The Dark Heart of Canterlot

Chapter 7: The High Halls

"Friends...?"

In the event, neither Cadence nor Shimmer Dew appeared when Shining and Celestia made it back to the Royal Palace. Only Comet Catcher - whose acute hearing woke him up the moment they stepped into the grand Entrance Hall - came down to greet them.

"Oh mistress" he moaned when he clapped eyes on the ragged looking Princess. His hooves quivered wildly. "What in the Stars' name happened to you this time? You look dreadful"

Shining frowned. "You mean this has happened before?"

"I've never seen her looking this bad" said Comet, "but yes." He nodded his old head slowly. "Yes, she has returned from her night-time jaunts in a sorry state on more than one occasion." He tutted. "Accursed elevators, she's going to kill herself one of these nights. I keep telling her to stop using that damned contraption but she won't listen..."

Shining said nothing. Perhaps was better if Comet thought that the Princess' condition was in some way connected to the elevator. It spared him all sorts of awkward questions, like why an assistant had allowed his ruler to go into the eerie catacombs on her own - and then stood for hours in the freezing depths without going in to look for her.

The old unicorn tutted sympathetically as he inspected the Princess' trembling body.

"Curious, what do you know about this?"

"Nothing" said Shining truthfully enough. "I..."

Celestia stirred. "Over" she murmured. "And its all my fault..."

"Aye, well, I'll have to get one of my most efficacious cordials out of the larder. Razzleberry perhaps, or healwort...and then get her to bed. She looks totally exhausted." The old pony's eyes narrowed. "So do you, Shining."

"I am, shattered!" exclaimed the white unicorn, and rubbed his eyes with a forehoof. "What is the time?"

"Approaching five o'clock."

Shining groaned. "And school at six" he said wearily.

"Look, I'll take care of the Princess for now, you go and grab yourself a bit of shut-eye. After all, one hour's sleep is better than none" said Comet considerately.

"True" muttered the young colt. What with the night in the Great Library and the night in the mysterious tunnel, snatched naps were all the sleep he was getting. He turned to go. As he did so, the old unicorn beside him reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"By the way, not a word of this to anypony outside the Royal Palace. Is that understood?"

Shining nodded. He'd been in Canterlot long enough now to know the importance of minding what one said. Rumours, however unfounded, could potentially prove perilous - even fatal. As Shimmer Dew had so neatly put it: One loose tongue can still many a beating heart.

"My lips shall remain sealed" the white pony promised.

Not bothering to remove his jacket, Shining collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep yet troubled sleep the moment his head touched the pillow. Time and again, he dreamt he was falling - from the top of the Grand Viaduct; from the ladder ways high up in the vaulted ceiling of the Great Library; off bridges, out of towers, from the secret elevator - legs flailing, voice screaming. Yet not once did he land. Every time, just before the moment of impact, the dream would shift to a new location as if, even in his sleep, Shining knew that once he struck the ground, his heart would stop.

it was during the fall from the Cloud Wing balcony that Shining realised - as dreamers sometimes do - that he was in the middle of a recurring nightmare. He'd been peering into the shadows, convinced that somepony was there, when all of a sudden and without any warning a hulking timberwolf had sprung at him. It's green eyes glinted, it's wooden claws sparked.

"No" he groaned as he stepped back, lost his hoofing and began the long, tumbled fall to the ground far, far below him. "It's not happening" he gasped. "Wake up, Shining. Wake up!"

He opened his eyes.

A grey light was streaming through the un-shuttered windows. The bell at the top of the Palace Clock Tower was chiming noisily. Shining looked round with bleary eyes. It was seven o'clock, and he was late for school. Silver Star would be furious.

"Dammit Cadence!" he exclaimed as he leapt out of bed. "Why didn't you wake me?"

Having quickly splashed his face with water from the golden taps in his en suite bathroom and run his hooves through his mane, Shining dashed off. He skidded down the flights of stairs, across the marble hallway and out through the tall front doors. To his surprise, the weather had changed completely. The temperature had risen, and the snowfall had given way to torrential rain. Preparing himself for a drenching, Shining barrelled past the Court of the Sun and Moon and on towards a narrow pathway leading up to the school building. And as he rounded the Glass Fountain, there they were standing before him:

The High Halls of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

Shining gasped in amazement. Despite attending the college for well over a week now, Shining still found the High Halls a magnificent sight. Incredible.

