“Twilight, that wasn’t funny.”
“What—huh?”
“Where were you? I saw you going round a corner, and then you were gone. I was running around the place for five minutes!” There was an edge in the disembodied voice that she didn’t like.
Twilight squinted and saw a purple-green blob in front of her. She shook her head, and said blob sharpened into Spike, who was fiddling with his tail as he glanced nervously around the place.
“Spike, you’re not hurt!” she cried in relief.
The dragon blinked in surprise, fear momentarily forgotten. “Umm, yeah, I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”
It was her turn to blink. She scratched her mane and frowned. “You know, I’m not sure why I said that.” There was something itching at the back of her mind – something important – but she couldn’t recall what exactly. It really was like one of those moments when she walked in somewhere, completely intent on something, only to suddenly realise that she’d forgotten what she was up to.
Spike shrugged. “Okay, never mind. Can we just get the diary and go home? This place is giving me the creeps again.”
“Yeah…”
Twilight trotted off briskly. She was inclined to be a little annoyed at how Spike was practically clinging to her hind leg, but she had to admit that she wasn’t faring much better herself. The hairs on the back of her neck constantly tingling and she couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were being watched. There were far too many shadows in the castle for her liking, more than the inanimate objects should have been able to account for.
Luckily, the secret chamber was still open, and it only took them less than a minute to find the journal hidden amongst the resplendent cushions.
“Sweet! We can go home now, right?” Spike queried.
Twilight didn’t answer. She was too busy staring at the journal. After slowly brushing a hoof over its pristine cover, she began flipping through the pages. The entries belonged to the Royal Sisters; she recognised Celestia’s writing. It apparently hadn’t changed very much in the last thousand years. But there was something very contradictory about her holding the volume in her hooves. A memory came to her, unbidden and fragmented…
—you are mistaken… kept it in Canterlot ever since... whatever you found most certainly could not be our journal.
She set the journal back to its original place on the pedestal and trotted around the circular chamber. The carpet was wonderfully thick and fluffy, and the solid marble walls were whole and reasonably shiny, given their age. The richly coloured curtains had seen better days, but they looked like they were only a few stitches and a good wash away from being restored to their former glory. It was all so… wrong.
“Spike.”
“Yeah?”
“Tell me what you think about the journal.”
He raised an eye ridge. “Okay, you’re acting a little weird.”
Twilight levitated the journal before him. “That’s the thing. We both are, I think. Just hear me out.”
Without wasting another moment, she recited the words regarding the journal that had given her pause about the oddity of the whole situation, and then pointed out the relatively good condition of the secret chamber. Spike’s expression was sceptical at first, but by the time she’d finished, he appeared to be thinking very hard.
“You know, that does sound a bit off,” he remarked as he examined the journal. “What you just said is kind of convincing, wherever you got that idea from.”
“Well, we’ll hold on to it for the time being,” she replied, slipping it into her saddlebag and sweeping her gaze around the room one last time before trotting back into the library proper. “Let’s explore a little. Maybe we’ll find more clues.”
“Do we really have to?” Spike was fidgeting again. “I know you want to have a look at all the books, but I just don’t feel so good sticking around here.”
There was no mistaking it. Something had spooked the little dragon, and although Twilight did not fancy keeping him in a state of agitation, there was something about the castle that kept her from agreeing to his request to leave immediately. It was surely something important enough to warrant a little discomfort on both of their parts, although she had yet to imagine what exactly that was.
“Well, I could drop you back home and come back here to finish investigating, if you really wanted,” Twilight suggested thoughtfully. She then smiled and added, “But it would be great if I could have my Number One Assistant by my side. There’s quite a lot of ground to cover in here.”
Spike’s nervousness was temporarily replaced with a suspicious frown. “Hang on. Are you trying to coerce me into doing something I don’t want to?” he asked with both hands at his hips.
Twilight responded with a frown of her own at his apparent misunderstanding. “Are you sure you know what that word means? Coercion is the act of using force or intimidation to obtain compliance. What I’m doing is nothing like that; it’s more like emotional manipulation than—”
Her frown wilted as she began processing her own words, and she hastily attempted to make amends and deny it at the same time, which resulted in one of her most eloquent and refined sentences to date. “Wait. No—I’m not manipulating you, I’m sorry, it was more of encouragement, really. I—”
She slumped when he folded his arms and his frown twisted into a knowing grin. “Okay, I’ll stop. I’m sorry for that.”
