//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: The Dark City // by awf //------------------------------// Chapter 11 By unspoken agreement they had all placed out their sleeping bags near each other. It wasn't cold, but after the events of the day, and the oppressive darkness and silence of the ruin, everypony wanted to know there were other living beings around them. It also hadn't been a big surprise when Ember Clover had set up his cot right next to Gustaf and Rusty also couldn't help noticing that the griffin made no objection. On her other side were Curio and Winter Shine in a similar arrangement. She had chosen first watch and took up a position near the door. The lights were turned down and the only illumination came from a single, dim lamp which should hold throughout the night. Then, as everypony had settled down and finished their stretching and turning, that all-encompassing silence had gradually come back. Rusty had tried listening for her suspected thieves, but she couldn't stop focusing on the sound of her own breathing and heartbeat. After a while she couldn't sit still anymore and got up on her hooves. She took the lamp in her mouth and set off on a patrol. Moving took a bit of patience and skill, but she managed to keep her hoofsteps quiet so as not to wake the others. That gave her something to concentrate on and she walked around the well hall and poked her nose into the side rooms. A few were tiny, barely large enough for two or three ponies and full of wooden rubble. Some were larger and she saw metal frames which could have once been shelves. The largest were the one they had chosen to sleep in, and the corridor where they had come. It was still part of the temple, at least that was what Curio had said and Rusty trusted the scholar. She could see the walls were still carved with reliefs and she ran her gaze along them and tried to piece together what story they were telling. She couldn't decide where was the beginning, but it would have been reasonable to start at the entrance corridor, so that was where she went. The first few images portrayed earth ponies building cities under a sky where a permanent eclipse apparently shone. Then she saw ponies emerging from a cavern and blinked in surprise. "Wait, that's all backwards, isn't it?" A thought struck her and she returned to the door and went the other way. The ancient cultures of the North wrote from right to left, she remembered. That made more sense. She saw images of ponies apparently giving sermons in a forest clearing. She saw them packing up their belongings and loading themselves up. Those skies all had the sun, it was unmistakable. Her heart began to beat faster when she came to an intricate carving which closely resembled the door they had found up in the cavern. There were earth ponies digging and others dragging buckets of soil and rocks away. This was the story of how their city was founded. Her hoofsteps hastened and Rusty skipped forward what felt like decades of prosperity and trade with the other pony nations. Soon, hooded figures began to appear, wearing what looked like ceremonial or religious robes. After some time the sun in the sky, at least in the outside scenes, was joined by a crescent moon. She was wondering what that was meant to signify. Was it about that period when Discord had terrorized Equestria and both heavenly bodies were in the sky at the same time? "No," Rusty murmured to herself, "that was a thousand years after their heyday." The answer came a few walls further on and the mare gave a soft gasp. Those were definitely two alicorns and their cutie marks were unmistakable. Were those the events of the day, or were they prophecies? Whichever it was, the ancient ponies clearly didn't like them, because they had carved the Princesses as tall, grotesque monsters, mockeries of a pony shape. Perhaps they were predicting Nightmare Moon, or describing those events, but Rusty didn't think so. In the reliefs, even Celestia had fangs for teeth and vicious, spiked battle armor. The ponies of the underground city fled before the wrath of the two tyrants and closed their huge gates. Then there were scenes of hooded ponies helping others. The symbol of the eclipse began to appear and- "What the-?" Rusty hurried along the wall, but it was... gone. There had been images at some point, but somepony had gone to great lengths to erase them. She looked down and saw dust and broken bits of rock. Somepony had painstakingly chiseled away a large section of the story. "Why?!" The story resumed near where she had gone in the wrong direction at first. The underground city opened and masses of ponies poured out of the gates. The eclipse dominated the sky and the earth ponies began to rebuild Equestria. Those were obviously prophecies, or at least wishful thinking. Perhaps they were promises the clergy gave the commoners to keep them compliant. Life in the underground city must not have been very comfortable after the trade with the surface had ended, so