"Sunset?
Celestia's call went unanswered in the gloom, and her voice seemed to have been swallowed by the all consuming silence and darkness. It was everywhere around her, and it seemed that no matter where she looked all that the Princess could see was a pitch black emptiness that threatened to consume her as well. Feeling that she needed to do something other than just simply stand around waiting for something to happen, Celestia began a slow trot forward, her gold clad hooves clicking on the ground; the only sound she could hear aside from her breathing and the faint beating of her heart. All three sounded much too loud in her ears, and Celestia was wracked by the uncomfortable feeling that she was unwelcome here.
"Sunset Shimmer?" she called out again, and once more the voice of her student did not answer her.
But Celestia did hear something else. It started off as a quiet yet rapid thudding, noticeably different from that of her heart. Celestia glanced in all directions in an effort to locate the source of the unnatural commotion, wherever it might be. She could see nothing however, only the same ever present gloom, and Celestia let her wings droop to the floor as a seed of fear slowly grew within her. And every second the thudding became louder and more frequent, until it seemed that it all but matched the pace of her now racing heart.
"Sunset! Where are you?!" Celestia shouted, hoping beyond hope that she would hear something, anything, from the unicorn.
To her surprise somepony did answer her this time, though she could not identify who it was, nor what was said. Celestia's ears became erect as she strained to detect where it was coming from.
"Sunset? Sunset is that you?" Celestia questioned, looking around her for any sign of Sunset. To her continued frustration and worry she still could not see beyond more than a few inches in front of her white muzzle, and the voice seemed to grow more frantic as it persisted to gain her attention. This time Celestia could just barely make out a few words.
"Help me."
"Sunset, is that you? I cannot find you! Please, tell me where you are!" Celestia shouted desperately, hoping that Sunset could hear her.
"Help me."
Celestia's already racing heart was now beating faster than ever when she heard the voice of her student. And just as she was about to call out again she became aware of a strange feeling underneath her hooves. Slowly and hesitantly the Princess glanced downwards, almost afraid of what she would find, and she felt her heart come to a crashing stop when she saw what was just beneath her.
Sunset Shimmer was looking up at her with wide eyes filled to the brim sheer terror as she continued to yell in a muffled voice.
"Help me!" Celestia heard her shout, her voice ringing clear in the dark, allowing Celestia to easily pick up on the fear in her tone. As Sunset was looking up at her and shouting that same phrase over and over again as she pounded on the ground under Celestia's hooves. It was almost like the two ponies were separated by no more than a pane of glass. Celestia immediately dropped to her knees at the sight of Sunset.
"Sunset!" Celestia gasped, recognizing the urgency in her students turquoise eyes. Noticing how she seemed to be trying to break the glass between them, Celestia quickly said, hoping that she could be heard, "Don't worry Sunset! I will get you out of there!"
With the alicorn reared up on her hind legs before slamming her front hooves down on the surface keeping them apart with as much force as she could muster. But instead breaking the glass as she hoped, Celestia's hooves did little more than bounce off of the surface, leaving the Princess with a sense of hopelessness that it did not work. She tried again, and once more received no positive result. Now desperate, Celestia began to beat on the glass repeatedly, hoping that her efforts would eventually pay off. All the while Sunset continued to do the same from the other side.
Then suddenly Sunset stopped, her ears flicking in response to something behind her. Sunset looked back, and Celestia felt an indescribable amount of fear and worry build up inside her when she saw Sunset's ears lay flat against her red and yellow mane. The unicorn then turned back to Celestia and began pounding on the glass with more urgency. Celestia immediately took notice of her renewed vigor, and she too began to frantically beat upon the glass to free her student and save her from whatever horror was coming.
"Don't worry Sunset!" Celestia said, hoping that she could be heard. "I will get you out!" But no sooner had she said that did she see something coming up from behind Sunset, but was unable to make out what it was exactly. Celestia squinted her eyes, and recoiled in horror and disgust.
