Tales from an Old Town

Three ways; Left, right, and front. There were two doors in front of the couple, probably leading to a corridor or a courtyard. On the left, there was a door leading to the storage, a table with some things on it, and stairs leading to the upper floor. On the right, a door leading to the different classrooms of the schoolhouse, and another door leading to the infirmary of the school. The options were there, but what way could they took first?

After a moment of indecision, Twilight started trotting to the doors that were in front of her. Twilight tried to open the doors, but they were locked. Twilight turned and went to the table of the left. There were a world map of Equestria, a small yellow box with the keys of the different classrooms of the school, some books about self-esteem, and a note from the janitor. Twilight inspected the small yellow box first to discover that some of the keys were gone. The world map and the books were not interesting, so Twilight proceeded to take a look to the note from the janitor. She grabbed it with her magic and started reading it.

"I passed through Classroom 102 today. Mistress Julie was talking about professional careers with her class. One of the schoolfillies, said to Julie that she was going to be a princess in the future. It was funny the determination in the words of that filly. Her imagination is incredible..."

"Looks like is part of some diary of the janitor," said Spike.

"Probably... Cadance's classroom was 102... We could take a look at that classroom." Twilight trotted to the door leading to the schoolhouse's classrooms, but it was locked. "What a surprise..."

"Looks like we're gonna have to look for another way,"

Twilight turned around and went upstairs. A new corridor presented in front of them after climbing up the stairs. This corridor was filled with doors leading to the different classrooms of that floor, but those were not their objective. Twilight crossed the corridor and turned left. A small corridor was connecting the corridor of the left side of the school, with the corridor of the right side. Twilight crossed the small corridor to find another corridor at her left filled with doors of classrooms, and a stairwell at her right leading to the main floor. Twilight went downstairs and a new dark corridor appeared. Twilight trotted through the corridor when a small sign caught her attention.

"Here it is; Classroom 102," said Twilight.

Twilight opened the door and trotted inside. The classroom was filled with small chairs and tables, a large desk for the teacher, a blackboard and some cupboards. They were all filled with dust and some decay. There was nothing interesting in that class, except for one thing. There was an old yellow note on the teacher's table. Twilight used her magic to grab it, but something called her attention about that note. Her eyes widened at the realization. In that moment, Spike took a look to the note. He got surprised when he saw it.

"Hey, Twilight... I-isn't this the same note we saw at Cadance's home?" said Spike with some fear.

"Y-yes... It's exactly the same one... With nothing written on it," said Twilight impressed.

There it was; the note was starting to get into her mind again. Her sensations started to twist once more, and her vision started to get blurry. Laughter of small fillies were ringing inside her head. Her vision returned after that. The classroom were the same, but something was different. The classroom was perfectly illuminated by sunlight, and it was filled with small ghostly fillies paying attention to their teacher. Between all the fillies, a small lavender unicorn was there, fascinated with all the things the teacher was telling.

"...So well, can somepony tell me the solution to this problem?" said the teacher looking at her students. Twilight raised a hoof after that.

"Me, me, me! I know the solution to the problem!" said an enthusiastic younger Twilight.

"I know you know the solution, miss Sparkle. Can you let your classmates say the solution for once, please?" said the teacher with severity.

"B-but..." said Twilight dissapointed.

"I will not say it again, young filly!" The younger Twilight lowered her hoof with sadness. "I'm sorry miss Twilight, but I got tired of your egocentrism. You will never have friends if you continue by that way."

The younger Twilight was sad, very sad. The harsh words of the teacher impacted directly in her heart. The teacher started to write the solution when she realized that nopony knew the answer except her. The younger Twilight was starting to cry, but a kind hoof touched her shoulder. Twilight looked and saw the smile of her friend Moondancer.

"Don't listen to her; you know that teacher is always awful," said Moondancer.

"I heard that," said the teacher.

"TWILIGHT!!!" said Spike to her ear.

Twilight got back to reality after startling by the yell of Spike. The note was in the floor, waiting to be picked up again.

"Why did you do that, Spike?! You scared me!!" said Twilight angry.

"I'm sorry, but you were hypnotized by that note! I was worried about you!" said Spike justifying.

"Agh... It's okay, sorry..." Twilight used her magic again to pick up the note from the floor. "This strange note... I don't know how, but it show me things... And what it showed me this time... Was from my past... From my days at the School for Gifted Unicorns at Canterlot... Why this note showed me that?"

"Uuuhhh... Twilight, didn't you find something weird in that note now?"

Twilight looked at the note and now there was something written on it with blue ink. Twilight looked closer and she could read: "LOOK IN THE CUPBOARD, BUT DON'T GET USED TO IT"

"What the... T-the cupboard?!" said Twilight suprised by the text.

