No Turning Back

No Turning Back
Written by Cerulean Pony
Chapter II: The Garden Labyrinth

During my travel towards Canterlot Castle it seemed that Princess Luna had taken tonight with special care as the stars sparkled brightly overhead. The blessed night covered all of the sky over Canterlot and the lands around her. Looking up occasionally, I could see her benevolent moon out shining everything else in the night sky. The light emitted off of the moon illuminated the streets that I traveled on despite the darkness brought by her reign. Turning the corner at the next block I made my way towards the high rise of Canterlot that led up to the mountains and to the massive castle standing above everything else in the city.

With each step drawing me closer I felt my anxiety and worries settle in. It was my first night and my first shift as a Royal Guard at the castle. With each step, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited….and nervous.

After a few more minutes I stopped at the front gate, looking up in awe at the massive white castle. My eyes traced over the entire outer layout of the castle as I stood there in silence. I must’ve been mesmerized by the sight because the only way the royal guards standing at both sides of the gate were able to grab my attention was by approaching me and tapping my shoulders from the side, giving me a startling shout as I was instantly brought back to reality. Both of the guards were grey coated unicorns with white manes; their age significantly older than mine.

With each one standing on each side of me giving me a strange look it took a few seconds before they were bursting out in laughter, easing whatever tension I had from the startling tap. The unicorn on my right was the first to speak.

“Ha-ha, wow would you look at this new recruit, very jumpy is he not?”

The other white mane unicorn replied with a smirk.

“Ha, yeah, you’re right. He might be the best one to give us a good laugh from time to time. He’ll fit in well with us. Go on in.”

Together, they both looked me over and opened the gate with their combined magic.

Bowing my head in respect, I slowly started up the path to the main gate when the first unicorn guard spoke up behind me, just loud enough so that I could hear him.

“New recruit, Shining Armor is here tonight and he’ll be expecting you. Enter through the main doors and go down the main hall. Then take a right to the guard command post which will be on the right hoof side. He’ll be waiting for you there. Understood? Good luck.”

Turning about, I smiled and thanked him. He returned the smile with his own and a small salute before he focused once more on his post. With a relaxing breath, I continued towards the castle passing several other guards, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike. None of them stopped me but some gave me curious or pleasant looks as I passed them and headed up the stone stairs to the main doors of the castle where two more unicorn guards stood watch. Approaching the main doors I found that I did not have to say a word as they stood aside, their horns aglow as they opened the main doors. Thanking them as well, I went inside. As I did so the sounds of the massive double doors closing behind me didn’t even grab a sliver of my attention -- the scenery inside the castle, however, did.

Entering the main hall of the castle I was once again awestruck, looking everywhere from the massive articulately designed stone pillars holding up the ceiling to the huge glass artwork for the windows. The sight was unlike anything I have ever seen. Truth be told, even during the ceremony a few weeks back, I did not go into the castle itself; so I had no idea how it looked from the inside, till now. The stone steps that were used outside were replaced by highly polished marble flooring, and the walls of the inner castle, in comparison to the ones outside, were replaced by many articulate designs along with the picture glass windows. The banners of Equestria’s cities were hanging from the ceiling, but the biggest design on the ceiling was the skylight window. For the skylight window was a massive glass art of both Princesses cutie mark symbols in perfect synchronization, which during Luna’s nightly reign, had made the skylight artwork sparkle brightly from the moon and her glow.

The sheer size of the ceiling art kept my body frozen as I could not help but stare up at it.

Wow….that is expensive.

After staring up at the ceiling for a moment longer, I shook my head finally looking away from the art and move down the hall. The main hall was empty of other ponies, especially the royal guards that were supposed to be positioned all over Canterlot Castle. Not wanting to cause any trouble in making my commanding officer wait any longer I turned down the main hall and galloped with haste.

Having followed the outside guard’s exact instructions to the letter I skidded to a halt in front of a large white wooden door marked with gold boundaries and gold cursive writing across the center. Upon the door the cursive writing wrote Royal Guard Command Post.

