upwards, towards the light source.
“Ah ah ah, my dear…” the voice whispered, negatively, as a tendril of darkness came out of the figure and coiled around Night’s right hindleg. It was pulling her down.
“Don’t try anything stupid, my dear…” another frightening whisper. “If you stay with me, I’ll show you things no one could ever imagine, and how you are blind without me…”
It was pulling harder. Night couldn’t free herself from its grasp. Soon, the thing below her would eat her, or worse. Tears started forming in her eyes, and her strength started to fade away.
“Yes…” the voice showed up once again. “Stop resisting, my beautiful love… Come to me… Come to me…”
Night used all the strength she had in her to impulse herself upwards. The tendril loosened up a bit, but it was just for a moment. Soon, it was again pulling her down, now harder than ever.
Night almost didn’t notice when he saddlebags started to shine. It was like the crystals were recharged by the little magical sun. The tendril backed up from her leg when the light touched it, setting Night free.
“NO!!!” this time the voice came from the creature below, and it was filled with hate and anger. “I WON’T LET YOU GO, YOU ARE MINE NOW!!!”
As it finished screaming, dozens of dark tendrils came out of it. The light could keep some away, but not all.
Night, then, dashed to the door as fast as she could, crashing upon it. The magical seal was still there.
“Oh, no escape from here,” said the figure, menacingly. “I have been locked here for thousands of years, and could never escape! Now, I will use YOUR life force to give me power, and blow away this dome and its lies!”
Lies? Night didn’t understood what the evil being meant with lies. But it was true that they were both locked, and it was true that Night would soon be caught. She started hitting the door, in order to make noise, and maybe bring some help.
A tendril came out of the creature, but this one was not like the previous. It was sharp at the end. Night feared being impaled, and a tear fell through her face.
But as the tendril when the tendril would come to pierce her, something on the saddlebags deflected it. Night didn’t saw what it was, but she knew it was Bastion’s enchanted clock. The tendril went back to the creature, too fast for it to do anything.
As the creature was hit by its own attack, the darkness stopped flowing, and disappeared, leaving only an alicorn as black as the nothingness outside in front of Night. The alicorn, then, fell unconscious.
Night’s fear started to disappear, and she felt tears of relief sprout from her eyes. She was alive and well, thanks to Bastion’s lucky charm – which was destroyed by the impact – and the first thing she would do when she get out was to thank and hug him.
The mare in front of her looked like it had not eaten anything in months, and was very weak. It still had a young appearance, as alicorns were immortals, but it had a look of despair, and weakness. But even now, evil still emanated from her. And her wings were like a bat’s.
Well, mission accomplished. Night was sure that this alicorn is the reason the princesses wanted no one down there, and why they answered to the intrusion so harshly. She also discovered that her brother went almost as deep as her, and she was glad for the fact that he didn’t cross the door.
Still, she was locked. Besides that, there was no telling when the alicorn would wake up, and kill her.
A few hours passed. Night was afraid. Would she die in there? Even if the alicorn never woke up, she would still die from hunger or thirst! Or even from old age! She didn’t want to just sit and stay there forever, in this glass jail.
Night then explored the garden. Besides the amazing beauty from it, there were not much things noteworthy, besides a clear pond on the backside. The pond itself was beautiful, just like the rest of the place, but that was it, nothing more to see. She also noticed that even though plant life was flourishing, there wasn’t a single animal in the gardens. No bugs, birds, squirrels, nothing.
Her new confinement was an empty one.
Night went to the door, and lied by its side. Not much later, for her surprise, it opened. She couldn’t believe what she saw. Bastion, lieutenant of the Royal Guard, came to her rescue. But as he started to come in, Night screamed.
“DON’T! DON’T STEP IN!”
Bastion stopped, and gave Night a confused look. Taking the opportunity, night leapt to the outside. Then, she jumped over Bastion, and hugged him.
“Wha..?” said the confused unicorn.
“YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW I’M GRATEFUL TO YOU!!!” screamed an excited Night. “JUST TODAY, YOU SAVED ME TWICE!!!”
“Huh?” Bastion’s confusion, although smaller, was still there.
