A stallion of midnight blue awoke with a jolt. His body seized up and relaxed several times within the span of a mere second and he drew in a painful breath. He was alive. In a strange way he was just as dead as he was alive. By all accounts of his name and duties he had died years ago but now here he was in the darkness breathing for the first time and seizing up as his body regained it full functionality.
The pained stallion let out a primal scream. The first sound uttered from his lips in this second birth. His eyes snapped open and was assaulted by a harsh light a few feet to his left. He turned away from the blinding light and tried his best to shield his eyes. Moments passed as the painful symphony of his returned eyesight calmed to nothing more than a simple note of annoyance. He uncovered his eyes and looked around the room, wincing when his gaze came near the small torch nearby.
He studied the room around him. It was a simple room, only a few yards wide either way and was barely two yards tall. The entire thing looked like it was carved out of stone, not built but dug out. He glanced at the walls and noticed that there were three indents in the wall each of them holding featureless statutes of ponies. He looked down to see exactly what it was that he had awoken on. It was a stone slab just as simple as the room around him.
He got off the slab and felt his legs nearly give out if not for his grabbing the slab for support. He had just adjusted to supporting his own weight with his legs when he heard something coming from the darkness.
A warbling voice came to his ears from behind him. "Good. You have awoken. Are you feeling alright?"
The stallion turned to see another pony standing in the torchlight, the light casting sinister shadows on them. For a moment he was certain that the voice belonged to a stallion but after a moment he recognized feminine form in front of him. It was a mare of the brightest white with a mane the exact opposite. Her mane fell to the side of her head in a perfect sheet but that wasn't the thing keeping the stallions attention on her. It was her eyes. Her eyes where of a striking emerald that drew ones gaze to them like flies to honey. They seemed to glow softly in the darkness.
He looked her up and down cautiously, reading her carefully to see if she was a threat. "Where art I? What manner of place is this?"
The mare walked closer to him and started to circle him. The stallion refused to let her have his open back available for her to take advantage of. She let out a giggle at his movements.
"You are in the catacombs under the Canterlot castle." She rolled her eyes at him. "You should relax. I'm not here to hurt you."
He gave her another quick look over but remained tensed. "What is your purpose here maiden?"
She moved quickly right into his face. She was less than an inch from him. "I'm here to say hello." She leaned forward before he could react and kissed him hard on the mouth. The stallion pulled back quickly and spat.
He shot her a dirty look. "Bleeding harlot! What manner of lady like behavior is this?"
She let out another giggle and put on a seductive tone. "You're cute and I thought you should know." She moved close to him once more and laid her head on his shoulder. "Also I'm here to bring you to my mistress. She wanted me to bring you to her if you woke up."
The stallion shrugged in an attempt to get this bizarre mare away from him. She simply moved closer to him every time he shrugged his shoulder. He gave up and looked around the room once more hoping that something would appear to distract this mare.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek to catch his attention. "Hey."
He turned to her with irritation and no small amount of disgust on his face. "What is the reason for this unlady like—"
She pressed her lips to his once more then pulled back as he stood there stunned. "You talk funny. Anyways You need to follow me. It's dark and I don't think the others have awoken yet."
The stallion was about to protest her actions but was kept quiet by her hoof to his lips. "No talkie, more walky. The mistress will explain everything. Follow please... cutey"
The stallion let out a threatening growl at the pet name the crazy mare had given him. Such a pet name was something only the closest mare in his life should ever call him. He was certain that this mare was insane. It was the only reason she was working in a catacomb underneath the capital of Canterlot. She lead him through winding tunnels that slowly sloped up. The tunnels all looked the same with their lines of endless doors, some of which he was curious if they held bodies or more ponies like himself.
As he was lead through the underground labyrinth the stallion managed to get a look at the mares cutie mark. It was of a wilting four leaf clover. They reached a massive staircase before the stallion spoke again. "What is your name maiden?"
She looked at him with those bright emerald eyes. "Well... I don't really have one. Some of the servants in the castle call me 'that crazy bitch' but most of the time I don't really answer to that. The mistress calls me Lyssa sometimes..."
