//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: What's Written In Stone 
// Story: Chimes In the Dark 
// by Faindragon 
//------------------------------//


Chimes In the Dark - Chapter 9: What's Written In Stone

NOTE: Grammar not corrected


The chime echoed through the temple, finding its way through the hallways and rooms. It reached the throne room, reached the mare standing with her hooves on the moon statue. The masterpiece had begun to crumble under her hooves, her horn illuminating the entire room, out shining then moonshine. Shadows playing on the walls around her. As the chime reached her did the statue collapse under her hooves, just as its twin had done only seconds ago. She smiled, an unpleasant and grim smile, as she walked towards the thrones. She had been better to use her wing; she had played some with it when she had listened to Emeralds speak. He had been the second pony ever in a long time who had been able to translate that text. She laid down on the throne, her wing slowly flapping in the air. The quill was lifted up in the air by her magic, making the seventh line on the paper in front of her. The seventh chime had passed, and she had made her first step. The night was long from over; she had a lot of surprises left.

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Notharam could see the floor collapsing, he felt the gravity take a hold around him and force him into the fall together with the floor and the other ponies. In panic did he flap his wings, pulled away the scarf that held his right wing by sheer force. He was only rewarded with a jolt of pain from the right one; the left one however worked as it should. The result of this panicked flapping was that he threw himself into a spiral. He tried to stop the uncontrollable spin and the fall; the only thing he succeeded with was to get another jolt of pain. He could feel the pain as his body was trashed against the floor, right wing first. The pain rushed through his body, a loud snap was heard as his wing broke in another place. His view darkened as his body tried to protect him from the pain.

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He ran through a dark place, a cold laugh haunting him, playing with him. He could see those ice blue eyes looking at him from every dark spot, disappearing as soon as he saw them, floating into the solid darkness around him. He turned around, trying to catch a glimpse of the thing that haunted him. What he saw took him aback.

There on the floor lay the other three ponies, side by side. Emerald looked as if he was asleep, if it wasn’t for his lifeless staring eyes.

Mistrunner had her throat slit open, the stone floor below her wet by the life-giving liquid that emerged from the wound. Her eyes did slowly lose their steadiness before him; the cold veil of death slowly draping over her eyes.

To the right of her lay Zinky, her left eye gorged out from its socket, her right leg completely ripped apart. The little filly looked pleading towards him, trying to draw herself closer, losing more and more energy with every small pull she did with her only functional front leg. She died in front of his eyes.

Notharam felt how he emptied his stomach.
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He awoke from the strange dream, woke up at the stones that once had been the library floor. His heart was pounding hard in his chest, pumping out the panic in his veins. The bile burned his throat, his stomach was already empty; the only thing that emerged from him was that burning bile. What had happened? The memories returned with the pain from his wings; the memories of the incident. The incident that had made him lose consciousness.

He lifted his head to take a look around at his surroundings and instantly understood where he was. Those two statues marked this place, the statues of the alicorns, Celestia and Luna. The library, or at least the part that collapsed, must have been located straight over the sanctum. The statues stood unharmed in the middle of the sanctum, two statues of harmony in the chaos after what had been the library floor.

This couldn’t have happened, the last chime had passed! It had been seven hours, but why were he still here? A thought came, unpleasant and unwelcome, to his mind. Where were Mistrunner, Zinky and Emerald? Notharam jerked up to his hooves, the sudden pain nearly driving him down again. He tried his best to ignore it as his mind rushed in panic. He threw his head from side to side, trying to find them.

It didn’t take long for him to find them, laying close to the statues. Both Mistrunner and Emerlad did slowly get up, both seemed to be unharmed. He quickly trotted towards them, his eyes searching for the little filly. As he came closer did the other two ponies start stand up, unsteady on their legs. Then he heard it; a soft crying from the saddlebags still on Emeralds back.

“Is anypony hurt?” Notharam called out as he trotted closer to them, eyes on the saddlebags.

“I’m fine Notharam, and so is Zinky I believe. I landed on my side, the saddlebag on that side had slid of in the fall down, so I did not land on any of my books. I do however believe that my parchments, quills and books can be thrown away; I could hear the sound of my ink bottles breaking apart. Zinky had a soft landing with me as shock absorber; I believe the crying is tears of shook and not of pain.” Emerald said, slowly checking the bags, emptying it from everything soaked with ink.

Zinky stuck up her head from the bag, tears filled eyes turned towards Mistrunner.
“Mist, I had a bad dream.” She said, the tears in her eyes nearly flooding over.

Mistrunner was fast at the little filly’s side, trying to soothe her.
“It’s okay sweetie, the bad dream are gone, you are safe.”

Mistrunner had a few gashes, but nothing that looked seriously.
“But how could this be? The seventh chime has passed! It have gone seven hours; the sun must be raised by now! Why are we still here? YOU PROMISED US FREEDOM!” He shouted, knowing that the mare could hear him.

