//------------------------------// // A Bowl, A Spoon, and Teeth // Story: From The Depths // by Pen Stroke //------------------------------// From The Depths By Pen Stroke Preread, Edited, and Reviewed By Illustrious Q, Batty Gloom, El Oso, Alexstrazsa, JustAnotherTimeLord, amacita, Hidden Brony ===================================================================== Chapter 2 A Bowl, A Spoon, and Teeth ==================== Twilight opened her eyes and lit her horn, trying to pierce the darkness around her. Her mind was still reeling. Too much had happened too quickly. Discord shouted, Celestia screamed, and then came a darkness her own magic was struggling to pierce. Slowly but surely, though, her horn’s light began to reveal her surroundings. She was no longer in the ballroom. She didn’t even seem to be in the castle anymore. The stone beneath her hooves had been replaced by soft dirt and the decorated walls with trees. A forest, the Everfree Forest if she was not mistaken. It was still nighttime, though she could not see the moon nor stars through the canopy. She was also alone. “Celestia?” Twilight shouted, her voice carrying through the trees and echoing back like some mocking chorus. “Luna? Cadance? Discord? Where did everyone go?” There was no reply from the forest, not even the flutter of birds startled from sleep by her shouts. She had truly never heard the Everfree Forest as quiet as it currently was. There was always the sound of wind in the trees and crickets chirping their songs to the stars. But right now, the loudest thing around was the sound of her own breathing. “I bet this is one of Discord’s pranks. Best to just get back to the castle and help everyone sort out what happened,” Twilight muttered under her breath as she began to walk forward. She would find an opening in the forest’s canopy, find a place where she might take to the sky and get her bearings. All it would take is a glance at the stars and she would be able to fly back to Canterlot. But no opening in the canopy came. The branches and leaves yielded no hole, not even one small enough for Twilight to see a single star. No part of the Everfree Forest was this thick, at least that she knew of. Maybe the soil was extremely fertile in this specific part of the forest. Twilight didn’t know for sure. All she could do was keep moving forward. For several minutes, Twilight just walked, trying to gain her bearings and find her way to the sky, with no luck. It was then she finally saw open ground through the trees. The ground was barren, possibly made that way by fire or beast. For once, Twilight didn’t even care why the ground was the way it was. She picked up her pace, ducking nimbly between the trees as she drew closer to the clearing. The closer she drew, the more she could see. She was starting to see a building and a few lights. She smiled and began to hope that, perhaps, she was near Ponyville. That would certainly make things easier. She could get back to the library, have Spike send a letter to Celestia, and find out just what happened. She picked up her pace, working into a jog as she closed the final few meters between her and the forest’s edge. Once free of the trees, Twilight’s hooves came to rest on the barren dirt and her eyes looked up at the building. It was not Ponyville, nor was it Canterlot. It was a castle, large and grand, with spires stretched up into an inky, starless night sky. It was... a familiar castle, though Twilight could not place her hoof on why it felt like she had been there before. Maybe she had read about it in a book? Walking further from the edge of the forest and approaching the castle gates, Twilight noticed it appeared equally abandoned and inhabited. The grounds and the gardens were all dead, populated by brittle grass and plants that would crumble to dust at even the slightest touch. The stone work was dirty, and she could not see through a single window. At the same time, there were lights on inside. A few key windows glowed with life, and Twilight could see the occasional shadow blocking the light’s source. “Hello? Is there anyone here that can tell me where I am?” Twilight called out, hoping to be heard by a guard, servant, or perhaps the groundskeeper that needed to be fired. And this time she did hear a reply, though it was not in any intelligible language. It was a squeaking and a clattering, and when she turned to look she saw its source hanging in the center of the ill-tended garden. It was a bat, flapping and screeching in a heavy iron birdcage. It was hanging from the hoof of a prancing pony statue. It might have even been a fountain, since the statue stood in the center of a dry, hoof-made pool. Above all, the bat didn’t seem to be happy about its confinement at all. If it shook the cage any more, Twilight wouldn’t have been surprised if the cage fell straight off the hoof holding it. “Hey! There’s this bat here. Does it belong to anyone?!” Twilight called out, walking closer to the dry fountain. Sure, she had heard of ponies keeping bats as pets before. One of the pets