The gloriously elaborate academy made up almost the entirety of the South-Eastern Wing of the Royal Palace, its high pointed roofs jutting into the sky. Thirteen onion domed towers stood like guards over the four great halls that surrounded a central courtyard paved with stone and silver. A massive statue stood at the centre of the courtyard, depicting the legendary magician, Starswirl the Bearded, water spouting from his stone horn. Along the edges of the slanted hall roofs were set innumerable white snow-diamonds and violet twilight-sapphires, making the academy glisten in the lightning as it flashed across the stormy sky.

Cursing, Shining made a dash for the front entrance, a pair of twin oaken doors flanked by statues of rearing unicorn mares. The white unicorn burst in, his form being smashed with a wave of warmth and light. The entrance hall was a fairly large room with an overhanging balcony looking down upon visitors from the second floor. Four light grey pillars supported the carved ceiling, below which was a wide fireplace surrounded by cushioned sofas and recliners. At the far end of the room, a portly unicorn mare sat at a huge carved oak stable. Her right forehoof drummed on it's polished surface with brittle clicks. Her eyes narrowed.

"Student?" she demanded.

"Yes, I..."

"Name?" She picked up a pen with her magic and smoothed out a yellowing scroll before her.

"Shining Armour, and I..."

"Class?"

"Professor Silver Star, but..."

The grumpy old mare made a note on the register and tutted as she looked up.

"You're late Shining Armour" she said. "Professor Silver Star doesn't like students who are late."

"I know, but..."

"You'd better save your excuses for him" she said, and her withered forehoof resumed their rhythmic tapping.

Shining nodded glumly. he turned and made his way across the entrance hall. The vaulted ceiling echoed with the sound of drumming raindrops. It was like being in the middle of a waterfall. As he passed the dark varnished doors of the Lower Halls, Shining heard the foal's voices coming from inside. They were reciting the different aspects of unicorn magic in expressionless sing-song voices  - "fire, water, earth and sky, nether, aether, storm and ice"

"Pay attention Lavender Spark!" shouted Professor Feathermoon, her strident voice ringing throughout the building. Shining sighed wearily as he climbed the central circular staircase to the Upper Halls. The landing there was panelled and decorated with paintings of ancient Headmasters and Mistresses. Unlike the Palace Portrait Gallery where, thanks to Comet Catcher's efforts had remained clean, the elaborate frames were covered in a thick layer of dust.

The oldest, high up in the shadows, were Shining's favourites. They looked impossibly wise with their long wide beards and simple black sorcerer hats. All except Starswirl the Bearded, who was dressed in a flowing robe decorated with dozens of constellations, his magnificent if somewhat comical point hat lined with golden bells.

The most recent paintings were down at eye-level. The ponies they depicted looked an unpleasant bunch: fussy and over-dressed, with sly faces that stared back at the young pony mockingly. Canterlot Highborn! Sun-Dean Cinnamon Hooves, Mistress Summer Fire. And there, smug and prim, was Professor Silver Star himself. Shining stopped momentarily beside the portrait. It was a good likeness - the ferret-eyes, the pointed muzzle tilted up as if smelling something bad, the thin sarcastic mouth...

Shining looked back and forth to check that the coast was clear. There was nopony about.

He stealthily sneaked back into an empty downstairs classroom, returning with a piece of charcoal. Cheeky grin beaming proud, the young stallion leaned forwards, and meeting the portrait's stare, drew a small arrow pointing into Silver Star's left ear. Then, with a flourish, he wrote Uttermost Aether. He stepped back to admire his handiwork.

Tap, tap,tap,tap...

Somepony was coming! Shining rushed upstairs until he found the foreboding double doors to Silver Star's classroom. He knocked three times hastily.

"Enter!" came a thin, reedy voice.

Shining took a deep breath and pushed the doors open.

The room he entered was as high as it was narrow. Ledges rose up on three sides, on which bored students slumped, their heads lolling, their hind legs dangling, while around their necks hung trays upon which scrolls, inkpots and pens sat untouched. They looked like sleeping puff-puff birds, roosting in some Everfree tree. The air in the room was stale and stifling.

At a high lectern, suspended on silver chains hanging from the tall ceiling, sat a fussy little unicorn in ornate robes and a tasselled cap. It was Professor Silver Star. Eyebrows raised, he peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles at the latecomer.