The stallion stopped walking for a moment and looked at the mare in a new light. "Really. Lyssa. That's not a common name for a mare. Neigh it is uncommon for even members of my order to have such a odd and unusual name. Surely you must be favored by this 'mistress.'"
The mare looked back at him then to the floor. "Not really. She doesn't like me. She sent me down here to watch a bunch of sleeping ponies so I didn't ruin anything."
The stallion didn't know how to respond to this statement. Not because he didn't know how to comfort the mare because he did feel for her but due to the way she had said it. She had spoken in a happy tone. As if she enjoyed the fact she was rejected and looked down on. The mare walked over to him and attempted to give him another kiss.
He stopped her this time. "Enough! This silly action must cease now."
She backed away from him with her ears pinned to her head. She looked on the verge of tears. "You don't like me?"
He rolled his eyes. "You are hard on my patience and have thrice degraded yourself before me. I would be hard pressed to say much about you in a good light."
The mare stood there for a moment as tears began to pour down her face. "You hate me... why?" The stallion watched as she walked over to the side of the staircase and began muttering to herself. "Why would he hate me? Was I to forward? Should I have waited until after he talked with the mistress?"
She looked to her left. "No. He just needs more time. After all he listened so well. He was some patient with me and wanted to hear me talk."
Her head turned sharply to the left. So fast enough for a small pop to be heard. "But he never talked. Like all the others we tried talking to. That's why we tried him. He didn't walk away or try to silence me. He should understand."
The stallion watched both horrified that he was correct on her insanity and worried that he may have damaged her fragile mind. She suddenly stood up and marched over to him, her eyes frantic yet still the perfect green. She was less than an inch from him when she spoke.
"Why don't you love me? You listened like no other would and you never insulted me. Why won't you love me like I love you?"
The stallion realized that he had just entered a war-zone and the weapons were words. "Can love strike so fast? All I hath spoken is that you have been acting in a most unseeming manner." He noticed a slight change in her behavior. She looked less frantic and more like a frightened child.
She took a step back. "I don't know what to do."
He took a step forward and seized command of this situation. "Take your time an all will happen as it should. Now please take me to your mistress and then perhaps we can spend the morrow talking."
She let out a small giggle and hugged him. "I think that's fine. Crazy pony."
He returned the hug somewhat stiffly. "You can call me Black Wing."
The journey up the staircase was relatively silent for Black Wing, aside from the incoherent muttering coming from the mare a few feet ahead of him. As they reached the top of the stairs Black Wing noticed a massive wooden door, The mare that had led him to this door turned to him with a smile he could tell was forced.
"Well once we got through these doors we'll be only a few minutes away from the mistress."
Black Wing couldn't help but notice that she seemed bitter about something. He decided not to push it by asking her what it was that bothered her. Lyssa opened the door and gave a small wince at the bright light from behind the door. She motioned for Black Wing to join her. They walked into a small room that was the opposite of the cave like hallways of the catacombs they had just finished walking through.
When Black Wing walked through he was expecting to walk outside but instead he had walking into a small room that had some furniture strewn about. A bed was in the corner of the room next to a small table with quite a few dirty plates sitting on it. He glanced around the white marble walls and spotted a shelf that had a few hoof drawn pictures on it. The final thing that caught his eye. A small silver pendant roughly the size of a large coin that was hanging from a nail.
Black Wing looked over to Lyssa and noticed that she was blushing. "What is the matter?"
She shuffled in place for a moment. "I've never had a stallion in here with me."
Black Wing's eyebrow rose as he thought about why that could possibly embarrass her but he got his answer for the reason when she averted her eyes and started muttering to herself rather loudly with her head turned to the right.
"He probably thinks I'm trying to seduce him." Her head turned sharpy to the left. "I should drag him into that bed right now. He's just so perfect." Lyssa turned her head back to the right side of her body. "No! He's nice and doesn't deserve that. That will come in its own time."
She returned her gaze to him with a smile. "Come along now. The mistress wants to see you as soon as possible."
She walked forward and opened another door at the opposite end of the room. Black Wing let out a worried sigh as he followed the bizarre mare.
