"...So what's the name of this blackness I'm seeing?" asked Aria Midnight.
Four little ponies walked down the pitch-dark corridor, the only light sources present were two simple spells perching on two mentats horns. The sound of small hooves clattering on the stone floor echoed around them.
"It is called 'darkness'..." Loadstar replied, and decided to repeat her lecture on the intricacy of a thestral’s eyesight, "...that means absolute lack of light. Including any dimmed lights, which normally would be enough for your eyes to make out shapes around. In darkness like this you would need infrared vision to move around not fearing to bump your head..."
"The what vision?" asked Aria. "what's a 'nympho-red' vision?"
"In-fra-red!" Loadstar spelled the word, her friend’s obliviousness started to get on her nerves. "It means, you could see the heat sources. That way, you would not need light at all! "
"Neat!" Aria jumped."Wish I had one!"
Loadstar shook her head:
"It's not that simple. You wouldn't be able to tell the colors. And looking at something in daylight would be a torture, even with the goggles, nevermind th... OW! "
Lecturing her friends, Loadstar ran into Nightglow’s back, who was walking in front, carefully mapping the way forward. He, as the only stallion in the group, decided to take the lead.
That little fact filled Nightglow’s heart with a weird mix of pride and responsibility he never felt before, he kind of liked that feeling.
But now was not the time for feelings. The dark hallway ahead of them glimmered from a new light source, and it was not a reflection of a light spells that mentas were using.
This new light source was flickering in blue hues, a sudden gust of cold air flew over the little explorers, forcing them to instinctively huddle together. Loadstar and Nightglow simultaneously extinguished their spells when the new light finally arrived from behind the corridor’s corner.
Any day-light pony seeing this new pale blue flying orb wouldn’t have thought much of it; it barely managed to highlight the darkness around it. But for the thestrals and mentats sensitive eyes, the orb shined brighter than a star!
"It's beautiful..." Grey Mouse whispered, mesmerised by the glow.
The group started to move forward, all but Loadstar who didn't buy in to this miracle: unlike Nightglow she didn't sleep through her 'magical apparitions' classes and recognised the danger in front.
"Hold it," she said quietly, but sternly. "move back, slowly!"
"What's wrong?" Aria perked her ears.
"A Will'o'wisp - a ball of disorganized magic."
"Is it... alive?" Mouse asked.
Loadstar looked at her friend and cautioned:
"Touch it - and it explodes in blue flames. Stay close enough, and you'll turn into an icicle."
The fillies shivered. Starspire's magical blue flames were not hot, unlike bright red flames of lands down below. Quite the opposite: this magical flame didn't exhaust heat, it consumed it. Just one of those weird quirks of the Spire, it was not really dangerous... but if it were to explode in a tunnel...
Aria asked:
"Could you or Nightglow do something about it?"
"Like what?" Loadstar replied.
She knew quite well that wild magic like this is immune to any spell she could conjure. Judging by the Nightglow’s reactions, he realised that too.
The flight-lead just waved her hoof around:
"I dunno, you’re a mentat, mentatize it away or something."
Loadstar felt a heavy wave of irritation flood her chest. It wasn't her friend’s remark, just the way she said it.
Loadstar turned back to the flight-lead and asked:
"Why the heck is it that every time a thestral encounters any magical hurdle in its way, they always call for a mentat to huff and puff and lick it away? Do you really think that mentats can solve any problem with magicl?"
Aria ignored Loadstars tone and just shrugged:
"Could have just said 'no'."
Loadstar smiled contentedly, but Aria would not by Aria to stop with just a reply.
She grabbed a rock from the floor and flung it straight at the blue orb before anyone had time to react.
A flash of blue light filled the passage. Momentarily, the walls got covered in hoarfrost and air that was dry and moldy just a moment ago was now filled with winter’s chill. A shockwave rolled through the corridor, throwing little fillies to the walls...
"Get do-own!" Loadstar managed to shout before the world around them was consumed by darkness.
A bright flash of light blinded them, their ears were muffled from the shockwave. Loadstar and Nightglow lost their concentration and the world around them turned black, filled with shrieks and squeals of dazed ponies followed by the rumble of a cave-in...
...Luckily, it all ended as fast as it began. Clearing her throat from the dust, Loadstar found herself in pitch darkness: The Will'o'wisp was gone, and Loadstar couldn't focus hard enough to cast a new light spell.
She was still coughing the dust out, when she heard something other than her ears ringing, Aria’s voice filled with outrage:
"Hello? Who turned off the lights?"
Loadstar covered her face with a hoof, although no one could see that. What a doltish filly! She never thought before she acted!
"You did!" Loadstar shouted back. "You turned it off by throwing a rock at a wandering magical bomb! You also collapsed the ceiling above us, and it is an utter miracle that we were not squashed by it!!"
"Yeah-yeah, I know, sorry." Aria replied, but Loadstar could tell that her friend was not sorry at all. "Now would you light a spell?"
Loadstar slowly exhaled and kept her cool.
«Just focus on the task before you» she mentally remembered her training, soon a pale green light illuminated the collapsed corridor.
Loadstar saw that the way in front of them was still filled with dust and the way behind them now was cut off by the cave-in. A layer of frost still covered the walls. Aria Midnight looked even more tousled than usual.. Loadstar realised that right now she herself looked no better.
Her heart skipped a beat. Nightglow and Mouse were not with them! Also - that was not the corridor they had walked in before: the one that led back to the library was wider and straighter, this one was narrow and sloped to one side.
"Mousy?" shouted Aria, looking around. "Nightglow?.. Mousy?!"
Loadstar could hear her friend's voice quiver, and was pretty sure that Aria was about to jump to the rubble behind them and start digging. A futile task: the stones were old and very heavy, carved by ancient thestrals from real rocks back in the days when the night-folk knew nothing about lightweight dustolite.
Loadstar’s ears perked when she heard her friends’ voices, muffled by the walls:
"We're here!"
Loadstar exhaled in relief. Aria did the same. They were safe, or, at the very least, alive.