The thing was a mountain of corpses, each one covered only partially by stained tarps, that seemed to be slowly spilling upward to Sunset, with the many of their limp diseased bodies falling off in waves. The mound grew larger and larger. Sunset's eyes were wide with fear and terror. Celestia saw that she was now crying, and began throwing herself down on the barrier with every ounce of strength she had.
Her efforts were in vain however, as the barrier keeping her from saving the unicorn refused to give, holding up against her onslaught. Celestia could only watch helplessly and look into Sunset's terror filled eyes as hopelessness consumed her.
"No. . ." Celestia said quietly as the mountain of bodies finally reached Sunset, their diseased limbs reaching out and grasping for her legs and horn and mane. And then, in an instant, Sunset was swallowed up by the mound completely, and disappeared from Celestia's sight.
"NO!" Celestia screamed loudly as she sat upright, waking everypony else who happened to be sleeping and startling Crimson, who was currently on watch.
Celestia could not take it anymore. Her insides felt as though they were in turmoil as thoughts of Sunset Shimmer still bounced around her skull. Spotting a trash can a short distance away, she hurried over to it before she emptied her stomach of the meager meal she had shared with her guards, the stress of the situation finally getting to her. She absentmindedly registered the feeling of somepony putting a hand on her back as she continued to vomit. After a few moments she stopped, though she still remained at the trash can, not even noticing the scent of bile as it wafted up to her nose. She stayed like for minutes, her trembling hands resting on the rim as she tried futiley to forget the nightmare she had just endured. She could still picture it clearly in her mind, the disturbing image of Sunset's face before she-
Celestia quickly shook her head of the thought, with little success however as she breathed heavily from both her nightmare and from throwing up.
After a little while longer Celestia that she finally had the strength stand up, and she took deep breaths through her nose, ignoring the slight sting in her throat. Off to the side she saw Aegis wordlessly offering her his container of water. She graciously accepted it, thanking him before taking a drink, mking sure to be conservative as the liquid soothed her throat. When she felt that she'd had enough she gave it back to him.
"Thank you," she said, her voice slightly hoarse as she spoke. Aegis simply nodded in acknowledgement. The Princess glanced at the rest of the former ponies, notincing how they were looking at her with a mix shock and concern. Celestia imagined that they had never seen such a thing before in their lives, and she felt that she was doing a rather poor job of hiding her distress at the situation they were in. A few moments of silence passed, after which Stalwart approached her and asked, "Princess Celestia? Are you w-" He stopped suddenly before continuing. "Are you going to be alright?"
Celestia would have thought the answer to that question would have been obvious, but she supposed that the captain was merely asking out of habit and for the sake of being polite. The last few hours had taken its toll on all of them. Not trusting her own voice at the moment, Celestia simply nodded in response, knowing that the conviction behind the answer was false. The captain, despite not appearing to be not very reassured by her answer, let his concerned expression soften, if only a little.
Celestia then glanced out of a window set in the library they were all staying in, noticing how the sky seemed to gradually begin to brighten slightly, as the clouds had gone from a pure black shroud to a somewhat lighter grey. It was difficult to tell exactly how long they had taken residence in the school library, but she guessed it might have been a few hours until noon. The sun was steadily rising behind the curtain, which was a strange thing for Celestia to witness. She personally found it rather disconcerting that she was not the one guiding it on its course, but she was at least grateful that she did not have to go back to sleep and face her nightmares again. Finding her voice again, Celestia stood up and turned to speak to her guards.
"We should be going," she said. "We only have two more days to find Sunset. Let us not waste them."
She received a few nods in response, though Celestia could not help but feel that they were all hesitant to leave the building, especially after the events of the previous day. Celestia herself would stayed here if she could, but with the limited amount of time they had until the portal to Equestria closed, they had no choice but to push onward and hope that nothing else happened before they found Sunset, lest they become trapped here for thirty moons. That was something none of them wanted to happen, considering what became of Ironheart and Possibly Gallant.
Still, it would not do to stumble around blindly and hope they came across something important when it was possible they may not be safe. Before they left Stalwart made it clear to everypony to not wander off, and if they were unfortunate enough to become separated they were to find their way back to the portal and wait for the others, lest they all endure a fate as gruesome fate.