the average pony was bound to grumble and complain. She could see it in her mind's eye: "Bear these hardships with us, citizens, for one day we will free ourselves of the Tyranny of the Sisters and rise up once more! Then the surface world will be ours, as it should be by right!" Why then, erase the most important part of their story? Perhaps the explorers who had come before her had done that? The ponies who had made the map? Whatever could compel them to destroy a part of history like that? Maybe they would find answers deeper in the temple. In any case, the walls would surely be interesting to Curio and they would have to take photos before they went on. Rusty was glad they had decided to wait the night, or else she might have missed this in her rush to get to the bottom. For the moment, however, she walked over to the corridor and stared into the distant darkness. Were her thieves out there, perhaps sleeping in a side tunnel or a room? She lifted the lamp up high to get the light as far as she could, and focused her ears. Was that breathing? It could just be auditory hallucinations. Rusty vaguely remembered a text she had read a long time ago. In perfect silence the mind began to imagine the strangest sounds. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the noise she thought she heard. A deep, slow, rumbling breath, like a sleeping dragon. Maybe it was just whatever ventilation system those ancient ponies had built? Something brushed against her flank and Rusty yelped and spun away. She dropped the light in her surprise and it cast crazy, confusing shadows as it rolled on the ground. "W-Who's there?!" she demanded. Her voice came echoing back: "Who! Hoo! There! Who! Who's there!" Rusty Bones dashed to her lantern and picked it up. She swung it all around herself, but there was nothing to be seen. Her side itched where she had felt the touch, but when she looked there was no mark on her. She backed into the well room and kept scanning the empty corridor. Surely she hadn't imagined it? Could it have been a wisp of air? The slow breathing she had imagined she heard might have been ancient air shafts, perhaps leading all the way up to the surface and responding to the cool of night. Air expanded and contracted, perhaps those ponies had found a way to make that phenomenon work for them to circulate the air. After all, it was still quite breathable even this far down. A sudden wind, even the tiniest whisper of it, would feel like a cold touch after the stillness. Not to mention that she had been focusing her entire body on listening, on feeling. She had probably made herself hypersensitive to every slightest movement. Rusty Bones shook her head and went back to where the others were sleeping. She kept telling herself that had been it, but her ears remained flat and her tail remained firmly between her hind legs. At least in their sleeping chamber she would hear the actual breathing of ponies. The noises of the living. She wouldn't feel as alone. The rest of her shift passed in silence, with only the faint noises from her sleeping companions to keep her company and Rusty Bones gradually relaxed. At the agreed time she woke up Curio and fell gratefully into her sleeping bag. She stretched out and then curled up, but caught Gustaf looking at her in the faint light of the lantern on its dimmest setting. Once again she noted how the griffin's eyes were like rings of polished gold. "Can't sleep?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper to avoid waking the two young students. He slowly shook his head, but didn't answer. He was lying between her and Ember Clover, so Rusty couldn't see the stallion, but she assumed he was asleep. It was more or less the middle of the night, after all. Something was off about his sleeping bag, though. At first glanced it almost looked as if Gustaf had his wings partially spread under the cloth. Rusty lifted her head up to get a better look. "What's that?" Unfortunately Curio picked that exact moment to levitate the lantern up and took it away with him to the door. He was probably going to relieve himself and Rusty didn't pay him much mind. She was more worried about what might be happening with Gustaf. Was he hiding an injury from her? A sprained wing, maybe? They were plunged into darkness, but she sat up and fumbled around until she found her own light. She hit the switch and shined it on their guard. The shape of his body was completely wrong, which became even more apparent as Gustaf lifted a claw to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. "Gustaf, this isn't time for jokes. What's wrong? I need to know!" she pleaded. Rather than replying, Gustaf raised the edge of his blanket to show her the back of Ember Clover's head. The stallion had his muzzle pressed firmly into Gustaf's chest. He gave Rusty a wry grin and explained: "He said he was scared and- well, he just kinda found his way in here." As cute as the sight was, Rusty hadn't expected the bird to be such a pushover. She scrunched