//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: The Dark City 
// by awf 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 10

The group which sat down for dinner was worried and subdued. After Gustaf had returned Rusty relayed the events to him in short, clipped words, then excused herself to her cot. She was about ready for the weirdness of the day to end. Her companions followed suit and pretty soon all was quiet. Only one, faint lamp shone to give a modicum of light. It felt like a tomb, and not just because of the fallen civilization and the dead ponies around them. Rusty was glad of the tiny glow, but on the other hoof it made the darkness that much more... visible. She couldn't sleep, so she lay there in the gloom, watched the ceiling, and listened. After some time, she thought, the sheer silence would be maddening, so the mare focused on the soft breathing of her pony friends, or the quiet, raspy snore of their guard. Knowing that Gustaf - good, unshakable Gustaf - was there with them did help. He would not fall to these strange fancies. The griffin had no imagination whatsoever, which was perhaps his greatest asset in a place like this.

"Gustaf?" she whispered, as low as she could so as not to wake the others.

"Yes?"

"I forgot to ask, did you find anything?"

He was silent for a bit and when Rusty turned her head she saw the glimmer of his amber eyes. "I would have told you if I had. There was nothing. No creature, no tracks, no smell."

"I thought as much. What if-"

After she failed to continue the bird gave a grunt and lifted himself on his elbows. "What if, what?"

"What if it's just in our minds? Are we going crazy?"

There was no reply, but that was because Gustaf was thinking about how to put it. "If you were, you wouldn't be worrying about it."

"Maybe you're right."

"It's just a dark place. We'll see what's down there tomorrow evening, then we'll go out. Next time you're here, it will be with a bunch of pony archaeologists and historians. It'll feel completely different."

Rusty Bones thought she understood. The ruins felt dark and brooding and empty because they were vast and the ponies were small. There were secrets hidden in the darkness, some of them undoubtedly terrible. Even the best pony civilizations had some darkness, usually expressed by mad, deranged villains. Case in point: Sombra and the Crystal Empire.

"Let's be quiet now, I don't want to wake the others."

She saw Gustaf give her a nod in the dim light. "You're the boss."

His matter-of-fact-ness, and down-to-earth-ness was refreshing after her worries about the Professor. He claimed he didn't know what had happened to him, or why he had frozen like that in the library, but Rusty had caught the old unicorn staring off into the distance, as if entranced. Sometimes she had to poke him with a hoof to get his attention. Even Winter Shine, who never went far from her beloved teacher was starting to notice. The mare was becoming skittish and easily frightened. Maybe they really were just tired and weirded out by the strange place. She listened to the slow, steady drip, drip, drip of water as Rusty Bones drifted off. Something vague, and terrible and secret was waiting for them. Something was waiting where the water dripped.

That was the final thought before sleep, the one Rusty didn't remember. It led to more uneasy dreams, of lying in a grave while rain pattered on her coffin. Of the earth closing around them, and of a seductive, warm presence. In the chill of the earth, there was another body next to hers, warm and inviting. It promised to make all the bad feelings go away.

Rusty nuzzled up to it and fell into a dreamless slumber.





The next day brought more of the same. Empty corridors, ruined furniture, ancient bones, abandoned houses. Well, not exactly houses. The group had passed through the living quarters of the underground city and the homes were little more than small caves, hewn into solid rock. Most of them were empty, thank Celestia, at least of bodies. Rotten tables, cupboards and beds had been left behind and in a few places Curio found documents- letters, forms, even a few books. These he packed into his saddlebags and took with him, of course after carefully wrapping them in his special preserving spell. These homely things would often yield greater insight into a lost civilization than their history books, the Professor claimed.

Some of the dwellings were not empty, though. One particular scene had shaken Rusty to her core and driven home just how large a tragedy had occurred in that place. A wooden table, broken in two on the floor because the legs had long since given way and the wood had become brittle. Three ponies had been sitting around the table. There were bits of crockery everywhere and two sets of utensils.

The third hadn't needed utensils, not at that age.

She had stared at those tiny, tiny bones, uncomprehending at first, then she had to look away. It had been a family. A young foal.

