//------------------------------//
// Chapter 32 
// Story: The Human Pet 
// by RushyFiction 
//------------------------------//

As you stand in the entrance hall with your friends, the faint, comforting orange glow finally dies out, replaced seconds later by the more eerie white of Princess Luna's moon. A morose feeling comes over you as you realise you'll either have to spend more time waiting, or wander around in the long shadows.

Hearing the old pony's hoofsteps echo from the first portal to the left, you follow the sound on a whim, and the noise of Shaggy's flapping wings follow right behind you. Moments later, you reach a wooden door left cracked open, with flickering light seeping out. You pull the squeaky door open and find yourself in what once may have been a scribe's chamber, but is now converted into the old pony's living place. In the middle of the room stands a stone brazier where flames dance happily amidst a cooking pot, giving the small chamber a homely feel sorely lacking in the rest of the Castle.

The scraggly blue pony himself sits casually on a pile of hay in the corner, looking through a newspaper with reading glasses on.

Since you don't know what to do now, you feel awkward, almost like an intruder. Well, she said you'll know it when you find it... but is it really a good idea to go prancing around the place in the dead of night?

Shaggy flies past you and sits down on a boulder to rest his wings. As his mouth moves, you assume he's talking to the other pony in the room in whatever ultrasonic language bats use. Your eyes fall on Sweetheart's bunny, looking bored and antsy on Shaggy's shoulder. Sweetheart really loves that silly thing. I should get them back together. Stop wasting time.

You nod to yourself and find a rusty three-pronged candle holder near the old pony and pick it up, gaining his attention. He throws the newspaper on his hind hooves and reaches into an olive green saddlebag behind his head to pull out several tapers. You smile and nod gratefully, and fill the holder, lighting the candles from the brazier. The bunny, noticing your actions, hops off of Shaggy's hooves and runs up your leg and back, tickling you. "Alright, what do you say, pal? You and me, like the old times? Of course, the old times were pretty bad... ah, fuck, let's just go." Leaving Shaggy to recuperate and talk with the other pony, you exit.





"I know it's in the Castle, it's close. I know that I'll know it when I see it. And I know that I'm walking around in the middle of alien ruins at like, what, 1 AM? 2 AM? Because spooky ghost daughter told me- did I tell you about the ghost daughter? I have one now. Looks like a furry grey noodle. Lives inside my head." You shake your head and laugh. "You know, maybe I've just gone completely insane and am now talking to myself in an asylum. There's a theory."

The bunny bites you on the ear, nearly causing you to drop your candles on the staircase you were on.

"OW! Okay, okay, you're real! Jesus..." Your voice trails off as the immensity of the Castle starts pressuring you. With nothing, but the feeble candlelight to give you vision, you feel as if you're surrounded by ghosts. You run your hand against the wall, hoping against all sanity that maybe you'll touch something that'll give you a clue as to what you're looking for. "Pah!" You hiss. "It could be any brick, anywhere! What the hell was she thinking...?"

Suddenly, your hand brushes against a coarse, soft material and you freeze briefly, before moving the light over to see your palm had landed against decaying, brittle books in a bookcase. You are inside a library, and the glow of the candles is reflected on the wet cobwebs wafting about. Cringing a little, you stick your hand into the web and rip it into shreds, moving between the shelves until you reach a table, setting the candle holder down there.

Out of idle curiosity, you pull out one of the ancient books and set it down on the table next to the light. As you open the book, it spews out a cloud of dust, forcing you and the bunny to hold your breath for ten seconds before actually examining the page. To your jubilation and shock, the words are in English!

"... 'use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Increase the heat to medium high, add the squash, and cook until lightly browned, 4 to 6 minutes...' hey! This is a cookbook!"

The bunny blinks in confusion.

"A cookbook! ... in English." Eris. She did say my resistance to magic wasn't as strong anymore.

You stuff the cookbook back on the shelf and pull out another tome, carelessly throwing the historical artefact onto the table to check the pages. "... 'if you're as grumpy as a cat, don't be surprised if you fall... prat... Let your smile be a ray, and always tell your neighbor... hey!' The fuck? ... 'By Princess Celestia for her sister Luna.' ... oh God..."

The bunny faints, plopping onto the table with a faint thud. A shudder passes over you. I should buy that poor night princess pony some flowers.

Rubbish pony poetry aside, you're still as clueless as ever so you take the candle holder and the bunny, and leave the library through a smaller doorway, which leads to yet another staircase going down and down and down by several temperatures. There, you find yourself in a corridor with rusting suits of equine armor lined up on each side. A gust of cold air blowing between the cracks in the bricks puts out the light, leaving you completely alone in the darkness.

