Even as I soared over the trees I could still smell the stink of the swamps below me, but that stench paled in comparison to what I'd been subjected to once I'd moved past the swamp and reached the clearing where Hayseed Manor lay. Almost as if in defiance of the late afternoon sun, the sky above me grew ever darker with thick clouds that rumbled with distant thunder. Below me, I could see a heavy fog or mist rolling in from the swamp to surround the manor itself, making it slightly difficult to see from ground level.
It seemed I was going to be denied even the comfort of Celestia's warm sun in this venture, but I set that unpleasant thought aside. I had far more worrying matters to deal with than poor weather, and that became more evident as I laid my eyes upon that decrepit old dwelling for the first time. Though it wasn't the most opulent manor house I'd ever seen, Hayseed Manor still stood like a dark and malignant sentinel in the middle of the large clearing.
Even in its run down and antiquated state, it still held a domineering presence. The pale grey stonework that made up most of the building's exterior was worn and cracked in various places and so severely that the flaws could be seen even from a distance. I could see several chunks of dark grey tile missing from the multilayered combination roof.
To my surprise, many of the dormer and bay windows dotting the walls and roof remained intact if crusted with age. Several twisting vines had snaked their way across the surrounding walls and windows, the invasive plants poking in and out of the many cracks and holes about the structure.
I didn't allow my eyes to wander over the manor's exterior for too long, and attempting to swallow any residual fear, I stepped up to and gently pushed open the lavish oak door that made up the entrance. The door creaked horribly and the sound of it nearly made me cringe back, but it gave no resistance otherwise. After a brief pause in which I swiveled my ears and listened for any unsavory sounds, I entered the manor, having heard nothing out of the ordinary.
The fact that I'd heard nothing more than the odd rumble of distant thunder every so often and the occasional settling of the old manor gave me hope that maybe this unnamed beast below had been nothing more than a bit of mania on the old stallion's part. It was an involuntary hope—a kind of knee-jerk reaction to unpleasant expectations not having been met and the relief that follows. Realistically I knew that there must be more to see and that anything could happen, so I kept my guard up despite the fragile hope I'd gained.
The stale, musty air settled over me like a blanket the moment I set hoof inside, but it was the awful, unplaceable stench that nearly made me retreat back the way I came. It had been bad enough from a distance, but here inside the old structure it was just as unbearable as Wispy Willows claimed it to be. I knew I needed to bear with it regardless, so I fought down the rising bile in my throat and wiped my watery eyes dry before moving on.
The light coming in through the old windows was hardly enough to see by, and most of the interior remained shrouded in shadow. A suitably bright magenta glow enveloped my horn and lit up the world around me. The simple spell rectified the situation quite nicely and with a new source of light, I was able to see that I stood in the middle of a modest foyer with two sets of stairs on either side of the room leading to the second floor.
Most of the interior decor was made from marble, now cracked and worn with age, and the once lush carpeting and ornate drapery that adorned the floors and windows were now dusty, moth-eaten and full of holes. It was a sad state of affairs for what had clearly been a beautiful home once upon a time, but hardly surprising given the age of the long abandoned residence. Having taken everything in to my satisfaction, I focused again on locating Moon Dancer.
There were plenty of doors to choose from, with three on the ground floor and at least two more above from what I could gather. Each of them no doubt led deeper into the manor, and while I didn't outwardly relish having to search through each room individually, a smaller, more adventurous part of me grew thrilled at the thought. The unnerving silence and potent odor were enough to quell that part of me, and I resolved to search the premises as quickly and efficiently as I could.
The sudden creak of an opening door somewhere above told me I needn't have bothered, and with my heart in my throat and cry of surprise, I snapped a fearful gaze toward the noise. I heard the sound of hooves and a moment later an equine figure appeared. I focused the light around my horn into a cone which I directed toward the figure, and beyond the white marble railing that lined the upper floor I saw the bespectacled face of Moon Dancer.
