I crept through the black hall, my purple eyes wary of any movement and my legs tensed in preparation. My ears were on a constant swivel, letting me hear the continuous reverberation of my hoofsteps on the cold marble floor. The Castle's innards stretched around me, elephantine-yet-empty as always. I sometimes passed the occasional broken coffee table or torn sofa, but the hall was generally devoid of any ornamentation.
A slight creak in front of me would have been surprising, but this time I was ready.
I only caught the faintest glint of sharp, yellowed teeth before I dove to my right, the creature hissing in rage as it skidded past me. I bolted for cover, letting off a few pre-charged shots from my horn as I slipped into an unoccupied room.
Heavy pounding sounded from the door I barely closed in time, and I grunted as my magic barely held up under the assault.
After several tense moments, the thing finally gave up and I sagged in relief, thankful for the short patience of these fiends.
Hi, by the way. My name's Twilight, and I'm really scared.
Tremblingly, I inspected the room, noting its expansive size and spartan furnishings.
One painting hung high up on the wall caught my attention, though: It was of a mare, wearing some sort of powdered wig as well as some fashionable blue lipstick.
Her face was set in a horrific scream as blood ran down her head from the gaping wound on the top of it, looking rather like the toothy grins of the creatures infesting this place.
I didn't dwell long on the morbid caricature, though: I'd seen enough of the gory drawings to fill up a lifetime, and after a while they all sort of blended into this samey mixture of red.
This was a bedroom, I finally realized, and relaxed upon noting for certain that I was truly alone.
Well, except for the rotting discarded carcass in the queen-size bed, but that was a decided step up from a hungry monster, I'd think.
After being here awhile, one begins to grow used to the horrors filling its stony halls. Truly, I'm amazed that I've lasted so long without joining their number, but my friends always did say I was a fast learner.
I think I'm actually getting the hang of this.
I, for example, knew not to stick around in one place for too long. After a while, the creatures start to track you down, and believe you me, you don't want to be there when they find you.
No, it was time to get lost again.
I stepped out into the hallway once more, noting with a twinge of frustration that it was differently-shaped than it had been, seconds prior. The whole structure had shifted and the paintings changed; where there had once been a table there was now a doorway.
An empty doorway, with no door to fill it. I shivered in terror as I crept by, keeping my small hoofsteps as stealthy as possible. Those empty doorways were gates into the unknown, voids of knowledgeless nothing that sucked you in and turned you out.
My thoughts were getting twisted just standing next to one, let alone actually going through it.
I peeked my rugged head around the corner, warily watching for any glinting lights or sudden sounds.
My eyes bulged as I finally registered what room was in front of me.
A library!
But they quickly squinted in suspicion as I continued to think about things. It could easily be a trap, you see, though by whom, I wouldn't know.
All the creatures I'd seen__varied though they were__had one thing in common: They were beasts. Feral. Not sapient. I knew one thing for sure: Whatever being was smart enough to bait me into a trap with a library, I did not want to see it.
Well, maybe from afar. To study. And perhaps communicate with.
Maybe if I'm careful...?
The offer of knowledge was too great to pass up, even in a place such as this. The rapid thoughts of what forbidden tomes could lie in this forsaken place brought an enormous smile to my face.
Ultimately, I couldn't possibly resist.
And so, I stepped into the library, eagerly prancing through its many shelves.
In doing so, I made the single smartest decision of my life.