Inching closer to the door I began to get very nervous. But that was natural, wasn’t it? Knowing that beyond those doors was the famous Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, who was awaiting my arrival, was very nerve racking. As I extended my right hoof out to the door to push it open I noticed how shaken my extended hoof had become. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open slowly and the darkness of the castle surrounding was suddenly brightly illuminated by the lighting of the guard room. As I pushed it open fully I had to shield my adjusting eyes to the new light variance.

“Ah, Orion ‘Cerulean’ Nightshade, welcome, please, come inside.”

The familiar voice of the famous captain that called out my name to greet me almost made me stumble as I finally lowered my hoof away from my eyes, which was now adjusted to the lighting of the room. Looking up from the floor I saw the famous white stallion smiling at me from the other side of a lone desk in the back of the room, the desk itself was of a highly wooden design finish with the royal guard symbol engraved in the desk itself. Upon the desk were several stacks of papers and rolled up parchments. The room itself was long, not as wide as the length, with several desks leading up the captain and his lone desk in the back. Above us were several chandeliers that brightly illuminated the room as well as a fire place behind the Captain’s desk. Alongside the walls stretching to the back of the room were various awards and photo frames of many different ponies in their armor. There were several large size windows as well, giving a view of the castle grounds outside. All of these decorations seemed to captivate me once more for a brief moment before hearing the Captain chuckle and call out to me again, gesturing me to come forth from the door.

“Yes yes, the room is quite an eye gander to look at isn’t it? But come now, we have much to do. You wouldn’t want to be late for your first assignment now, would you?”

Hearing those words, my gaze went back to the Captain and away from the door, trotting softly around the desks to the back of the room and stopping in front of the desk. I noticed the tall unicorn had a smirking smile upon his face as he watched me approach. Without speaking a word, he pointed a hoof towards his right to a gleaming set of brand new golden armor. Watching his expression for a second longer he nodded silently and I trotted over to the armor he had pointed out for me.

Picking up the golden helmet from the armor display rack it was easy to see that the designs were hoof made and not mass produced. Being a member of the Royal Guard was one of the highest honor anypony could achieve so the design of the armor had to represent that. As I looked over the helmet’s design closely, I felt a sense of strength and comfort as my hooves touched and held the piece of armor.

“You’ve earned this,” said the soft voice of the Captain behind me as I stood there for a moment to look over the new set of armor.

With a slow turning of the helmet and lowering of my head I felt the brand new piece of armor slide over my blue-dyed mane. Once in place I shook my head side to side as a part of my mane moved fluently into the back open portion of the helmet. Next, I turned my head to the rest of the armor set when I noticed the new pony of me glancing back in the reflection across the central body piece. Looking back in the reflection I could see my bright purple eyes and my face underneath new helmet. I could not recognize myself at first without the eyes…it was different and unexpected. So I stood there for another moment, staring at my new reflection, trying to grasp the new image.

It is true what they say. Once in uniform, your appearance changes and you notice a new side of you that may never have been seen before.

“So what shall we call you, Orion or Ceru?”

Turning back to the Shining Armor, I replied softly with a smile across my muzzle.

“Ceru, if you don’t mind.”

The taller stallion with the shield cutie mark nodded and resumed to his paperwork that was littered all over his desk. Despite the messy state of it, he went through it with ease as I watched him for a few before turning back to the rest of my armor. It took several minutes but I fastened the armor on my body correctly and comfortingly.

Obviously if I was a unicorn this would not have taken so long, I humored to myself as I finished the last strap on my chest plate just as Shining Armor looked over.

Flexing my wings out and flapping them several times I gave an approving smile before turning to Shining Armor once more. He had just finished his last stack of documents to look at me, setting the quill down that was grasped by his magic aura. With a nod of approval of his own, he smiled and took a step back towards a pull-down map of the castle grounds on the wall behind him. His hoof rested on the back area of the castle -- a large garden labyrinth.

“That area is your first assignment. You are to relieve the day shift guards there and keep that area patrolled at all times. Understood?”

His voice was firm and demanding, but not vicious nor angry. I saluted sharply with my right hoof.

“Outstanding. Welcome to the Royal Guard. Now go, dismissed.”