As they stepped into the outside world and away from the perceived safety of the school, Celestia noticed how it still was, and hugged herself for warmth. The temperature was not quite as low as it was the previous night, but the Princess was still hesitant to step out into the chilled air. She felt goosebumps on her bare lavender skin; such a strange feeling would have never happened if she were still an alicorn.
As they walked cautiously away from the doors, Stalwart made sure that he stayed in front of Celestia the entire time. Hammer and Aegis flanked her either side while Crimson walked behind. Personally Celestia felt the arrangement was a little unnecessary, but she was thankful to have them there to protect her from whatever else may lurk in this place. Just thinking about Stalwart's description Ironheart's fatal injuries made her nervous, and she held herself more tightly.
As they strolled past the pony statue, Celestia could make out the faint impressions of the trail left behind by the siren that Hammer had seen walk by. She felt a sense of disapproval and a little bit of loathing as she gazed at the tracks, feeling like their already complicated situation they were in was only made even more difficult by their presence.
Celestia thought about Hammer's description, wondering if she could accurately guess which one of them it was from her memories of her encounters with them, and despite her loathing towards them, she could help but feel a small amount of regret that the sirens could not have turned from their ways. It was not like she had not tried to convince them either. She could still recall with some amount of clarity how they had reacted to her suggestions, repeatedly rejecting them. But each time Celestia that one of the in particular had only been acting like her companions so she would be accepted by them. In fact, Celestia almost regretted agreeing to Star Swirl's plan to banish them, if only for the sake of who she assumed the youngest of their group.
"Sonata. . ." Celestia whispered quietly, finally remembering the name the girl.
"What's that Princess?" Crimson asked from behind. Celestia was mildly startled y the question. She was not aware that she had spoken out loud.
"Of course," she answered quickly. "I was merely thinking."
Nopony bothered to question what she happened to be thinking about, most likely out of respect for her privacy, and Celestia had no intention to elaborate any further. Glancing one last time at the trail left by the siren, Celestia pushed the matter out of her thoughts to refocus on finding Sunset. The group walked as quickly as they dared, doing their best to make as little noise as possible. Celestia was no longer concerned with the prospect of running into any humans, if there were any left that is, but there was no telling what else might be waiting for them.
After almost an hour of walking through ash and dust their clothing and armor was stained so much they almost disappeared against the backdrop of abandoned buildings. Celestia found herself repeatedly having to wipe away the filth that that accumulated in her eyes as a result.
She sincerely wished that was the worst of it.
As they continued on their way a faint scent reached Celestia's nose. It was subtle enough that it almost went unnoticed. But through her long life however, Celestia had become all too familiar with the stench of decayed flesh, causing her nose to wrinkle in disgust. She noticed similar reactions from her guards, as they put their forearms to their faces in an attempt to ward off the smell. But with every step they took, and every block they passed the sent continued to become more apparent. No bodies could be seen, but Celestia imagined that there must be dozens, if not hundreds of dead littered about. They just simply have not found them yet, nor did she wish to do so.
It was in this invisible cloud of rot that Stalwart suddenly came to a stop in front of them, halting their march forward with a raised hand. Celestia knew better than to ask out loud what was wrong for fear of giving away their position to whatever had given him pause. Instead she chose to simply look around and listen for anything that seemed out of place in their desolate surroundings. She noted that they had long since moved away from the neighborhood consisting of singular housings to structures that she recognized as apartments. Placed here and were strange metal carriages of various colors, dulled by the blanket of ash and the passage of time.
The entire place felt dead and devoid of life, just like the school.
Celestia was straining every one of her senses to determine what had made Stalwart come to a stop, but could not detect anything. Everything was silent and still and grey. She was about to risk breaking the silence and to suggest that they continue onward, when her ears picked up a faint sound that immediately made her decide against it. It seemed the others had heard it as well, as all at once everypony became very tense as the unknown disturbance seemed to draw near. It sounded to Celestia like something was breathing and panting heavily.
