//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 (The Allure) // Story: A Perfect Key // by Jonnydash //------------------------------// A Perfect Key Chapter 5 (The Allure) By Jonnydash We had finally arrived in Canterlot so I picked myself up from my comfortable seat on the train and headed down the aisle of the cart with Applejack and Rarity behind me. I could hear Rarity going on about how excited she was to be back in Canterlot and something about a dress shop. I continued down the cart listening to the girls chattering about Canterlot and other things. I began to think about how the princess would see me and what she would say. I began to feel something in my stomach and I placed it as being nervous. As we all filed out of the cart I began to notice something odd about this place. It wasn’t like Ponyville at all , it was dark the sky was a tint of black in which I didn't think could exist in this world. The ponies of this place walked about with heads down to the ground not saying a word to any pony. Its as if there world were colorless.. Twilight was the first to speak. “What happened here..” she muttered but we all thought the same thing. Something was happening in Canterlot and I could see the fear in every ponies eyes. It was almost  like I could sense that feeling we all shared. Pinkie quietly stated “This isn’t normal...” Rainbow dash had a worried look on her face as she watched the ponies walk by. “What is causing all of this?” she asked not expecting an answer. Twilight answered “I’m not sure, but we need to see the princess and maybe she can let us know what to do and figure this out.” We continued  on through Canterlot looking at the empty streets and shops. Everything was quiet  and an eerie feeling was lifting through the city.  I noticed something as we were trotting along, even the buildings seemed gray and dull like they lost what color and vividness they had. I was just about to say something when Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. “Did you hear that?” she quickly said as worry spread across her face. “Um no i didn’t hear nuthin.” Applejack responded looking around fearfully. “It sounded like someone was laughing...” Twilight responded sounding more distressed. “I’m sure it was the wind or something” I said as I tried to comfort Twilight. “Don't worry about it .” “Oh...thanks Monkey” she responded trying her best to smile but she was obviously worried Just as we began to continue towards the princess’s castle i heard a soft but dark voice almost out of nowhere whisper in my ear. “It looks like  your fearless leader isn't so fearless.....” “Who.....who said that?” i said  almost abruptly every pony now was staring at me, making me feel  very awkward. “Um my bad i thought i heard something.” I responded shyly . This voice or whatever it was creeped me out and I was worried something was going on. But I remembered Twilight had said something earlier about hearing a voice that trailed off. Maybe it was a pony in the distance talking and we just overheard it through the quiet city. After what I heard I knew something wasn’t right. I tried my best to hide my fear as we continued towards the castle. We could see it in the distance, and it was giant and very beautiful sight. It fit very well with its surroundings and didn't seem to be dark or uninviting like the rest of the city appeared to be. It was a magnificent structure and well deserving for a royal family. The gate was massive and out stood two white guard ponies each not giving a single look to the approaching ponies. When we had reached the gate the older guard pony spoke first, “Twilight Sparkle, you and your.... friends are requested to be seen by the princess in the..... main common..... inside the castle.” The way the pony had said it almost seemed like he wasn't the one talking. It seemed strange that he didn't notice the gloominess and darkness everywhere else around the palace. No other pony seemed to notice so I shrugged it off and we proceeded towards the gate. The Gate swung open and revealed the path to the door of Celestia's palace. I thought to my self “Wow this is her palace? i cant believe we are finally here.” As I looked up at the massive structure Twilight spoke. “Alright I think its time to find out what is going on here.” She said this as we entered the great hall of the princess’s palace. The shimmering stained glass windows showered a multitude of colors along our path. As we walked our steps echoed through the hall. The floor seemed to be made of a white marble of some kind and it was a shimmering stone that added to the look of everything inside. The palace was decorated with many things from flowers hanging around the pillars and walls to paintings of Equestria and even of Ponyville. As we continued through the main hall we all noticed a separate wing branch off the main hall. This brought Twilight to say “That’s the way to Princess Luna’s room and her part of the palace.”  she said this with almost a smugness. Just at the end of the main hall was another hallway that led to the main common. Twilight had instructed us about the layout of the palace as we walked. She began to tell us about the many different things here, but no pony seemed to be particularly interested in any one subject, we all just looked about the palace and taking in the grand beauty of it. The grandeur and craftsmanship required to build this place was astonishing to me, back home i couldn't remember seeing anything even remotely like this place not even in pictures. As I continued lost in my own thoughts I suddenly noticed every pony had stopped suddenly and I walked right into the back of Fluttershy. “Oh I'm so sorry...” I started to say, but Fluttershy hadn’t even moved or said a word. This feeling of utmost dread spread like wildfire all over my body until I had seen with my own eyes why they all had stopped so suddenly. There in the middle of the hall was a slash of dripping bright red along the wall and leading from the slash was a flowing trail of red that went on for  a good 5 feet before disappearing underneath the Main Commons's dark wood door.  No pony said a word we all had the same feeling and we all didn't want to know what had happened here. As if on cue we all moved around the still wet and glistening trail ever closer to the Main Common door. The door that we had stopped at was the door to the Main Common where Princess Celestia was supposed to meet us. The door was a traditional old wooden door with an elegant face, but the reason we stopped, and didn’t open it was because of a deep red smear going across the face of it. The red smear dripped down the door and just above and to the left of the smear was a large red hoof print... at the floor below the door was the trail of red...