//------------------------------// // Library // Story: School Stories // by Visiden Visidane //------------------------------// "The first night is in the library," Lily Gild said with a smile. "Go there an hour before midnight, go to the third floor of east wing, open the third window, and shine a light spell. We'll be watching~" Sleet Fall stared quietly for a while. When he was still a colt picking strawberries in his father's garden, he would look to the Arcanis Atheneum's direction, and imagine what a student from there would be like: forelocks cut short and straight, mane in a tight braid for mares or just shaved for stallions, large, rounded glasses, serious, no-nonsense mien about them...Lily Gild looked every part that fantasy. Then, she opened her mouth, and out came the tone of a prankster to go with a mischievous smile. Still, her presence made him sit just a little straighter. She was his senior, and the All-Seeing Eye of Divination School by her cloak's breast made him particularly self-conscious. To her right stood Snow Shine, with a reassuring, confident grin on her. To her left was another senior; Flame Froth. His cropped, black mane, his piercing stare, and his chiseled jaw making him look more like a legionnaire than a student. He wore the symbol of his school; Evocation's Sunburst, though often just referred to as an explosion, like a medal. "Is there more to this task?" Sleet asked. "Seems rather trivial." "It is," Lily replied. "We're counting on you, alright~?" "Kid," Flame Froth said. "We'll get you in by our secret entrance. The Library is closed by that time so nopony's around, but, if you do find somepony in there..." His eyes widened and his pupils shrank. "Don't bother them. No matter what they're doing." The Arcanis Atheneum's Library was a grand sight during the day with its vast halls of aged, dark brown hardwood lined with a seemingly endless array of towering bookshelves. It had a sea of tables and chairs for casual reading as well as lines of cubicles for those who had to hunker down for serious study. Students moved in, out, and through the place like swarming ants; always in the middle of something, always so serious. The smell of aged leather and parchment permeated the air, enough to make Sleet's head spin slightly. It was a true wonder of concentrated knowledge, just as he has dreamed of. He already envisioned going through those shelves with purposeful hurry, studying, researching, even just reading for fun. The sunlight streaming through the library's great windows paled in comparison to that bright future. Night was a different issue. Without the hustle and bustle, without the sunlight, the Atheneum's Library resembled a labarynthine tomb. The silence was so thick that a single hoofstep set Sleet's teeth on edge. The dark was so palpable that it felt...heavy, as if something thick settled on the shoulders and pressed against the eyes. Sleet let out a long, deliberate exhale after crawling out of a hidden panel close to the entrance. Dark or bright, this was the same library. His task was simple. He should just complete it and be through with this nonsense. He considered a light spell, a weak one should suffice. That wasn't against the rules, was it? They'll probably complain over a large one since this was supposed to be a "scary" experience. It would probably alert school staff as well. A quick spell and he had a small globe of soft, blue light hovering next to him; nothing too taxing or flashy. "Right, so east wing, third floor..." he muttered. That the words bounced off the walls nearly made him jump. He had underestimated the silence here. His first few steps echoed the sentiment, and nearly echoed across the empty hallways. A silence spell would probably be helpful right about now, but he had always been terrible with illusions. Just to get to the stairs to the third floor required passing through a line of cubicles. His light spell may have helped in avoiding crashing into obstacles, but the pale light also did a good job of emphasizing shadows. The nearest bookshelves loomed over him, blocking most of his light save for a few rays that shone between the gaps of their books. 'Ridiculous,' Sleet thought. 'This place is empty. That's all there is to it.' He stared briefly at the stream of blue formed by the gaps, admiring the shape it took. The stream briefly flickered, as if something passed through it. Sleet nearly jumped and pressed his jaws together to quelch and surprised cry. 'This place is empty,' he repeated to himself. It must be a trick of his imagination, that's all there is to it. It may not even be his imagination. Sleet's eyes narrowed. It might be a spell. He was in a school full of talented spellcasters. They probably prepared this place beforehand. He moved on. Pointedly ignoring the edges of his own light spell from now on. It was getting chilly as well, but the night air and mountain weather easily explained that. The Arcanis Atheneum was built on the ruins of the Unicorn Kingdom's Royal Palace, which was the highest point of the mountain. Of course it would get cold. There must be a window open somewhere. He raised his snout, trying to ascertain where the cold wind was blowing. He may as well do the library a favor here. Cold, snowy winds can't be good for old books. No chill breeze met Sleet, however. Instead, a malodorous foulness greeted him so suddenly that he fell back and gagged. What was that? Something sickly sweet, rotten and metallic all at once. His head was throbbing after a few seconds. He covered his snout with a hoof, but that offered little comfort. He looked around. The stink was coming from one of the closed cubicles. Perhaps, a student snuck in some snacks while studying and let them rot in there. He stepped closer out of morbid curiosity, only to notice that the floor outside the cubicle where the stink wafted from was covered with...something. Sleets's blue light reflected black on the viscous puddle seeping out of that cubicle. The smell was definitely something rotten, but not vegetables or fruit, at least not ones Sleet recognized. And that liquid...he didn't dare touch it. That stuff wasn't black, it only looked like that because of the light. It was...it