The halls grew steadily darker as Twilight went, though the sun was still high in the sky. Something about the looming stone walls sucked the light out of the air and the color out of the rich curtains. Candle flames grew dimmer, as if suffocated by the heavy atmosphere. The East wing of the castle is seldom used now, as old as it has become, and the years have sunk in. She hasn't passed a royal guard pony for several corridors, but the silence and solemnity of the halls hardly needs guarding.
Twilight only barely regrets exploring so far when the gloom settling in between sparse windows makes her light her horn for comfort.
Purple light bathes the stone and causes it to glimmer slightly, but the ambiance becomes even less familiar. Her glow reaches only strides in front of her before the washed out scenery continues on into the darkness. The sight is surreal, and when Twilight casts her horn upwards, she pauses in her hoofsteps. Pipes run parallel to the walls above her, copper and brass reflecting the light and casting long shadows on the ceiling. They extend behind and in front of her into the reaches of her vision. Some turn from their path and disappear into the stone, perhaps to rooms, and others intersect and weave through each other to cross corridors.
The presence of the strange pipes heavy in her mind, Twilight continues on. She has only begun to wonder where the long corridor is taking her, and how far she's gone, when the wall before her slopes downwards and she nearly misplaces a hoof on a stair. Below her descends a staircase, turning into the darkness around a corner. She hesitates, realizing that there may exist a reason as to why nopony ever comes back here anymore, but her desire to know what lay beyond was too much. Another hoof down, and the stone step is heavily dipped in areas. Examining the surface closer, her horn light illuminates circle shaped concavities marring the steps. Multiple paths worn into different depths are present, perhaps indicating the constant strides of separate ponies up and down the structure over countless years.
Careful to fit her hooves into the slight grooves, she makes her way around the bend, the stone on either side cold and towering in the spiraling hallway. Two pipes have followed her down the flight, and disappear into stone settled above a solid titanium door. It's surface is oxidized in places, but untouched in the center of the door is an image, pressed into the metal. It shines in her aura light, and the silvery metal indents gleam purple where they rest, slightly higher than her nose. Depicted are large, spread wings, and a horn beaming with magic. Twilight's thoughts turn to Princess Celestia, in her fierce stance with wide, white wings and a magnificently bright horn.
An idea occurs to her, and she plants her hooves against the stone, stretching up to stand tall. Her wings unfold, and she concentrates magic in her horn. Titanium reflects the light of her power as her magic grows brighter, the gleam lightening from purple to white and forcing her to close her eyes. Something shifts audibly, metal grinding metal, and the door rises up, disappearing into the ceiling with a groan that echoes against the walls. Tucking her wings away with a triumphant smile, Twilight steps into the room beyond.
Gone are the stone blocks piecing together the castle. Smooth stone arches up, far above her head, into a large, cavern-like room. Pipes emerge from the dome on every side and snake their way upward to an opening in the stone-- a well ascending into the ceiling. Below the metal networking is a field of hulking objects, metal structures with glinting glass instruments and shining brass knobs. Behind her, the door lowers itself with it's grinding of gears, but she walks ahead unfazed. A few steps in, a metal panel under her hoof sinks into the floor, and Twilight jumps back, fearing a trap when a metal hiss sounds below her. A clanking in the walls is followed by the soft buzzing of electric current through old filaments.
Lights flicker on, hanging from strings on the metal pipes or flashing on machines, casting a yellowish glow over the room. Letting her horn's light die, Twilight walks towards the machinery, her hoof clicks echoing the slightest bit. The machines appear to be much more complicated than anything Twilight has seen before, and when she presses her ear to them, they whir and click inside. Glass encased dials spin or point to readings, but none of it means anything to the filly. She makes her way back through the machines, and emerges on the other side of the dome. The far wall is hidden behind a large red curtain, it's velvet sheen dulled by a layer of dust. A chain descends from the railing holding it up, a well-polished brass handle glinting in the lamplight. She pulls it with her magic and the curtain moves unsteadily at first, but draws back with the scraping of metal support rings on the dowel.
A few large sodium lamps overhead light up three shrouded figures. Twilight approaches them, each cloaked object only as tall as she is, and hoofs at the patchwork material. Peeking under it, she sees a metal fixture, copper and brass paneling gleaming in the light. Backing away, she lifts the cloths away all at once, stirring up dust. Three pony-like metal creations stand stock still despite her disturbance. Their features are streamlined, polished metal shaped into hooves, legs, tails, and ears capture the lines of a living, breathing pony in the still cold of a machine. Circling around them, Twilight is immediately interested in the glass cutie-marks on their flanks. A copper pony sports a stack of squares, a titanium pony a musical note, and a brass pony a bunny.
In front of them again, she reaches out to brush a hoof against the brass pony's face. Each pony wears a red and black outfit complete with a hat to make up for not having a mane, though the copper one has orange hair on his face and an orange tail. She moves to examine them closer, but a soft blue glow from the floor catches her eye. A slightly larger than hoof-sized button on the floor glows blue, and Twilight hovers a hoof over it. Something in the back of her mind makes her press the button, and she jumps when a loud metal clank echoes around the room. Quieter working metal sounds come from the ponies, something shifting beneath the metal shell. The slightest bit of steam hisses out of the titanium pony's ears like a train whistle when it's cutie mark flickers blue. The other two click and whir like their fellow machines, their marks slowly brightening to the same blue glow.