up her muzzle and pointed a hoof. "You don't have to coddle them, Gustaf. You're our guard, not our babysitter. Shove him off." The griffin didn't move. "Actually," he whispered back and put his claw around Ember again, "this is kinda nice. I don't mind." Rusty Bones blinked in surprise. "Huh, I didn't peg you down as liking colts." He hurriedly shook his head. "I'm not. I don't. Well- um." He looked down at the sleeping stallion and then back up. Rusty imagined he was blushing, but it was hard to tell in the faint light and with all those feathers in the way. At last Gustaf finished: "I don't know. I guess I never thought about it." "Never had a special griffin, uh, what was it called, hen-friend?" His claw rose up again to wave her question away. "I have, I have, even if never anything serious. I guess... this is nice too." Rusty Bones shrugged to herself. Gustaf and Ember Clover and their antics, and possibly the griffin discovering that he liked colts was a normal problem. It wasn't weird rumbles from the unfathomable depths, or one of their party going insane, or strange sounds and sights. It calmed her down. As weird as it was to think about a griffin and a pony, both colts, somehow finding each other and working out all the stigma they'd likely attract, it sounded like a normal problem. She realized Gustaf was talking again: "Saw anything? Heard anything?" Rusty almost nodded, but then decided she didn't want to think about those things, not right before sleeping. She was liable to have strange dreams as it was. "I'll tell you in the morning." Just as she was about to tell Gustaf good night the bundle in his bag shifted and Ember's snout poked out. "Can you two stop talking and go to sleep already?" "Sorry. You look snug anyway." This prompted a small smile from Ember. "I know! Griffins are nice." With that he pushed his nose back into Gustaf's chest plumage, shifted a bit closer and let out a long, luxurious sigh. The griffin pulled the blanket a bit more closely around the pony. "Good night." "Night, Rusty." The mare turned around to face the other way and saw that Winter Shine was fast asleep and hadn't been disturbed by their whispered conversation. She looked peaceful, almost serene. It would be a good idea to imitate her, so Rusty Bones flicked the lantern off, closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She consciously relaxed her muscles, limb by limb and forced her mind to go blank. Her ear twitched at that incessant drip, drip, drip of water in the distance, but she paid it no mind as she drifted off. She was still surrounded by total darkness when Rusty Bones woke up. Someone was shaking her and she shot upright. "What?! Who's there!" "Here. It's me," Gustaf said beside her. She reached out for her lamp, but her hoof paused before touching the switch. "I'll turn on the light." There was no reply, so Rusty assumed it was okay. The lantern fountained with light and immediately cast strange, misshapen shadows on the walls. Gustaf was still in his sleeping bag, but he was upright and Ember Clover was apparently gripping him around his waist. Was that the reason he had woken her up? Was the stallion too clingy and wouldn't let go? "Curio is gone. He's been gone for a while. He should have woken me an hour ago," Gustaf explained and all thought of amorous pegasi fled her mind. She was instantly on her hooves. "What?! Where? Why?" Gustaf just grunted, since he didn't have any of those answers. "I'll go look for him, but I thought you should know in case you woke up and found both of us gone." "Thanks. I'll go with you. Is- um, is Ember awake?" All she got in reply was a quiet groan from under the blanket, which she took as a yes. She address the sleepy pegasus: "You heard all that? Me and Gustaf will go look for the Professor. Stay here with Winter Shine, we'll be back." She pulled her saddlebag closer and fished out her watch. Nearly five in the morning. The two students could get a few more hours of sleep, even if she couldn't. That was alright, she was used to going without much sleep during her expeditions. Her eyes still felt like they were full of sand and Rusty Bones felt weary. She tried to imagine fields of green grass under azure skies, but the image simply didn't want to form in her mind. It felt as if they had been in that damnable hole for all their lives. As if the things they had seen and experienced before weren't even real. No time to think about that. Rusty stood up and grabbed her lantern in her mouth. She jerked her head and Gustaf gently pried Ember Clover off himself. The pegasus complained, but he curled back up in the warm spot Gustaf had vacated. "Okay, let's go." Rusty led the way to the large chamber again and glanced wearily at the well. Had Curio fallen down it? If so, they would never find his body. She shook her head and tried to think more positive thoughts. The next decision was crucial: Back the way they came, or further into the temple? Maybe the silly academic had seen the same wall