The Citadel

Hard, cold, dark, the rough stone floor greeted Flurry Heart as she slowly woke up from her sleep. Tired and a little confused she opened her eyes, only to realize she was not in her chambers in the crystal palace.

"Where am I?" She mumbled tiredly to herself as she sat up rubbing her eyes. Taking a look around she found herself in a fairly large dusky cavelike room carved out of some dark stone.

"That´s weird" she thought, the last thing Flurry remembered was sitting in her room reading a book until she probably fell asleep.

There seemed to be only one way out but it was covered by bars made from the same type of rock as the rest of the room.

"Did I teleport myself to the palace dungeon in my sleep?" Scratching her head and taking a second look around she concluded that was probably not be the case. The palace dungeon was crafted from the same crystals as the rest of the palace and was well lit, this place was to dark and the architecture looked like a mine shaft. Also the dungeon back home had bunks and windows in there cells, this one had nothing but hard rock.

"Did someone kidnap me?" A hint of worry entered her mind as Flurry's eyes went wide and she had a quick look over herself. She was still dressed in a purple tunic with a medium sized skirt and some black pants under it like she had before she fell asleep. After standing up and flexing her wings seeing that she is not bound gave her a little peace of mind. Lastly Flurry Heart put her hand on her horn to see if there was any magic inhibitor placed on her, but she found none there. Taking a deep breath and letting out a big sigh. Clearly if someone did kidnap her they where either ignorant or stupid to not tie her down or block her from using magic if they wanted her to stay put, they didn't even take her silver necklace. But the strangest thing to her was that someone would want to kidnap the heir to the Crystal empire and leave her in a random cave. She could not think of anyone or any group that might have a grudge against her or the empire enough to want to do that. The cave made her think maybe diamond dogs but that seemed very unlikely, they mostly kept to themselves in there separate clans caring little for others outside it. Anyway it did not matter because she was getting out of here, she had no intention on staying around to meet whoever put her in this cell.

Walking up to the bared opening and looking out made Flurry gasp out loud. Outside the bars was a massive cave with giant pillars made from the same dark rock her cell was made out of. They reached up to a ceiling she could not see and down to the dark abyss below. Inside of the pillars she could see more prison cells like hers but no pathway to any of them, there didn't seem to be any pathways at all from what she could see. And then there was the darkness and the silence, it felt unnatural for a space this huge to feel so oppressive. Clearly she was underground and whoever built this place probably had the ability to fly. For a moment she felt a little apprehensive to leave her cell but she knew that she could not stay here, no she needed to leave now since she could not see any guards.

Steadying her nerves Flurry Heart took a step back to get some room to work with. Even if she didn't expect to just open a door and walk out, this cell didn't seem to even have one. Unless there was a hidden trapdoor somewhere in here she could not see. But that didn't matter because she had an amazing aunt who had taught her the power of teleportation magic. Now granted she was no master when it came to advanced magic but she managed well enough for some short distance teleports. Just a flash and a bang and she could be out of there and on her way home, piece of cake.
Closing her eyes flurry gathered the magic needed around her horn and released it vanishing in a bust of light only to appear again on the other side of the bars. Quickly she opened her wing to stop herself from falling as the sound of her spell echoed into the darkness. Acting swiftly Flurry flapped her wings to gain some height and distance from there in case someone had heard her little magic trick and came to have a look.

Finding a small ledge to land on a couple of meters up she hid herself as best she could, holding her breath and listening closely for any sound that would indicate anyone heard her teleport. For several seconds Flurry Heart sat still as a statue only to be greeted by total silence. Slowly releasing the breath she was holding figuring she was safe for the time being Flurry lit up her horn to get some light around herself.

"Okay" she whispered to herself "time to find an exit."

Jumping of the ledge and spreading her wings once again Flurry Heart flew a few laps around the huge rock pillar she was just sitting on trying to spot some sort of hint of where to go. A bit frustrated of finding only more pillars and darkness she shot of in a random direction hoping to bump into a wall or something she could follow.

~~~~~~

"Really how big is this place?!" She vented after several minutes of flying in a strait line, and all she got out of it was more darkness and stone pillars all with prison cells in them. A bit of fear had started to creep back into her thoughts, the feeling of being lost and alone in the dark made her feel claustrophobic even in such a big open space. Oh how she wished to just be home again in her room where there was light, birdsong and colours, NOT this endless prison cave filled with nothing but silence and darkness.

"I wonder how long I have been gone for?" she thought to herself, she never went anywhere without telling someone.

"They must have noticed that I'm missing back home by now right?"

"Mom and dad must be really worried, and knowing dad he must have sent the entire army out to find me." Flurry let out a tiny bittersweet chuckle at the thought, her parents had always been a bit overprotective, especially her father.

Needing to take a moment to rest her wings and not finding a suitable ledge to land on Flurry Heart swooped in towards the closest prison cell. First checking to see if it was empty witch it was except for what looked like bones in a corner. Frowning a bit at the thought of ending up like that did not help her mood any. Carefully she grabbed a hold of the bars and set her hoofs down on what little space there was as she let her wings rest a bit. While hanging there she thought that maybe she had underestimated her captors. Sure she had access to her wings and magic but she didn't seem to be getting any closer to be out of here now then back in her cell. Was that there plan, to just have her blindly fly around in this cave forever. If so then it might have been less evil to just chain her to the wall in her cell then to let her have the illusion that she could escape. She looked back to the pile of bones, even though she could not make out what creature it once belonged to she was determent to not share in its fate.

Having rested for long enough Flurry figured she would try a different direction to break up the monotony and since trying to go straight had yielded nothing. She wasn't to keen on going downwards so that left up as the only real option. Flying upwards was a little more taxing but fortunately due to her petite physique she was a pretty nibble flier and didn't need to spend to much more energy. And there was always the option to find a place to rest again if it got to hard on her. With a new direction set she leapt into the air once again and flapped her wings quickly gaining both speed a height.

