While the three mares kept standing at the staircase, Dust went over to the lifeless body of the chancellor and examined it. He rolled it over and suppressed the instinct of jumping backwards as he saw the large wound at the chancellor’s flank. Something long and sharp must have been ripping through the cloth of the robe, flesh and muscles. It was not a too nice view, but on closer look, Dust could see a strange object lying next to the corpse. It looked like it was some sort of gem, but it had strange markings on it. Somehow it seemed to Dust that this was a key of some kind.
The stallion didn’t care about what the mares could think about him as he took the gem between his hooves. He got a certain feeling to know where this belonged to. He trotted over to the gate, and in the exact middle was small hole. The gem fit exactly as Dust pressed it into the hole. A hollow clicking noise sounded and echoed through the hall for a while. The mares closed up to him as they heard the clicking.
“What was that sound?” Twilight was the first one to ask, and Dust was just about to give her a shrug, as the ground started to tremble and to shake, almost knocking them all off their hooves. A small gap begun to part the gate as the gate slowly slid open. The ironwork on the edges of the gate screeched over the rock of the ground and filled the hall with an unbearable noise. It was almost too much for them to bear, they out their hooves on their ears.
It seemed like an eternity until the noise ended and the gate was completely opened up. The gem, which acted as a key to the gate, was split in the mid, on each side of the now opened gate was one side of the gem. While Dust looked at the prim surface of the gem halves, Twilight looked into the darkness beyond the gate. “So … I guess this is our only choice now.” She said, looking at her friends. She could feel that they felt as uncomfortable as she did, but she knew that they would follow her into the dark – and they would do this not because it is the only way that probably led out of this place.
The only one, who didn’t pay attention, was Dust. He was still gazing on the surface of the gem. “Dust!” The unicorn yelled at him. He turned around and out on a surprised look. “We should see if there is a way out of this place.” The lavender mare said and pointed with her hoof into the darkness. “Let’s go.” Dust looked for a while into the dark before he moved towards Twilight. “Come on, you don’t want to go in there without any source of light, do you?” He shook his head. “We would be lost before we even know it.”
Twilight didn’t get the chance to answer before Rainbow did. “Well, if you want to stay here and starve for yourself, then do it! I’m going with Twi!” The pegasus yelled at the stallion and positioned herself behind Twilight, quickly joined by Pinkie Pie, who didn’t even said something about it. It was obvious that she would not leave two of her best friends alone, only to stay with somepony who still was a stranger to her, even if she travelled such a long time with him now.
The stallion looked on the ground for a moment and chewed on his lip. “Fine, I’ll come with you.” He said and looked to the said, who lead that Pinkie, despite of being a stranger to her, jumped up in a cheeringly manner. Twilight ignored her friend jumping around as she turned her attention to whatever might lay in wait for them past the gate.
“Let’s go already; I want to get out of here!” Rainbow didn’t intend to stay underground longer as necessary. “Alright, let’s go then.” Twilight answered and took the lead, shortly followed by Pinkie, Rainbow, and Dust, who followed as the last one of them. He didn’t have a good feeling about this. They should have looked for a source of light before they went into the darkness. But in the end, they were right. They had to get out of here and he knew it. So he followed the bright colors of Rainbow’s mane.
As they advanced into the darkness, Twilight felt uncomfortable and like the area around them was somehow changing – even if she couldn’t see anything in the dark. But soon, she could recognize the pattern of a path under her hooves. It seemed like they were walking on shadows … But that would not be possible, if somepony or something did not change the physical rules of the world. The unicorn started to let her thoughts to drift away from where she was walking.
And it almost ended badly. Since she didn’t look where she went, she left the path below her hooves. Suddenly, she stepped into thin air – she believed it was air afterwards – and almost fell down, if Pinkie and Rainbow hadn’t caught her tail in the very last moment before she fell over and into whatever lies below.
“Twi, you should really watch your steps …” Rainbow was the only one who commented on that, but Twilight thought she could see the silhouette of Dust performing a facehoof. She left the lead to Rainbow. It was the better idea to let the pony who got wings lead the group. If she would fall down, she could catch her drop and fly up. Anypony else in the group would fall down and either die or end up in some strange place.
The unicorn found herself not even wanting to know what lies below them. But since she walked now behind Rainbow, she could continue to think how it is possible that they’re walking on shadow. Little did she know that the answer was closer than she thought. After a while walking through this strange place, Twilight noticed a change.
