Tales from an Old Town

Shining Armor was walking from side to side of the throne room with worry. A crystal guard from the palace was watching him, not knowing what to say. It was obvious that Shining Armor was worried about her wife and her sister. Her head was a tornado of questions in that moment. Were they alright? They need help maybe? Should he go to that town with some soldiers to investigate? He knew that he couldn't leave the Crystal Empire just like that, but he couldn't just stay there waiting for something to happen!

"Sir, calm down! I'm sure Princess Cadance and Twilight Sparkle are okay," said the crystal guard worried about his captain. Shining Armor looked at his guard with severity.

"Rub, it's been three days since my sister went to Foalmond looking for Cadance. Do you really think I can calm down in a situation like this? Probably they're in a bad situation!" said Shining Armor with concern.

"But how do you know it, sir? Why do you think they're in danger right now?" said Rub arguing with him.

"I'm simply sure of it..." Shining Armor turned and trotted to a window at the left of his throne. He watched the sunrise while images of Cadance and Twilight crossed his mind. "Looks like we need to use the heavy artillery..."

"What do you mean, sir?" said Rub with curiosity.

Shining Armor hesitated, taking a deep breath. The following seconds were silent, with the singing of the outside birds as only sounds.

"Rub... Call the 'Commander of Elite'!" said Shining Armor with decision. Rub's eyes widened at the mention of this.

"The Commander of Elite?! Really?!" said Rub surprised.

"Yes, there aren't more options... Call him, quick!" ordered Shining Armor.

"Yes, sir!" said Rub obediently.

Rub left the room, leaving Shining Armor alone. He was still looking at the sunrise, thinking on her wife and her sister.

"Twilight... How could I get you into this?" Shining Armor was sad. He was feeling guilty about sending his own sister to that cursed town... Probably she was dead now... No, he couldn't lose hope yet. Probably she was alive with Cadance at her side. "Cadance... I hope you are okay..."

Somepony knocked the door. Shining got back to reality, turning back and trotting to his throne. The heavy artillery was here.

"Come in!"

The door opened. A red stallion appeared through the corridor, trotting slowly to Shining Armor. The stallion was a red pegasi with black tail and mane. Her eyes were yellow, and his face was filled with seriousness. He was wearing a silver armor and a helmet with a small "II" marked on it's front. He had a longsword kept in a scabbard suspended from his shoulder.

Shining Armor smiled at his old friend. The pegasi looked at his sir with the same seriousness than before.

"Did you call me, sir?" said the pegasi with his intimidating voice.

"Yes, Master Max. I have a new mission for you, my old friend. This mission is difficult, and you may not come back alive... Are you interested?" said Shining Armor with severity, expecting some reaction from the pegasi.

"Of course, my lord. I've been at worse missions than this," said Max with no fear.

"Excellent... You probably heard something about the disappearing of Princess Cadance, right?"

"Yes, sir. And let me guess... You want me to go and rescue her, don't you?" said Max with a bit of impertinence.

"Correct... My sister went to rescue her some days ago, but she hasn't come back... I fear the worst..." said Shining Armor with sadness.

"Don't worry sir, I will rescue Princess Cadance and Twilight Sparkle from that cursed town. You can count on me," said Max with determination.

"Thanks, Master Max. I knew I could count on you," said Shining Armor with a new hope.

"If that's everything, I will leave now. I will depart towards Foalmond as soon as possible," said Max turning back and trotting towards the door.

"Good luck, Master Max. You're my last hope."

Twilight woke up. She was lying on the floor, in front of the main doors of the schoolhouse. Twilight got up and looked around her. The school was again at it's normal state, just like when she entered in it. A rope and a piece of paper were in the floor, this last waiting for her to be read. A message was written on it with blue ink, making Twilight realize that it was a message from the mysterious pony. Twilight used her magic to pick up the note, and she read it.

"You're alive thanks to me. Is hard to survive here in Foalmond, but if a coward like me can survive this madness, you can survive here too. I saw your alicorn friend going to "Hoofshelves Apartments". I'll be waiting for you there. Sorry if I'm not showing myself, but the curse doesn't like meetings."

"Oh, so you're nice with us now?" said Twilight remembering the last time she read a note from him.

Twilight heard a soft groan behind her. Twilight turned back and saw Spike lying on the floor, waking up. Spike rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands, yawning at the same time.

"Good morning, Twilight... I had an horrible nightmare! We were at a ghost town with a strange curse, and there was a school, and cries of schoolfillies, and a yellow piece of paper that was chasing you everywhere, and a lot of riddles, and a tribal chant, and a macabre version of the school, and a strange monster that wanted to kill us, and Cadance was on the rooftop of that school, and..."

