Obscurum Descensus

The door was open.

The princess broke out into a cold sweat, knowing that the door was not open before she entered the Study. Luna sat down on her haunches and took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself from the uncontrollable shaking her body started to develop. She closed her eyes and started to hum an old lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was just a new born filly.

“Sleep my child and peace attend thee,

All through the night

Guardian angels Mother will send thee

All through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping

Hill and vale in slumber sleeping

I my loving vigil keeping

All through the night”

While the moon her watch is keeping

All through the night

While the weary world is sleeping

All through the night

O'er they spirit gently stealing

Visions of delight revealing

Breathes a pure and holy feeling

All through the night.

Love, to thee my thoughts are turning

All through the night

All for thee my heart is yearning,

All through the night.

Though sad fate our lives may sever

Parting will not last forever,

There's a hope that leaves me never,

All through the night.”

After a few minutes, Luna had regained her composure.

She took a step forward into the dark corridor, turning her lantern down so that just in case she is spotted it will be much harder to see her. She could not help but notice that Storage looked darker than any other room she had been in before.

But Storage wasn’t just one room. As Luna walked deeper into this section of the castle she could barely make out the doors on both sides of her and the stairway that lead even deeper than she had come. She walked forward and lit all of the candles that were laid out before her on a long table, bringing a bit of light into the room she was in so she would not have to use her lantern.

Turning her lantern off, Luna searched the room she was currently in, finding another match on a desk next to more candles. Luna lit those candles too with that match and then walked over to the door that was to the left of her when she entered Storage.

The princess opened the door and had to turn her lantern back on again before proceeding down the hall. As she walked down the hall, though, Luna noticed that there were torch sconces lining the walls and lit three of the sconces before she hit a wall of rubble. Luna frowned, looking for a way to get passed the rubble only to find nothing. Shaking her head and turning around, she noticed that there was a sign hanging above one of the rafters supporting the ceiling.

She trotted over and turned around to read the sign. Storage.

“Okay. Looks like I need to find some way to get through that pile of rubble.” Luna said to herself, turning back around and walking back to the main room containing the candles the princess had previously lit. She crossed the room to the door on the other side and paused to read the sign placed next to the door.

“Office?” the princess asked aloud before opening the door and peering inside, trying to get a gist of what exactly this room was supposed to be. Inside there was a desk centered in the middle of the room with what looked like a pile of papers stacked on top of the desk. There were bookshelves lining behind the desk and two long tables on either side, all stacked with papers, folders, and books probably having to deal with more manifests about shipping in this section of the castle. Luna walked inside and lit one of the candles on the center desk, bringing enough light to the room that she could turn her lantern off.

“Five more matches left and I haven’t seen or heard from that…” Luna trailed off as she spotted something on the center desk.

“Iron Wrench,

Above ground storage section two will be receiving a new shipment of alcohol in the form of four large barrels. I warn you to be careful; the alcohol is highly explosive and can be triggered to explode if the concentration of the substance is enough through the use of heated materials. So keep those damn candles you love so much away from those barrels.

Signed by Strong Hammer”

The princess snatched up the paper and stored it way in her saddle bags. “This letter is dated for last year. Oh, I hope they still have those barrels.”

Luna trotted back out of the room that was considered to be an office and made her way over to the staircase that led down further into the castle. She looked up at the sign that hung above it.

Wine Cellar.

She turned the lantern around her neck back on but before she started her descent into another cellar, Luna paused, eyes slowly drifting down to look at her lantern.

“The door to the cellar was left wide open and I did not find that… metal clad pony either by the rubble or in the Office. He must have…” Luna trailed off again as she completely turned her lantern off and started to make a quiet descent down into the darkened cellar.

The steps ended at a dirt floor as the alicorn princess slowly came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. She gave her eyes some time to adjust to the extreme darkness.

Luna was able to make out the silhouettes of very large casks that were propped up on their sides in the corners of the room along three doors that occupied a spot on each of the three walls. It was deathly quiet.

Luna shuttered as she made her way over to one of the casks, the dirt floor suppressing the clops that her hooves generally seemed to emit no matter how quiet she tried to be. She searched the cask for some kind of spout that would allow her to fill a jar with the explosive alcohol. Good thing I kept the jar for when I dissolved that black liquid.

After finding the spout, Luna placed the jar onto the floor and tried twisting the nozzle. It didn’t turn. It was rusted shut.

