Tales from an Old Town

"WELCOME TO FOALMOND"

Twilight and Spike were reading the wooden sign that was posted on the town entrance. They were in front of the sign, taking a look to the town. It was all mist. The town was filled with a dense fog that was making impossible to see where was the nearest house. An horrible silence reigned the town, creating fear in the hearts of the pony and the dragon. Twilight started to trot slowly into the fog of the town. Spike was on Twilight's back, looking everywhere with fear.

"So this is Foalmond..." Twilight said.

"T-Twilight... Is this really a good idea?" Spike said with fear.

"You know we have to do this... E-Even if our lives is in danger with this mission..."

"Yes, you're right Twilight... Let's go..."

"Yeah... Let's go..."

With no time to waste, Twilight started to trot faster into the town. Even with the determination in their hearts, the dense fog and the strange noises that could be heard sometimes, created an horrible fear in the couple. Some seconds later, a house appeared through the fog. The house had the same structure than the houses of Ponyville, but the color of it was a mix between grey and green. With no doubt, that house was externally weird. Twilight trotted to the door of the house, and read a small sign with golden letters that was posted in the main door of the house.

"PENCIL BENIT'S HOME"

"Pencil Benit? I never heard that name before," said Spike with curiosity.

"Me neither, but that's not important. We're looking for Cadance's home," said Twilight with a serious tone.

"Yeah, I know, I was just curious."

Twilight turned back and followed the road looking for another house. It didn't take 10 hoofsteps until they found another house. This one was exactly like the last one, with the same structure and color. Twilight trotted to the main door of the house, and read the small sign of the door.

"MIA AMORE CADENZA'S HOME"

"Well, that was easy," said Spike surprised.

"Yeah, this was surprisingly easy. I wonder if..." Twilight pushed the door, but it didn't move. It was locked, as expected. "I knew it,"

"What are we gonna do now?"

"Let's see if we can get in the house by another way,"

Twilight turned back and started to inspect around the house. All the windows were closed. They saw a water well at the right side of the house, but it was empty. Spike groaned at this, expecting to be water in there because he was thirsty. They took a look behind the house, and saw something white in a hidden spot of it. They trotted to it and took a look at the white thing. The surprise in their face was priceless.

"It's... I-It's a skeleton..."

A skeleton of a pony was right there, in front of them. It wasn't very big, so it wasn't probably the skeleton of Cadance. The terror now was at maximum level inside the pony and the dragon.

"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE, NOW!!!" said Spike with panic. Spike jumped from Twilight's back and started running, but Twilight caught him with her magic.

"Where do you think you're going, friend?" said Twilight with composure.

"Twilight, didn't you see that??!! It's the skeleton of a pony!!! We're in danger!!!" said Spike still with panic.

"I know what we're seeing, but we can't leave now! We must find Princess Cadance or the Crystal Empire will lose a princess!"

"B-But!"

"No excuses! We have to do this, Spike. You know it." Twilight sighed, trying to relax. Spike saw the determination in the words of his friend, so he tried to get off his panic.

"Yeah, you're right Twilight... I'm sorry if I'm pulling you back, but I'm very scared of this place..." said Spike honestly.

"I know, I'm very scared too... This place is very spooky, but we have to continue. Now that I'm looking closely at it... This skeleton is weird... I couldn't say if this is the skeleton of a pony or not..."

"I don't care, to be honest... Wait Twilight, I can see something shining into that skeleton,"

"Really?" Twilight used her magic to took some bones apart from the skeleton, and she found a key inside it. "Good job, Spike!"

"Thanks,"

It was probably the key of the main door of the house, so Twilight turned back and trotted to the main door of the house again. She put the key in the keyhole, and the door opened with a satisfying 'click'. They got inside the house, closing the door behind them. The house was surprisingly well illuminated by the outdoor lighting. The house was completely empty, but that wasn't a great surprise. Probably everything of that house, was now in the Crystal Empire. Twilight trotted through the house until they found Cadance's room. It was easy to find, because the door was a sign with her name on it. There was an old wooden bed, a nightstand and a cupboard in the room. There was only one window in the room, but was enough to illuminate the place. There was a strange yellow note on the nightstand. Twilight grabbed it with her magic and started reading...

"Emm... Twilight, what are you doing looking at that note? There's nothing written on it," said Spike surprised.

"I-I don't know... For some reason, this note has a familiar looking... There's nothing written on it, but... There's something in this note that is calling me..." Twilight was looking at the note hypnotized. Spike was starting to get worried about the strange behavior of his friend.

"What are you talking about? It's just an old note,"

"I know b-but..."

Twilight started to feel something weird in her head. Her sensations started to twist, and her vision started to get blurry. Strange whispers started to sound in her head. She could hear a female voice among all those whispers.

"This room makes me feel nostalgic... I spent all my childhood in this house, with my family... Well, at least before they were killed by the curse of this town... Why I never knew about this? Why I had to knew about this thanks to a strange feeling I had recently?"

The voice of Cadance was perfectly audible... Why was Twilight hearing her voice like a flashback?

"Twilight?"

The sudden voice of Spike turned Twilight back to reality. Her vision returned to normal, and everything went silent. The note was in the floor. Twilight didn't realize that she wasn't using magic after that strange vision.

"...Twilight?" said Spike worried.

