Unbound

Amidst a sea of darkness, a bubble of magenta light shifted through the cobweb-ridden halls of the Castle of the Royal Sisters.

Princess Twilight Sparkle and her six best friends in the world diligently and somewhat cautiously pressed on through the crumbling pictures of former decadence around them.

Spike clung to her back, nervously panning his reptilian eyes around the shadows cast by each ruined doorway or fallen marble pillar. Meanwhile, the rest of the Elements of Harmony followed close behind, expressions ranging from indifference, to annoyance, to fearful hesitance, curious joy, and even disgust.

Mostly, it was Rarity who was disgusted.

“Twilight, how much further are we going?” the fashionista whined, narrowly dodging a stagnant puddle on the floor that was dripping from the cracked ceiling. “We’ve been in this dreadful castle for at least an hour already!”

Rainbow Dash turned her head back and gave her friend a flat look, which shifted to sympathy as she saw how genuinely distressed the unicorn was. Fluttershy might have been scared of more practical things, but Rarity was looking at the grime on the walls like it was going to come alive and eat them.

“You know, you didn’t have to say yes when Twilight asked us to come with her, Rares,” Rainbow offered.

Rarity sighed. “Well, yes, but I wasn't simply going to refuse to help a friend. Also, she is a princess now, so it felt like the proper thing to do.”

“It’s not like she was gonna throw you in the dungeon if’n you said no, sugar,” Applejack said.

Pinkie skewed her brow a bit at her friend’s words. “Does she even have a dungeon?”

“Yes… it came with the castle,” Spike said, “but she only uses it to punish books she doesn’t like.”

While Pinkie was wondering what a dungeon in the castle of friendship would look like, and Rainbow Dash was wondering what kinds of books her eggheaded friend didn’t like, Twilight turned toward Rarity and flashed a reassuring smile.

“It won’t be much longer, Rarity. After that, we can take a lunch break and I can take you home if you’d like,” Twilight suggested.

“You’re staying here?” Rarity asked.

Twilight nodded. “I have to. Pri… uh, Celestia asked me to help her and Luna inventory everything they left behind here while they’re off at their diplomatic summit.”

“Doesn’t that give you a few days to get this done?” Fluttershy piped up from the back, dreading the thought of having to spend the next few days in the foreboding ancient castle. Even if she was afraid, she couldn’t just not help her friend.

“Yes, but I want to get as much done as soon as I can. I don’t have as much free time as I used to,” Twilight admitted, casting a somewhat regretful look around at her friends. She missed being able to just spend most of the day hanging out with them, but her new duties were important, and she would rise to the challenge.

Onwards they went, combing through every dark room or hidden passage they came across. Occasionally, they would find old storage trunks or boxes, prompting Twilight to do a quick scan for magical energies with her horn.

This deep into the castle, there could have been any number of magical artifacts, and while she hoped that Celestia and Luna hadn’t left anything dangerous out in the open, it was worth being cautious and avoiding one of her friends getting hexed by some dusty old knick-knack.

Eventually, as they were walking down another bend in the hallway, Fluttershy paused and her ears perked up.

What caused it, she wasn't quite sure. She panned her head to the side, where a lone door stood just down an intersection. It was made of thick wood, and a heavy iron padlock hung from its face.

Normally, Fluttershy wouldn’t dream of doing something so scary as to step away from her friends and approach a dimly lit hallway in such a terrifying place. Her spine shivered just at the thought.

However, as she carefully moved out of Twilight’s light bubble, she somehow didn’t feel scared, at least not scared enough to deter her. She felt… needed.

Something inside her nudged at her mind, telling her that the door and whatever was behind it was important. It was a strange sensation, and she wasn't sure what it meant. Was this what Pinkie felt every time her Pinkie sense went off?

“Umm… Twilight?” Fluttershy spoke, her usually timid voice holding a hint of curiosity.

Noticing that their friend wasn't where they thought she was, Twilight and the others paused and turned back toward the intersection, where Fluttershy was standing facing ahead.

“What is it, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. She walked over and looked down the shorter hallway at what had given her friend pause. The only thing of note down the intersection was a door at the end just a few feet away.