Picking the jar back up, she crept across the room to the other remaining cask only to find that it too had been rusted shut. Luna sat down in frustration. Perhaps one of the rooms has something I could use to open one of the casks.

The princess picked herself back up and walked to the door nearest to her and directly across from the stairs she walked down. Giving the handle a slow and quiet twist, the door unlatched and slowly opened, giving a creak that made Luna’s spine tingle. No further noise was made.

Luna entered the room and searched for anything that could be used to help her. Instead, she only found a match, some crates lying around, and a large rope. She picked the match up and stored it with the others before exiting the room.

She crept her way across the storage room to the door that was to the right of the stairs. And, like the room before, upon turning the handle and opening the door, no noise was made other than the thumping heart beats emanating from Luna’s chest.

She entered the room and searched again for anything that might be able to help her in prying one of the casks open. Unfortunately there wasn’t much in the room besides piles of coal and an empty table and chair located in the far right corner of the room. The hairs on the princess’s back stood on end.

There is only one room left to check and I have not found that creature yet… Luna turned her head back to gaze across the room, her eyes now well adjusted to the dark so that she could see the door across the way. She swallowed hard and picked herself up. She walked slowly to the door, eyes trained on the handle. Each step felt heavier than the last.

The door stood in front of her now. Luna placed a hoof on the handle and twisted. The door gave way to her push and groaned open. The Princess of the Night held her breath.

Nothing.

The room she was currently looking into was empty. Princess Luna exhaled and gave a slight cough, quickly shooting her gaze behind her but she didn’t see anything. She looked forward again.

“I… What?” Her breathing quickened as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

Suddenly the princess could hear something scratching on the walls, the sound coming from every direction. She backed into a corner and lay down, resting her chin on the floor as she looked around her with a terrified expression on her face. Something hissed as she could have sworn she saw a bunch of cockroaches crawl underneath a bookcase standing next to her. She fumbled with her lantern.

The familiar return of light calmed Luna’s senses as all the sounds that were terrifying her just a moment ago vanished. She sat up and took a deep breath. I’m losing my sanity. The darkness from this place is terrifying.

Getting back onto her hooves, Luna made a few observations about the room. There seemed to be shelves stacked throughout the entire room that contained all sorts of items. From repair parts to exotic and intricate tools, Luna was sure she would find something that could help her open the caskets.

After what seemed like twenty minutes of searching through the numerous shelves of items, Luna finally found an adjustable wrench to use on turning the nozzles. She carried the wrench in her mouth back out to the nearest cask and fit it onto the nozzle.

After taking in a deep breath, Luna pulled with all of her strength on the wrench, freeing it from the rust and allowing the contents of the cask empty into the jar beneath the spot. Once the jar looked to be about full, Luna turned the nozzle and shut off the spout. She picked up the jar and eyed it.

I need to find some way to explode the alcohol without catching myself in the blast. Perhaps there is another bucket in the room that I could use.

Luna set the jar down and walked back into the room where she had acquired the adjustable wrench. She was able to quickly find a large bucket and brought it back out to the cask and filled it too with the explosive alcohol.

“Okay, now to go and get rid of that pile of rubble” Luna said to herself in assurance, balancing the bucket on her back while carrying the jar in her mouth. The alcohol tasted good on Luna’s lips and suddenly she realized she had not drank or eaten anything ever since first waking up in this mysterious castle. Her stomach ached for food.

I can worry about this later. Right now I need to remove that pile of rubble.

The princess trotted back up the stairs and down the hallway where the rubble was blocking her path. She set the jar down on the floor. After positioning the jar centered in front of the rubble, Luna took the bucket and tilted it slightly, allowing a steady stream of alcohol pour onto the floor and create a trail all the way back into the main room lit by the candles.

Once the bucket was empty, Luna set it down next to her and lit a match, eying it carefully. She let it drop.

The alcohol ignited, shooting across the trail drizzled across the floor at rapid speeds straight for the jar. Upon contact, the jar exploded with a loud roar and a blinding flash of light, forcing Luna to advert her gaze. When she turned back, there was a giant hole in the rubble that would allow her to pass.

Princess Luna gave a small, successful smile.

“I may have attracted unwelcome attention with that blast. I need to find those valves fast.” Luna said to herself as she stepped through the opening in the rubble wall. A set of damaged stairs led down from the opening and into a short hallway that took a sharp corner at the end. She jumped over the stairs, landing gracefully on her front hooves first, and continued to walk down the hallway and around the corner.

