Failure, Eternally Retold, Part Three: Morality

Celestia looked over the edge of her chariot in the dark chasm. Her horn lit up the wall, but due to an intense fog that permeated the canyon, it was slow going back to the door to the hidden haven. During daylight hours, it had been a bit difficult to find the door, but now it seemed impossible.

"Are you sure it was against this wall, princess?" asked Twilight, sitting on the other side of the chariot. "I don't see anything."

"I'm certain I saw it here earlier," swore Celestia. "Luna said it was against the south wall, and this is the south wall. I saw it myself earlier today."

"I saw it, too," added Spike. "I know it was around here somewhere. We probably need to--"

He was cut off as the chariot struck a rocky crag beneath it. The guard escorts apologized and kept flying slowly through the dark mist.

"Maybe we went too far?" asked Twilight. "It's a large, mostly flat wall. Maybe we passed over the top of it and didn't realize?"

"Perhaps," nodded Celestia. "Let's turn around and go a bit lower."

The guard escorts turned and dipped a bit lower, ready to scan the wall as many times as it took to find the place. They still had the whole night ahead of them; a whole night of flying while supporting the chariot. Whether or not they were going to the bottom of the canyon didn't matter, as long as they landed as fast as possible. This slow flight through the mist was causing more strain on their muscles than they were used to. For this task, it wasn't strength or speed that mattered, but their balance, and that was something they didn't train for as often.

The fog was thicker down here, and Celestia's light seemed more dim than it actually was. Twilight added her own light to the mix, though it didn't do much. Despite the focused beam, it was still hard to see much against the wall. "I think that if we go all the way to the bottom, we won't be able to see each other," she joked.

Celestia looked straight up. "I can still see the moon, so why is it so hard to see the wall?"

"Perhaps Princess Luna knows something about this shroud?" suggested Spike. "I could send her a message."

"And tell my sister that I'm not capable of finding a large stone door with runes carved out of it? I think I'll pass for now. It has to be nearby. We're probably very close, and just missing it."

They continued on in this manner for another ten minutes, not turning up any results. As the chariot hit another rock, Spike fell off. Celestia immediately dove after him, her focus on catching him before he hit anything. To that end, she listened intently for his screaming. She caught him quickly and secured him to her neck and shoulders. "Are you alright, Spike?"

She could hear his heavy breathing and feel his trembling claws. Even with her brightest light, she could barely see him this far into the fog. Realizing that it wouldn't do her any good, she turned it off and looked up. She could see the moon and two other dim lights. One of them was Twilight, but the other, she wasn't sure about.

"Hold on tight, Spike, we're going back up." She guessed that the light directly above was Twilight, so she flew toward the other. As she came closer and closer, Twilight's light seemed to dim, until she could barely see it. Just as she was contemplating going back to Twilight to rendezvous before continuing, the other light approached.

"There you are!" called Twilight. "Did you catch him?" As the light drew closer, Celestia realized her mistake. She'd made the wrong assumption.

Celestia flew up to Twilight and pushed aside her mane, revealing the dragon. "He's a little shaken, but mostly unharmed. He'll be fine in a little bit, I hope."

"We lost sight of you almost right away," said Twilight. "I guess the fog really does thicken as you go further down."

Celestia thought about that for a bit. "When I was down there, I couldn't see a thing until I turned my light off. I saw two lights up here, but one of them faded when you came into view. I wonder if the door can only be seen in complete darkness?"

Twilight shrugged "One way to find out." The glow from her horn faded away. As soon as they were in complete darkness, the other light appeared a few dozen metres from where they were hovering.

"Guards, do you see that?" asked Celestia. "I think that light is our destination."

Slowly, the group fumbled their way through the darkness until they were hovering right next to it. Out of curiosity, Celestia illuminated the area, and it just looked like a regular wall. There was, however, a sturdy level cliff jutting out of the wall, just big enough for them to land on. The guards landed and Celestia turned off her light again.

"I recognize these runes," confirmed Twilight. "I spent all day committing them to memory. This is the same thing Spike copied down earlier today."

"We were searching in the right area," nodded Celestia, for nopony to see. "Now we know that we must approach with no light. Stay where you are, I'm going to open the door now."

The clippity-clop of hooves was heard approaching the door, followed by the sound of grunting. The outline of Celestia's horn glowed for a moment, but the stone would not budge.

"I don't understand. We fulfilled all of the requirements specified. The door should be opening."

"Maybe this isn't the door, but merely a carving that tells us how to open it?" suggested Twilight. "Perhaps we need to find the door separately?"

"That doesn't make sense," groused Celestia. "Why have a marker telling you how to enter, but have the door hidden elsewhere? If this is to be a safe place, it would only be harmful to have the entrance somewhere else."

Twilight thought for a moment. "If the door is hidden the same way the message is, we should return during daylight hours. Any unnatural light would hide it. At the very least, we know more now than we did this afternoon. It's a significant step forward no matter how you look at it."

With a sigh, Celestia spread her wings and illuminated the area. "Let's go back to the tavern and inn, then. We'll come back in the morning to look for more. Hold on tight, Spike."