//------------------------------// // Your Xonans Are In Another Castle // Story: Yaerfaerda // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// “Nnnngh...” Ebon Mane stirred. Wincing, one limp hoof at a time, he pushed himself up onto all fours. He reopened his eyes with a dazed expression. Unconscious Soul Sentries laid before him amidst a liberal spray of granite chunks. “Guh...” Rubbing his “tattooed” head, he tilted his chin up and gazed at the throne room. He gasped. The doorway had utterly collapsed, spilling wreckage into the spacious hallway that led down the center of the regal palace. One by one, the Soul Sentries began to stir. Ebon bit his lip. Hobbling backwards with a slight shiver. He heard hoofsteps galloping at a distance. “The Prince! He's been kidnapped!” a servant's voice shouted. “The Xonan Empress! She took him!” “Where were they located last?!” asked a royal guard. “They were last seen in the throneroom, fleeing into the inner palace! The Royal Quarters! At least that's what Secretary Sharp Quill said!” “Head into the courtyard! Gather all the servants outside while we perform a full sweep of the palace!” “Understood! Please find him in one piece and make those foreign invaders suffer!” “Oh they will, alright. Soldiers! After me!” Ebon gritted his teeth. He looked at the collapsed Sentries as they started sitting up, eyes flickering. Ebon glanced down the hallway from which the galloping hooves emanated, then down the opposite end. It was too far of a sprint towards the nearest corner to avoid anyone's line of sight. A determined frown crossed the stallion's muzzle. One by one, his tattoos vanished, and he plucked the fake horn from his skull, flicking it to the ground. In a burst of speed, he galloped towards the nearest set of marble columns in the lush hallway. “Find her!” Voices echoed up and down the spiraling marble stairwells of the Val Roan Royal Palace. “She's kidnapped the Prince!” “Quickly! They should be headed towards the Royal Quarters!” Kera winced from the guards' shouts echoing from a distance. She sprinted down a hallway lined with doors to luxurious chambers and sitting rooms. She paused only to glance into each compartment, causing the Prince stumbling after her to stumble and wheeze for breath. “Why do... th-they think that you've k-kidnapped me?!” Eine stammered. “Because I kinda sorta have!” “What?!” “Look, you wanna be re-strangled by your buddy, the Juice Deer?!” Kera scowled, yanking Eine again as she sprinted towards the next line of doors. “Believe me, he didn't give me much of an option! It was either zap him or watch you become Prince Asthma of the House of Dead.” “How did you l-learn...” Eine yelped, stumbling after her and trembling. “...t-to use magic like that?” “I was trained by a killer cyborg pony in a giant crater full of hippy pegasi and flying manta rays.” “...what?!” “Look, it doesn't matter! You wanna live, stay with me?!” “But... th-they think that y-you're trying to harm me!” Eine stammered while the sound of hoofsteps rose sharply behind him. “Perhaps if we just stopped and tried explaining things—” “Explain what?!” Kera glanced at him, frowning. “That their Royal Advisor is controlled by a shape-shifting bug monster who wants to have you missing in action when your Coronation happens?!” “Missing in action?!” “You heard him! He was going to hide you away somewhere against your will!” Kera peeked into the next room. “He must sense that my allies are catching up to his dirty business and now they wanna steal you away somewhere.” Inside the room, a group of hoofmaidens shrieked in alarm. Kera gnashed her teeth, slamming the door shut with a burst of telekinesis. She zapped each door hinge, melting the braces for good measure. “Well that was kind of h-harsh,” Eine rasped. “Look, you wanna get out of here with your life intact or don't you?!” “But it's my guards we're running away from!” “Yeah, and who you think is in charge of the guards?!” Kera glared. “You saw how those Soul Sentries were following Sharp Quill's every command!” Eine bit his lip, sweating. “How can we get out of here?!” she asked loudly. “We can't.” Kera's ears drooped. “Please don't let that be the answer. I'm not in the mood of testing my brain electricity against a crapton of well-trained reindeer guards.” “I-I mean there's no official way,” Eine said. He pointed behind them with a weak hoof. “All ways through the main corridors are blocked, and we can't go back to the throne room...” Kera leaned forward, tattoo brow