Forbidden Tombs: A Rewrite

by Buttery Biscuit

Rating: mature
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Thriller, Horror
Length: 2311

Twilight has finally gotten clearance for the forbidden section of the Canterlot library.

Twilight has finally gotten clearance for the forbidden section of the Canterlot library. Excited as all get out, Twilight goes off to read as many forbidden books as she can. Though she got too excited and forgot to let her mentor know she was coming, something Celestia asked her to do even though she had clearance. It was most likely just a formality. What could it hurt to just pick up this one book?

This was for the Halloween in April Horror Contest with the Barcast, but after writing Flurry Heart. I felt I could do this better, so I hope you enjoy it.

Published 2020-08-19 06:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-08-19 06:10:01 UTC

Forbidden Tombs

Twilight was giddy with excitement. Celestia had just given her clearance to enter the forbidden section of Canterlot library. On the account that she let Celestia know before hoof, but unfortunately, Twilight was so excited that she forgot to give Spike the letter she wrote before leaving. That didn’t matter much, Twilight had clearance which meant she was more than fine. Letting Celestia know was most likely just a formality.

So she freely skipped into Canterlot library, breezing past the vast amount of bookshelves. Normally she would stay to look over them all with care, but not today. Books were begging to be read. What were they about? Why were they forbidden? Twilight’s pace picked up, trotting through the narrow path that the bookshelves made, she was going to find out.

She soon approached the furthest reaches of the library, to two books. To a normal passerby, they would go unnoticed among the other books that were there. Unsuspecting, almost invisible. They were anything but normal, they were the key. A purple one with Luna’s cutie mark on the book spine, and a yellow one with Celestia's cutie mark on the book spine. Twilight activated her magic, pulling them both downward, then pushing them back, opening the bookshelf that doubled as a door. It creaked open, stopping halfway due to the hinges being old and rusty.

Twilight had to shove her body into the shelf several times, but she got it to move. She would have to talk to Celestia about that, wouldn't want the door to break. Twilight didn’t bother closing it behind her, the library was closed so it was just her here. After hours were the best time to come, she didn't want to risk getting caught and end up getting her privileges revoked. She only just got them a couple of hours ago.

Twilight stepped into a small forked hallway, her hooves clicking lightly against the stone that paved the ground. To her left was a foreboding looking wall, dark and covered in moss. To her right was a sign directing her to the way out, a much brighter and much more inviting direction.

The foreboding looking wall it was, she trotted towards it. When she got there she saw that once again that the path forked into two different directions. Looking left she saw a dead end. Right, it was.

Twilight looked around in her new environment. Lanterns adorned this hallway, though it was almost pointless for them to be there. The light they cast was so dim that it barely made a difference. In fact, it made it worse as the curve, and fissures in the lights caused the shadows to dance almost organically.

Those fissures on the lights confused Twilight. It was as if the lights had been broken and then reformed. Twilight just assumed they were bought from a local artist because of its aesthetics. Everything about this hallway looked like it was designed to make ponies leave immediately, just in case it was ever found. That made sense, couldn't have just any pony reading those books.

Twilight was feeling pretty smug about that fact, not just anypony got to be down here. The oddness of the hallway fell to the back of her mind as she went back to thinking about her future binge-reading session. She was so engrossed in the possible titles of those forbidden books that when one of the shadows seemed to breathe, it spooked her for just a second. She swore that she watched that shadow inhale and then exhale, out of the corner of her eye. It was just a shadow, shadows didn’t breathe.

Twilight did though, to steady her heartbeat, which was a little high at the moment having had the daylights scared right out of her. It would help if this hallway wasn't so creepy. The tallness of the walls compared to the narrowness of the hallway didn’t help either, giving it a sort of claustrophobic feeling.

Twilight couldn't help but have herself focus back onto the hallway, she started moving slower, not by much at first, but as the shadows continued to dance among the walls her pace became slower. Now she was focusing more and more on the shadows until only they consumed her mind, they seemed almost alive. The way they moved was almost in stark contrast to the way the fissure in the lights were shaped. Their contortion caused her to gasp a couple of times as she swore she saw a pony form in the corner of her eye multiple times.

Her hoofsteps became more careful, just in case those shadows were alive. Not that she thought they were, that would be foalish of her. Just in case they were though, she didn’t want them to know she was here, maybe they hadn’t noticed yet. It wasn't that she believed that, she did not believe that, definitely not. Twilight Sparkle was an adult mare, but just in case she did it anyway.

Twilight just kept her vision forward and did her best to not give in to her spookier thoughts, they were just shadows. Just shadows. She reassured herself once more, she was a grown mare, shadows could not hurt her.

So when the end of the hallway came into her vision, she sighed with relief as she trotted for the end. There was just a little bit of hallway left. She felt like a foal who turned off the light and ran from the room for fear of monsters, but she couldn’t help it. The shadows had gotten to her, she wanted out of there as soon as possible.

Twilight ran so fast that she had to skid to a halt to make sure she didn’t run muzzle first into the wall. She looked to the left, more hallway. Her anxiety rose as she slowly turned to the right, more hallway. It wasn’t the end, it wasn’t the end of the hallway. Twilight peered down each hallway to try and get a glimpse of what was down those hallways, but they were exactly the same. The only difference was one way was slightly dimmer than the other one.

“Ruuunnnn,” a croaky voice said as the crash of a single lantern could be heard.

Twilight felt chills run up her spine as she slowly turned around. The shadows began to violently vibrate together, slowly forming a mass in the center of it. Another lantern shattered and the blob jumped closer, filling the space where there used to be light. Twilight could see a face start to form, it smiled at her as it contorted in and out of the shadows.