Luna entered a room that was brightened by two skylights lining the ceiling above her. There was a long counter in the center of the room that seemed to have all sorts of food laid across it from bread, to lettuce and tomatoes, to sliced meat. There were also cupboards and chests full of ice that no doubt contained even more food lining the walls to the left of her. To her right were even more chests and a door. And finally in front of Luna there looked to be another hallway that was unnaturally dark.

The princess approached the long counter, inspecting the food to see if there was anything worth eating. Upon finding a stale loaf of bread that was the only sort of food that did not have mold on it, Luna decided to turn her attention to the chests full of ice. There were all sorts of vegetables stashed in the chests full of ice so Luna took a few carrots and apples along with a canteen of water and ate hungrily.

Once her belly was satisfied, Luna packed some more food into her saddle bags along with another canteen of water and set off to the door. As Luna approached the door, however, the hairs on her fur started to stand on end and she felt a heavy lump weighing down each foot.

“Perhaps I should open that door later” Luna said aloud, taking a step back and then turned to look at the hallway across from the storage room, its darkness blocking her vision from seeing anything further than the corners that opened into the room she was currently in. It almost looked as if a mist of darkness was trying to creep into the room. She approached the hallway and crept into the dark.

It was impossible to see a hoof in front of ones face in the darkness that filled the hallway. It almost felt as if there was a weight in the room tugging the princess down but not in a way that hindered her progress. She was being directed across the room.

Suddenly Luna bumped into a chain and stopped as the metal links rattled and dangled in front of her. It felt sticky against her cheek and unnaturally cold. She sniffed the chain and found that the scent had iron based properties. Blood.

The princess closed her eyes and backed away from the chain, letting out a small whimper as some more metal clinked behind her when her flank touched another dangling chain. I need to get out of here. She opened her eyes and turned on her lantern.

Chains crusted in blood dangled from the ceiling with enormous hooks at the ends of them. There were wooden boxes scattered throughout the room; some stained red while others were smashed or shattered. Even the dirt ground had streaks of blood, all of them pointing to the only other way out of the room except back.

Luna stared forward and walked quickly, exiting the room and bumping into some more chains along the way. Once the unnatural darkness started to clear, she was about to let go of her breath when another sight in front of her gave her pause. A dead pony was lying in front of her with his or her neck twisted in a grotesque manner.

The blue alicorn carefully walked past the pony, she was a mare, keeping her eyes trained on her until she came upon a door at the end of the hallway. Turning to look behind her and seeing that the mare had not moved, Luna opened the door and stepped inside.

It was rather small and cramped with shelves and tables lining the walls. There were also two short rows that were filled with parts for what looked like all sorts of machines. Luna remembered that she needed to find an air control valve and a water control valve and started her search along the two rows.

After about ten minutes of searching through the piles of machine parts the princess finally found the two control valves located and labeled on a desk in the corner of the room. She inspected both items first to make sure they looked to be in working condition before placing them into her saddle bags and turning to exit the room.

A metallic groan escaped from beyond the door.

Luna stopped, frozen in fear as she could hear the clop and clang of its hoof steps echoing outside of the room she was in. If the metal clad pony wanted to gain entrance into the room there was nowhere that the princess could hide.

Suddenly there was a nauseating slicing sound from outside the door followed by what sounded like leather being dragged across the floor. Was that thing taking the mare’s body? Luna waited a few seconds until all was quiet before opening the door out of the machine parts storage room.

Sure enough, the mare’s body was now gone with a thick trail of blood indicating where it had gone. Luna shuttered and slowly set out to follow the trail being that she did not have any other choice. The trail went through the room full of chains and then into the storage room that was full of food and stopped at the unchecked door.

She paused, staring at the door. The only sound her ears could pick up was her increasingly rapid heartbeat. The blue alicorn started to make her way across room, staying on the other side of the long counter to be as far away from the door as she could possibly be.

There was another low, metallic groan.

Luna ducked behind the counter just in time as the door across the room suddenly swung open. She heard the clops and clangs of the pony as it was making its way towards the exit where Luna needed to go. The princess stayed behind the counter and held her breath.

