Slowly and carefully, one of Burning Snowflake’s ears raised over the edge of her hiding spot, rhythmically moving a bit up and down. Several minutes had passed since she heard the other ponies. She turned her ear around, listening for any noise that could betray the presence of them nearby. When all she could hear was the crackling of the fire and the seething of the soup, she dared to raise her other ear too. Still, nopony else was to hear.
Increasing her attempts to stay on the surface, Snowy pushed herself a bit more upward, till she was able to see over the edge of the cooking pot.
As far as she could see, the kitchen was empty. Wiping some water from the steam and soup off her face, she took another look around. The kitchen was still a mess. All the chaos she had spread lay right before her and when her gaze moved to the other side of the room, there still stood this evil flower! Or at least what remained of it after she had taken a huge bite from it...
Suddenly a growl was to hear and Snowy wondered where it came from till she realised it was herself who made it. Once she noticed, she stopped it. She still was in danger of being discovered. Unsure how far away the kitchen staff and this one night guard were, probably in the adjoining rooms and hallways, it was not very clever to make loud noises.
However, she was confident that the cooking pot would be one of the last spots where they would look for her, if at all. The only problem was that she still had go to the guest quarters and on her way through the Castle she would have to avoid her seekers. Staying in the pot for much longer wasn’t an option.
On the upside, it should be mentioned that the comforting heat of the soup she was in had helped her to get rid of the last effects from that flower. At least that was what Snowy thought. With a far more clear head, it was surely easier to plan her next step.
She placed her hoof on the edge, ready to pull herself out of the pot when the, in her opinion, relatively loud noise of evaporating water made her hesitate. Soaked wet as she was, every attempt to climb out would make her presence hearable and, in the worst case scenario, some of the kitchen staff members would show up to check on the soup.
Snowy sunk back and pressed her hooves against the walls of the pot, staying in place, shortly above the surface of the boiling liquid. She took a deep breath and let the warmth comfort her again while she thought about her options. She could just climb out and hope for the best, that was an option after all, but given how much luck she used, she was sure she was already at its end.
For a moment, just a single moment, she began to lose faith. All the obstacles in her way came to her mind, draining her morale even further.
“I can’t even get into the Castle without getting in trouble!” she thought and kicked in frustration against the cooking pot. “How should I ever reach these vicious griffons and snatch the stolen item from them if I can’t even do that?”
Another kick, she didn’t even care for the sound it may cause.
“The griffons...” Anger welled up inside her, washing away her doubts. “I will not let these griffons win! Never!” With a heavy kick from her legs and also pulling with her hooves, Burning Snowflake jumped out of the pot and, with another two flaps of her wings, more or less landed as planned in front of it. Another loud fizzle was unavoidable when the water from her wings got splashed into the fire.
A quick look to both sides to ensure that nopony had noticed her and the orange mare focused on the blue flower again.
“Now to you… “
Without much hesitation, she reached out with her hooves and made the necessary gestures, calling on her magic. The flower was grabbed by it and Snowy forcefully flung it into the fire.
“Ha! How do you like that?” She watched the flower burn and snorted at her beaten ‘enemy’. With her attention drawn elsewhere, it took her awhile to notice the small puddle that formed under her and the steam that rose from her body.
“At least it is delicious,” she thought and started to lick the soup from her body, ending up in a full preening of her wings. Several minutes she just sat there and preened herself till she suddenly stopped, one feather still in her mouth.
“What in tarnation am I doing?” She spat out her feather and irritatedly shook her head. Recapitulating the last few minutes, Snowy very well noticed the strange behaviour she had shown.
She rubbed her forehead. “Seems I am far from being myself again.” She threw a side look to the fire. “Anyway, it can only get better from here.”
With another shake, starting at her head, running down her mane, spine and finally ending in her tailtip, she got rid of the unpleasant mix of emotions as well as the rest of the soup. “Time to get out of here, and, to dress up.”
After a short moment of thinking, Snowy decided for the shape of a mint green pegasus mare with small traces of grey in her otherwise blueish mane. She couldn’t remember her name, but her appearance should raise as little attention as possible. “Maybe I can fit in in this shape, I only need… “ her gaze wandered around, “that!”
She picked up the mop and leaned it over her shoulder. Together with the bucket in her mouth, she looked very well like a cleaning mare. “Just…”
“Hello?” In the door to the dining hall stood a brown earth pony stallion, dressed in the uniform of the Canterlot Castle administration. “Somepony there?” He walked in. “I… what the hay happened here?” He threw a disbelieving look around. “A bugbear attack? Discord? A bunny stampede?” His gaze landed on the mint-green mare. “You,” he pointed at the mess, “what happened here?”
“Uhm,” Snowy gulped, “a little accident with the… the… the dessert, yeah the dessert!”
The stallion opened his mouth and raised an eyebrow. “Uhm, excuse me, how should a dessert cause all this?” His gaze wandered around once more. “And where are the cooks and kitchen helpers?”
“They… are looking for a fitting substitute for dessert, yes that’s where they went.” Snowy walked nearer to him. “See, the sugar bombs surprisingly really earned their name, because they indeed exploded and now the chef is speaking with the deliverer. About his helpers, well I actually don’t know.” She faked a little laugh. “Who knows, maybe they just use his absence to take a break.”