Twilight was looking at him incredulously, waiting for him to realize about his surroundings. Spike fell quiet when he saw the incredulous face of Twilight. Spike then looked around him... Spike sighed.

"It wasn't a dream, right?" said Spike with a hand on his forehead.

"I'm afraid not," said Twilight with worry.

Spike got up and walked to the rope in the floor. Spike took it, wondering about the possible use of it. Getting rid of the piece of paper, Twilight used her magic to put Spike on her back one more time.

"Let's get outta here. A friend is waiting for us at 'Hoofshelves Apartments'," said Twilight with clear ideas.

"A friend? Who?" asked Spike confused.

"The mysterious pony. He said me that in a paper," she replied.

"Oh, I see... But where are those apartments?" asked Spike again.

"...I don't know to be honest..." said Twilight frowning.

"Well, we'll need to find it ourselves then," said Spike with eagerness.

"Yeah, it seems so," said Twilight.

Twilight crossed the main doors of the schoolhouse, tasting the dense fog of the town again. It was daylight again. Twilight choose a way and started to trot through it, hoping that they would find the apartments eventually.

That house was different from the others. The color of that house was a mix of grey and blue, and the bricks were old enough to be covered by some vegetation. The main door of the house has no handle, so the door was completely impossible to open without breaking it. The windows were closed, with no light at the other side of them. Four brown barrels were around the house, with a new skeleton behind one of them. The water well of the house was also different, completely made of cerulean bricks. That was a weird color for the external walls of a house and a water well. Who was this house?

Twilight trotted to the wooden sign of the house, that was a little bit destroyed. She had a hard time reading it, but she could guess the words.

"TRIXIE LULAMOON'S HOUSE"

"WHAT?!" said the couple in unison.

Twilight and Spike were surprised about this. Trixie Lulamoon? The same Trixie that tried to slave the citizens of Ponyville not so long ago?

"Was she from this town?!" said Spike dumbfounded.

"Wow... I never would expect this... Poor Trixie," said Twilight, feeling bad for her.

Twilight left the sign and trotted around the house. She was sure that that house wasn't different by coincidence. She inspected the surroundings of the house, but she didn't find nothing.

"Twilight, what about the rope we found at the school? We could try to take a look at the water well with it," said Spike finding a use to the rope.

"Well, we can try," said Twilight without hesitation.

Spike tied the rope around his body and Twilight grabbed him with her magic, introducing him into the water well. The water well was empty, like every water well of this town, but something shiny caught the attention of the baby dragon. Spike reached out the new key with no problem.

"I got it, Twilight! Is a new key!" said Spike with a smile.

"Another key? This is getting repetitive," said Twilight observant.

Twilight took out Spike from the water well, putting him again on her back. Spike read the tag of the key with a smile.

"Hoofshelves Apartments... That is not what are we looking for?" said Spike with the realization.

"Correct. Now we have to find the apartments... Where they could be?" said Twilight drawing a mental map of the town.

"I don't know... We'll have to continue doing the same thing: continuing forward until we find something," said Spike with honesty.

"Yeah, that's the best thing we can do for now," said Twilight dejected.

Twilight turned back, trotting again through the road of the town, but something stopped her suddenly. There was a shadow in the fog, followed by the sound of slow hoofsteps. The shadow was of a tall pony, but the way he/she was trotting was weird... It made Twilight doubt about if that shadow was really a pony or not. The pony stopped, looking away from Twilight. It took several seconds for the pony to start trotting again, now walking at the opposite direction from the point of view of Twilight. The pony moved away slowly, getting lost in the fog of the town.

The tension dissapeared. Twilight exhaled, letting out air that was holding in her lungs. Twilight's eyes were wide, thinking fast about what that shadow could really be.

"T-Twilight... W-was that really a pony?" asked Spike, shaking from the recent event.

"I don't know Spike... It looked like a pony, but... I couldn't say for sure if it was a pony or not," said Twilight with honesty.

"W-well... L-let's hope that that 'pony' is not dangerous..." said Spike with fear.

"Yeah..." said Twilight, feeling the fear of Spike.

"HOOFSHELVES APARTMENTS"

The big colored sign of the apartments was in front of the couple. They found it; the apartments. The bigger building with the external similar design of the school, was in front of them. Twilight trotted to the main doors of the apartments, getting ready the key to use it in the keyhole. Twilight gulped thinking about what new atrocities they were going to meet there. The message of the mysterious pony came in mind too. Were they going to meet him? How would he look like? Cadance is really in these apartments?