Turning sharply on my hooves, I marched out of the room and back the way I had come. Exiting through the front double doors, I gave the unicorn guards by the door a respectful nod before traveling down the stone steps, and turning to the side of the castle leading to the back section of the grounds. With each step towards the garden in the back behind the castle the illumination provided by the stone castle began to dim while further ahead a trio of unicorn guards used their magic to keep their immediate area lit. It was not uncommon to be honest to see unicorn guards combine their magic together to better illuminate the area, but hearing the almost-silent whooshing sounds overhead meant that other pegasus guards were making routine passes at altitudes high above the ground. The only thing that struck odd though was this fact: if it was so dark and cloudy, then why were there pegasus guards taking patrols at the time of night? I would’ve stayed to dwell into that thought but orders were orders.

Passing the unicorn guards I tilted my head respectfully and continued on the garden path towards the dark green labyrinth ahead. The garden maze loomed high overhead, but in the night, it partially blocked out the moon from a non-winged pony’s view. With this viewpoint the maze casted ominous shadows, which seemed to work well as I could feel the hair of my mane begin to stand up.

Was it fear, or just nervousness?

Anypony who would be tasked to patrol a towering labyrinth such as this in the dead of night, alone, would not feel so safe and secure either, and the royal guard ponies are not an exception to this insecurity, I could say that much. But yet, despite my training I had undergone in dealing with unsecure situations, why did I feel so uneasy about this, about tonight? Even as I tugged on my new armor to tighten it more securely, it weighed even heavier than before. Not doing anything but standing on all four hooves I could even feel my breaths getting shorter and faster than normal.

But I couldn’t tell as I stared up at the front gate to the maze. The gate was massive and intricate in its construction as well as the overhead archway, covering the metallic bars with natural wildlife vines they weaved in and out of it. I was sure in the light of Celestia’s reign it would’ve been a sight to behold, but under Luna’s reign, the entire natural structure looked like a place of evil right out of a horror story that I once read as a colt. Just staring up at it was enough to make me shiver. Looking straight ahead now I could see the beginnings of the maze stretch on for a long walk inside before taking endless turns to make travelers lose their sense of direction quickly as they moved deeper into the natural garden. But my view didn’t reach too far in as the high dense walls on both sides was able to block out the moonlight above and create long dark shadow areas the deeper anypony ventured on one of its many winding paths. The sight was almost discouraging, almost, but with a smile and a light chuckle, I looked skyward as I spread my wings out and flapping them several times before taking to the sky.

The Captain didn’t say I couldn’t fly while on patrol, I reassured myself with another soft chuckle.

The familiar resistance my wings took when in flight made my nerves relax a bit. Looking down at the garden as I made my first pass over the area took care of the rest. Walking through that labyrinth as an earth pony or a unicorn would have been nerve racking to say the least. I was sorry for any of those ponies who had done or will be doing patrols here later tonight.

For tonight was chilly - - unusually chilly to be honest.

As I worked on my third pass over the area I could feel the temperature of the night air drop fast. The cold, icy feeling crept up my wings to the point where I felt they were freezing. By the time I had finished my fifth pass my wings began to hurt from the cold that had put strain on them. Normally I could carry a sustain flight through cold weather but this temperature was colder than what I was used to. It was…off.

Returning back to the entrance of the garden I landed softly on the overhead archway and examined my wings. They still had full mobility, minus the muscle strain the cold had dealt on them, but looking at the outer feathers I noticed the ice build-up on my wings. Stretching them fully to extend I found myself wincing in pain at the cold soreness. I shook and cleaned my feathers of the ice build-up and looked at the rest of my body with the same examination. The new armor was cold against my form but not too cold as my wings were. The fact that there weren’t any signs of ice on my armor sparked a growing curiosity and concern.

I looked around from my perch instinctively but did not see anything unusual around the garden.

Perhaps it was a sudden cold spot that I flew into, I told myself as I gave another look around the area from my perch - - nothing.

Yeah, perhaps it was, I nodded to my own thinking and gave a sigh of relief.

The moment I exhaled a breath and then inhaled my eyes widened - - the breath I exhaled was clearly visible as if it was winter time.

But it couldn’t be winter; it was summer!