"Where are you? Is everything alright?" Aria shouted and strained her ears.
Nightglows faint voice replied:
"We're ok! We were thrown into a different corridor!"
"Hold on, we are coming!" shouted Aria and turned to Loadstar. "On your hooves Curly! We gotta go!"
"No," Loadstar replied, "They should look for the exit too. There is a high chance our two corridors intersect only at that one part you just blew up. Only Luna herself knows how long we would have to run around trying to find them."
Soon, a plan was decided. Luckily, each group had a mentat: no one would be left in darkness. Fillies decided to keep moving in the same direction and take opposite turn each time they encounter an opening: one group would always go left, the other - right. That way they would increase their chances of finding a connecting point between their corridors. Finally, the first group to get out would go straight to their mentors to notify them about the other group still lost in the Library Tower.
"...and that is not up for discussion, Aria," Loadstar finished. "Your frivolity got us in enough trouble as it is."
The flight-lead’s ears drooped, but she objected nonetheless:
"It's like, your fault too! You said not to touch it, I tried to scare it away..."
Loadstar gazed fiercely back at the winged blockhead, if only Loadstar knew the right spell - Aria would have turned into a fuffler right there.
Flight-lead shivered under her friend’s gaze, but persisted:
"But hey! The path is clear now! No need for your magic-shmagic..."
Loadstar remembered her concentration exercise, she slowly inhaled then slowly exhaled.
She looked at Aria who was waiting patiently, sitting with the fakest grin imaginable. Loadstar pointed to the collapsed passage behind her:
"That's the reason thestrals always run to mentats for advice. They know that they have no brains... Where the heck do you see a 'clear path'?"
Aria paused, then replied:
"I mean, the path is clear from the Will'o'wisp. Cave-in is just a... chance encounter."
Loadstar raised her hooves and planted her face in them. Sometimes, this thestral was absolutely intolerable...
... Soon, the ancient corridor was again filled with clatter of small hooves. For a while, ponies moved in silence, but Aria, predictably, could not keep her mouth shut for that long:
"Here’s what I think, how could Mouse and Hornhead hear us through the walls? Those look pretty thick..."
"That is actually quite easy," Loadstar fixed her glasses and smiled, ignoring Nightglow’s new nickname. "There must be some kind of ventilation system. Too narrow for a filly to get through, but wide enough to let the air and sound pass."
"Yeah, let's hope they are not moving in the opposite direction. I don't want to come back looking for them..."
«Uh-uh, that's if we don't get lost first», thought Loadstar, but instead said:
"Do not worry, Mouse has got Nightglow, he will take care of her..."
* * *
Grey Mouse heard Loadstar’s and Aria’s voices fade away behind the stone wall as they started to move, she desperately wanted to be with them, with her only friends. Fully focused on that thought, she missed how Nightglow reassuringly placed his hoof on her back. The little mentat lit the light spell and darkness around them turned into navigable murky dusk.
"You're shaking!" said Nightglow. "Don't fret, I'm here with you!"
Grey Mouse nodded and got up on her hooves, still shaking a bit. Despite her recent solo-adventure in Stalliongrad, she still couldn't bear the thought of being separated from someone she could rely on. Well, Nightglow appeared to be as smart as Loadstar, so that brought some measure of comfort. After all, most of the Spire’s administrative positions were occupied by mentats, which meant they had to be smart and reliable.
Nightglow continued:
"C'mon, we have to find them so we can get out of here."
Grey nodded again and followed the mentat’s lead compliantly. Nightglow, in the meantime, was overwhelmed with pride, taking care of this little beautiful filly.
He almost tripped over his own forelegs from this sudden thought. He glanced back at Grey, who was trying her hardest not to cling to Nightglow's tail, like some little foal.
«She is beautiful,» He realised and turned his head forward, hoping this way Grey would not notice his blushing cheeks.
Some time passed and two had to slow down their pace: the floor started to teem with cracks and mounds of rocks. Nightglow had to jump over and crawl under the gaps a few times. At the Fourth (or fifth) time he was scaling a heap of rocks, Nightglow stretched his foreleg upward, and was surprised by a sudden yank that couldn't have lifted him in the air, but helped greatly to get to the top of the mound.
Looking up, he saw Grey Mouse floating next to him, she immediately darted away, covering her face with her hooves (but forgetting to cover her ears that were blushing bright red.)
"Uh... thanks," Nightglow said confusedly and started his descend from the mound.
When he jumped back to the floor he felt his hooves landed in a sticky puddle but ignored it: after the cave-in he and Grey were covered in dust, and after scaling the last few heaps of rubble all sorts of weird dungeon’y substances, he started to dream about a hot bath and a good thorough scrubbing. Back at the Academy, students were instilled with the need for a proper hygiene, even the smallest particle of dust or dirt could contaminate the potion or a spell circle, reducing its potency tenfold.
Nightglow could see that, farther away, their corridor started to turn right, in the opposite direction they wanted to go: away from Loadstar and Aria. Well, they had no choice in the matter. Till that point, they had not yet encountered any offshoots or doors, at least not any they could get through. The only notable encounter was when they found a grated hole that led down into an underground river, or an eerie dark well, spewing cold and moldy air back at them.
Grey Mouse that was flying closer to the ceiling at the edge of the light produced by Nightglows spell suddenly eeped and dropped to the ground.
"What's wrong?" asked Nightglow. "You hurt?"
"No," She replied quietly, instinctively leaning to the colts side, "I think, something touched my head!"
Nightglow’s heart loudly thumped in his chest from the sudden wave of fear. But he knew that right now he had to play the role of the Noble Knight, so he tried his best to still his voice with bravery:
"Well, let's take a look then!"
Focusing on the spell, Nightglow managed to amplify its brightness. Magical light that previously barely lit their way now shone brightly enough to make out the details on the walls.
Soon they found the perpetrator: old tapestries that were hanging from the ceiling, well whatever was left of them at least. They were covered in such a thick layer of mold and dust it was impossible to make out the original colors. It would appear that they were the source of the sticky puddle he stepped in earlier.
