Philomena
From The Depths
Preread, Edited, and Reviewed By
Illustrious Q, Batty Gloom, El Oso, Alexstrazsa, JustAnotherTimeLord, amacita, Hidden Brony
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Chapter 4
Philomena
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“Squad three reporting in. Still nothing. Continuing to next area.”
“Squad four, west guest chambers are clear. No sign of anypony.”
Shining Armor stood on the bandstand of the ballroom, orchestrating the command center that had been slapped together admist the party decorations. Messenger spells zipped in and out of the room, heading off to the search teams canvassing the castle. Before him, some of the unicorns in the guard were acting as dispatchers.
Others used their magic to manifest a three-dimensional illusion of the castle, allowing them to track the positions of all the search and rescue teams. Through the windows, the pegasi patrolling the perimeter could be seen flying by in regular intervals. The whole castle was on lockdown, and it would stay that way until they found somepony or some clue as to what had happened.
And for the moment, the guards were looking once more to Shining Armor for leadership. His replacement as captain of the Guard had gone missing as well.
Shining had tossed his cowboy costume aside, leaving it as a heap on the floor beside him. Most of the guards had done the same, though some still had lingering bits of their costume. There was no time to wash off makeup or to remove difficult costumes; the search had to come first. The search for the party guests, for their princesses, for Shining’s sister, and for his wife.
He was looking over the quick notes from the dispatchers, which were being shuffled to him on blank recipe cards scavenged from the kitchen. So far, no one in the castle had been found. No lingering guards from the previous shift. None of the servants, none of the staff. And worse, they had found no signs of struggle. It was as if they had all just up and vanished.
A frightening possibility that had to be considered in a world of magic and where a creature like Discord existed.
“Prince Armor.”
Looking up from his own stack of notes and messages, Shining watched as a familiar unicorn of the Solar Guard stepped up onto the bandstand. “Path Finder, do you have something?”
“Yes, sir, I double checked the matter you asked me to investigate,” Path Finder said, his tone flat and serious. It was, to a degree, not what Shining Armor had hoped to hear. He had hoped for a perhaps inappropriate but mood lifting joke. But Path Finder offered no such respite, remaining stoic as he came to a stop.
“And?” Shining asked, almost like he was pleading from some good news.
Path Finder sighed, removing his helmet and revealing some of the costume makeup he still had on. He had been dressed as the Hoofenstein monster, with fake surgical scars and a few spare, fake organs as extra decoration. He had been smiling at the party. For Shining it had felt good, like a warm sun breaking through the clouds on a chilly day, to see Path Finder being himself again, smiling again.
There were no smiles anymore, only the biting cold of an uncertain future if they were unable to locate the princesses.
“I’m sorry, sir, but most of the ponies from the top of the order of succession were at this party. There was only one in the first twenty on the list that wasn’t here. He was boycotting the party after getting pranked by Discord back at the start of fall.”
Shining groaned, rubbing his face. “How long do we have until we have to tell Prince Blueblood he’s the ruler of Equestria?”
“Princess Luna had some meetings this evening, but we’ve been able to turn those ponies away at the gate with an excuse that the princess had some emergency Nightmare Night duties to attend to. But once the morning comes, and the castle is due to open for general business, I’m afraid we won’t be able to keep this a secret any longer sir. And—”
“And the ponies of Equestria will need to know someone is leading,” Shining interrupted, his face souring as if the words had left a bad taste in his mouth. “Let’s not think about that right now. Thank you, Path Finder, for looking into that. You can join the dispatchers if you like.”
“Of course, but... sir?” Path Finder hesitated a moment. “Has there been any word about Twin Blades?”
Shining shook his head. “We haven’t found anyone from the previous shift, but don’t worry, Path Finder. We’ll find her. Both you and she got out of those catacombs alive. I’m sure she’s fine.”
“We got out of those catacombs because other ponies gave their lives, not because we knew what we were doing,” Path Finder said solemnly before turning and stepping down from the bandstand. Shining watched as Path Finder joined the dispatchers, easing the workload of organizing the search. Shining lifted a hoof and opened his mouth as if to say something comforting, but his effort was cut off by another shout.
From the entrance of the ballroom, one of the search teams returned. “Prince Armor, we found something.”
Shining stepped down from the bandstand and rushed over to the returning team. The dispatcher ponies also paused from their work, looking over to see and hear what could be good news. “What did you find?”