He giggled. “Rarity’s been rubbing off on you.”
Twilight blinked. “She has?”
Spike nodded with the smug grin still plastered to his face. “Oh ho, yes. I know coercion or emotional whatever when I see it – that’s what Sweetie Belle calls it, by the way – Rarity uses it on me all the time when she wants my help.”
“Oh…” Twilight bit her lip. “All the time? You let her?”
The little dragon clasped his hands together and practically twirled on the spot with a far-off, wistful look in his eyes. “Because she’s worth it…” And then, before Twilight could formulate a response to the odd direction their conversation had taken, he suddenly shed all of that romanticism and said, “Anyways, I’ll stay with you.” He then puffed up his chest and released a sharp breath as if steeling himself for a long haul and added, “You’re not exploring this creepy castle without backup, and I guess it’s gonna have to be me.”
He was putting up a brave front, Twilight could see that much. But he was doing it for her sake, and she felt a prick of guilt that she was still kind of responsible for dragging him into this. She pulled him close for a hug, resolving to make it up to him once they’d finished their business in the library. “Thanks Spike. I promise we won’t stay any longer than we have to.”
Spike nodded. “Uh huh. Where do we begin?”
Twilight selected one corner of the library, and they systematically went through the rows of stone bookshelves. She had no idea what to look for exactly, but she was sure that she would know it when she saw it. In the meantime, she reasoned that it wouldn’t hurt to carry on with her original task of cataloguing and retrieving several volumes for further study and preservation; she was certain that a few of them were to be found nowhere else in Equestria, and if so, making copies was imperative before they were lost to time.
She did keep a close eye on Spike as they searched row after row. He would bring her an interesting item for inspection every now and then, and with every title she added to her list of volumes to be cross-referenced with inventories of libraries all over Equestria, she felt increasingly uneasy at the fact that she would have to leave behind the vast majority of ancient volumes she came across. It was almost enough to make her consider simply issuing a decree – no, a request – for help from the folks back at Ponyville in taking as many of the priceless volumes as possible for safekeeping.
No, no need for that, she chided herself. This is just a preliminary search. Once you’ve determined what lies here, you can calculate the logistics of securing them all more accurately, and through official channels, no less. They’ve survived for a thousand years. A few more days shouldn’t hurt them.
By the time they’d completed a quarter of the western wing of the library, Twilight realised with growing dismay that at this rate, she’d be out of paper before they could even finish half of the library. There were so many titles by authors that she did not recognise. As the minutes ticked away and her supply of blank pages dwindled, she found herself skipping past more and more unfamiliar volumes and reserving her attention only for the most intriguing ones in order to save time. So far, she’d only allowed the Royal Sisters’ journal, The Botanicum Arcana and a scroll casing containing an anonymous author’s dissertation on the ethics of alicorn leadership into her saddlebags, and even then, her instincts were crying out in anguish for the salvation of those volumes that she had to leave behind.
Goodness, why am I being so melodramatic?
Twilight shook her head and filed the thought away for later. By her reckoning, their search had already taken up nearly two hours and was bound to need more than twice that again for completion, even if she cut corners. She had a job to do, and she wanted to finish it before dark.
No, that’s not why I’m here…
She stopped in her tracks, frowning. Spike continued ahead, oblivious to her sudden halt, but she was too puzzled by that intruding thought to pay him any further heed. Slowly, she opened her saddlebag and drew out the journal.
I came back for this, and maybe a couple of other things. I promised Spike we would leave when we’re done. Then why in the world am I trying to make a catalogue? This was just supposed to be a quick pick-up and not an all-day thing. I just needed to get the journal because I forgot to take it home last time…
Her fetlock itched, and she scratched at it absentmindedly with her other hoof as she pondered on the issue. There was that bothersome uneasiness about the journal again. She flipped through its pages, but nothing clued her in on why it was causing her so much concern. She was certain that she had forgotten something, but it remained infuriatingly just beyond her ability to recall.