At this I exhaled again and again, catching the visible sight of each breath. Whatever explanation I previously had was now completely useless; at this point I was now more concerned than curious. It was summer and this sight was expected in the winter, not on a cool summer night. But tonight was not normally this cold, nor has it ever reached this cold so fast. The cold on my body was truly that of winter season or at least in near comparison and in no way possible for a normal cool summer night to imitate. This puzzled me even more.

This puzzling concern didn’t last long as a faint noise suddenly caught my ears and caused me to look back at the garden. About halfway in the labyrinth a barely visible illumination somehow made it through the dense walls. It wasn’t bright enough to make a distinct confirmation; but whatever the source was, it was bright enough to be seen. After a few seconds of staring at it in awe, it was gone.

Another second went by before I took to the sky and flew to the position of the light source. My wings pained my body against my wishes but I ignored them and continued on. Pushing them past the comfort zone and right into the painful state where every flap caused my body to wince. It seemed the closer I got to the source the more pain my wings mysteriously sustained. But I didn’t pay mind to it as I increased my speed. Within the next few moments my pain-stricken wings caused me to land rather hard on the dirt path, sending up a cloud of dirt and dust that obscured my vision completely.

Too rough of a landing, I groaned softly as I stretched my wings before tucking them against my sides, giving another wince from the pain before looking around.

All signs of the source had vanished. I found nothing out of the ordinary while slowly walking down the path of maze I was currently in. It was quiet -- too quiet.

It went on like this for a while; having crossed another path of the maze in complete silence, with not even a whisper of the wind seemed to seep through the thick bush wall on either side of the pathway. It got to the point where I felt like I was walking in circles. With my search turning up empty, I was discouraged. The pain in my wings was throbbing violently every time they slightly moved. I didn’t even know if they were suitable enough to fly again right now. If that was true then I was stuck; trapped in this massive and seemingly endless maze.

In a fit of sudden anger I kicked out at the wall of bushes, hitting a rather solid wooden support branch in the midst of it, my hoof stinging with the pain of striking it dumbly.

Great! Nice going newbie, wait to go and botch this up, I cursed at myself silently while looking around the dark path I was in.

A few more moments of cursing at my predicament was suddenly interrupted by a series of noises of twigs snapping and crunching leaves. The outburst of sound breaking the silence around me caused my eyes to widen as I froze in place, stopping all movement after the noise had reached my ears. The crunching of the leaves began to grow distant as I remained silent to listen. The noise was almost too faint to judge a best point of direction so I took my best guess and followed as silently as I could. The once grassy path of the maze now turned wet and muddy as I followed the fading noise further and further, my hooves making wet sloppy noises as they got caught in the thick mud.

I didn’t want to risk losing the noise so I didn’t break into a trot to try and gain closure on the source. The sound kept me moving without stop, making me turn right, left, right again, left again, and so on for the longest time till the sound finally ceased altogether.

As the noise disappeared completely I stopped in my tracks and looked around, another long pathway, dark and ominous just like all the other ones I had passed through. I tried to listen for the sound again, reassuring myself that I just happened to lose it for a second, but, it did not return. I kept trying to listen for the sound again and again, moving down the path slowly my ears perked forward in attention. Still, nothing but pure dead silence aside from the wet sounds of my hooves travelling through the muddy ground. By this time I was frustrated, cold, and in pain as my wings’ soreness returned me to their need for medical attention. Held back by all of these pressing circumstances I decided to give up and head back to the entrance of the maze.

However, as I turned around to head back the way I came, a sudden loud rustling began to grow louder and louder behind me. Turning around, I started notice the walls of the maze ahead begin to sway greatly when a sudden chilling blast of icy wind swooping down the path collided with me head-on.

“What the--!?”

I began in a protest as I brought up my wings to cover my face from the violent winds.

The current was strong. The power of the wind pushed back against my body, several times I had to hold onto my helmet or readjust it from being blown clear off. The chill I felt on my wings earlier returned, but now my entire body started to shiver from the sudden drop in temperature with seconds.

By now I knew one undeniable fact – this weather was being manipulated. It was not natural.

But the question ringing in my head was….who was behind all this?

