A Canterlot Unicorn in Princess Platinum's Court

CHAPTER FOUR

CLOSED CIRCLE

It was daybreak when Clover returned to release me from my cell. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she was shivering badly, her cloak drawn tight around her as if to keep out a chill. With her were no fewer than ten soldiers, unicorns all, who removed me from my cell with utmost care. Not a one of them dared approach me, so I ended up in the midst of an uneasy procession through the halls and up the stairs. I was tempted to just make a break for it, except that the iron ring was still on my horn, and the manacles prevented me from reaching my hooves high enough to remove it.

My new room was, as promised, fairly pleasant. It was small by modern standards, but not cramped, and furnished with a bed, a table, a chair, and a small but empty shelf.

More interesting was the promised 'circle of silver and salt'. I'd never seen one in my life, though I'd heard vague mentions in the oldest of texts, alongside such oddities as 'aqua fortis' and 'eye of newt'. It was much more elaborate than I'd expected;  Clover had to have been working all night. It consisted of three interlocking rings, each marked into the floor in shimmering white, more like a chalk drawing than the powder I'd expected. Each ring ran over each of the others, dissolving where they touched into fractal triangles. It was so wide that I had to be lifted over, I supposed for fear I'd try to smudge it on the way.

The moment my hooves touched the stone on the far side, I heard a collective sigh, as though some great peril had passed. Clover stopped quivering. There was a long silence, filled with nothing but stares.

Finally, I swallowed as much of my own nerves as I could manage, worked myself into character, and (because I didn't trust my voice) hissed, "the ring."

Clover nodded, and there was another long pause. Finally, when I felt my throat was going to jump out of my body and strangle me, she repeated, "yes. Rem – remove her fetters."

It was some minutes while the guards, communicating only through sidelong glances and sharp looks, decided who was to come close enough to remove the ring. It wasn't long before Clover was dragged into the argument and, under the pleading eyes of the ponies under her command, approached the edge of the circle.

A pair of iron tongs was passed along from pony to pony. She took them in telekinesis that shook and sparked. It took her three tries to get them anywhere near my horn.

Then, finally, it was off.

The very first thing I did was scatter the flames in my mane and tail and reassert Solomane's spell. This startled Clover so much that she leaped back, dropping the tongs, and only barely managed to catch them before they could spoil her circle.

The second thing I did was shatter my manacles, which, lacking any enchantment, and being frankly shoddy, came apart easily under telekinesis.

The third thing I did was cast a maximum-strength cooling spell, which I didn't release until thin lines of frost had begun to form on the stone floor. Protected or not, after being on fire for twelve hours the relief was almost palpable.

When that was done, I found that Clover and I were alone.

"Well, then," she said. "That was-"

The fourth thing I did was charge a teleport, aimed directly behind Clover.

I hit the circle with a muffled bang, and for a moment the room was lit with a brilliant silver light that sapped the magic right out of my spell. I reappeared with my face pressed against an invisible barrier, mere inches from Clover's own. Pain shot through my horn, reverberating through my body.

I stumbled back, stunned, while Clover, in her haste to escape, ran headlong into the door. There was silence for some time, while I checked to make sure I was still in one piece and Clover tried to regain what composure she could. She was still hyperventilating when I judged that the worst of the damage was a frizzy mane.

"...agh, why did you do that?" she shrieked. "Do you enjoy seeing me suffer? Is this your idea of fun?"

"I was only testing your circle's integrity," I said, my voice cracking.

I didn't think that thing would actually work, I did not say.

"I – I – I – need a few hours, I think, to – to think. I need a few hours to think, I can't make any- I have three days, right? I'll be back later." She turned to go.

"Wait," I croaked out. The barest sketch of a vagueness of a plan was forming, and it was telling me that I needed to keep pushing, at anything I could get. "I'll have your first offer. It would be remiss to leave them all for the last minute."

"Ch - chess?"

I stroked my chin absently, more for theatre than anything else. If she was willing to stake her soul on it, I doubted I could beat her. "No, not chess. Very well, you may go."

She was out the door before I'd finished speaking.

I all but collapsed on the bed. My heart hammered in my ears. The edges of my vision were black. I felt faint. More than anything, I wanted to curl up into a ball and just stop existing.

Instead, I itemized my assets.

1: Magic, but apparently not beyond the edges of the circle.

2: All sorts of technology, but nothing I could do with it in three days.

3: The contents of my room, which was almost entirely bare.

I spent a long time waiting for a fourth. When one didn't come, I slept.

...

I was awakened by the sound of gentle rapping at my door, and for a brief, blissful moment, I thought I was at home, and Princess Celestia, having found a free minute, was calling me as she sometimes did for an unscheduled early morning lesson.

I was quickly disabused of this notion.

"M'lady," came a voice, soft and hesitant. "I beseech a moment of your time, that I may attend to you."

I rolled over with a stifled groan. My back was suddenly very sore, no doubt a souvenir of my time in the dungeon, and judging by the evening sun streaming in through the window I hadn't slept more than a few hours. I rolled over again, and unceremoniously fell out of bed.

The door opened, and a servant entered, presumably having taken my fall as an invitation. That she was a servant was extremely evident; she was the second most demure, second most tentative, and second least dynamic creature I had ever laid eyes on, seeming at least three quarters deer. She carried a wooden platter, and wore some sort of frippery, an utterly unidentifiable construction of pale fabric that seemed to serve no purpose, which I assumed indicated what sort of servant she was. Her cutie mark, which was only partly visible, was a lit candle.

"M'lady," she repeated. "I apologize most sincerely, only I've been sent to wait upon you, and told that I'm to offer you this-" she gestured with the platter "-and in no uncertain terms indicate to you that should you need anything, you're to simply ring this bell-" she produced a bell from a pocket of her frippery "-and that, with these considered, the 'bargain is fulfilled to the letter'."

With that, she set the platter down inside of the circle, with the bell beside it. Now that it was on a level with me (I being still, of course, on the floor), I could see a block of cheese, lettuce, an apple, bread, and water.

"May I offer you anything else, m'lady?" she asked. "Canterlot is at your disposal, m'lady."

"Yes," I said automatically. I didn't have a plan, but whatever plan I came up with I was better off with something than with nothing.

I waited, mind blank, for as long as I thought I could justify silence. Then, without any thought passing through my mind, I said, "a book. A book about Night Mares."

"I will search the library, m'lady. May I get you anything else?"

"Yes." I wracked my groggy, sleep deprived brain. I couldn't think of anything. "A chess set."

And, like a switch had flipped in my head, I had a plan.