//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Princess Fleur Dis Lee (Twilight's Story) // Story: Forgotten Kingdom // by Invisible Cadance //------------------------------// The cold wind breezed through Twilight’s mane as she jumped out of the train onto the platform. Small stars shined through the dark sky above Canterlot. A few lampposts were stationed on the platforms to light the way for tired travellers during the night. Usually when Princess Celestia was out of the city the security heightened and guards would be posted everywhere, but the streets were empty except for some ponies walking out of the newly arrived train. Some music could be heard drowned out by the sound of the city’s waterfall and the air was full with the smell of food. Pinkie Pie jumped out right after her shouting goodbyes to the ponies that stayed on-board the train. The pink pony had spent much of the train ride talking with other passengers. Disappointment had come to her when the train got delayed by hours before the tunnel into the mountain Canterlot was resting on. An announcer had said that they would be stopping and no pony was to exit the train, but they never received an explanation why they had stopped on the middle of the tracks. The delay meant that they would miss Rarity’s party. At first Pinkie was upset over it and Twilight had to promise that they would have a party with all her friends when they got back. Her friend hadn’t been the only one to complain; other passengers had been equally upset and demanded an explanation. Twilight had been more focused on the book she brought with her and studying the map, so the delay didn’t do much more for her than give her more time to read. The Canterlot Library was usually closed during the night, but she hoped that she would be able to get in despite that. She was Princess Celestia’s student after all. Either way, they would have to spend the night in the city. “This way,” she said to Pinkie and walked towards one of the alleyways. The Canterlot Library was one of her favourite places within the city and the one she had spent the most time in when she still lived there, so she knew the fastest way there from anywhere. A few of the passengers said goodbye to her as they went wherever they were headed, and she responded with a farewell. Pinkie took a bit longer with her goodbyes as she had to hug them all, even though she had already said goodbye earlier. “Smells nice,” Pinkie said when she saw a table with peach pies and peach cupcakes standing in front of a closed door. “Do you think they’ll let us taste? We haven’t eaten anything since we were supposed to go to a party and fill up.” “Can’t hurt to ask,” Twilight responded yawning. She could feel the heat coming from the treats from a few meters away. Her stomach started to growl when she thought about the taste of the peaches in her mouth. “I don’t see anypony nearby.” The door was closed, and looked to be locked as well. None of the three windows on the small white house were open. They all looked dark. More houses stood along the street, and a few of them also had some food put out on a table outside their doors. They looked just as dark and empty as the first house, yet the food was still reeking hot. It looks like they were planning a party, but for what? Pinkie had the decency not to snatch up any of the food as they walked by, but she was staring at them for long. Soon they found themselves upon the city’s largest shopping street. Large and small stores stood side by side to each other with their names printed out in a large text over the front door. The shops covered a large arrange of different trade; the clothing- and bookstores were the only ones to compete with each other on the street. Most of them had a glass door with a small sign that hanged stating whether the shop was open or closed. A few of the stores were opened, but inside they looked just as empty as the street was. “Are you city ponies always this dull?” Pinkie asked. She had her eyes on a closed bakery shop with beautiful looking cakes sitting in the window. “Where is the party?” She yelled out the last part, but no pony gave her any answer. “Dull.” “I’ve never seen it like this,” Twilight responded. The place had always been full of ponies looking to find a bargain from what she remembered. Even during the night ponies could be seen trotting through the street. It’s like the entire city has been abandoned. Where could they all be? “Help me!” a mare screamed in the distance as a late response to Pinkie. Her voice was full of heavy breathing and fright. Twilight directed her attention to where the voice came from first, but when she couldn’t see anything there she looked all around her. They were all alone on the street, yet she could have sworn that she had heard it. The earth pony looked uneasy, as if she had heard it as well. In the distance she could hear a vague sound of hooves hitting the hard ground. It was coming from all directions. Together with Pinkie she moved in the direction the scream had come from. Soon enough she could see a white Unicorn running towards her. Sweat was pouring down all over her body, and it looked like she would drop within the next second. Behind her was a