“Shouldn’t you know?” He gave her a closer look. “Somepony must have told you about this mess and requested that you clean it up, or not?” He scratched his chin. “Also I never heard of exploding sugar bombs before.”
“They must be from the prank factory, that’s where the chef went to and yes, I had the luck to be nearby when one of the kitchen staff members passed by and long story short, I ended up here.”
“The prank factory? Exploding sugar bombs? What a nonsense is that?” He shook his head. “Only cleaning pony prattle, spare me this nonsense.”
“But…”
The administration pony rolled his eyes. “Just got this mess cleaned and keep your babbling for yourself.” He moved over to one of the shelves. “Shh, seems hard to find good help these days,” he mumbled while he grabbed a few fruits. After he had collected some, he turned to leave the kitchen.
“Phew, that was close,” Snowy thought in relief, but had celebrated to early. Before the stallion made it to the door, Flower Bouquet entered the kitchen, a freshly filled bucket in her mouth and a mop in her hoof.
Flower Bouquet spat out the bucket and asked, “What are you two doing here? The kitchen is for kitchen staff only!”
“Well,” the administration pony said, “if you did your job and kept an eye on the buffet in the dining hall, one wouldn’t have to come here and help himself.”
“Do… do my job? How dare you!” Flower Bouquet yelled angry. “I am doing my job!”
“If you did, why is there a huge mess then?” He pointed at it once more. “And why is the buffet not refilled?” He pointed behind him through the door. “You surely could use better time management down here if everything is just falling apart in your hooves.”
“Oh and you think you can do better by ordering one of the cleaning staff members here, huh? Let me tell you something, Dustfree, this is my area of responsibility and I can handle it very well on my own!”
That drew the attention back to Snowy, who had tried to inconspicuously step back from these two.
“We are very pugnacious today, aren’t we, random kitchen staff member I don’t know the name off?” the stallion replied. “Just to let you know, it wasn’t me who ordered this cleaning pony here.”
“Oh, don’t get snappy, Dustfree. Just because you are a member of the administration doesn’t mean you can talk down to me like that. And you,” now she addressed Snowy, “who are you and what are you doing in my kitchen?”
“Me?” Snowy said. “I am Splashy Soapbubbles, remember? We met before… and I just do the cleaning, obviously.”
“We met before?” Now the kitchen mare rubbed her nose while she tried to remember. “No, your name and face don't jog my memory”
“Oh come on,” Snowy waved with her mop a bit. “Splashy Soapbubbles, the fastest floor cleaner in… in the night shift? You can’t have forgotten already.”
“Uhm…” Now Flower Bouquets eyebrows furrowed. “The fastest floor cleaner from the night shift is Scraping Skids, he also has a plaque at the dinner hall. He is holding that record for nine months now.” She moved closer to Snowy. “Neither your name nor your position ring a bell. Do you mind telling me who hired you? And who your shift leader is?”
Thinking about how to talk her way out of this, Snowy hung in her thoughts for a moment.
“So? I am waiting.” Flower Bouquet demanded.
Slowly stepping back, the green pegasus tried to win some time. “Well, uhm, you see… “
“Dustfree?” Flower Bouquet turned her head to him.
“Yes?”
“You may not be able to connect my face to my name, but I am sure you know the name of everypony that is working in the castle, right?”
“Of course I am,” he replied with an arrogant look. “It is my job to know that.”
“Then tell me, is there a Splashy Soapbubbles enlisted in the Castle cleaning staff?”
The stallion rolled with his eyes. “As if there would be an intruder in your kitchen.” He returned his gaze to Flower Bouquet, who returned his gaze without a problem. “Arg, fine,” he said and sighed. His eyes gaze moved away, staring into nothing for a moment, before he turned his attention back to her.
“Actually, no,” he said, surprised and now turned his attention to Snowy too. “There is no Splashy Soapbubbles, neither in the cleaning staff nor at all among the castle staff.”
“Wait, I can explain…” Snowy started and lifted one hoof.
“You are an intruder! It was you who made this mess! And then you snuck away somehow!” Now she threateningly swung her mop in the other mare’s direction. “Confess!”
Pulling back her head, Snowy said, “It wasn’t on purpose! Really it was an… Ouch!”
Angry, Flower Bouquet had hit her with the mop. “How dare you!” she yelled, spewing insult after insult while she continued to beat Snowy with the mop. “Do you know what trouble you put me in!”
“I said, ouch, it was, ouch! stop it!” Now Snowy covered herself not only with her hooves, but also with her wings to prevent the other mare from hitting her. “It was an accident!” she yelled.
“I will call for the guards!” Dustfree announced and headed for the door.
“I can’t let that happen!” Snowy thought, more than a little bit distracted by the angry mare. “I understand you are angry and rightfully so, but stop hitting me!”
When the mop made it past her defences once more and hit her on the cheek, the pegasus finally had enough.
“Enough!” she screamed and released a lance of fire at the source of her annoyance, luckily for Flower Bouquet, it was the mop. It caught fire instantly and not only left the mare holding it speechless, but also stopped Dustfree from leaving too.
“I tried to be nice to you,” Snowy now said with her voice lowered, “but enough is enough!” And while she turned into Fast Word again, which she know would scare at least Flower Bouquet, she added, “Even a ghost like me can only tolerate so much presumptuousness!”
A loud and panicked scream by the two other ponies was the reward for her action and while Dustfree stood there paralyzed with wide eyes, Flower Bouquet dropped the mop, turned around and fled, screaming all along her way out of the kitchen, back into the adjoining hallways.
