# Ch 9
The castle rumbled. Pebbles rolled down the walls as the structure was compromised by choking vines. They encroached with vigor. Spirits howled with anger, each soul entwining strong bark into stone like needle and thread piercing fabric. Something had gone terribly wrong all of a sudden and Twilight had to figure out why. But where to start?
"Lucky? Junior?" She called out. Her voice was drowned out by the crunching of rock. As dust rained upon her mane, Twilight decided her best bet was to follow the mayhem. Towards her right, pointing north, was where the energy came from. Waves upon waves of thick, angry miasma rousing the forest to consume the castle whole. In this direction Twilight headed.
She galloped and galloped, turning corners and evading rubble, until she arrived at the vestibule.
"Princess Luna! Stop!" Piece of Wheel begged. She questioned every choice which led to this point in her life. The castle of her ancestors fell apart above their heads, and she was the one creature most likely to succumb to it among a pantheon of equine demigods and an ancient dragon.
And the catalyst to all of it was the night princess. She had awakened from her trance at the main hall, only to race towards the castle's front exit. The spirits were none too happy; branches and roots spread through the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and thickened into a bramble barrier over the doors. The castle firmly caged Princess Luna within.
She reacted with pure, unfettered rage. Her magic unleashed upon the bark, beams of light bursting from her horn and striking the haunted foliage. She shouted desperately with each slash of her horn, drawing crescent blades of magic which cut cleanly through the dense bark. However, the energy of the castle responded quickly, healing the cut branches, stitching and merging them back into an impenetrable whole.
Splinters and thorns flew everywhere with each lashing of magic. Piece of Wheel summoned a spherical shield around herself just in time to deflect the debris. "Princess Luna, please! The spirits are only getting angrier!"
"I will not be contained!!" She reared high, then stamped down as she released a blast of light from her horn. "Wretched, damned spirits!"
A large crunch above Piece of Wheel's head caught her attention. A large fragment of the ceiling, a chunk of solid rock, was snapped out of place by the twisting bramble. Piece of Wheel braced herself for impact, hooves over head, magic pumping into her shield.
A heavy thud knocked the wind out of her. Through her magic, Piece of Wheel felt the sheer weight of the rubble slamming onto her, and her reserves were lacking. Her shield disintegrated.
But a bright explosion disintegrated the stone into a flurry of dust. Piece of Wheel coughed through the thick cloud, now coated in chalky gray. Twilight Sparkle stood at the other side. She glowed with immense power.
"Princess Twilight...thank you." Her voice was but a whisper. Twilight smiled and nodded.
Her focus then quickly shifted to Princess Luna, still lashing out, still fighting. Twilight squinted through the bright flourishes of power and saw how the vines converged willed by a dark force so strong it shrugged off the night deity's magic. Or rather, absorbed the energy oozing out of her frame. Anger poured from Luna. Thick shadowy waves shaped from despair centuries old. It made sense; all of the ghosts trapped in this castle, enslaved for their magic, perished in moments of great duress. This haunted sentience thrived off of chaos and discord. At this moment, Luna was a beacon for the castle's curse to focus on.
"Luna! Stop!" Twilight shouted above the mayhem. She willed one hoof before the other, daring to approach the other mare. "The castle's enchantment is feeding off your energy! It's growing stronger!"
However, when she drew close enough to touch, Luna spread her wings, summoning a gust of wind which pushed Twilight back across the tile. "Then I'll destroy it!" She declared.
Rising to her challenge, the mound of bark, leaf, moss and ectoplasm grew in size. It solidified; limbs sprouted and the newborn creature leapt into the air, the gory reimagining of a equine shaped by the dead and cursed. It soared above as if stretching forever, bark slithered to form a head and a maw from which mist and light bellowed.
At last, Luna stepped back, her eyes wide. Twilight's warning suddenly rang true, if not a tad too late. Still the younger alicorn joined her side, fearless.
She was the herald of determination, unmoving if not naive. "Together!"
