//------------------------------// // A Hidden Path // Story: The Ties that Bind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer couldn't put her hoof on what it was exactly, but something was wrong. Something had felt wrong for the past week or so, and it had everything to do with Princess Celestia. At first glance, she seemed like her normal, kind and motherly self... but not. There was something... different in her eyes and whenever she would smile at Sunset when they were together, she couldn't see or feel any of the usual warmth. Sunset didn't like it. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable around the Princess, and she didn't know why. She didn't know why things had changed between the two of them - she only knew that they had. And she was going to find out why. Sunset was on her way to the Princess' bedchambers one evening to confront her about her odd behavior, when she turned a corner and spotted her speaking to one of the Royal Archivists in hushed tones further down the hallway. Curious, she decided to wait and see what transpired between the two. She strained her ears, but couldn't pick anything up. She grit her teeth in annoyance and was about to risk getting closer, when Princess Celestia suddenly stiffened and broke off the conversation. Sunset panicked and hid behind one of the large pillars she was standing behind. She heard the rapid beat of her own heart in the ensuing silence. A silence that lasted a bit too long for Sunset's liking. After what felt like an eternity, she heard the sound of hoofsteps getting further away and chanced a peek. Sure enough, the Princess and the Archivist were making their way further down the hall. Despite the close call, her curiosity had still gotten the better of her, and Sunset opted to follow after them. Something's not right, she thought as she tailed her Princess, Princess Celestia is up to something. The Princess' recent coldness towards Sunset, combined with the hushed conversation she had just witnessed was enough to raise a few red flags for the orange filly. She didn't know what the Princess was planning to do, but she had a strong feeling it wasn't anything good. After a few minutes of trotting down long walkways, they finally reached a large set of double doors that Sunset remembered led to the Royal Archives. She furrowed her brow, wondering what Princess Celestia could be up to. Celestia spoke to one of the guards briefly before she opened the door and trotted inside. Rather than follow her in, the Archivist chuckled to himself and trotted down another hallway - much to Sunset's confusion. Weird old stallion... Sunset waited in the hall for a minute before trotting up to the door and quietly slipping inside - the guards doing nothing to stop her. It's not like she wasn't allowed in, she was the personal student of the Princess after all and the Princess had allowed her entry in order to retrieve study material on occasion. Once inside, she scanned the room and spotted the Princess making her way to the far side of the room. Sunset quietly - if somewhat frantically - hid behind a nearby bookshelf and peered out at the Princess with narrowed eyes. It didn't seem as though Celestia had noticed her because she continued her trot unbidden. She eventually stopped in front of a nondescript wall between two rows of shelves, looking as if she was searching it for something Sunset couldn't see. After a moment the Princess nodded to herself and lit up her horn. It briefly flashed with a golden light and, to Sunset's astonishment, several lines of strange symbols appeared in a large circular pattern, glowing the same golden color of Celestia's magic. The glowing text faded after a few seconds and the surrounding wall vanished with a soft hiss, leaving a rather circular looking pathway that was just large enough for the alicorn - and a small filly - to walk through. With a flick of her tail, the Princess trotted through the entrance and out of Sunset's line of sight. I need to see what's in there. Sunset waited a few seconds to see if Princess Celestia would emerge. She took a quick look around the Archives, but didn't see anypony in sight. With a determined scowl she quickly trotted to and through the entrance to the mysterious pathway. What she wasn't expecting, was for the wall to suddenly and quietly materialize behind her the moment she was through, making her cry out in surprise involuntarily. She slapped a hoof over her mouth and snapped her gaze to the path ahead. Statues. That was the first thing Sunset noticed about the surprisingly large hallway. Lining either side of the hall were statues of various shapes and sizes - not unlike those on display in the Royal Gardens. These statues however, unnerved the filly. Seeing no sign of the Princess in the dimly lit stone corridor, she took a moment to inspect some of the 'artwork' on display. There were some statues of different ponies Sunset didn't recognize, however many more of them were of strange and frankly terrifying creatures Sunset had never seen. Creatures with sharp horns and even sharper claws. Creatures with rows and rows of razor-like fangs and eyes that seemed to blaze with murderous intent despite being made of stone. One statue in particular caught Sunset's attention just from how odd the creature was. It looked like somepony had chopped the limbs off of various animals and tried to sew them back together to make this abomination. As if to mock every other horrifying stone creature Sunset had seen, this one wore something that looked like a mix between a silly grin and a defiant smirk. The ponies weren't that much better in Sunset's opinion. Every one of them looked... off to the filly in some way or another. Whether it was how some of them were emaciated to the point of looking downright skeletal, or how others stared straight ahead blankly or had smiles that seemed just a little too wide and were filled with just a little too many razor sharp teeth. Every statue in the hallway made Sunset Shimmer uneasy, but the thing that made her skin crawl and her fur stand on end, was the eerily life-like quality that all of them had. Each and every one of them - even the weird mismatched creature - looked like they could pop back to life at any moment and tear the filly to shreds. Sunset shuddered and quickly trotted past the statues and further down the hall. Her hoofsteps echoed on the stone floor and she was getting more and more nervous as she went - the oppressive silence not helping in the slightest. There's only one path, Sunset thought as she nervously scanned the path ahead, and I wasn't that far behind the Princess when she went in... She stopped and looked around, now fearful of what she couldn't see as opposed to what she could. ...so where is she? She stood there for a minute, shaking slightly as her nerves began to overwhelm her. Come on, Sunset, she thought to herself, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, you're already in this deep, you might as well see where all of this leads. She started down the hall once again with a little more confidence. And who knows, maybe I'll find out why the Princess is acting so weird. She passed by a few more of the grotesque statues and began to notice the path widening out slightly. She finally came to a stop in front of a pair of large and intricately designed double doors. "Wow..." Sunset whispered with wide-eyed awe. The door itself was massive - at least three times as tall as Celestia and roughly four or five ponies wide. Like the entrance back near the Archives, the doorway was oddly circular in it's design and the double doors looked to be made of some kind of dark brown wood with a silvery metal lining. There didn't seem to be any kind of doorknob or anything that Sunset could see, however both doors were covered by a giant silver cog-like device that bore a small hole in the middle. Is this for a key of some sort? One major thing that stood out to the curious filly, were the odd symbols etched into the metal lining as well as the device - what Sunset had decided was a 'lock' of some sort. "What do these weird symbols even mean?" she muttered thoughtfully. "That, My Faithful Student, is a very powerful and very complex Runic Seal." Sunset cried out in alarm as she spun around to face the white alicorn sitting just a few hoof-lengths away. The Princess gazed at the orange filly with a patient, motherly smile. That just made Sunset's heart hammer all the faster. "P-Princess! I... I didn't - I mean I-I saw you talking with somepony in the..." Oh no you don't, Sunbutt. Not this time.