Motioning with his hand to follow his lead, Stalwart quickly made his way to hide behind one of the metal carriages. Soon all five of the were huddled together behind it, and the panting became louder and louder as whatever its owner was seemed to pass the by. Celestia waited until Stalwart felt it was safe enough to risk a peek at what it was, cautiously peering over the top carriage. Celestia copied his action, and quickly found herself disgusted and frightened by the sight before her.
The thing that had passed them by was some sort of animal. It looked like a dog, but it seemed to suffering from a case of mange bordering on the horrific. What was left of its fur was little more than a few sparse patches of stringy hair, hanging loosely over it wrinkled skin. Its entire body was covered in massive sores and scabs all the way down to its bloody paws. Its ears, little more than bits of flesh at this point, almost seemed to be twitching as the dog rooted through the layer of dust with the tip of its nose, presumably in search of food. It was obvious to Celestia that the thing had not eaten in some time, as evidenced by its almost skeletal appearance.
Celestia silently wondered what could have possibly happened here that would cause the animal to be reduced to such a state. Her thoughts were interrupted by a cringe inducing hacking sound, and she looked to see that the dog was hunched over with its mouth open, exposing what remained of its teeth. She noticed that as it continued to heave, huge veins were bulging all across its skin, looking like they were about to explode.
Seconds later, that was exactly what happened. The skins around the veins suddenly split apart, and dark blood began to weep out of the wounds. In addition, a sticky black black film started to gush out of the dogs mouth, painting the ground beneath a dark brown. Celestia had to fight the urge to vomit, and found herself unable to look away as the dog fell onto its side as its wounds continued to gush the unnatural fluid while the poor creature wheezed and coughed for what seemed far too long.
With a grim expression, Stalwart unexpectedly stood up while removing a knife from the belt around his waist. Knowing what he was doing, Celestia silently watched as the captain walked over to the slowly dying animal and knelt down beside it. The animals wheezing changed in tone as it seemed to notice him, becoming more frantic and high pitched. Being careful not to let any of the liquid get on him, Stalwart put an end to the dogs misery with a swift thrust to the base of its skull.
Celestia released a breath she did not know she had been holding when the deed was done, and she saw the other members of their group bow their heads slightly.
After cleaning the blood off of his knife with a cloth, Stalwart tossed the soiled rag aside and sheathed his dagger before walking back over to them.
"Come on," he said gruffly as he passed the by. "Let's not stick around here."
Not a word was spoken among them as they obeyed, wanting to put the matter behind them as quickly as possible, Celestia included. She did not feel any particular sense of remorse for the dog, and she did not begrudge Stalwart's actions. In a similar situation, she likely would have done the same thing if it meant sparing another pain. But for Celestia, the dog was not just an animal that needed to be put out of its misery. It was something that introduced a subject that she had been consciously been trying to avoid thinking about ever since she first found the mountain of bodies in the school.
What if her former student yet lived, but was in a similar state as the dog? That was the question Celestia was forced to ask herself. What if Sunset Shimmer was better off dead? If that was the case, would Celestia find it within herself too do what needed to be done?
At the moment, she honestly did not know if she could.
The hours passed in a tense silence that nopony seemed willing to interrupt, most of them hardly daring to speak more than a few words at a time as they continued to walk. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft crunch of of brittle ash under their feet and the occasional breath of dry air, which almost seemed to whisper quietly in their ears.
Celestia barely noticed that the building were getting progressively larger and larger, growing from quaint little shops and housings to towering monoliths that would shame most structures in Equestria in terms of sheer size. But in her own humble opinion, Celestia felt lacked what Equestria had in spades, that being design and artistry. To her it was almost like they were built to conform to each other, and their dull drab colors did little to improve on it. In a way they matched their current setting all too well, appearing to her like colossal grave markers. The constant scent of death lingered here as well.