'Stop with the doubts, and open the door' said Twilight in her mind. Twilight unlocked the door and opened it.

The lobby of the apartments was very spacious. The walls were made of blue and white plaster, with some old decorations on them. The floor was made of rotten wood, with some moss growing on it. The ceiling was made of dark grey plaster, with a broken light hanging from it. At her sides, were some old couches; probably for waiting ponies to sit on. At her front, the receptionist desk. It hadn't nothing special. Twilight trotted through the lobby, finding stairs at her left and a dark wooden door at her right. She tried to open the door but it was locked, so she turned to her left and started going upstairs.

She arrived to the first floor, were a small corridor made of dark blue plaster in general appeared. Twilight trotted through it until she found more stairs at her left and another dark wooden door at her right. She tried to open the door, but it was locked too. Sighing of her failure, Twilight went upstairs once more.

Twilight now was at the second floor; the last one of the apartments. There was another corridor made of dark blue plaster in general, and another dark wooden door at the end of it. Twilight trotted to the door losing her patience, and tried to open it. Twilight felt relief of being able to open the damn door because if it had been locked too, Twilight would explode of this ridiculous maze of locked doors. Twilight sighed trying to relax, proceeding to cross the door.

She was in the middle of a tight corridor, darkness at her left and right. Twilight had to use her magic to illuminate the place. Now the floor was made of dark blue tiles, the walls were still made of blue and grey plaster, and the ceiling was made of a very dark color. It was so dark, that was impossible to determine the material that was made of. The silence of that corridor sent chills through the spines of the couple. Twilight looked at her left, and saw a lot of wooden doors with the number of the door at their sides. At her right, the way was blocked by five steel bars that were penetrating the ceiling and the floor. She didn't have much choice than go to her left. After trying to open the doors that she were finding through the corridor, she found a door that was open.

Room 204. Twilight trotted in and looked around the room. There were some dressers and a lot of boxes filled with rotten food, except one of them that was empty. There were some immaculate paintings of famous ponies of the past. There was a cupboard filled with crystal bottles of water and wine. There was a wooden table with torn papers on it, with a small wooden chair under it. There was a dusty mirror, a nonfunctional clock, and a double bed with green bed sheets. It must be the room of a marriage.

There were a lot of things in that room, but most of them were useless. Twilight inspected all those things with the help of Spike, but they weren't finding anything interesting or out of place. Twilight was tired of it, so she sat on the floor trying to rest. Spike was giving a second look to everything, until he found something at last. There were two things in the empty box that was between the boxes filled of rotten food. One of the things was a key (Surprise surprise...), but the other thing was a small object with the shape of the letter "N". That caught the attention of the baby dragon, taking the key and the object with him to show them at Twilight.

"Twilight, look what I found!" said Spike showing the key and the object at her.

Twilight took first the key, reading the tag that said "Ground Floor Key". Twilight returned the key to Spike, now taking a look to the object with the shape of a "N". This caught the attention of the mare. Probably it was something useless, but Spike found it with the key at the same place... That couldn't be a coincidence. She was sure that she was going to need it, but for what? She didn't know, but she was going to find it out.

Twilight used the key and the door of the ground floor (At the side of the receptionist desk, at the lobby) unlocked with the usual 'click' and opened. A new tight corridor with darkness at her sides appeared. This time, it was reversed. The right way was free and filled with doors, and the left way was blocked by the same five steel bars. Twilight turned right and started trotting. Twilight was really getting tired of trying to open jammed doors. What was the point of that ridiculous design?! She finally found a door that was opened, but god damn!

Room G-12. This room wasn't so full of things; There was a wooden table with four chairs around it, another nonfunctional clock, a mirror with better appearance, a pointless painting, a red flag hanging from the wall, wooden shelves with old and dusty books, and the same double bed with the same green bed sheets. Twilight inspected the room, finding a small metallic safe that she hadn't seen before. The safe had a word combination lock. Twilight felt that she was going to need whatever was inside that safe, but she hadn't the combination, so she was going to need to go and look for the combination to unlock it.

Twilight continued inspecting the room after that. She approached to the wooden table with the four chairs around it, and found something on it. It was another object. This one has the shape of the letter "O". Twilight grabbed it with her magic, and gave it to Spike. With nothing more of interest in that room, Twilight left it. Twilight stopped in the dark corridor, thinking about her new destination.

"So well? Why are we standing here?" asked Spike after some seconds of awkward silence.

"We have no key now, Spike. What can we do now?" asked Twilight thoughtful.

"Mmmm... What about those steel bars blocking the way?" asked Spike after thinking.

"The steel bars? What's the matter with them?" asked Twilight trying to understand the baby dragon.