vying to be Rainbow Dash’s loyal companion had been a bat. It was an interesting pet, though she would admit it was not an animal she’d put at the top of her personal possible pets list. Twilight put her hooves up on the edge of the fountain, looking more closely at the bat. “Wow, you’re a big guy. Those wings of yours are bigger than mine. Didn’t even think bats could get that big, and I know for a fact there aren’t any bats as big as you in the Everfree Forest. You must be from someplace else in the world, and that means you're probably somepony’s pet. That also explains why you're in a cage. So, where’s your pony pal, big guy?” The bat offered no perceivable answer and just kept tossing violently in its cage. “Stop that now, you’ll hurt yourself,” Twilight said. She reached out with her magic, intending to levitate the cage down so she could sedate the bat with a spell. But in that moment she heard a sharp pang in her ears and felt a bite. It wasn’t a bite on any part of her body, though. It was a bite in her magic, a little shock that made her quickly draw her levitation spell back. Even that light touch, however, was all the bat needed. With a final screech and flap of its wings the bat managed to get its cage off the statue’s hoof. It dropped into the bottom of the dry fountain, the cage clattering loudly. Twilight winced, flattening her ears against the sharp pang of the metal against stone as it reverberated off the nearby castle walls. She then felt a flurry of wind, and upon opening her eyes, saw the bat had escaped. The cage’s door had popped open from the fall, and the bat now flew towards the castle, screeching as if it was being chased by death itself. “Okay, step one, find who owns this castle. Step two, apologize for letting their pet bat out. Step three, suggest they find a better place to keep said pet bat. Step four, find out the quickest way back to Canterlot castle.” Twilight nodded to herself, turning away from the fountain and walking towards a large pair of doors she could see just beyond the garden. She walked briskly, feeling an odd chill in her spine after the encounter with the bat. Who would leave a bat alone outside like that, without food or water? Maybe it was better that she had released the poor thing. A cool chill of what Twilight thought was guilt ran down her spine, and she turned back to look at the dry fountain. The cage still lay where it had fallen, its door bent open. Yet that wasn’t what drew Twilight’s eyes. No, her gaze instead moved to the prancing pony statue, which was now facing her. But that couldn’t be right. Twilight knew the statue had been facing her when she came from the forest. And the bat’s cage, it could not have been lying where it was if the statue had always been facing towards the castle. Again, the chill ran down Twilight’s spine. She resumed her walk towards the castle’s doors, but every few steps she would glance back at the statue. The first few glances back, the statue was facing her. When she reached the foot of the front steps and looked back, it was still just facing her. When she knocked on the door and looked back, the statue still remained as it was, facing her unmoving. Twilight began to think she was just psyching herself out. She knocked again when no one answered and looked back, once more finding the statue was still just facing her. But after knocking a third time and looking back, Twilight saw the statue had changed. No longer was it a pony prancing happily on the pinnacle of the fountain. Now the statue had taken a step down, one hoof on the edge of the fountain as if it had begun walking in her direction. The fear returned to Twilight, and did not wait a moment longer for somepony to answer at the door. She pushed her way inside and slammed the door shut behind her. She then quickly rushed to the window, looking outside. The statue had returned to its original place on the fountain, and the fallen bat cage was once more hanging from its hoof. ~~~ Smiling and wiping sweat from her brow, Twilight finished levitating one final piece of furniture against the castle’s front door and inspected her work. She had collected two decorative tables and four large chairs from around the entrance foyer and placed them in front of the doors. The statue had not moved since she had looked at it through the window, but she wasn’t about to take any chances. Through all the commotion she was making, she had expected somepony to come find out what was going on. A castle servant or even the owner should have come to stop her, to reassure her that she had not just seen the fountain statue move. But no pony had come. It was like no one had even taken notice. Still, with the door barricaded, Twilight felt secure enough to pause and take a better look at the grand foyer. The room’s centerpiece was a large staircase that swept up to the second floor. There were also a half dozen doors on the bottom floor, three on each side of the staircase. Beyond that the castle featured classical decorations: crown moldings, oil paintings, and a large