“Seems like there hasn't been anypony here for centuries.” Ever’s eyes moved through the twilight of the small chamber. “Though, the architecture of this place looks familiar.” She dropped her magic shield and stepped towards a small window in the room, her hooves kicking up layers of dust with every step. She tried to sweep away a bit of the grime from the glass, though without much success.
“It seems to me like we’re in Canterlot Castle,” Aurora asserted. She had followed Ever’s movement with her eyes, but had remained next to the portal back to Central with her shield still up as well.
“You are correct,” Ever confirmed after taking a look outside. “West wing, I would say.” She tried once more to sweep away the grime, but all this resulted in was her foreleg getting dirty. “It’s hard to tell, but I don’t see anypony down there in the city, it basically just looks like a ghost town.”
Aurora let her shield fall, closed her eyes, and perked up her ears. “I can’t hear anypony nearby either.” She stepped forward and took a look outside herself. “The sun is bright out there, if the castle is this quiet, I don’t think it means anything good.”
“The upside is,” a new voice spoke up from behind them, “if we’re alone, no one is trying to kill us for the time being.” Relic dropped his saddlebags and started to rummage through them. “Should give us some time to find out what’s wrong with this place. With the castle in this state,” he glanced at the window for a second, “my guess is either a plague or the sister’s fight ended with Luna coming out on top.”
“If it’s Nightmare Moon again,” Aurora said, “well, trotting to her Castle through the Everfree is not one of my favorite activities, but at least we would know what we have to do then.”
“So long as it isn’t a Daybreaker who was banished to the sun,” Ever voiced. “I remember quite well how that turned out.”
“Yeah,” Relic agreed, “wasn’t our best idea to bring the princess of the sun back without checking if she was alright first.”
Ever threw another look out the window. “Anyway, I don’t think Luna is in command here, the sun’s still up. We also shouldn’t discard the idea that this part of the castle just isn’t being used anymore though.” She bit her lower lip and thought for a second. “And in regards to the inhabitants... if we’re lucky, today could just be a holiday.” She rubbed her nose. “Anyway, we should advance with caution, like always.”
“Aye,” Relic replied. By now, he had managed to fish a compass and map of the castle out of his saddlebags before putting them back on. “Any chance you can tell which floor we’re on?”
“Third, maybe fourth.”
“I see,” Relic held the map up in front of him. “If you’re right about the west wing,” he gave the chamber another look, guessing its measurements. “we could be either…” he placed his hoof on two spots successively, “here or... here. Servant tract or armory.”
“Doesn’t look like the amory,” Aurora said, illuminating her horn a bit. “Hard to tell for sure with how empty the chamber is. Though…”
A quiet poof interrupted her. The portal back home had vanished as the last member of the team arrived. Clear Way gave the surroundings just a quick look before nodding towards Ever. “Squad’s all present, captain.”
Ever nodded in return before moving back to Relic and glancing over at the map herself. Of course she knew the castle’s layout, but it was never wrong to make sure.
“Well if we are indeed in the servand tract, and, if this place is built like the original castle, then the gala-hall should be our first stop. If somepony or creature is around, we’ll probably find them there.” Ever gestured for Relic to put away the map. “We’ll make our way over there and see what we can find.”
“Aye, captain,” her team confirmed, and with a silent command, Relic approached the only door in the room.
He’d barely touched the doorknob when the old wood gave in under the force and broke off. They were all startled by the sound of it suddenly impacting the ground, made only louder by the dead air of the castle.
“Be careful,” Ever whispered.
“I think we can discard the idea of this part of the castle just being in bad shape,” he replied. “It takes millennia for these doors to rot to this degree.”
Ever bit her lower lip, she did not like what this thought implied. “Can you still open the door?”
“The question isn’t if I can open it, the question is if it will simply fall apart when I do.” He gave the door a closer look. “Maybe it would be better if you grab the whole thing with your magic and just pull gently.”
He stepped aside and gave her room to try. And indeed, it took only a light pull to rip the door off the hinges and float it carefully down next to the now empty frame. Of course, the old door broke when it touched the ground, causing even more dust to begin circulating through the air.
Warily, Relic peaked into the hallway. It was dark and noiseless. Still, through several old doors, a bit of sunlight made its way into the hall, enough to see that it was empty. He stepped in and gestured for Ever to follow. She lit up her horn and let a cone of light wander through the corridor.
“Yep, looks like we’re in the servants’ tracts,” he said, his gaze wandering along the walls once more. “No pictures, no furniture, not even a statue or two.”
Ever couldn’t say why, but this information somehow made all her muscles go taunt. Her best guess for why was that this was the one place in the castle mute and desolate shouldn’t apply.