Perhaps the only good thing was that it had happened quickly. Too quickly for the dam to reach her foal, or for the sire to clasp either of them. They died in their seats and perhaps they knew no terror, no despair. Rusty Bones hadn't let the three academics explore after that. It had been luck that the two students hadn't seen that room and Rusty wanted to spare them that.

The empty streets and the silence of the forgotten city were beginning to feel really oppressive and she wanted their expedition over as soon as possible. She was beginning to realize that her claim to fame would rest on so many innocent deaths. Rusty was not yet sure how she felt about that. Besides, thoughts of glory and discovery were being pushed aside by her desire to see the sunlight once more. Perhaps it was because they were deep. Despite the map, despite having walked all that way, Rusty couldn't quite picture in her mind just how far down they had gone. The air felt decidedly warmer and she kept imagining huge, unimaginable masses of rock above their heads. If the roof were to weaken, even in a single spot, the earth would bury them and nopony would ever find them again.

The others were affected as well, she saw. Winter Shine kept herself pressed against Curio and her ears were permanently flat. Ember Clover stayed near Gustaf and his barely-veiled attempts at flirting had almost completely ceased. Even the solid griffin kept glancing back, as if expecting a pursuit. Rusty herself tried to appear calm and in control, but she flinched at every loud, echoing hoofstep, every clatter of an object they overturned. She hissed at her companions to stay quiet.

The party made their way past the workshops. Those held little of interest to Rusty Bones, but Curio insisted they should poke their noses into each room and stairwell. He made judicious notes, exclaimed over the interesting items he found, and bemoaned their hurry. Strangely, the mare suddenly realized, he was the least affected of them all. The Professor was still filled with the same curiosity and the burning desire to know they'd had on the surface.

The surface.

Even that small guard room in the first corridor. Sometimes Rusty thought about it and in her memories it always seemed brighter, somehow. The ruins were pitch black beyond the entrance, but perhaps it was the closeness to the surface world which painted her recollection. That tiny guard room where they had spent their first night, and the hall of columns just beyond it. It felt like that had happened ages ago, to ponies other than her. Rusty simply couldn't make her mind accept that it was no more than a couple of days. She longed to go back there, but she had decided to explore the depths of this labyrinthine ruin and so she would. Her stubbornness would guide her, even when her curiosity had shrivelled in the dark.





"Hmm, those carvings. We've been seeing them for a while now," Professor Curio pointed out. He aimed his lamp at the relief above the door and they all studied them.

Winter Shine, despite her unease, was the first to answer: "It's the eclipse. See? The recessed circle and the sharp circumference. The burst of light on the right side?"

"An eclipse? Now why does that sound familiar?" Curio went on. "I'm sure I've seen something in my notes."

His magic rifled through the notebook he always kept near and he seemed engrossed in the search while the other four glanced at one another.

Rusty was the one who spoke up: "Curio- it was on the floor of that library in the bazaar, remember?"

The stallion seemed lost in his notes and hardly even registered Rusty Bones' words. "Library? We must go there immediately. A library would hold countless treasures!"

"We- Professor, are you feeling alright? We've been there. You've cast your spell to preserve it. We decided we'd come back with more ponies, since it would be pointless for us to search on our own."

This got his attention and Curio Trinket looked up. His eyes were wide and incredulous, and he blinked as the light shone on his face. "We have? When? Why don't I remember? Are you sure you're not thinking of something else?"

He really did not recall, and the fact started a nagging worry deep in Rusty Bones' mind. Surely the Professor wasn't losing his grip on sanity already.

"Let's stop and eat," she suggested "I know we've only had lunch a short while ago, but I think we need some sugar to calm us down. We'll make the final push after."

They were near their goal. Her map had long since gone vague and useless, and the corridors it showed were imprecise and incomplete, but surely the ruin couldn't go much further down. It didn't make her feel any better when Rusty realized that the structures they were seeing were a temple.

The deepest cave, the culmination of those ancient ponies' work was a place of worship. She couldn't stop herself thinking that they wanted to worship as far away from the sky as they could. As far away from Celestia and Luna as possible. Except that didn't make much sense. The Royal Sisters had not been a thing when this civilization had thrived. Unless...