With a mental groan, Twilight sat down and turned her attention to her surroundings for a change of pace. The light pouring in from the grand clerestory windows was a cool blue, indicating that it was almost evening. The shadows cast by the great bookshelves were long and forlorn, and Twilight hoped that Spike would not be too unsettled by the idea of spending another night in the castle. Thankfully, she spotted a candelabrum topped with several candles near full length sitting on a table in the distance. Its light was a welcome warmness in the growing darkness, and—
Twilight’s hair stood on end, and she nearly sprained her neck with the speed at which she twisted around to look out the window again. She was just in time to spot the last rays of the sun as it sank below the horizon.
That’s… that’s impossible…
How could it be night already? They’d barely spent more than a few hours in the castle! Unless Princess Celestia was breaking tradition and lowering the sun early for some reason, there was absolutely no way she could have lost track of time so badly. And even if she had done so, Spike would have been sure to remind her!
Even so, no amount of reasoning allowed her to deny the fact that it was night. The darkness had come, and she instinctively gravitated towards the candelabrum as the only source of light left in the library. She reached out with her magic to bring it over, and that was when another thought struck her.
There was no way candles could have survived for a thousand years in pristine condition, and the thought of enchanting them just for that purpose seemed completely inane. And… who lit those candles? Her magic faltered, and she found herself simply staring at them like a moth drawn to a lamp. She thought she felt a cold draft, but maybe that was just a chill working its way through her spine and nervous system.
“Twilight, I don’t like this. Can we please go home?” She was beginning to agree with the memory of Spike’s sentiment. They needed to leave immediately.
“Spike! Where are you?” she called out, failing to keep the panicky edge out of her voice.
A sharp hiss behind Twilight made her jump and whirl around in fright, but she managed to regain her composure somewhat when she saw that it was just Spike peeping from around the corner of a bookshelf. She was about to sigh in relief and tell him that they were about to leave, but he motioned for silence, then glanced back over his shoulder and beckoned her over. Fear warred with her curiosity for a moment, but the latter soon won when Spike went ahead of his own accord. With her heart thumping loudly in her chest, she took a moment to cast a muffling spell on her hooves and then trotted after him.
Spike could be rather stealthy when he wanted to, she noted silently as he crawled on all fours along the aisle like a lizard. Before long, she saw the cause for his concern; there was greenish light coming from around the corner. The gentle clip clop of hooves became audible as they approached the corner, and Twilight glimpsed a vaguely pony-like shadow through the gaps in the rows of books on the shelves.
There was somepony else in the library. Slowly, they edged closer to the corner of the bookshelf and peeped around it.
It was a unicorn mare. She had her back to them and appeared to be occupied with arranging a few volumes along several rows. From what Twilight could see, she had a pale grey coat, and her mane and tail were a bright turquoise in colour; the former braided and long enough to reach down to her chest; the latter left loose but cropped to knee-length. Her horn protruded neatly from her forelock. An open scroll floated by her side, glowing in her magical grip, and every few seconds, she would consult it and murmur softly to herself before returning her attention to the books.
They carried on watching from gaps in the rows of books as the mare went about her business, seemingly oblivious to their presence. She came close to looking directly at them several times, during which they quickly retreated further into the shadows.
At length, the mare concluded her business and began trotting off sedately. Twilight and Spike managed to tail her from a safe distance, all the way to a little room in the eastern wing that they’d missed on their previous visit and had yet to reach on their current search. The entrance was hidden behind a collapsed shelf and some stone debris. An ornate writing desk sat in the middle of the room, and several lamps hanging about the place gave it a rather warm appearance. Twilight suddenly felt a pang of longing for the comfort of Golden Oaks Library back in Ponyville.
The unicorn took her seat at the desk, facing to the side, and quickly began scribbling away at something. From the looks of it, she wasn’t going anywhere for quite a while.
After mulling it over for a moment, Twilight decided that it was probably safe to take the direct approach and find out what the mare was up to. She couldn’t be a looter because there was no reason for one to actually linger in the place, much less do work work on the articles of interest. Judging by her pose and diligent outlook as she worked, it was highly unlikely that she was some hooligan scribbling graffiti on priceless artefacts either. An archaeologist, maybe? She might be taking notes on some of the volumes she’d found, which Twilight herself would have done if she’d taken them back to Ponyville for research. At least, she hoped that that was the case. If the mare was actually scribbling on the old books…
She took a step forward and felt Spike’s hand on her foreleg. He did not say a word, but his wide eyes and firm touch were impossible to misinterpret. She placed a hoof reassuringly on his shoulder and nodded.
Yes, we’ll be careful.