The empty silence, it felt off.
Her gaze spun around for a second when the rest of her team entered the corridor behind her.
“Aurora, keep your eyes open,” she whispered. “Clear, see if you can peek into these rooms.”
“Will do,” Clear nodded and made his way over to the nearest door while Aurora illuminated the corridor behind them. Her light trailing off into the distance, revealing only a hallway disappearing into a void.
“I wonder if,” Clear said before then placing a hoof on the door. Without any effort, he broke a hole into it, allowing a small beam of sunlight to shine through the hole and into the corridor. “Well, that was easy,” he said before peaking inside.
“What do you see?” Ever asked.
“Nothing, just an empty room with some furniture. Looks like a bed and a collapsed wardrobe. I…” He jumped back with a suppressed scream and landed on his backside.
“What is it?” Ever quickly galloped over, watching the hole in the door, ready to strike. Aurora had also turned around and was pointing her light at it.
“Nothing, it was nothing,” Clear panted, obviously trying to calm down his own pulse.
“What do you mean, nothing?” Ever took her gaze only for a second from the door.
“Just a piece of paint peeled off the door. Fell right into my line of sight and startled me.” He stood back up. “Sorry.”
Ever just shook her head before she perked up her ears to listen. Besides the breathing of her team, it was still silent. “Seems this little incident hasn’t brought anything out of hiding. I’m guessing we’re still alone.” She nodded towards one of the other doors. “Just check the other rooms quickly before we move on.”
Clear brushed off some dust from his coat, nodded, and went to do so.
“Are you sure we need to?” Aurora asked while stepping backwards and to her side, facing the corridor again. “Judging by this dust, nopony’s been here in forever. And I feel kind of uncomfortable standing here on a silver platter.”
“I don’t feel much better,” Ever confirmed. And it was true, this place, while not showing any signs of danger so far, gave her the creeps. “But if we find, let’s say, bodies or the like, we can at least assume what may have happened here.”
“The scariest things are always the unknown,” Aurora nodded, causing her cone of light to dance through the darkness before them. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.”
“Same here,” Clear interrupted their discussion. “Empty room, old furniture.”
“Doesn’t look like they left in a hurry,” Step threw in. “All these doors are closed, no dead ponies laying in their quarters. Whatever happened here didn’t catch them by surprise.”
“Or whatever hit them was during the day, when these quarters were empty and closed anyway,” Aurora replied. “Means whatever it was, sunlight isn’t going to protect us from it.”
“Would cross out vampires,” Ever said.
“That is what I love about our captain,” Relic nodded, “always having faith.”
Ever smiled, improving the morale in her team was always something she tried to do. Still, this place, it made the fur on her back stand on end.
“Alright, let's move on then.” she decided.
They continued down the corridor in what they assumed was the east, but from their past experiences, there was no guarantee that the castle had been constructed with the layout they were familiar with, nor that the sun would be following the same path. It didn’t take them long though for them to reach their destination, the Gala Hall.
Entering the room was no problem of course, the huge doors had rotted to the point that they were no longer capable of supporting their own weight. The shattered, decayed piles of wood and rust-pitted metal lay in two large piles at the ingress of the hall, forcing the group to carefully skirt around or over them to avoid injury.
“Doesn’t look suspicious here either,” Aurora moved her cone through the twilight of the room, illuminating a few tables and a good portion of the red carpet. “Everything looks like I would have expected it to. Except for the garden maybe.”
Indeed, through the grime covered windows, what shrubbery they could see looked unkempt and wild.
Now it was Ever’s turn to move her own cone of light through the room to look for any clues, although her focus was on the ground. The layer of dust had not been disturbed here, exactly like in the hallway. Something about this was off, but she couldn’t place a hoof on what it was.
“Hey, something’s over there,” Clear mentioned and pointed at one of the tables. When the others arrived to look, each of them saw that the thing of interest was a broken cup laying in shards next to the table.
“Maybe somepony lost it while running away from something,”Relic assumed.
“Or it’d been standing on this table for who knows how long until the gust of air from the doors collapsing blew it off,” Ever countered.
“Could be,”Relic agreed, still, he threw another look at the doors. It was clear though from his look that he doubted that idea.
“I think we can take it for granted that the castle’s abandoned now,” Clear said. “If there’s one place in all of Canterlot that would be filled with life, it would be here.” He pushed a little bit of dust with his hoof. “No one's home though.”
“Let’s hope that you’re right.” Aurora returned her cone to the little group. “If some...thing is still here, it’s surely not anything friendly. At least that much is clear.”
“Mustn't be something dangerous though,”Relic voiced his opinion.
“How many non-dangerous creatures do you know of that live in spooky old forsaken castles?” Aurora asked.