"Master Shining" he said with a little sniff. "So good of you to spare some of your precious time for out humble little gathering." He gave a short, high-pitched laugh.

"Yes Professor" said Shining, feeling his cheeks redden. The other students gazed down at him with dull, uninterested eyes. Nothing, it seemed, could rouse them from the mind numbing torpor of the class. What is it this morning?, Shining wondered as he made his way up the wooden ladder to the upper ledge. Theory of Enchanting? Unicorn History? Storm Bending? He sighed. before he'd started at the school, Shining had imagined that he would be spending his days immersed in fascinating studies. Instead, every lesson was filled with the constant repetition of text that Silver Star would recite from the gargantuan and ancient Great Tome of Unicorn Magic and Enchantments.

When the white unicorn reached the top of the ladder, several heavy-set colts and fillies with dull faces moved aside for him grumpily. A bottle of ink slipped from a tray and fell with a dull thud onto the floor below. Aether Studies! Of course. Today was Aether Studies: endless lists of measurements to be memorised and repeated, and accompanied by just the right nods of head, movements of hoof, occasional levitation and eye-blinks.

What was the point?

"The point of Aether Studies - when you're quite ready Master Shining!" said Silver Star, his thin, reedy voice piercing the classroom's thick gloom, "is not what the Aether is but how it is. The Aether is everywhere around us, there is no disproving it. The magical heavenly force surrounds all in the world. It is not a matter of what for it is always there. And we unicorns accept that. But the invisible force has moods as it were, days when the winds of the Aether whirl round in storms or are at surreal calms. And it is these conditions that help us cast our enchantments and spells..."

To demonstrate this, Silver Star's horn glowed a pale lilac colour as he summoned a glass of water to his side from thin air before tipping the water all over his desk. But the unicorn stopped the water before it fell and froze it in mid air. He looked like an overenthusiastic foal experimenting with magic for the first time.

Shining looked across at the opposite ledges and tried to catch Cadence's eye. He still wanted to know why she hadn't woken him. Had she simply forgotten? Or was she angry with him? Did she know  he had been out with Princess Celestia last night? It was impossible to tell. Gilded Fan - a quiet Neighponese student - was snoring gently next to him. Spring Breeze, he noticed was passing notes to Autumn Blaze and grinning nastily, while Moontide looked as if she'd been crying. Cadence turned her head and stared at him. Her face was expressionless, yet to Shining it seemed to brighten the room up just a little bit. The white unicorn then turned back to his professor.

"...balancing my own magical spark with the Aether wind, I can manipulate the water currents easily as if I was simply levitating it from the glass."

His hoof jabbed at his right ear as if pointing to the invisible winds, and his right eye winked as he became caught up in his own knowledge. Shining thought of the portrait outside and smiled.

"Uttermost Aether" he murmured.

"Master Shining?" Silver Star was looking straight at him with a nasty glint in his eyes. "You wish to share something with us?"

"N...No, professor" said Shining, staring down at his desk tray and fidgeting with a quill.

"No?" spluttered Silver Star, his voice higher and thinner than ever. "No? Come, come, Master Shining. An exalted Royal Guard like you?" Uttermost Aether you said."

"Yes sir" Shining said miserably.

"I am attempting  to teach the finer points of Aether Studies and you interrupt me, Master Shining, with talk of Uttermost Aether. Uttermost Aether, Master Shining!"

"I...I..." stammered the blue maned unicorn, stumbling to find the words.

"Uttermost Aether, indeed! We are all magic wielders here, Master Shining. Unicorns study the winds of magic from the glorious spires of our beautiful city. We study High Aether, Master Shining, while those of us less - how shall I put it? - less gifted, study the lower aspects of the Elements and telekinesis. But Uttermost Aether, Master Shining. Uttermost! The audacity of it all. The presumption. Only in death do we return to the Uttermost, to the Aether Aurora Lights of the far North."

"But..." Shining began, only to be airily dismissed by a wave of the professor's hoof. He turned to the others in the room.

"We do not study the highest of the high Aether Winds because it is out there, while we are in here! The Aether comes to us, my dear students, never forget that." The professor was shaking with excitement, the tassels on his cap fluttering uncontrollably. "I fear Master Shining, that you are fit only for the lowest of the low Basic Spell study. Why, you might as well find a hole in the ground and squat there right now. I obviously have nothing to teach you!"