Mistrunner and Emerald turned around and looked at him, Zinky started to cry. Emerald was the one to speak up.
“Take it easy Notharam, calm down. I’m sure it exist a reason behind why we are still here, and I’m afraid that I know that reason.”

“Well then, Emerald Scroll, let us hear the reason, let them know why they are still in this place, let them know why they haven’t regain their precious freedom.” The cold voice called out, amusement filling it.

“You promised us our freedom! The seventh chime has passed!” Notharam called out once more.

Emerald was however the one to answer.
“Yes Notharam, the seventh chime has indeed passed, but that does not mean that seven hours have. I do believe that something went wrong when I prepared the clock. The fact that I might have done a mistake during the preparing has bothered me for a long time now. The chimes have been too close to each other; I noticed it during my work with the translation.”

The cold voice chuckled.
“You are indeed right my dear Emerald Scroll; indeed you made a mistake during the preparations. The clock has chimed seven time, but that is not the time that had passed. No, the time that have passed is much less, in fact has half of the time passed. Three and a half hour have you spent here, and now the fun will start. Prepare yourself, it’s time for me to make my next move my sacrifices.” And just like that, was the voice once again gone.

Notharam felt how he fell to the floor. ‘Three and a half hour, have only half of the night gone? How can this be, how can this much have happened in three and a half hour?’

Mistrunner quickly trotted up to him, carefully checking him.
“Notharam, your wing, its broken in one more place! What happened?”

Notharam answered, his mind on other things. ‘How should they survive?’
“I landed on it when we fell, I passed out from the pain in some seconds.”

Mistrunner carefully checked his wing. She was gently at hoof, yet Notharam winced as the pain spread through his body.

Mistrunner spoke softly so that only he could hear her.
“Notharam, I don’t want to say this, but it is better if you get to know it now then try to use your wing in a panicked situation.”

She breathed in, then the words, words that shattered him, words spoken softly so that only he could hear, yet words as sharp as knifes, washed on him; chilling his bones.
“Your wing is very badly broken, and it is nothing we can do for it. If you use it anymore before it have mend will you never be able to use it again, it will be ruined; out of range for any mending, magical or natural.”

Notharam could feel how he trembled. ‘Would his wing unusable for the rest of his life? No, it couldn’t be. And only half of the time passed? They had as long time left as they had spent here already?’ Mere seconds later did he realize exactly what it was the mare had said, the meaning of those words.
“Everypony out of here now, that maniac do most certainly have a trap laid in here, and I can bet my hoof that it is on its way to spring.” He said, panic nearly taking his voice over.

Both Emerald and Mistrunner was taken aback, but Emerald was quick to recover.
“Yes, that seems to be the situation, after all she said that she should make her next move, and I believe that she sent us here for a reason. I don’t have any idea what way would be best, but we have already been over there.” He pointed his hoof towards the hallway that lead towards the place they had found Thunder. “And to get too two of the hallways would we have to climb the stones. That leads us with that hallway. It might be a trap there, but I do believe that the trap is more in this room in that case.”
He pointed towards a hallway to the right of the statues, the stones had fallen so they didn’t hindered anypony to go there, even if it would have been easier to walk there before the ceiling fell in.

Notharam started to run, screaming to the ponies behind him.
“Keep some space, if the trap is in the hallway then it will only get me this way, but don’t go too far from me; the trap might still, and most likely is, in this room.”

He didn’t wait for the others to answer, they had to trust him for this one. ‘As much as you can trust a mad man’ he grimly thought as he ran.

As they ran did the floor start to fall, started in a ring around the statues, slowly rippling outwards. The floor didn’t fall fast, but they would have been stuck if they hadn’t moved as early as they had. As it was now were it not many seconds before they stood in the hallway, gasping for air, looking out over the inner sanctum; at least of what was left of it. The only thing still standing, magically floating in the air, was a circle of stones; the floor were the statues stood. Below could they hear the sound of the floor crashing into mark and splashing in the water.

Notharam looked around, finding himself in nearly completely darkness. The braziers still shone up the statues, but it wasn’t much of the light that reached this hallway.
“Emerald, could you illuminate our way? I don’t want to be found by the maniac in this spot, trapped between her and a fall that we don’t know where it will end; it’s time to get moving again.”

Emerald smiled towards Notharam.
“Of course I can my friend; you are not the only one that wants to get going. Three and a half hour left, three and a half hour to fear from our lives.”

Emeralds horn started to glow, warmly illuminating the cold stone that the hallway was built of. The thick dust hadhoofsteps in them, Notharam didn’t dare to count how many. ‘They were all here because of me…’ he thought.
“Well then, shall we get going? I don’t really know what way is the best to take, the only thing I know is that we cannot lower our guards; we must be ready for everything. So the best thing now is to go and be quiet, I do believe that it is at least one more pony in here than us and the maniac. Lead the way Emerald, we need the light you can provide us with.”