Along the way she noticed a newspaper box with its contents still preserved behind the glass lid. Wiping the grime off and briefly skimming over what could be read revealed a little of what might have transpired here, but most of it made little sense to Celestia. From what she could gather, some sort of quarantine had been enacted around multiple cities in this world to stop something from spreading. What exactly that something was had not been explained, or at least those details were hidden in the rest of the pages. As interested as she was to discover the exact cause of such desolation, Celestia deemed it to be unnecessary information.
All the while Celestia made sure to keep an eye for the building described Sunset Shimmer, looking out for anything that even remotely resembled a shooting star, or at the very least some sort of map to lead her there. The sooner they found that, the sooner they could find Sunset, and the sooner they would all begone from this hellish place.
Celestia hoped very much that Sunset was okay amid all of this, but still the prospect of her former student being beyond saving remained a fixture in her thoughts, like a malicious cancer eating away at what little hope she had, making her all the more anxious. She tried very hard to put the matter out of her mind to focus just simply finding Sunset, but without very much success.
She tried to distract herself by looking into the windows of the buildings as they passed them by, noting how many of them been broken, leaving dull shards in their frames. It was mildly disconcerting how they seemed to stare out at them like vacant eyes; dark and without any depth.
Just then a sharp sound reached their ears, causing a few of them to jump slightly in surprise. hey came to a stop, turned their attention to where the disturbance seemed to originate. Their eyes landed on a large wide structure with the words "Starlight Mall' placed above the glass doors that seemed to span almost the entire width of the place. The place as a whole looked no different than its surroundings, but there was something about it that deeply unsettled Celestia. She could not explain why, but to her there seemed to be a coldness about the place that chilled the blood in her veins.
"What was that?" Stalwart questioned out loud.
"I don't know, but whatever it was I don't want to have anything to do with it," Aegis stated, and everypony present seemed to be in agreement. Her eyes fixated on where she thought the motion came from, Celestia took a cautious step forward. Everything had gone quiet however, making her wonder if there was anything at all to be concerned about.
"It might be Sunset," Hammer suggested. "She could be hiding."
"Perhaps," Celestia replied, although truthfully she was not quite so sure. As far as she knew, Sunset would have no reason to hide from them. If anything she would be expecting them. But as much as she wanted to disagree with Hammer's suggestion, she herself could not shake the possibility from her thoughts, and she began to approach the structure. The others kept pace beside her, eyeing their surroundings for anything that seemed suspicious. Eventually the group came to a stop a dozen yards away fro the doors, and there they stayed, hesitant to keep going.
"I don't see anything," Aegis Lash stated, breaking the silence. "It was probably nothing anyway, so I say we move on."
"That's up to the Princess, Aegis," Stalwart pointed out. "We don't do anything unless she says so." Stalwart then turned towards Celestia and asked, "What are your orders Celestia?"
Celestia hesitated in answering, disliking being put on the spot to determine their next course of action. She glanced around at the surrounding area, made up of featureless grey buildings coated in dust, then once more back to the structure before them. The name of the place, "Starlight Mall", could have meant that Sunset was somewhere in here, although Celestia seriously doubted the possibility, and if she were honest she would rather move on. But at the moment it was their only real lead to finding her student, and that was enough for the Princess to make her decision.
"Let us go in," she said. "We may at the very least find something of importance, and we are not going to find our destination by simply walking down the street and hoping we'll stumble on what we're looking. We'll check the immediate area, and if we do not find anything, we will just be on our way."
Everypony seemed to be a little uncertain with her proposal, and truthfully Celestia felt much the same. Just looking inside the structure into what seemed like a pitch black nothingness made her skin crawl, and she found herself fearing whatever unknown thing he might find in there. She did not let her anxiety show however, so she would not demoralize the others more than they already were.
Eventually Stalwart spoke up and said, "Well, if we're just going in and out, then I don't see much of a problem, just as long as nopony wanders off."
Celestia's mouth tightened in a thin grimace as she recalled what happened at the school. There was little doubt in her mind that the captain said this more for her sake than the others. She doubted that he would do anything to outright subvert her authority, but she could tell that the stress of the situation was not just affecting her. She knew that if anything felt wrong to him, then he would everything in his power to make sure she stayed safe even if he had to carry her over his shoulder. Celestia hoped that such a thing would be unneeded.
