For the next several hours, the city of Newcanter rejoiced and enjoyed the final day of the festival. Ponies stepped out of their homes to play simple games with their foals, earn seasonal prizes, eat food so bad for you that it would make even the most covetous of gluttonous snakes blush, and overall throw caution and responsibility to the wind. A day and a night of revelry and indulgence, unsullied by violence, tension, or aggression.
And then the sun went down.
Those ponies who lived on the thoroughfare before the outermost gates of the great castle that presided over the city would find themselves bearing witness to a sudden and inexplicable movement of troops. The gates opened up, and a sizable contingent of Nightblades, Dragon Sentinels, and the City Watch came out. Orders were barked, and soon the force scattered to the winds. Those with wings took to the sky, while the rest scattered to search the streets.
It was unannounced and unexpected, but the ponies knew better than to question or intervene. They ushered themselves away in their homes to get their night’s rest in, dreading the fact that, come the dawn’s light, they would be required to return to their jobs and regular responsibilities. The festival was over, and so too was their reprieve.
However, in an alleyway between two of the closest of those homes, two ponies stood in the shadows, hidden behind crates and barrels with their eyes glued firmly on the passing assortment of troops.
“We’re taking a big risk here, Lens,” Scarlet whispered quietly, glancing at the stallion in front of her with a grim frown. “Waiting this long to make our move…”
“Silent’s word has, so far, proven to be honest,” Lens countered, adjusting his glasses without taking his eyes off the passing soldiers. “If he told you he had no intention of killing her, then all we can do is hope that he was being honest about that as well. And seeing as he escorted her away from those two ponies I found in the alleys…”
Scarlet nodded quietly, her brow furrowing in thought as she returned her attention to the small army of soldiers. She leaned further back behind cover as one sentinel came dangerously close to the entrance of the alleyway. Thankfully, their draconic helmet blocked their peripheral vision, and Scarlet and Lens went blissfully unnoticed.
Their plan was simple, compared to some idea Scarlet may have considered. Silent Edge had warned that if they failed to turn themselves in by nightfall, he would come for them in force. What better distraction could they ask for? All of those troops would be expecting Scarlet and Lens to be out there in the streets, not slipping in as they stormed out.
Of course, once they were inside, there was going to be a lot more improvisation. Neither of them had ever been inside the castle before, and as such, had next to no idea of its layout or interior defenses. It was just as likely that they’d make it five steps before being skewered by some unseen trap, or spotted by a cleverly hidden sentry.
But nevertheless, they had to try. Whatever animosity Scarlet held for the changeling, she couldn’t let this be her fate.
A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Scarlet’s lips as, for a brief moment, she found herself contemplating just how far she had fallen in the eyes of the law. How many counts of murder had she racked up in slaughtering so many of Silent’s Nightblades? How severe would the count of treason be when she first opposed him? What about property damage in Shimmervale? And now breaking into the castle of the capital of the whole country to rescue what was, in the eyes of the nation at large, a demon?
“If they could lop my head off three times, I imagine they would,” she mused absently before tearing her mind away from such things. She focused forward, watching as the crowd steadily began to thin out. Her ears perked up, and she could hear a voice calling to close the gates.
“Now’s our chance!” Lens hisses, darting over and draping a foreleg over Scarlet’s shoulders. “Do it!”
Scarlet screwed her eyes shut and focused. Reaching out with her magic, she felt the narrow gap in the dome-shaped field that protected Newcanter castle from outside spells. It was shrinking by the second, but she had more than enough time to worm her way in. Her horn lit up with energy, and, with a quick burst of power, she and Lens vanished from the alley in a burst of light.
They emerged under a tree in the courtyard that sat right by the wall on the inside, the sound of the gates closing reaching their ears mere moments later. Scarlet held her breath and looked around to assess the situation and whether or not they had been seen.
Luckily, their presence went unnoticed.
The courtyard was a sizable affair, the grounds made up of finely-paved stone with a dirt training ring set off to one side where ponies in the city watch would either practice their swordplay or engage in one-on-one sparring matches. A long line of archer’s training targets were arranged behind the ring. A path wound through the courtyard for the main entrance to the castle, where two lunar guards stood watch. A collection of other doors were placed at varying points along the walls, although where they went was anypony’s guess.
But they were in the courtyard. That was more than Scarlet had initially been expecting of them. Now to go the rest of the way…
“Where next?” Scarlet asked in a low whisper, keeping her head down, and her eyes focused up at the walls. More lunar guards patrolled up high, although their eyes were, mercifully, focused on the outside.
“We can’t draw the attention of the guards,” Lens replied in an equally-hushed voice, squinting around at the courtyard. “We need to get inside the castle itself. We’re in the open here.”
“I can’t risk a teleport,” Scarlet pointed out with a stern frown. “If I do, there is a very high chance that one of those guards up there by the gate will notice. It is frankly a miracle that we aren’t discovered already.”
“Behind the tree, then,” Lens suggested, ushering them back until they were sandwiched between the tree and the stone wall. It blocked line of sight to them, but only somewhat.