carvings as her and had gotten curious? Something told her that she might had hit the nail on the head with that guess. "Thiff way," she told Gustaf, speaking around the lamp handle in her mouth. He paused and looked in the other direction. "You sure? Maybe we should split up." "I'm fhure. Come on." She led him to the inner door, which was intact but open. This one had not rotted away because it was completely made of stone. Beyond was a staircase, going almost vertically down in a steep spiral. Rusty Bones held the lantern aloft and let its light spill down the steps. She considered calling for the Professor, but the resulting cacophony of various echos would scare the wits out of the two students, so she filed it away as a last resort. There was a faint metallic, grinding sound and when Rusty glanced back she saw that Gustaf had drawn his sword. She felt better for that. The first hoofstep was the hardest. The staircase twisted and she couldn't see more than a few yards ahead. Anything could be lurking just around the corner. When she moved, the light shifted as well and the sharp, precise shadow slid further around the bend. Her step echoed down into the hole and Rusty forced herself to put her other hoof down more gently. Sometimes she envied griffins for how silently they could move. After that it became easier. They fell into a rhythm of slow, half-turning steps. The staircase looked the same and when Rusty paused to shine her light the other way, she could see no difference. There were no markings on the wall and the stairs felt like they went forever in either direction. Somewhere up there, no more than a few turns away, was the big room with the well and the small storage room in which they had made their beds. Up there were other ponies. The other way, down, was that unknown darkness and unnatural silence. She felt it was watching her. Waiting. Her breathing quickened and her foreleg trembled as she placed it on the next step. Already her ears were completely flat and Rusty wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run out. Run, and run, until she found the exit. Even the Frozen North was preferable to that oppressive, quiet darkness. Gustaf placed his claw on her back and she caught his gaze as she looked back. He gave her a nod. It helped. She wasn't alone there, on that infinite staircase. Her eye was drawn to the sword the griffin held in front of him, to the gleaming edge and its reflection on the wall. Gustaf would keep her safe, even if there really were monsters. She turned back and continued down. The light from her lantern gradually revealed more and more of the same spiral. There was always that plane of pure black, as if the darkness was a physical thing being pushed ahead of them by her light. Something loomed out of that shadow and Rusty, her nerves already impossible taut, yelped in fear and dropped the light. She tried to push herself back with her forehooves, but she didn't have time to plant them solidly and she slipped. Her hind legs folded up and her rump hit the step behind her. Something large pushed past her and Rusty saw the gleam of the blade as it swung. She closed her eyes. The strike never came. Instead, Gustaf exclaimed: "Professor?!" When Rusty opened her eyes she saw her own light being levitated in Curio's tell-tale magical glow. He blinked at them in surprise, then asked: "What are you two doing here?" Her sudden fright, her yelp, and her fall had spiked her blood with pure adrenaline and Rusty breathed heavily as she recovered. Her ears pinned back and she almost growled back. "Us?! What are you doing here? You were supposed to be keeping watch!" The Professor seemed unconcerned. "I thought I heard something and came to investigate." Gustaf looked at Rusty and she met his gaze. They didn't know what to make of the excuse. "Why were you walking around in the dark?" she asked him. "Yeah," the griffin added, "I nearly stabbed you before I realized who you were." Curio blinked a few times, then looked at the lantern he was still holding. "In the dark? No, no, I wasn't in the dark. I had my magical light with me." "I didn't see it! You just jumped out of the shadow!" "Seeing you two so suddenly startled me and I lost the spell." It all sounded reasonable, but Rusty couldn't shake the feeling that the Professor was lying. In any case, the middle of a dark and scary staircase was no place to discuss it. "Come on. Let's go back, then we can talk about this," she ordered. Curio shrugged, but he did start to climb the steps again. "Sure, but there's nothing to discuss." Rusty Bones heaved a sigh and fell in step beside the professor. Gustaf cast a last glance down the stairs, then followed them. He kept his sword in his claw, she saw, and she couldn't really blame him. Why did she not trust the Professor's word? There had been something about his face. Did she know him well enough to see when he wasn't being truthful? Why would he lie? Had he found something down there and didn't want her to