"But sir! I didn't mean..."

"Get out" squeaked Silver Star, his voice high, almost hysterical. "Get out!"

"Professor Silver Star!"

All heads turned. Cadence stood, eyes blazing down at the ignorant teacher from the high ledge, wings unfurled and feathers ruffled. "Professor Silver Star, you forget yourself" she said coldly. There were titters and shushes from behind her.

"My Aunt has let it be known that all study - regular and advanced, Elemental to Uttermost Aether-" There were gasps astonishment. "Elemental and Uttermost Aether" Cadence repeated, "is to be welcomed in the High Halls. Your outburst would sadden her, professor, should she..." Cadence paused for effect, "should she ever get to hear of it."

Silver Star was speechless. His hooves were white as his grip tightened on the lectern. "Why, why, why..." he blustered, "why should she get to hear of it, my dear young Princess?"

"Master Shining Armour can be trusted to be discreet, professor" Cadence smiled across to Shining - and the young stallion felt his heart flutter a little bit inside. "If you can" she finished.

Silver Star was sweating.

"Of course, of course. I was hasty, Master Shining. Hasty. When I said 'get out' I meant in fact...errm...I meant...class dismissed!"

A cheer went up from the ledges as the students scrambled down the ladders and made for the heavy black doors. Only two of the students did not join the riotous exodus: Shining and Cadence. They turned towards each other and their eyes met, magenta against indigo. Cadence raised an eyebrow and jerked her head towards the door. Shining nodded. The pair of them climbed to their hooves.

Outside, there were cries of laughter as a crowd gathered around the professor's portrait. "Uttermost!" the chant went up. "Uttermost! Uttermost!"

"Thanks" said Shining simply.

"What for?" said Cadence, with an icy calmness.

"For helping me out back there."

"That's all right. Anyway, I didn't do it for you. I was defending Princess Celestia's honour."

"I know that, but you helped me out too."

Cadence nodded. "I did, didn't I?" She turned to face him. "We need to talk Shining."

"Talk? About what?"

"i think you know" said Cadence pointedly. Her voice was harsh.

Shining swallowed nervously. "All right, but not here."

They - along with several others - were standing under the covered vestibule area outside of the Hall of Elements, waiting for the rain to ease off. The birdfish were splashing in the fountain pool beneath the stone Starswirl, twittering for food. The rain was heavier than ever, and no pegasi or City Watchponies flew overhead.

"You wanna walk back in that?" asked Cadence.

"If you want to talk about what you want to talk about, then we'll have too."

He glanced round at the others meaningfully. Cadence looked over too and sighed. "All right then. Let's go back to the Palace."

The pair of them went down the steps and across one of the bridges which spanned the central courtyard. Anypony watching them, huddled together against the rain, would have assumed they were close friends. Yet as he hurried after the pink alicorn, Shining was still confused. Did Cadence hold him to blame for her Aunt's condition?

As they reached the archway leading to the Court of the Sun and Moon, Cadence abruptly spun round, unable to contain herself any longer.

"I hate you!" she screamed, hammering against his strong athletic coat. "Hate you! Hate you! Hate you!"

Shining froze, refusing to retaliate. Cadence's blows became weaker and weaker until her forelegs fell limply to the pavement. Tears welled up in her eyes and mingled with the raindrops on her cheeks. Her beautiful mane was sagging down one side of her head. She looked up, and Shining stared back.

"How could you have let it happen?" she said at last, her voice low and quavering.

Quint turned away. "You saw the Princess this morning, I take it."

Cadence nodded. "It was the worst I've ever seen her. Pale, grey...trembling. She could barely speak! And then Comet Catcher told me that you were with her." She sniffed, and pushed the lank wet mane from her face. "That's why I didn't bother to wake you this morning. I wanted to get you in trouble..."

"I'm sorry" Shining admitted. "It was one of those tasks..."

Cadence saw the confusion in those dark indigo eyes of his and swallowed. "I'm sorry too. I love her. L want to look after her. And instead, she chooses some...some assistant to confide in, to share her work with." Her eyes blazed. "An assistant who brings her back to the Palace half-dead! I mean what did happen down there in the Statue Gardens? And don't try and pretend you didn't go down there. I know where she goes at night!"

Shining shook his head. "I don't know what happened to her" he said.