"See, nothing to fear," said NIghtglow, "Just old drapes... or something. I guess you better go on hoof from now on, and stay close please."
"S-sure," Mouse mumbled.
She found herself still leaning against Nightglow’s warm side. Mouse hurried (though reluctantly) to take half a step away from him.
The hallway once more was filled by the clatter of little hooves when the two night-ponies continued to march on...
Curtains covered in white gunk now hung even lower than before, forcing the ponies to lower their heads to get past.
Nightglow felt Mouse trembling, he tried to cheer her up:
"Don't be scared. Think, how could such pretty filly be such a scaredy pony!"
As soon as he said those words, he realised that the wording should have been different. But the effect it had was already in motion, and Grey Mouse raised her head and asked:
"Do you... Really think I'm pretty?"
Oddly, her voice did not quiver at all, and her usual shyness was gone altogether.
Nightglow could not turn his head to look at her fearing to get stuck in the white gunk dripping from the ceiling. Darn, he cornered himself, no way back now:
"...Y-yes, very."
Grey Mouse quietly giggled. Nightglow was confused by that:
"Did... did I say something wrong?"
The formerly shy thestral replied:
"No... no... just... We all thought you liked Loadstar."
"Oh, well, that's different." replied Nightglow "To me she's like... I mean, to all of her classmates... we adore her, but in a different way. Mentats are rarely born as mares, usually colts, but you knew that, right?"
"I did..."
"So, yeah. She's like a talisman. Our little sister... I figured you knew so please, just don't tell her ok? I'm pretty sure at least a couple of my friends have a crush on her, for sure..."
Grey kept quiet for a while, probably, working up the courage to ask her next question.
"And who do you think is prettier? " She finally asked, forcing the Nightglow to stop dead in his tracks.
Now, it was his turn to squeak in reply:
"Grey! You do NOT ask questions like that!..." he managed to squeeze out through his suddenly hoarse throat, but seeing how she took a few steps away from him, tried to fix the situation. "But if you really want to know, I th..."
His voice faded. Nightglow realised that they were no longer in a hallway. They were standing in the opening large enough to be considered an atrium, four corridors could be seen in the walls across the room.
Atrium, with walls covered in a thick layer of white, gunky, sticky... web.
I mean, otherwise, how could you explain a gargantuan spider hiding right above them at the ceiling?
Grey moved closer to the fear-struck Nightglow and insinuatingly asked:
"What?"
She saw colts eyes, followed his gaze and too, saw the spider, who was now looking back at them.
Creepy crawler started to slowly move, six of his eyes reflected the flickering light of Nightglows spell.
Next second, the musty cold air of the dungeon was torn apart by the synchronous yell of two ponies who ran for the closest passage in the wall...
* * *
...Aria and Loadstar walked down the hallway. This weird endless labyrinth made no sense. Who would need these endless hallways filled with twists and turns?
"Ridiculous..." Loadstar said aloud. "What’s the point of this place? there isn't even a single room!"
"So that the attackers will get lost," Aria replied.
Loadstar wanted to roll her eyes but realised that Aria's answer was… smart. Think about it, any force attacking the Spire would have exhausted itself wondering this labyrinth, peppered with nooks suitable for an ambush. WIth proper planning and command, thestrals of the old could have survived any siege.
"Besides," added flight-lead, "if we don’t see any doors - doesn’t mean that there aren't any..."
Again, little mentat had to admit that Aria had a point. After all, the CMS’s found the secret entrance back at the library.
The corridor they were walking connected to a bigger, perpendicular one. Unfortunately, size was the only difference: same darkness, same dust. The sconces on the walls were empty, but fillies could feel a light breeze coming from down the hall.
"Heard that?" asked Aria, flicking her ears. "Sounded like screams."
Loadstar looked around and shook her head:
"No, nothing... although..."
There was a weird sound approaching them from the darkness. Loadstar could now hear it too, and was pretty sure it sounded like two voices screaming in unison. Familiar voices: Nightglow and Grey Mouse.
Loadstar looked at Aria. But before she could say a word a light glanced behind one of the numerous turns in the hallway. Soon, fillies saw Nightglow and Grey Mouse running towards them at full speed, eyes bulging, ears lowered in horror. They now stopped screaming to save their breathes, and flew past their friends without even trying to slow down.
"Hey!, we're here!" shouted Aria at them. "Where are you doing?"
"Gettin da buck outta here!" screamed Nightglow in reply.
Loadstar brightened her spell, and pale light illuminated what scared two foals. A massive spider was quickly advancing towards them from the darkness. It wasn't that big to be honest, probably smaller than an adult pony.
But for little filles, he looked rightly enormous.
New pair of fear-filled voices echoed throughout the hallway as Aria and Loadstar rushed after their friends.
The little flight-lead momentarily forgot how fearless she was before…
* * *
...Nightglow’s scream brought Loadstar back from the sticky embrace of the uncontrollable fear:
"It's a dead end!!!"
Four ponies skidded to a stop.
What a catastrophe! The tunnel ended in a solid wall covered with pictograms of stars and moon. Fillies realised that running down the wider passage was a grave mistake...
They all turned back, still shaking with fear they saw the eight legged hulk approach, ready to tie them up in webs and drag back into darkness, and obviously, eat them.
Loadstar’s mind felt paralyzed. Judging by their faces, her friends experienced the same stupor.
The next second, the hallway’s stale air was torn by an ear splitting screech. But that was not the scream of fear, no. A weird vibrating sound forced everypony's ears to fold inward while their teeth ached from piercing high-pitched sound.
The raspy screech lasted, probably half a minute at most, while everyone present could have sworn it felt like an eternity.
Loadstar managed to open one eye to look for the source of the horrible sound and was not much surprised when she found it - Aria Midnights held her eyes close tight, while her mouth was flung open as she produced the horrible sound.
The spider, who apparently had very sensitive hearing, lost his footing from the sudden acoustic attack, stumbled, fell, and slid on his face, finally stopping right by Aria's legs. Finding himself right next to the source of the horrible sound, he implicitly increased its volume: Aria was now screaming at the top of her lungs.