“Do you know what’s in there?” Fluttershy hesitantly pointed toward the door. She felt bad for derailing the group like this, but something about the door was clearly bothering her somehow.

“No… I’ve never been down this path,” Twilight said. She started approaching the door, unable to deny her own curiosity.

The others watched as Fluttershy and Twilight went up and briefly examined the door. However, as the alicorn went to touch the padlock with her hoof, a barrier of translucent yellow light suddenly blocked her, causing her foreleg to recoil.

“Woah…” Rainbow Dash leaned forward, intrigued by the first sign of something not totally boring she had seen all day. “What’s that?”

Twilight stared at the door for a moment before turning to her friends. “It’s one of Celestia’s warding spells. She told me that there might be a few around the castle. They’re supposed to protect some of the more powerful things stored here.”

“Oooh, so it’s double locked?” Pinkie mused. “I wonder what’s inside? I’ll bet it must be something super-duper exciting if Princess Celestia went through so much trouble to lock it!” She grinned eagerly at the prospect, like a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve staring at a tantalizing present.

“Either that, or it’s something spectacularly dangerous…” Rarity added uneasily.

This only made Pinkie vibrate faster with anticipation. “Even more exciting!”

“I’m with her. I gotta see what skeletons the Princess keeps in her closet.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her hooves together eagerly and turned to her alicorn friend with a pleading grin, pressing their noses together. “Twilight, can we open it? Ple-e-e-ase?”

Twilight gently pushed her friend back to a more respectable distance before frowning softly. “Sorry, but no. Celestia explicitly told me to write her a message before I dispel any wards, and I know she will be too busy today to interrupt her,” she explained.

“Aww, man. You never let me have any fun!” Rainbow Dash drooped in the air, her body nearly forming an upturned ‘U’ shape.

Ignoring the disappointed whines from Pinkie and Rainbow, Twilight turned to Fluttershy and offered her a sympathetic expression. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I know you had your heart set on finding out what’s in there, but it will have to wait until at least tomorrow.”

“Oh…” Fluttershy started to frown before flashing a sweet smile. “That’s okay. I was… only curious is all. You can just tell me what you find in there later.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Twilight said, poofing up a blank piece of paper and a quill with her magic. Spike quickly took it and, without a word between them, began scribbling a note to remind the alicorn later, whereupon the note poofed back from whence it came.

With that, the group started to head back out onto their original path. Some of them were more disappointed than before, but it was probably for the best. After all, the door must have been locked for a reason, and they knew that Celestia usually had good reasoning for her actions.

Then, they heard it.

Faint, echoed, and eerie, a phantom cry came and pricked their ears, sounding as if it came from a baby or small child.

The ponies all froze, their eyes wide. They turned to each other, almost convinced that each of them was imagining the sound, until they saw their friends reacting to it too.

“What in tarnation was that?” Applejack asked.

“You guys heard it too?” Spike added, shivering slightly as the sound replayed in his ears.

Rarity turned back toward the door, her stare now holding apprehension as she lifted her hoof to point. “It sounded like it came from in there.”

“Was that a foal’s cry?” Fluttershy frowned, now concerned at the thought that some poor child was trapped behind the door.

Rainbow Dash hovered away from the door a bit, not wanting to reveal just how unsettled she was. “Uh… that’s not possible. This place has been empty since the princesses lived here, and that door’s probably been locked for a thousand years,” she reasoned. Her previous statement about skeletons in Celestia’s closet seemed much more morbid now.

“But, we all heard it, right?” Pinkie asked. “What if someone is stuck in there?” She frowned at the thought.

“Calm down, everypony,” Twilight chimed in, her own voice sounding a little unnerved. She took a steady breath. “Like Rainbow said, for something to be alive in there, it would have to be able to survive for a really long time. And if there is something in there, I’m sure Celestia locked it up for a good reason. In all likelihood, it’s an evil artifact or entity.”

“I don’t think it is,” Fluttershy said.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash turned, only to see Fluttershy staring at the door with lips pursed softly. “What do you mean, Flutters?”

