The Maze

Chapter 1: The Tomb

“So…” Scootaloo turned to her friends and furrowed her brow. “How does this thing work again? I mean I get that it’s magic and all, but what exactly does it do?”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders sat inside their clubhouse, staring into an oval mirror. It didn’t appear too special – it was about half a metre high, had a silver frame, and looked exactly like the kind of leaf-decorated thing one could find in their grandparents’ attic. Save for the dust and rust, perhaps.

“Well, I ain’t rightly sure.” Apple Bloom tilted her head and matched gazes with her reflection. “I mean the vendor didn’t tell me much in the first place. And the note ain’t sayin’ a lot either.” She tapped her hoof on a piece of paper.

Sweetie Belle sighed. “I still don’t think stealing it was a good idea.”

“Come on, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said. “We were over this like a dozen times already! What do adventurers do?”

Sweetie’s eyes shifted to the side. “Lots of stuff.”

“And what do they do in most stories?”

“Take magical artefacts from evil ponies; I know.” Sweetie sprawled her hooves on the floor and pouted at the mirror. “It just feels bad to steal from a shop.”

“An evil shop.” Apple Bloom nudged her in the side. “Don’t forget that part. Or do you think sellin’ things like that stupid Alicorn amulet is okay? Besides we’re givin’ it back later, after we get our cutie marks.”

“I guess,” Sweetie said, and sighed again. “I just wish there was a better way to get them.”

“Hey, it’s not like we didn’t try.” Scootaloo frowned at her. “Basement exploration and pantry raiding didn’t work, though, and it was you who didn’t want to go into the Everfree forest.”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “I didn’t want to go in there either, remember? Zecora is as far as you’ll get me – I’m all for gettin’ our cutie marks, but I ain’t too keen on getting petrified by a cockatrice. One time was enough.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get on with it. I sure hope you’re both right about this, though. I’m not going back there again to get a better piece just because your lame mirror couldn’t cut it.”

“Hey!” Apple Bloom said, her brows clashing together. “I chose it because it was the only thing there I knew at least somethin’ about! I only stopped by that tiny village with Applejack for a little while, and she dragged me off before I could get a proper tour. Be glad I remembered the way back to it.”

“You could have at least grabbed some sword or something. Who’s ever heard about an adventurer hauling mirrors on her back?”

“Hey! If you’re so smart, why don’t you…”

Sweetie coughed and waved the paper in her hoof. “Can we just get started, girls? Please?”

“Sure.” Scootaloo shot the mirror an ugly look. “Sorry, Apple Bloom; I just really hope it works.”

Apple Bloom smiled and gave Sweetie Belle a small nod.

Sweetie brought the paper to her eyes and furrowed her brow. “The Mirror of False Vision. To use the mirror, say the phrase and stare deep inside of it.” The letters of the magical formula were written in an ugly, spiky scrawl, as if somepony deliberately tried to make it look more mysterious. Needless effort – the words were so foreign that their pronunciation alone was a mystery of its own.

“Cermin madubi, wazi malinaw?” She cocked her brow. “Well, that’s what it says anyway.” Her stare dug into the mirror’s surface.

At first, she only saw her reflection stare back at her. Her mane was kind of messy. Then, the image began to ripple and change. “Girls, I see... I think it’s our schoolyard.”

Their heads bobbed over each of her shoulders, leaning as close to the silver glass as possible. “I don’t see anything,” Scootaloo said.

“Well, I guess it only shows for the one who was sayin’ the magic phrase.”

“Shh!” Sweetie frowned at them and turned back to the mirror. “Oh, there’s me! And somepony else... pink coat... oh. Diamond Tiara.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re standing next to each other, talking... I bet we’re arguing. Now I turned to her and...” Sweetie’s face flushed as she saw herself putting her hooves around Diamond Tiara’s head. Then she pressed her into a kiss. “This mirror’s a liar!”