"Well, maybe there's some way to cross those steel bars... I have the feeling that there must be something behind those," said Spike pensive.

"Well, we don't have a clear way to continue right now, so why not?" said Twilight without much encouragement.

Twilight remembered the mysterious pony in that moment. Wasn't he supposed to be here waiting for them? Where is he then?

Twilight trotted through the corridor, returning to the steel bars. But when they arrived, a tall purple pony was staring at them at the other side of the steel bars. It was a stallion.

Twilight and Spike smiled, thinking that that was the mysterious pony. The pony had a lifeless expression, showing despair in his dull and distorted eyes. That scared Twilight a little bit.

"Oh, hello! Are you the pony that has been helping us this whole time?" said Twilight with sympathy.

The pony didn't answer. He was staring at the couple deeply, like if he was trying to look in their souls. That sent chills through the spine of Twilight.

"Umm... Can you hear me, sir?" asked Twilight, now frowning.

No answer from the purple pony. They stayed there, looking at each other with an awkward silence. After some seconds, the purple pony moved lightly one of his arms, sliding a key through the steel bars. Twilight looked at the key, grabbing it with her magic. "First Floor Key" could be read in the tag of the key. Twilight gave the key to Spike and looked forward to see the purple pony again. She was going to thank him for the key, but the purple pony wasn't there anymore. Twilight's ears twitched after this event.

"What just happened?" said Spike impressed.

"That purple pony... Do you think it was really a pony?" said Twilight, looking worried at Spike.

"Well, he gave us a new key, so I think he's not dangerous... Do you think that's the mysterious pony?" said Spike pensive.

"I don't know... I was expecting a normal pony like us, not that..." said Twilight with fear.

"Well, that doesn't matter anymore. Let's continue," said Spike looking at Twilight.

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

Twilight saw how the key turned to ash after opening the door of the first floor. She forgot again about that fact, but she wasn't surprised this time. Twilight crossed the door; a new dark corridor at sight. This time, there were no steel bars blocking the way. Twilight took a deep breath, getting ready to try to open more jammed doors... At least, that was the last floor where she had to do that.

After some minutes, Twilight found the winner door. The door was near of five steel bars that Twilight thought that didn't existed in that corridor. Room 113. Twilight put a hoof on the door knob, opening the door in an instant.

This wasn't a room; this was a corridor. Twilight didn't expect that. A straight long corridor was in front of them, with the deep darkness surrounding them. The light of her horn was the only thing that they had of illumination. Twilight could hear some strange distant noises, like if somepony was trying to squirm at the other side of the corridor. Twilight started to trot through the corridor, gulping with the raising of her nerves. Spike was shaking at her back, looking terrified at his front. After a while walking through the endless corridor, the distant sound of strong hoofsteps could be heard passing through their left, where the walls of the corridor were present. There was another corridor at the other side of the walls? And those hoofsteps...

Twilight reached the end of the corridor. There was nothing there, just a plaster wall. Twilight panicked, thinking that she was trapped, until she turned back and looked at her right. There was a hole in the right wall that wasn't there before. The hole was big enough for the couple to cross it. Twilight didn't hesitate and crossed the hole, ignorant of what could happen now.

Pitch blackness. Twilight was standing on a bridge of rusty grates. There was no wall or ceiling at sight. Everything was black... with only one way to follow. The baby dragon and the lavender unicorn were unable to talk; the fear and surprise marked on their hearts, making them speechless. Twilight's legs were moving through the metallic bridge, but her mind was seduced by the amazement of the situation. Ghostly voices started to sound in her mind, voices from familiar ponies and strangers.

"You'll keep him while you study at the School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight. He will be your number one assistant until you are old enough to decide what to do with him."

"How could I forget the filly I love to sit for the most?"

"Hey come on, don't cry! It can't be so bad! It must have something good, right?"

"You're my little sister. Of course you're important to me. But I would understand if you didn't want to be my best mare now."

"You'll regret hating me. You'll see..."

"Spike, take a note, please. I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville."

A metallic door was in front of them. Probably it was the exit of that hypnotic place. Twilight trotted slowly, with her eyes wide and her mind in another world. Twilight stopped a few inches from the door, even if she wasn't aware of it. The door started to open slowly, showing the purple pony at the other side of it. There he was again, staring deeply into Twilight's eyes, trying to look at her soul. Twilight started to hear a low ringing in her head. She couldn't move, so she wasn't able to cover her ears. The ringing grew louder and louder. In that moment, the dark doppelganger of Twilight appeared behind her. She wasn't able to see her, but she knew somehow that she was there.