Twilight let the note in one of the tables, and trotted slowly to one of the cupboards. She started to inspect the cupboards, until she found a key inside one of them. Twilight gave the key to Spike, and this started to inspect the key.

"Classroom 203 key... Do you think somepony is helping us?" said Spike curious.

"I don't know, but this way to help is not funny..." said Twilight with fear in her eyes.

"Yeah, you're right... It scared the hell out of me when that text appeared from nowhere in that note."

"Yeah... But well, let's proceed to that classroom."

"Of course, lead the way."

Classroom 203 were in front of them. Twilight used the key to unlock the door, and this opened with no problem after that. The classroom was identical to the last classroom they visited. The only difference, was the blackboard. There was a message written on it with white chalk.

"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."

"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."

"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."

"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."

"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."

"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."

"Looks like somepony was bad here," said Spike.

"Well... At least, we know what we have to do now!" said Twilight with a smile.

"Oh yeah! ...... What we have to do now?" said Spike confused.

"We have to go to the infirmary, Spike. Probably there's something in there."

"Ooh, of course! Hehe..." said Spike with some embarrassment.

The infirmary wasn't very hard to find. It was at some steps away from the entrance, at the right corridor. In the infirmary, there were some white beds, clean desktops, and cupboards with medicines and first-aid kits inside of them. The walls were painted of green and white, with some decay and dust. At first sight, there was nothing suspicious in that infirmary. Of course, Twilight had to inspect a little. She proceeded to inspect the beds, the desk and the cupboards with no apparent result. But one more time, the good eye of Spike detected something metallic behind one of the bottles of the medicine. Twilight used her magic to pick up the key from behind the bottle. There was a tag attached on it. Spike proceeded to read the tag.

"Wow, this is hard to read... The writing is very small in this tag..." said Spike trying to read the tag.

"Small writing? What's the sense of that for the tag of a key?" said Twilight surprised about this fact.

"I don't know... Wait, I think I got it... It says 'Don't forget the bottle. Storage.'"

"The bottle? It means this bottle?" said Twilight pointing at the bottle where the key was seconds ago.

"Probably, but the tag also says 'Storage'. Probably the bottle is in the storage of the school."

Twilight hesitate for a moment. The fact that everything in this school was so riddled, was making her head explode of confusion. And what about that strange yellow piece of paper that makes her see strange visions? Was that paper enchanted or something? A lot of questions, but zero answers. Twilight didn't have much choice but to continue. She will think about all those things later.

Twilight took a look to the bottle were the key was hidden before. The label of that bottle in specific was different. The other bottles of medicine was different, yeah, but all of them have a label of color white in general. But the label of that bottle was red; red garnet. It has no name at all, just a big word written with black ink: "HEALER".

"A healing bottle? Why would I need this?" said Twilight confused.

"I don't know, but the tag of the key said that we have to take it with us. Probably will be useful in the future?" said Spike with some ignorance.

"Spike, don't you see? This is a healing bottle! If a bottle like this is here, that means that probably we're gonna get hurt in the future!" said Twilight with some fear.

Spike fell silent after that. His eyes widened with the realization of this fact. Now Spike was really scared... Until he realized about a fact.

"Maybe that's true, but... Maybe this bottle is just for prevention! There's no reason for us getting hurt... Right?" said Spike with fear in that last word.

"Y-yeah, you're right Spike... But if this is bottle is here, we can't lower our guard." said Twilight with serenity.

"Yeah, you're right... Let's take that bottle and continue. Princess Cadance is waiting for us," said Spike with a sudden boost of determination.

"Alright."

Twilight took the bottle with her magic, and she gave it to Spike. After that, Twilight trotted out of the infirmary with the storage of the school as destination. The storage wasn't too far from there. It was near of the table of the janitor. When they arrived to the door of the storage, Twilight used the key on the door, and this unlocked with a satisfying 'click'. When Twilight was about to push the door and open it, a sudden cry of a filly could be heard through the left corridor, behind the wooden doors. Twilight and Spike were paralyzed. Their fear striking as a sharpened blade straight at their nerves. Their hearts were racing. None of them dared to talk or move for a few seconds. When the cry ceased, the silence was complete. The only sounds? Their breathing and their hearts beating strong and fast. At last, Spike talked with a whisper.

"T-twilight... D-did you hear that?!"

"Y-yes... I-it was the cry of a filly..."

"I-I told you there were g-ghosts of schoolfillies in abandoned s-schoolhouses..."

"W-well... Is over now... L-let's continue..."

Twilight pushed slowly the door, making it open with a squeak. Twilight trotted inside of the storage with slow hoofsteps. The storage was very small. There were just a bunch of wooden boxes with rotten food, and some cupboards with rusty tools in them. Of course, there was a key in one of them. The key was for the Music Classroom.

"Wait... There is a music classroom?" said Spike, still a bit scared.