"Don't know?" Cadence thundered incredulously. Shining looked round furtively in case any passers-by were listening. With all the rain still lashing down, however, the streets were deserted. "What do you mean you don't know?" she went on. "You were both in the same garden, weren't you? How could you not know?"

"We...we wasn't in the gardens the whole time" said Shining quietly.

Cadence's jaw dropped. "We weren't?" she said. "Did you go all the way out into the city? Did something happen in Canterlot?"

Shining shook his head.

"Then, where?" Cadence demanded.

Shining frowned. "She told me not to breath a word of this to anypony" he said, "so you mustn't tell..."

"By the Sun, Shining!" Cadence shouted indignantly. "I was born and raised in the Royal Palace. You've hardly been here any time at all and yet you presume to tell me about the dangers of watching what one says?"

"I promised Princess Celestia" Shining butted in irritably, "the Ruling Monarch of Equestria, your aunt..."

Cadence looked at him. Her anger melted away and her eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm sorry Shining" she said quietly. "I'm just so worried about her" she hesitated, "please, tell me what you know. Tell me everything."

"Whatever happened to the Princess, took place inside a tunnel beneath the Gardens. There is a statue in a hidden grove, and underneath it is a secret passageway" said the unicorn, voiced hushed. "She disappeared into the tunnel at the bottom for almost half the night. When she came back, she was like she was this morning."

"A tunnel? But...why?"

"She didn't say why. Though I think it had something to do with that scroll I fetched for her. What about the Crystal Vaults? Perhaps she went there, isn't that somewhere beneath the Palace?"

Cadence was shaking her head. "There is only one entrance to the Crystal Vaults, and that's deep in the heart of the Palace. What in Goddess' name could have possibly made her go into that tunnel? The only tunnels beneath the Palace are those leading to the Mirrored Caverns of Canterlot."

Shining shuddered. "Are they really as dangerous as they say?"

Cadence shrugged. "I've heard many stories."

"Stories?"

"Stories of those who, when sent down below in ancient times for crimes of greed, would lose their way and become trapped forever in the caves. Stories of blind, translucent creatures that haunt the shadowy depths waiting to prey on those who venture into the heart of Mount Everwhite. And stories of terrible monsters."

Shining peered absent mindedly at the great peak that Canterlot was built on.

"What monsters?"

"Nopony is really sure. Apparently, they inhabit the deepest, darkest part of the Caverns, living off whatever scraps of food come through. And they apparently glow. They come up to the surface sometimes."

"They do?"

"Yes, though they're impossible to see straight on. But sometimes you kind of catch glimpses of them - sudden darting flashes of light out of the corner of your eye..."

"Yes" said Shining excitedly, "yes, I've seen them. In the Great Library." He didn't tell Cadence of the fact he had seen them inside the Palace the day that they met in the Balcony Chamber.

"For some reason they prefer the older buildings."

"Could these monsters have attacked the Princess?"

"I don't know, but if the tales the Royal Guards tell are true, then it's certainly possible" the pink alicorn shuddered. "I would hate to go down into those caves."

"And yet, although she must have known all the dangers herself, Princess Celestia decided to go there."

"Yeah..." mused Cadence thoughtfully, "she must have had a very good reason." She turned to face the young stallion head on. She felt a little tingly inside..."Promise me that you'll tell me of any future tasks she tells you to do."

"I promise."

"And I'll tell you if she lets anything slip when we're talking. She's up to something - something dangerous - that much is clear. We have to find out what it is, for her sake." She paused, and reached out for Shining's forelegs. The golden horseshoes rubbed tenderly against his fur for a heartbeat. "If she takes you down into the tunnel again, you have to follow her in. I'm begging you."

Trying hard to conceal his own unease, Shining smiled. "I'll do my best" he said. "If it's any consolation, when Celestia came back to the passageway, she did say it - whatever it might mean - was over. I...what is that?" he asked, as a roar of jubilant voices filled the air. he looked round. "It's coming from over there" he said, pointing to the grand golden gates of the Palace outside the Court of the Sun and Moon, where a great crowd of ponies of all races had gathered, waving flags and cheering despite the miserable weather.

All at once, the puzzled expression on Cadence's face melted away. "Of course!" she cried. "Today is Renewal Day." She smiled bravely. "Come on Shining, You'll enjoy this."