The cold temperature and the violent gusts of wind was becoming too much of a distraction to focus on thinking about this abnormal weather. I could not concentrate on the reason or causes why. The distractions were becoming too hard to bear. The original sound that I was following was completely lost now, replaced by unrelenting wind and fast moving branches and debris. During the outburst I had kept moving and the pressure only increased. The more I pushed forward the more painful it became for my body.

But I was certain now; there was no longer any doubt in my mind that the manipulator was somewhere up ahead. I had no idea where to look up ahead but this time I didn’t care. I wanted to get to the bottom of this. I had to find him…or her.

I was in full trot now, pushing against the violent gust. Having to unfold my wings and use them as a shield against the wind since the start of its aggression and the consequence of doing so was staggering to say the least. The entire time I pushed on down the path, the pain it brought me was overwhelming and the only thing that seem to rival this pain was the coldness of the wind that I was using my wings to push past. For a while the way was barely visible, even with the help of the moonlight above my head. From the poor lighting to the readjustments of my helmet from shifting numerous times I thought the path seemed to stretch on and on forever. But regardless of this and the pain that was tearing at my body I continued on for a long time. Moving from one path of the labyrinth to the next, following the winding paths onward, and using the intensity of the resistance that I was encountering as my guide.

That is, until it inevitably became too much to hold out against.

Continuing on the path I was on, now surrounded by a foggy mist that completely blocked out my sight ahead, I could feel my strength and resistance against this manipulated force of nature fading as I began to sway side to side as my legs were almost spent from exhaustion and abuse. My wings, as well, fell to my sides as I could no longer hold them up, and without them shielding my eyes from the debris in the wind, I was truly blind while moving.

Pressing on like this, I knew I was not going to last much longer and the sway in my movements confirmed this when my body bumped into the walls of the labyrinth constantly, causing pain in my sides from the impacts. And just when my body was about to give out from the abuse, the wind and the noises stopped as abruptly as it started, leaving me standing there in the mist left by its wake.

Panting heavily, the silence of the labyrinth resumed. I could no longer keep myself standing. The severe state of pain that my legs, along with the rest of my body, were in forced me to collapse on the ground rather hard. I lay there, upright, panting, trying to catch my breath, while at the same time, trying to keep warm as my body shivered intensely from the cold. Looking up from the ground I noticed I was in a clearing somewhere in the labyrinth as a massive stone fountain stood before me a short distance away while anything beyond that was still unclear. Thankfully the foggy mist obscuring my view started to dissipate after a while, along with the abnormal cold temperature. With the mist almost gone, yet some of it still lingering, I could now see more of the clearing that I was in. Around the clearing was a miniature stone wall, along with other stone statues encircling the fountain statue that stood highest in the middle.

With more of the clearing visible it should have been a welcoming sight to the end of the wind storm earlier. On top of that I could feel my body heat begin to return to normal as well when the cold temperature around the area faded. All this should’ve been a welcoming relief. But something in my gut told me something was off still…

When I regained to my hooves after a bit longer of rest, tucking my wings carefully as I checked myself over, it was then that when I had finished checking myself over that I noticed the remnants of the mist had still lingered longer than it should have. Turning around back towards the fountain in the middle of the clearing was the finally revealed source of my uneasiness.

Standing there, facing towards me, was a dark pony figure; a smaller and slender dark pony figure resembling a mare than a stallion. With the mane covering half of the mysterious mare’s face, the dark pony was unidentifiable. Whether it was a earth pony, pegasus pony, or a unicorn it was impossible to tell with the mist giving the mystery pony visibility cover.

But my troubles in identifying the mare were short lived as the dark pony opened her eyes; a pair of bright yellow pupils staring at me from across the clearing while part of the mane covering her forehead began to glow an aura of red. The mist once again intensified and surrounded the clearing at its borders, blocking visibility to the labyrinth beyond it. With the moon and the night sky directly overhead being the only other thing visible, the mysterious mare spoke in a soft yet unnerving greeting.

“Welcome….Orion….glad you can accompany me for dinner.”

I stepped back cautiously until my rump bumped against one of the clearing's inner stone walls.

With an unknown intention of the smile on her face, she began to step forward....towards me.