The squad leader lifted the item from his back, setting it down on the floor in front of Shining Armor. “It’s Philomena’s bird cage, sir. It was overturned in Her Royal Highness’s bedchamber and there were some feathers on the floor around it.”
“But... Princess Celestia never puts Philomena in her cage when she is at the castle.” Shining lifted the cage in his magic, turning it slowly. “I honestly can’t think of a time when the princess actually kept Philomena in her cage. It’s supposed to be for travel, but even then Philomena usually just sits on Princess Celestia’s back.”
“That was something else we thought of after seeing the cage, Prince Shining,” one of the guards said. “When we were heading out to the barracks, we passed by the party. We stopped a moment to look at the decorations, but thinking back, we can’t remember seeing Philomena anywhere.”
“She wasn’t at the party? But Princess Celestia always lets Philomena come to the Nightmare Night party,” Shining said, scratching his chin. “It’s the one big party of the year where the guests don’t usually complain about Philomena’s little tricks and pranks.”
Shining Armor continued to look intently at the cage, turning it around as the gears in his own mind began to spin. Everything seemed in order about the cage. The door was intact, but the lock was open. If Philomena had been inside, then why couldn’t she have opened the door for herself? Shining knew the phoenix was smart enough for that. And why would Princess Celestia put Philomena in the cage in the first place, on Nightmare Night especially?
Leaning the cage forward, Shining tried to get a closer look at the lock itself. Some of the newspapers at the bottom of the cage slid. It was then Shining caught a glimpse of something, the edge of something that had been hidden beneath the newspaper.
In a flash he set the cage down on the table, reaching inside with his magic and pulling away the newspaper in one fell swoop. He then looked to the base of the cage, eyes narrowing at what had been etched in the cage’s metal base.
~~~
The hallway bridging the royal baths was far shorter than it had been before when Twilight stepped out the door, a billow of steam following behind her. The warm air had soothed her after her confrontation with Cadance. Though, once the relief of survival had passed, Twilight had searched the room. She looked in the small towel closet and anywhere else she could think, but she could not find Cadance.
Where had her sister-in-law gone? Was she hurt? Those and so many other questions buzzed in Twilight’s mind as she returned to the dark corridors of the castle. Once more, even though she'd lit candles and lanterns as she gone, the hallway was dark. It was like something followed behind her, as if her tracks needed to be covered for some reason.
The thought of there being a stalker in the dark, staying just out of her sight, brought back the sense of unease Twilight had only just been able to free herself from.
“Just keep going, Twilight,” she reassured herself. “Just find the next light. There’s only two left. Only two left.”
She turned, using her horn to light the candles and lanterns of the hallway as she resumed her search. It was an effort that would prove fruitless later, she knew that, but it was also a distraction for her mind. Something to think about, to distract her from seriousness of all that was going on around her.
It was easily Discord’s darkest game, with a riddle just as unnerving.
Chaotic night, what a fright, soon your fears will come to bite.
Change will come, cannot run, the transformation has begun.
Fear takes hold, bitter cold, your minds to terror will be sold.
Snuff three stars, break the bars, or suffer from the night bizarre.
Even in reading those lines from Luna’s note, she could hear the old Nightmare Night rhyme underneath. Twisted to Discord’s game, the foalish saying, meant to ask just for a sweet bite, spoke of the strange occurrences going on in the castle. Ponies, becoming horrendous things... the things they fear. What else did Cadance fear in the world more than spiders? Twilight couldn’t remember anything herself, though thinking back, she realized something.
The bathroom, when it was still frozen, resembled the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot.
“Can’t think about that right now,” Twilight said, wrangling in her wandering thoughts. “I must do what Luna’s note said. I have to find the lights and snuff them. Discord’s game will be over then. Discord may make the game difficult, but you can always win the game with him. You can always win the game with Discord.”
Reaching the end of the current corridor, Twilight found herself on a side of the castle. The grand, if dirty, windows looked out onto the grounds of the estate. Twilight could see the front courtyard, with the prancing pony statue still holding the battered and broken bat cage. She watched that statue for a time, just to see if it would move again.
It did not, much to Twilight’s relief. But, as her eyes scanned the exterior landscape, she saw something glistening in the distance.
In a dark corner of the estate, she saw the glimmer of a pink light. The next light to snuff, she could only guess, and it was hidden deep within the dead, dry corridors of a long untended hedge maze.