The doppelganger touched Twilight's flank with one of her hoofs, feeling the heat of it's touch. It was burning her flank. Twilight wanted to scream of the pain, but she was completely paralyzed. Her impotence filled her heart with panic. Blood started to emerge from her flank, feeling the burning like a sharp blade. Tears started to emerge from Twilight's eyes. That was the only thing she could do besides screaming in her mind. Her hind leg couldn't resist anymore, failing and causing Twilight to collapse. Twilight felt pathetic, laying on the floor with her flank bleeding and unable to move an inch. She was crying, begging in her mind for the torture to stop. She couldn't resist anymore and fainted, hoping that she would wake up again.

That couldn't be the end of her journey...

A teenager stallion was lying on the bed of his room. He was in the Emerald Room, the best room of the apartments, but he wasn't feeling that important to have the privilege of being in a room like that. The stallion was looking at the ceiling, thinking about his future. He was about to do an important step in his life, and he knew it was going to be difficult.

His thoughts were interrupted by a flying red book entering through the window and collapsing hard with the floor. The stallion got up from the bed and trotted to the book, picking it up with his hoofs. It was a book of advanced magic. Who could throw a book like this here?

The stallion trotted to the window, looking through it. He didn't see anypony down on the street. In that moment, somepony knocked on the door of the room. The stallion trotted to the door with the book still on his hoofs. The stallion opened the door, seeing an exhausted teenager mare recovering her breath. The stallion raised an eyebrow at this.

"Can I help you?" asked the stallion with serenity.

"Yes, please... Huff... My friends are very funny... And threw my book... through your window..." said the mare exhausted.

"Oh, so this book is yours!" said the stallion showing the red book of advanced magic to her.

"Yes, that book is mine... Sorry for the inconvenience..." said the mare nervous.

"No, don't worry. I didn't know that throwing books through windows was a fashion around here," said the stallion with a smile. That made the mare chuckle a bit.

"You're not from here?" asked the mare with curiosity.

"No, I'm from Canterlot. I'm here at Foalmond because I'm getting into the royal army within a few days, and there's a training military base here," explained the stallion.

"Oh, how interesting! Do you want to be a soldier in the future?" asked the mare with more curiosity.

"Well, I would like to be the captain of the royal guard of some empire, but I know that's going to be difficult, so I will be happy being soldier for now," said the stallion with honesty.

"Oh well, welcome to Foalmond then. My name is Mia Amore Cadenza, but my friends call me Cadance," said the mare with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Cadance! My name is Shining Armor," said the stallion returning the smile.

"Nice to meet you, Shining Armor! Sorry if I can't be here anymore, but I have class in 5 minutes. Hope we meet again sometime," said Cadance with a grin.

"Same here. Good luck with your classes," said Shining Armor, giving finally the book to Cadance.

"Thank you! See you later!" said Cadance, turning back and trotting with hurry through the corridor. Shining Armor closed the door, analyzing what just happened.

Twilight's consciousness started to getting back. She wasn't able to open her eyes yet, but he was slowly starting to hear the world again. She could hear the sound of a lantern and hoofsteps. Was there a pony with her? Twilight tried to open her eyes. It hurted a little bit, but she could open her eyes perfectly with a little groan. She was lying on the floor; a lot of wooden boxes around her. There was a lighted lantern on the ground, illuminating the place. At it's side, a blue pony eating something. Twilight looked at this new pony, with her eyes wide. The pony finished eating and looked at her, realizing that she was awake.

"Oh, you woke at last!" said the pony, trying to smile.

Twilight groaned, trying to stay at a sitting position. She felt a prick at her flank, making her to look at it. Her flank was covered with a bandage. She then remembered what happened before she fainted before... It was real then? Her doppelganger?

"You know you have burned your flank, right? I had to use some bandages to stop the bleeding," said the blue pony.

Twilight looked at the pony. He's coat was dark blue, but his tail and mane were of a lighter blue. His face looked like a mare, but his voice told her that he was a stallion. Why he had the face of a mare? That was weird...

"You're the one who's been helping us?" said Twilight at last.

"Sip." he replied. Twilight didn't understand that way to say 'yes', but she imagined that he was trying to say that. "Sorry for not showing before, but you know... The curse of the town doesn't like meetings."

"Yeah, I can understand." said Twilight, trying to relax at her sitting position. "I'm glad to see that you're a normal pony, and not one of those creatures..."

"Yeah, same here." said the pony with a smile. "What's your name?"

"Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you," said Twilight with her usual manners.

"Salty Sea. Nice to meet you too," said Salty Sea with a grin. "By the way, where's your friend?"

"My... friend?" said Twilight, trying to think about it.