The monster panicked and started to hastily retreat back into the darkness. He now ran faster then when he was chasing his prey. Aria, understandably, decided to go all out and continued to screech for another minute and a half. The spider was long gone by then.
When she finally stopped, the CMS's ears were still ringing. Aria's echo could be heard resonating somewhere down the hall. Loadstar could not hear any other sounds (like spider legs pattering on the floor), so she finally turned to her friend.
Friend, who apparently just saved their lives.
"What?" Aria asked in a raspy hoarse voice. "He scared the Discord outta me!"
Loadstar replied, noting how weird her own voice sounded:
"I think the spider has just Discorded himself. I still can't hear my thoughts..."
Grey Mouse, who was not feeling well either voiced her concerns:
"G-girls? can we go back now?"
"Now, hold on." said Nightglow, "This can't be it, right? We ran quite far from the last crossing just to end up in a dead end. What is the point of this place? It would have taken weeks to chisel this path... And with no magic! Mentats had not yet arrived to the Spire back then!"
The fillies looked at the wall behind them, pictures of stars and moon that looked surprisingly clean. Scratched stones around them bore marks of attempted entry: broken pieces of decor, traces of pickaxes or some other sharp tools could be seen all around them.
Loadstar saw that the edge of the wall was encrusted with some sort of writing.
"I don't get it," said Aria, voicing everypony's thoughts.
Loadstar walked closer to the wall. She had to really concentrate in order to brighten the light enough so that the night-ponies eyes could see the little details in the wall and even recognise the colors.
"It's ancient-thestralian," she said when Nightglow stepped closer to her side to assist. "I'm sure it explains how to open the door... And I'm pretty sure that this is a door."
"Say 'friend' and enter, huh?" smirked Aria, while Nightglow asked:
"What is the ancient-thestralian for 'friend'?"
"Amīcum," Loadstar replied automatically, while pondering how could Aria know what the writing said.
As soon as the word left her lips, deep rumble of the ancient mechanisms shook the hallway, peppering the fillies in dust and pebbles. A massive plate fell from the ceiling, cutting them off from the hallway and leaving them standing in a small cylindrical room filled with settling dust.
Chorus of scared voices was cut by Loadstars grumbling shout:
"Aria!"
"Aria - what?!" flight-lead replied. "It worked in the book! After all, you hornheads should know better, with all your ancient-thestralcian knowledge!"
Loadstar’s voice was filled with notes of hopeless despair:
"Aria Midnight, in the name of all things edible, could you for once think before you act?"
Bickering was stopped by Grey Mouses squeal, who was quivering in the corner:
"We are going to die!"
Nightglow conjured a new light spell, his horn lit up in pale-green light. In a moment, Loadstar did the same, but her spell was pale-blue, somewhat resembling the latter Will'o'wisp.
Grey Mouse emerged from pitch darkness sitting in the corner, shivering and covering herself with wings. Aria Midnight walked closer and hugged her friend:
"Aw c'mon Mousy," the flight-lead stroked her friend’s head. "We'll get out somehow. Or! We'll get saved. You'll see..."
Loadstar sighed. Then sighed again, glancing at Nightglow. Without saying a word, they both turned back to the pictures on the wall. It was a door: no question about that, they just had to find the nandle.
The young Mentat tried her best not to think about dying in this tiny room. Chances that they would be found were slim. Well, unless Princess Luna herself would lead the search, but that was unlikely. Not because Princess' would refuse, no. It's just that mentats would spend at least a couple of days looking for the missing fillies themselves. Fillies, that will run out of air far sooner than that.
No point waiting for help, waiting while the thirst hunger and suffocation would do their deed.
Loadstar stood on her hind legs and planted her fore legs on the wall to take a closer look at the writing. Archaic dialects made it hard, sure, but the little mentat finally managed to read it aloud:
"Say 'friend' and be safe:"
"From your pursuers - you are saved"
"Take a rest, regain your strength,"
"And walk forth you... Um, yeah, it's smudged here. Something about the 'night' and 'song' and first lines... I have no idea."
"It is voice activated," said Nightglow confirming Loadstars theory, "Looks like we need to say something and if the word 'friend' saves you from the pursuers, some other word must open the inner door! "
Loadstar looked back at Nightglow and caught a glimpse of Aria, who was now biting her lip trying her best not to look at the paintings on the wall.
Uh-uh, like that would fool anyone:
"Spit it out Aria, what do you know about this?"
"N-nuthn..." she mumbled in reply, Loadstar noted that her little lying friend looked comically inane.
Grey Mouse turned her head to Aria and said sternly:
"Aria? do you?"
"I mean, it could be, probably, that the writing is about the first lines from the 'Song of the Night'," Aria mumbled.
Loadstar was too stressed to draw the connection between Arias knowledge of ancient songs and her neglect towards the history classes.
"Well, I know what a 'Song of the Night' is," Loadstar moaned, "but I do not know the words for it. I think it's in old-thestralian..."
"I heard that song had no words at all," noted Nightglow. "How can one sing it then?"
Aria sighed.
"I know how," she confessed and looked at her friends. "I saw it in... uh... book."
"Can you sing it?" mentats asked in unison, making Aria wince.
"I guess I can give it a try. But, uh... I never did it before, ok?"
Aria stepped closer to the door and looked at mentats.
"Kill the lights," she ordered, squinting her yellow eyes.
"What?" Nightglow asked, taken aback. "Why?"
" 'Cause I'm shy!" Aria snapped back. "Do it, hornhead!"
Mentats looked at each other, soon the room was filled with darkness yet again. Aria started to sing, holding her voice on a single flat note.
Nightglow shivered. In pitch darkness he saw flashbacks of the Academies yard and his horn got filled with phantom pain caused by the same scream-screech. But this time, while he was not using his horn for magic this alien melody sounded somewhat charming, producing a weird feeling of euphoria in his heart.