Scarlet’s frown deepened when she felt her side being pressed right up against Lens’. “Well, this is cozy,” she remarked dryly. “Please tell me this spot wasn’t just so you could-”
“Scarlet,” Lens deadpanned. “Can we not right now?”
She was quiet for a second before nodding. “My apologies… I’m just on edge.”
“Imagine what this is like for me,” Lens rebuked, peeking out from their cover to look around. “I’m not even half the fighter you are. I’m terrified right now.”
Scarlet hummed in thought before glancing back towards the front door. Going in that way was probably not an option. They needed some other way through, preferably without drawing any attention. But how could they do it…?
“Do you know an invisibility spell?” she ventured hopefully.
Lens shook his head. “I do not. I’m a barrier expert, remember?”
Scarlet sighed. “Shit. Worth a shot…”
“What about you?”
“If anything, I am worse at magic than I was during the war. I spent eight or so years very rarely using it for anything more than mundane telekinesis. My options are limited, as well.”
“Well, we can’t just sit here with our horns up our butts all day,” Lens hissed, evidently growing impatient. “We might just have to risk the teleport.”
Scarlet hummed quietly before glancing back over at the guards, squinting through the night to try and get their measure. If she was seeing this right, the one on the left was a thestral mare, while the one on the right was a unicorn stallion.
An idea came into her mind, and a small, evil grin formed on her face. “Oh… I have an idea,” she whispered.
“What is it?”
Without a word, Scarlet lit up her horn. She would have to time this very carefully, and she would have to be quick, but if all went the way she hoped…
She reached out with her magic, and though it made some small part of her feel disgusted with herself, she went ahead and set to work. She saw her amethyst aura envelop the very base of the thestrals’ tail before yanking up. The mare’s eyes went wide, her pupils narrowing into slits, while her fanged mouth flew open in an undignified squeak.
Scarlet immediately released the hold of her magic just as the thestral spun around, leaving her with no aura to go off of.
There was a brief moment where the stallion and mare talked, quiet enough that Scarlet couldn’t hear before the bat smacked her partner across the face. “YA FUCKIN’ COCKSUCKIN’ WANKER!” she bellowed. “THAT’S MY FUCKIN’ TAIL YA WENT AND YANKED, YA DAFT PIECE OF ASS!”
Satisfied that those two would be occupied for the foreseeable future, Scarlet encased both herself and Lens in her magic. With a burst of light and a rush of wind, they vanished from the courtyard and reappeared on the other side of the front door. The angered, thickly accented shouting of the incensed thestral was still audible loud and clear through the heavily-reinforced doors.
Lens blinked the stars out of his eyes before giving Scarlet a sideways glance. “I, uh… wasn’t expecting that from you,” he said awkwardly. “How did you know that would work?”
Scarlet pressed on. “I knew I’d react the same way if some stallion yanked on mine without permission,” she said, scanning the front lobby they had entered into with a critical eye.
The whole room was gloomy and dimly lit at this late hour, with only a scattering of evenly-spaced candles lining the walls. What little light there was besides that, came in the form of shafts of pale moonlight that filtered in through the circular window resting above the door, painting a shadowy silhouette of Princess Luna across the majority of the lower floor space.
A small staircase led down from where they stood, descending two-or-three feet. A high, rounded ceiling sat over them, with intricate and abstract depictions of Princess Celestia chiseled painstakingly into the white stone. A carpet made of satisfyingly contrasting blues and golds ran directly from the entrance and through a door on the far wall that would most likely lead to the public hearing chambers, where courtiers could bring word of their woes to whichever council was in session at the time. Two archways were set into the walls, one on each side, through which the faint flickering glow of torchlight could be seen.
“Well? Where do we go?” Lens asked after a moment, looking around.
“I have no idea,” Scarlet replied quietly, making her way carefully down the steps. “We need to find Primrose, and I can only imagine two places where she would be right now. The dungeons, or the Nightblade’s quarters.”
“How do we find them?” Lens asked after a moment, his brow furrowing. “This castle isn’t exactly small…”
Scarlet hummed in thought. “I’m not sure… we’ll just have to look around and hope we find some clue. If worse comes to worst, we can capture a lone guard and beat it out of them,” she decided before setting off for the corridor on the left.
Lens followed after her with wide eyes. “Beat it out of them? I thought we were trying to avoid raising the alarm?”
“We are,” Scarlet replied with a slow nod. “So that will be our last resort. For now, we explore, and we pray to the Five that we get lucky.”
Lens didn’t offer anything in the way of a response beyond an unsettled hum. The two pressed on in silence, the only sound being that of their hooves steadily clopping along the stone floor. Every so often, they passed by windows of frosted glass that allowed diluted moonlight to light their way. Most of the light that guided their path came either from the sparse candles that lined the halls, or the glow of Lens’ horn.