They approached the unicorn cautiously, but to Twilight’s surprise, the unicorn gave no indication of having heard them, even though she’d removed the sound dampening spell on her hooves. Twilight just stopped short of entering the room, thinking that the last thing she wanted to do was to startle the mare when she might very well be working on ancient texts. She would never be able to forgive herself if any of the materials met with an unfortunate accident.
“Umm… Hello.”
The mare did not answer; she continued working as if she hadn’t heard at all.
Twilight cleared her throat discreetly and raised her voice a little. “Hi there. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike.”
Incessant scribbling was the only answer to her introduction, which did irritate her a bit since there was absolutely no way that the mare hadn’t heard her.
Maybe it’s time to exercise a little of that royal authority.
“Excuse me, what are you doing here?” she asked, more sharply this time as she trotted into the room. “This castle has been abandoned for centuries. And—” She paused as her eyes fell on the open book and parchment on the writing desk. From the looks of it, the unicorn was transcribing one of the ancient texts, and there were piles of other books on the table next to the desk. Stunned, she swept her gaze over the room’s cosy interior. The walls were lined with glass-doored, shoulder-height cupboards filled with what Twilight surmised were stacks and stacks of scroll casings and writing tools. Unused lamps, candles, parchment rolls, quills, inkwells and a whole assortment of ornaments such as silver figurines, wood carvings and even a griffon skull were neatly arranged on top of the cupboards.
Maybe she’s the one who placed and lit those candles. Huh, come to think of it, maybe she did the same for those candles we found two days ago. Does that count as stealing? I wouldn’t have expected anypony to own those! But why didn’t I—
“Umm, Twi?” asked Spike.
Twilight immediately halted her train of thought and found that the grey unicorn was staring at them surprise. Gathering her wits, she finally managed to finish her sentence, albeit rather lamely. “—it looks like you live here.”
“The royal library is closed for refurbishment,” the grey unicorn replied, waving a hoof dismissively. “Until it is complete, only the Royal Sisters or their appointed scribes may enter. Please leave now.”
That’s a rather unusual accent.
“Actually, we just want to—” Twilight stopped and stared slack-jawed when she’d fully processed what she’d heard. She glanced back into the main section of the library to make sure that she hadn’t imagined the ruined ceiling that had suffered the wrath of Princess Luna’s devastating magic when she’d attacked Celestia. Closed for refurbishment? Royal Sisters? The absurdity of the mare’s statement boggled her mind.
“That’s some renovation,” Spike quipped, jumping in where she’d left off. “What’s really going on in here?”
Twilight decided to ignore the mare’s previous statement and focus on gathering information first. “What exactly are you doing here? We just came here from Ponyville, and I wasn’t aware of any archaeological activity in the castle of Everfree. Did the princesses give you permission to—”
“Wait, is Ponyville a town or village? Where is it?” asked the mare. Her bored and dismissive attitude had suddenly been replaced with earnest curiosity.
Twilight blinked. How could anypony venturing into the Everfree not know about Ponyville? It was pretty much the last stop for supplies for anypony who planned to conduct studies or any other activities in the enchanted forest. “Well, it’s on the edge of the forest, northwest of here,” she replied, “but what does that—”
“Oh, you are visitors. My apologies, then,” the grey unicorn interrupted. Her face lit up with a warm, friendly smile as she got up from her seat and trotted over to Twilight. “I had mistaken you for somepony else. Allow me to make amends.” She went past them and beckoned them out the doorway.
After looking at each other in confusion, Twilight and Spike followed her back into the library proper.
Still beaming at them, the unicorn made a sweeping gesture with one foreleg to the vastness of the library and proclaimed, “As their Royal Highnesses’ Librarian, I welcome you to the finest library in all of Equestria! Once again, I do apologise for my rudeness; it was most unbecoming. Might I have your name again?”
“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight automatically replied as she stalled for time to figure out what was going on.
“The pleasure is mine, my dear. For all its grandeur, this place receives far too few visitors. Your presence is most welcome!” The supposed librarian beamed and added, “So, how may I assist you? Is there anything in particular that you would like to read?”
“Umm, I think I saw a copy of Sun Zoom’s Art of Soar somewhere…”
“Ah, that would be right this way, Miss Sparkle. Follow me.”