She had to be quick now, it won’t take long for the guards to show up. Letting some flames play around her snout, she picked up the mop and turned around to the still paralyzed stallion, moving towards him.
When she almost reached him, a smile curled up her lips and she asked, “What about you, mortal? You don’t want to flee too?” Giving him her best maniac smile, she slowly extinguished the flames at the tip of the mop with a hoof. “What?” she asked when she saw his eyes widened in fear and then lowered her voice even more. “The flames of Tartarus are far worse, you know?” When she had ended, she bursted into false laughter and that was finally too much for the stallion. Screaming like Flower Bouquet, he turned around and rushed towards the dinner-hall like all the monsters of Tartarus were after him.
Quick-witted, Snowy gave him a little slap before he escaped. Not doing much to his fear, but it opened a new opportunity for her.
Before she threw away the mop and galloped after him, she thought a second about pushing over one of the cooking-pots to increase the mess in the kitchen, but in time, she realized that it was the flower still playing tricks with her mind.. She gave herself a slap on the face and shook out these mean thoughts before rushing after Dustfree, screaming in fake horror too.
When Snowy entered the hall, she faced some very confused ponies. Had not only one screaming pony crossed the hall now but two, and there had been another one screaming in the kitchen just a few moments ago too. Before they overcome their surprise and could investigate, Snowy was already through the opposite door and in one of the main corridors. Knowing where Dustfree went by his scream that still echoed through the corridors, Snowy took the opposite way and in an unobserved moment, she turned into Dustfree.
“I hope that will do,” she thought while she swiftly vanished behind the next corner, “even if I don’t wear his uniform.”
***
On the upside, her new disguise worked, nopony seemed willing to interfere with ‘Dustfree’ so far. Snowy made it through the corridors without any incident, but she was lost in the castle after a few minutes. The first corridor she went in had looked promising initially, but it made a nice little curve near the end and guided her directly in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go. From there it only got worse.
By trying to go in the right direction again, she only got tangled deeper and deeper in the spider web that the castle architecture was. Whoever had designed this mess of corridors, stairs and a lot of forks, either was a genius, whose goal was to confuse every intruder, or, was a complete maniac. Not even the windows she passed by now and then were of great help. Sure, she was able to guess her relative position in the castle by her view out of them, but that didn’t mean that even if she knew in which direction she have to go, that she wouldn’t necessarily be able to find a way leading in that direction. The only thing she got from her looks outside, was the unpleasant knowledge how much time she already had lost.
The thought of going back and starting over came to her mind, but she didn’t want to go near the kitchen anytime soon. Who knew what the real Dustfree and Flower Bouquet had done in the meantime. Could be, that right now a horde of guards searched the area for some ghost able to imitate anypony. Snowy had no illusions about her chance to fool them again.
At the very moment however, she was relatively safe from being discovered. She stood alone in an, from what she could tell, rarely used and small sideway, which was just enough curved that one couldn’t see far forward. The only evidence that somepony used it at all was that the omnipresent red carpet seemed to be cleaned not so long ago. Whoever cleaned it however was either too busy or to lazy to complete the job. The sets of armours along the walls where all dusty and covered in cobwebs. The pictures of once great ponies preserved for the eternity were now forgotten and dusty too. When Snowy stopped for a moment and tried to read one of the names on one of the pedestals, a huge black spider hushed away when she came closer.
“Urg, disgusting,” Snowy thought when her gaze followed the little creature crawling into one of the armours, using the spear the armour held as ladder to get up.“That is surely not the right way to the guest quarters. If I am not totally wrong, I guess I must be already two levels to high and moving in the wrong direction… great.”
Nonetheless, she stepped forward, she needed to move on. While doing so, she noticed something strange, the further she went, the lesser light she got. In the main corridors, the guards had already ignited the torches or candles, lighting up the sideways to a degree as well. However, the way before her was only barely illuminated and went darker onwards.
She hesitated. “Should I really go further? It doesn’t seem like this dark and lonely passage is leading somewhere I want to be.” She looked back. “On the other hoof, I didn’t have any luck in that direction either.” Still in thought, a little blow of wind hit her from in front of her. “Huh? An open window?” All the other windows she had passed were well shut and locked, at least in the corridors and she hadn’t dared to enter one of the many doors randomly to who knows what kind of room behind to check the windows there.
“If there is an open window, maybe I can sneak outside again and move around the castle! Anything is better than trotting around here clueless.”
The anticipation of an exit dragged her forward now and she was happy about the movement too, for the little breeze not only brought fresh air, but also lowered the temperature of the corridor by a few degrees.
“Phew,” Snowy thought with a little shiver, “it is getting cold.” With a little surprise, she looked down and noticed the hair on her legs rising. “Either Dustfree is really sensible about temperature, or it got far colder outside than I assumed.”
Her gaze shot up again and her ears turned around quickly when she suddenly heard a whisper.
“Hello? Somepony there?” She looked back and forth, but nopony was to see.
“I could swear somepony had talked to me.” Moving her ears around once more, she still heard nothing. Snowy shrugged. “Must be my imagination,” she thought and went on.
Not much later she stopped again when a strange phenomenon appeared in the way before her. It wasn’t good to see in the dim light, but the wall of air before her seemed to shimmer. Tilting her head, Snowy took a seat on the ground and examined the phenomenon closer. She had seen something like that before.