chandelier that hung above the foyer’s floor. Twilight reached to the chandelier, igniting its candles and bringing more light to the room. “Hello? Is anybody here?” Her call went unanswered, the silence of the castle creeping in like a swarm of bugs across the floor. Still, Twilight shook it off and steadied herself. “Okay, I just need to be systematic about this. I saw lights on in the windows and I saw movement in those same windows. Somepony must be here. So I’ll just go room by room until I find someone.” Nodding to herself, Twilight trotted to the door just off to her left-hoof side. She opened the door, shining the light from her horn inside. It was a dining room, elegantly decorated and set as if a meal was about to be served. Silverware glinted back at Twilight, spaced evenly around plates, glasses, and napkins folded in pyramid shapes. Everything was in order, everything was neatly placed. It was near perfect. Except for the single pony sitting at the far end of the table, whose spoon clattered against a bowl as she ate something in the dark. “Hello?” Twilight called out again as she stepped further into the room. “I don’t mean to intrude. I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle. I was lost in the forest and was just wondering if you could tell me the quickest way to get back to Canterlot. And I’m sorry about the mess I made in the foyer. Something spooked me outside and...” The pony at the end of the table kept eating with a steady rhythm. She would put her spoon into her bowl, it would clatter, and then she’d slowly carry it to her mouth. “Hello? Did you hear me?” Twilight asked as she began to trot towards the pony. “Why are you sitting in the da...” Her word’s died on her tongue as her light spell began to properly illuminate the pony who was eating. The mare looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Her coat and costume were roughed up, and her makeup was running down her face. It was like she had been crying. “What are you doing?” Twilight asked as she came up beside the mare. The mare said nothing, remaining focused on her bowl, but that only baffled Twilight more. The bowl the mare was eating from was empty, and not because she had eaten it all. No, the bowl looked freshly washed, spotless in almost every way. Yet the mare kept dipping her spoon into the empty bowl, bringing it to her lips, and placing it into her mouth. The whole motion was done as if playing to a silent tune, a steady, unmistakable rhythm. Putting a hoof to the mare’s shoulder, Twilight gave her a gentle shake. “Are you all right? Do you know what happened? Have you seen Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, or Princess Cadance? What about Discord? Are you listening to me?” Twilight tried to look into the mare’s face, tried to get her attention, but the mare remained focused on the bowl. “Please, talk to me! What is going on!?” Twilight pleaded before she looked down at the bowl. She reached for it, intending to take it away. Maybe that would snap the mare out of it. Her hooves touched the bowl, and even that momentary contact had an effect. The mare stopped and her eyes started to flick around. It was like she was coming to realize where she was sitting. A tremor rolled down her body, one that grew more violent as the fear in the mare’s eyes grew. She began to convulse violently, sending some silverware to the floor. Twilight feared the mare was having an epileptic seizure. But then, without warning, the mare locked up, body stiff as a statue. The changes came soon after. To Twilight, it was like watching oily paint run and smear on a canvas to reveal something beneath. The mare’s flat teeth were turning jagged, and her fearful eyes turned narrow and rabid. The mare began to move again, back arching as some painful cracks echoed against the walls. She slammed a hoof down on the table, the sudden loud sound startling Twilight. She tumbled back, hooves leaving the bowl she had only just touched. And just like that, the transformation halted. The grisly changes befalling the mare disappeared like dust, and after a few seconds, the mare resumed her previous ritual. She dipped her spoon into her empty bowl, brought it to her lips, and sipped at the air. But Twilight was still trembling, hooves shaking so much she couldn’t even pick herself up off the floor. ~~~ Twilight had to take several minutes to convince herself she would be okay. It was difficult. The sound of the mare’s spoon clattering against the bowl was a pickax against her thoughts. But she finally collected herself, and after shakily getting to her hooves, she continued to search. There had to be somepony who wasn't lost in a hypnotic trance. She knew she could find somepony to tell her what was going on. Yet, all she could find were ponies with the same affliction. In the kitchen, she walked by chefs and servants toiling repetitively yet accomplishing nothing. They worked with knives at cutting boards that had nothing to cut. They stirred pots that held nothing but air. Twilight recognized some as