"Yes, that little purple dragon that was on your back always," said Salty Sea with curiosity.

Twilight's eyes wide. She got up alarmed. She couldn't believe that she forgot about Spike.

"Oh my god, where's Spike?!" said Twilight with panic.

"Heyheyhey, calm down! The curse feeds with our panic," said Salty Sea understanding.

"How can I calm down with my number one assistant alone in this cursed town?!" said Twilight with more panic.

"You're number one what?" asked Salty Sea confused.

"SPIKE!!! HE'S JUST A BABY DRAGON!!!" Twilight yelled at Salty Sea with anger, tears welling at her eyes. The blue pony didn't react, like if yelling at him was something normal. Twilight collapsed, tears flowing through her cheeks. Twilight was worried about her dear baby dragon. Twilight started to sob with complete despair. "Spike..."

Salty Sea was quiet, watching the lavender unicorn crying. He didn't know what to say, or how to act. A lot of ideas ran through his mind, but he wasn't feeling sure of say any of them. This was the first time that he was talking to a pony since he got here, and he just made her cry. The blue pony was feeling awful.

"Oh wait! How old is that dragon?" said Salty Sea, realizing about something. Twilight wasn't looking at him, her vision was blurry.

"Ten years..." said Twilight with her voice muffled.

"Hmm... He's still young, I think..." said Salty Sea thoughtful. Twilight rubbed her ears and looked at him, now interested.

"W-what do you mean he's young?" asked Twilight with curiosity.

"Look, the curse of this town knows our most internal dark secrets and fears. The curse use them to make the monsters and scenarios of this town... Is hard to know what is real here or not," said Salty Sea with severity. Twilight got up, looking at the blue pony with amazement.

"How do you know all that?" asked Twilight, still with curiosity.

"I've been trapped in this town for three months. I don't even know why I'm here, or what brought me here but... I learned a lot from the curse in these three months," said Salty Sea frowning. Twilight felt bad for him now.

"Wow... I didn't know that... You aren't scared of this place?" asked Twilight, wanting to know more about his survival days.

"Continuously. I was way more scared the first time I woke in this crazy place, but... I learned to survive here with the time." Salty Sea remembered the first days on this town. He gave a smile of irony. "Ha! It's funny to think that I was a f*cking coward before all of this happened... I was depressed, you know? A lovesick. My head didn't want to move on and be happy again. What a fool of me... But then, one unexpected day, I woke up in this crazy town... I don't know who brought me and why, but I don't care anymore... I'm stronger than ever thanks to this journey for my survival. My lovesick was nothing in comparison with the curse of this town. If I got out of here someday... I will be happy for the first time in three years."

Twilight was fascinated with his story. Three months trapped in this town? That's crazy! She's on her first day, and she can't take it anymore! How this stallion was able to survive here for three months?!

"Wow... It's amazing that you survived here for three months... Wait, did you say something about three years?" said Twilight realizing about it.

"Ah yes, I've been depressed through three years. I know, I'm stupid for wasting my life that way. But well, it doesn't matter anymore... Well, enough talking about me. What about you? Why are you here?" said Salty Sea, eager to know about her life. Twilight hesitated for a moment, thinking about it.

"Well... I'm an ordinary unicorn that have a baby dragon as assistant. I'm a student of Princess Celestia," said Twilight, expecting some astonishment from the blue pony. Nothing at all. That's strange.

"What?" said the blue pony after realizing that Twilight was looking deeply at him.

"Oh, nothing... I was expecting some reaction from you," said Twilight with honesty.

"Some reaction? Why? It's because that's all your story?" said Salty Sea confused.

"No no, don't matter... My brother is the prince of the Crystal Empire, and I received a letter from him one day. He said that Princess Cadance (his wife) had disappeared. After some investigation, we found out that she went here, to this town. I proposed to come here and rescue her alone, but Spike wanted to come with me, so he came with me. And well... You know the rest."

Twilight felt weird telling the events... Was that what really happened? Why had she the feeling of telling something wrong?

"Interesting! So you're here in the mission of rescuing that princess, right?" said Salty Sea thoughtfully.

"Yes, that's it... But I have to find Spike first! I'm not going to abandon him in this crazy town!" said Twilight, getting worried about the baby dragon. Salty Sea frowned.

"Well... He's very young for what you told me, so I can imagine he's still very innocent about life. If this is true, he will not have any problems with monsters... Now, how to find him? We have two options: Trust in our luck and talent for finding things, or getting rid of the curse," said Salty Sea with hooves crossed.

"Wait, we can get rid of the curse?" said Twilight, not expecting this new information.