In that moment I felt an odd mix of emotions, from relief, to worry, to outright fear. I called out to her, and in response she moved closer to the railing and peered down at me, a delighted smile lighting up her face as she saw me standing below. Her horn lit up suddenly and she vanished in a flash of pink-grey light before instantly reappearance by my side. Before I could make any kind of response, she spoke, greeting me as if all was right with the world.
I was more than a bit put off by her amiable greeting and had several questions I wanted to ask, but rather than play host to any of them, Moon Dancer instead bid me to follow her to some destination past a door on my far right. She gave me no time to argue as she turned and trotted away, and with no small amount of unease, I followed after.
I attempted to talk sense into the mare as she led me through one of several hallways past the door. I pleaded with her to abandon her ridiculous quest for this truth of hers. I told her that things had gone too far and that we needed to turn back, to forfeit that evil tome to Celestia and have her seal it away somewhere were nopony else could fall under its maddening influence, but all my begging and pleading fell on deaf ears.
Moon Dancer neither acknowledged my words nor broke her confident stride. The only reply I received was a small condescending chuckle and a pitying shake of the head from the mare. Eventually we reached the end of the hall and stood before an oaken pair of elaborately carved double doors. It was here that I began to hear something; it was a sound just on the edge of my hearing—a noise so quiet that I could've imagined it, and indeed thought that I had imagined it.
I strained my ears to hear it again, but my attempts were interrupted by the deep creak of the double doors as they were slowly forced open by Moon Dancer. As she pushed the doors further open to reveal what lie on the other side of the entrance, I heard the sound again, slightly louder this time. It was like a faint whisper or the low, quiet rasp of a weak old stallion, but not quite either of those. The sound made the skin crawl beneath my fur and set me on edge, but I was once again distracted, this time by the sight of the room I saw before me.
It was a private library, small in scale, but still large enough to house a dozen or so tall and lengthy bookshelves—bookshelves which were still well stocked with hundreds of ancient books left to rot in darkness and obscurity for over two centuries. A sudden flash of light lit up the room, and the mighty clap of thunder that followed soon after snapped me out of my reverie.
Blinking stupidly, I finally noticed that Moon Dancer had moved on and was now heading further into the library. I quickly followed after, scanning the shelves as I went and inwardly lamenting the poor condition of the books around me. I caught up with Moon Dancer soon enough, but didn't say anything more. I now knew any attempt at gentle persuasion was a lost cause, and I instead resolved to use a more forceful approach
We reached the opposite end of the musty old library and she paused. We both stood before a nondescript single door made of some type of dark wood, and in the brief silence Moon Dancer eyed it intently, taking it in with the look of a foal about to open their first present on Hearth's Warming. After a long moment she finally spoke, her eyes shining with savage triumph and her tone an odd mix of unbridled joy and stout conviction.
"I figured it out, Twilight! I found the missing piece to this insane puzzle and now it all makes sense, at least to me it does. I know you aren't quite convinced yet, but once I've told you what I've discovered—once I've shown you... once you know the truth about Lucerne and this manor, you'll understand why I can't stop now... why we can't stop. We need to finish what she started, and I'm not leaving this manor until we do."
With those ominous final words hanging in the air, she pulled open the door, stepped past the entrance and disappeared into yet another dark room. I stood there before the open doorway for another moment, gazing into that darkness and listening to the sound of Moon Dancer's hoofsteps as she made her way further into the room. I ruminated on her words, trying to understand what she meant and not liking the possibilities my mind conjured. Then that sound came again, even louder in my ears than before, but this time it was more than a whisper, more than a rasp.
I heard a voice whose tone and pitch I couldn't quite grasp. It was low, nearly inaudible, but there were words spoken—incomprehensible, but unmistakable. The sound of it set me trembling and I could feel the distant but familiar and distinct throb of a headache beginning to build. I didn't know what to make of what was happening to me then, but creeping dread and the fear of being alone finally pushed me to follow Moon Dancer one last time.