Luna nodded, for she had no choice. Their horns pointed to the figure of their adversary hanging above their heads and sparkled with magic. The haunted creature cascaded onto them. A mane of smoke trailed behind, swallowing the surrounding structure of the castle whole, as it sped towards them.
The alicorn duo, sunset and moon, released a beam of pure light and magic. The haunted beast was torn right down the middle, parted around the princesses, splinters scattering, toxic green burning and surrounding them with the smell of ash.
Then the creature, now pure blue mist and glow, converged behind them, striking a lone cherry unicorn gawking uselessly. Twilight Sparkle watched in horror as Piece of Wheel bore the brunt of the miasma bearing down on her...until it faded away. Piece of Wheel lay collapsed on the floor.
"No!" Twilight raced over. She poked the fallen mare with her muzzle. She breathed shallow and fast, yet appeared unharmed. "This can't be good. Ugh. I knew this place was too dangerous for her! I should've..."
"Do not blame yourself."
Luna stood a few paces behind, unable to stand any closer to Twilight, let alone look her in the eye. She was crestfallen, her mane swirled languidly close to the dusty carpet of rubble, spent and dull. "Blame us." She said. "For not being the mentors you deserve."
"Luna...I-I want to understand you."
"We need to shelter her as best as we can." Luna trotted past her and took it upon herself to lift Piece of Wheel in a magical embrace. She cradled her in a mantle of blue, then placed her upon her back, balancing her frame in the nest of her wings.
As for their surroundings, the vines persisted, the door held firmly shut by ever growing vegetation as thick as steel.
"I guess...it's too late to take her to the nearby town." Twilight lamented. The castle wouldn't let any of them leave.
Climbing through newly fallen rubble, they found Twilight's guest room. The stone around them rumbled, as if moaning in pain from the bark stabbing through it, yet it appeared to be held together by the claws of nature. Twilight Sparkle knew the ceiling could come down upon them at any moment.
Quietly, she wondered where Princess Celestia was, if she was safe. She didn't dare utter her concern to Luna, who skillfully, albeit jittering with some kind of mania, strung together a ward around the dust-coated bed. Piece of Wheel lay upon the sheets.
A sad voice spoke. "I left two children behind when I died." Lucky De Roue materialized at Twilight's side. She gazed at her descendant, however distant, with mournful sweetness. "I suppose foolishness is the one trait to pass on, if any."
Twilight sighed. "It's not really her fault she was made to feel responsible."
Luna spun around, her wings flaring, her mane frizzing wild. "Are you speaking to me?"
Twilight flicked her eyes only to find Lucky had vanished. Was she afraid of Luna? "N-no. Just thinking to myself."
They exchanged stiff, awkward looks. Twilight forced a smile. Luna cleared her throat, then returned to her work casting barrier runes around the bed.
"May I?" Twilight trotted closer. She channeled magic into her horn and focused on the spell, adding her own spin to the runes. Luna stepped aside. "I learned this trick after some experimentation while I was a student."
The barrier responded to Twilight's adjustments by glistening with new pulses of energy. No physical harm would come to lucky for as long as they needed to dispel the castle's enchantment, now that the flow of the runes was optimized. Twilight looked to Luna for approval. Or feedback. Or...anything, really, beside a blank stare.
Looking close enough, she found a hint amazement in her features, subtle awe as she went over the runes glowing on the stony floor. "Is this something Celestia taught you?" Luna asked, her tone even, intentions as cloudy as ever.
Luna had assured that it was all fine before, everything with Nightmare Moon, everything with Celestia's overpowering radiance and Equestria's disdain for everything the night princess stood for. Perhaps she had wanted it to be fine. Simply, it wasn't.
"No." Twilight answered, nerves twisting her stomach. "Trial and error. I was obsessive with my magic studies."
Luna quirked a brow. "Really?" A beat later, she added, "that's quite impressive."
Her attention didn't linger on Twilight for long. It was too painful. Her focus shifted onto Piece of Wheel, the mare who had just received the assault of an angry spirit. Luna hovered her horn over Piece of Wheel's frame. The magic was pale, silvery and wispy like the full moon's gentle glow at night.