"Then let us proceed," she said, allowing Stalwart to lead the way ahead of her.
Careful to avoid cutting themselves on the bits of glass left in the frame of the window, they went one by one until they were all inside. Celestia took a brief moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and found that the interior was far more vast and spacious than she had expected. The place was almost cavernous in nature, with many small stores built into its walls, and pair of odd metal staircases led up to a second floor where even more like them could be seen could be seen. Celestia guessed it was some sort of huge shopping center, not unlike the occasional market festivals held in Canterlot once a month.
Here however, the shops were as bare as bone, and bits of scattered garbage laid about on the dirty and grimy tiled floor. Placed here and there were odd stains that Celestia. Where those came from, she would rather not have tried to guess, although she had her suspicions. She also saw that every few yards or so along the walls a human equivalent of a ponnequin was placed standing up in a neat row, reminding her of some sort of macabre version of soldiers standing at attention. She guessed there must have been dozens of them.
And then she noticed that one them was not standing like the others. The odd ponnequin was lying down with its featurless white face staring upward into the ceiling, looking for all the world like some sort of odd corpse. Celestia guessed that must have been what had made the sound, and she was able to calm down slightly from the revelation.
By unspoken agreement the group as a whole began to move steadily forward, careful to avoid touching anything. Everypony remained utterly silent. Celestia was certain as to why, but there was an uneasy feeling in the air, one that made coming in here seem like an even worse idea than it sounded. In fact, she was about to suggest that they move on to search in a different location when the voice of Crimson caught her attention.
"Hey guys, I think I found something."
Turning her attention to the guard in question, Celestia saw that Crimson was standing in front of some sort sign hanging on the wall next to a reception desk. Curious about what she discovered, they all went over to her and gathered around her to see what it could be. At first Celestia did not recognize the collection of lines and names placed at seemingly random locations, but then she realized that she was in fact looking at a map of what appeared to be the city as seen from above. Without any hesitation she immediately began scanning for anything that might hint at Sunset's whereabouts, looking for names in particular. Eventually she found something that filled her heart with elation and hope.
"Here!" she exclaimed suddenly, tapping a point on the map with her finger. "I believe this place is our best bet."
The others looked to see that she was pointing at location that was almost exactly due west of the mall, marked by he name "Meteor Motel". There was even a little star next to it. Aside from the mall it appeared to be the only place in the entire city whose name bared any resemblance to the location described Sunset.
"Well that's certainly helpful," Stalwart observed as he studied the map. "I suppose all that's left is actually getting there." With that he began to walk back to the entrance of the mall as he ordered, "Alright then. Let's get moving." The guards obeyed and followed him a short distance. Celestia however looked on in mild confusion at the captain's choice of direction.
"Where are you going?" she questioned. They turned around back to their Princess, appearing surprised and concerned that she did not join them.
"I thought we were going to get your student," Stalwart responded in confused tone. This in turned confused Celestia slightly, as she began to wonder if the captain, or any of them for that matter, had missed what she had plainly seen. Once again pointing at the map, she began to explain.
"We are, but that is not the shortest route we could take." She beckoned them to come back over and see what she meant. When they were all gathered around the map again she traced with her finger the direction she wanted to go. "See here?" she said. "The building we are in is quite possibly the quickest way to get to our destination. We can use this place as a shortcut ,"she explained while tapping the spot where the mall was located, "to take us almost directly to where I believe Sunset is. The way you were going would have taken us on a much longer roundabout route, and would take up far too much time."
Stalwart examined the map a second time before looking into the abnormally dark interior of the mall. "I'm not so sure about that Princess. While it's true the other way could take longer, I think that if we hurry we can-"
"No!"
The sudden outburst caught everypony so completely off guard that they nearly jumped, and they were now looking at their Princess with expressions of concern and worry. There was little doubt that they were not expecting her answer their captain in such a way, but they seemed too afraid to say otherwise. The only one among them that was apparently brave enough to speak was Stalwart.
