The trio reached the wall which surrounded the village.
It was no longer made of vines and thorns, they noticed.
In the shift, it had turned into logs and timber, held together with
ropes and iron nails.
“Can you guys see any gate toward the castle?” Applejack said as they
came closer to it.
Luna leaped into the air and hovered a couple meters above ground,
looking along the wall in both directions.
“No gate. I do however see the gravel road from the village to the castle
grounds. Tell me Applejack, do you have any fears of heights?”
“Not really, why?”
Suddenly Lunas horn started glowing. “Oh, nothing...”
The glow surrounded Applejack, who suddenly hovered above ground.
“Hey! What are you doing?” She said with a hint of shock in her voice.
“Lifting you above the wall so that we may proceed to the castle.”
Luna responded with a small smirk. She didn’t bother hiding the fact
that she liked pulling small tricks and pranks like this.
Applejack facehoofed while being lifted over the wall.
“You could have told me before doing it, you know.”
“Oh, I could have, yes. But if I had, I would not have gotten to see
the surprise on your face when you left the ground.”
Twilight smiled and giggled. “You must have been a bit of a prankster
as a child, weren’t you?”
“Ask my sister about that someday, she can tell you about me.
And herself too for that matter. We had full-scale prank wars.
Our servants and guards were usually... let us just say,
not quite impressed with our not-so-royal behavior.”
Luna giggled, and at the same time set Applejack down on
the ground. Twilight flew over too, and Luna landed beside them both.
She pointed along the gravel road that now lay before them,
surrounded by forest on both sides. The trees on the left side were all
green and full of life, while the other side was red, yellow, and in some
cases leaf-less, as if that side was in autumn while the left side was in
summer. “Well, that’s interesting...” Applejack said as she looked at
the trees. “First time I’ve seen summer leafs and autumn leafs side by side
like this. Usually the change is more gradual, not two straight rows.”
“We must get going” Luna said and started walking.
“We have around ten minutes walk at normal pace.”
“I say we make it in five, then.” Applejack smirked and started jogging.
Luna and Twilight simply nodded and matched Applejacks speed.
Four minutes later, they reached the castle garden. Or rather, the area
that usually was a garden.
“Nice desert. It even has cactuses.” Applejack noted and looked around
at the fields of sand.
“The plural term is ‘Cacti’.” Twilight corrected. “One cactus, Several Cacti.”
“Yeah yeah, never mind that now. We need to get inside.”
They all entered the desert garden, walking across the sand.
Suddenly, the cacti started shaking violently.
“What the... HEY! The cactus is shooting at me!” Applejack shouted
as she jumped sideways to dodge a small barrage of thorns from one
of the cacti, that had indeed shot them at her.
“They’re like some kind of defense turrets!” Twilight gasped,
as she too dodged a barrage from another cactus.
“Enough of this! Both of you, close to me, Now!” Luna said,
as her horn shone up in its usual blue glow.
When they were all gathered close, she raised a shield bubble around them.
“Twilight. Do you know any offensive spells you can use against the cacti
while I maintain this shield?”
“I... hmm.. Yes, I know a fire spell I normally use to ignite the stove
and fireplace. I can try that on the cacti!”
Her horn shone in the same blue as Lunas, and underneath each of the cacti
a small burst of fire ‘exploded’, igniting them from below. All of them
burned rapidly and within minutes only smoking piles of ash remained.
Luna lowered the shield, but did so slowly just in case something else
would come now when the cacti were gone. Nothing did.
“Phew. That was intense! Nice fires, Twi! And Luna.. Thanks for the shield.
I’m glad I’m with you two. I could’nt have handled those things myself.”
Applejack said as she carefully looked around for more traps.
“No problem. I’m just glad it worked.” Twilight smiled.
“It seems those cacti were the only defense outside.
But the fact there even was a defense makes me think there really
is something, or someone inside who can lead us to the tower.”
“Yeah, that seems most likely.” Applejack said.
She walked up to the castle doors. They were closed and bolted from
the inside. Luna approached her and looked at the doors.
“No getting in here, I suppose. But maybe we can fly in through a
window or enter via the servants entrance on the backside...”
“No princess, Allow me. This time it’s my turn to be useful!”
Applejack gave Luna a confident smile, and then turned toward the
wooden doors. “You see, the wood in these doors... Is beginning to
rot, so some spots are softer...”
Applejack turned around and positioned herself with her flank near the
doors. “Now then, Time to open this - Apple Family Style!”
* * *
Inside the castle, two sentient skeletons were standing by the large
wooden door - They had just locked it from their side.
When they had seen the trio of ponies approaching the castle,
they had immediately realized they had to keep them outside.
If they found the Statue, it would help them find the tower,
and if that happened, the Nightmare would surely punish them,
very severely.