"Professor," Rusty asked urgently, "how old would you say this place is? These halls? Were they carved at the same time as the ones above?"

A direct question, something addressing his chosen field seemed capable of cutting through the fog in Curio's mind. He shook his head without hesitation. "Certainly not. These tunnels are newer, by- let's see, about two, maybe three hundred years after the rest of this place. This was hewn during their most prosperous days."

"How can you tell?"

He pointed a hoof at the near wall. "Carvings," he explained. "Nearly every surface is carved with intricate patterns, scenes from their city, religious imagery. The ponies who did this work had a lot of time and wealth on their hooves. They could pay artists to decorate this place."

Rusty Bones glanced over the carvings and shuddered. They showed what she assumed were their religious leaders, with hordes of followers bowing down to them. Most often they were depicted in rooms, or caves, but each time they were shown on the surface there was an eclipse. They were big on eclipses, for some reason.

Rusty was about to ask, but Ember Clover beat her to it: "What's with all the eclipses?"

"Don't you remember?" Curio asked them, clearly surprised that they didn't.

"N-No?"

There was no reply and when Rusty turned her head to look she saw that Curio was examining one of the reliefs on the wall next to him. "Professor?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember what?"

"What?"

She caught the eyes of Winter Shine and Ember Clover, both looked uneasy. The mare went over to the Professor and murmured gently to him: "Professor, you were just telling us about the eclipse. Why is it important?"

He blinked at her a few times, then his gaze strayed to the wall again. "Well, the religious imagery of this place if full of eclipses. I just thought that was noteworthy."

Rusty was sure there had been more to it, but she didn't want to question the poor stallion more. His grip on sanity was starting to worry her and not for the first time she considered turning back and taking them all out of the ruin. They could always come back with more ponies, more helpers. More light. Except- they were so close. A few more hours and they would see what was in this deep, underground temple. They would see what those ancient ponies had worshipped. It would probably be that damned eclipse, but at least they would confirm that.

After that...

Rusty had planned to return through the throne room, but she abandoned that idea. She would lead them out by the shortest path she could find. They would push hard and maybe, hopefully, as the mass of rock above their head lessened, so would the gloom in their hearts. The air would grow lighter as they came closer to the surface and the sky. She had no doubt Curio would snap to normal once they saw some natural light and breathed fresh air again. She was sure of it.

They could always return. It would still be her discovery.

"We're all tired," she lied to them. "Let's drink, have something to eat, then we'll get to the bottom of this."

The group accepted her lies. Gustaf because he knew why she had said them, the two students because they wanted to. Curio- Rusty didn't know whether he believed her, or if he simply didn't care, lost in his own little world.

She would have to keep an eye on him. If he got any worse she would turn around. Some confusion and forgetfulness could be explained through excitement. This ruin would likely be the culmination of Curio's work, his grand achievement. Perhaps he was simply thinking on that, putting the story of the ancient civilization together, and couldn't be bothered to answer their silly questions. Perhaps that was all it was. That, and they were tired.





As they began to walk again the Professor seemed to return to normal. Winter Shine kept close to him and talked about the Academy and their classes, which seemed to ground the old pony in reality. It was a relief, but Rusty decided to keep a close eye on the unicorn stallion herself. That wasn't her main concern, though. Her ears had been turned back for the better part of an hour and she was convinced somepony was following them. Not a beast like they had surmised, but a pony. She had heard distinct hoofsteps, faint with distance and almost completely muffled. Once or twice she thought she caught a whisper, so quiet as to be nearly unintelligible. She was sure it was none of the others. It worried her, but the bulk of Gustaf walking confidently beside her eased her fear somewhat. Perhaps it was a rival, out to steal her discovery, but more likely it was some opportunistic thief who had overheard one of their conversations in Ice Floe and hoped to grab a few priceless artifacts for themselves.

In either case she probably didn't need to worry about their safety. At most there would be two thieves, considering the whispers she had heard. Odd that Gustaf hadn't caught anything.

