//------------------------------// // Tunnels and Tapestries // Story: Blazing Jealousy // by inSpired //------------------------------// Thank you everypony for being so patient as I worked on this! xxx A high scream pierced the silence that the ponies were left in, causing Twilight Sparkle to flatten her ears to her head. The sound was so loud and keening that it seemed to pierce the very dark as a bright beam of light shot forward into the dark. Twilight blinked as her eyes adjusted to the sudden soft glow that surrounded them, emanating from every surface but the one beneath their hooves. The scream waned into silence as the light strengthened, and all six bodies relaxed. A sudden realization hit Twilight as she stood in the dim light, and her head whipped around. She did not see the stout body of Greymalkin until she looked directly ahead, where the stallion had immediately begun walking and was now yards ahead of the six mares. Shaking herself out of statue-like stillness, Twilight trotted to catch up to the guard. Her friends followed behind, each of them in varying states of ease. “So, there were tunnels under my hooves all along,” Twilight mused when she reached Greymalkin, thinking back to all her days reading about the ‘myth’ as she walked right above them. A small smile flitted across her lips. “Yes. Many. A pony could get lost down here really easy, so stay close to me. Especially you!” his voice raised to a near shout towards the end. He had not turned his head at all, but stopped now as every other pony in the corridor’s heads turned to the back of their procession. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, slightly away from the rest of the group with a rather sheepish look on her face, intermingled with one of irritation. She had tried to sneak off the main path into an adjoining tunnel. Greymalkin turned to face the blue Pegasus and looked hard at the back of the line, where Rainbow was supposed to stand. With a scowl Dash did as she was told, landing hard and with a huff behind Fluttershy. “Anyhow,” Greymalkin continued, punctuating his word with a pointed look at Rainbow Dash before turning around again, “”only a few chosen know their way about down here. Celestia, Luna, and myself are three, but only two others besides know directions; Shining Armor, our captain, and Prince Blueblood. “ “Not many,” Rarity commented, raising her head above Applejack’s to make sure she was heard. “Do you teach one another, if someone is… unable to perform their duties?” Greymalkin coughed roughly, obviously making an excuse to not answer the question. Rainbow Dash took the time for her revenge, calling from the back in a scathing tone, “Well?” They grey guard shot her the bird before coming upright again and answering Rarity’s question. “Yes. If a guard is unable to perform, he is required to pass along any knowledge he may have had to the new replacement. This includes the Tunnel Squad, which is our quirked name for the six ponies who know their way around.” Twilight Sparkle nodded, but then a look of confusion twisted her face. “Wait, six? You mentioned only five- the princesses, my brother, yourself, and Blueblood. Who else knows the map?” she said. “Some hotshot from your town. Doctor Hoof, or something like that.” Greymalkin said, his voice gruff. He obviously did not like the stallion. “Do ya’ mean Docter Whooves, mister guard?” Applejack asked. “Oh, that makes sense. He’s very smart,” Twilight conceded, agreeing with her friend that this must be the pony Greymalkin disliked so much. “The biggest brain and smallest mouth in all of Ponyville, I say. Never says a word out of place,” Rarity put in. “He says that he comes from another world,” came a quiet voice from the back. Every pony stopped in their hoofsteps and locked their eyes to Fluttershy’s butter yellow coat as she ducked behind the pink curtain of her mane. “I let him use the field near my cottage to work on his machine,” she explained. “He says that is the only way for him to get home. I offer to help, but he is very secretive about it. Or maybe he just doesn’t need my help, he has more than enough already in that Pegasus, Derpy Hooves.” Pinkie Pie, who had remained uncharacteristically quiet, nearly had her eyes popping out. “Omygoodness that’s so cool, Fluttershy!” she cried, perking up considerably since something exciting had happened. “Yeah, why haven’t you told us?” Rainbow Dash groaned, exasperated with her small friend. Fluttershy tossed her mane aside and stood taller, looking directly into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “Because I know exactly what it is to want privacy. If he doesn’t want me to know what he’s doing, then I have no plans to get nosy!” she retorted. Rainbow Dash nearly fell out of the sky. Twilight felt her mouth twitch, wishing desperately to pull into a smile. She resisted, though. The last thing they needed on any given day