A minute passes, full of the sounds of inner workings clicking and hissing away. Catching Twilight unawares, three pairs of eyes click open and blink a few times, glowing irises of blue and green staring into the depths of the room. The titanium pony hisses again, steam pouring out of it's open mouth. The copper pony swivels it's head and looks around with wide, crystal blue eyes. The brass pony's jaw opens to reveal ivory teeth and a metal tongue, snaps closed, and opens again. It does this a few times while it's ears twitch under the hat and a metal tail creaks back and forth. The pony's small, bi-colored irises dart around the room, landing on Twilight, and it's mouth moves again.
"M-my name is R-R-R-Rabbit."
"M-my name is R-R-R-Rabbit." The machine pony's voice is pleasant, warm and full of personality, his stuttering adding a touch of character.
The titanium pony shifts on it's hooves, making metal ring on stone. "I am The Spine." His voice is rich and dark, full of confidence with, perhaps, a subtly flirtatious air.
"They call me Hatchworth!" The bronze pony smiles brightly, much louder and more brash than his brethren. The pipe protruding from his hat releases steam with a whistle and he laughs cheerfully.
Twilight stands in awe of the mechanical colts, but when the one named Rabbit starts walking towards her with a jaunty step, joints whining, she watches him warily. He stops after a few hooffalls, rolling each joint and listening to it creak, mismatched photoreceptors darting up to look her over. "You'r'r're not Madame Celestia?" The other ponies seem to realize this as well, critical inorganic eyes fixating on her.
"I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle--" She tries to explain about Celstia's absence, but the peculiar pony cuts her off with a screech of gears.
"Another Princess! My lady," he bows his head to her, one hoof keeping his hat on his head, "it is an honor for a lowly automaton like myself to meet royalty! Spine, Hatchy, she's a princess!" The other two "automatons" mimic Rabbit, The Spine removing his hat and giving a deep bow, Hatchworth nearly planting his nose in the stone.
Twilight clears her throat awkwardly, not used to such enthusiastic praise. "Yes, well, I was Princess Celestia's pupil before I became a princess myself, but--"
"Ooh, a mechanic?" Hatchworth's high-pitched voice rings out over her, and he trots up noisily, The Spine following close behind. "My tank is low, and my left hoof is jammed, and my ears are sticking."
The Spine's rich voice takes over. "One of my spines is loose, and my tank is low on water as well."
Before Rabbit can fire off everything wrong with his internal mechanisms, Twilight raises her voice above the din. "I'm not a mechanic! I... Don't even know if I should be down here or not. I kind of just found the door while exploring, and I really don't know anything about any of this." The automatons seem disappointed. "But, I guess I can try? Show me what you need."
Rabbit swivels his head back and forth and seems to come to a revelation, his pupils dilating in surprise until blue and green take up each eye entirely. One hoof darts up to the brim of his hat to feel for something, but only meets the suede. "Where are-re-re m-m-my goggles?" A panicked look takes over his copper face, irises constricting into pinpricks once more. "I need my goggles! P-please tell me you know where my goggles are!?"
Twilight shakes her head. "I didn't see any, but I'm sure we can find them. Do you remember where you left them?"
The automaton pony gallops wildly over to a desk against the wall, yanking open every drawer and rummaging through the contents. "The P-Princess always gives me her goggles when she's not working on something! I always wear them! She wouldn't have, couldn't have taken them, oh please...." He starts taking things out of the drawers, throwing them every which way in a frenzy. "Th-the g-g-g-goggles are hers, but I get to wear them because I'm the oldest and I-- I just-- I don't know! Help!"
Before Twilight can say anything, The Spine approaches Rabbit slowly, his baritone voice gentle and understanding. "Hey, Rabbit, it's ok, the Princess probably just took the goggles with her. Look at this place, it's covered in dust. She hasn't been down here in a while. Maybe she's upstairs, working in the castle."
"Wha-what are you saying, Spine? That she l-left us down here?" Rabbit's eyes flicker, blue switching to green and green switching to blue, each eye shifting colors a few times with the sound of sparking fuses. "But she wouldn't do that! She'd never leave us here! Would she? N-No, no, no, no, no...." Rabbit slumps to the floor, covering his ears and shutting off his photoreceptors, a litany of "no"'s seemingly glitching his voice box.
"Rabbit, Rabbit..." The Spine sits down next to his brother, running a gentle hoof over his back strut. "The Princess is a busy pony, but I promise that she hasn't forgotten about us-- about you, ok? Why don't we go see the Princess? We can see the Princess, right?" He turns to Twilight.
Overwhelmed by the automaton's sudden meltdown, Twilight sputters a bit. "I, well, I'm not sure, I mean, I don't know if I was supposed to find this place, but... If it means so much to him, I can take you to see her. I'm sure she'll clear this up."
The Spine's eyes hold an awful lot of emotion for a machination when he looks from Twilight to Rabbit. "Do you hear that, Rabbit? The new Princess will take us to see Celestia. Do you want to go?"
Rabbit stands back up shakily with a little help, the "no"'s having faded away at the mention of seeing his creator. "Y-yes, please."