sight that answered Twilight’s questions. A horde of Unicorns were running after the white mare. At the back of it she could vaguely see a red filly sitting on a chair that was lifted up by some of the ponies. “Oh, that’s where they all are. Looks like a fun party.” Pinkie looked pleasantly surprised by their arrival. “Help me, please!” the mare cried out again. The sound of hooves hitting the ground was starting to creep up on Twilight from behind her as well. Close to her were six shops and four of them were closed. The other two had their sign saying they were open, but the inside looked all dark and empty. One of them was a small textile shop and the other was a large shop focused on maps. Either one of them would be a good place to retreat into should they be forced to do so since she couldn’t see any sign of the horde starting to slow down. They all looked really angry. “What’s going on here?” she asked. Nothing but a scream and clop answered her. In a closer distance she saw a small red spot on the white mare where something sharp had cut her. They’re going to run us over. She turned around and saw a similarly large horde rushing up against her, but they were still farther away than the first one. “Pinkie, run!” Twilight forced the door to the map shop open with her magic and made a gesture for the white Unicorn to follow her inside. Pinkie picked up on the hint immediately and jumped calmly into the shop. Not even she wanted to risk standing in the way, even if it was for a chance to party. The white Unicorn recklessly threw herself after the pink pony and Twilight quickly shut the door. A mere second after she locked it a hoof smashed through the glass. It only created a small hole large enough for one hoof, but the rest of the horde had also stopped outside the shop and started kicking on the glass. It won’t last long, Twilight thought as the room was filled with the sound of crashes. She remembered a spell that she had learned long ago, but she had never much cause to use. It wouldn’t be strong, but it might buy her some time. She focused her attention on the way in and felt her energy being drained away. Her horn glowed in a strong purple aura. A thin shield of magic was built up from the ground and soon acted as a wall against the entrance. The window crashed down soon thereafter to be followed by the glass door. The Unicorns pushed themselves inside and started kicking on the shield. She felt herself getting weaker after every hit. Light filled the room when Pinkie found the button to activate it. A lamp hung from the roof and spread its light. The shop consisted of one small room with a desk and some maps displayed inside glass boxes. On the desk stood a cash register, a few feathers, bottles of ink, and some parchments rolled up. A small pathway led into another larger room where maps of all kind were displayed in large bookcases. Some looked old while others looked really new, but the maps didn’t seem to get any special care and bits of paper lied on the floor. A small table stood in the middle of the room with maps scattered all over it. Special price, read a sign on top of the table. The white Unicorn lied on the floor behind the desk hiding at Pinkie’s hooves. She was taller than most other Unicorns. Her hair was straight with a light pink colour to it that had been cared for heavily. Three fleur-de-lis adorned her thin flank, one yellow and two purple. She was looking at the ponies attempting to break through the magic shield with tears in her eyes. When Twilight looked at her, she shied away and sought comfort with the pink pony that did her best to help. She must know a lot of them. After every kick, the attackers seemed to grow more furious than before. They were baring their teeth, and some even attempted to bite through. “You’re safe here from the party poopers,” Pinkie said and swept away the tears from the mare’s face. “I’m Pinkie Pie. This is my shared bestest friend Twilight Sparkle.” She pointed her hoof towards the purple unicorn and smiled awkwardly. “Isn’t that right? She’s safe from the meanies outside.” Until they start using their magic, Twilight thought. “What happened here?” she asked instead. “Why were they chasing you? Who are you?” She tried to approach the Unicorn, but the mare only sought comfort in the Earth Pony as a result. It was if she was the scary one. “It’s going to be fine,” Pinkie said comforting. “You can tell aunt Twilight everything. She won’t bite. Right, Twilight?” “I won’t hurt you,” she found herself replying. “Fleur de Lis,” the mare said quickly and quivering. Her voice was soft and low. “Is that your name?” the Earth Pony asked. “Nice to meet you Fleur.” She shook the mare’s right front hoof fast in a friendly way. “What happened?” Twilight asked again. She hoped the Unicorn would continue talking once she had begun. “Why are they so aggressive towards us? Is there some curse that has been placed on them?” They were seeking out Princess Luna and the castle of Bolivianite because of a curse; maybe it had already activated and started spreading its horror. She didn’t think it was too likely to have happened, but she left all options open just in case. “She,” Fleur answered and pointed at Twilight. “She