"Gustaf?" she spoke in a quiet voice which wouldn't carry.

"Mm?"

"Have you heard anything behind us? Hoofsteps? Talking?"

The griffin immediately twirled back and stared into the dark corridor which stretched into the distance. "What? When?!"

"Just now."

Rusty wasn't surprised he hadn't heard anything. Griffins had absolutely amazing eyesight, but their hearing was usually slightly worse than pony. Probably all those feathers around their ear holes, she guessed. "Keep an eye out. I think it's probably just thieves, must've heard us in Ice Floe."

"Gotcha. We'll set a trap when we come to a branch next. You and the others make some noise and I'll hide in a side tunnel in the shadows. If anypony is following us, I'll get them."

It sounded like a good plan and Rusty gave the bird a nod. She looked him over once more and her ears splayed in apprehension.

"Do you- uh, do you have weapons?"

Gustaf was quiet for a few steps, then he answered, but he didn't meet her eyes: "My talons and beak are weapons enough."

"You know what I meant."

He deflated a bit and looked down at his claws. "Fine. I have a set of throwing knives and a sword."

"Good. I thought you'd come prepared. Thanks for not flaunting them, the others are nervous enough as it is. By the way, why a sword?"

"Easier to conceal than a spear. Swords are a griffin weapon. You need a claw to wield them."

"Unless you're a unicorn."

"Not the same, too much concentration. Spears are pony weapons. Anyway, I still hope I won't have to use them."

"Me too."

Before they could go back to discussing Gustaf's plan there came an exclamation from up ahead. Winter Shine and Curio were first through a door and Rusty cursed herself for having fallen behind. She ran past Ember, still cursing quietly under her breath. "I thought I told you I go first into any new room! Just because we haven't seen any traps-"

The mare trailed off as she reached the chamber beyond. It was huge and at first glance she couldn't even begin to guess at its purpose. Whatever furniture there had been was lying in ruins and the stones underhoof were bare of carpets. Those hadn't survived all that well in general, but there were usually signs where the floors had been carpeted. She looked up, but the ceiling was lost in shadow. She could just about make a circle of a large, iron chandelier. Rusty flattened her ears and swallowed. If that thing fell on them...

Her attention was soon diverted to the distinguishing feature in the room. There was a shoulder-high circular shaft in the middle of the place and both Winter Shine and Curio Trinket were peering over the edge.

The mare caught sight of the newcomers and grinned. "Well!" she said. "Maybe we can get fresh water!"

They had come across public wells in the living sections of the city, but they had been dry. Whatever aqueduct had been feeding them once was either broken, or the springs had since dried up.

"What makes you think this one will have any water in it?" she asked.

Curio was the one to answer that one. He was still leaning over the edge and he had apparently sent his magical light down the shaft, because the illumination from below gave his face a decidedly odd appearance. The shadows were wrong and, combined with his gray coat, made him look like his head was just a skull. "This one goes deep down. Possibly to an underground aquifer. Those might be more permanent than surface springs."

"Okay, how do we find out? We don't have a bucket."

In lieu of a reply, Curio's magic rummaged in his bag and he brought out his cooking pot. He floated it over the well and then lowered it down. Rusty came forward and looked over the lip of the well. They were soon joined by Ember Clover, but not Gustaf. The mare glanced around, but she saw him standing just beside the door, looking ready to pounce. She smiled to herself. Good, he was on the lookout for their would-be thieves. She focused her eyes down the well. It was a rough shaft, built out of irregular stones and it seemed to go quite a long way. Curio's light was a tiny speck in the distance by now and the pot was lost in the glare.

The stallion grunted and his horn glowed brighter. "I can't- I- quite- reach."

He suddenly gave a gasp and the magical glow around his horn vanished. Rusty blinked in surprise, but then a series of deafening clangs came up the shaft as his pot tumbled down and hit the sides repeatedly. All of them winced at the racket as it grew fainter and fainter.

Eventually it faded away and the ponies looked at one another.

"I heard neither a crash nor a splash. This thing is incredibly deep," Ember Clover pointed out what they were all thinking.