was...blood. Sleet backed away from the cubicle. Why was it seeping blood? His mind hastily pieced an answer together. There must be something inside it then. Something bleeding all over. His breath came out as shallow pants. "Haha..." he mumbled. "Very clever illusions...very clever..." The door to the cubicle creaked as it slowly swung in its hinges. The blue light caught on the old, stained wood, the thick puddle, then alighted on a hoo— Sleet hurried away, making his way to the stairs for east wing. No need to see that. Just nonsense pulled by his seniors. Just get this done. He looked back out of some foolish impulse. The cubicle doors were all shut again. His hurried pace slowed as his fear receded before reason. It was a trick, obviously enough; an illusion. Now that the scare was done, the illusion ended and "that" door was back to normal. With a sign of relief, he climbed on. The library's east wing served as the archive for the Atheneum's published scholarly papers, making it the prime location for research. Here, the bookshelves were replaced with rows of cabinets filled with papers cataloged by magic school and topic, as well as boxes with a seemingly endless supply of quills and ink bottles. Sleet walked past them, alreasy imagining adding his work among so many distinguished papers. The chill was back, worse than before even. Sleet wrapped his coat tightly around him as he looked for the required window. Oddly enough, the ones here were all shut tightly, as expected. So how was it so chilly here? A faint sound somewhere among the cabinets seemed to answer. Sleet's ears perked. That sounded like...a sob. A faint snuffling noise followed by a long sob. "Who's there?" he called out. No reply. He shone his light among the cabinets, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there. With a shrug, he pressed on. Just his mind tripping over itself or maybe more phantom sounds from his seniors. That was it. He cast a basic detection spell, nothing powerful enough to reveal specifics, but if he sensed any recent spellcasting, that should prove he was right. The detection spell pulsed outward, mentally pinging him when it resonated with the protective abjurations around the papers, designed to keep them safe from dampness and other environmental harm. These were old spells, however, cast earlier during the week, and replaced every week. He waited for fresher spells, particularly illusions. The pulse ended with no such ping. Sleet swallowed hard, then hurried for the window. He just had to finish, that's all. Whatever was going on, he just had to put it all behind him. Another long sob among the shadowy cabinets. Sleet hurried further, outright breaking into a canter. A flurry of hoofsteps behind him turned that into a gallop. Still, the hoofsteps caught up. Something flew past him, like a swift winter breeze that chilled to the bone. He cried out and clutched his shoulders, teeth chattering. The hoofsteps were ahead of him now, moving farther away. The window he was supposed to use flung open violently, flooding the place with moonlight and cold mountain air. A brief shriek stood every hair on the back of Sleet's neck then...nothing. It took a while before Sleet gathered enough of himself to drag his legs toward the window. Still chattering, he forced his gaze out, towards the night sky. A light spell, one strong enough to let his seniors know he completed their inane task. On impulse, he looked down. A small, dark figure, a silhouette in the pale moonlight, rolled down the mountainside, trailing a dark substance as it continued to fall. Sleet blinked, and it was gone. "Tricks..." he muttered. "Just tricks..." His horn trembled just like the rest of his body. His light spell guttered like a failing candle until he forced it to steady. Task completed. He couldn't wait to leave this place. "That was a pretty solid job, newbie," Lily Gild said with some vigorous pats on Sleet's back. "Record time too. You really hurried through there." Now in the safety of his dorm room, Sleet looked back at what happened with a more critical eye. He had not detected any illusionary spells, true, but he had used a rudimentary detection spell. His seniors could have easily prepared something to counter that. "Is that what this 'test' is going to be all about?" he asked indignantly. "I wander the dark while my seniors test their scares on me?" Eyes wide, Lily raised a hoof. "I swear to you, none of us cast anything to that effect," she said. "Tell us what you saw," Flame Froth added. "This is part of the initiation." Sleet told his tale, naturally ignoring the part where he panicked. "Did you look inside the cubicle?" Lily asked. "Certainly not!" Sleet replied. "I had a task to do and I was instructed not to bother anything!" "Good choice," Flame Froth said. "I didn't look either. Newbies who did ran screaming out of the library." "What was that all about anyway?" Sleet asked. "A long time ago, supposedly," Lily said. "A professor was having an affair with a student. He caught her in that cubicle with another stallion, doing it. From what you saw, you can tell how that ended." Sleet snorted. "Is there any evidence of this?" he asked. "Only what you saw," Lily replied, her grin wide. "That other sighting you experienced," Flame Froth said. "You did see something, correct?" Sleet nodded. "For a moment," he said. He recalled the rolling...thing, and the trail it left. He had a pretty good idea what it was, but he refused to acknowledge it. "You saw Pressed Parchment," Flame Froth said. "She's on actual record. A senior from centuries back on her final paper. Couldn't take it anymore, and jumped." "Does...does that happen often?" Sleet asked. "Often enough," Flame Froth replied. He and Lily headed for the door. "We'll be back tomorrow night, newbie. Good job so far." That left Snow Shine, who had been quiet so far. "That wasn't so bad, right?" she asked with a small, nearly apologetic smile. "This whole affair is ridiculous," Sleet groused. "I should just tell the faculty." "And make an enemy of most of the student body?" Snow asked."Bad move. Come on, Sleet, two more nights." Sleet sighed. Two more times of this. "Alright," he said. "Should be easy enough."