“Well, duh!” Scootaloo smirked and pushed herself in front of the artefact. “It’s the Mirror of False Vision; of course it’ll show some nonsense! Cermin madubi, wazi malinaw.”

Sweetie looked behind, at her flank. “I didn’t even get that cutie mark. Stupid mirror!”

Scootaloo made space for Apple Bloom, her face just as flushed as Sweetie’s. “Y-yeah. It’s dumb!”

Apple Bloom said the magic words and turned to them. “I don’t get it. It’s showin’ me and my parents. What did you girls get?”

“Chicken,” Scootaloo said and looked away. “I won’t say more than that.”

Apple Bloom snickered. “Are you sure it’s showin’ wrong things? Sounds pretty accurate to me.” The glare Scootaloo shot her turned the next giggle into a chortle. “Anyway. What about you, Sweetie?”

“I don’t want to talk about it!”

“Yeah...” Apple Bloom said, her shoulders sagging. “Maybe it’s because the vendor was on a lunch break? It didn’t even feel like a real adventure.”

“That’s because it wasn’t!” Scootaloo shoved the mirror aside. “I’m telling you from the start – we have to find something real! Like a dungeon. Or some beast’s lair! Or at least destroy the thieves’ guild... if there was one.” She put her forelegs around both their necks and pulled them closer. “You get what I mean? Something heroic! Something ponies will sing about for ages to come!”

Sweetie squirmed out of Scootaloo’s embrace. “All those things sound dangerous.”

“Well, duh!” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Adventuring is dangerous. That’s why none of our attempts worked – we’ve been playing it safe.”

“I’m still not going into the Everfree,” Sweetie said. “There’s nothing heroic about aimlessly stumbling around the forest, hoping we won’t end up eaten. That’s just plain stupid!”

Scootaloo furrowed her brow and tapped her chin, slowly nodding. “Point taken. But there are other places we could go.”

“Such as?” Apple Bloom kept glancing in between the mirror and her flank. “Maybe we should go snatch a sword, like you said.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “No way. We’ve been too cautious for too long – an adventurer needs to take risks. I mean bravery is like a pre-requisite for this cutie mark.”

“And where would you want to go?” Sweetie asked. “There aren’t any dangerous places around Ponyville save for the forest, as far as I know.”

“Well... uhh...” Scootaloo rubbed her chin. “I don’t know of any exact place, but I bet Twilight has a book about it.”

“No kiddin’. She’s got a book about everythin’! But why would she lend us somethin’ like that?”

Scootaloo grinned. “Come on, you know her. She’ll be so excited that we want to read something that she won’t ask. And even if she did, we’ll just say it’s for a school project. Say we need a book about some ruins – ruins are pretty dangerous, right?”

“Well... alright. If it’s really the only way… But no Everfree! I promised Rarity, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go!”

———

The wind howled among the twisted trees of the Everfree forest as the trio approached a circle of eroded rocks.

“I don’t like this place,” Sweetie said, casting wide-eyed glances at her surroundings. This was the exact kind of place she feared she’d end up in when Scootaloo came up with this cutie mark idea.

“You said you won’t go into the Everfree Forest, and this is next to it. Don’t be a chicken!”

Apple Bloom giggled. “You’re the one to talk, Scoots.”

“Cut it out already!”

“Don’t be such a wuss.”

Sweetie trotted to a stone slab in the ground. The surroundings boulders were mostly weathered, crumbled-down remains of what used to be pillars, and the stone itself, while probably rectangular in the past, was now nothing but an oval, scratched piece of rock. Whatever structure used to stand there, time and elements ruined it beyond recognition. “The entrance is supposed to be under it, right?”

Scootaloo nodded. “We get in and start an awesomely cool adventure! Real adventure!”

“Uh... I ain’t tryin’ to shoot down your hopes or anythin’, Scoots, but...” Apple Bloom trotted forth and tapped on the stone. “How are we supposed to get under that thing?”

Scootaloo froze and looked at the enormous rock again. “Didn’t the book say how?”