“I’ll explain later! First, we must close this door!” said night, suddenly remembering what was inside. “And I have the answer you asked!”
“Well, great!” said Bastion, while he used his magic to close the door. “But what is in there, to make locking it so important?”
“I don’t really know what it is, just that it is ancient, and evil…” said Night, a bit of sadness crossing her face. “But I know who will have the answers!”
***
Night’s coming back to the outside world went out fine, even after she noticed that her hindlegs were broken – there was something inside the garden the prevented her from feeling pain – and Bastion had to use magic to carry her on his back. Saying that she surrendered voluntarily, the guards agreed on not using any force.
Night discovered that she actually spent two days locked in the gardens, so there must have been a time altering spell there as well.
They were back in time for the judgment.
***
“The accused was caught entering a restricted area, your honor” an earth pony wearing a black suit said, as Night entered the judgment. She would have come earlier, but first she needed to get her legs fixed. The medical unicorn recommended absolutely no bucking for the next few weeks.
Purple Blaze was in the middle of the judgment room, his hooves cuffed.
“But didn’t do so knowingly. He was just wandering in the caves, when he spotted the forbidden passage, and went through it. Therefore, his crime isn’t nearly as serious as the court is treating it!” continued the earth pony.
There was arguing in the jury.
Night saw as a messenger pegasus went in the room and whispered something to the judge.
“Silence in the court!” announced the judge, while using his hammer on a small golden bell. After everyone stopped talking, he announced: “This judgment is adjourned, given that new facts regarding the crime were discovered! It shall be resumed after the defense analyze the new evidence! Now, you are all dismissed!”
Night was relieved to hear that. She would go see Bastion right away.
His office was inside the castle, on the Guards Wing, but he wasn’t there when she arrived. His secretary said that he was on a meeting with the princesses, and even the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle was there.
Night would have preferred to tell the story herself, but Bastion convinced her that it would be better for everyone if he did. Concerned, she went to the Castle’s cafeteria, to relax, eat some of Equestria’s best food, and put it all on Bastion’s account.
Before she could get there, however, a messenger pony came to her, saying that she was summoned to the throne room.
***
As it always happened when there was a matter worthy of the Princesses attention, the throne room was filled with ponies.
As Night came in, she saw Purple Blaze and Bastion already waiting near the stairs to the throne. None of the princesses were there yet.
As Night took her place, on her brother’s side, a pony came and announced the entrance of the three princesses. Night was getting anxious, for she didn’t know what would happen, and she was also excited, for she never saw the princesses in person before. As always, they were an astounding sight to behold. Celestia was the one who started.
“People of Equestria, we have here three ponies who, unknowingly, did a great thing to equestrian society. Two of them, because of what they did, had legal charges placed on their heads. Night Wanderer, Purple Blaze, step up!” said the Princess of the Sun.
Night’s heart was almost going up her throat with excitement as she climbed the stairs. She was also excited to see her brother, since it was the first time she could actually speak with him since the jail, but that would have to wait.
“I declare both of you officially forgiven from your charges!” Celestia announced with a most warming smile. Night knew that she smiled like that to every one of her subjects, but it was still a good thing to see.
Applauses were heard from the crowd.
“Now, this session is over! I want everyone but Night Wanderer and Bastion Deepvoice to leave the room! Have a good afternoon, all of you!” said Princess Luna.
Night said to her brother that they would speak later, and that she would find him. It was hard to not get a single minute with him after all she’s being through, but waiting a little more would have to do.
After everypony left the room, the three princesses cast some spells on the room, to make it soundproof.
“Night Wanderer, we, the princesses, have something to ask of you.” Luna said.
“What you saw down there, was a goddess, no unlike me and my sister.” Celestia said.
“But she is the Goddess of Darkness.” Twilight said.
“And since the princess can’t explain anymore of this matter to you, since it’s the most well-kept secret in all of Equestria, and even I have limited access to it,” said Bastion
“We all ask that you never, in any occasion or possibility, talk about this, ever. Not even to your brother.” The four of them said at the same time, in a most coordinated way.
Night nodded in agreement, and, as she left the throne room, she heard the four ponies laughing.
***
The End.