"Of course. What school doesn't have a music classroom?" said Twilight with honesty.

"Oh... I didn't know that... Learning things even in creepy places!" said Spike trying to change the ambient.

"Yeah, hehe..." said Twilight, smiling lamely.

"Here it is, music classroom!" said Twilight looking at the wooden door of the classroom.

It took a while for the couple to find it. It was actually on the second floor, in one of the connecting corridors. Twilight gulped after using the key to unlock the door. After the ghostly cry of before, Twilight has been feeling unsafe all the time. Same with Spike, but at least he was trying to calm the situation with his usual good humor.

The door opened. The classroom was kinda spacious. There were a bunch of wooden chairs around a big black piano, with a metallic desk near the blackboard in the north wall of the class. There was nothing written on the blackboard, but Twilight spotted a white piece of paper on the desk. Twilight picked up the paper, realizing about the grey suitcase that was on the desk. Twilight started to read the paper with curiosity.

My third is your second.

Your second is her first.

Her fourth is his third.

And his third is my second.

Twilight didn't understand anything. She didn't know why this paper has written a riddle like that. But then, she looked at the suitcase. She trotted behind the desk to have a good look of the suitcase, and then she saw it.

A padlock with a combination of four numbers.

"This can't be serious..." said Twilight disappointed.

"We have to solve that riddle to open this suitcase? Why?" said Spike irritated.

"I don't know, but that's how things are right now... Let's see..."

Twilight fell to a sitting position on the ground, and the couple started to think about the riddle. The riddle was confusing, but they know it has a solution. It took several minutes for them to figure out the solution... Well, Twilight was the one who figured out that.

"I think I have it..."

Twilight got up and trotted to the suitcase. Spike looked at the suitcase with curiosity about the solution. Twilight started to introduce the numbers in the padlock: "3-3-2-2". The padlock opened with a satisfying 'click' followed by the smile of Twilight feeling the victory.

"It was that simple? Really?" said Spike dumbfounded.

"It wasn't that simple, you know?" said Twilight with a smile.

"Yeah, probably..." said Spike forgetting the riddle.

The suitcase opened, and inside of it... Yeah, another key. This one was for the wooden doors in front of the entrance. Probably they will guide them to another corridor, or a courtyard. At least, that was their theory.

"Stupid schoolhouses and their reign of keys..." said Spike with some irritation, making Twilight chuckle a bit.

Twilight used the key on the wooden doors, unlocking them with the usual 'click'. Once opened, Twilight trotted in. How they supposed, it was another connecting corridor. Empty as hell, with no light at all, and another pair of wooden doors at the end of the corridor. Twilight started trotting through the corridor when the doors behind them slammed shut by themselves, startling the couple and making them look back. A new deep silence appeared in the place. Twilight recovered from the scare, and continued trotting. When she reached the end of the corridor, Twilight pushed the doors, but they won't budge. Twilight tried pushing them several times, but nothing. They didn't move an inch. A new fear started growing in the couple, making their eyes wide.

"O-okay Twilight, do not panic... Let's return and look for another key or something," said Spike trying to calm his friend.

"Y-yeah, you're right Spike..." said Twilight trying to relax.

Twilight turned back and started trotting, when a distant sound appeared from nowhere. It was... a tribal chant? Twilight started to look around her with panic. The tribal chant grew more and more, until the point that they could be behind the wooden doors at that moment. Twilight didn't know what to do. She was just looking everywhere with panic and confusion. She could feel the tribal chant everywhere. But then, a loud bang sounded through the wooden doors, making Twilight scream of the scare. And then, complete silence. The tribal chant disappeared completely. The deep silence was there again, and for once Twilight liked it.

An unlocking sound came from the wooden doors. Twilight looked at them surprised. Somepony unlocked them? Who? The same one who make that tribal chant and that loud bang to the door? What kind of bad joke is this?!

Twilight stopped asking questions in her mind, and started trotting to the doors with fear. When she was in front of them, Twilight pushed them slowly, gulping and getting ready for whatever was gonna happen now.

A small pink alicorn was sitting in a wooden bench of the school. She was sad. The other fillies were with their friends; laughing, playing, and being happy. But that pink filly was alone and sad, looking at the floor lost in her thoughts.

"Alone again, young filly?"

The pink alicorn looked up surprised about that voice. It was an old grey pony with black tail and mane. He was dressed with a white shirt with a big black word: "The Janitor". He was the best friend of the pink filly at the moment. He always been there when she was feeling alone and sad. He was like a father for her.

"Mister Janitor... Everypony laughs at me because I dream with being a princess in the future... Everypony thinks that's an impossible dream... It's not fair!" said the filly with some tears in her eyes. The janitor looked at her with a sad face, but a bright smile went through his face after some seconds.