“Not a word.”

“Uhh...” She shot them a sheepish smile. “I... guess I didn’t think of that. Can’t Sweetie levitate is away with her magic?”

“Sure.” Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Just like you can blow it away with your wings. It’s massive!” The corners of her mouth twitched up. “What a shame. I guess we’ll have to find some other way to get our marks. I vote for exploring Rarity’s attic!”

“Come on.” Scootaloo scratched the back of her head and laughed. “We’re not going to leave now, right? M-maybe it just needs a... a magic phrase!”

“Yeah...” Apple Bloom said. “I don’t think that—”

“Hocus pocus, abracadabra!”

“As I was sayin’, I don’t think that—”

The ground shook. With loud screeching, the stone began to move. It was slow at first, pushing away the dirt in front of it, and then it got faster. After but a few seconds, it slid away completely, revealing a dark hole with stairs leading down.

Apple Bloom winced. “Really now?”

“Come on, girls. Let’s go!” Scootaloo waved her hoof and set off, disappearing into the hole.

“I really don’t like this,” Sweetie said, peering into the darkness.

Apple Bloom patted her on her back. “Calm down. I bet there’s nothin’ there anyway; it’s just some old ruin.”

“Spooky old ruin.”

Apple Bloom giggled. “Adventurers need to be brave – it’s good it looks scary! You saw for yourself that somethin’ easy ain’t goin’ to cut it. Come on, it’ll be fun.” She followed after Scootaloo.

“Well, if you say so...” Sweetie took a deep breath and trotted down the stairs as well.

The inside of the tomb was dim, but the entrance let enough light through for them all to see, after their eyes had adjusted. As far as ruins went, this one looked rather ordinary – crumbling walls covered with moss, floor was made of dirt, dust everywhere... There was, however, a hallway leading from the room, its destination hidden in the dark. Judging by the width of it, this place could be massive.

“Alright, ready for adventure you two?” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed and her face stretched into a wide grin. “Finally a cutie mark worthy of our flanks! We’ll get them this time – I can feel it.”

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“I guess.”

“Great!” Scootaloo clapped her hooves together. “Onwards then!” She marched into the darkness ahead, vanishing from their view in a matter of seconds. “Hurry up, Sweetie! You gotta light the way.”

Sweetie shuddered and lit up her horn. It sure didn’t look ‘fun’ so far. Still, a stroll through an old, empty ruin was well worth a cutie mark. She took a deep breath, clenched her teeth, and trotted onwards.

The passage’s width didn’t sit well with Sweetie. She wasn’t that good at controlling her magic yet, and her horn’s light didn’t reach the walls. It was like they were alone in a vast, dark room, where a monster could leap at them from any direction.

“Oh hey,” Apple Bloom said. She pointed somewhere in front of them. “I think I’m seein’ light ahead.”

“What?” Sweetie leaned forward, squinted, and saw a small, orange dot in the distance that seemed to pulse and change colours between red and yellow.

“Sweet! It’s finally getting interesting.” Scootaloo brushed past Sweetie, walking to the edge of the illuminated area.

As the dot got closer and bigger, the air changed – it no longer smelled of old moss and mould; it was fresh and chilly, like taking a walk through the Ponyville park at night.

Sweetie stopped. “I... I think we should go back.”

“What? Why?” Scootaloo asked, turning her head and frowning.

“It feels like we’re outside... but it’s so dark! It’s hours till sundown, and it’s so quiet. Don’t you think it’s weird?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “You’re just scared.”

“W–well, duh! We’re walking through an old ruin right next to the Everfree forest. Of course I’m scared!”

“Come on, Sweetie. There’s nothin’ to be afraid of; it’s empty.” Apple Bloom smiled at her and laid her hoof on Sweetie’s side.

“And how do you know that?” Sweetie shook the hoof off. “Explain why the air is different! Or... or what that dot is and why is it in an ancient ruin.”