He wanted to tell others about this, but realised that they probably experienced the same...
...Hypnotic sounds of the song were interrupted by the mechanical clanging of the ancient locks and stones grinding on each other. Magical music slowly faded when Aria stopped singing but warm feelings were still filling the fillies bodies. Pain and tiredness subsided.
The darkness in the tiny room faded: ancient runes glowed faintly while the massive door slowly retracted into the wall. It suddenly stopped moving and a loud bang could be heard somewhere deep inside stone wall. Luckily, the gap was wide enough for the fillies to squeeze through.
The gap, that shone with Spire's magical blue light.
Nightglow went first, almost fighting with Aria for the right to do so. The fierce thestral, still hoarse from her screeching and singing, wanted to go first to be done with this dumb adventure and return home. But the young mentat explained that he will be able to shield himself with a spell if any danger will be present on the other side.
Grinding her teeth, Aria had to agree with him, but followed on his hoofsteps either way, not waiting for a signal to do so.
Loadstar thought that if they would have been older (or fatter), they would have had to figure some other way to squeeze through. Nightglow, who was the widest in the group, got stuck halfway through. He had to fully exhale and lurch forward in order to free himself.
Loadstar went last and when she joined her friends on the other side of the wall, she accompanied them in their stupor.
The large domed room had numerous doors leading in all imaginable directions, it was filled with the magical blue light from the lamps hanging on the walls. Tall ceiling crowned in the center of the room and was adorned by the biggest star crystal that the fillies had ever seen.
In the middle of the room on a pedestal made of pure dark-blue glass was,.. a book. Covered in black velvet, trimmed in silver and moon stones with a moon crest on front - Princess' Luna heraldic sign.
Room was filled with silence, one could describe as 'majestic'.
Well, until Grey Mouse sneezed, scaring everyone.
The fillies looked back at her, while Mouse could only eep and hind herself behind her wings. Aria chuckled and turned back to the book. A book that was hidden here for the last few centuries or so, judging by a layer of dust covering it.
Everyone trotted closer to the pedestal, raising little clouds of dust as they walked. None of them even bothered to check for traps, they were overwhelmed by the discovery.
Loadstar carefully opened the book midway. Mentally, she expected the pages to turn into dust, but no. The book looked and felt like it was printed just a day before.
Heavy cover concealed lines of ancient texts, each letter flickering in the magical light...
«Huh, just like the trimming back at the *Selena*» thought Loadstar, remembering where she saw familiar flickering before. «Still, mesmerising!...»
"OW!" shouted Nightglow, when Aria bit his ear. "What gives?
The flight-lead blushed and smiled shyly:
"Oof... uh... sorry? I got carried away for a bit..."
"Thinking about what, exactly?" Nightglow asked in reply but was interrupted by Loadstars mumbling:
"Some weird poetry," she said, ignoring what has just happened. "Some additional marking on each odd line..."
"Gimme," Aria flapped her wings and hovered above the pedestal. "Ah, those are scores. Meaning that's not poetry, those are songs."
Loadstar peered back at her friend in surprise:
"How... How do you know?"
Aria blushed again and muttered:
"I... uh... saw it somewhere. Don't recall where. Let's get out of here, huh?
"Don't you want to explore a bit more?" Loadstar asked back, not even raising her head from the book. "What about your flyoneer cutie mark?
She suddenly had a thought flash in her head. It appeared that Grey Mouse got the same idea too, Grey hugged the thestral with a wing and asked:
"Aria? Could it be that... that you want a different cutie mark? Not the one you previously described?"
Flight-lead shook her head but everyone already knew the real answer to that question.
Nightglow voiced his theory:
"Here's what I think. How can such blockhead like you, Aria Midnight, know anything about scores and ancient-thestralian songs. Songs that sound just like a high pitched scream that got our magic all screwy back at the Academies yard..."
Aria sighed and shouted back at him:
"You and you Discordin tongue, hornhead! You had to point it out, didn't you?.."
Nightglow ignored her remark and just smiled back:
"Your friends, Aria, got different cutie marks from what they originally wanted. Might it be that your prediction is wrong too?"
Aria pondered and looked back at her friends: Loadstar, a mentat-nerd, who as it turned out, hates her books and wants to roam the world. Grey Mouse, quiet shy filly, everyone thought she would find her calling with animals, truth is, she’s a real mecha-gizmo obsessed freak. Nightglow, Loadstar’s classmate, who Aria thought to be a teacher's-pet, defied his mentors orders and barged his way to Stalliongrad in order to support them in an hour of need...
Flight-lead sighed, closed her eyes and mumbled something.
Everypony standing around her lowered their heads closer while Loadstar asked:
"Come again?"
Aria opened her eyes, looked back at her friends and proclaimed loudly:
"I love to sing! Sing, darn it! Even though I got neither voice nor musical ear for it."
Aria looked at their faces expecting smirks and jabs. No one even smiled.
Contrary, Loadstar frowned and planted her forelegs in her sides trying to sound stern:
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but does it mean we three tried to find our cutie marks based on what others expect of us, instead of what we actually liked and wanted?"
"Sure looks like it." replied Grey Mouse.
Nightglow walked closer to pouting Aria and placed his hoof on her shoulder:
"Who told you, that you got no voice?"
"My mom," Sighed Aria, "When I tried to sing back home, she always asked me to 'stop howling'. Though I did it by the book... and my dad didn't mind at all."
"I've read," said Loadstar, "That for day-ponies ears 'Night’s Song' sounds like random shrieks and screeches and that thestrals... and apparently mentats too... can feel euphoric from it. Which I can confirm myself."
"That's all good and all, but Aria, why did you set on being a flyoneer?" asked Nightglow. "Not that I doubt your abilities or anything..."
Aria sighed again.
"I wanted to do something really cool. Something, that would put me... above everyone else..."
Loadstar barely held herself from facehoofing yet for the fourth time that night.
"Aria, dear, if only you knew how much I want to NOT be above everyone else and just be a regular night-pony like everyone around me. You have no idea how maddening it can get, being placed 'above all' by your mentors. Believe me, you do not want that."