“Always with the mazes.”
~~~
Twilight raised the lantern she had brought from the castle, using its light to extend the reach of her own illuminating spell. The hedge maze was dead, that was the only word that came to Twilight’s mind to describe what she was seeing. The hedges, which should have been green and leafy, were nothing but dry, bare, thorny branches. Yet, the branches were still so thick and clustered, there was no way to see through. Utterly dead, yet seemed as impregnable as they had been in life.
The dry leaves on the ground crinkled as Twilight stepped forward, crossing the threshold into the maze. It smelled of autumn in the worst way. The rot of dead leaves hung like smoke. The chill in the air, which should have been heralding a happy winter, felt only like a grip of death on the lungs.
Twilight had been tempted to just fly over the maze to reach the light in the center, but something... felt dangerous about doing that. Even now, as she stepped further and began to navigate the twists and turns, her wings remained clutched tightly against her sides.
It was as if extending her wings was an invitation to have them cut off.
On hoof she continued deeper, mentally mapping the maze even though she knew Discord could easily be changing the corridors. But there were landmarks. She had seen them from an overlooking hill. There were statues placed through the labyrinth. Each one marked a four way intersection and, for Twilight, would be a means of marking her progress through the maze.
She had even found the first one.
A few turns into the branching paths, Twilight stepped into the intersection. The walls fell away, forming a circular bulge in the maze where the four paths crossed. At the center, standing on a short, square pedestal, was a statue of a sneering beast. It was a creature Twilight did not recognize. It seemed similar to a griffin, with a head, forelegs, chest, and wings that were similar in nature to an eagle. But the back half was equine in nature, not feline, and it stood taller than most griffins she had seen.
The creature’s mystery, however, lasted only until Twilight approached its pedestal. The letters were carved into a smooth part of the stone, almost like the letters on a grave.
“Hippogryph,” Twilight read aloud, her eyes wandering across the letters again before looking at the statue. Was this a long forgotten race of creature? Was it sentient, like ponies and griffins, or was it a creature of the forest like a manticore?
And... did the statue just move?
Twilight took an anxious step back, memories of the prancing pony surging forward. She watched the statue, straining her eyes and trying to resist any urge to blink. Had it moved? She had seen something, but as she watched, all she could see was a few shadows. Shadows that could be explained. Some were caused by the lantern, swinging from its handle. Others by the movement of her own horn.
Seconds stretched into minutes, and still the statue remained still as stone. Twilight’s panic began to subside, but her anxiousness remained. She didn’t turn her back on the statue, choosing instead to walk sideways and backward to one of the other paths of the intersection. Her view had changed. Now, she wished that the maze had no landmarks. That she could just wander about the dark, branching, winding paths.
Even that seemed preferable to dealing with the statues and the possible threat they posed.
Twilight contemplated ways to change the maze as she worked deeper. She thought of throwing the statues from the maze with her magic. She contemplated smashing them or, at the very least, pushing them off their pedestals. But each thought felt like it would be a transgression, like it would only be inviting the maze or something else to retaliate. She had freed the bat, and that made the prancing pony statue start to move.
Perhaps the safest thing to do was just to leave the statues alone.
Twilight came across the other statues as she delved deeper into the maze, getting closer and closer to its end and the light she sought. One was of a chimera, roaring with its lion and goat head on the front while its serpentine tail had been carved into a dreadful hiss. The sight of the hooded cobra sprouting from the back of the statue’s lion body sent shivers down Twilight’s spine. It looked ready to spit its deadly venom and to sink its fangs deep.
Twilight could almost feel the poison from the serpent's bite in her veins, as if the statute had already leapt down from its pedestal and attacked. A crawling sensation on her skin, as if it was about to melt off. An itch in her horn like it was turning to dust. Her imagination was coming up with a thousand ways the poison could affect her in Discord’s twisted game. The thoughts alone were like a venom, turning her stomach sour and legs weak. She turned and fled from the statue, needing to get away before her own imagination got the better of her.
The next statue, after passing some similar to those she had seen in Canterlot’s garden, was one of a dragon, but not a dragon of Equestria. No, this was a creature she had studied, her interest for dragons piqued when she had been told Spike was going to be her assistant and friend. Coiled, bearing claw and fang, with antlers and long whiskers, was a dragon of the eastern nations, from across the ocean. A dragon who used its serpentine body to delve to the jewel rich sands at the bottom of the ocean.