"Oh, yes?" said Twilight back in reality.

"Twilight, you scared me!" said Spike relieved.

"Yeah, sorry. I had a strange... Vision... While I was looking at this strange note... Well, that's not important now. Looks like Princess Cadance is not here. Probably she's in another house of the town or something."

"You're probably right. Let's get going then."

Twilight turned back and got out of the house. The dense fog of the town were at their vision again, creating a new fear in their hearts. Twilight started to follow the road again, expecting to find more houses to investigate. She found a grey grate some seconds later. It had a metallic door indicating the main entrance of the town. That was strange. The entrance of the town is a grey grate with a metallic door? Why the entrance of the town is so fortified?

"I never saw something like this before," said Spike.

"Probably this is here to guarantee the security of the visitors. This town have an evil curse after all."

"Good observation."

A sudden 'click' could be heard from behind the metallic door. Twilight and Spike were staring at the door, expecting something to happen. After some seconds of awkward silence, the metallic door started to open slowly by itself. That gave Spike the creeps.

"T-Twilight... D-Did the door just-"

"Yes," said Twilight with serenity. "The town is welcoming us."

"B-But how is that possible?!" said Spike impressed.

"Remember what Shining Armor told us... The town has life thanks to the curse, and now it can do things by it's own."

"Oh y-yeah, it's right... once we're in there, there's no way back... right?" said Spike trying to accept the reality of the situation. Twilight took a sigh, and then stared at the door with decision, but with fear.

"Right... Let's go..."

Twilight started to trot through the metallic door, and it closed by itself behind them with a loud bang that scared the couple. They stop a little to relax a bit, and Twilight started trotting again. The deep silence of the town was horrifying. The dense fog was creating a constant insecurity in Twilight and Spike, fearing to something that could happen at any moment. The roads of the town were eternal and confusing. They were changing of direction everytime. They already found some houses, but there was nothing interesting on them. All the houses were surprisingly identical; all of them had the same structure and color. That fact was making Twilight doubt about if they were trotting in circles through the town, but she remembered that the names on the signs were all different.

After some minutes of trotting with no destination, they found a bigger building. Twilight trotted to the wooden sign near the main doors of the building and read with curiosity.

"FOALMOND 'S SCHOOLHOUSE"

"The schoolhouse of the town... I think here's where Princess Cadance studied when she was a filly," said Twilight with interest.

"We don't have to get in there, right?" said Spike.

"Well, the princess is probably in there, so we have to do it."

"But Twilight! You never read horror stories before? There are ghosts of schoolfillies in abandoned schoolhouses!"

"I know I know, but... We don't have another option. We need to-"

"Find Princess Cadance. It's okay..."

Spike gave up and Twilight tried to open one of the main doors, but it was locked. This was a problem, but Spike felt relieved of not having to get into the schoolhouse... Not yet at least. Twilight turned back and started to inspect the surroundings of the building. They found a grey water well without water, and some brown barrels. One of the barrels had a writing on it.

"TREES - SUNKEN ROAD"

"This must be a clue of where's the key of the schoolhouse," said Twilight thoughtful.

"Why is there a riddle for the key of the schoolhouse? Is the town making the things hard at purpose?" said Spike surprised.

"Maybe... But why?"

Twilight and Spike weren't able to believe what their eyes were seeing. There wasn't more road there. The road was completely cut there, with no floor at all. Twilight got a little bit near of the cut, and looked down. A bottomless chasm was in front of them. Twilight stepped back a little after seeing that.

"This is amazing!!! How could this happen?!" said Twilight impressed.

"I don't know, but... Do you remember the riddle back at the schoolhouse?" said Spike realizing something.

"Oh yes, it said "Sunken Road"... Maybe is this the sunken road?"

"Probably... If that's so, let's take a look at the trees."

Twilight trotted to the trees on her left. There was nothing unusual on them. Now, she tried to take a look at the trees on her right. Still nothing...

"Wait Twilight, look at that tree!" said Spike, pointing to a tree that had a rope tied to a branch. Twilight used her magic to untie the rope, and she gave it to Spike.

"Good job Spike, but... What are we gonna do with a rope?"

"I don't know... But it must have some use,"

They stopped there, thinking about the possible use of the rope. After some seconds, Twilight raised a hoof.

"Of course! The water well of the schoolhouse!" said Twilight happily.

"The water well of the schoolhouse?" asked Spike confused.

"Yes! There's probably a key at the bottom of that water well!" said Twilight convinced about it.

"Well, we can give it a try," said Spike not so convinced.

"Let's go then!"

"I have it!!!"

Twilight was right about her theory. Spike picked up the key while Twilight was using her magic to hold the rope that was holding Spike. Twilight took an effort to raise the rope and Spike got out of the water well. After getting off the rope, Spike got on Twilight's back again with the key on his claw. Twilight trotted to one of the main doors, and introduced the key into the keyhole with magic. The door opened, and Twilight proceeded to enter. Twilight closed the door behind her, and the darkness of the entrance of the schoolhouse surrounded them. Twilight took a little of her magic, and her horn started to emanate enough light to illuminate the place.

"T-Twilight... I-Is very dark in here..." said Spike trembling with fear.

"I know... I don't like this place. Let's be careful about it," said Twilight with insecurity.

"Y-Yeah... L-Lead the way..."