Flight-lead kept silent. Her friend was right, obviously, but right now little thestral tried to remember how it all began.
...Flight school enrolment. Medical inspection. Doctor lets go of little Aria's wings.
"Welp," says old thestral, finishing the examination, "Wings are fine, no need to worry just yet."
"Just yet?" asks white pegasus, Aria's mom, that secretly worried her day-pony blood might somehow interfere in her daughters development. "Is something wrong?"
"Flight magic is functional, bone structure is solid, muscles strong. It's all... normal. Your daughter will not excel in neither speed, height nor maneuverability."
Little Aria interjects:
"But I wanna be a cloud-scout!"
Old doctor just shakes his head in reply:
"Sorry little one, you got no prospects for that."
Little Aria is scared by the big word, she looks up at the doctor:
"But I wanna! Is that not enough?"
Shiny Sun lowers her ears: her side of the family never excelled in flying either.
"I'm sorry," she quietly whispers.
"But Mo-om!" yelps Aria, her eyes filling with tears.
Doctor tries to defuse the situation:
"Ye see, if you train hard," he says, "you'll be able to fly far-far away, further than any of us. You'll be a real flyoneer! That's even better than scouting!"
Aria's tasseled ears flinged straight up:
"Re-eally?! Is it cool too?"
Doctor smiled back to her:
"Nothing's cooler. I promise..."
Emerging from her memories, Aria Inhaled, settled, and said:
"Fine, whatever... Just don't tell anyone else, ok? Let's get the buck out of here already."
"What do you mean 'Whatever'?" asked Loadstar. "You mean... the fuffler island expedition was for naught?! Are you serious?!"
"Oh c'mon," refutes Aria, "that trip was awesome! Knock me down if I lie!"
Loadstar wanted to shout back at her friend, but stopped, with her mouth open.
"See, you agree with me." concluded Aria, grinning widely. "So, what’s the escape route?".
"Well, that's easy," replied Loadstar, pointing to one of the doors. "That's the exit."
"Uh... how would you know that?" asked Aria. With that, Loadstar fixed her glasses and started her lecture:
"I read it. It says (in ancient-thestralian) 'Main Exit'. I guess it leads to the surface, or even all the way back to the Library."
Fillies looked around.
"That simple?" asked Nightglow. "What about the adventure, danger and all that?"
"What, have not had enough yet?" asked Aria. "You can squeeze back and go look for the spider, I'm sure he would enjoy your company."
With that, she flew higher and started to pull the book from its pedestal.
"Aria!" Loadstar shouted. "What the heck are you doing?"
"Whadda you mean?" thestral replied. "Trying to get this priceless ancient artifact where it belongs. Specifically - to the Mentats Order. Weird you didn't think about it, Curly."
"The book belongs in the museum," objected Nightglow.
"So do you, Hornhead." Aria stuck her tongue at the little mentat and grabbed the book tighter.
Loadstar felt her stomach churn ice. She read about traps like that, planted right under the treasure at the end of the long dungeon. Designed for the exhausted adventurers to lower their guard and seal their fate.
"Aria, NO!" shouted Loadstar.
But little thestral already managed to drag the book to the edge of the pedestal, and naturally, felt down to the floor unable to hold it in the air.
Fillies froze expecting ancient trap to start closing around them, which didn't take too long.
A slab of stone fell from the ceiling, closing the door little adventurers just entered through. Next - came the slab closing the adjacent door, then the next one... Loud thumps made four little fillies jump in their spots. Heavy, ominous music sounded around them filling the room.
This tune didn't entail anything good for little intruders who dared disturb this ancient walls…
...If anyone of them screamed others didn't hear it. Deafening ruckus of falling stones and music filled the room. Finally it all stopped but fillies didn’t dare raise their eyes, clinging to the pedestal they feared the worst is yet to come...
After a while they dared to look around, spacious room now turned into a new trap. All doors were closed off by dustolite slabs gleaming with silvery inscriptions.
Silence that filled the little room didn't sound majestic anymore, ir was ominous, luckily, Loadstar voice tore through it:
"ARIA! Think before you act!"
The rest had the same sentiment glowing in their eyes, but feisty thestral didn't care:
"This is the third time this night you’ve said that!" she replied, flaunting her wings.
Loadstar just shrugged:
"And yet, you did not listen!"
Aria chuckled,
"You're acting just like my mom."
Loadstar mentally shuddered imagining what the poor white pegasus had to go through every night dealing with her unruly child. Loadstar had no words to retort.
But Nightglow did:
"Aria, if you would have thought before you acted, we would not be here."
"Wanna go back to your dusty books - go!" she snarled back at the mentats, planted herself on her hind and crossed her forelegs.
Loadstar looked insulted, while Nightglow continued:
"That was a compliment, by the way. If you would have not convinced Loadstar and Grey Mouse to sneak out to Starlite Square, we would not have had this awesome adventure. You did great!"
"You bucking little..." started Aria but stopped mid sentence. "Wait, what?!"
"I'm saying, I adore all of you!" said Nightglow and looked at three fillies successively. "Loadstar’s smarts, your bravery and Grey's kindness who finds courage to support her friends no matter what."
Aria looked at the blocked doors, exit was so close, and yet, because of her actions...
"I guess, I do, should think before I act." she exhaled, "sorry..."
Loadstar, not bearing any anger at her friend, had to voice her feelings:
"Aria, sometimes I honestly think that your talent - is to irritate those around you!"
Flight-lead didn't mid, she just huffed back in reply:
"That way, I would have gotten my cutie mark years ago!"
Three fillies looked at each other and burst out laughing. The whole premise was just too absurd.
"Ok, fine, let's get serious now," said Nightglow "Let's look around, but do not touch anything."
"We'll see," said Aria and kicked old book lying on the floor. "I wonder, why would someone would bother to hide an old song book, plus, all these traps..."
Loadstar fixed her glasses, and replied in her favorite condescending voice:
"Judging by the runes and the thickness of the dust layer..."