The metal clad pony walked into full view for Luna. One of its hooves looked to have been amputated and replaced with a metal rod while all the other legs looked to have metal bandages covering up wounds. It was wearing a rusted muzzle that wrapped tightly around the pony’s head, digging into its skin. Its coat was a dark grey except for the splotches of red and shiny metal while its brittle main and tail were black.

Luna shielded her eyes, utter fear striking her as the pony continued to move down the hall back where she was supposed to go. When the metallic clops were finally out of ear shot, the night princess got to her hooves and looked over to the open door to see the dead mare lying in the middle of the room. She walked over and peeked inside.

The room was quite small with only a few barrels tucked into the corner and a desk pushed up against the wall. There were three more matches lying on the desk that Luna picked up.

Going back into the main room, she looked to where the metal clad pony had gone and took a deep breath. “There is only one way I can go. I can’t wait here forever.”

Luna left the main storage room and walked over towards the hole in the rubble very carefully, her hooves not making a sound on the dirt floor. When she came to the broken stairs, she used her wings to lift her up gracefully and land with no more than a clink on the wooden floor from her shoes.

She made her way into the candle lit room without so much as a trace of the metal pony. Luna made for the stairs that led to the fountain room, leaving the storage section from this part of the castle. She stopped half way up the stairs.

There was a metallic wheezing coming from behind her.

Luna turned her head.

There, standing at the base of there stairs, was the metal clad pony. It was staring directly at her.

It took a step up the stairs.

Luna’s pupils shrank but her body refused to move.

The metal pony took another step up the stairs.

Finally, when the pony had covered half the distance between the bottom of the stairs and the princess, Luna turned and ran towards the door out of the storage rooms.

Heavy hoof beats clopped and clanged on the wooden steps after her as she struggled to open the door into the fountain room.

When she managed to get the door open, she scrambled through and closed it behind her as fast as she could. She heard its metallic groan from behind the door.

The sound of wood crunching was the only thing the princess heard when the horn from the pony crashed through the door centimeters away from her face. She let out a quiet whimper and turned, rocketing herself across the fountain room with a flap of her wings. She reached the door to the elevator in seconds and rushed inside.

She could hear other frightening groan from the metal pony as the storage room door flew off of its hinges. Luna ran over to the door that led into the elevator maintenance room and took out the key, unlocking the door and getting inside as quickly as possible.

The dark blue alicorn pressed her ear up to the door but all she could hear were pants as she gasped for breath and the heavy thumping of her heart. She held her breath.

One… Two… Three…

Luna counted. There was nothing. Not one sound.

She released her breath.

It must have gone away. Or it wasn’t going to enter the elevator room. Either way, Luna was greatly relieved that she was able to escape the metal pony without a scratch on her for a change. She turned around and started to look for the air and water control room.

The hallway was very narrow with pipes, pulleys, cogs, and vents snaking throughout. It wasn’t long until Luna spotted a door to her left, however, and opened it into a dimly lit room containing some more pipes, and a few vents. There looked to be some sort of control box over on the far wall.

She approached the box and read the words engraved on the side. Air control.

Luna opened the box and spotted where the missing valve should go almost immediately. She took the air control valve out of her saddle bags and fit it snuggly into the empty slot and closed the box.

“Hm, there doesn’t look to be any handle or lever that will turn air control on. Perhaps I’ll find one later.” Luna said as she searched around the control box or some sort of switch.

She turned and left the room, heading back down the corridor in search of where the water control room was. During her walk, the princess noticed and made a mental map of places where cogs and gears were laying about incase she did need to fix the main engine for the elevator. She noted four gears before coming across another door. Luna walked inside.

This room was very similar to the air control room. There were pipes lining the walls with a few vents and what looked like pumps lined up in a long row on the far wall. Luna walked over to the pumps and inspected each one carefully, wondering which pump needed a replacement valve.

She noticed that the pumps stretched from floor to ceiling and each had a pressure gauge to the right of each pump. There were six pumps and each gauge displayed the following:

Pump1: ACF

Pump2: BEC

Pump3: CCA

Pump4: DFB

Pump5: ECA

Pump6: FBC

“Hm, strange way to measure pressure readings. Perhaps there was a pattern somewhere?” Luna asked herself as she began to look over each of the pressure gauges. She noticed that the first of each letter sequence was displayed in alphabetical order meaning that they must be the pump names. She looked at the other two letters of each gauge and did not find any particular pattern however.