"I think so... I'm not sure to be honest... But if someone launched a curse to the town, there must be some way to get rid of it... right?" said Salty Sea with some insecurity.

Twilight thought about it. He has a point there. Probably the curse can be removed after all... But how? No, no Twilight, first things first.

"We'll think about that later... I want to find Spike first, then Cadance, and then we will think about how to remove the curse of the town with more calm," said Twilight with her objectives clearer than ever. Salty Sea got up with a smile.

"Alright, count with me then. But remember, the town will not allow more than two ponies in a group. In the moment we find Spike, we'll have separate ways," said Salty Sea with serenity. Twilight frowned at this new information, not liking it very much.

"Alright then... But will you be safe out there when that happens?" said Twilight, worrying about the blue pony for the first time.

"Don't worry about it. I've been surviving here for three months, remember?" said Salty Sea with an optimist smile.

Twilight smiled and nodded. Twilight got up and looked around the room. Boxes everywhere. She must be at some kind of storage. Twilight trotted through the room, avoiding the boxes. She found a door eventually. Twilight opened it, receiving a surprise. She was at the other side of the famous steel bars. Twilight's expression was priceless. How was that possible?

"For your face, I could say that you were at the other side of the bars before, right?" said Salty Sea, guessing her thoughts.

"Yes... But how...?"

"Don't question the logic of this town, Twilight. It will try to drive you crazy by it's own ways," said Salty Sea frowning.

Twilight hadn't need more words to get convinced about it. Twilight turned and trotted through the dark corridor, Salty Sea behind her. They found eventually a stairwell going up and down. Twilight hesitated, thinking of what way was she going to choose. When Twilight realized, Salty Sea was going downstairs.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Twilight.

"I have a good feeling about going downstairs," said Salty Sea, still going downstairs.

"What? but... hey, wait for me!" said Twilight, hasting her track to follow him.

They were at the ground floor again. Twilight was following Salty Sea through the dark corridor until he stopped. He picked up something from the floor, and gave it to Twilight. It was another of those objects with shape of letters. This one, has the shape of the letter "M". Twilight's eyes widened at the realization of something.

"Oh no! Spike had the other letters!" said Twilight alarmed.

"Do you mean these letters?" said Salty Sea taking two of the letters from his mane. How did he do that?

"Oh, you have them..." said Twilight, twitching her ears.

"I found them at your side when you were faint. I can assure you, this isn't a coincidence," said the blue pony with serenity.

Twilight returned the object to Salty. Salty introduced a hoof in his mane, hiding the letters inside. Twilight didn't know how he could do that, but that wasn't important in that moment. They turned back and went upstairs twice. They were at the second floor now. Twilight found strange the fact that there were more stairs going up. There was a third floor? Salty saw her confused face looking at the stairwell. He guessed her thoughts again.

"There's a roof up there, but I don't think there's going to be anything of interest in there," said Salty Sea smiling.

"I see... You know everything about this town, right?" said Twilight with curiosity.

"Most of it. The town changes if someone new comes to the town," said Salty Sea, still smiling.

Twilight found weird the fact that he says 'someone' instead of 'somepony', but she decided to not give importance to it. Twilight trotted through the dark corridor, inspecting each corner of it. Twilight got surprised by the wooden door of the end of the corridor. It was made of a lighter wood than the other doors, with some green lines around it. Twilight read the number of the door, but there was a name instead of a number: "Emerald Room". Twilight got a bad feeling about that room, but she felt that that room was the room she was looking for. She didn't know how she knew that, but she knew that. Twilight tried to open the door, but it was locked as she expected. Twilight thought about where the key of that door could be... And then, she remembered it; the safe in that room of the ground floor.

Twilight turned back, followed by Salty Sea. They went downstairs, arriving to the first floor again. Twilight went to the steel bars, finding a new problem... Probably they could get at the other side of the steel bars if they crossed the storage room? They had to give it a try, so Twilight turned to the door of her left; the door of the storage room. After crossing the room, they found another door. They crossed it, and how they suspected, now they were at the other side of the steel bars. This was very convenient for once.

"Twilight... We're we going?" said Salty Sea, not daring to ask before.

"To a room at the Ground Floor. There is a safe there that have the key of the Emerald Room," said Twilight with decision.

"How do you know that if you didn't open it?" said Salty Sea, impressed about her deduction.

"You'll see..." said Twilight with a smirk.

Room G-12 again. They were in front of the small metallic safe, with the letters at their hooves: 'N-M-O'. It wasn't difficult to guess the combination for the lock. Twilight introduced with patience 'M-O-O-N', unlocking the safe with a 'click'. Twilight smiled feeling the victory of opening the safe at last.