sang, and then, then…” Twilight was taken aback by the accusation at first before realizing that the mare was actually pointing at something behind her. The horde of ponies was still fighting at the shield with little use. Right in front of her sat a little red filly on a throne carried by four stallions. She had a blood-red mane and tail with a crown and ruby as a cutie mark. Her eyes glowed red when the Unicorns allowed her to be carried all the way to shield. She’s scared of me because they’re all Unicorns. Twilight had wondered why Fleur sought refuge with Pinkie rather than being scared of them both. She had noticed that the horde only contained Unicorns earlier, but she hadn’t thought it would have any correlation to the mare’s fright. If Fleur was telling it true, then the filly had some kind of power to control the others. From the look of things, that power only reached Unicorns. A hit on the shield left her breathless for a second as her strength started to wane. She never saw it, but she felt that magic had been the cause. The blow had been more powerful than any of the other she had felt. “We need to find a way out of here fast,” she told Pinkie. “If not, then we’ll either be caught or worse. I’ll check the other room. Pinkie, find everything you can in this room.” She took one last look at them and the little filly; they were all strangers to her. A horrible smell met her when she entered the room where most of the store’s items were. Most of it she had already seen from the entrance, but with a closer view the damage to the maps became clearer. Not even the ones that sat on the bookshelves had been saved from the reckless treatment the table maps had received. When she moved some of the books on the bookshelves, piles of small paper pieces were revealed. It looked like all the standing maps were hiding such. The walls were in a much better condition with its sea-blue wallpaper. She knocked carefully on it and the sound she received was that of a thick wall. Blowing it up would prove to be too hard. Nowhere in the room was there any sign of any second exit existing. Even the wooden floor was solid. “Twilight,” Pinkie called from the other room, “Fleur found a hatch.” A hatch was better than nothing. It could potentially only lead to a small cellar storage, but they might be able to hide there. She hadn’t found anything else to be of assistance, so she made her way towards the first room. A map fell down from the bookshelf with a small thump at the same time she felt the breath go out of her. She fell hard to the floor. Sparks left her horn as she continued to struggle with her spell. The shield won’t last for long. She pushed herself up panting heavily. Sweat flowed down her forehead and parts of her legs ached. The content of the saddlebags were safe and sound. The filly stared at her with empty eyes as she slowly made her way to Pinkie and Fleur. A small wooden hatch lied open on the floor revealing a dark staircase leading down. It looked quite used as there was no dust from what she could see. “What endless riches could lie waiting there?” Pinkie asked the mare before she noticed that Twilight had arrived. “Are you okay? You look down. Want me to cheer you up?” The Earth Pony blew a party blower and the room was filled with its sound. “I can’t hold the spell much longer,” Twilight admitted before it became quiet. A sweet musical melody replaced the high-pitch sound of her friend’s toy. It whispered in her ears, but she couldn’t make out the words. The pain disappeared from her legs and the drops of sweat stopped annoying her fur. She allowed a yawn to escape her. Pinkie looked at her questioning as a result. Tranquillity and calm reached her. She sang, and then. Fleur’s words echoed in her head. A sweet song that seemed to come from nowhere; the filly sat unmoving and smiling at them while the Unicorns continued to kick on the shield, but she didn’t feel it any more. If the mare’s words were to be trusted, then the entire horde had heard the song before. The thought of ending up as aggressive and mindless as them gave no comfort to her. At least she thought they were mindless; no offers had made been made, and they were attacking without stop or words. She hoped there was some way to revert them back to their normal state. “What are we waiting for?” Pinkie asked. Fleur yawned beside her and laid herself down in a sleeping position. The Earth Pony looked entirely unaffected by it. “Are you all getting cold hooves? There’s nothing scary down there.” She dipped her head inside the hatch and screamed. “Hello!” Even from upstairs the echo could be heard. “You go on ahead,” Twilight replied once the echo had died out. “I want to listen to the song.” Her eyelids were getting heavier for every second. She found herself drifting off to sleep only to awaken half a second later. “What song?” Pinkie curiously asked. “Are you seeing a ghost?” Twilight didn’t know where the notion of a ghost came from. She didn’t want to think about it. Thinking made her head hurt. All she needed was Melanite’s command. The pink pony disappeared from her sight, and she closed her eyelids again. Something bit down on her tail, but there was no pain. She could soon feel