//------------------------------// // Labyrinth // Story: The Kingdom of Everfree // by HeartlessSpartan //------------------------------// Labyrinth Orion, Dusk, and the team of unicorn soldiers stepped out of a snow covered tree line to see a great horse head carved into the side of a plateau. The team stood in awe at the structure’s size. The wind swept flurries of snow from the top of the plateau over the horse’s mane, and icicles drooped from its eyes like tears. “Truly this monument foreshadows a grim future!” A unicorn soldier called out. “Yes, but for whom I wonder?” Dusk questioned. Orion stepped up alongside Dusk answering, “Certainly not ours, for every day its face remains frozen in anguish is another day I am confident it will soon weep tears of joy.” “A warming of the seasons Orion? I understand Starswirl has you convinced these winters were caused by some force of magic, but we would have discovered it by now,” Dusk replied. “An impossible task to say the least; to stop the weather even the pegasi could not control!” A soldier spouted. “There are only impossible tasks for those unwilling to try. You do not succeed at anything without at least attempting to do it in the first place,” Orion said, nodding down toward the base of the plateau where a door appeared to be carved in the stone. The team of ponies made its way down to the stone door at the base of the plateau. Orion inspected the door, brushing off some snow he found words etched in an ancient language he could not read. Following the seam of the door he found a slot that was just the right size to slide the crystal in. The letters on the door glowed momentarily, then the stone shuddered and the seam split down the middle to sway inward. The door had opened to reveal a long dark hallway, cold and thick with dust and cobwebs. “Need some light?” Dusk asked as he cast a light spell around his horn. Orion followed dusk and the soldiers followed in single file behind him. As they proceeded down the hall they could see more and more of the strange language and symbols etched into the stone walls and arches cresting the ceiling. Continuing onward they came to a doorway that opened to a spiraling stairwell that lead into the blackened depths of the earth. As Orion was about to press onward Dusk stopped him with one hoof. “Best watch your step, it seems an awfully long way down,” Dusk warned, receiving a nod from Orion. The ponies proceeded down the steps that seemed only to lead into darkness. The deeper they went the architecture appeared more decrepit. Large wire strands seemed to run across the great drop in the center of the stairwell, seemingly to hold the failing stones in one piece. All until one of the guards, in his heavy armor, shifted his hooves wrong and slipped. It happened so quickly there was no hope of catching him as he plunged screaming into the darkness. “No,” Dusk said in shock. “Help, I can’t move I’m stuck!” The soldier cried out from the darkness below. “He’s still alive!” One of the others shouted. “Wait,” Orion said, stopping them from proceeding down the steps. “Why you treacherous…” The soldier was replying. “Listen,” Orion whispered, interrupting him. The team listened in absolute silence as the unicorn below struggled to free himself in the darkness. They all looked at the wires supporting the stairs as they vibrated throughout the stairwell. The air seemed to freeze as the hairs on their coats rose from a chilling fear. On the bottoms of the stairs spiraling above them, many slender legged spiders awoke. Their many eyes shimmered in the light cast by Dusk’s spell. “Run,” Dusk said just before the spider scurried for their fresh prey. The unicorns fired spells in a panic as they charged down the stairs. As the shots struck their targets the spiders blew into pieces, as did the stairwell they crawled upon. As the spiders swarmed them followed by debris from the stairs crumbling down from above, the team of ponies fell into the pit. As Orion fell a spider clasped onto his belly. He drew his sword and slashed across the creature’s face. Its legs wrapped around his back and squeezed as it hissed in pain. The air was forced from Orion’s lungs as soon as they made contact with the web the fallen unicorn had become ensnared. The unicorns clamored for safety, firing frantically at the writhing walls above them. Unable to pry the grasping creature from his chest, or cry out to Dusk for there was no air in his lungs; Orion swung his blade desperately at the webbing below him; Each swing becoming slower and weaker than the last, vision fading from the grim scene around him. The webbing finally snapped and gave way to the weight of the ponies that plunged into the darkness. Orion opened his eyes and gasped for breath after he had landed belly down on top of the spider at the bottom of the stairwell, killing it. He was surrounded by hallways on all sides of him, hearing the voices of Dusk and the others, but he could also hear the sounds of hundreds of legs scurrying down from above. So he freed himself from what remained of the web and ran down the nearest hall. “Just walk through the front door, expected an ambush not this…” Orion said aloud to himself, trailing off as he noticed an ominous green glow further down the hallway. Orion reached a doorway that finally opened to a room filled with the green light. There appeared to be a large glowing wall that reflected like a mirror. He noticed a crease running down the center and put his weight against it. After a loud snap the mirror wall opened like double doors to reveal a small chamber, and a shattered lock had fallen to the floor. In the center of the room was a light pink mare, with a yellow mane. She was suspended in the air, surrounded by