The atmosphere was eerily oppressive. Maybe it was just the fact that they weren’t supposed to be here, or perhaps it was the implications of what they were doing that set Scarlet’s mind so on edge. Perhaps it was the low light and the lack of sound. Whatever the case was, the result was the same. Her eyes leapt from shadow to shadow, her teeth tightly clenched behind her lips, a spark of magic just waiting to fly up her horn and conjure her blades at a moment’s notice.
Soon, they passed through a door that led them out of the halls and into an open courtyard at the heart of the castle. Four paved stone paths formed a cross shape, at the center of which was an ornate and fancy gazebo of finely-carved marble. Separated by the paths were perfectly-trimmed plots of grass, lined with masterfully-maintained arrangements of flowers and plants. Stone benches were arranged around the garden’s outer edge, facing the gazebo.
“Pretty,” Lens noted under his breath.
“But not what we’re looking for…” Scarlet added, her brow furrowing as she looked up at the sky. “Dammit, this is taking too long! We can’t keep wandering around aimlessly like this!”
“We don’t exactly have a map,” Lens pointed out, his own brow furrowing to match Scarlet’s. “But I agree. We need a way to speed things along…”
Scarlet nodded, lowering her eyes to survey the courtyard again. Aside from the way they had come, there were three possible routes they could take, each one leading deeper into the depths of the castle. Any one of them could lead them where they needed to be, or neither. It was impossible to tell, sadly.
After a few seconds, Scarlet heaved a sigh and turned to Lens again. “I say we split up.”
“Huh?” Lens turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s a wise decision?”
Scarlet nodded, already working out the details in her mind. “I am. Our objective is to find Protea and get her out of here. We only need one of us to find her to get that done. So I propose we split up and go separate directions. We cover more ground, increasing our odds of finding our quarry, and in the event one of us gets captured, the other will still have a window of time to continue their search.”
Lens hummed, looking around at the various paths in consideration. “I don’t know, Scarlet… we’re safer together,” he countered after a moment.
Scarlet nodded and placed her hoof on his shoulder. “This isn’t some poorly written horror novel, Lens. We can handle ourselves. And need I remind you that nothing about what we are doing is safe in the first place?” she pointed out before pulling back her hoof. “We’re here for Protea, no more, and no less. We find her, we get her out, plain and simple. And to do that, our best bet is to split up.”
Lens was quiet for several seconds, his expression twisted with visible indecision. Then, after a moment, he slowly nodded his head in understanding. “Alright… good luck, Scarlet,” he agreed, albeit reluctantly.
The mare leaned forward to give the stallion a warm hug. She could feel his chest thumping against her own as his heart beat, and it only then dawned on her just how frightened he was. With a quiet sigh, she pulled him even closer as he returned the embrace, and placed her lips by his ear.
“I’ll be fine… and so will you,” she whispered to him with a reassuring squeeze. “We survived Talonreach. We’ll survive this.”
She felt Lens nodding into her shoulder. She slowly pulled away, giving him a tender smile, an expression he returned. Scarlet turned and gestured at one of the doors. “I’ll take that one,” she said before turning and setting off.
“Good luck, Scarlet,” Lens called after her as he made his way for one of the other doors.
“You, too,” She replied before opening the door with her magic and stepping through. With an audible thunk and click, the courtyard vanished from sight, and Scarlet was left all on her own. Before her were three paths, a corridor heading left and right, and one leading straight ahead.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed on, making her way straight ahead. Her hooves echoing around her sounded infinitely more lonely then they had been when accompanied by Lens’. With every step she took, she felt her anxiety and dread clawing away at the base of her skull with tiny fingers of malevolence that threatened to break her composure and send her into a frightened panic.
She took deep breaths as needed and focused, forcing down her doubts. She kept her ears perked up and at attention, listening quietly for any guards or patrols that might cross her path.
A decision which proved to be wise after several minutes of silence. Scarlet came to a stop when the sound of hooves on the cold stone reached her ears. Moving quickly, she ducked behind a decorative plant, squishing herself up against the wall as tightly as she could in an effort to remain hidden.
At the end of the hall she was in, an archway led into a large corridor with a higher roof, and she could now make out some details as flickering candlelight came into view. An earth pony stallion dressed in the armor of the lunar guard trotted by, grumbling in irritation to himself.
Scarlet strained her ears to hear what he was saying.
“Fuckin’ captain, sending me down to the dungeon this time of night. Why’s it always gotta be me watchin’ those fuckin’ crooks? Why do we even need to watch ‘em? Let ‘em rot, I say, buncha murderers and thieves and rapists. Don’t need me around to watch em. Fuckin’ bullshit...”
Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “That is… ridiculously convenient,” she thought. But, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she silently slunk off after the guard.
“Is it wrong of me that I hope she isn’t there?” she thought after a moment, her ears drooping. In truth, she absolutely wished with all of her heart that the nymph was being kept somewhere else. Anything to spare Scarlet the trouble of having to talk to her alone…
With that thought weighing on her mind, Scarlet disappeared around the corner, following her quarry. All she had to do was follow him, and she’d find the dungeons. And if the Five were cruel, she would find Protea.