Twilight circled the eastern dragon a few times, taking in the details and grandeur of a beast she had never seen. Yet, as she came back to the front, her skin crawled. The statue’s eyes. When she first entered the intersection, the statue had been looking straight forward. Now, it felt like it was looking at her, perhaps even staring through her. The eyes were still forward, but it was looking at her. She knew it was. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew.
She did not linger to wait and see if the feeling would fade. She left, working further into the maze, now with the added goal of getting away from the dragon statue.
~~~
One more corner and Twilight saw a flicker of light shine through the dark, dry hedges of the maze. She had reached the far end of the maze, the part buried deep in the shadow of the surrounding forest. The pink light, which she had seen as nothing but a glimmer from the castle windows, now lay before her. A single candle, with a gentle pink flame, sat protected from wind and rain in the embrace of a glass and metal lantern. The lantern itself hung from a hook that extended from the back wall of the maze, supported by a post hidden amongst the dead hedges.
Twilight stepped cautiously into the last opening of the maze, looking all around for something. Cadance, twisted by magic and fear, had been guarding the light in the royal bath chamber. Surely there was another guard, something standing watch. Maybe it watched from the shadows or from the hedges. Maybe it was perched on the branches of the forest trees that formed a canopy above the maze’s end.
She stopped dead in her track several times, freezing and listening at the slightest sound that had reached her ears. There had to be something yet nothing appeared. No spiders in the trees, no eyes in the hedges, no hiss, growl, or sound on the wind. It was quiet as death, as cold as death.
It reminded Twilight too much of the tomb she had been sealed in.
Several minutes passed as Twilight inched her way across the space, drawing within foreleg’s reach of the lantern. She could see the dancing of the flame with fine detail, see it twist and dance. It seemed almost too easy. All she had to do was open the lantern’s door and blow out light, and it would be done.
She set down her own lantern in the dirt, letting her light spell fade as she focused on using her magic to open the door. Yet, her spell slipped off the latch. Like slick ice, her magic could not get a grip. After the third failed attempt, she let the energy from her horn fade and lifted a foreleg. She was able to get a hold of the latch with her hoof, but it was then she noticed something.
Her hoof was stained black.
Quickly checking her other legs, Twilight found each of her hooves was caked with black dust, the same black dust she now noticed covered the ground around her. She turned quickly, and that’s when she smelt it. She caught a whiff of the cloud of dust she had just kicked up. It was sharp, pungent, and in a stronger dose would have likely made her eyes water.
It was the smell of ash.
A single, weak cough reached Twilight’s ears. She reignited her light spell and turned it on the ground behind her. From the thick layer of ash, something began to well up. It coughed once more, sending a small cloud of the ash into the air. It took shape slowly, a shape Twilight had only seen once before. It had been in Fluttershy’s cabin, on a day that, looking back, was far less serious than she believed.
“Philomena, is that you?”
The small figure of ash coughed once more. Then, from within, a red light began to glow. The ash shifted beneath Twilight's hooves. It was circling and gathering, growing into a massive cloud. It was like an angry thunder storm, rumbles and thunder and flashes of red emanating from within. Then, the mass shifted, extending great wings and revealing a pair of fiery eyes. Twilight’s stumbled back, coughing through the ash in the air as her eyes burned. The tears blurred her vision, but she never took her eyes off what was taking shape before her.
The ash formed a featherless skin, cracked like the bottom of a dry river bed. Through the cracks the light of the phoenix's last embers of life glowed, like enraged lava. The eyes burned like searing coals and the talons were cruel, curved razors that glowed red with heat.
It was a creature of vengeful rage she had only read about. A creature born when someone interfered with a phoenix’s reincarnation by desecrating its ashes, ending the nearly eternal cycle of rebirth. It was the final life of a phoenix, the last step before the mythical bird passed from the world. It was perhaps the only kind of death a creature like Philomena could endure.
Philomena was an ash phoenix.
“Oh no,” was all Twilight could say before Philomena took to her wings, leaving a choking trail of smoke behind her. Twilight lost sight of the pink light in the cloud and struggled to breath. She could taste the sulfur in her mouth, and she coughed to clear it from her lungs. She began to gallop, not knowing or caring which way she was going.