Fluttershy approached the door and lifted her hoof, bringing it as close to the frame as she could without the barrier showing up. That strange feeling tugged at her heart again, even stronger than before. “I’m not sure why, but I think somecreature is in there, and I think they need help. I just…” She turned to see her friends offering her understandably confused and worried looks before her expression softened and she turned back toward the wooden obstacle. “I just know it.”

Twilight watched her yellow friend for a moment, searching her eyes for any hint of fear that would tell her to stop considering what she was considering. But, there was no fear in the timid pegasus’ face, only a sense of compassion, the urge to help a creature in need.

Finally, the alicorn sighed and set her mouth in a solemn line. “Step back, everypony,” she said, wrapping her magic around Spike’s form and lowering him onto the floor.

“What?” Spike looked up to his unofficial sister like she was crazy. “You’re actually going to open it?”

Twilight pursed her lips, as if she were still struggling to convince herself either way. “Yes… I am.”

“But, what about the Princess’s ward? I thought you weren’t supposed to open anything with one on it without consulting her?” Rarity asked.

“I trust Fluttershy’s instincts.” Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, resting her hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder and causing a smile, which she reciprocated. “If somecreature needs help, it’s my duty to help them. But… just in case, everypony get back where it’s safe.”

The others shared an unsure look with each other before doing as they were told. Fluttershy merely hoped that her strange hunch was right, and she hadn’t just convinced her friend to release some ancient evil onto the world.

With a huddle of ponies and one dragon hiding around the corner and peering their heads out to watch, Twilight steadied herself and let her horn’s glow intensify.

She reached out with her magic, and almost immediately, the vibrant yellow forcefield appeared with a menacing hum, as if to dissuade her. She paid its warning no heed, and instead focused her magic into it.

With a flash of magenta overtop the pulsing yellow, the barrier disappeared into a few colorful sparkles. From there, it was just as simple as casting an unlocking spell, letting the padlock click open and leaving the door standing there.

Twilight looked back to her friends, who were equal parts curious and tense. As all eyes bore into her and the door ahead of her, she swallowed her own fear and looked ahead. She wrapped a cluster of magic around the edge of the door, and after readying herself for anything, pulled.

A wooden creak came as a thousand years crept out from within the space behind the door, chilling the air and contaminating the already stale smell of the castle with an even worse aroma, if such a thing existed.

There, in the small space, small enough to be a closet, wasn't what the group was expecting.

They weren’t sure what they were expecting, to be fair. Some ancient creature with claws and teeth? A cursed book holding the soul of some evil wizard that somehow sounded like a baby? The possibilities were endless in a place like the Castle of the Royal Sisters.

But, against all expectation, a single object sat alone on the barren floor of the space. A lonely, dust covered, cobweb ridden, chest.

Twilight relaxed as she took in its shape and qualities. It was made of well-worn wood, with golden bordering forming three stripes that came down and framed the keyhole. Despite the keyhole implying it would lock, it was ajar ever so slightly, offering a teasing view of the inside.

“Huh…?” Twilight blinked at the odd sight. It didn’t look like anything else she had seen in the castle prior.

Rainbow Dash took a step out from the corner and stared ahead blankly. “That’s it…? A box?”

“I think the more important question is, what’s in the box?” Spike reasoned.

As the others gradually walked over and joined Twilight, she shared an uncertain look with them before slowly approaching the room.

“Uh… hello?” she called, squinting with slight confusion and only half expecting anything to respond. “Is anyone in there?”

Nothing but hollow silence greeted her.

Fluttershy stepped forward alongside the alicorn. “We’re not going to hurt you. We want to help,” she offered in her gentlest voice.

Once again, nothing. No crying, no voices, no sign of anything or anyone.

“Hate to break it to you, sugarcube, but I don’t think anyone’s in there,” Applejack said. “If they were, they prolly would have been out jumpin’ for joy to be free by now.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out. When life gives you a box, you open it up!” Pinkie suggested eagerly.

Twilight held a hoof up, silently coaxing her friends into halting. She lit her horn and scanned the chest and the area around it for magical energies. She felt one inside, but she wasn't sure how to interpret it. It didn’t feel like the kind of magic she was used to, and it didn’t give off any feelings of good or evil, at least as far as she could tell.