"Sto-op!" moaned Aria, "that was a rhetorical question!"
"Stop skipping classes and you'll know more stuff," Loadstar huffed, "that way you would not need to ask me for answers all the time."
Grey's voice intervened:
"I think it's the same principle as the previous door we went through."
"Huh?" Loadstar turned to her. "What makes you think that?"
"The sound," Grey explained, "When slabs were falling, mechanisms sounded just like the one we used to stop the spider. I think we need the... voice password."
They looked at the doors covered in glowing runes, Aria sighed and said:
"Well, hornbearers, your turn again..." Grey Mouse gently poked her friends side with the wing, Aria looked back at her and added. "Sorry for the mess..."
Loadstar smiled and walked to the nearest door…
...Soon, they confirmed that doors had some sort of riddle engraved in them. Well, considering that fillies knew about the first door and the song that opened it, it was fair to assume the same principle would work here too.
Though they had no idea where to get the songs from, until Aria decided to check the book.
Comparing the scores in the book with the riddles on the doors, Aria realized that she would have to sing a complex mash-up, since Grey (who had time to carefully inspect the locking mechanisms) confirmed that door were 'interconnected' and had to be opened at the same time.
Mentats took the lead and started translating songs from ancient-thestralian to modern equestrian.
Loadstar struggled with the sisyphean task, when Nightglow suddenly proposed to simplify the process by writing the weird sounds in familiar letters. Otherwise, they would spend the next few years trying to fit the ancient rhyming scheme to modern language.
Loadstar held herself from facehoofing yet again: somehow, this simple solution evaded her.
«The saying is true: Fools love to struggle» she thought, «All I had to do is write old words phonetically!...»
Time passed and when all preparations were complete, Aria Midnight started to sing. First, the Song of the Night, then - more complex Song of Dreams, Rest and Happiness, Song of Sleep, (that forced everyone to yawn) followed by other songs that stirred weird emotions in little ponies hearts...
Aria closed her eyes in concentration and felt herself floating in the air held not by her wings but ancient songs and magic merged in currents she floated on. The room around her disappeared leaving the little thestral singing on top of her voice gliding above a star filled abyss…
...When Aria finished the last verse and echo of her voice faded, the locks opened, releasing the doors to move back into their holding positions, releasing little fillies from the trap.
Aria Midnight still shaking from the experience, tried to stand up, her legs quivered beneath her. She would have felt to the floor if it was not for her friends who caught her fall.
"Congratulations Aria," said Loadstar, "told you, irritating others - is your calling..."
Aria turned her head, expectingley, she had a new cutie mark on her flank: three notes atop night sky filled with starts...
She wanted to scream in joy, but had no strength left. She barely managed to wheeze in her now cracked voice.
No one laughed.
They knew too well not too…
* * *
The heavy hatch that was hidden behind old tapestry opened in a cloud of dust and a loud bang. Four ruffled and exhausted foals dropped onto the library's floor only to find trainer Bane Fire and master Blue Sage already waiting for them.
Their mentors knew, and Loadstar pondered if they used a tracking spell or knew about this exit...
Luckily all thought vanished from her head when Loadstar realised that Princess Luna herself stood behind the mentors. Princess of the Night, Mistress of dreams, Queen of Starspire, and so on and so forth...
Filies stood motionless gawking at the Princess and failed to realise that master Blue Sage held something in his magic... a bundle of whips.
Loadstar was the first one to see the ancient punishment tool, she meekly squeaked. Familiar noise made rest of the fillies to turn and look at the Grey Mouse. Quizzically, they realised that she was not the source. Turning to the white-maned mentat three fillies followed her gaze and too, saw the whips.
Loadstar felt her hind quiver in anticipation of pain, her tail defensively curled beneath her.
"Loadstar," said Blue Sage in a ceremonial tone, "We are very, very close to revive one of the Academy's oldest traditions purely because of your blatant disregard for discipline and disobedience for my direct instructions."
Loadstar felt her heart drop down to her hooves, but suddenly Aria Midnight stepped forward:
"Master, My fault!..."
She was abruptly cut by Bane Fire’s shout:
"Shut it, flight-lead! Loadstar was appointed as your superior and will bear the full responsibility. You in turn..." she took a pause and glanced at her subordinates, "...you will watch."
Now it was Aria's turn to panic. Grey Mouse was paralysed by fear and didn't even breathe. Aria's eyes filled with tears realising that Loadstar will be punished for HER faults.
Loadstar lowered her head. She really wanted to stay strong in the face of her inevitable punishment but she could not. Loadstar wanted to cry and hope that her mentor will not order too many whips...
"Are you going to make excuses?" asked Blue Sage. Loadstar just shook her head, unable to look him in the eyes.
Loadstars nightmares were taking form right here and now. Punishment. Humiliation. Ruined grades. Disappointed looks on the faces of her parents, mentors,... Princess’ herself! Worst of all, just for her, the Academy will break its rules and use physical punishment for the first time in hundreds of years!
It was just terrible.
Loadstar imagined her future life, spending the rest of her days in dustolite factory, measuring bricks with a ruler, the only tool she will be allowed to handle.
A pair of hot teras felt on the floor when Loadstar realised - she could never return to the *Selena*. Captain Silver Shade would never allow a flunky to join her crew...
"Master," said Nightglow and for some reason nodded to the Princess, "Your Highness... you see, we were..."
"Nightglow," Blue Sage slowly turned to the colt, "Do not even try to pull the blame onto yourself, I understand your feelings, but right now is not the time to act upon them. You know too well what happens when..."
"Sage" Princess' soft voice made everyone shudder, "A moment."
Mentat reverently bowed when Princess stepped closer to the fainting fillies.
"What do you have there?"
Loadstar blubbered in reply:
"A book... we found it... in the dungeon... your Highness."
"Could We?"
Loadstar nodded and stepped aside. The book lifted off the ground a floated closer to the alicorn.
"How quaint. We thought it was destroyed during the Age of Discord." a brief smile ran across Princess' face, she looked back at the fillies. "We would like to know more about how this lost volume was acquired!"