know? The ruin was getting to them all, especially if she considered Gustaf and Ember and how quickly they had gotten together, even to the small degree they had. The trio walked in silence, except for faint hoofsteps which rang through the staircase. Rusty didn't feel like questioning the Professor just yet, and he apparently had nothing to volunteer. She was starting to seriously fear that the staircase was cursed or something, and it really would not ever end, when they suddenly came to the top. Despite herself the mare breathed a relief. "We might as well get the breakfast going and then finish this exploration. I want to see what's down there." Her own words gave her pause and Rusty looked at Gustaf. "Maybe- maybe we should turn back. We've seen plenty, we have some documents and artifacts. We can plan a larger expedition when we come back." Curio immediately shook his head. "Nonsense," the Professor said. "We've come all this way, so we might at least take a quick look. We have plenty of water and food. I for one would dearly love to know what we're dealing with here." "Did you see the wall carvings?" He gave her a nod. "I did, and I recognize the prophecy. The version we have in the Canterlot library is somewhat distorted, doubtless from telling and re-telling, but it essentially predicts the rise of Celestia and Luna. Well, the first part of it does." "What else does it say?" Rusty asked, thinking about the bit of wall which had been destroyed. Curio sat on his haunches next to his cot and put a hoof on his chin. "Let me think, a group of ponies was supposed to sleep underground, in a safe place, while the Sisters oppressed the world with their tyranny. Now it's obvious it was not 'sleep', but rather 'wait'." He hummed a little to himself and Rusty let him think in peace while she went and fetched one of her water bags. She drained it and folded it back up to pack away again. At least the empties would be easier to carry. At last the Professor continued: "The end of it predicted the fall of the Sisters at the hooves of these 'chosen' ponies, and their triumphant return. Pretty standard stuff for prophecies." "Do you know who these chosen ponies were?" "No, that part was lost in history. I can, however, make an educated guess that our ancient friends here might have been it. It'll take more study and I don't want to say more until I'm sure." "Guess? We understand it's just a guess, Professor. We won't hold you to your word." The two students had woken up and were blinking in the light and looking strangely at Curio, but they didn't interrupt. "Well," the stallion said, "if I had to come up with a name, I would call them the eclipse cult. You've noticed the imagery of the eclipse everywhere, right?" "Yes. So it was a cult?" The Professor nodded. "I think so." Something he had said earlier bugged Rusty Bones. "Wait, Professor, you said you would like to know what's down there. Weren't you just there?" This brought out a quiet 'eep' from Winter Shine and she stared at the older pony. "Professor?!" "No, I turned back before I came all the way down," he replied smoothly, his eyes never leaving Rusty's. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to visit the little colts' room." He created a magical light for himself and walked away, but not before Rusty caught Gustaf's gaze and gave a slight nod. The griffin understood and followed the Professor. No more wandering around alone. "What was that all about, Miss Bones?" Ember asked and Winter Shine gave a nod to the question. "Gustaf and me woke up and the Professor was nowhere to be found. He hadn't woken Gustaf up for his watch, so we went looking for him." "I know that part," the pegasus confirmed. "What happened after?" "We went down this staircase, I think it leads almost directly under this room. It goes pretty deep down, but we met the Professor coming back up." Winter Shine sighed in relief. "That's okay then. He must have gotten distracted with something and wandered off. He does that sometimes." Already Rusty Bones was shaking her head. "No, Winter. He was walking up the stairs in the dark. He didn't have a light. He claims he did, but I would have seen it." "This staircase," Ember asked, "How tight a turn was it?" Rusty tried to estimate from memory. "Hmm, about three yards radius, it descended about one hoof down for every two hooves forward." Ember smiled dismissively. "Then you're both right. The turn was too tight for you to see his light until he was right on top of you. He could have lost it from surprise." Despite his confidence, Rusty Bones wasn't yet convinced. She tried to put her hoof on what had bothered her about Curio's face. "Winter Shine, what color are the Professor's eyes?" she asked. The mare blinked in surprise and looked at her classmate, but she answered: "Orange. Kinda like Gustaf's, except not as reflective. Why?" "Take another look when he comes back." Surely it hadn't been a trick of the light, had it? She could have sworn Curio's eyes had been brown now.