her body scratching against the wooden floor. Her legs were too heavy to fight against it. She merely allowed herself to follow. Soon the floor stopped scratching and started hitting instead. It didn’t last long before she stopped completely. When she opened her eyes a small flicker of light reached through reached her. It died out right before her. Only darkness remained. What am I doing? Twilight forced her eyes open, but it made no difference. Darkness was all around her. The left side of her body was pulsing with pain. She was lying down on hard ground, but she never remembered falling. Her legs protested slightly when she pushed herself up to her feet panting. A cold breeze swept through and she felt her entire body shivering. Did they break through? She couldn’t feel the shield anymore, and it had stopped draining her energy. A sweet song was all she remembered, but then she had been in a well-lit shop and not complete darkness. The ground under her hooves felt hard and uneven, not anything at all like the wooden floor. Her horn lit up the tunnel with sweat drops annoying her forehead. The purple light revealed stone walls to her sides and two directions for her to go. Either one of them could lead anywhere in the city. If she even was in Canterlot anymore. She was doubtful as the stairs that they had found in the shop were nowhere in sight. Her left saddle-bag had been damaged somehow, but the contents of the bag seemed to have fared well. The white Unicorn lied beside her in sleep, but there was no sign of Pinkie. “Wake up,” she whispered to Fleur and shook her gently. “I don’t want to go to school,” Fleur mumbled as a response. “All my friends get to watch the fashion show.” Twilight shook her again harder and the mare woke up. She stretched out her body and yawned before her pink eyes stared into Twilight’s. The white pony shied away until she hit the wall. “Please.” Her voice was trembling. “I won’t hurt you,” Twilight repeated sighing. “You do remember me?” She received a slight nod as an answer. “Come, we need to find Pinkie and get out of here before we’re caught.” She helped her new friend get up on her hooves, and the Unicorn thanked with another nod. How am I to know which way to go? I could be stuck in here forever. Twilight sighed at the thought. She had known that there existed tunnels underneath Canterlot thanks to her books. A remnant of when the train tunnels had been built was what she read. Though, she didn’t think that fact would help her at all now. “Twilight, is that you?” a familiar voice asked her. A shadow was creeping up on her from the direction the voice came. It was still at the edges of the light. Pinkie. The answer came to her instantly when she heard the voice. “We’re here, Pinkie,” she replied to the Earth Pony. “We’re fine, but…” Her sentence was cut off as the pink pony appeared in the light. “I’m so glad that you’re okay,” Pinkie said and hugged her friend. Her coat was filled with large dirt spots. Small pieces of dirt fell off every time she moved and Twilight found herself getting a lot of it on her. “I thought I had lost you. You went rambling on some song, but there never were any song. So I dragged you down here through the hatch Fleur found. Are you feeling fine now? I know just the thing to cheer you up if you don’t.” “There was a song,” Twilight replied. “It was beautiful and calm. I don’t know why you couldn’t hear, but I believe it might have something to do with the ponies that attacked us. There should be a book in the library that can explain such magic better.” “I don’t think these tunnels lead to the library,” Pinkie answered and shook off some of the dirt. “We can sneak up there from one of the shops. I have some moves that I’ve been dying to try out.” “Canterlot is filled with her minions,” Fleur spoke softly and almost in a whisper. She focused solely on the pink pony, as if she didn’t want Twilight to hear anything of it. “You’ll never reach the library without them discovering you. And when they do.” She left the rest unsaid. “We need to find Princess Luna,” Twilight declared. “We can’t fight our way through them. We have no means of contacting Princess Celestia as it is now. Walking to Ponyville will take too. But first we need to find a way out of here.” “Geez, I already found the exit while you two slept,” Pinkie said. “Princess Luna will know how to deal with this situation,” Twilight continued, “and I think I know where we’ll find her. Pinkie, lead the way.” The pink pony trotted the same way she had come from, and the two Unicorns followed after in her in the same pace. Fleur kept her distance away from the purple pony as good as she could. She still fears me, Twilight thought. If we had the Elements of Harmony we could do this without chasing a vague belief of where the princess might be. The walk took a few minutes and soon she found herself staring at a road leading down from the mountain. They were far beneath the city, but she didn’t think anypony would see them in the darkness. Unicorn Range. Darkness covered the surrounding areas like a thick mist. She recast her light spell to make it give off less light before she started walking down the road. Her two friends followed closely behind.