Tenebras Equum

by Glimglam


VI: Pain

There were so many things that Twilight felt as she slowly picked herself off the ground. Confusion of what was going on. Exhaustion from whatever ordeal she had just went through. Anger at what that monster Alack Zander did to her best friends. And of course, pain. Lots of pain. She had never been in this much agony in her life. At least, not as far as she could remember, though that was not saying much.

The instant that Twilight raised to all fours, a sudden stab of pain ran up her front-left leg, and she collapsed again. Letting out tired moans of anguish, Twilight forced herself to look down at the offending limb, and cringed. Legs were not meant to be bending at such an extreme angle.

Twilight felt like crying. Her leg was broken. She’d also pulled a few muscles near her hind legs, and maybe a few more cuts and bruises here and there, but they were considered negligible at the moment. With a broken limb, she was essentially immobilized and helpless. Anything could come to get her now, and then she would not even be able to run…

Pain. Agony. Soreness. Ache. There were so many words for a single feeling, it seemed. And why wouldn’t there be? Ponies have experienced every kind of pain since they first founded Equestria.

Throbbing. Stinging. Suffering. Anguish. All of it was running through Twilight’s mind. So, this is how it would all end. A shattered leg bone, struck down with torturous amounts of pain, and left to die in the bottom of an old elevator shaft.

…Elevator shaft. Right. What was once her only ticket to freedom was now a practical one-way trip straight to the Grim Reaper himself. All that she had left to do was wait. And before long, whatever dark force behind everything that night would soon come around and claim her. Twilight was actually regretting the fact that the fall didn’t just kill her outright, rather than letting her live and continue to suffer.

It was nearly pitch dark at the shaft’s bottom, though a faint light was visible from a door-shaped opening roughly two meters up. The elevator cage itself was utterly destroyed, and pieces of the metal fencing that made it up were scattered here and there. It was a wonder Twilight managed with just a broken limb. The Dragonfire Lantern had fallen down the shaft with her, and the fire had been snuffed out from the impact. Her saddlebags had been thrown clean off from the crash, and the contents were strewn about here and there.

Twilight managed to will her body to drag itself to the nearby lantern, using her good legs to move whilst carefully cradling the broken one. She could hardly believe the sight of her own leg, bent and drooping powerlessly as she went. The pain was still so bad, almost too much to handle, but the unicorn managed to make it to the lantern and turn it on.

Fortune favored her as the bottom of the shaft became lit with a vibrant green light from the lantern. Twilight breathed a cautious sigh of relief, and winced when another spasm of pain went through her leg. Well, she had light now. At least she didn’t have to die in the darkness.

The unicorn looked down on the floor beside the lantern, and spotted a slip of paper lying there. It was the note she had picked up in the Archives. Which reminded her; she never did get around to reading it in full…

To all servants,

As many of you are all aware, the elevator system in the Archives is still under maintenance. Under no circumstances should anypony use the elevator until it has been repaired, as it still shows few signs of stability.

The usual safety features to prevent dangerous freefalls (via frictional brakes) are also out of order, so operation of the elevator car is certain to result in serious injury or death.

Another announcement will be made when this problem has been addressed. Until then, DO NOT operate the elevator in the Archives. The elevators in the Library and Servant’s Quarters, however, are still properly functional and are safe to use.

As she read over the note, Twilight mentally slapped herself. The note was a warning to NOT use the elevator! If she had paid more attention, then she wouldn’t even be in this mess! She had made a mistake… a stupid, stupid mistake. And now, it was already too late for regrets. She could feel her energy being sapped away by the pain.

I… I’m sorry…

Twilight could hold on to her remaining strength no longer. With a strained gasp, the unicorn’s body fell slack, and her eyelids slowly closed shut. Before they did however, she could’ve sworn that she caught a glimpse of somepony else down there with her… though, that may have been merely the delirium of a dying mare.

The world meant nothing at that moment as every sense that she had began to waste away into oblivion…

“She managed to escape, you say…”

“Yes Master… I’m so sorry that I failed you… I-I don’t think that Twilight managed to survive that fall.”

Alack Zander gave a wry chuckle. His eyes showed no apparent signs of anger or disappointment. If anything, they seemed… knowing. “You underestimate her. If what I know is fact, and judging from what my servant tells me, she cannot possibly be dead. Not from such a simple fall.”

Fluttershy seemed slightly confused, though her mangled features made it difficult to detect. “But doesn’t the elevator shaft go down really… really… um, far?”