~~~~~~

Something Flurry Heart had noticed while flying around in this maze was that even if she had not seen any form of light source except her horn, all the rocks seem to have this faint shine on them as if there was a light. She did not mind that because it made it easier to navigate and not crash into anything but it was still odd. Another thing was that she had not come across anyone at all, there had been no one guarding her cell and no one had come to check out the noise after she teleported. There weren't even any other prisoners, with all these prison cells she figured that her captors where not the original owners and that this place must have been long abandoned. Flurry was actually a little offended that she had just been left in the dark like this with not even one guard to watch her, it was like they didn't take her seriously. She was a princess after all and if they where gonna kidnap her at least they could do it properly and lock her up in a tower so a dashing knight could come and save her. Instead she was stuck flying around in this never ending good for nothing dungeon for who knows how long now. Flurry Heart huffed "I do have standards" she thought.

Her internal rant was halted by a small light of to her side not much bigger then a dot but still clearly visible against the dark surroundings. Stopping to hover in place Flurry turned to take a second look at the tiny speck light of in the distance. It was to far away to clearly see what it could be but a spark of hope lit up in her heart, did she dare to believe she found an exit at last. With renewed vigor she flapped her wings as she made her way towards it wanting to get out of here sooner rather the later. It seemed to be some distance away still but at least she had something to aim for now and that alone was a big boost of morale. Feeling like she could afford it Flurry Heart increased her speed as she put more energy into each flap of her wings. The closer she got towards the light the more the stone pillars where beginning to lose there symmetrical placement bending and warping as they also started to appear diagonally. Getting closer now she could start to make out the source of the light and it looked like a small floating platform of some kind.

Like a moth to the flame Flurry eagerly went in for a quick landing not even looking around for danger as she came down on the thing with a soft thud. The platform itself wasn't very big just a couple of meters across with a single stone structure in the middle of it. A little disappointed by this since she had hoped for a door or something. But unwilling to give up yet, this might still give her a clue on how to get out of the place. Flurry began to inspect the structure at the center which took up most of the space and looked like an obelisk until about halfway up when it started to twist like a corkscrew. It also looked like there was petrified tree roots all over it and strange runes and symbols carved into it as well. And at the very top it glowed with an eerie white light that had guided her to it. Trying to read anything on it proved useless since the runes didn't resemble anything she had ever seen before, it looked more like the scribbles a child would make when pretending to write.

Walking around to check the other side she did find something that looked like a door on the obelisk, it was slim and tall and it reached up to the halfway point. Placing one hand on it she noted that the rock was quite warm and there seemed to be a crack going the length of the door. Maybe there was something here after all a portal or a gateway of some kind perhaps. Now placing both hands on the obelisk Flurry Heart started pushing trying to get it open but it would not budge, she took a step back and hit it a few times with her shoulder.

"Maybe it's a pull door" she thought as stepped back rubbing her upper arm. But since the door was mostly just a big stone slab there where no way for her to get a grip. Luckily for her she didn't have to use her hands she had magic as an option. Stepping back a few steps more and placing her hoofs firmly on the ground and lit up her horn with a magical energy she reached out and took a hold on the door with it. Flurry closed her eyes to concentrate and was just about to begin when a low humming sound came from the obelisk, this startled her as she quickly opened her eyes again. The entire thing had begun vibrate ever so slightly making dust fly everywhere as the volume of the humming slowly increased. When the light at the top shifted to a deep red colour Flurry Heart feared that she might have made a big mistake and swiftly stopped casting her magic. But that was perhaps an even greater mistake for as soon as her magic stopped there was a tug on her horn as if someone had grabbed a hold of it. She tried to move to get out of there but her body did not respond, it was like she was frozen in place. Now starting to panicking she could feel her horn light up again on its own and magic starting to stream from it to the looming structure before her. The sound got even louder the more of her magic was stolen away from her into the obelisk and the rate in which it was drained only increased.

Now in full out panic Flurry struggled to free herself before this thing drained her of her life but to no avail. Her body did not obey her, she tried to scream but nothing came out. She slumped down on her hands and knees as her energy was literally sucked away, her vision started to blurred and it was getting harder to breathe. The entire platform was shaking now and the symbols on the obelisk lit up with an angry red colour. Tears was now running down her cheeks, she couldn't scream she couldn't move and she hurt all over, it felt like she was being squeezed. Terror griped her heart as the thought that this might be how it all ended for her entered her mind.

Then it all suddenly stopped and she fell face first on to the ground like a rag doll coughing and gasping for air. The grinding of moving stone could be heard as a warmer light lit up the ground around her. She lifted her head slightly her vision was still blurry but she could see the door was now open and what looked like evening sunlight spilling out. Not having many thoughts in her head right now feeling quite drained from the ordeal she got up on her hands and knees and crawled trough the opened door.