The darkness around them was not a simple black anymore, like it would be in a cave or something. It changed to some kind of twirling shades and silhouettes, it seemed like the black was moving before her eyes. Twilight blinked, but it still was the same afterwards. “Hey, can you see this?” She asked. “Can we see what?” The answer came from Dust. “You mean something besides of black or your silhouette in front of me?”
The unicorn turned her head around. “It looks like the shadows are moving around.” She thought that she could see Dust shrugging. “Even if the shadows would move, as long as they don’t do anything else it is fine with me.” Twilight could not believe how ignorant he was, but she kept quiet. The last they needed now was a quarrel. It would do no good.
But despite she didn’t answer the ignorant stallion, she kept thinking about it. This strange place must have a reason, it must have a purpose … else it would not exist. She was so concentrated on figuring out the meaning of this place that she didn’t notice how the surrounding area changed again. They found themselves in the room where they started. The gate, the chancellor’s corpse, everything was there.
But this time, they weren’t alone. Some creature stood in the middle of the room, around 2 meters tall and dressed in a black, tattered robe. Its face was covered by the hood of the robe, but none of them would have noticed its face anyway. Not with the giant scythe in its hand. It wandered around in the room, as if they weren’t there. From time to time it poked the corpse, but didn’t do much else.
That was until it looked at them directly. “So, don’t you have any wish you want to ask me to fulfill?” It was the voice that greeted them before they entered the labyrinth. As it became no answer, the creature sighed. “See … You mastered the maze and the path through the darkness. So, the rules are set that I am supposed to grant each one of you one wish.” It let out something that sound like laughing. “That means, I am supposed to grant it in the one or other way.” It still stood next to the corpse and poked it with the shaft of its scythe.
“This poor fool wished for the death of his king.” It shrugged. “The king will die of old age anyway, so I just did nothing. He was pissed about it, and there you see the result and …” Twilight interrupted the monologue of the creature. “Wait, wait … who or what are you in the first place?” She asked, and earned a moment of silence as it seemed to be surprised.
“In all the years I’m down here you’re the first to ask that. You shall receive an answer … Fact is, I don’t have a name at all and not even I know what I am supposed to be. You know, I actually care less for my person than to get out of this prison. Being locked up for ages without any visitors make you feel very lonely.” The creature shrugged and started to wander around again.
As nopony asked or wished for anything, it seemingly became annoyed. “Come on, wish for something. I can grant you your deepest desires … you just have to say the word …” It lifted the hood of its robe, and blank bone appeared. Its face was nothing more than a blank skull of some kind of creature none of them had ever seen.
“Come on, say the word …” It didn’t stop trying to get them to wish for something, but they all knew clearly that this would be a trap. If it wouldn’t be a trap, it wouldn’t insist on fulfilling their wished. Dust was finally the one who stepped towards the creature, who almost had the half of the initial distance between them behind it. “Ah, would you want to tell me what you want?” If it had a face, Twilight was sure that it would show a diabolic grin.
The stallion looked back at the three mares before he spoke in a loud and clear manner. “Yes. And I wish that you bring those three mares back to the surface of Equestria!” For a moment, the creature looked at him with probably a silly look – at least it tried it. “How boring. But fine … if this is what you want …” It pointed with a finger on the wall behind Twilight, where a swirl of darkness appeared.
After a short moment, it created another portal. They could see the town through it, on a nice day, the sun was shining, and they could even hear the birds twittering. Twilight realized that this was probably their only chance, and so she was the first one who headed towards the portal. Rainbow and Pinkie followed, but as Dust also wanted to leave, the creature stood suddenly in his way. “Everything has its price, little pony …” It said.
The realization of what those words meant hit Dust like a sledgehammer, but he still insisted that the mares would be brought back to Equestria safely. As Twilight and the others didn’t want to leave without him, the creature vanished and reappeared in front of them. “Oh, look at the clock, it is already time to go!” It said, as it pushed them through the portal, which disappeared just in the second the last one of them was through.
“And now … for my payment …” Its voice was almost a whisper, but Dust knew what was about to come. He remembered that he was indoctrinated that he should die in the service for the kingdom, but he never imagined that it would happen at all. He took a deep breath, as he heard the steps of the creature coming nearer, as it raised its scythe. At least it would be fast.