“Who would place a magical field here and for what purpose?”
That Burning Snowflake wasn’t able to see magic not always was an advantage, it would probably be possible to guess what purpose this field served for one who could actually see it. It was possible that the normal eye would see a solid wall here or a mirror or something. For Snowy however, only a light shimmer of air was seen. Behind the field, there was a barely illuminated spiral staircase to see.
Now there was another problem, she could simply walk through the magic of course, but it would look really strange afterwards. The image of a solid stone wall with a pony shaped hole in it came to her mind. Of course, that would only happen if the rest of the magic wouldn’t collapse though. On the other hoof, it could be a simple spell to keep away insects and little critters too and then it was no big deal to move through it, if she made sure she passed it above the ground level so the animals couldn’t follow. Or at least mice and ground bound bugs couldn’t.
“I am already far behind my time schedule, I can’t waste any more just to keep some spider flies outside of the castle. They can restore the barrier, if this was one, later.”
She stood up again and moved right in front of the phenomenon, carefully lifting a hoof to pass through it. When her hoof made contact, the magic at that spot vanished. But it didn’t stop there. Unable to contain the rest of the magic any longer the phenomenon imploded with a loud bang. Snowy was dragged forward by the vacuum, only to get blown backwards by the following explosion. Her hooves scratched over the carpet but couldn’t get a grip. Unable to stop, she rolled backwards like a ball till something stopped her.
Snowy rubbed her head. “Urg, what was that?”
She lay backwards, half on the ground, half leaning against a stone pedestal.
“That was not supposed to happen.”
She was just starting to get up again when an unfamiliar noise caught her attention. Before she realised what it was, a great axe landed right between her legs, cutting into her tail.
“Woah!” She screamed and tried to jump up and over the axe but something hold her tail and she landed roughly on the ground. Quickly she rolled on her back, just in time to see a shadow jumping down on her.
Iron hooves tried to grab her. She raised her hooves to fend them off. The impact of her attacker pressed air out of her lungs. Snowy punched and kicked heavily. She hit her attacker but it didn’t seem to even notice. She aimed for its head and landed a good punch, only to start screaming in horror. The head flew off and straight into the dim corridor. That was finally too much for Snowy’s nerves and without thinking, she blindly continued to kick and punch while she tried to crawl backwards at the same time. She lost a few hairs of her tail when she ripped it free from the axe. After she made a little bit of distance, she jumped up and ran straight to the stairwell. Quicker and quicker her hooves pushed her upward. She always took two or three steps at once. Her only thought was to get away.
***
“I wonder where Snowflake is?” Potato threw another sorrowful look at the castle. “She should already have reached the griffons and got the artifact back.” Placing the wrench she had in her mouth back on the carriage roof, she let her gaze wander over the castle once more. “It is getting darker out here, we can’t hang around much longer without raising suspicion, come on Snowflake, either come out in success or just cause a little fire so we can come and get you.”
“Don’t worry, Potato,” Cool said, placing the lantern on the back of the carriage. He knew what Potato was worried about and added, “She will make it, she just needs more time.”
The mare just gave him a short glance before she returned her attention to the castle. “I hope you are right, but if she doesn’t get out of there soon we will have a hard time explaining why we are still here.”
“I know,” Cool said with a nod, “but let that be my problem when the time comes. Right now, it is time for you to change place with Chimney.”
“Yes, sergeant,” Potato answered, though there was aversion in her voice. She didn’t want to leave her lookout.
“Chimney!” Cool called, “up on the roof with you.” He pointed at it with his snout. “Let Potato give you her tools and then change the hinges once more, if they got stuck in action we need to be able to change them as quick as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” came Chimney’s response.
When Potato jumped down from her place on the roof, Cool assured her once more. “She is going to make it, just have faith.”
***
With her heart beating rapidly in her chest, Snowy leaned against the lower side of the dark blue wall. She panted heavily and tried to catch her breath again. Running upstairs three levels straight and then blindly into a dark hallway surely was strenuous.
Although she had come to the realisation that it had been not a stranger that tried to attack her, still the shock sat deep in her bones. She tried to exhale slowly, getting her pulse down again.
When she had at least recovered enough that she wasn’t panting anymore, she stood up and gave her surroundings a look. The area was dimly lit and the two small windows, placed shortly under the ceiling, were barred.
For a moment she wondered why they were barred, but she had more important things on her mind right now. Where was she exactly? And how can she get from here to the guest quarters?
When her gaze wandered on, from the window back to further down the hallway, she noticed a few, probably wooden, boards in her way. On the second look, it turned out that they were the edges of shelves, bookshelves to be exact. The hallway ended at an open double door leading to a, from what she could see, tall room filled with lots of bookshelves. When she moved a bit forward, she also saw some tables or something similar to sit and read at every now and then.
Obviously she had run into some sort of library, that also explained why there was a bug defending spell in the other corridor. Normally her interest in books was more or less average, there wasn’t so much books written and copied for the public to read so one was lucky to get some, but at the very moment it was simply not the time to sit down and read.
What caught her interest was, hopefully, another double door on the other side. Wherever it would lead, it only could bring her nearer to her destination. No matter how much misfortune she had, at one point she simply couldn’t turn in the wrong direction anymore since the Castle wasn’t endless. So she trotted on.