“Hmm, fair enough.”
“We should still use this opportunity to find out what happened in this reality,” Ever decided. “If this castle is abandoned, I want to know why. We may also be able to figure out what happened to the princesses by searching their rooms.” Her gaze wandered over the garden outside and the remaining sunlight. “We may have one or two hours left till the moon rises, if it rises that is. We should hurry, I don’t want to be in here when the darkness starts playing tricks on us.”
“This place is scary enough during the day,”Relic agreed.
“Aurora.” Ever waited until the mare turned around to face her. “You and Clear check Celestia's room while Relic and I head to Luna’s. Look for whatever information you can find that might explain what happened here. We meet back here in one hour.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we stay together?” Clear asked. “We all know what happens if you split up in a horror story, and so far, this place could be one.”
“The alternative to that is checking the second chamber in pitch darkness, Clear.” Ever shook her head. “Even if we start with Luna’s, I don’t want to wander around this castle to get to Celstia’s chamber at night.”
He nodded. “Makes sense. I ju…”
A high-pitched noise interrupted their conversation. All of them turned towards the source of it. The cones of light from Ever and Aurora’s horns flared up and came to rest on a dusty window.
Only to discover the sound was just a branch slowly scraping the glass.
“Uff, this one got us good,”Relic said while laying a hoof on his chest. “I think you’re right, Ever, this castle will play with our minds when it starts to get darker.”
Ever didn’t respond to his statement though. Her gaze was still focused on the branch which had scratched the window. It was giving her the same feeling as all the dust was, something about it was off, but she simply didn’t know what it was.
“Ever? Ma'am?” Relic tried once again and waved a hoof in front of her face.
“Hmm?” she snapped back out of her thoughts. “Oh, yeah, right, we should keep moving.”
She reminded her team before they all separated that if something happens, they should return to this hall, or if that was impossible, head for the portal back home. Aurora and Clear took the steps to their left, leading up to Celestia’s chamber, while Ever and Relic took the set of stairs to the right. Before they began ascending them however, Relic grabbed Ever’s shoulder, holding her back.
“I didn’t say anything so as not to worry the others, but I know that look of yours. Did that little voice in your head tell you something? Something you don’t want us to know?”
“I told you that is not how it works,” she replied. “Out here, it doesn’t provide me with…” she stopped and searched for the words, “vital information. It’s more of a summary of our actions.”
“You said that, I know, but that look of yours, it tells me otherwise.” He let go of her shoulder. “Something’s troubling you, I can see it.”
“It’s more of a feeling,” Ever confessed. “Narry, uhm, he focused on my thoughts about the dust and… well, I don’t know, it’s probably nothing.”
“Look, I know you wallbreakers are a bit strange , and I am totally fine with you giving the voice in your head a name and stuff. But,” he stepped a bit closer and looked her straight in the eyes, “if there is something off, and I mean like it could kill us kind of off, I’d rather know about it and see it coming. You know what I mean?”
Ever nodded. “I let you know if Narry tells me something serious, I promise.”
“Good, that’s all I’m asking for,” Relic gave her a nod before he moved towards the stairs.”
Following him, Ever took one last look back as she placed her hoof on the first step. Once more, her horn threw a cone of light through the room and slowly swept from one side to the other. This examination only served to demean her wariness, as she could see nothing of danger in the hall. She turned back around and made her way upstairs.
Behind her, the branch slowly scraped over the window again.
*
“Do you think there’s a reason Central didn’t send a pegasus on this mission?” Relic wondered. “I mean, I can see why Clear and I were chosen to go, and it’s obvious why you and Aurora were sent, still, was it because of our abilities or is this place dangerous for our feathered friends?”
“I don’t know, I only know Central has never sent someone who was useless for the success of the mission to other realities,” Ever replied. “I can’t say if it was always the best creature for the job, but it never was the worst for sure. So no pegasus this time means we don’t need one to succeed.”
“Hmm,”Relic switched his torch into his other hoof and scratched his chin. “Yeah, you're probably right about that. Still, I’m wondering how much Central really knows about the realities it’s sending us too.”
“Hmm?”
“You know, if Central knows what kind of pony or creature is needed to fix the problem, Central must know at least something about the problem itself. Leads to the question why we are sent without a clue and have to figure it out ourselves each time.”
Ever glanced at him before she focused back on the path before them. “Maybe that’s simply not how its magic works?” She tapped her horn. “Just think of how different we unicorns already are. Not hard to imagine that Central has some skills and limitations too.”
He snorted. “Could be, I‘m simply not sure about it.”
“Maybe one day you’ll find out,” Ever said, but raised a hoof when he wanted to reply to that. They had entered the hallway leading to Luna’s chamber.