Blue Sage wanted to object but promptly bit his tongue, realising who he was about to cross.
Loadstar exhaled in relief and started her tale, skipping the part why four of them went into the dungeon in the first place. The Princess didn't mind, Blue Sage feared to intervene, as did Bane Fire.
Later on Aria inject herself into the story and again tried to pull the blame onto herself, Loadstar noted that her usually straightforward friend can be sneaky and deceiving when it comes to protecting others.
"...And that is how I got my cutie mark," Aria ended. "So I insist, that all of it was my fault... your Highness."
"You all are to blame, only the degree of your responsibility is different," replied Luna, smiling indulgently.
Quite obvious, ancient alicorn was hundreds of years old, and could see through little pony’s tricks.
Eight ears sorrowfully drooped, while the Princess continued:
"However. We can not deny, that due to your misbehaviour, We are now again in possession of 'Night Harmony', songs of which we were unable to replicate for the past hundred years!"
"Your Highness," finally blurted Blue Sage, "with all respect, we can not leave these four without proper punishment. It will encourage the rest of the class to follow!"
"If I may, Highness, Master," intervened Bane Fire. "I think we should not use physical punishment. It will only strengthen their resolve. I think they should get a good taste of what we have to go through every day."
"True, trainer Bane Fire," alicorn slightly nodded. "Henceforth, the punishment will be reduced, but still, will be stern above any other. Do you agree with Our judgement, Sage?"
Blue Sage did not reply to the rhetorical questions, just bowed.
Princess looked over the fillies. Each one, especially Loadstar, imagined a different scenario in their heads, expulsion, imprisonment, even transfiguration.
With that, Princess spread her wings and proclaimed:
"You four, separately, will conduct a whole day of classes for the young colts and fillies as substitute teacher. With full responsibility for their lives, health, discipline and grades. Your tasks and classes will be provided by Blue Sage and trainer Bane Fire."
"Praises, your Highness," said Blue Sage, "magnificent choice."
Princess nodded graciously, while mentat continued:
"If only we could have done the same for that rascal, captain Silver Shade. I would have gladly sent her to be tortured by the first graders."
Luna suddenly coughed, and when all attention was pointed to her, managed to reply:
"Yes, I… We... think that... that would have been a good lesson for her."
CMS’s wanted to object but could not go against her majesty. Plus, the whips were still floating behind Blue Sage's back.
Latter in the meantime continued:
"Unbelievable recklessness for an adult mare, fly three little helpless fillies way up north and leave them there! That is just infantile!"
Rumbling mentat could have not noticed that Luna's cheeks blushed lightly.
"...And if we should punish anyone, it should be the adults involved..." Sage stopped and looked to see what attracted everyone's attention, "Your Highness?"
Princess gallantly coughed, closed her eyes and flicked her ears a couple of times moving blood away from her face, then replied:
"We agree with your logic Sage. Pardon, the room seems to be too hot for Our liking."
Loadstar pondered. She was pretty sure that she already saw this embarrassed face before…
* * *
The CMS’s and Nightglow were sitting in the library's lunchroom. Loadstar’s hooves were still shaking and she could not focus herself enough to cast even the simplest of spells. She had to leave her glass of Sarsaparila Fizzle on the table and slurp it through the straw.
The rest were not feeling any better.
They all had a chance to wash themselves from the spiderwebs and dust, but hot water helped only a bit.
Grey Mouse have not yet said a single word, Nightglow sat next and hugged her comfortingly. Aria crossed her forelegs and pouted. She was torn by conflicting emotions: excitement from finally getting her cutie mark and annoyance from the upcoming punishment.
For a while the silence was interrupted only by Loadstar slurping until she finally admitted:
"Girls? I think, we actually have to thank him."
"Whom?" asked Aria. "Surely not Boo Sage, who I'm sure is grinning right now, preparing our torturous assignments?"
Loadstar shook her head:
"No, I meant Mute. He pointed us in the right direction after all, explained how we were wrong in our search for cutie marks. And we promised..."
Aria stopped her chopping the air with a hoof:
"To eat him, yeah I remember. I still want to, you know. What a nasty bird... thank him... pff!"
"We'll survive the punishment, I'm sure," said Nightglow and looked at the fillies. "Girls, surely after all you went through, some simple substitute classes do not scare you?"
"No bucking way they don’t!" shouted Aria in reply, "I'm just curious, how did they know to wait for us right at the exit? That's some heck of a coincidence!"
"Actually, that's an easy one," said Loadstar, looking at her glass, "I had a chance to ask about it. Master Sage decided to check on me and Nightglow before leaving the Academy for the day, trainer Bane Fire was with him and went to check you two. Finding that all four of us were gone and a secret passage open in the library (and who knows what kind of Discordian monster lurking inside), They decided not to go after us, but informed her Majesty immediately."
"Ok, but how did they know where we will exit?" persisted Aria.
Now it was Nightglow turn to explain:
"There is a spell called 'search for life signs' It lets you see living creatures through walls. Surely the Princess knows it so she just saw us wander around the dungeon. Quite simple really. "
"Heck isn't!" replied Aria, "I bet seeing through stone walls is not easy at all!"
"Well, she is an alicorn," noted Loadstar, "Stronger than all of the Spire's mentats combined."
Aria seemed satisfied with that answer because she decided to change the subject:
"And still, CMS’s are victorious!" She proclaimed with pride. "We escaped our punishment, lived to tell the tale, and most importantly - got our cutie marks!"
"Technically," said Nightglow, "We were not yet punished..."
But Aria ignored him and floated above the table:
"Who cares! So we get to sit with some pipsqueaks, big deal! I got a whole squad of stallions under my command!..."
With that, she flailed her hoof and dinged the decorative plate that was hanging on the wall. All three jumped to catch the falling ware, Aria dove down and slammed into her friends.
The plate however, fell on one of the pillows that was now empty, remaining intact.
Next moment, lunchroom was filled with bright laughter...