“Indeed. It goes down to the lowest levels of Canterlot itself. The Cisterns, to be precise,” Zander explained. “All the water that is diverted from the waterfall flows through there.” He chuckled again. “As for Ms. Sparkle, she would have no trouble surviving. She may be… incapacitated, yes, for a short while… but it won’t be long until she starts moving again.”

The pegasus shifted uncomfortably. Her inability to retrieve the unicorn still stuck out in her mind, and a part of her still felt ashamed at that. Was it still possible to make up for it? “Should I… um… go and get her once more? I promise I won’t screw up again… uh, I mean, if that’s okay with you…”

Zander’s smile faded, and he softly shook his head. “No. I require you to be present for the ritual here. I will soon send for the Bearer of Loyalty to undertake the task instead,” he said coldly, and Fluttershy lowered her head with disappointment. An afterthought struck him. “Incidentally… have the other Remnants already been… taken care of?”

“N-not all of them,” Fluttershy admitted. “A few just, well… won’t die. They’re still being kept in the dungeon.”

“…Hm. What of the prisoners?”

“Three are unaccounted for, Master. I-I’m sorry, I don’t know where they went, we can’t find them…”

“I see…”

The blue stallion turned to look out of the window. Night was still present, and the silver moon still shone bright, as it would be for several more hours. But the ritual had to be done before sunrise, or…

“…” He sighed. Things were starting to get complicated. First, one of the prisoners taken during the Gala escaped, and now… a Remnant was wandering around unsupervised. She was moving about, and at a pace that was somewhat… disconcerting. The Cisterns were also disturbingly close to the Dungeons… If she somehow made it there, and perhaps tried to intervene in the ‘process’…

A sudden sound of wind gusts echoed across the Throne Room. Zander turned around, and recognized the new presence in the room as the pony-shaped shadow creature. It had, apparently, just then materialized into the chamber to check with its master. “Ah, impeccable timing,” he mused, making a slight hoof motion to dismiss Fluttershy (to which she quietly complied). “I have need of you.”

While Fluttershy walked away to deal with other matters, Alack Zander proceeded to deliver his orders to the shadow. “The Remnant of Magic is still about. Inform the Bearer of Loyalty that she is to be… dealt with. Permanently.”

The silver-maned stallion smiled darkly. “That is, if the Ardyh doesn’t get to her first.”

“Where… where am I?”

“Is… is there… anypony out there…?”

“H-hello…?”

“…Anypony…?”

...Twilight...

“W-who’s there?”

...Twilight... you must...

“I must… what?”

...you must... forge on...

...time is nearly up...

...you cant let him win...

you have to pull through.

You can do it.

“B-but… but I can’t!”

…And why not?

“Because… because, he…”

Because he took away your friends.

“Y-yes…”

And you have lost all of your memories.

“Th-that’s right!”

…But are those reasons to give up…

…or are they reasons to go on?

“What do you mean?”

Giving up is what he wants.

Fighting back is what he fears.

“But--”

What do you fear, Twilight?

“…”

“I… I just don’t want to be alone.”

You are never alone. Someone, somewhere, is always thinking of you.

“…”

Just like how I am thinking of you now…

…and how your friends are as well.

“…”

And we believe that you can make it.

“But… who are you?”

I am the life that you left behind.

Life sure is a strange and wonderful thing. It practically rose from nothingness to become the most dominant presence in the world. Animals, plants, ponies, and more. But if history teaches us anything, it’s that life is extremely durable. Not to mention very persistent.

In Twilight’s case, her eventual reawakening was a prime example of such persistence and durability. Common ponies would have died instantly from such a fall. She’d somehow managed to hold on to consciousness with cuts, scrapes, bruises, and a broken leg, but was otherwise intact. And when she lost her senses again, Twilight woke up not even twenty minutes later.

“What… what happened…?”

The pain was still there. But, now it seemed… dull. Like the aches of an old war wound, or something. Her leg was still the epicenter of it, but it was something that would be manageable. With a grunt of effort, Twilight managed to heave herself off the floor. Pain shot up her leg again, but it wasn’t enough to make her fall.

Twilight examined the sore leg closely. It was still bent rather strangely, but otherwise seemed okay. Somewhat okay, in any case. To her, it wasn’t the most important thing on her mind. The most important thing was, after a moment of quiescent consideration, the fact that she was still alive.