was a pride-sore Rainbow to deal with. Greymalkin cleared his throat, drawing the mare’s attention away from one another. “We’re almost there, and I need you all well rested so that Princess Luna doesn’t have my head. Come on!” He began walking once more, and all the other ponies followed. Eventually, they came to set of steep, small stairs with a door cracked open at the top of them. “Your rooms are along this hall, close to the door. They’re marked with the sign of your elements, and if that exceeds your intelligence level, each room is quite unique. The tunnles’ magic warps time, so don’t be surprised if it’s midnight or still sunset when you look out the window. “Stay in this hall ‘till somepony comes to get you. Your belonging are already in the wardrobes and cabinets. You should all have a maid pull if you have the whim for service. You will see the special castle tomorrow, at the end of the luncheon with the Royal Family.” Without another word, Greymalkin turned on his hooves and vanished through the door they came through. Twilight closed the heavy door with her magic, and they were all shocked to see it blend to the wall perfectly. Not even they could see where it was against the leafy gold pattern on the wallpaper. The floor of the wide hall was a single slab of some stone, hovering in color somewhere between beige and cream. The ceiling rose to a high arch above them, painted intricately with detailed images of warring alicorns. Ghastly creatures resembling Discord spawned from the chipping trees and devoured young fillies and colts. Six doors lined the hall, each adorned with a shaped gemstone resembling that on their Element necklaces. The handles looked to be pure diamond, the gems real. “Don’t even think about touching, Rarity” Twilight reminded her gem-crazy friend with a gentle nudge. “Why, Twilight! Is your opinion of me so low?” the pearl unicorn protested, “Steal from the Princess? I wouldn’t dream of it! Besides,” her voice lost a bit of the shrillness that had occupied it before, “I have lost a bit of my gemlust since that brute, Discord, drug me into his trance thinking that a plain old boulder was a diamond.” Twilight nodded, understanding and reassured by her friend’s vehement protests. “Let’s look at the rooms together!” suggested Pinkie, who was obviously struggling to stay in a single spot. Already she was hopping in place, her excitement palapable. “Sure” Twilight Sparkle shrugged. “Since we’re staying in such a beautiful place, we may as well experience as much of the beauty as possible.” She conceded. “Yeah, why not!” Rainbow Dash agreed. “It’s all good with me,” Applejack spoke up, “an’ Ah think Flutterhy’s willin’ too- ain’t ya’ Sugarcube?” Fluttershy nodded. “Let’s begin with this one,” Rarity said, looking towards the one directly in front of them. A rosy, six-pointed gemstone was set into the woodwork. “Twilight?” “Looks like it’s mine,” Twilight said, taking the lead and opening the door into her quarters for the night. She stopped abruptly in the doorway and her friends had to push around her to see the room. The wide chamber was thickly carpeted, perfectly trimmed to the circular shape of the room. Half of the wall was a curved bookshelf, interrupted only by a marble fireplace. The other wall had a magically levitating bed pressed against it, and a tall sidetable. To the right of the door was a table with a vase of decorative quills resting on it. The room was simple and practical, but also high quality and very nice. “Wowie, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie cried from her position, mashed underneath Applejack and Rarity close to the floor on the right side of Twilight. “Your room’s perfect! You got books, and quills, and it’s so perfect for you!” Twilight nodded, dumb with astonishment at how perfect the room was. “It is beautiful” she agreed, finding her voice once more. Then she shook her head to clear it. “If this is my room, I can’t wait to see the rest of yours! My personality and whole life is kind of centered around simplicity and studying, and this is reflective of just that. Now, your lives are a bit more interesting, so your rooms…” She squeezed out from the ponies above, below, and around her in the crammed doorway. The others turned to face her as she stumbled into the hall backwards. “Let’s go, girls.” The next room they entered was Rarity’s, the door adorned with a crystal blue gemstone shaped like a rhombus. Stepping in, the instant impression was one of finery, elegance, and jewels. The ceiling sparkled with a silver chandelier that was just dripping with teardrop-shaped crystals cascading from the lights like water. A huge frosted glass closet dominated an entire wall of the octagonal room a few sides to the left of the door. Directly across from the door was a window looking out over the castle pleasure gardens, and just to the right was a four poster bed made of solid