the bright green light. She appeared to be asleep. Orion tapped her hoof, and her visage shimmered momentarily to reveal a blackened creature with insect wings. The mare slowly floated to the floor as Orion drew his sword in caution. “…fire heart,” the mare said quietly, just before she opened her glimmering green eyes. “Fire heart, what is that?” Orion questioned, standing away from her with caution. “What, who are you!?” The mare asked in shock as she stood on her hooves. “Stay back, whatever you are!” Orion warned. “Why, I don’t look that threatening,” the mare said as she began to pace the far side of the room. “I saw merely a glimpse of what you are, and after what I went through just moments ago; I am inclined to believe otherwise,” Orion said. The mare looked directly at Orion saying, “I don’t ever remember seeing you in these halls before. Where are the others?” “What others? There are no others, this place is essentially abandoned aside from the hundreds of bloodthirsty creatures trying to kill me!” Orion shouted. “How did they get out? How long was I asleep!?” the mare questioned in a panic. “Listen, the only reason I’m here is to rescue my friends from a lunatic hiding down here,” Orion said in growing frustration. The mare approached him with a demanding tone saying, “Let me through, the guild has no shortage of bloodthirsty lunatics!” Orion blocked her exit replying, “The Guild! There is no more guild, it died out a very long time ago. Even the last living member lived out the remainder of her years in fear of this lunatic before she was murdered!” “I don’t believe you!” The mare cried out in Orion’s face. “Her name was Silence Sweets!” Orion yelled back, seeing the expression on the mare’s face change to the realization of a sad grim reality as he said, “She was gray, with a white mane, and very much beyond her years because she was both blind and mute. She had given me these.” Orion handed the parchment totems to the mare. She took them as her eyes watered with tears, and she sat on the floor brushing her hoof across the drawn heart on the parchment. “If I believe you, that what you say is true, can I trust you not to harm me if I tell you what I am?” The mare asked sadly. “Surprisingly you wouldn’t be the first life I’ve spared without certainty,” Orion said with sympathy, sheathing his sword. The mare stood up and handed the parchments back to Orion. “My name is Venesia. I am a changeling that was locked away in this room by a friend for my own protection,” the mare, Venesia, explained. “Why did he help you?” Orion asked, curious to know why someone would aid a dark creature; though not unlike saving the life of your enemy. “Because he…” Venesia paused before continuing, “…he believed I could be something other than just a monster.” “What makes you such a monster besides maybe your… other appearance?” Orion questioned, not actually knowing much about such creatures. “My kind feeds off of love, and so you are the reason I am not weak after the magic had released me,” Venesia said. “Love! What love do I have I to give?” Orion questioned. “You said you came here to save your friends, it takes a great amount of love to go through with such a courageous act,” Venesia said honestly. “Well Venesia, back down that hallway behind me is a few hundred, terrifyingly hungry, and very pissed off spiders about as big as we are. So I’m really hoping you have another way out of this cell of yours,” Orion said seriously. Venesia simply smiled at Orion and walked back towards the far wall. She pressed against the wall to push open another set of hidden doors which revealed what appeared to be a private study. Venesia slowly walked into the study. A large crystal within what appeared to be a stone hearth emitted a warming fiery glow. “This room familiar to you at all?” Orion asked, clearly seeing her attachment to it. “It is very much so,” Venesia said as she lifted a small red blanket from a stool in front of the fireplace, brushed the dust off, and wrapped it around herself like a scarf. Orion didn’t say a word as he followed Venesia. He knew that this, changeling, while it may be some form of monster also had some form of feelings as well. To her, this decrepit pit in the ground was once a thriving home for her just moments ago. He actually wondered how damaging it must be to have been magically frozen out of time like that, just to wake and see the world you once knew completely erased. Along with everyone you knew. “So you knew Silence Sweets?” Orion asked as they walked through a long curving hallway that passed several small rooms. “Silence was just a filly when I knew her. She was a sweet girl. Sadly enough she was always blind, and she never talked much. However Silence knew how to draw without her eyes. She always had this way of seeing the world in a different way from the rest of us,” Venesia said as she walked onward. “She was really something special wasn’t she,” Orion said, Venesia stopping in front of him. “It makes me so sad, and angry that she lived her last days in fear and murdered!” Venesia cried out angrily, her appearance changed to that of a thin black creature, with a crooked horn, the wings of an insect, and sharp eyes like a snake. Venesia stared back at Orion in her changeling form. He held a grip on the hilt of his blade. She changed back to her pink pony form, a look of apologetic remorse in her eyes. Orion removed his hoof from the hilt of his sword and the two walked on. Orion proceeded while thinking that sooner or later making friends of creatures that are most likely the ones to kill him, will definitely swing back and hurt him in the end. However for the moment this unfortunate, creature, with her inside knowledge is his best chance of success.