I’m…alive? But, that shouldn’t be right… My leg was broken… I could feel my life just fading away… Another thought occurred to her. …And what was the weird dream I had?

Twilight shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about things that only served to make her head ache more than it should. She had to find a way out of this place, and fast.

Looking around her, aided by the glow of the still-lit Dragonfire Lantern, Twilight remembered that she was still in the bottom of the elevator shaft. The twisted and mangled remains of the elevator cage around her reminded the unicorn of her brush with death.

At first, Twilight was afraid that there was no possible place to go. But that fear was soon quashed when she spotted the familiar outline of a door, on the opposite side of the shaft. A sign placed on the door read, “Cistern – Maintenance Workers Only.”

There wasn’t anyplace else she could go, so she quickly decided that the best option at this point was to keep moving. If Fluttershy—or anypony with not-so-nice intentions for that matter—was still hunting her, then staying down here and hiding wasn’t necessarily the best option.

The broken leg, however, was still a problem. While it somehow seemed to miraculously heal on its own rather fast, it still hurt to put too much weight on it. That would no doubt be a serious issue if, say, a monster finds her and decides to chase her around again. Nay, it would likely be a potentially deadly issue. Would she even risk it?

Twilight was at an impasse. She could stay and try to heal some more, and possible be found by somepony she wouldn’t want to be found by… or, she could go out there, and risk a handicapped journey where a single misstep could mean the difference between life and a very family-unfriendly death. If only there was a third option…

…Oh, wait, didn’t she pick up a bottle of Laurenum back in the Archives that she hadn’t used yet?

Ah! Of course! she nearly said out loud, and hobbled over to the saddlebag on the floor. Twilight carefully checked both pockets, but to her horror they were both empty. It was then that she remembered that the contents (papers, the crystals) were all strewn about from the fall she had, and the Laurenum was likely among them as well. Well, great.

Exhaling sharply with frustration, Twilight began to carefully scour the floor of the elevator shaft for the blue bottle of healing brace. To her growing worry and anxiety, she couldn’t find it anywhere. There were just those red crystals spread about here and there; they were important too, yes, but weren’t what she was looking for specifically.

Darn it! Where could it be?! …Oh no, don’t tell me that I lost it!

Alas, it was true. Twilight searched every corner of the relatively tiny shaft, looking under objects and on top of them. She couldn’t even imagine how she could have lost a bottle of precious medicine so easily. Twilight concluded, after rigorous searching, that she must have dropped it somewhere out in the Archives, likely when being chased by Fluttershy. As if she didn’t have enough problems.

With the third option eliminated, and the first one long-since discredited, the unicorn had no choice aside from the second: leave the seclusion of the shaft and venture forth.

Sighing with resignation (and cringing as a slight wave of pain throbbed in her leg again), Twilight managed to gather up whatever items she could scrounge up, put her saddlebags back on, and pick the Dragonfire Lantern up in her mouth again. A last look around at the tangled mass of the elevator she once rode in reminded her of how just about anything could go wrong in this place.

Twilight took in a deep breath, and released it. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered through her teeth, and gently pushed the door open…

Water. There was a lot of water. The room she had just entered was a long, wide corridor, running both to the left and the right directions. She wasn’t concerned about there being a lighting problem here; in fact, the whole place was lit quite well enough for the unicorn to stow the lantern back in her saddlebag. Torches lined the walls on both ends, still wreathed in orange flame. But Twilight had learned to be wary of even the best-lit areas, thinking back to the Old Archives, and was ready for any sudden shift in mood…

In the center of each corridor was a valley-shaped depression, where a flow of clear, shallow water was flowing freely down the way. To either side of the water channel was a concrete walkway, where the staff may have presumably traveled alongside the water flow while on maintenance duty. The current of the water may have suggested where a nearby exit was, and at present, it was flowing in the right direction.

Taking that as a sign, Twilight began walking along the pathway adjacent to the waterway. She kept sure to walk at a relatively slow pace, so as not to trip over her still-injured leg. For a while, the unicorn didn’t seem to be coming across anything; the path and the water channel just kept going on and on and on… And even worse, the lights seemed to be getting sparser and sparser as she went on.

…But then, Twilight could see something, just at the edge of her vision. It was a… pony? Wait… another pony! She stopped herself, and spent a moment gazing at the figure in the distance. Whoever it was, the pony was walking on the opposite side of the water channel, and hadn’t seemed to have noticed Twilight yet.