"My dear Mia Amore Cadenza, your dream is as beautiful like any other dream. Your dream is not impossible at all my dear, but probably it will be difficult. But you know what? If you never give up and stay determined with your dream, I'm sure you will make it." said the janitor with all his heart. An innocent smile painted on Cadance's face.

"Do you really think that?" said Cadance with a new hope.

"Of course, my dear! Everypony can accomplish everything if they really want to. And you're not different from them. You're a clever filly. I'm sure you'll be a beautiful princess in the future."

Cadance smiled and gave a warm hug to the janitor. He returned it with pleasure. But in that moment, Cadance's teacher passed through the corridor, and saw the tender scene. She looked at the janitor with disgust.

"Oh please, you again... Stop being a pedophile and do your job for once!"

The teacher continued her way with anger. That pony was awful. Cadance and the janitor knew very well. They will never understand why that mare was a teacher in this schoolhouse. Cadance looked at the janitor, who had a serious look after what the teacher said to him.

"Don't listen to her, mister janitor. You're a wonderful pony, and my best friend!" said Cadance giving him another hug. That always make him happy, and that's the reason of his work in that schoolhouse. He loved kids.

"WHAT?! WHERE?! WHEN?! HOW?!" said Twilight dumbfounded of her new location.

The school was not the school anymore. The ceiling was brown and decaying, with some blood stains. Same with the walls. The floor was not tiles anymore, but rusted grates instead. The scene changed from a normal ghostly schoolhouse, to an ominous decaying place were some kind of "massacre" happened there. Twilight and Spike were completely surprised of this sudden change of ambient and scene.

"What the hell happened to the school?!" asked Spike with wide eyes.

"I don't know Spike, but this place... Now is more... How could I describe this?" said Twilight with a fearing tone.

"...Dark? Sinister? CRAZY?!" said Spike with panic in his words.

"Exactly... I don't like this Spike... If this is a product from the curse of the town, then the curse is way more serious than I though..."

"What are we gonna do now, Twilight?" said Spike trying to relax, but with no apparent results.

"Continue... That's what we have to do now... I really hope Princess Cadance is okay..." said Twilight worried about the princess.

"Yeah, me too..." said Spike gulping.

Twilight looked around to get a better perspective of the place. She could see two doors in front of her, and another two doors at her left and right. She was sure the doors were made of wood, but the splashes of blood were covering everything of those doors. She started to trot and tried to open the doors. Most of the doors were jammed, except one of the right wall of the room. When Twilight opened it, a new long corridor appeared. It was the right corridor of the main floor of the schoolhouse, but the macabre version of it.

Twilight tried to open each door that appeared in her vision, but all of them were jammed. Other than that, she could see some brown barrels, with some strange green liquid on them. Nothing in that corridor was interesting. After trying to open each door of the corridor with no results, she started to look for something interesting in that corridor, when she spotted a stairwell going upstairs. She trotted upstairs until she reached to a new corridor full of the same things: Destroyed barrels, wooden doors with blood stains, and a state of decaying everywhere.

"Why there are so many jammed doors here?" said Spike a little bit tired of so many jammed doors.

"I don't know... Is like if somepony were guiding us through a specific way of this... 'bizarre' version of the school," said Twilight pensive.

"But who?! Who could be in this crazy place?!" said Spike impressed.

"I don't know Spike, but we can't stop here asking questions about the logic of this place. Remember that this is probably a trick from the curse of the town. Probably there's nopony in there, but the curse is trying to give us a fake hope." said Twilight with security in her words.

"Twilight... I'm surprised that you're so relaxed in this world... Because I'm scared as hell!" said Spike still impressed.

The observation of the dragon made Twilight think. It was true. She was surprised at the beginning, but she felt more relaxed while she was trying to open the jammed doors. Was that normal? She should be feeling terrified right now? In that case, why she was so relaxed in comparison with Spike? Was the curse playing with her more than she thought?

A loud thud brought Twilight back to reality, and making Spike jump out of his skin. A rolling barrel appeared from the darkness before. The barrel stopped at Twilight 's hooves. Twilight couldn't use her magic in that moment because she was using it for illuminating the place, so she  picked up the barrel with her hooves, letting it standing up on the ground. That was the moment where she saw that the barrel was open from above. Twilight looked into the barrel, and saw a small grey box with two yellow pieces of paper at it's sides. Twilight picked them up with some effort. The box had a padlock with three numbers to insert. Twilight picked up one of the papers, and started to read.

"The mistress Binary Shimmer is a real fanatic of Binary Language. One day, a student asked her about the reason of her obsession. Her answer was: Do you know something about the Elements of Harmony?"

Twilight thought about the paper. The writing style was the same of the note she saw at the table of the janitor. This was probably a part from his diary too? Twilight gave the paper to Spike for him to read it while Twilight started to read the other piece of paper.