A quiet chirruping sound inside your pocket attracts your attention. "... Buddy? That you?" You can feel him wiggling and jump out. "What're you doing? ... Can you see?" The bunny runs along the corridor, his little legs making soft patting noises. "... okay, I'm coming right after you!" you say unsurely and hold out your arms like Frankenstein's monster to avoid slamming into anything.

Unexpectedly, all of the suits start shining at once, blinding you momentarily. "Ah! What the..." You blink rapidly, trying to see what was happening. The golden, ethereal light seemed to emanate from within the suits themselves. In unison, they step off of their platforms. You feel as if you really ought to be running towards the other end of the corridor, but are paralyzed by sheer fear.

Together, they raise their spears, casting stripy shadows across the room.

RUN!!

As you bolt, you hear the blades whizzing by, one after the other. You throw the useless candle holder behind you, hoping it'll at least buy you another second. It clatters to the floor without touching a single spear. You dash straight into the inky blackness of the next area and trip, collapsing. "Dammit!"

You stand up, and to your complete confusion, despite having seen nothing but darkness ahead, you find yourself in the relatively well-lit great hall again, the moon bathing your surroundings in an eerie blue glow, just enough for you to see your way around. You rush back to the hallway where you left Shaggy and the old pony, but that entire corridor bursts into flames right in front of you, as if someone had lit a match on a pool of alcohol. You cry out and jump out of the way to avoid the fire. However, as soon as you fall back into the main hall again, the massive fire dies out as quickly as it had started.

Your jaw drops and you slowly edge back into the tunnel again. Woosh, the fire lights up again. A step back and it's gone. "Okay." you mumble out loud. "Not that way. Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, boss." You chuckle crazily. Something flickers at the corner of your eye, so you turn right, towards the thrones at the end of the hall. Two large, spectral ponies sit on them now, motionlessly, and too far away to fully make out aside from their long manes drifting in a nonexistent wind just as with Princess Luna and Princess Tia. You find yourself unable to hold back an embarrassing whimper of fear and the extremely powerful urge to run out of the Castle whilst you still can. "This is not happening, this can't be happening... wait... Eris! This you? Please be you..."

You don't get a response and the ghostly images on the other side of the hall do not disappear. "... shit..." you mouth. You draw your dagger just to feel safer and slowly start moving closer towards the ghosts, coiled to jump at any movement they might make.

And jump you do, but not from the ghosts, but because of the noise. The very unexpected melody and brass of... organ music? "What the fu-?" you mouth.

Carried by excellent acoustics, the eerie, fast music booms through the Castle. The two ghosts stand up on their four hooves and in perfect synchrony, walk down the steps of the throne platform onto the main floor. You hold the dagger in front of you in a futile gesture, but they seemingly ignore you. Instead, they pick up on the tune, and their bodies start swaying in rhythm, leading them to a joint, spectacularly choreographed dance across the hall.

With your back against the wall, you slowly move past them towards the other end where the music was coming from, praying the bouncy pony spirits won't notice you. Luck is on your side, though, and you manage to escape the hall and rush to the stairs unmolested.

Not seeing a thing anymore, you trip and roll painfully down the stairs and onto a moth-eaten carpet. Whilst rubbing your hurting chest, you use your other hand to feel out the contours of the carpet and realise it's one of those long royal stripes. You start crawling on its path and soon enough, are rewarded with a little dot of light in the distance, which grows into an illuminated organ. Most of the light is blocked by a shadowy pony figure whose hooves dance across the keys with a talent like you'd never seen before. The organ is flanked by a large candle holder on each side, with five candles each that serve to reveal more of the room to you. It is built out of a peculiar, reflective blue stone and the organ itself is surrounded by fine amethyst curtains that give you the impression this side of the Castle once belonged to the Night Princess.

Sensing your approach, the pony's hooves falter, cutting off the beautiful music. You hold up the dagger defensively, ready to fight for your life. In your panicked, tired mind, it's entirely possible that the music brought forward those terrible apparitions you've faced. But this pony breathes and reacts. He's real alright...

You yelp as the pony leaps up into flight, the dagger clattering on the floor out of shock. You run off, but he easily circles in front of you and shoves you onto the floor. You almost punch him in the face in panic, only to stop as you recognise the shining crimson-red eyes, filled with a mixture of childlike curiosity and concern. "Oh my God." You gasp, releasing what feels like a year of pent-up anxiety in one breath. As your body un-tenses and you drop to the floor, the bat pony lands and pokes at your neck with his freckled cold snout, nuzzling you comfortingly to calm you down.

In need of something friendly and true, you sit up again and wrap your arms around Shaggy's strong neck. The lack of hygiene avenues in the jungle has made his soft fur matted and a little grimy, but you don't care. The bat pony rubs his cheek against yours to emphasise his presence and the two of you sit there like this for a moment, letting you regain your faculties.