Walking forward with more caution this time, Twilight struggled to get a better look at the equine. The ever-growing dimness made it difficult, but she was able to make out it was a gray-coated earth pony mare, with an ash-black colored mane and tail. Was that another pony that she knew before? Or was she just a random pony that she didn’t know, like Raindrops? If anything was certain, this mare certainly wasn’t prodding any familiar nodes in her mind.

Once Twilight had gotten close enough to see the gray mare in full view, she thought about calling out to her, to see if she was alright. But the other pony had beaten her to it. Rather, the other pony had spotted Twilight, put on a look of utter horror, and turned tail and galloped away while letting out whines of fear.

“W-wait!” Twilight found herself calling out, and started to chase after her (though it quickly turned into a ‘hobble’ on the account of her leg). “Don’t go! I can help!”

The other mare either didn’t hear her or didn’t care, as she kept on running and was momentarily out of sight. Twilight slowed her steps to a halt and sighed miserably. Great, she thought. Another pony that looks like she might’ve needed some help, and she just runs off for… some reason. What is going on in this place?!

Whoever that mare was, she was gone. Twilight decided to just forget about it. Who knows, maybe she was just seeing things. There would have been stranger things that happened that night…

There weren’t any bridges that connected both sides of the walkway, so when Twilight decided to try her luck searching the other side, she had to walk down the slope of the channel and wade through the waterway.

The current of the water wasn’t at all strong, thank goodness, but it was deep enough that it went up to Twilight’s neck. It was nice and pleasant, actually. The cool water felt satisfying, and it did wonders to help dull away the pain in her leg even more. All the dirt, dust and grime that had gathered on her coat washed away as well, so Twilight took advantage of it and gave herself a short bath. She didn’t know what this water was used for, or where it came from, but it hardly mattered at the moment.

Twilight was actually, for a change, enjoying herself for the moment. She briefly forgot about her desire to cross to the other side, and chose to continue on half-walking half-swimming down the Cistern corridor. She sustained this behavior for a couple of minutes, until a distant sound made her pause.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

It sounded like somepony—or something—slogging it through water that was at least higher than the knees. The sound was distant at first, but it slowly drew closer.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Before long, Twilight could see what seemed to be the water’s surface ahead being parted and disturbed, as if some entity was walking through it. But, how could that be possible… if there wasn’t even anypony there? She couldn’t see anything, even as the splashes drew closer and closer with fairly consistent speed.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Twilight was starting to get nervous at whatever was causing this phenomenon, but curiosity kept her rooted to the spot. Was it a sudden surge of water from beyond, causing an extreme change in current that was approaching her? Or was it some kind of unseen entity, strange and implausible as that sounded?

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the oncoming clattering of hooves on concrete, and a voice yelled out, “What are you doing?! Get out of the water, quickly!”

“H-huh?!” Twilight leapt in place, turning to look up at the walkway.

The gray mare from before had, apparently, decided to come back. Her expression suggested extreme fear and urgency. “Get out of the water, NOW! Quickly, or you’re as good as dead!”

Twilight blankly stared at the odd mare, and then at the rapidly approaching disturbance in the waterway. It couldn’t have been three meters away. A slow-burning sensation of fear began to sweep through her as she digested the situation for what it was.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

That thing in the water probably wasn’t friendly.

“For Celestia’s sake, OUT OF THE WATER!”

At that, the unicorn snapped back to reality. She started to panic, and began paddling madly towards the other end of the waterway. The depth of the water greatly impeded her movement, but it didn’t seem to even slow the mysterious invisible thing in the water.

The gray mare, meanwhile, had slid down the edge of the slope to get as close as possible to Twilight, and held out her foreleg towards the unicorn. “Here! Take my hoof, quick!”

Twilight wasn’t going to turn that offer down. She stuck out her good hoof towards the earth pony, still struggling to get ashore on her own, and the pony managed to grab onto it. “Got you!”

With a mighty pull, the gray pony managed to haul Twilight onto the cobblestone-lined slope of the water channel, safely on dry land. And not a moment too soon, as the strange entity in the water had just made it to where Twilight was in the water a moment ago… and stopped. The splashes suddenly ceased, and the corridor became oddly silent.

Twilight managed to heave herself back onto the proper walkway, and the mare followed after. “Thank you… uh, for helping out,” Twilight managed to say to her savior as she shook the excess water out of her coat. “What was that thing?”