“No idea,” Scootaloo said, her eyes as bright as gemstones in the sunlight. Everything that made Sweetie Belle feel uncomfortable seemed only to bolster the her friend’s excitement. “But that’s exactly what’s cool about adventuring! Figuring this stuff out.”

“But you know, if you don’t feel like goin’ with us...” Apple Bloom shrugged and continued trotting forward. “We can make it to the light ourselves. You can just turn around and go back.”

“Wait w— Oh!” Scootaloo’s eyes widened as a big grin snuck onto her lips. “Yep. Exactly. Just wait for us in Ponyville. We’ll tell you all about how we got our awesome cutie marks once we get back.”

Sweetie bit her lip and watched as the darkness absorbed them. She was no coward, but she wasn’t the bravest of ponies either, and this whole business gave her a very bad feeling in her gut. It wasn’t that any of this was particularly scary – it’d been two years since she overcame her fear of the dark – but this place was so close to the Everfree, and once some rabid monster living here jumped at them, it would be too late to turn back. Not to mention how convenient it was for the entrance to magically open up and the fact this ruin was important enough to make it into a book. Sure, it was just one paragraph, but it did say to avoid this place. Exactly the reason why Scootaloo couldn’t resist picking it.

Then again, maybe this really was just some empty old ruin sealed by a magical rock so that no monsters could get in, opening up only to ponies. Maybe the air came from some lone hole leading to the forest above them, and the orange dot was just a piece of orange glass that reflected her own light. And even if there was a monster somewhere in there, what kind of a friend would she be if she let them battle it on their own?

She shuffled her hooves for a while longer, took a deep breath, and galloped onwards. “Girls, wait up!”

As she neared, the dot grew into a ball, and the ball took the form of a burning stick stuck in the ground. Her friends were nowhere to be seen.

They sure didn’t waste any time.

Sweetie harrumphed and glanced at the torch. A piece of wood covered with some cloth at the top – nothing interesting, apart from the fact that it found its way into an ancient crypt and kept burning regardless of time. Assuming somepony didn’t place it there right before they’d arrived, of course.

She furrowed her brow and looked around. It was just as dark as before, but the torch’s light revealed what her horn couldn’t: there were no walls. Instead, she stared at a dense barrier of trees, brambles, and thorny bushes that seemed to dare anypony to go and try their luck at getting through them. Somehow, she must’ve gotten into a forest, and somehow, it was dark even though it was noon about three or four hours ago.

Not even the Everfree is this dark.

Creepy things like this were exactly why she didn’t want to go in here. She should just turn around and go back home. Surely there were better ways to get an adventuring cutie mark than this. She could bring Rarity and Twilight and others along; they would take care of any monsters, find her friends, and Twilight would probably be happy to explore for a bit.

Sweetie took a few steps past the torch. There was no way she was leaving her friends alone in this, even for a while.

Four paths lead from where she was – every other direction was completely blocked by the trees and thorns. The ones to her left and right were nearly overgrown and, while they were theoretically possible to walk on, Sweetie doubted her friends would pick them. They wanted an adventure, not a tedious journey full of scrapes and bruises. Which left the one she came by, and the one forward.

She shivered and walked straight ahead.

“Girls?”

The pathway was significantly narrower than the hall from before, and Sweetie had to take care to avoid getting scratched by the thorns jutting from every direction. Not that she was particularly successful.

Soon, the torch disappeared from her view, and everything she could see bathed in her green aura. She strained her ears for any sounds, but didn’t hear anything save for the whistling of wind among the branches. Still, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom couldn’t have gotten far.

“Girls? I–I’m here.” No response. Sweetie frowned and moved onwards. They should hear her by then – how much of a head start could they get in that short while?

One moment she was avoiding a particularly nasty-looking thorn, the next she stood in a clearing, staring at a large fountain right in front of her. It poured strange, glowing water that lit up the entire area and easily outshone her horn.

Sweetie trotted closer. Why would such a thing be there? Who built it? How was it still working, and why did it glow? She cocked her brow and tilted her head to the side. Her friends must’ve already been through here, else she’d see them. How did they handle it?