Curio looked embarrassed and wouldn't meet any of their eyes. "Sorry about that. I over-reached and it slipped from my grasp."

Even as Rusty Bones opened her muzzle to say it was fine, something stirred in the depths. That was the only way she could put it to words. There was a deep, bass thump, as if the rock itself had been struck by a mighty hammer down in the bowels of the earth. She imagined she felt a slight shudder run up the stones and into her hooves. Warm, stale air rushed out of the well and tousled their manes. They were quiet and listened, slack-jawed, for what would happen next.

Nothing did.

"W-What was that?!" Winter Shine asked first, because Ember Clover was busy swallowing a lump. All of them had their ears flat and the three academics were backing away from the hole.

Finally Ember found his voice: "I don't like that. What did we just do? Did- did..." His words ended in a low, strangled whimper, but the stallion forced himself to continue. "Did we w-w-wake something up?"

Rusty Bones had to remind herself to breathe. She felt a sense of fear and foreboding as she approached the lip of the well again. "Curio? S-Some light, p-please." The unicorn obliged and created a fresh magical ball, which he sent to hover above her. As she glanced over, Rusty's head cast a long shadow down the side of the well. "L-Lower it in, please? As far as you can reach?"

If Ember Clover was right and they had disturbed some ancient monster in the depths the light might irritate it further, but Rusty had to see. She had to reassure herself that nothing dark and scary was coming up from the well. Her eyes tracked the point of light as it descended down the featureless shaft. There was always shadow below it, but nothing seemed to come out of it. Eventually the light winked out and Rusty nearly jumped in surprise. She twirled to look at Curio, but his horn was dark and he nodded. The spell had gone out because of the distance, not because it was swallowed by some shadow.

"Nothing."

The others approached and focused their ears on the old well. They listened for a long time.

At last, Curio spoke up: "I think it was just some weird effect of the echo. My pot hit the bottom and it sounded- like it did."

It was the best explanation any of them could come up with, so Rusty nodded. "Sounds about right. Okay, so no water here. Good thing we brought our own."

All of them were a little shaken after that fright, so Rusty made a judgement call. "We'll break for tea. If anypony is hungry, now's your chance. After that we go on. I think we're close to the end. Then we can start on our way back."

The ponies all nodded and Ember Clover hurried over to the door, where Gustaf was still waiting and listening at the corridor. The two looked at each other and Rusty Bones noticed that even the griffin had his feathers up. He must have heard the noise and the thud, and was just as unsettled. Perhaps that was why, when the pegasus gave him an imploring look, Gustaf reached over and laid his wing across Ember's back. A moment later his claw followed and then Ember pushed his muzzle into Gustaf's side for a good nuzzle.

"I think we should wait until tomorrow," Curio Trinket said beside Rusty. She forgot about the other two and turned around to speak with the Professor.

"Why?"

"We're all tired and this place is getting to us. Let's camp in the next room, have a good dinner, maybe tell a few stories. Get our spirits up. We can see what's down there when we're fresh tomorrow morning, and then we can immediately head back."

It sounded quite tempting, and coming from the scholar it made all the more sense. Rusty found herself nodding. "We'll set a watch rota. Don't tell the others," she whispered back, "but I think we have unwelcome visitors."

"Oh?"

"I thought I heard hoofsteps and whispering behind us, back in the corridor. Maybe thieves out to grab ancient artifacts."

Curio took it all in stride. "What do we do?"

"Nothing, for now. Gustaf has an idea to set a trap. I propose we three do the watch and keep our ears open. Gustaf and me are fighters and you have your magic. No reason to scare the young ones."

"Agreed. I'll take middle shift."

That was a sign of the old Professor and Rusty smiled with relief. Whatever had been going on with him before was truly over. The middle shift in the night was the most ungrateful one, since it forced a pony to split their sleep into two parts. Volunteering for that proved that Curio really did care about his friends. No mad pony would do that.

"Thanks!" she said and smiled at him.

For a moment Rusty Bones considered offering the stallion a hug, much like what Ember and Gustaf were doing, but her thought passed and she felt awkward, so she decided against it.