A Horse Walks Into a Bar...

“Can you say gaudy or what?” Flash whispered as they made their way through the first-floor hallways of Crystal Prep. Every part of the school proper was painted in various shades of blue and turquoise, and if not painted, covered in something of those colors. Flash gently rapped his knuckles on a crystalline pillar. “Seriously, how much money does this school get?”

Alan quirked his brow. “Have you ever seen your library?”

“Yeah, but they have honest to God crystals here! Who the hell did Cinch mug to build this place?”

“Shh, keep it down! Do you want that guy to come back or what?” Sunset hissed from the front.

Flash shrugged. “I think we’d hear him before he heard us. Dude was having a conniption back there.”

Alan’s gaze traced over a large display case filled with trophies. “Man, you weren’t kidding when you said they win at everything. That’s gotta be at least fifteen trophies in there.” He turned forwards and found even more trophy racks up ahead. Softly clearing his throat, he turned back to Sunset. “So, can you feel anything?”

“Nope, not a thing,” Sunset said. “We’re flying blind right now. Though I’m willing to bet Flash was right when he said Caramella’s on the top floor.”

Sunset sighed, and for the first time, Alan noticed how tired she looked. Strands of hair were out of place, and her eyes had bags under them, not enough to be worrisome, but enough to be noticeable. “Really out of it, huh?”

There was a tiny tug at the corner of Sunset’s lip. “I swear I’m not this useless all the time.”

“Hey, don't beat yourself up over this.” Alan smiled reassuringly. “You’ve been a big help. Without you we would have never found Caramella.”

Whatever trace of mirth she had left her. “Yeah, well... I wish I could have done more, but it’s like I said; I’m still recovering from months ago. Even if I were at ‘full strength,’” Sunset made air quotes, “I’d still not be able to do much. Really makes me appreciate the times when I had a horn and an unlimited source of magic at my disposal.”

“Must suck.” Alan’s scratched at his chin. “I’ve never really had, uh, magic so I can’t say I know how you feel.”

“Kind of like a hangover, to be honest.”

“Oh, uh, well, I’ve had plenty of those. But, uh...”

One of Sunset’s hands rubbed against her arm. “Yeah... it was only once though. I was never much of drinker back in Equestria either, never saw the point in making myself stupid for a few hours. Haven’t touched the stuff since.”

“Aren’t you like sixteen?”

Sunset fidgeted. “Erm, would now be a bad time to mention that I’m more like in my twenties? It’s uh... mirror portal stuff. I’m not exactly sure how it works myself.”

Alan blinked. His opened his mouth but no sounds came forth. Wordlessly, he turned forwards, his face a stony mask. “Okay.”

He was saved by Flash clapping him on the shoulder. “Look, stairs!” Flash pointed forwards towards the central lobby. It was just as gaudy as the rest of the place, but with additional purple banners with large S’s on them.

“Shadowbolts,” Flash said, following Alan’s gaze. “That’s what they call their mascot here.”

“How cheery,” Alan deadpanned.

Alan turned his back on the banner and, sure enough, two sets of stairs were carved out from the wall only leading upwards. He cracked his neck and let out a long breath. “Alright. Let’s go.”

They pushed forward.

They went up the stairs on the right side in single file. Alan silently cursed whoever had built this place, the stairways amplified even the tiniest of noises. Who built staircases and took the acoustics into account? It wasn’t like somebody was going to belt out a song High School Musical style. Moments later, the stairs leveled out into a small area with only a window, and the other staircase also joined up here. Another staircase wedged itself right in the middle.

As they crested the second staircase they found themselves in a circular room with doors branching off in every direction, and one last set of stairs. One of them seemed to lead to their library, and as for the others...

“We should probably see if we can get into these other rooms. There’s only a few doors here,” Alan suggested.

Flash nodded, but went right into the library. “Be right back,” he said.

Sunset went over to one of the doors and tried to open them, but after a few moments of trying to jiggle the handle, she gave up. “No use here.”

Alan checked the last two doors. Both of them were locked as well. “Well, she’s either in one of these rooms and we can’t get to here...” He pivoted to the last set of stairs. “Or she’s up there. Great,” he murmured.

As Flash came back from the library with two massive books in his hands, Alan gave him a blank stare. “Flash... why do you...”

Flash tossed one of the books in the air. “What? You can’t expect me to go in there unarmed, can you? I’ve got Bilbo in my left and Frodo in my right as backup!”

Sunset rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip. “Let’s just continue, okay?” Sunset didn’t wait for an answer before traveling up the last set of stairs, muttering something about Flash and nerds under her breath. He didn’t seem to hear it. They followed her up the stairs. At the end of the room was a singular door flanked by two tiny benches.

“Ominous or what?” Flash muttered.

“Alright, I’ll go in first. You two, stay behind me.” Alan exhaled sharply, remembering how the mysterious man acted in the parking lot. “I’m serious, okay?”

Flash tightened the grip on his books. “Yeah, no problem.”

“Listen... I mean it. Just... let me handle this.”

Alan walked up the the door, resting his hand on the handle for a moment. He pressed an ear up to the door, but when he heard nothing but silence he pulled back and resisted the urge to gulp. He twisted the handle and pushed the door open...