As the mare gaily trotted off, Twilight felt Spike poke her shoulder. Turning, she saw him give her a questioning look, followed by a tilt of his head in the unicorn’s direction and his claw making a swirling motion by the side of his head. She could almost hear the cuckoo clock sound effect accompanying his actions.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Let’s just follow and see what happens first. I’ll figure something out...”
He frowned at her. “Are you sure she’s not completely crazy?”
“I didn’t say she’s not, but we shouldn’t make assumptions. Come on, we’re going to lose her.”
In truth, Twilight knew exactly where the Art of Soar was located. She had deliberately picked a title that was in the west wing to buy a little more time. When they caught up with the mare, she had come up with a few questions that could be used to glean a little more information on her state of mind. But she still needed a little more time to frame them in a way that wouldn’t sound like she suspected her of insanity, so she trotted along in silence as the unicorn whistled a whimsical tune. Twilight silently noted that her cutie mark was a spiralling swirl of stardust that matched the colour of her green magic.
Along the way, the grey unicorn flared her horn, and a glowing lamp enshrouded in a green aura floated over to them from a nearby table, which heightened Twilight’s suspicions. She was certain that she’d passed that table before, and she did not recall having seen anything of note on it, least of all a working source of light.
“Is there anypony else in here with you?” she asked.
“Ah, I’m afraid not. Few ponies frequent the library at such an hour.”
“Oh...” Then where did that lamp come from?
The unicorn eyed Spike as they walked and added, “That is a most impressive familiar you have there. I trust he knows to be careful with his flame in here?”
Her little brother looked torn between being proud of being called impressive and annoyed at her implication that he was a pet of some sort. “The ‘familiar’ has a name, thank you very much,” he murmured.
Twilight patted him on the shoulder and replied, “Yes, Spike has plenty of experience working in a library. You have nothing to worry about.”
By the time they were at the appropriate bookshelf, Twilight was more or less ready to begin probing for information. The grey unicorn passed her the requested volume, saying, “Ah, this book has been the favourite of many a pegasus. I have read it twice myself, and I do hope that you find it as fascinating as I did. Is there anything else you require, Miss Sparkle?”
Twilight put on a friendly smile. “I’d like to know a little more about you, actually.”
“Oh?”
“I might’ve missed it, but I don’t think I got your name.”
The grey unicorn opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. The seconds stretched into an awkward silence as her ears drooped and her smile slipped away.
Ookay… sensitive topic, maybe. Let’s try something else. “How long have you been working here?”
The mare’s relief was palpable. Her smile didn’t return, but she was able to at least tentatively reply, “For, well… as long as I can remember. The tedium seldom bothers me,” here, the sides of her mouth curled up in a shadow of her former smile, “and it is always a joy to learn anew what I have forgotten.”
That still doesn’t tell us much…
“Err… Who gave you this job?”
“I was appointed by their Royal Highnesses, of course.”
“Oh. I see.” That’s impossible. I’m sure I would’ve heard of it!
“Well, I do hope you find it a good read. If there is anything else you require, you know where to find me.” With that, the grey unicorn placed the lamp onto a nearby table and left them be. Twilight noted that her steps were a little on the hasty side of things, and suspected that she was still a little unsettled by her impromptu line of questioning.
“Yeah, sounds like she’s a crazy hobo.”
Twilight gasped at his deadpan remark. “Spike!”
He gave her an innocent look and shrugged. “What? Is it wrong if it’s true?”
“Yes! It still isn’t a nice thing to say.”
“Okay, okay.” Spike made a placating gesture with both hands. “But I still think she’s had too much cider or something.”
“Well, I don’t know…”
“One: she thinks that the library is open for business,” Spike stuck up one claw in emphasis, followed by another as he counted off his points, “Two: she thinks she’s actually hired by the princesses to do that. And three: did you see the way she freaked out when you asked for her name?”
Twilight conceded that he did have a point. The odds of the unicorn being in a mentally balanced state weren’t stacked in her favour at the moment. After putting the Art of Soar back in its place, she began pacing as she pondered aloud on the matter. “All right, maybe she’s a little confused, but things still don’t add up. I saw her calligraphy back there; it’s comparable to some of the best I’ve seen in Canterlot Library, and that’s saying something. If anypony told me she was a world-class scholar, I’d believe it. Maybe she came here to help transcribe the books for future studies – I was going to ask Celestia for permission to do that myself – but if that was the case, I’m sure Celestia would’ve told me about it, and even if she’s doing it in secret, why would she cook up such a crazy story? It doesn’t make any sense, unless she’s really a delusional homeless pony who somehow got past everything in the Everfree Forest to camp out in an ancient ruin, in which case she’s the most educated and talented one I’ve ever—”
“Maybe she’s a changeling?” Spike suggested.
