Obscurum Descensus

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Obscurum Descensus

“Hm, if I shift Orion’s Belt zero point zero zero six eight nine eight two three light-years downward and rotate it so that it lays parallel with 51 Andromedae…”, a young alicorn muttered to herself as she looked across her desk at a seemingly living star chart that documented every star in the galaxy. She had been arranging the night sky for weeks for the upcoming wedding between her sister’s star protégé’s brother, also the captain of the royal guard if she remembered correctly, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. The wedding was to be attended by ponies from both lands and she wanted to leave a great impression on the royalty from the other kingdom to hopefully repair some of her past mistakes.

She was making the last minor touch ups to her night sky when suddenly there came a knock on the door to her private quarters that startled her out of her seat and onto the floor.

“Princess! Are you alright in there?”

She recognized the voice. “Yes yes, I am quite alright thank you. You may enter Lieutenant Night Hawk”

The door was slowly nudged open allowing one of her personal Night Guards to enter her chambers. He stood nearly as tall as she was but far more intimidating with his dark grey coat, yellow serpent eyes, and large bat-like wings. He stood ready at attention with his eyes resting entirely on the princess that he had sworn to protect.

“Pardon Princess, your sister wishes to see you in the throne chambers immediately. She said the need is dire.”

The dark alicorn disliked the formality that all of her guards seemed to display around her. No matter how hard she tried to convince them otherwise, however, they still addressed her as Princess or Majesty instead of just Luna. “Dire? Did she say what this audience was about?”

“She did not, your majesty. She did, however, cancel the rest of today’s Day Court so the reason must be very important”

‘Tia cancelling Day Court? That is strange. I know she doesn’t particularly enjoy interacting with Canterlot royalty but to cancel a Day Court for her is a surprise. I must go see her at once. These last…

~~~

Princess Luna awoke with a start and let out a groan as there was a sudden rush of pain to her head. She stared up at the window in front of her, suddenly regretting her action as the light further increased the pain that was growing in her skull. She laid her head down against the cobblestone floor and covered her eyes, shielding herself from any further torment. Finally, after a few agonizing minutes, Luna was able to lift her head to look around the room.

A room she did not recognize.

“Where am I?” she wondered aloud as she slowly picked herself up from the floor to give a quick look around her surroundings. It looked like she was in a short hallway with a few windows allowing some feint light to enter. There was a door to her left.

As Luna slowly looked at her surroundings, a tidal wave of questions wracked her brain. Where am I? What am I doing here? Is there a way out near by? Is there anyone here? Am I welcome or unwanted?

Luna walked over to the window first, taking a look outside so that she might gain an understanding of where she was.  It wasn’t much help though. Outside it seemed like there was a large forest filled with pine trees and covered with a very thick fog. The sky was overcast but it appeared to be day time as plenty of light was allowed to enter through the small windows that she peered out of. Next was the door.

The dark princess walked over to the door and nudged it open with her snout. As she walked inside she noticed the room was small and dark and only contained a pillow to sit on, a desk with a candle wick, and a bookshelf. Luna walked over to the desk and started looking through the draws and found a sulfur striker you would use to light the two matches that were in the desk as well. Luna wanted to test the sulfur striker to see if it worked to light up the room so she placed a match head against the striker and suddenly stopped.

“Wait, why is this room so dark? I am the princess of the night. I should be able to see in the dark.” Luna whispered to herself, a bit confused. Her horn lit up with a dark blue hue as she tried to use a detection spell to find the source that was shrouding her vision. She didn’t find anything.

“Well, that is… strange.” Luna muttered to herself as she struck the match against the sulfur striker, bringing the match to life. She lit the candle wick to give the room she was in a dull light so that she may search the bookcase for any clues as to where she might be.

Nothing. There was nothing on the bookshelf save for a few scraps of paper with illegible writing on them. With her search being fruitless, she exited the room and looked down the hall before proceeding onwards and around the corner. There was another door.

She took a step forward and felt something slick as she brought her hoof down against the cobblestone floor. She looked down at the darkly colored substance and gave it a sniff. It was blood, fresh blood.

“What in Equestria…” Luna looked around the floor to see if there was more of the iron-rich substance and noticed there was a trail of it going through the door that was in front of her. She quickly trotted to the door and opened it into another hallway that had two doors on her right side and a cabinet. The blood continued to go down the hall. As she took a few hoof-steps forward the second door at the end of the hallway blew open.

Luna gave a slight shiver but quickly collected herself. “Hello? Is there anypony there? Are you hurt?”

Silence.

The princess trotted over to the door that blew open and looked inside. There looked to be no pony in the room and no open windows that would account for the door being blown open. Luna stepped inside the room to investigate, walking to the center of the room and looking up at the chandelier that lit of the room with a warmth she greatly needed.

Suddenly the door she came in shut behind her and the candles on the chandelier blew out, sending the room into pitch black darkness. Luna jumped with a start and huddled herself against the wall, deathly quiet and listening intensely. Silence. Luna looked back up at the chandelier as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

“Oh stop being silly, Luna. There are open windows out in the hall that could have allowed for a breeze to slam the door and blow the candles out.” Luna consoled herself. After all, she was the princess of the night. Why should a typical breeze be frightening?

Luna walked back out of the room and decided to check the room she previously skipped over, opening the door and checking the room over only to find two more matches. She walked back into the hall and turned back down the hall, passing the second door and stopping at the cabinet.

What could a cabinet possibly have of value to me? Luna wondered but opened the cabinet anyway. It only confirmed her original question. There was nothing in the cabinet except for a broom that could be used to keep this section of the castle clean. She closed the cabinet and walked to the end of the hallway and opened the door.

A set of stairs was laid out in front of her. She climbed them to the top and started to follow the hallway as it snaked around.

Luna suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the sounds of hoofsteps in the distance. The steps sounded close  and almost as if the pony was walking in place. She was about to gallop after them but stopped when she heard a scream in her head. The sound was agonizing and forced her to the floor as it felt like the whole castle was shaking. She looked up to the chandeliers above her as they blew out.

But when Luna felt like her head was going to split open the screams stopped. Luna looked up and around and felt a shiver down her spine.

“What was that?” The princess wondered aloud as she got to her feet. The hoofsteps where gone as well.