In stories, these places were either really good, or really evil. There was no in-between with magical water. If she drank it, she could get really powerful, or she could drop dead.

She smacked her lips. In the stories, evil water was also usually all dark and creepy, right? Sure, it looked pleasant sometimes to fool adventurers, but they always got some sort of a warning first; it wouldn’t be fair otherwise. All that meant that this fountain was probably, no, definitely safe. Plus, she could use some refreshment. She wouldn’t be reckless; she would just dip her tongue in it to see if it’s safe… Sweetie’s front leg hit something as she approached and sent it rolling on the ground.

She shook her head and bent over. An unlit torch, similar to the one she saw earlier, lay next to the fountain. Before she had the time to ponder it, she heard a sound. It was obscured by the trickling of water, but it was unmistakably there, as of somepony trying to hold back laughter.

She looked back at the fountain and shook her head again. Why did it look so appealing? Probably because it was. Still, better check out that sound before she guzzled down as much of it as she could.

Sweetie crept to the opposite side of the fountain and froze. A figure huddled in the shadows there, its back turned to her.

“Uh... hello?” Sweetie took a step forward.

There was definitely some sort of laughter. It was rather quiet, somewhere between a chuckle and a giggle, but there was no way it could be anything else.

Sweetie’s horn light landed on the pony and showed orange fur and purple mane. “Scootaloo?” She breathed out and trotted in front of her. “Scootaloo, I—”

Scootaloo’s eyes were wide and bloodshot, and her mouth was stretched into an unnaturally wide grin. “Sweetie! How are you?”

“Uh... Why—”

“Why are you laughing, Scootaloo? Drink from the fountain and you’ll be grinning too!” Scootaloo’s left eye twitched.

Sweetie looked the glowing water again. It no longer looked so appetizing. “Are you alright?” she asked, turning back to her.

“Is the sky yellow and the water blue?”

Sweetie scratched her head. “Uh...”

“I’m righter than a bent corkscrew!” She jumped up and pulled Sweetie into a hug, whispering in her ear: “What about you? Still afraid some ghost will do a ‘boo’?” She giggled.

Sweetie pushed her away and scowled. “Stop acting like this!”

“Then what should I do? Behave like the pegasus that never flew? The advantages of that are meagre and few.” Scootaloo winked at her.

“I don’t care.” Sweetie looked at her with her eyes narrowed. “Just start acting normal again.”

For a fraction of a second, Scootaloo frowned before returning to her abnormal grinning, and slowly nodded. “If you wish to reject the new then I will prematurely end this debut, but my return will soon be due. Until then, I wish luck to the both of us two.”

She bowed and her smile vanished as she shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “Wha...? Uh... Sweetie?” She blinked a few times. “S–sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” She started massaging her mouth. “Don’t drink that water. It’s... weird.”

“I figured,” Sweetie said, and pulled her off the ground. “Are you alright?”

“I... think I am now. Thanks,” Scootaloo said, frowning. “I could see and hear everything, but... it just wasn’t me, you know? I kept thinking weird things, doing weird stuff, talking funny... And what the hay is a ‘debut’? Just don’t ever drink that stuff.”

Sweetie nodded and looked around the clearing. “Where did Apple Bloom go? Did she drink it too?”

“Oh. Her.” Scootaloo scowled. “No.” She pointed at a nearby path. “She said she’s heard something and that she’ll only be gone a sec. I wanted to follow her, but first I took a sip.” Scootaloo gave her a sheepish smile. “You saw how that turned out.”

“At least you’re fine now,” Sweetie said. She returned the smile, turning towards the path. “She said she’d be right back? How long ago was that?”

“Two minutes. Or was it five?” Scootaloo furrowed her brow. “I’m not sure.”

“That’s not that long. But maybe we should go after her just in case.” Sweetie waited for Scootaloo to nod and trotted towards the passage.