It was a table of the Binary Language.

"What is this? Another riddle?" said Spike after reading the paper.

"I think so, but the solution is very easy this time." said Twilight with a smile.

"Really?" said Spike, confused as usual.

Twilight picked up the box and started to put the numbers: "1-1-0". The padlock opened with a 'click', releasing it from the lock of the box. Twilight opened the box and saw a new key inside of it. Twilight picked up the key reading the tag of it.

"Open the door of your left. I'm not gonna help you again."

Twilight looked at her left, and saw a door slowly opening by itself. That sent chills through her spine. It was clear now: Somepony was helping them... But who?

"T-Twilight..." said Spike scared. "T-the notes... They turned into ash by themselves..."

"What?!" said Twilight surprised.

That was when she noticed that the box and the barrel disappeared completely. The only remaining thing was the key. Twilight's mouth fall agape at this realization. The things were turning into ash all this time!? It would explain how they were so light of items after all the things that they found through their way, but...

"The curse..." said Twilight with a whisper. "The curse is playing with us, Spike."

Spike fell silent, unable to say anything. Twilight was as confused as him, but staying there letting the curse play with their minds was not going to help them at all. They had to continue and accept the help of that mysterious pony that was helping them. With this in mind, Twilight started trotting through the opened door. A new corridor appeared to them, but this corridor was completely empty. No doors or barrels at sight. Twilight crossed the corridor until she spotted a door at her left. She tried to open in, but it was locked. She could see a lock for a key to this door. Twilight used the key on the door, and it opened with the usual 'click'. In that moment, Twilight saw how the key turned quickly into ash.

"How didn't I see it turning into ash before?" said Twilight surprised about this fact.

Spike was quiet. He still was unable to say anything. He was very scared about this place. She could feel the strong and fast heartbeats of the baby dragon on her back. Twilight was worried about that. Twilight stopped using his magic to illuminate the place, making the place be pitch black.

"T-Twilight?! What happened?! Why did you...?!"

The dragon started the float with a purple aura around him. Twilight was grabbing him with her magic. He could feel the movements in the air, until he felt the purple aura fading. The dragon landed softly on the ground, when Twilight used again her magic to illuminate the place. That was the moment when the dragon realized that Twilight was hugging him warmly. Spike returned the warm hug with a smile.

"Don't worry about anything, Spike. I'm here with you, and I'm not gonna let anything hurt you," said Twilight with a calming tone.

"Thanks Twilight." said Spike, relaxing at last. "I'm here with you too, Twilight. We can survive this together. I'm sure of it."

Twilight was thankful for the words of her number one assistant, but she wasn't feeling that confident about 'surviving this'. She was not going to give up on this quest of course, but she was sure that this... 'adventure' was going to be a nightmare.

Twilight opened her eyes, still hugging the baby dragon. She saw something different on the door that she unlocked some seconds ago. A small piece of paper was attached to the door now. She could read it with no problems.

"The town doesn't like shows of affection. Stop with that and continue. I'm risking a lot to help you, you know?"

Twilight felt irritated with that, but probably that pony was right. They had to continue or the curse will make them crazy... How many times did she said that since she got in this madness?

"Let's continue Spike. We don't have time to waste," said Twilight with a smile, letting Spike go.

"No problem!" said Spike with a new optimism.

Twilight used her magic to bring the dragon back to her back, and Twilight started to trot through the door. The new room was small, with a door at the left and another door at the right, but it was filled with skeletons and blood. The couple grimaced at it, feeling their stomachs flipping. It took some seconds for the couple to recover from that horrible sight. Other than that, there was a metallic table in front of them with a rusty pipe on it. Twilight used her magic to pick up the pipe, wondering why it was there.

Suddenly, the door of the right burst open. Twilight and Spike startled, looking at the door with fear. Something was coming through it. It looked like a scorpion, but it was way bigger than an average scorpion. It was as big as a pony. It's skin was black, with some parts of it's body decaying and falling apart from it. Instead of claws the creature had destroyed books, like if something attached the books to the body of the creature. It's sharp tail was the only thing that seemed normal on that creature, and probably it was it's only weapon.

The creature bellowed a wrenching cry that sent chills running down through the spines of the couple. Twilight took some steps back, holding the rusty pipe with her magic. She was going to use it as a weapon. She wasn't sure if that creature was hostile or not, but she wasn't going to took the risk of trying to be pacifist with it. The creature started to walk fast with it's tiny eight legs. The creature stopped in front of Twilight, getting it's tail ready to attack.

"Twilight, that monster is going to attack us!!!" said Spike with panic.