Crimson hadn't dawdled after Skinny and Angel Bunny wandered off to explore the deserted Castle. Even without full use of his hind hooves, he'd been compelled to have a good look at the place himself like any good thestral would. This wasn't just any old ruins - it was the site of the iconic battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon, where the dominance of the day over night was established for good.

As Mother often told him, things were never the same again after that. The bloodthirsty creatures of the night were feared, and supposedly only kept around at all by Celestia's pity. Many a petition came her way to have the thestrals removed from Canterlot, or even sent to the moon to follow their mistress. Gradually, of course, they subsided, but the mutual respect that had existed in Celestia and Luna's original shared rule was never regained.

Eventually, the bat had found his way to the organ. Unable to resist trying out a long disused talent, he'd played a tune or two from his colthood until Skinny found him, his eyes glazed over like a frightened pup. "Hey, Skinny. W-what's the matter??" the bat asked, nervous. "What happened?"

Sensing that the cold alien was looking for security, Crimson nuzzled into his cheek and tried to share body heat by covering his shoulders with his leathery wings. Gradually, his sharp, rapid breathing slowed and the bat sensed the tense digits wrapped around him loosen and becoming flexible again. "There, that's better. You're alright now. You're alright." He repeated.

The bat's ears caught the approach of loud, nonchalant hoofsteps and soon enough, Care Taker appeared from the darkness with an oil lamp. "Dinnertime is about to begin... sir."

Crimson nodded. "Right. There, you hear that Skinny? Dinner! Come on now, let's get something warm in your belly!" He patted the alien on the shoulder and took to flight again. The alien grabbed onto one of Crimson's front hooves like a foal, and followed behind him.

In their absence, Care Taker had set up a somewhat respectable dinner table in one of the smaller, better preserved towers. One of the old table legs was missing, replaced by a boulder, but it still felt far more royal than anything Crimson was used to.. Steam wafted off a blackened pot, waking up Angel Bunny, whose tiny nose began loudly sniffing from Skinny's bag. Despite the promise of warm food, Skinny grew agitated again, and kept slowing them down to peek through a crack in the walls, which opened up right down to the main hall and the cobwebbed twin thrones.

The old earth pony's icy eyes noticed Skinny's frightened demeanour. "Looks like the Castle isn't agreeing with him much."

"I just wish I knew what he was thinking." Crimson sighed as he set Skinny down on one of the creaky chairs. Angel hopped out of his bag and climbed onto the table, clearly hungry. The bat snapped him up with his teeth before he could burn himself on the hot pot. "I'ss hot, Angel. Wait." The bunny let out a cute groan and huffed.

"Well, maybe it's for the best." Care Taker murmured and began filling everyone's bowls with delicious hot stew, which they all eagerly began to consume. "Some things are best left unknown."

Crimson squinted and bit his lower lip. "Is that why you didn't want us in the Castle? Because there's things here that you don't want us to know about?"

Care Taker raised an eyebrow. "If there were, you wouldn't be here, sir." He said confidently.

For a while, conversation stalled and everypony ate in private, pondering over their own thoughts. Eventually, however, the boulder that Care Taker had used to prop their table up caught Crimson's eye. It wasn't just a lump of rock, but clearly carved into a round shape and etched with deep lines. "What is that?" Crimson pointed at the boulder. "I feel like I've seen that before somewhere."

"I should imagine so. That lump of rock over there nearly doomed Equestria about a month ago, when the Changeling Queen Chrysalis used it to displace the entire pony population underground. I don't know if you noticed." Care Taker explained in a dry tone. "I'm sure you lead a busy life." He glanced at Crimson's medallion.

The bat frowned. "The princesses took it here? What for? And what is it? We were all debriefed, but all they said was something about it being ancient, dark magic."

"Well, if they said that, I should probably keep my mouth shut." Care Taker quipped, letting the bat pony agonize for a few second, before snorting. "Buuuut the thing's dead anyway, so I guess it wouldn't hurt. That there is a Tradestone."

"A ...Tradestone?"

Care Taker nodded. "And rather ironically, it's not dark magic at all. But it is ancient. Even older than the princesses, in fact. If you remember your history classes, you'll know that back in the day, Equestria wasn't exactly all rainbows and sunshine. It was an untamed wilderness much more like this forest. Magic was..." he paused for a moment, searching for the right word. "... different. But the old pony tribes still managed to survive, and legend has it that a lot of that had to do with the Tradestones.

See, the tribes, they'd made their homes a great distance away from one another, but they still needed each other's help from time to time. Food, tools, the occasional roll of toilet paper... now, teleporting all that across Equestria is a bit of an ask for any unicorn. That's where the Tradestones come in. Instead of taking something and just sending it somewhere else, they switch - tit for tat. For example... a field of pumpkins for a load of cider barrels, a library of books for an art store of paintings... or the entire population of Equestria for Chrysalis's many-many hibernating Changeling eggs."