“Good, her chambers are still where it’s supposed to be,” Ever said, pointing her ears forward to listen for any sign of life.
“How do you know?” Relic whispered. “We haven’t reached it yet.”
“Narry,” Ever pointed at her head. “He said we reached the hallway where her chamber is.”
“Well,” he lifted his torch up and looked ahead, “that’s calming news.” He grinned. “That, or I am trotting next to a lunatic right into a trap.”
“Please don’t,” Ever asked and rolled her eyes, “don’t call me lunatic or silly or something.”
“Sorry, I forgot.”
She stepped ahead of him and trotted slowly down the hallway. The echo of her steps reminding her why there were normally so many carpets on the castle’s floors. If there was something waiting for them up here, it would’ve heard them long before they even finished ascending the stairs. She gave the few remaining statues and pictures along the walls a suspicious look. It was true that the towers of the two sisters were enchanted to preserve the various items they housed, a tribute to their advanced age, though she was not sure if it was really supposed to last over some millennia. And it sure was a contrast to the decay that had fallen on the rest of the castle.
At least it kept out the dust. In fact, even the air was quite fresh compared to downstairs. Whatever spell this was, it was a very advanced one. Ever wondered if Luna might have cast it herself.
“We have to be careful now, it wouldn’t be the first time we found a surprise in the sisters’ private chambers,” Ever said.
“Would be the first time for me.” Relic caught up with her and they both approached Luna's private chamber before stopping in front of the double door.
“Let’s hope then that this is not the first time you get surprised,” she mumbled and laid a hoof on the door. She took a deep breath and pushed it open. Without resistance, it swung back smoothly, making no sound as it moved, as if the hinges had been freshly oiled and the door recently installed.
The room behind it could have been directly from the original Canterlot. It was preserved perfectly, from the round carpet on the floor in front of the fireplace to the huge bed at the side of the wall, complete with its bedshed still on.
“As if Luna was still living here,” Relic said in amazement as he took a step forward.
“Could very well be the case,” Ever whispered, holding him back. She knew the sisters' chambers were special. She knew there was magic placed on them. She knew this sight was nothing to worry about, but still…
“Something is off,” she whispered.
Relic looked around, and brought his voice to a whisper as well. “What, why? What are you talking about? This room is supposed to be like this.”
A fine whiff of air suddenly played around Evers legs, impishly brushing along her side and through her mane, only to linger around her for a heartbeat longer, before finally blowing across the room towards Luna’s desk, turning a page in the book laying on top of it.
“Something’s not right, Relic,” she wasn’t able to pull her gaze from the book but continued to speak. “I can’t place my hoof on it, but it… well… something doesn’t fit here, I know it.”
Her backcoat started to rise and she clearly noticed how it had gotten colder. And it wasn’t that little puff of wind that was responsible for having cooled this room down, that much was clear.
“Ever…”
“No,” she grabbed him by the tail and pulled him back, out of the room. Worry started to seep into her voice. “Now the little voice in my head confirmed it,” she pressed out between gritted teeth. Her breathing had started to speed up. “I don’t think we’re alone here!”
Now Relic started to feel unsure too. “What do you mean, it confirmed it?” This little voice in Ever’s head may frighten him sometimes, but it was never wrong. He rubbed over his leg, now realising the cooler temperature too. He may be less affected by it, since he was an earth pony, but still, he noticed it.
“He said it wasn’t the wind that’d cooled the room.” Her eyes darted through it. Another gust of wind made it past her legs. And for a split second, she thought she heard a voice.
“Did you hear that?” Relics ears perked up.
“I wish I didn’t,” she replied, turning towards the corridor behind them. It was covered in twilight and silence.
“Maybe the wind?” Relic said more hoping than believing. “Or it could be part of a certain spell? Maybe, Luna just liked it a bit cooler and the fresh breeze made the sound?”
Ever stepped backward. Another silent noise caught her attention. She spun around, pressing her side against Relic.
“It… it is just the wind.” he tried weakly to calm them both. “We opened this door and the chimney just allowed it to fly through the corridors again. There’s nothing to worry about, you read too much into the voice in your head.” He freed his tail from her grip. “Look, Narry didn’t say anything about us being in danger, right.”
She shivered. “No, he… “ she paused.
“See, he simply said it wasn’t the wind cooling things down, it could just be magic, it could even be some other phenomenon. Nothing to worry about.” He took a deep breath and encouraged her to do the same. “We…” He stopped when Ever’s eyes widened and her shivering intensifier.
The fact she was looking behind him at that moment was not calming, not calming at all…
Author's Note
Editor: Schattendrache