ivory. The posts were carved with elegant vine designs, and the off-white silk curtains perfectly accented the crimson velvet bedclothes. A marble table sat beside the bed as a side table. A hearth was set into the wall, elegantly shaped and surrounded by a loveseat and thick fur rug. Rainbow Dash’s room had a high ceiling whose coloring echoed that of the clouds, and shifted in color to resemble the slightly-moving buildings of Cloudsdale. A cloud expertly shaped like a bed hovered a few feet above the ponies’ heads, and on the ground level of her room rested only a wardrobe set into the wall and a metal table pressed against the wall. More than enough room was left for Dash to do any flying and aerial maneuvers she could think up, except for the Sonic Rainboom. One of the posters featured in the square was pasted to the wall directly opposite the door, obviously showing Rainbow’s smiling and slightly arrogant face. Applejack’s room was a perfect square, with a simple wood floor and cream paint on the walls. The ceiling was made up of millions upon millions of leaves, and the light of the room shone through them to make a dappled pattern of light and shadow on the floor. Her bed was simply a mattress, placed carefully on a low wooden platform with only 6-inch legs. There was no head or hoofboard, but the head of the bed and the left side were resting against one of the walls. Next to it, a sanded barrel served as a side table to rest things on. A picnic table without the second side of seats was built into the wall with no grounded support. Two chairs faced eachother, echoing in shape and texture tree trunks. Fluttersy’s dwellings were beautiful. The entire room was scented of flowers and the floor was made of soft bright green grass. The ceiling was magically ‘tuned’ to the sky, mimicking everything from sunlight to cloud patterns. A huge bank of windows took up an entire wall. Butterflies so tame they would land on your hoof fluttered around, never trying to escape around the ponies standing in the open door. Her resting place would be a hollow tree trunk, rested on the ground among the grass and filled with extremely soft cushions, pillows, and blankets. Right beside the door, a thin stream of water fell from about head height down to a stream that flowed along the wall and then into it. A few lumps on the wall began to glow with light and then slid open to release dozens of fireflies into the room as all of the ponies watched. Breathless, the ponies turned and walked out tiredly to explore the next room. Fluttershy remained in her room. “Um, Twilight?” she said in her quiet voice. “I- I think I’m going to just stay here. I mean, if it’s okay with you, that is. I just, I feel very tired from today and I need some rest for tomorrow, you know. I-If you want me to come with you all, still, I’ll come, but…” A yawn interrupted her, and she clamped down on it with massive effort. “Oh, my, sorry about that” she apologized. “No worries,” Twilight assured her butter yellow friend. “Actually, I think we should all get some shut eye. Pinkie, I’m sorry we never got to see your room all together like everypony else, but-” she was interrupted by a snore from the hall. Looking at the source, she saw that Pinkie had never quite managed to make it out of Fluttershy’s room and was sitting a foot away from the doorway asleep. Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement. “I don’t think she minds” the Pegasus pony laughed. Pinkie Pie snored again. “No, not at all,” said Rarity, seeming rather repelled by her pink friend’s noises and causing Rainbow to laugh out loud. Twilight herself smiled, laughing a bit. “AJ, Dash, Rarity, you can head back to your rooms and get to sleep. I can take Pinkie here to bed on my own.” Twilight Sparkle offered. The other ponies nodded and turned, walking away towards their respective beds. A swirl of pink magic began to surround Pinkie, and her sleeping form was gently lifted from the ground. She remained horizontal, and her head lolled out of the magical cocoon. Concentrating hard on not waking her snoozing friend, Twilight managed to reach the end of the hall with small droplets of perspiration beginning to bead on her brow. She opened the door to Pinkie’s room by hoof, lacking the energy to use more magic. As it opened, she pushed Pinkie through and gently dropped her on the bed. It was designed to look like a cupcake, and Twilight took little notice of the room’s décor as she imagined collapsing into her own bed. The glass walls of Pinkie’s room held back tons of candy, and hundreds of balloons rested against the ceiling. Staggering from exhaustion, Twilight Sparkle finally reached her own bedroom at the opposite end of the hall. She barely made it to the levitating bed before her eyes slid shut and she drifted into the oblivion of sleep. She didn’t notice the faint blinking light of a video camera in the wall above her head.