“Here goes nothing…” Twilight muttered to herself as she took a deep breath and opened the top of the chest. It flipped up with little issue, revealing nothing but darkness inside.

An unsettling amount of darkness. With the alicorn’s light shining into the room, such a thick miasma of inky blackness shouldn’t have been possible. It was as if the inside of the chest was swallowing up any semblance of vision in an attempt at keeping its contents hidden.

“Umm… is anypony else seeing an endless abyss of nothingness?” Rarity asked, her pitch rising.

“Is there even anything in there?” Spike added.

“I’m… not sure,” Twilight admitted. She tried to feel around the inner cavity of the chest. Her magic came across something, but strangely, as she tried to pull it out, she met stiff resistance. “What the…?”

“What is it?” Rainbow Dash skewed a brow as she watched her friend heaving with her magic to no avail.

Twilight panted softly at her failed attempt at wresting the chest’s contents away. “Something’s down there… I can’t tell what it is,” she noted. She then shifted her efforts into trying to make out what the object was by its shape. It had some rounded bits, but other bits felt sharp and pointed. “It feels like… like—” she stepped closer and carefully reached her hoof inside, hoping that the extra sensory information from her own flesh and blood would help.

Then, without warning, Twilight suddenly felt herself being pulled forward by her hoof.

“Wh… WOAH!” Twilight’s eyes snapped open and she caught herself with her other hoof on the edge of the chest, but that too was quickly sucked in. Her whole upper half started gravitating closer to the black void. She tried to fight it, but she was quickly losing. She felt her hind hooves losing their connection with solid ground.

The alicorn would have been pulled all the way in immediately, if it wasn't for a set of cyan hooves wrapping around her waist and pulling back.

“TWI!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She quickly and frantically flapped her wings, but even with her wingpower, she was barely able to gain any ground. Eventually, the pegasus grunted as she was pulled to the ground, nearly losing her grip on her friend and getting sucked in herself.

Feeling two sets of hooves grabbing her on either side, Rainbow looked back to see Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie trying to help pull them both away.

“Okay! Maybe this was a bad idea after all!” Pinkie yelled, her voice almost getting lost in the wind rushing into the chest, blowing all of their manes about.

“This box sucks!” Rainbow added, clenching her eyes shut.

“Ya think?!” Applejack said. After securing her hat in her teeth, she rushed forward and joined the effort to try and save her friend. Although, by this point, she was trying to save more than just Twilight. They were all in trouble now.

Rarity grabbed ahold of the farmer’s tail, clutching it tightly between her teeth. “I’m starting to see why the Princess locked this door!”

“I’m sorry, everypony!” Fluttershy cried. “This is all my fault!”

Twilight struggled to wrench her forehooves out of the sucking pull. She managed to just barely get one back onto the edge of the chest. Using that, and using the help from her friends, she lifted her head up as much as she could and turned to the side, just barely able to eye toward the others.

She could see her young assistant standing just outside of the chest’s pull, staring ahead with wide eyes as the ponies struggled to help her.

“Spike! Go for help!” Twilight yelled. “Get Princess Celesti-AHHH—!”

The alicorn cut off abruptly as her hoof slipped, allowing the increased pull to throw her off her awkward positioning and suck her further into the chest. This time, none of the five mares holding on were prepared for the sudden shift forward, and they started getting pulled in one by one like links in a chain.

“BWAHH—!”

“Wh-AHH—!”

“AHHH—!”

“No, no, no, NOOO—!”

Rarity widened her eyes as she watched all of her friends vanishing into the chest. And as Applejack started getting pulled in and her hooves lost connection with the ground, she knew it was her turn as well.

“Spikey WikEEEEEE—!”

“Girls!” Spike clasped his hands to the sides of his head. By sheer instinct to help his friends, he ignored Twilight’s plea for him to save himself and leapt forward, managing to grab the end of Rarity’s tail before she flew into the box. He tried to prop his feet on the chest and pull them out, but somehow he knew even before he started that it was futile.

Even so, he felt his stomach bottom out as he was sucked into the dark abyss along with the six mares.

“AHHHH—!”

With one final scream fading into infinity, the room was silent once more, save for a faint creak as the chest drifted closed.