The raw smell of old paper and the lack of moisture in the air came to her nose once she entered the lines of bookshelves. The air was stale and she sucked at her tongue to get rid of the dry feeling in her mouth. Seldom, she had been in a library before, but she couldn’t remember some that had felt so… abandoned. Snowy moved a hoof over one of the shelves, looked at the thick layer of dust clinging to it when she lifted it again.
“It must have been ages since somepony had dusted this place.”
Her gaze wandered over the covers of the books, but she couldn’t read the titles. Now curiosity got the better of her and she reached out and pulled one book out. Turning it around in the moonlight, before she got rid of the dust with a heavy blow and then tried to read the title again.
‘Democracy’
How a Land Should Be Ruled’
“Democracy? What shall that be? Or is that the author? Mhh, never heard of them.”
She placed the book back and pulled out two others. ‘The true story of Nightmare Moon’ and ‘Dark magic, the basics’.
“Dark magic?” She raised an eyebrow. “This really shouldn’t be in a library, who knows who...” Her ear spun around when some strange but quiet sound appeared in the air all of the sudden. Snowy turned her head to the place she thought it came from, trying to pierce the half darkness with her eyes.
All stayed silent.
“It was probably nothing.”
She put the books back to where they belonged and went away from the bookshelf, continuing her way through the gloomy library. That the bookshelves were so high and blocking the already little light wasn’t really helping. She had to slow down and watch her step more carefully to not step on one of the bookstacks on the ground or walk against one of the stools.
Passing by all these old and dusty books, one thing she had to admit, trotting through a dark room with many obstacles and in the silence of an empty library was something that could scare one. More so when the thin light played with the shadows whenever a cloud happened to pass by the barred windows.
“Good thing I am not afraid of the dark, otherwise I wouldn’t dare to set one hoof in here.” Still, when she looked around, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. She wasn’t able to put her hoof on it, but there was something strange with this place.
The realisation came to her when she reached what she guessed must be the middle of the library. On a larger round marble table was placed a harmless-looking thick book. Well, it’d look so, if it for the fact that there was an iron chain around it.
“Who would imprison a book?” was Snowy’s first thought, but then she saw the fine waft around its cover. “Okay… someone imprisoned a magical book, that may make more sense, if they doesn’t want others to read it, but why is it in a public library then?” She considered where she was and added, “or at least in an library for the normal Castle staff? Shouldn’t it be in a safe or something?” “Mhh”she made and her heart skipped a beat when the book reacted to the sound and jumped a little bit on the table.
“Woah!” she half shouted in surprise and jumped a step back herself, seeing the book in return on the table again, moving itself so that it was now pointing with the bottom of its spine towards her, ready to be opened and read.
“No way I am going to open that book!” She shook her head heavily to get rid of the unpleasant shiver that run down her own spine. “That is far too creepy, even for my standards!”
She turned away from the table, ready to continue her search for another exit, when her ears peaked up and spun around. She had heard something and it wasn’t the book. She cowered on the ground and listened. There, there it was again, a light wave of wind and a strange noise with it. “Was that…” She listened more carefully, yes it was some sort of insect wings.
A sigh of relief escaped her mouth. Some sort of insect had found its way into the library, nothing more. Maybe a dragonfly, or something a little bit bigger considering the level of noise it caused. Really nothing an adult pony had to worry about.
Snowy was already moving on when she heard the noise again, nearer this time , still it came from somewhere deeper in the library.
“That is a little bit too loud for a simple bug,” she wondered. “Its sounds more like…” Whatever she may have come up with was forgotten when she saw a shadow flying by through the space between the books on her left side. It was as tall as an pony!
Fearfully, Snowy crouched down again and crawled around so her face was always in the direction she assumed the shadow was now at.
“What in Tartarus whas that?” The unpleasant shiver was back again and twice as strong. “I eat a broom if that is a bug!”
Whatever it was, it hadn’t noticed her now. It continued to fly through the way next to hers and disappeared in the shadows. It must have misinterpret her little shout as noise from that magical book.
“I don’t want to find out what this is, I just need to get out of here as quick as possible.” Setting slowly one hoof backwards behind the other, Snowy started to crawl back faster and faster. When she reached the next fork between the shelves, she turned around and , away from that thing. Now moving forward again, she dared to get a little bit more upward and sneaked onward.
She had passed two shelves when she heard the noise of insect wings coming her way again. Swiftly she crouched behind one of the edge boards and made herself as small as possible, pulling her tail under herself. She had learned from the encounter with the griffon commander.
The sound came closer and closer.
She held her breath and pressed her back against the wood. “Please don’t see me! Please don’t see me!”
A few seconds later the shadow passed her and she quickly looked away. What she had seen before was already enough for her and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to stay silent if she saw it eye to eye.
Pressing her eyes shut, she waited for the creature to move further away, but unfortunately it came to a stop just a few steps ahead. For a moment Snowy thought it had noticed her and she starting to panic innerly, but the creature soon moved on and flew up and down along the shelf, probably seeking something.
“What could a giant bug be searching for in a bookshelf?” Snowy wondered, but pushed that thought away.
She slowly rose from her spot, inch by inch she pushed herself up, using the bookshelf behind her for support. When she had got up enough to move her rear hooves, she sidestepped and then crawled backwards between the parallel line of shelves.