Once they were done, they decided to stay put were they stood,
to make sure the door and locks held tight.
They started talking in rasping voices.
“Hey.” The first one said.
“Yeah?” The second replied.
“You ever wonder why were here?”
“It's one of lifes' great mysteries, isn't it? Why ARE we here?I mean...
Are we the product of some cosmic coincidence,
or is there really a Lauren Faust, watching everything?
Y'know, with a plan for us and stuff.
...I don't know, man... But it keeps me up at night.”
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds,
before the first one spoke again.
“What...? I meant why we are HERE, in this castle!”
“Ohh, I....Yeah.”
“What was all that stuff about Faust?”
“uuh.. huh? Nothing..”
“You wanna talk about it?”
“No.” The second one shrugged his shoulders, barely noticeable.
“Sure?”
“Yeah.”
All of a sudden, the door was destroyed from some outside force.
Splinters and rubble flew everywhere. The entire door fell apart
into a pile of broken wood and metal hinges.
When the dust cloud settled, an orange Earth pony with blonde mane stood
on top of what used to be a door.
“BUCK YEAH! Come on girls, Door’s open!” it said.
The two skeleton guards stood silently, shocked, staring at the
pony atop the remains of the door.
“What the...” the first one gasped.
* * *
Applejack aimed her hoofs. She had found what seemed to be the weakest spot in the door.
With a loud crash she kicked a large hole, and the entire
door fell apart, becoming only a pile of broken wood, and a few metal
hinges the door had hung on. She climbed over the rubble, stopping for
a moment when she stood on top of it all.
“BUCK YEAH!” She exclaimed loudly. “Come on girls, Door’s open.”
Luna climbed up beside her, looking at the wood beneath her hoofs.
“The door is gone.”
“Same thing.” Applejack smiled.
“Not quite the same, no..” Twilight said as she too made her way across
the woodpile.
“Close enough.” Applejack chuckled. “Got us in, didn’t I?”
“Fine.” Twilight sighed with a smile.
“Girls. We have company.” Luna said as she noticed the two skeleton
guards standing in the room, staring at them with their jaws dropped.
“Friends, enemies or neutrals?” Applejack asked.
“Good question. I have no idea.” Luna said.
She turned toward the skeletons. “Who dost thou serve, Undying ones?”
The guards looked at her puzzled, then at each other.
“She’s speaking in that old-fashioned way.” The first one said.
He was standing to the left, from Lunas point of view.
“She must be the one called Luna then. Master said she’s like,
thousands of years old.” The second said.
Luna facehoofed and started speaking in a slightly more modern way.
“Okay. So you are not from the old days. Who is the ‘Master’ you speak of?”
“Give us one reason why we should tell you.” The first one said.
“Because if you do not, I will personally destroy you both.” Luna said
in a calm tone.
“Think you can scare us? We’re already dead. Look at us. We’re
SKELETONS for Faust’s Sake!”
“Look at what happened to your door.” Luna said and waved a hoof
toward the rubble behind them. “That was done by a single kick
from this pony here.” She now waved at Applejack, who started grinning
eagerly toward the two skeletons.
Luna remained perfectly calm.
“If you do not answer our questions, I will let her kick you the same way
she kicked that door. Now, will you talk?”
The two guards looked at each other.
“Who’s more scary?” Applejack said. “Me or your master?”
The skeletons didn’t respond. Instead, they turned around and dashed
away surprisingly fast across the hallway towards another large wooden
door at the other end of the room. Lunas horn glowed, and a barrier
appeared in front of them.
“....Ooooh shiiiiit...” they both said.
Applejack made a dash too, straight towards them.
She grinned. Just as she came up to them, she leaped and turned in the air,
landing with her face away from them. She used the momentum to make
the landing mainly on her front hoofs, and used the landing as a spring
effect to increase power as she reared up and kicked one of the skeletons
in its chest bone. The skeleton broke into pieces and flew across the floor.
Applejack paused and turned around to face the second one.
“Now... You WILL tell us what we want to know... Or else I’ll grind
you to powder. Do I make myself clear?”
The second skeleton shivered and stared at Applejack.
“Fine! I surrender! Just don’t destroy me! I’ll answer any questions!”
Applejack looked over her shoulder. “Luna, Twi. You guys handle
the questions, You two understand this world more. You’ll know what to ask.
I’ll just stand here, So he won’t get any stupid ideas, like running or lying..”
Luna and Twilight walked up to the Skeleton. “Very well.” Luna said.
“Let us begin then. First of all, tell me who ‘Master’ is.
I suspect I know already, but I want to make sure.”
The skeleton hesitated. Applejack grunted and stretched her back legs.
“Answer.” She mumbled. “Or else...”
“Fine...” The skeleton said, still hesitant. “My master is Nightmare Moon.”