The mare cast a look with her amethyst eyes at where the thing in the water was. “I honestly have no idea. But, from what I know, it only attacks things in the water," she explained. "It’s invisible as well, which is quite strange. As soon as you step in the water, no matter where you are, it can find you… that is, as long as you are in water. Outside of the water… well, not so much.”

Twilight grimaced at the thought of nearly being killed by something she couldn’t even see. There appeared to be more things in this castle trying to kill her than she thought. “W-well, thanks… again. I had no idea what it was, and I didn’t really think it was dangerous.”

“That’s what a friend of mine thought as well… until…” The mare shook her head briskly, and shivered. “Never mind. To be honest, I thought you were one of those other creatures I’ve seen around here… so, that’s why I ran away earlier. Terribly sorry about that, I was just being cautious.”

“C-creatures?” Twilight repeated, her thoughts drifting back to Fluttershy. “What would make you think that I’d look like one of… them?

The gray earth pony kicked at a pebble absentmindedly. “Well, your coat and mane were absolutely filthy, and extremely unkempt." She chucked. "Looking at you now, I suppose you did require a brief bath…”

Twilight hadn’t really thought about it, but she was pretty dirty earlier. The crash in the elevator shaft hadn’t helped matters on that front, either. She supposed that somepony might mistake her for a ‘monster’. “I guess so. Anyway, I should probably find a way out of here…”

“Oh?” The mare suddenly perked up. “I presume you are like myself, then? That is, trying to find a way out of this…” She made a noise of evident disgust. “…Luna-forsaken pit of despair?”

“Actually, I’m trying to save my friends… or… whatever might be left of them…” Twilight bit her lip. “The only problem is, uh… I took a wrong turn, and… here I am.”

“I see…” The mare looked away for a moment, a blank look of quiet consideration on her face, and then turned back to Twilight. “Hm, obviously you lack a good sense of direction. That vacant look in your eyes gives it all away. You clearly have no idea where you are going.”

Twilight stammered for a moment, somewhat taken aback by the bluntness of the statement. “W-well, I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but I do feel kind of lost sometimes…”

“Listen here; I’ve been around Canterlot for years, so I know of many paths through the castle and grounds. If you wish, I could show you the way out of the Cisterns. You'd be on your own from that point forth, however.”

“You’d… do that? For me?”

“Mainly because I can’t trust you to not have a close encounter with those beasts again. It’s for your own safety, really.” The gray mare turned to walk down the path along the channel, and called back to Twilight. “It’s not far. Just be careful not to stray back into the water.”

The unicorn, without a lot of conscious thought, began trotting after the strange mare. She noticed the cutie mark on her flank, which appeared to be... a purple treble clef? Who was this mare, anyway? “My name is Twilight, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

The gray mare turned to look at her, and smiled. “Charmed. I’m Octavia. Though right now, I suppose our birth-names aren’t the most important things needed to be preserved, aren't they?”

“Oh, yeah, uh… heh…"

"…Come along then, I'll lead the way."

Twilight didn’t know why, but she felt like she could trust this ‘Octavia’. She’d never met her before (she could not even feel slight familiarity with her), but then again, she’d never met Raindrops before either. And even then, Twilight had sacrificed her time to ensure the pegasus had healed before helping her get out of the castle. Why wouldn't she allow another pony to help her out? It was funny how things worked out. She’d saved the life of one pony, and now, a completely different pony had just saved her life.

Twilight could hear a rather disturbing growl emanate through the corridor, but Octavia assured her it was just the strange invisible beast that made it. But even then, the knowledge by itself that there was a feral killer lurking in the water wasn’t at all reassuring, even though she was perfectly safe and out of the water. The unicorn didn't feel like sticking around, so she hurried after the earth pony mare without any hesitation.

As it seemed, Twilight had experienced a lot of pain so far that night. Not necessarily just physical pain, like when she barely survived that elevator crash with a broken leg (the mysterious mending of which had since then baffled her still), but emotional and psychological pain as well. Knowing that her best friends were either being tortured as she walked, or have been made into possessed monstrosities by Zander was almost too much for her to handle.

Fear, in retrospect, can also be considered a type of pain. And there was plenty of that to go around in this castle. Being chased around, backed into corners, being isolated in darkness with nothing but a lantern for company… it was all so very taxing on Twilight’s sanity. And even then, she had persevered. After all, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

Even so, Twilight still had no idea what kinds of suffering awaited her in the coming hours.