Step by step she moved that way, throwing nervous glances at whatever it is, not noticing the stack of books behind her till it was to late. One of her hooves kicked right into them. She turned around with a suppressed gasp and grabbed the wavering stack just in time before it could flip over.
“That was close!” Snowy dared another short look in the creature’s direction, but luckily it seemed to not have noticed her actions.
“Phew.” Turning her head back to the stack, she nearly had let out a gasp. The book at the top slid of the stack right in the moment her gaze hit it.
Reflexively, Snowy shoved her rear hoof under it and stopped it mid-air. It landed on its spine, but like books have it, it sprung open and released a cloud of dust while slowly sliding off her hoof.
“Oh no!”
With more skill than she thought she had, she wiggled with her leg and tilted the book to the left side, against the stack and held it there.
“That really was close, far too close!”
It was not easy, balancing on one leg, but she extended her hoof and grabbed the book, placing it back, whirling up even more dust. It itched her in the nose, but she couldn’t sneeze with the creature so near. . Several times she inhaled, but managed to hold it.
“My luck had striked again, phew!”
Snowy just shot a quick gaze back and then continued her attempt to sneak away unnoticed.
She didn't notice the pair of green eyes that followed her movement from the top of one of the bookshelves.
In the soothing knowledge that she got further away from the creature, Snowy allowed herself to calm down a bit and let her thoughts drift free. "Mysterious evil flowers, giant insects with a liking for books and an interior that is built up like a maze, hosting spies and thieves from other countries from time to time. Who could have thought Canterlot Castle would be such an interesting place?" A little smile formed on her lips. “The princess really can't complain about boredom, I guess. I wonder if she knows about what is going on in her Castle or not. Maybe this bug creature is some sort of pet? Or a guardian for the library? Why else would it be interested in books?"
Still in her thoughts, Snowy passed by another little dusty corridor between the bookshelves and turned right, further away from the creature. She only made it a few steps when a barely noticeable sound from the left suddenly caught her attention. She stopped and peaked up her ears.
“Strange, there was something,” she looked in the direction the noise came from and also let her ears search for it, “but now it is gone.” A glance back ensured her that everything was alright. “My nerves played a trick on me again, I really had enough action for one night. And I still have to face the griffons…”
She exhaled deeply while she trotted past the next bookshelf, when the sound appeared again. Only louder. “Wasn’t that the cracking of wood?” Snowy rubbed her ear, listening. The sounds was gone. After a second of wondering she looked on the ground. The floor was made of polished stone and couldn’t make such a sound.
A shiver ran down her spine. She knew she was putting distance away from the creature, but the unpleasant feeling still lingered in the back of her head.
Slower than before, her hooves found their way forward. She carefully watched her step, piercing the darkness before her.,.
Now with her senses focused on any noise, she could even hear her own hooves slightly scratching on the stone below her with each step. She walked on, her hooves softly falling on the ground. Strangely enough, everything was silent, her movements the only source of any sound.
“Why is it all quiet now? Not even the buzzing is to be heard anymore…
Her heartbeat accelerated. Was it possible that the creature just landed and was checking on the bottom line of the shelf? Or maybe it had found what it was looking for and left? Snowy once more spun around her ears, even turning around one time completely, still... silence.
“That is not good! Really not good! Still no reason to panic, not at all, stay calm Flöckchen, just trot on and get out of here.”
She began to move, but stopped dead in her tracks when the sound of a wooden board arose again, closely, very closely to her left. Slowly, degree after degree, she turned her head around, piercing the darkness behind her.
“Isn’t something moving there?”
She narrowed her eyes. Following every little moving shadow. Nothing.
She inhaled deeply and hold her breath, listening. Still nothing, just the next empty aisle.
Her hoof found its way on her chest and she exhaled deeply. "Just old wooden furniture cooling down in the beginning of the night, nothing special."
She noticed dust falling down on her hoof and shook it off. Forcing a little smile, she added in her thoughts, "Just that and a little bit of dust filling the air and sinking down. Absolutely normal for a library." Then she hesitated. "Is it?" Her gaze wandered up the bookshelf till its top.
It was empty.
"I am going to lose my mind, I am already seeing and hearing ghosts like the kitchen stuff! I need to get out of this spooky library! I..."
"Can I help you, sir?" A soft female voice interrupted her thoughts and scared her nearly to death. With a half suppressed scream, Snowy jumped backwards and fell over one of the seats. It flipped over, Snowy crushing into a bookshelf, an avalanche of books streaming over her.
"Are you alright? the voice was to hear through the books. "Have you hurt yourself?" She stepped nearer. "Wait, I will help you out of this mess."
"Another pony!" Snowy's thoughts raced quickly. "What a relief! No, wait, maybe she is in danger now too, who knows if she is aware of that creature? The creature! It must have heard us!" With a mighty kick she burst out of the books. "Quick!" She turned to the other mare. "We must get out of here before.... " The rest of her sentence got stuck in her throat, replaced by an ongoing scream from the top of her lungs when her gaze met the other 'pony'.
Instead of a mare she saw something that must have been created in the deepest parts of Tartarus and the darkest corner of her nightmares. She couldn't stop screaming. Even Nightmare Moon couldn't have come up with something more scary than what stood right before Snowy at this very moment.
An ugly bunch of random insect parts was hovering in the air, held together by shimmering of magic and forming some sort of pony-shaped body. And this monster spoke!