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked, intrigued by the energy emanating from Luna. It wasn't quite like...regular magic, so to speak.
"Accessing the plane of dreams. Scanning Piece of Wheel's spiritual state. Whatever damage the ghost caused was not physical."
Luna retreated as the magic faded from her horn, her brow deeply furrowed. She spawned in one of the many ghost books Twilight had initially dismissed as childish and inane. Her magic swept through the pages until she landed on one. "I believe tradition would name this creature a Myling."
"A...what? Let me see." Twilight peeked over Luna's shoulder at the page. Much to her surprise, the description written fit the bill; mylings were spirits who haunted their place of death till their last wish was fulfilled, or until their remains were given a proper burial. Till then, they roam and torment the living, growing larger and larger.
Junior, the griffon, wished for the seal on the second floor to be opened, Lucky wanted her father exorcised; the royal ambassador wanted Luna dead. There were so many more countless spirits with their own wishes, and their bones were long since claimed by nature.
"This doesn't help us much." Twilight's ears flattened to her skull. "If only...if only my friends were here. The Elements of Harmony would fix all of this, I know it."
"No use bargaining." Luna snapped the book closed and dismissed it with a flash. "I worry about this one." She looked over Piece of Wheel. Her cherry fur was turning a pale, ashen color. "This state of slumber has been forced upon her. I sensed disturbances...I believe she is under possession."
"P-possession?!"
"We need to break the enchantment as soon as possible. It is our only hope of banishing the spirits." Luna declared this, then started towards the door.
Twilight shook her head to dispel the shock. "So we're just leaving Piece of Wheel like this?!" She remained firmly at the bedside.
"We break the enchantment, we save Piece of Wheel." Luna turned the knob with her magic and, before leaving, gave Twilight a look of remorse. "I am sorry. I'm going to find Celestia."
Twilight Sparkle stood in haunting silence. She glared at the floor beneath her hooves, carpeted with pebbles, dust and splinters, and damned eternity, death, and the systems of the world that allowed such suffering to afflict souls that had suffered enough in their lifetimes.
She damned the same eternity which so firmly separated her from Luna and Celestia. It caged them all.
Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. She turned with a gasp. It was only Lucky De Roue who appeared at her side along with Junior. They shared conspiratorial glances, vibrating with jarring excitement.
"This is our chance!" Lucky bounced in place.
"Wha-"
"You need to convince the sisters to save Piece of Wheel first." Junior said as they approached the bedside. Their form rippled and pulled towards Piece, beckoned by forces converging around the unicorn. "They'll surrender to the dreamscape more easily if they think there's a life at stake."
"You want me to trick the Royal Sisters?!" Twilight reeled from the mere implication. One was her mentor since she was small, and the other...well, the other was her crush. However, they were both incredibly cunning, versed in the ways of courts and nobility. "That's- simply impossible. I can't."
Lucky rolled her eyes and snorted. "You have those two wrapped around your hoof. They'll do anything you say."
"Clearly not-" Twilight returned Lucky's eyeroll. "Luna just up and left!"
"Then what are you waiting for?!"
Suddenly, a white blur flew past her. Twilight reacted just in time to catch the teapot in her magic before it hit the floor. But when she looked around, the two apparitions had vanished from the room, making their point well known.
"I'll be back soon. I promise." Twilight swore this to Piece of Wheel before taking off after Princess Luna.
She found everyone at the main hall. Quite literally everyone, Lord Talonhart included. His large frame strained as he held the ceiling above his head. Only his talons secured fractured stone from falling on top of the Royal Sisters.
Twilight lifted her jaw from the floor so she could address her fellow princesses. "What is going on here?!"
"I was making an attempt to convince Lord Talonhart to abandon this...venture." Answered Celestia, casting an exasperated look up at the dragon.
Talonhart responded by blowing hot cinders from his nostrils. "I have staked my claim in this castle and I will not be ran off by some ghosts or some plants!" He lifted up with renewed vigor, fueled by pure spite. Muscles rippled under drooping draconian skin.