Crimson gaped at the possibilities, but as a guard, one appeared at the forefront of his mind: "Chrysalis has an egg for every pony in Equestria?!"

"Possibly double, or triple." Care Taker said without much fear in his voice. "Celestia only knows how many she can pop out a year, but it's all useless, because they'll never see the sun and there's not enough active Changelings to make sure they're warm. Still, a lovely thought to take to bed." The old pony laughed. It was a hacking, malevolent sound.

"How can you know all of this? This should be common knowledge amongst the guards!" Crimson complained.

Care Taker squinted, focusing on Luna's necklace that was still prominently shining on the bat's fluffy chest. "Tell you what. I will answer any questions you might have about me if you explain why Princess Luna would give an obviously inexperienced guard such as yourself authority only second to herself."

Crimson blinked. "I dunno." He said dumbly. And that was the end of that. Nobody said another word until Angel Bunny began excitedly hopping at the window.

His muscles taut, Skinny was the first to stand up and take a look, and to Crimson's dismay, all color drained from the alien's face. The bat and Care Taker followed suit, the former feeling massive trepidation building. What now?

The window opened up to the old, overgrown courtyard, illuminated by the bright, moving light of a unicorn's horn. The light revealed the Elements of Harmony sans Rainbow Dash, galloping towards the Castle.





"No, no, no, NO!" You shout, fury building inside you. How dare they come now?! You knew exactly what was going to happen. The sweet ponies were going to whisk you back to their town. Of course you couldn't resist them, particularly Sweetheart, who was probably worried sick to death... or maybe not, given that you stole food. They'd never let you out of their sight again, not knowing just how close you came to finding a way...

There had to be another way!

You focus on some debris on the ground, particularly a large, nasty-looking chunk of the brick wall. Maybe if you were to knock yourself unconscious, you could talk to Eris again? She could sense the power, tell you where to look at least. You feel so madly desperate that it's worth a shot. Before Shaggy or the other pony can even notice, you pick up the large rock, hold it over your head and let your grip slip...

"OWWWW! SON OF A BITCH!!!" You scream in pain, holding your head. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!!"

You curl up in pain, barely noticing Shaggy and the other pony rush to your aid. For a brief lunatic moment, you ponder what those two must think of you at this point. They drag you over to a wall. The old pony latches onto an oil lamp from the table with his teeth and holds it near your head to let Shaggy check your head wound. As the former hovers over you, you get a good look at his neck and notice a chain wrapped around it, concealed under his blue tie. The throbbing in your pain suddenly increases, causing you to groan through closed teeth. But it's not the pain of the wound. It's a headache, the same headache you've had damn near every other day since Princess Luna broke into your mind and brought Eris to life by accident.

Your eyes snap open as you realize that what you've been looking for hasn't been the Castle at all, but rather this pony who just happened to be here. And the necklace he hides...

With a savage strength that surprises even yourself, you grip the pony's neck and pull the chain hard as you can, revealing...





Aside from the more-than-fit Applejack, the Elements all gasped for air as they slowed down in front of the doorway to the Castle.

"Phooey!" The farm mare said chipperly, a wide smile on her tanned muzzle. "Ah'aven't felt sweat like that on mah back since the last Running Of The Leaves."

In direct contrast, Rarity shivered in the throes of overexhaustion. "This-s-s s-sort of e-e-extravagant pace should be banned! N-not one thing's worth this much trouble, let alone a maverick monkey!"

Fluttershy was quicker to forget her own tiredness. "Ohh, I do hope they're okay. They've been out here for days now. I, I just don't know what I'd do if something happened..."

Applejack patted her on the back. "Don'tcha worry 'bout nothin' there, sugarcube. 'Ah'm sure they're all in one piece, nappin' in hammocks and the like. We prolly went through more hail and thunder gettin' here than those three!"

"I hope you're right..." Fluttershy said unsurely.

Twilight stared at the doors with a firm expression. "Well, we're about to find out." She walked up the stairs and pushed her weight against one of the doors, but they did not open. "That's odd. Someone's locked them from the inside. Hang on." Using her magic, Twilight took control over the large plank holding the door shut and pulled it off, causing the doors to slowly open with a creak.

In the main hall stood Skinny, with his funny... hands... behind his back in an authoritative pose. Beaming, Fluttershy trotted ahead of the group, only to falter when she noticed a familiar metal necklace hanging on his neck and glinting with a red light. She stopped, and Twilight stopped beside her, gasping out loud:

"The Alicorn Amulet!"