"Princess," he said calmly as he came up beside her, "I understand that you want to hurry, but do you really think this is the best path to take?" he questioned as he gestured to the interior of the mall behind her. "If you insist on going in there, then I can't protect you properly if something happens."
Celestia regarded the captain sternly, fixing him with a harsh glare that caused him to visibly cringe.
"I understand your concern captain," she said, perhaps a little harsher than she had intended, but at the moment she felt she had much larger issues to be concerned about. "However, I cannot simply stand by and tarry any longer. Every moment we waste taking detours is another moment that brings us closer to being trapped here. And all the while Sunset is out there somewhere waiting for me to find her, while you lot struggle to simply walk. So please, forgive me if you feel that I am allowing my emotions to influence my decisions."
With that, Celestia turned her back on them and began to stride away while they hurried to catch up. The captain stayed back a little, likely more than a little upset by her words. All of them were. Never before had any of them seen her, the Princess of all ponies, talk down to any of her subjects in that way. Nopony chose to say anything to address it however as they proceeded onward into the increasingly dark interior of the mall.
The lighting was so dim that Celestia could barely see her own hand in front her face, and she had to walk with her arms outstretched to make sure she did not bump into anything. Every once in a while she would occasionally stumble across a ponnequin, with each occurrence startling her a little. There were clearly many more of these things than she initially thought, and she found herself wondering why they were here. Somepony had clearly set them up, but how long ago and for what purpose, she did not even begin to guess.
The only real positive that she could see about the place was that the smell of death was less evident in here, which was a welcome relief. However, that was replaced by a pungent and acrid aroma of mold. The entire place felt warm and damp, directly contrasting with the world outside.
Celestia could not have cared less about that at the moment as she continued her march forward, knowing that she would eventually find her way out of the mall. She just had to keep going, and all would be well. Getting to Sunset was the only thing that mattered. But as she walked, she also could not help but feel a little guilty for the way she had spoken to Stalwart. She did not mean to be as harsh as she had been to him, but given the circumstances she was not about to back down. Still, it would at least assuage some of the guilt she had if she could at least apologize to him for her behavior.
Coming to a stop, Celestia turned around to do exactly that. But as she opened her mouth to speak, she saw that Stalwart was not there. Neither was Aegis or Crimson, or even Hammer Hoof.
Almost immediately she began to panic, and she called out loudly, "Captain?! Hammer?! Where did you go?!" To her building alarm however, she received no reply other than dead silence.
She was alone. Completely and utterly alone.
Again and again she called the names of her guards, each time with more urgency. But still she received no response aside from the frantic beating of her own heart. Celestia began to run, hoping desperately that she would come across them. But no matter where she went she could not see them. She could not even see where in Tartarus she was. She continued to run, until a sound from behind brought her to a screeching halt.
Reacting on instinct, Celestia whirled around, attempting to strike whatever was sneaking behind her. Her fist met nothing but a hard wall however, causing her to yelp in pain and surprise from the impact. Cradling her bruised hand, Celestia's eyes darted back and forth in a futile attempt to pierce the darkness.
"H-hello?" she said quietly.
Just like before, everything remained as quiet as death. Her racing, Celestia slowly backed away in a random direction that she hoped was the right one, wanting to be gone as soon possible. Stalwart's proposal of an alternate route suddenly seemed far more appealing to her, and she would be more than glad to follow his suggestion if she ever found her way out of this hell.
As she did this however, her feet suddenly found themselves tangled in something that felt like a length of string. Unable to cope, she lost her balance and fell down onto her back. Groaning slightly from the impact, Celestia felt with her hands to determine what had caused her fall, finding that it was indeed some sort of twin, although the material it was made from was odd, feeling more like plastic than actual string.
She could not dwell on the matter for long however, as she suddenly became aware of the sound of footsteps coming toward her very rapidly. Before she could do so much as turn around, Celestia felt something hit her hard on the top of her head, sending her crown flying off into the darkness, and her vision faded into complete blackness.