furrowed. “...but?” “There's... uhm...” Eine fidgeted. “Another way.” “Where?” “But I've never used it befo—” She shouted in his face. “WHERE?!” He leaned back, shivering. “In my quarters! In the wall beside the wardrobe! If you let me, I'll show you!” “Wait...” Kera leaned back. “Do you mean—?” “A panel to a secret passage. Only members of the Royal family know about it.” “Does Sharp Quill know?!” “Uhhhm... I-I doubt it! My parents did, but the King and Queen are dead now.” “Wonderful!” Kera barked, galloping down the hallway. “We'll make our exit that way!” When she found she was alone, she dashed back, groaning. “Honestly! Will you move your royal caboose?!” “Guh!” Eine flinched, poked by her horn. “Must we go so fast?!” “Would you rather die super slow?” “... ... ...the room should be two hallways on the right.” “Awesomesauce! Go go go go!” “I don't understand!” Nilla stammered, being shoved along by a line of Soul Sentries. She wasn't alone. Several fumbling servants, cooks, and gardeners marched along with the gazelle, forced down a hallway leading towards the royal courtyard. “Why would the Princess of Xona seek to kidnap Prince Eine?!” The Soul Sentries said nothing. They merely marched in a solid phalanx, sweeping up the hallway's space with their wide antlers. “Did she hurt him somehow?! I mean, she's just a filly!” Nilla exclaimed. “And whatever happened to Mr. Mane, her royal advisor!” Once more, the Sentries were silent. Nilla frowned, being shoved along. “Will somedeer please answer me?!” A guard marched out of a room, joining the march. “Keep the noise down, servant. The Soul Sentries need concentration to perform their duty.” “But nothing about this is—” “I will not repeat myself,” the guard said, casting her an iron frown. “Obey the Soul Sentries.” He then met up with another cluster of royal guards and proceeded to flush out a supply room. Nilla gnashed her teeth. “Doesn't any of this strike anybody as completely absurd?!” Her cries were drowned out as she was pushed out of the hallway and into the adjacent corridor. The Soul Sentries marched on, leaving the passageway completely abandoned—or so they thought. Several seconds after they departed, a tiny section of marble column shifted. The texture rippled with green flame, morphing into a petite changeling. “Mmmmfff...” Ebon collapsed on his knees, shivering. His insectoid eyes flickered, then clenched shut. “Mmmm... Eagle... EE...” He whimpered, fangs clicking. “Give me strength. Just... j-just have to hold out long enough...” He stood up, heaving for strong breaths. At last, with gossamer wings buzzing, he lifted off the ground and went zipping around the nearest corner. Looking around, he found the coast to be clear. Holding his breath, he once again coated his body with a marble-tinted shade, then proceeded to hover across the wall, piercing his way deeper into the palace. “Nnnngh... guhhhhh!” Kera pushed a wall panel as hard as she could with her little hooves. Her gown was a frazzled mess at that point, and the lengths of her green mane had become undone. Nevertheless, after much strain, she finally slid the dusty patch of wall wide enough to allow room for two foal-sized bodies to fit through. All was dark and dismal in the hidden chamber beyond. “Ahhhhhh yeah. That should do.” She leaned back, her ears twitching to a persistent wheezing sound. She looked aside at Eine, who was collapsed against his desk, struggling for breath. “Really?” She raised an eyebrow. “You're out of breath already?!” “Must we... r-run around... so sw-swiftly?!” he gurgled, eyes thin and weak. “Don't most fawns your age get more meat on their bones?” “Young deer aren't like unicorns.” Eine gulped. “While our cerebral strengths are keen, our physical abilities t-take a great deal longer to mature.” “Whelp, sucks to be you.” And Kera bucked him in the white tail. “Waaah!” Wide-eyed, Eine plunged through the hole in the wall. Thud! “I'm committed to getting you out of here alive!” Kera slid in after him. “Nopony ever said anything about your pride!” Her horn shimmered as she slid the door shut, sealing the passage behind them. “You know which way we go from here, Your Highness?” “Uhm... n-no,” he whimpered. “I've actually never had to use these tunnels before!” “Whelp, Prince Eine, congratulations. You're about to experience your very first adventure.” Thud! With that, she and the Prince were hidden from the rest of the Palace. Within a minute, guards came pouring into the room, looking all over the quarters. They would not have any luck.