Twilight tried to concentrate while Spike was covering behind the neck of the purple unicorn. Twilight was ready to defend herself, waiting for the creature to make the first movement. The creature hesitated for a moment, when it attacked with a fast movement of it's tail. Twilight moved the pipe quickly, hitting the tail with it. The creature made a serpent sound in response, like if it was a snake. Twilight concentrated, getting ready to make an attack to the creature. The creature made another attack with it's tail. Twilight moved the pipe once more hitting the tail again with it, but this time Twilight made another quick movement and hit the head of the creature. The creature cried in pain, taking some steps back and covering the head with it's book claws.

Twilight took advantage of the situation, and galloped away from the creature to the next room. Twilight slammed shut the door that the creature opened before, looking for a place to hide. Unfortunately, the room was filled with skeletons and blood too, with nothing more. There were three doors in that room: One at her left, one at her right, and another one in front of her. There was no time to think about what door she should choose. She galloped to the door of her right, and by a miracle of Celestia, the door opened. A new long corridor appeared to her, with a lot of new doors through it.

Twilight would feel irritated at the new amount of probably jammed doors that appeared in front of her, but she was too panicked to feel like that in that moment. She had to find a hiding spot or something. She didn't want to fight that creature. Twilight galloped through the corridor, looking for some hiding spot. In the middle of the way, she found a door completely opened. She galloped through the door, and slammed it shut with her magic.

The new room was a classroom. There was no chairs at all, but instead a large metallic table with eight small red boxes on it. Of course the table was rusty with blood splashes on it, but the small red boxes were immaculate. Twilight decided to hide under the large table, and prayed for the luck of the couple. Complete silence. The tension was horrible. She could hear a distant thud accompanied with the light steps of the creature. Twilight felt how the creature stopped in front of the door of the class were the couple were hiding. Their hearts were racing, completely terrified and praying for their safety. After a couple of seconds the creature continued it's way, getting away from the classroom. Twilight fell on the ground with Spike at her side. The both of them hyperventilating, not believing the luck that they had there.

"W-we... W-we are alive..." said Twilight with a victory tone.

"O-oh my god... I-I really thought that we were... T-that we were going to die..." said Spike, with no words to describe his relief.

"Y-yeah... M-me too..." replied Twilight with a smile.

The couple chuckled a little bit after that. They were going to die in that moment... That creature could perfectly kill them in just a second over there... But the mysterious pony helped them again. He or she probably put that pipe there for them to get defense. Twilight felt thankful this time for what that pony did... But still, they got a lot of luck this time. Twilight never used something for self-defense. She could have failed one movement back there, and ruin everything. But no... They were still alive somehow. Twilight didn't care about anything at that moment. She just wanted to rest a little bit; she just wanted to relax a little bit.

Minutes passed in front of their eyes when they felt ready again to fight against that bizarre place. Twilight got up and used her magic to put Spike on her back. Twilight looked around her in the classroom. Aside from the large table with the eight small red boxes, there were some old wooden shelves filled with the same green liquid as the barrels of before. There was a dusty blackboard in there, with something written on it with blood. Twilight grimaced at that.

*EiGhT cHeStS.

OnE gOoD.

OtHeR kIlLs.

Do-Ce-Le.

PeRsPeCtIvE.*

......

It was another riddle, but this was sinister than the other ones. One of the chests was the right one, but one mistake could mean the end of their journey. Twilight now was nervous.

"Twilight... Calm down. I'm sure you can solve this riddle with no problem... J-just calm down, okay?" said Spike, trying to relax his friend.

"I'll try... But I can feel a lot of pressure with this riddle," said Twilight with anxiety.

"I know... Take your time. We have to do this right," said Spike trusting in his friend.

"Thanks Spike..." said Twilight reading again the riddle.

"...I-I think this is the one..."

Twilight was in front of the box on the upper-right corner of the table. She was sure that it was the right box to choose, but she was scared of opening it anyway. What if it was not the right box? They would die instantly! At least, that's what the riddle said... Twilight checked the steps of her conclusion one more time. "Do-Ce-Le" must mean "Down-Center-Left". "Perspective" must mean the perspective from the writer's point of view. Following this, we conclude that the right box is the box from the left corner of the table from my perspective... right?

"Well, we thought about it a long time, and it have to be it... right?" said Spike with the same fear of opening the box as Twilight.

"Yeah... It have to be... L-let's open it..." said Twilight shaking of the fear.

"Y-ye-yeah... O-open it..." said Spike with his heart racing.

It was the time. It was live or die. Twilight slowly put her hoof on the box. She was shaking as hell. Her heart was racing, and she was hyperventilating with her eyes wide. It took several seconds for Twilight to be able to open the small box...

Only to found a key inside of it with the tag "Roof" attached on it.

Twilight fell to the ground with Spike. Her consciousness fading. She was fainting of the tension. But at least now she was relief, because she has chosen the right box. She couldn't believe her luck.