Snowy didn't know how, it didn't have a mouth, but it still spoke! Though, the words didn't make it to her with her own screaming drowning any other sound, reaching unexpected heights when the monster moved closer.
Right before it reached her, Snowy shook the paralysing terror off, grabbed the nearest book and threw it forcefully in the monster’s ‘face’
It made a loud ‘hishh’ and stepped back.
Encouraged by her success, Snowy grabbed one book after another and threw them.
"Get away from me! Get away and back to Tartarus, you Discord spawn!" she yelled.
It took back another step. Hope raised in her chest, and was erased when the monster stepped forward again. It approached her with another louder ‘hishh’.
"Stop this!" it demanded. "Stop this at once!"
“In tarnation, no!” With a quick look at the darkness behind her, Snowy stepped back.
"I don't want to... " the creature dodged another book, "harm you! I only," it jumped out of the way of another book, "want to talk to you!"
"Stay back!" the false Dustfree yelled. And when the creature didn't stop, the mare grabbed one of the shelves and pulled with all her strength. Unfortunately, instead of causing the bookshelf to fall, only the board cracked and Snowy landed on her flank with a piece of wood in her hooves.
"Stay where you are!" she yelled, swinging the plank threateningly. "I will hurt you if you come any closer!" Her voice echoed through the library.
The creature seemed to look to both sides, Snowy wasn’t sure.
"Calm down! And shut up!"
"I shall shut up?" Snowy screamed. "Then get away from me!"
"Arg! Enough is enough!" the monster complained and with a shimmer, it turned into something between a pony and a giant bug.
"That must be what Cool had called a bugpony!"
The changeling hissed one more time, baring its fangs. Then he shot a few bolts of magic out of its tiny horn, blasting the plank, Snowy threw out of the air. "I really tried to play nice with you, little pony, but you leave me no choice. You will have more than enough time to explain why you obviously were able to see that I am not what I pretended to be, as soon as you are imprisoned in the hive." And without any other warning it shot a lance straight at Snowy, hitting her right in the chest.
Of course that didn't affect the mare in the slightest and the smile that had started to form on the changelings mouth froze.
"How can you... ?" the bugpony wondered. "How is that possible?" It shot once more, to the same effect. The pony didn't even try to dodge the attack, she only stepped further back and when it reached the next transition, she turned around and ran.
Instead of chasing the pony at once, the changeling stood there baffled, while the pony got a good headstart.
Without care for any secretiveness, Snowy galloped as fast as she could, hopefully in the direction of the exit. Bookshelf after bookshelf she passed, more or less randomly changing the direction at each transition. At her speed, it was difficult to take the turns. Her hooves slipped and she crushed into a bookshelf. The whole thing shook for a second, threatening to fall and bury her under it. Jumping up, Snowy prepared to kick it back in place, but it stopped wobbling by itself. Not spending another thought about it, she burst forward. Soon the exit came to sight. Increasing her speed one final time, she made it to the exit... almost.
In the moment she burst through the door, something forcefully crashed in her back. Snowy fell and rolled onwards, shaking off the thing. Both collided with the wall. While Snowy stayed mostly unharmed, the chair splintered.
“Good to be an earth pony sometimes.”
However, she wasn't out of danger. Before she could get up, the changeling already shot through the door, charging at her.
Its sharp fangs glittered in the moonlight, its hooves ready to strike. Snowy’s gaze fell on the broken chair. It almost reached her, triumph flaring in its eyes. Snowy grabbed a chair leg, swinging it like a bat. Right in its face. One of its fangs broke, its head shot back and its attack failed. Its hooves passed Snowy by only a few inches but the rest of its body crushed right into her pressing all air out of her lungs.
Now pain and anger filled its hissing. But it didn’t keep it from attacking her. Recovering faster than Snowy, it punched and kicked her. Still breathless, Snowy barely fended off its attacks. It was quick, its strikes strong. They both rolled over the ground entangled. Despite its skill, it wasn’t able to subdue the pony.
At the same moment they broke away from each other. Snowy swiftly got up, panting quickly. The changeling just growled angrily. It wasn’t panting nor sweating. He started to circle her. His head held low, both wings kept hold tight to the body. His blue eyes sought any weak spot in her defence.
Suddenly it burst forward, jumping up, turning into something else midair. This way, it crushed into her defence and screamed in pain when Snowy’s touch turned back some parts of its body.
Instinctively he turned back completely, as far as he could. Pain and shock still was on his mind and body, preventing him to realise what unfavorable position he had brought himself in. Right on Snowy's rear hooves. With a strong buck, she kicked him off and against the wall.
Rolling back on her belly, Snowy gave him a quick glance, hoping he had enough. But that Changeling was tough, he already stood up again!
"How much can he take? That kick was enough to knock out a buffalo!" She rose up. Her gaze shot between him and the stairwell. With his recovery rate and general swiftness it would be a close call but she was sure to make it. Without hesitation she headed for the exit. Instantly he chased her, but the impact against the wall must have hurt him worse than it seemed. She sped up a little bit more. Soon, the stairwell came into sight and she had to slow down to not crush right into the pillar behind the door. Before she could pass the door however, another horrible creature, mercifully covered in the shadow of the stairwell, appeared in it, blocking the way.
She was trapped!
“He can see through our disguise!" came the shout from her persecutor.