Emerald slowly trotted forward, softly talking to Notharam who walked behind him.
“Notharam, what makes you think that it is more than one maniac in here? Isn’t one maniac enough?

Notharam laughed at the question, careful not to make a high sound.
“Believe me Emerald, one maniac is more than enough for me. No, I have been thinking, and it is really only one thing that makes me believe in that there is more than one maniac, and that is that Thunder must have been killed while we talked to the mare, otherwise we wouldn’t have heard the scream as we did; and she would probably not talk that easily during the kill.  And she would easily have been able to kill us all at this moment if she could talk that clearly with us and still kill somepony; or that I believe at least. No, I believe that she has somepony, or something, else with her in here.”

Emerald looked back at him.
“That conclusion are you not alone to achieve, I had the same thought the moment you told me that you believe in a companion. And I do not want to run into somepony either, so lets keep it quiet.”

They walked like that for some minutes, changing direction in every turn, trying to find something that would help them, anything. The only sound that could be heard was the breathing from the little sleeping filly as she slept in the saddlebags that Emerald carried.

Then, after one sharp turn, did they suddenly find themselves in front of a staircase going downwards. On the wall over the stairs was a symbol carved into the stone; a symbol of a crescent moon, white on the black stone that made the wall. Dusty hoofsteps went to the staircase, but the stairs did not have hoofsteps nor dust on them. Torches were mounted on the wall, burned out torches that once had lit this part up.

“Strange.” Emerald said. “Didn’t the maniac say that it wasn’t any need for torches, with unicorns once lit up these hallways, then why is it torches on the walls?”

Notharam couldn’t but agree, as he looked around in the small hallway that stopped with the stairs. Some rocks lay neatly ordered close to the same spot as the torches started; Notharam realized something. This wasn’t a hallway, it had once been a small room.

“I don’t know about you, but I want to go down there, my curiosity drives me.” Emerald said. “Why isn’t there any dust on the stairs; and why is it torches on the wall?” He trotted closer to the stairs.

Notharam looked at the other two ponies.
“Well, I don’t see why not, I must say that it has awoken my curiosity as well.”

Mistrunner only nodded, and together did they walk down the stairs.

They arrived in a cold room, torches casting a warm light over the cold environment. The room wasn’t big comparing to the rest of the temple, around fifteen ponies would have been able to stand next to each other. In the middle of the room stood a statue of a dark stone, a statue of the goddess Luna. A stone tablet stood in front of the statue, around a pony length from it, facing towards the statue and away from the stairs. As they put their hooves at the cold, flat stone floor did the illuminating light from Emeralds horn die out.

Emerald looked around in confusion.
“My magic…. I was cut off from it. It’s something about this place; I know I have read about it somewhere. A location where unicorn’s magic doesn’t work, but I can’t recall it now. It feels like something is budging against my mind, but I cannot say what it is, nor what its purpose is.”

He slowly trotted towards the statue, bent his neck in respect towards it, before he turned to stand in front of the stone tablet.
“It’s something written here, not as hard to read as the text in the book. I won’t even need to translate this one. It says”

Emerald smiled and started to read.
“We have gathered here today to say our goodbyes to me, the one who enters this chamber to die. Under the light of Celestia have I been wandering, into the darkness of Luna shall I now step in. Celestia, goddess of day and life, I will now leave your heard to step under the protecting wings of your sister. Luna, goddess of night and death, take me under your wings; make me a part of your heard. I have arrived here, to the chamber of life and death, the place where I was born and the place where I now shall die, to get your blessing to move on. Celestia, give the ones close to me strength to live with my choice to leave your heard.
Luna, give me the chance to meet them once again when their time have come. In under Celestia’s wings have I lived my life with honesty and truth as leading marks, and under Luna’s wings will I watch over the ones that is left in Celestia’s heard.
Just as Luna is the protector in the night, the one who watch over and protect her sister’s children, so shall I watch over and protect the ones I leave behind me. Luna, lead me on, let me find power at your side; protect me when the choice seems hard. May the sisters watch over Equestria, now and forever.”

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When the first word had left him did Emerald realize his mistake; he couldn’t stop, the words were forced out of him. He could hear himself speak, but it was like if he heard it from a distance, like if it was all a dream. But he knew this wasn’t a dream, he was in danger, he knew that he was going to die soon. He could feel a cold hoof touching his neck, finding its way down his back, sending chills down through his whole body. He could feel it reach inside him, grapple something deep inside him. It had grappled something that he understood to well what it was, an understanding that shook the very foundation that was his body. The hoof had grappled his very soul. He heard the ice-cold voice whispering into his ear, repeating the last words that would ever leave his mouth; “Now and forever".

He saw letters forming at the wall in front of him.

The curiosity won over the gemstone, the first sacrifice have been made.
The innocent is next.

He felt how the hoof ripped the soul out of his body, saw the deep blue eyes looking at him; eyes with the deep blue color of the cold winter night sky.

He tried to scream.
And the clock chimed.