servants from the party. She even contemplated trying to wake some of them, but the memory of the mare’s transformation was too fresh. She did not want to risk it, especially with ponies in the room wielding sharp knives. What’s worse, she thought she began to hear variances in the rhythm of the knives: breaks in the pattern. Twilight also couldn’t deny a sensation on the back of her neck, crawling like an insect. It felt like the servants were looking at her, even though their eyes were focused on their task whenever she turned to look. Twilight searched all the rooms connected to the foyer, finding nothing but ponies lost in their hypnosis, before ascending the grand staircase to the second floor. She lit the candles and torches of the hallways as she went, slowly spreading illumination. She revealed a few more ponies as she went, familiar servants from Canterlot Castle who were trapped in loops. One was washing a window endlessly, hoof moving in circle after circle. Another kept picking up and setting down a vase of flowers. A guard near an intersection in the halls faced a mirror. He’d salute his reflection, return to parade rest, and then start the process all over again. So she simply searched the rooms for some sign of a pony who was awake, for one of the ponies she had seen walking past lit windows from outside. She checked guest chambers, storage closets, and a number of other kinds of rooms on the second floor. She walked hallways, beginning to familiarize herself with the castle’s layout as she crossed intersections she had visited before. But the whole situation scratched at Twilight’s nerves like nails digging into her spine. Each passing moment in silence put her more on edge. Each new, looping pony she discovered made her only more paranoid. What had happened? Had Discord done this? It didn’t seem like the way he normally did things, but she couldn’t claim the spirit of chaos was consistent either. Twilight eventually had to take a break, to rest her hooves but to also try and get a grip on her mind. She sat against a wall, sliding down and feeling the cool stone against her back. “Okay, Twilight, just keep it together,” she told herself as she stared at a window in the hallway, seeing the vast forest which surrounded the castle. “It has to be a spell of some kind, affecting all these ponies,” Twilight said. She needed to hear some voice, even if it was her own. “Maybe I could break the spell if I tried, but what if the pony starts changing like that mare did? She looked... I don’t even know, but those teeth of hers were looked really sharp. “Maybe... maybe if find one in a good place I could try to undo the spell. There was that stallion in that guest bathroom. If I barricade him in, then maybe—” Twilight fell silent, ears flicking as she quickly looked to her left and right. She hadn’t been sure she heard it at first. It might have very well just been her own imagination, or an odd sound produced by the echoing of her own voice. But then it came louder, more distinct and constant. It was the sound of hoofsteps, moving hoofsteps. Twilight scrambled up from her seat on the floor, sprinting to the nearest intersection in the hallways. She then skidded to a stop and froze in her tracks. Her eyes and ears strained themselves, trying to pierce the darkness and silence. She then heard the hoofsteps again. The echoes of the sound were making it difficult, but she eventually zeroed in on the source. It was the hallway to her right, and she galloped down it with all the haste she could muster. She chased the sound down three hallways. It seemed to disappear and reappear, but she was gaining on it. Then, a glimpse of something stepping around the corner. It was purple and pink, a tail that was familiar. It was her tail, and in a moment Twilight’s hope sprung forth fresh. It was Princess Celestia, who, just like Twilight, was still in her Nightmare Night costume. “Princess!” Twilight shouted, a relieved smile on her lips. Of all the ponies she could find, Princess Celestia was one of the best she could hope for. Surely the princess knew what was going on, knew where they were, and knew how to put everything right. Princess Celestia would save her, just as the princess had saved her from the catacombs. Twilight rounded the corner, her smile widening at the sight of Celestia’s white coat. The Princess was standing at the far end of the hall, as if deciding which way to turn at the forked junction. “I’m so glad I found you. Something very bad is going on here, but you probably... noticed... th... th... tha... t...” Twilight’s voice withered in her throat as she watched Celestia turn around. The Princess was much like she had been at the party. Her regal white coat shone like a star in the dark castle, oddly complemented by Twilight’s own mane and tail style. But Celestia’s face sent a chilling shiver crawling down Twilight’s back. Saliva dripped from Celestia’s mouth, which seemed to have grown larger than was natural for her face. Pearly white and dagger sharp teeth gleamed, and as Celestia