Twilight then had a thought; there would be no seal to break if the threshold between the two levels of the castle was allowed to come down. An idea was born from desperation and some insanity. Twilight pointed her horn towards Lord Talonhart, an unforgivable offense in any other circumstance, and fired shocks of magic at the underside of his arms.
"Ow- ow!" Talonhart jolted and flinched, and the stone above him rattled along with him. The princesses stepped away from the falling rocks, too confounded to react properly.
Twilight hoped they would forgive her. "Let go, Lord Talonhart! This castle is a goner!"
"You-you pest!" He roared plumes of fire. "Have you gone mad?! Yeouch!" His impulse won over; Talonhart shrank away from the constant assault at the tender skin under his scales, finally letting go of the ceiling and curling his long neck into his chest. The princesses joined their magic and cast a barrier over themselves and the dragon. But the ceiling never came down.
Rather, the castle continued its metamorphosis into a structure of bark as vines and branches slithered to mend the fault lines in the ceiling, stitching together into a strong, self-healing lattice.
"Of course it would never be that simple." Twilight grumbled.
"Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Celestia chastising tone turned her stomach into a cold lump of ice. As she approached, there was no anger in her eyes...only perplexed disappointment. Twilight was a small filly all over again, drooping her head low to the ground. "What's possessed you into attacking our friend, exactly?"
"I-I- He-"
Luna quickly intercepted Celestia, placing herself between them. "Ease up, Celestia. We wouldn't be in this trouble if not for him and you know it."
Twilight drew strength from Luna's support and stood tall. "And an innocent pony wouldn't be in danger either."
Celestia's eyebrows raised. "Innocent pony?"
"Alright..." Lord Talonhart was rough as hot coals. He brushed dust off his scales. "I am a horrible, bastard lizard and deserve scorn from the little princess. But one thing remains true: I am not your enemy."
Twilight twisted her mouth in disapproval. "N-no, but-"
"We need to break the enchantment before we have a death in our hooves." Luna said to Celestia, inspiring urgency. "Talonhart's servant was attacked by the myling. She is in grave danger." Her eyes turned accusatory. "And you would know this if you weren't too busy frolicking around with an expatriate."
Celestia gazed at her little sister. Hurt flashed over her, as quick as a heartbeat, but she dismissed it as she looked towards the doors to the upstairs, upon the glyphs emblazoned on its wood.
This enchantment had been the bane of their existence for the past week. "Luna," Celestia stepped forward with everlasting grace, "we try together. Just like the olden days."
Twilight gulped thickly. Luna nodded.
Together the sisters flapped their wings, bypassing the long stairs curving upwards. As they approached, vines and branches crawled over the wooden doors, forming a network vascular in shape.
Meanwhile, Lucky De Roue's voice spoke urgently into Twilight's mind. "What are you doing?! You were supposed to convince them to join the tea party!"
Twilight glared at some dark corner of the room, assuming it landed right on Lucky. "I can't stop them- this is what we wanted!"
The two landed neatly in front of the glowing runes. Together they had faced great adversity; they tamed the heavens, defeated a despot, and lead a great civilization to glory. Together they pointed their runes towards the enchanted doors. However large this haunting was, they had faced larger. They had fought stronger.
But those were times long since past. Twilight held her breath, watching Luna and Celestia channel swirls of runes towards the doors. Her heartbeat quickened. The spell seemed to work so far, as the runes kissed their counterparts etched on the wood and the vegetative organism of the castle writhed in response.
"They're...going to do it?" Twilight gasped. A dragon grumbled next to her. Lord Talonhart's wrinkles deepened with the bright light emanating in front of them.
Luna's features strained. Celestia frowned in kind. Rays of gold and teal twirled together harmoniously as they attacked the enchantment. Responding to the threat, specters of fog materialized around the sisters. Timber and stalks sucked onto the ghostly figures like armor.