Twilight crouched, illuminating the inside of the safe. Salty took the items of the safe, closing the safe afterwards. The ponies inspected their new items. One of them was a key with an emerald polishing, the key that Twilight was expecting to be in there. The other item was a plastic translucent bottle with a red label, written with black ink 'HEALER'. Another one of those bottles... An image of Spike crossed her mind. She prayed for his safety, and prayed for the other 'healer' bottle to be with him, in case he need it.

"Welp, time to see what's in that Emerald Room," said Salty smiling. He was happy to be with company after those three months of loneliness.

"Yes, let's go," said Twilight, also smiling.

They were in front of the Emeral Room's door. Twilight gulped. She had the feeling that Cadance was in there... Twilight didn't hesitate anymore, letting Salty to open the door with the emerald-like key. Salty opened the door, letting Twilight to get in first. Twilight crossed the door and looked around the room. It was a disaster. Everything was turned down, like if somepony were inspecting the room before them. And then, she saw that familiar silhouette at her left, looking through a window with sorrow, exhaustion and dark circles under her eyes.

Twilight trotted to her, frowning a little. Salty crossed the door finally, seeing the tall pony with amazement.

"......Princess Cadance?" said Twilight with fear. Cadance didn't react.

"Why did you come here, Twilight? Didn't I say before that this place is dangerous?" said Cadance with anger in her voice. Twilight shrank, twitching her ears. Salty Sea trotted in, gulping before starting to speak.

"Emm... Hello... You're Cadance, right?" said Salty Sea with fear. Cadance looked at him, still with that tired expression.

"Who are you?" said the princess with a bit of curiosity.

"I'm Salty Sea... I've been trapped in this town for three months... And now, I'm helping Twilight to survive through this town... She wants to help you, you know?" said Salty Sea, shaking a little bit. Cadance looked again through the window, staring at the outside fog.

"A lone survivor," said Cadance emotionless.

"Si... Emm... I think that you should accept her help. It can be more easy if we work in team," said Salty Sea with security, but with fear at the same time. Cadance went silent for some seconds. It was awkward.

"Thanks for your generosity, but this is something I need to do myself," said Cadance with harshness. Twilight sighed, ready to talk again.

"P-princess... I know this is not easy... I'm not feeling very good about staying here at these apartments... And let's not talk about the town itself..." Twilight stopped for a moment, a new image of Spike crossing her mind. "But my friend has a point here. If we're here together, everything will be easier. You can trust us."

Cadance closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She knew that Twilight was right. If they work together, it will be easier to find the source of the curse. And who knows? Maybe they will be able to get rid of it! Cadance opened her eyes, looking at the ponies with a warming smile.

"Thank you very much, Twilight and..."

"Salty Sea."

"Yes, Salty Sea... You're really good friends... Alright, you can help me," said Cadance with a better face. That improved the mood of the lavender unicorn.

"Really?! Great!!" said Twilight, feeling happy for once.

"But you're not coming with me for now. Is better if we go separate ways." Twilight was going to complain, but the princess raised a hoof, making Twilight stop. "Let me explain, please. We need to find the source of the curse. Once founded, we'll need to find each other."

"Are you sure about this plan, princess?" asked Twilight with insecurity.

"Please Twilight, don't call me princess. I'm your sister-in-law after all... And yes, I'm sure of it. There is no other option anyway," said Cadance with determination. Salty Sea analyzed her words in his head, finding it a relative good plan after all.

"Ok then... Where do we start to look?" asked Twilight with a new glare in her eyes.

"You have to go to the north of the town. You'll find the 'Grand Shopping Mall' of the town there. You can start looking there," said Cadance with a mental map of the town in her head.

"Alright... What are you going to do now, Cadance?" said Twilight worried.

"I will go to the roof of this building, I didn't inspected there yet. Go now, and good luck out there."

Cadance turned and trotted to the door of the room, crossing it and leaving the two ponies alone. Salty looked at Twilight, this one was looking at the floor with sadness. That worried Salty.

"Twilight... Are you okay?" asked Salty, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight looked at him to this gesture.

"Is this place... It makes me feel... Nostalgic... I never been here, I'm sure of it... But I feel nostalgic anyway... I'm confused," said Twilight with sadness.

"Let's get out of here. It will be worse for you if we stay here any longer," said Salty with serenity.

Twilight nodded, hugging him by surprise. Salty got surprised, but he returned the hug with a smile. He forgot the feeling of hugs... It was so relaxing... Twilight got back from him, looking at him with trusting eyes. The ponies trotted out of the room, with their new objective marking the continuation of their bizarre journey.