cracked her mouth open, a long, twisting tongue began to flick out between the gaps. Her eyes were manic, and they were focused on Twilight with a murderous intent. “P... P... P... Pri... Princess...?” Twilight squeaked out. She took a few anxious steps back, muscles in her legs quivering with a desire to gallop away. Celestia drew back then threw her head forward and opened her mouth wide, her jaw stretching, even unhinging like a snake’s. Twilight’s eyes fixed on the endless abyss that was Celestia’s throat, and her ears flattened against the bone-chilling roar that erupted from that darkness. Celestia then lunged forward like a runner out of the starting gate. And Twilight turned, fleeing from her mentor with all the haste her hooves could muster. Thus the chase was on. Twilight could hear Celestia’s thundering hooves keeping pace with her. She rounded corners, sprinted down corridors, and overturned furniture to try and elude Celestia, but the Princess kept pace. It was a speed Twilight didn’t know Celestia possessed. Twilight's lungs began to burn from the effort of her galloping. She gasped for breath and her mind scrambled to try and remember anything that might aid her, but she was drawing a blank. She had nothing to stop the Princess. Why would she ever need such a thing? Celestia wouldn’t hurt her. Celestia would never hurt her. Yet the very same Celestia was drawing closer, long strides letting her get closer to Twilight with each passing second. “Help!” Twilight began to shout in desperation. “Somepony! Help me!” She looked back over her shoulder, seeing Celestia’s salivating maw mere inches from her. “Please! Celestia! Stop!” A creak of hinges drew Twilight’s eyes forward again. A door had opened straight ahead of her, at the far end of hallway. It was a salvation, and she began to race towards it with what little stamina she had left. She’d rush inside and slam the door shut behind her. That would buy her time, a few precious moments at least. “Twilight! Over here!” Then the voice, a voice which came from a different direction, from her right. Twilight had to skid hard to make the turn at the intersection she had been about to pass, but it was worth it. There she saw another doorway, this one pouring light into the hallway as a familiar figure stood at the threshold. A friendly figure who was like an angel in the twisted reality of the castle. It was Princess Luna. Twilight leapt through the open doorway before her, passing Luna to land with a thud against the floor. In that same moment Luna unleashed a powerful blast from her horn, a spell that lanced out and struck Celestia in the chest. The attack caused Celestia to stumble, and that gave Luna the last moment she needed to slam the door shut, putting a few inches of heavy timber in front of Celestia. Twilight turned around to look at the door just as a thunderous thud came from it. Celestia was trying to beat the door down, was still trying to pursue the prey she had been denied. Twilight even feared Celestia would be able to break down the door, but Luna acted first. A spell from the lunar princess’s horn formed across the door, reinforcing the timbers and securing the hinges. A few more times Celestia threw herself against the door, but it did not give. Celestia then roared one final time in rage before the door grew quiet. There was only one sound that lingered, that of Celestia’s hoofsteps, but they soon faded into silence as well. Twilight looked to Luna, who was like a black-winged angel, and then soundly passed out, body giving up to the exhaustion that had been caused by her panic. ~~~ Celestia growled and prowled the outside the door. She paced, watching the door with murderous intent as her drool left its splattered marks near her hooves. She would leave, but for the time being she waited for her prey to, by chance, reemerge from the room. So focused was she on that door that she didn’t notice a creaking that began to fill the hallway. The sound came from another door, one that had opened to offer Twilight salvation moment’s before. A door that Twilight had turned away from, instead seeking her safety with Princess Luna in the moment of panic. The door was shifting on its hinges, which moaned with every nudge as if they had never seen a drop of oil. There was no draft or breath of wind to explain the doors motion, yet it kept filling the hall with its moans. It then began to close, hinges complaining through every step of the process. It was a whining that began to take on a intonation, pauses and stresses, until finally it sounded as if the hinges were speaking a single word. “Twilight.” The word was punctuated with the clicking of the door’s latch as it became flush with its frame. ===================================================================== Questions, Comments, Concerns? pen.stroke.pony@gmail.com My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic © Hasbro I do not own the intellectual properties this fan-fiction is based on. =====================================================================