She was dreaming. She knew it. Twilight was in the middle of a pitch black world. She couldn't see nothing. She tried to use her magic to illuminate the place, but it was useless. What was she doing there?

Twilight started to hear a distant voice; the voice of a stallion. She concentrated to hear better that voice, but it was still distant and distorted. The voice started to get louder. She could hear it now perfectly.

"Stupid foal... I thought you were clever than that..."

Twilight started to wake up one more time. Spike was at her side, waking up too. Their synchronization for waking up together was impressive. They got up. They were still in that bizarre classroom with the large metallic rusty table, the eight small red boxes on it, the rotten shelves, and the blackboard with the riddle written with blood. The red box with the key inside was still opened. The couple hesitated for a moment, recovering their composure.

"So... We're still alive... Somehow..." said Spike looking at Twilight.

"Yeah... We must be the luckiest living creatures in the world right now," said Twilight with some irritation.

Twilight used her magic once more to illuminate the place, grabbing Spike and putting him on her back at the same time. Then, Twilight used her magic to pick up the key, and giving it to Spike. He still had the "Healer" bottle in his other hand. He was surprised about the fact that the bottle was still with him after everything that happened recently.

Twilight trotted out of the room. She was on the long dark corridor again. She started to inspect the corridor until she found a new stairwell leading upstairs and downstairs. With the "Roof" key in mind, Twilight started to go upstairs to the rooftop. It didn't take too long for her to reach it. Once on the rooftop, Twilight crossed the smaller corridor she saw so far. She reached to a new door, but this one was metallic instead of wooden. Spike gave Twilight the key, and she used it to unlock the door with the famous 'click'.

The outside was pitch black. It was night already, and was raining. Twilight was thankful for being able to breath fresh air. It was not the perfect ambient for it, but it was something.

"Free air, at last!" said Spike rising his arms, feeling the fresh air filling his lungs... Followed by his cough because of the raindrops.

"Yeah, I don't matter if is raining. I'm glad to be outside again," said Twilight with some relief.

"Who is there?"

The sudden voice startled the couple, looking around for the source of the voice. Then from the darkness, appeared the silhouette of a tall, pink pony with long purple, violet, and yellow hair that curled up around her side. Twilight and Spike started to smile after realizing who this pony was.

"PRINCESS CADANCE!!!" yelled Twilight giving a warm hug to the princess with tears welling at her eyes.

Cadance's eyes wide open at this. She was surprised. What the hell were doing Twilight and Spike here!? They weren't supposed to be here!!! This was very dangerous for them!!!

"We found you at last, princess! You don't know how difficult it has been!" said Spike with a big smile on his face, happy to see the princess again.

"B-bu-but, what the hell are you doing here?! Only pegasus and alicorns can-"

"Get out from this town; we already know that," said Spike with no surprise. Twilight got back from Cadance, looking at her eyes with happiness.

"Cadance, my brother is very worried about you! He sent us to fi-"

"Waitwaitwaitwait, wait... Shining Armor sent you here?!" said Cadance, not believing her ears.

"That's it! He's looking for you, you know?" the dragon replied.

"Cadance, you need to come back to the Crystal Empire! The crystal ponies needs your protection; the protection of their princess!" said Twilight, trying to argue with the princess.

Cadance hesitated. She were looking at her sister-in-law and the dragon, thinking about what she would do now. Twilight could note the grimace of panic on the pink mare's face. That worried Twilight. She wasn't expecting that reaction from her sister-in-law. Twilight looked back at Spike; this looking at Twilight confused about the behavior of the princess.

"T-twilight..." Cadance looked at the ground, sadness marking her face. Twilight looked back at her, unsure of what to expect from her now. "I didn't come here for nothing. I came here for saving my home of that damned curse. I will not come back to the Crystal Empire until I finish my work here."

Twilight's eyes widened. She wasn't expecting that answer, but deep in her heart she knew that Cadance was not going to leave this town so easily. She loved this place. This was her birth place after all. This town is where she passed most of her fillyhood. She was not going to give up so easily. Twilight could feel the determination on Cadance's words. She didn't know what to do now.

"But wait a minute! Why didn't you say this to Shining Armor? He could be helping you with this situation right now!" said Spike on the defensive.

"Exactly for that reason. He would have wanted to help me with the curse of the town, but I can't let him do that. We can't let the Crystal Empire by itself. There had to be at least one pony to take care of the empire in my absence, don't you think?" said Cadance with severity.

Spike fell quiet, not daring to ask nothing more. An awkward silence appeared between the ponies and the dragon; the sadness in their faces. Confusion and fear in their hearts while the three of them were thinking of what to say or do now. The raindrops falling onto their bodies. What would they do now? What would... wait, wasn't that obvious what they had to do now?