"But you can't see through mine," Snowy thought. Finally she remembered what Cool had said about this creature. With what she had experienced herself, she knew what this waving of air and strange, also horrible appearance she saw, meant. They use magic to copy a pony’s body, but unlike Snowy’s own shapeshifting, theirs needed magic to keep the new form up.
That explained what trouble he had to attack her the moment before. Still thinking how she could use that to her favour, the changeling behind her added, “And he can force you out of your shape!”
“Sneak!”
This way warned, the changeling in the door approached her carefully. His comrade also slowed down and coordinated his approach with him. Both creatures now came closer, slowly, not allowing the pony in their middle to escape.
Snowy stepped back till she stood with her flank to the wall. The changelings now lowered their heads, baring their fangs.
The mare gulped. "Time to make this fight a little more equal." Various shapes flowed through her mind, one deadlier than another, till…
"I can't do that!" Doubts flooded her mind.
The changeling came closer and closer. Only a few steps till they reached her.
"I… I can’t!"
Spreading their wings, the changelings were ready to pounce.
That settled it. For a second, Snowy was covered in green flames. When the fire vanished, she stood there in another shape. One far more capable in matters of self defense.
Her front hooves were now sharp claws. Her rear hooves had turned into paws. Around her neck was a thick layer of feathers. They covered her frontside down till her claws, protecting it from bites and scratches.
Before the changelings stood now the former commander of the griffons.
This threw them into confusion for a second, forcing them to step back, but they overcame it quickly.
"He must be from another tribe!" one said.
"I didn't know another hive was acting here?" said the other.
"I didn't know either, but there is no other explanation, ponies can't shapeshift like we can, no way!"
"We can discuss that later, first we should capture him and take him to the hive, our hive." the changeling on her left side spoke again.
"Agreed," his comrade answered and they approached the griffon.
In her attempt to threaten them, Snowy tried to scream like a griffon would. Loud and shrill, but all she managed to do was a halfway done caw. She had no clue how to use the beak of a griffon correctly.
“What was that?” the right changeling asked with a smirk. “Is your queen too weak to teach you how to use the bodies of different species correctly?”
“Really a shame,” the other changeling mocked. “But makes our day much easier.”
“I arn ou!” Snowy managed to say, still trying to find out how to speak in her new shape.
A little laughter was all she got for an answer, just before the changelings pounced in perfect synchrony at her.
Luckily, the speaking organs of a griffon may differ from that of a pony a lot, but the limbs work nearly the same. With a quick slide to the side, supported by her wings, Snowy evaded one of the changelings and striked at the other with her claw. He dodged and instead of a good hit to the face, her claw only scratched over its side, leaving only a small scratch.
“Their natural armour is thick!” Snowy thought, ducking under a counter punch of her opponent's rear hoof. Not the best choice. It used its momentum to place a good hit into her side with its other hoof, which she couldn’t avoid. She rolled over and before she could even get up again, the other changeling jumped on her belly, striking at her head.
She took a painful hit to the cheek, but now it paid off that she had chosen to be a griffon. Her claws were not only able to block the following punches, but also able to grab his hooves. When she increased the strength of her grip, her talons began to bore into its armour. It hissed and tried to break free, pulling her off the ground with strong flaps of its wings.. Snowy let go of him as soon as she stood on her own paws again and turned to its ally who was just about to ram her.
With a quíck flap of her own wings she faked to fly up. The changeling had expected that and jumped up itself to catch her midair, but Snowy turned around her wings and pushed herself down on the ground, letting the changeling fly over her, placing a heavy kick at its belly.
It crushed into one of the statues, going down with it in a loud clutter. She wasn’t able to celebrate her small victory, its comrade already going for another attack. This time it striked at her legs. Snowy stepped back, evading its attack. But when it touched the ground, it instantly sent another series of kicks at her, pushing her back further and further with each one. Then she failed at blocking one and was swept off her paws.
With a triumphant hiss, it jumped up and stomped it hoof at her face. Barely, Snowy rolled to the side in the last moment. But she couldn’t evade, only half block its next kick in her side,.The kick was enough to send her flying a few meters away,. She crashed hard on the ground.
Even in the shape of the griffon commander, with his well trained and muscular body, the pain was terrible. Only the thought of getting foalnapped and beeing abducted to some sort of bug hive let her come up on her paws again. Pressing one claw to her side, she faced the changeling.
It smiled.
“Just let it happen,” it said ina comforting male voice, “you will wake up in the hive, safe and sound, if, you surrender now.” He gave his comrade a look who started to struggle free from the rubble of the statue and its equipment. “See, you can’t win against us. Surrender, now!”
“I will not!” Snowy replied. “Better you turn around and run before I hurt you!” She underlined her demand with a growl.
“You must be kidding,” the changeling said, “but if you don’t want to listen, you have to learn it the hard way. I will not ask again nicely.”
Steadying herself, Burning Snowflake removed the claw from her side and rose up to her full height spreading her paws and raised her claws, ready to strike at her attackers.
Without intention, her lips curled up into a smile. ”Then come and get me!”
Exchanging a confused look, both changelings lowered their heads, growling. Ignoring her threatening talons, they came closer, baring their fangs.
With each step, the growl raised in volume, reaching its peak just before they were ready to strike and spread their wings.
In the very moment they were ready to pounce, one of them yelled in shock and pain.
A pony-long spear stuck in his flank all of the sudden.
The Royal Guard had finally showed up.