CRASH. CRASH. CRASH.

The lanterns shattered in succession, one at a time the blob jumping closer and closer. Swallowing more and more of that precious light whole. Twilight did not need any convincing she just ran. Whatever had been watching her earlier definitely knew that she was there now. Twilight ended up choosing the right path, as it was the slightly brighter of the bunch. The light seemed to hold this monster back somewhat. It was her best chance.

CRASHCRASHCRASH.

Twilight could hear the lights breaking at a faster rate than before. A low swishing sound accompanied it along with drowned gargling.

Oh Celestia, what was that? She thought.

Twilight dare not look back, not like the ponies she saw in those movies. Run, just run, and keep running, she thought as she looked down occasionally. Just to make sure she wouldn't trip. No tripping and no looking back and maybe she could make it out of here. She looked up from her hooves and to her side.

The walls seemed closer to her. She swore that she had more space. Was it because she was running so fast? Twilight spread her wings out to check but wasn’t sure if the walls were actually closer. She didn’t measure the space before hoof, but she had the measurement now.

Though she wasn’t sure it really helped her cause. She turned back to looking ahead, noticing the end of the hallway was coming up once more. This time for sure, she would reach the end and see...more hallway. There was just more hallway, it was exactly the same choice as before, one way darker than the other. She chose the brightest path once more.

Twilight ran as fast as her hooves could take her, the walls passing in a blur. The slap of her hooves against the cobblestone in the nightmarish hallway hurt, but she pushed through the pain. Tears started to bead around her eyes, the walls, she swore they were getting closer. She slowed for just a moment, putting out her wings. Half an inch, the walls shrank by half an inch.

CRASHCRASHCRASHCRASH

The lights broke faster as if they were trying to catch up to her. Twilight could not run any faster, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try. The end of the hallway once again approaching her vision, she would have to take the darker path, wouldn't she? She turned left. Escaping, the only thing on her mind. If she just ran fast enough, made smart choices, she would be fine. She thought of Celestia once more, of her asking to let her know when she was going to the forbidden section even though she was given clearance. Was this the reason why?

Twilight felt as if the world was closing in on her again, and she stuck her wings out. The walls got closer, this time by an entire inch. She stuck her wings straight up, two inches, her wings added two inches to her on each side. She assumed that she would need all the space she could get at the rate the walls were closing.

Twilight looked away from the walls to see a door. Her salvation. Even though it was painful, she picked up her pace, she just had to make it beyond that door. The blur that was the walls started to graze her sides, eventually starting to gently squeeze them.

Twilight skidded to a stop just in front of the door, Walls now pressing firmly on her sides. Using her magic she turned the knob for it that magic to fizzle out. That was right, the hallway was enchanted. No magic.

CRASHCRASHCRASHCRASH

She tried to grab at the handle with her hooves turning the knob frantically. Locked.

Oh no, Twilight thought, this door had to open, it just had to.

CRASHCRASHCRASHCRASH

"Please, Twilight thought once more, for the love of Celestia, open."

Twilight pleaded to voices that would not hear her. She told no one she was here, none of her friends knew. More tears streamed down her muzzle, her heartbeat beat so hard she wasn’t sure what would get her first. Her anxiety, or the monster. The hallway was so small she couldn’t turn around to use her hindlegs to buck down the door. So she desperately tried to use her forelegs but the door wouldn’t budge.

CRASHCRASHCRASHCRASH

Only one light was left remaining. Twilight turned around, her tears flowing. “Please, no.” She begged. The shadows tried to form a pony but the limbs moved haphazardly for a few seconds. Bones cracked and broke as they tried to form something that nature begged not to exist. Malformed and shattered, was a creature, a bloody muscley mess, it’s existence would make the fabric of reality weep for it should not exist in this world. Its eyes rolled back into its head as it grinned at Twilight, jaw-dropping to the floor but never losing the shit-eating smile.

The monster's mouth was cavernous and forever, like looking into the face of death. The last light crackled, as gentle breaks could be heard in the glass. Crack, crack, crack. Twilight turned to the door once more, as she tried to break it open, a futile attempt.

CRASH

The last light had broken, all that could be heard now was silence followed by light crunches and a foul squishing sound that echoed sickeningly off the walls. Wet gargles followed by a laugh that found happiness in the silence of its prey.

Rarity entered the Canterlot Library looking for Twilight, she was extremely late for a friendship meeting. Something that Twilight would never do. Her friends discussed where she may be, before remembering that she just got clearance to the forbidden section of the library. They assumed she was there and Rarity volunteered to go look for her. She passed the tall bookshelves, looking over all of them hoping to find Twilight among one of them. When she spotted an open bookshelf, it looked like she might be in there.

Legends say Celestia cursed it herself, the forbidden section, what a silly rumor. Celestia would never put her ponies at risk like that. She found herself looking straight onto two paths, one that led out the forbidden section and one that led to it. She turned toward the forbidden section, she promised herself she wouldn’t pick up any books. She was just there to pick up Twilight.

She walked down the poorly lit hallway; it was quite drab. The lanterns looked like they had been shattered once before, that aesthetic gave quite the creepy vibe, and the shade of the gray walls didn’t help that either. Some bright curtains would fix that, maybe she would propose that to Celestia. She took a breath and leveled herself, it was just a creepy hallway, with that thought she began her journey.

Author's Note

You may recognize this story, that because it's one of the first ones I wrote on here. After I wrote Flurry Heart I felt I could do a better job on this one. I really like this story so I wanted to redo it.

I hope you enjoyed