“What? How’d you come to that conclusion?”
“Her magic’s green.”
“That’s not proof enough; some unicorns have green auras too. We can’t just assume that they’re all changelings. Besides, I’m sure that a real changeling would’ve come up with a better story than that.” She tried to chuckle at the idea, but it only came out as a weak laugh that completely failed to convince him.
“You could just hit her with that anti-disguise spell you used back at the wedding. If she’s not a changeling, no harm done,” he countered.
Twilight bristled at the thought. “I can’t do that, Spike. It’s an invasion of privacy. It’s incredibly discriminatory. Can you imagine how unfair it would be to certain ponies if they had to be checked everywhere they went just to see if they were love-eating doppelgangers, just because their auras were green in colour?”
“Well, if she does make a complaint against you, you can argue mitigating circumstances, right? Desperate measures and all that? I mean, you’re a princess, and she’s kind of trespassing on royal property, right? And she’s acting really suspicious too.”
Wow, he’s really busting out the big words today, isn’t he?
Although there was some truth to his words, Twilight could not give assent. She was lucky to have correctly suspected that something was amiss back at the wedding, but nopony was perfect, and she could not count on being right every time she got suspicious about something. It was awful to think about the mess she would’ve made if her assertions back then had turned out to be false, and could very well be this time, especially with such a flimsy correlation as the green colour of the unicorn’s magic.
So she shook her head and said, “Maybe I can, but I won’t. Not until I have more evidence. The last thing I want is to become a paranoid royal pain in the flank who distrusts ponies at the drop of a hat.”
Spike sighed in exasperation. “All right, but that means we still have a problem. So what do we do now?”
Twilight snatched a bit of paper from her notebook and began scribbling away. “I’m writing to Celestia. I’m sure that she would give us a quick answer to something unusual like this. At the very least, we can check if she had really sent this mare to the castle to be its ‘librarian’.”
After a quick proofread, Spike took the sheet and breathed on it, at which point it promptly burst into flames and drifted to the floor as a miniature cascade of black ash. Stunned, Twilight could only gape as a mushroom cloud of smoke floated up into the darkness above.
“Err, it wasn’t supposed to do that,” Spike eventually pointed out.
“Let’s try that again.”
After penning another quick note to the princess, it became apparent that something was wrong with Spike’s flaming. The second one was consumed by his fire as well.
“Maybe there’s a ward in here that’s blocking the spell.” She spread her wings and crouched low. “Hop on. We’ll give it another go outside the castle grounds.”
Once airborne, she cast a nervous glance back in the direction that the strange unicorn had gone. She did not like the idea of leaving her alone with hundreds if not thousands of ancient books, but she took solace in the probability that the mare had been here for quite some time, and had yet to do any apparent harm to the library and its precious contents.
Twilight took a deep breath of relief as she soared out into the cool, open air, away from the castle’s imposing spires and the confinement of its cold, dark walls. The night landscape was bathed in silvery moonlight, and she made a mental note to thank Luna when she got the chance. It was a very welcome alternative to total darkness. Spike voiced his concern over the fact that it had somehow become night in only the space of a few hours, and she had little choice but to confess that she too was at a total loss as to how that had happened.
After taking her bearings, she directed her flight path towards a clearing at the edge of the forest, but they had barely crossed the ravine that surrounded the ancient castle before she felt something like whiplash followed by a disorienting wave of vertigo. She lost synchrony in her wing beats and dipped a dozen tail lengths or so before she corrected her rhythm.
“Whoa, what was that?” Spike asked as he clung to her tightly.
Twilight was just about to ask him if he was all right when she noticed that she was flying towards the castle. “That’s odd. I don’t remember turning around.”
“You didn’t. We were flying away, and suddenly there was that weird twisty feeling and then we’re facing the wrong way.”