Twilight huffed through her nostrils and scuffed the tile with her hoof, wings flaring out in challenge. Greater than her fear of the angry spirits was her desire to protect the royal sisters and ensure the success of their efforts, no matter the cost. With a single beat of her wings, she sprung into the air and unleashed a rain of magic towards the ghosts. One by one she picked them off.
Waves upon waves of these ghosts continued to rise where the last of their kin was destroyed. The fog of their energy endured where the physical armor did not. Twilight found herself overwhelmed as she couldn't blast them off quickly enough. Groups of creeping ghosts like skeletons rising from their grave advanced towards the sisters, closing in around them.
A ball of fire swept through. Hell poured from Talonhart's large snout, redness glowing through the tissues of his long neck. The flames shied away from Celestia's figure as it attacked the haunted bark ghosts launching at her. Twilight grinned at Talonhart. Him stepping in was...unexpected, but inspiring. The dragon nodded at her, then rained his fire down on the double doors, burning through the vines occluding their path forward.
Twilight stamped down on the second floor right at Luna's side. A lumbering beast raised its hoof-like appendages towards the princess, until Twilight kicked him away with her hind legs.
She glared at the ghosts still emerging from thin air. "Get away from her!"
They screeched in retort to her battle cry.
However, what Twilight Sparkle didn't know was that her efforts would go unrewarded. Deep in the sisters' minds, as they wove the counterspell, sun and moon quarreled.
Runes floated around them, symbols which described different states of magic as it interacted with the fabric of reality. And these runes spun wildly in a storm of souls screaming, some for freedom and others for vengeance. Luna recoiled; the spirits reached for her. Unfortunately, in order to weave this spell they had to reach out, string the runes together, tap into them.
"Stand back, Luna!" Celestia, always protective, always noble, wrapped her large wings around the smaller alicorn. Her legs were longer as her hooves plucked runes from the air and beaded them into the counterspell.
Luna stepped outside of her sister's protective circle. "I am fine and capable, Celestia!" She swept her hoof into the current of runes, catching a section of their spell in the crook of her elbow. Just a few more lines and it would be complete...though the consequences of such a feat were unknown. Would breaking the doors enchantment truly take care of the haunting? It couldn't be this simple, could it? "We should have doen this much earlier...we owe Twilight some apologies."
The spell continued to mount as the sisters worked in tandem. A ribbon of coherent magic formed around them. The spirits tried to claw at them, but were held back like sharks reaching for caged prey.
"None of us could've known the castle held so many trapped souls...such a powerful spell." Celestia marveled at the complexity of the enchantment.
Luna wasn't so endeared. "You knew."
"I did not!" She faced Luna passionately. "Once I received reports of my party missing...I assumed the worst. And I did not dare send another ambassador to their deaths. All I could do was secure the nearby village, ensure there weren't any more cultists near vulnerable civilians."
"Secure." Luna glowered. "You persecuted ponies."
"I do not know what you want me to say, Luna! What you would've wanted me to do!"
The sisters stood close, clashing, surrounded by chaos, beating with its nourishing ambrosia.
"I wish-" Luna's words choked; they were horrifying even whilst unspoken, a thing of terror when breathed. "I wish you would've ended me!"
Celestia gasped.
"Then neither of us would have to deal with the mess I have made!"
Claws and teeth melded into one another as the spirits morphed into one mesh of violent hatred. They tore right through the counterspell's ribbons.
Twilight only saw the sister's magic enter dissonance, distort, unwind then explode in a flash of light. She was thrown towards a wall by a wave of celestial power, a nova extinguishing itself.
And the enchantment remained strong. The sisters lay on the ground, manes tossed about, covered in soot and rubble.
"Told you so." Lucky taunted.
Twilight rubbed at her temple then shook off her pain. Only the sisters knew what went wrong. Lord Talonhart hovered his head over the sisters, staring at them with disappointment.
The fog hung thickly, inert and spent yet still asphyxiating. Twilight addressed the elder dragon with authority. "Help me move them to safety."
Talonhart huffed, but agreed.