“Wait a second…” Pump 4 was the only pump that did not display a C in either the second or third slot of the sequence. Luna decided to test her luck as she opened the box at the base of the pump. No water shot out of the pipe and she saw where the missing control valve was supposed to go. She replaced the valve and closed the box back up.

Princess Luna left the water control room and walked down a flight of stairs into what she could tell was the engine room. The room was large but was taken up mostly by an enormous engine that no doubt powered the elevator up and down. She noticed that there were in fact a few cogs missing.

Luna inspected the rest of the room, noticing another open room attached to the engine room that was full of coal for powering the elevator.

“Such primitive methods for fuel” Luna muttered to herself. She took a shovel from the corner of the room and began shoveling coal into the coal boiler attached to the engine. Once there looked to be a satisfying amount of coal in the boiler, Luna put the shovel back and left the room with black splotches staining her coat.

She returned to the maintenance corridor and started dragging cogs individually to the engine room. Once she collected all of the cogs she remembered seeing in the corridor, the princess started to replace the missing cogs on the engine until all seemed to be fitting into place perfectly.

There was a pull cable in the center of the engine and Luna walked her. Gripping the cable handle in her mouth, she gave a few tugs and the engine roared to life. The princess looked at the engine and gave a content snort.

Luna turned and left the engine room and walked back through the corridor. She paused at the door that exited maintenance. After putting her ear up to the door for a few solid minutes, she finally opened the door and started to walk to the elevator. She paused at the double doors and looked back.

There was nothing behind her. Luna stepped into the elevator and shut the doors behind her. She pulled the lever.

The elevator started it’s descent into the lower depths of the castle.

The princess gave a relieved sigh and sat on her haunches.

Suddenly the scream split into Luna’s head and she slumped against the side of the elevator in pain. Bubbles of black liquid appeared on the outside of the elevator.

Having fun Luna?

The elevator jolted to a halt, causing Luna to tip forward and hit her head against the front doors of the elevator.

I know I am.

Luna blacked out…

~~~

The great princess of the night stared out of the tallest spire of Canterlot Castle across the land of Equestria enveloped in the quiet darkness of her beautiful night. There was a sense of calm and peace about her as the stars above her shimmered and danced in their own exotic manner.

Today she would have to set out on her quest to find the recently discovered artifact that led to her downfall a thousand years ago. The blue alicorn thought that the relic was lost forever, hidden away by her evil counter part in a location that could not be found by any normal pony. Apparently she did not do a good job.

Luna gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. She knew that that was not the correct answer. There was something strange about this mare. She shows up to Canterlot a few weeks before the wedding between Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shinning Armor and announces to Celestia that the object the sun princess had been looking for for a thousand years has now been discovered in some castle located in the Tramplevanian Alps between Equestria and the Ib’Xian Empire.

How did she even know that Celestia was looking for it? What was she doing in the Alps in the first place? The mountains were sacred to the Alpaca race and you needed a special permit or royal authority to tread on that land. There were too many questions and not enough time.

There was a knock on the door.

“You may enter”

Luna turned and saw Lieutenant Nighthawk enter the room. He stood at attention and cleared his throat.

“My princess, all the preparations have been made for the journey. Shadow and Dime will be accompanying you as you requested. Your chari…”

“I will not be needing my chariot Lieutenant. I would prefer to fly to the Tramplevanian Alps.”

“As you wish” Lieutenant Nighthawk said before giving a bow to his night princess and left the room.

Luna turned and looked out of the spire again, giving a sigh. There was another knock on the door.

“You may enter”

“Ah, my favorite princess! How are you doing this fine evening?” Came the cheery voice of Dime as he came trotting into the room followed by his quieter female counterpart Shadow.

“Just fine, thank you Anvil” The princess said with a slight smile. The three of them have been through a lot together and Luna was always happy to call Shadow and Dime her two closest friends.

“You don’t look alright, Luna. Is there something amiss?” came the timid voice of Shadow. She was the smallest of the Night Guards and had an even smaller voice. She always had a knack for sensing when her princess was troubled.

“Well…” Luna paused and looked at her two guards. Only her sister knew of the connection Luna had with her mother. This journey the three of them were going to go on together no doubt would resurface some past emotions that the princess had managed to suppress since her return from the Nightmare. There was no point in hiding her past.

“You two may want to take a seat. There is a lot we must discuss before we depart.”