“Hmm…” Twilight whirled around and attempted another escape, and she was rewarded with the same abrupt change in direction. She was ready for it this time, and was able to perceive the root of the problem in the split second before her trajectory was forcefully altered; there was a spatial warping effect around the castle grounds. After focusing on a point beyond the boundary and attempting a teleport spell, she noticed that there simply wasn’t any space beyond the confines of the castle grounds. The view was just an illusion, which would explain why Spike’s magical fire wasn’t working properly.
Keeping her wing beats in rhythm became a lot harder as she fought a pervasive sense of claustrophobia. They were trapped, somehow. Add that to the strange unicorn, the unexplained appearance of lit candles around the library and extra early night, and the result was her faltering courage and trust in her ability to get them out of this fix.
“You sure this isn’t another one of Discord’s tricks?” Spike asked. “It looks totally like his style.”
Twilight ground her teeth. “I… I just don’t know, Spike.”
He began saying something else, but she didn’t quite hear it. The gentle night breeze was picking up speed and biting through her coat, but the chill that she felt went much deeper than that. There was something terribly wrong with the castle. The shadows looked a little too long for the angle of light from the moon, and she thought she could see dark shapes churning in the ruins. She hesitated to consider the Pony of Shadows a possibility, but after all the things that she’d seen…
“— didn’t hear a thing I said, did you?” Spike’s accusing tone cut through her thoughts.
She shuddered and rubbed her forelegs together in an attempt to bring back some warmth into them. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little… scared. I don’t know what’s going on right now.”
He was silent for a moment, but eventually said, “Yeah, I know that feeling...”
Twilight turned her head and saw that his expression held no resentment or spite, just brotherly love. Now that she was feeling the kind of uneasiness that he had been complaining about earlier and had bravely put aside for her sake, she felt guilty because it should have been the other way around. She should have comforted him back then rather than drag things out.
“I’m sorry, I—”
Spike gave her a sympathetic smile and waved aside her apology. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Let’s just concentrate on finding a way out of here. We can get all touchy and feely after we’re out of Creepy Castle.”
“Right.” She released a heavy breath and began gliding back towards the castle library. The wind was moaning as it passed through the passages, windows and other openings that had resulted from collapsed stonework, and whatever instinct she had was telling her not to go back in there.
But we have to, she tried to reason with herself. It may be our only chance at finding a way out. And that mare might know something about it.
Spike was clinging to her back a little more tightly than was necessary as she descended through the gap in the library’s ruined ceiling. She didn’t complain, though. His warm embrace gave her a sense of security that she hadn’t realised she’d wanted and needed badly. It helped to soothe her frayed nerves and allay her more irrational fears. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she felt a sense of déjà vu that this was something that she should have thought of sooner. It was almost as if…
It’s good to know that whenever your imagination is getting away from you, a good friend can help you to rein it in…
She blinked. That thought came out of nowhere, but it seemed awfully relevant to their situation anyhow. It was apparent that she and Spike were going to have to rely on each other to keep their fears in check.
She snorted and squinted when she got a faceful of spider web as she passed under a ruined arch, and she heard Spike sputtering as he wiped at his face.
“Seriously, it’s like they spin their webs exactly where they expect your head to be whenever you go past them,” he muttered as she landed amongst the towering bookshelves. “I hate those things.”
Twilight froze.
I hate those things.
The next thing she knew, Spike was standing in front of her and waving a hand before her eyes. “Hello? Are you okay? You just sort of spaced out.”
She ignored him for the moment and raised her right foreleg. Her fetlock was itching. She then turned to Spike and said, “Any chance that you feel itchy anywhere?”
He raised an eyebrow. “What does that have to d—”
“Please, Spike. I think I’m on to something.”
The little dragon nodded and scratched at his shoulder. “Yeah, a little. Right over here.”
Twilight nodded and swept her gaze around the library. After spotting the place that she was looking for, she levitated Spike onto her back and leaped into the air. The alcove overlooking the main aisles had a dusty writing desk in it as well as several bookshelves half-filled with scroll casings and old tomes. Her little brother watched in silence as she shifted an entire shelf aside to expose the corner that it was placed in. She then trotted into the empty space and ran a hoof gently over the floor, feeling it scrape over every little bump and indentation on the stone’s surface.
Here. We’re supposed to be right here.
She remembered. The star spider’s bite. The underlying current of magic permeating the place. The inconsistencies of the states of the castle between their two visits. No wonder everything seemed wrong; none of what they were experiencing was real!
“Spike, I don’t think we’re in Everfree anymore.”