"Cadance... If we can't get out of this town, at least we could hel-"

"No, no way Twilight!!!" said Cadance suddenly, surprising the couple. "This is something I have to do for myself. This quest is mine, and mine only. I can't let you go through more dangerous situations. I don't want you to get hurt by the monsters of this place."

"Well, we had a wea-" Twilight fell quiet after realizing that the pipe had disappeared since they fainted after solving the puzzle of the eight red boxes. The town did it again; the town tricked their minds when their guard were off. Twilight's face grimaced, feeling unsafe one more time.

"Don't tell me... You had a weapon before but it vanished when you weren't looking, right?" said Cadance guessing what happened with the couple before. "Be careful with that, Twilight. This curse plays with our minds."

Twilight gulped. She already knew it, but now she was sure about it. Twilight looked up when she noticed that Cadance turned back, getting ready to take flight. Cadance looked back at Twilight one last time before starting to fly.

"I have to go now, Twilight. As soon as I find a solution to this problem, we will get out of this town and we will back to the Crystal Empire with Shining Armor and our friends. But I have to do this first... Forgive me for letting you all by yourself now. Look for a hiding spot or a weapon. You will need it... Good luck, friends."

Cadance took flight, flying fast through the dark sky of the rainy night. Twilight and Spike were left there by themselves, with fear and sorrow in their hearts. Twilight was looking at the floor while Spike was looking worried at the face of the pony.

"She left..." said Twilight with a whisper. Spike hesitated for a moment, after having a new burst of determination.

"Twilight, I think we have to help her. There's no way she can do this by herself. With our help, it will be easier to remove the curse from the town,"

The words of the baby dragon struck the heart of the lavender unicorn, feeling the determination and worry of the baby dragon. Twilight looked back at the dragon with a smile in her face. Spike smiled back at her after seeing her friend with better mood.

"You're right, Spike. Cadance needs our help more than never. Maybe we will die here if we go to help her, but we will die anyway if we don't do anything... Wow Spike, I never expected you to be the reassuring one here," said Twilight with a grin.

"Well, what can I say? I'm not your number one assistant for nothing!" said Spike with his usual ego, making Twilight chuckle a bit.

"Let's go Spike. We have to get out of here and look for Cadance. We don't have time to waste." said Twilight with a new determination.

"I'm with you, my friend!" said Spike smiling.

Twilight turned back and trotted to the metallic door that connected the rooftop with the inside of the griming school. Twilight went downstairs until she arrived to the long dark corridor were the classroom with the small red boxes are. But something was different now. The way through the corridor was blocked by a wall of rusty steel bars. Twilight raised an eyebrow at this. That wasn't there before.

"What are we gonna do now?" said Spike surprised about this new wall made of steel bars.

"We'll have to look for another way," said Twilight surprised about the same thing.

Twilight turned back and looked for some way, but the only way available was the stairwell going downstairs. It was clear then. Twilight trotted  downstairs until reaching a new long and dark corridor. This one was different from the other ones. The corridor was perfectly clean. The walls and the ceiling had the usual rotting state, and the floor was still made of rusty metallic grates filled with blood stains and that strange green liquid, but the ambient was different. The ominous ambiance of darkness from before, was now replaced by an ambiance of silence and tension. Twilight gulped, trotting through the long corridor with fear.

After a whole minute of trotting in that long corridor, a metallic door appeared in front of her. The door was the same as the rooftop, but this one was completely filled with the green liquid, so the door was practically a green metallic door. Twilight put a hoof on the handle of the door, touching the sticky green liquid. Twilight grimaced at that. The handle turned slowly until the door opened. Twilight crossed the door and watched the surrounding of the new room. It was a big room, with empty cupboards in a state of decay and some metallic shelves that were practically destroyed. A large black liquid was covering the floor in the center of the room. Twilight approached to it with curiosity, closing softly the door behind her.

She regretted it immediately. Something wrong was happening. The large black liquid started to bubble up, pouring black smoke. It looked like it was being evaporated. The liquid started to move by itself, compressing into the center of the room. The liquid started to get form, bubbling up with fierceness. After some seconds, the liquid stopped bubbling, taking the physical form of the pony that was watching in awe what the liquid had just done. It had become into her doppelganger.

It started to trot towards Twilight with slow pulse. Twilight was impressed of that. She knew she was in danger in that moment. She wanted to scream and run from there, but her legs weren't responding to her orders. She could only watch in awe how her dark doppelganger was slowly approaching at her. Her head started to hurt, followed by a soft ringing in her head. Her headache and the ringing grew louder and louder as he was getting closer to her. The pain was unbearable. Twilight put her hooves on her head closing her eyes, wanting that madness to end. In the darkness of her closed eyes, she felt a hot hoof touching her face.

Everything went quiet after that, with Twilight fainting once more.