She cleared the smoke, finding herself back in the maze. For a brief moment she looked back, knowing the pink light was her true goal. Still, the snuffing of the light became the least of Twilight’s concerns when an ear-splitting screech cut the air above her.
Looking up, Twilight saw Philomena. She was flying, her body and trail blocking the stars like a spool of black fabric being drawn across the sky. She was on the hunt, her vengeance for some reason focused solely on Twilight. Each flap of her ashen wings sent more soot into the air, and then Philomena dove. Wings tucked, she plummeted towards the earth, like a wrathful lightning bolt from a storm cloud.
Twilight dove to the ground, flattening herself as much as she could. She felt the rush of wind on neck, heard the snapping of twigs as Philomena skimmed the tops of the hedges. Then came the cloud of smoke, a thick, choking shroud of ash. The burning in Twilight’s eyes refreshed. She coughed violently as she pulled herself off the ground.
There was heat and red glow to the cloud. The dry hedges of the maze had been set ablaze by Philomena’s talons. The maze was becoming a deathtrap. Tears poured from Twilight’s eyes, some from fear but most from the soot burning her eyes. She stumbled ahead, coughing and hacking. The cloud Philomena had left behind was dispersing, but not fast enough for Twilight just to wait it out.
Finally, she reached the edge, stepping out into fresher air. She rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear her blurry vision. There was something large and gray in front of her, but it was only when she was close enough to put her hoof on it that she realize what it was. It was a stone pedestal, belonging to one of the statues she had passed on her way in.
Twilight coughed and hacked, spitting up the ash darkened mucus from her mouth. The stone was cool, a welcome relief after being surrounded by the heat of the fires. She rested her cheek against it, her breathing finally start to calm. She just needed a few moments to recover.
It was a few moments, however, she would not receive.
A sound reached Twilight’s ears, one that set the hairs on the back of her neck on edge. It was not the screech of the predator in the sky but the growl of something else nearby. The source was the cloud she had just escaped, which was dissipating as the soot settled to the ground.
As more and more of the cloud faded away, Twilight began to see the true source of the growl. A thing of stone stood before her, marked with fractures where its joints had come to life. It had burning red eyes, similar to Philomena’s. The creature blocked the way back to the light as it growled with murderous intent.
It was the eastern dragon, and it was rearing back as fire licked at its lips.
Twilight had to dive away from the pedestal to avoid being scorched. Fire-breathing statues? Didn’t she have enough fire to deal with?! However, she couldn’t argue the fairness of the game to Philomena or the statues. No, she had to run. More and more of the maze was catching fire, the blaze feeding greedily on the dry hedges.
The maze began to come alive with the fire, like it was a whicker dragon that had been roused from its slumber. The night’s chill fled from the heat of the flames, and darkness fell back as the light of the blaze grew in strength. Shadows flickered and danced, as if celebrating the rise of a fiery master. Even Twilight’s shadow seemed to betray her, joining in the dance as she ran, fighting through the burning sensation of the ash in her lungs. The eastern dragon was joined by the chimera, which breathed fire from all of its heads, as well as the hippogryph, which joined Philomena as another aerial threat. The maze had become a blazing death trap.
What’s worse, Twilight could sense what was going on as she continued to flee for her life. Each time she tried to turn back, to maybe loop back around to try and snuff the light, her path was cut off, either by fire, by Philomena, or by a living statue. She could only ever move away from the light. She was being herded, and she didn’t want to think of what would happen if she was chased all the way back to the maze’s entrance.
For all Twilight knew, she’d be plucked off the ground by Philomena as soon as she left cover.
She needed to get back get back to the light. That would make this all stop, would make it all go away just like it did with Cadance. But she couldn’t get back on hoof, and teleportation... no, she didn’t remember what the end of the maze looked like well enough. That was the nuance to her teleportation magic: she had to know where she was going. Misjudge it and she could slam herself into the ground or even bury herself alive.
That meant her options were limited. She could try to blast her way back, use magic to blow away the fire and the dry hedges, but the fire might cook her alive before she could reach the end of the maze if she did something like that. There was another option, one that would involve putting herself where Philomena and the hippogryph statue could attack. It also, technically, would be breaking the rules of the maze.
But when her life was already in mortal danger, Twilight feared the repercussions of breaking the rules far less than she had before.
Twilight kept running, waiting until Philomena dove her again. She hit the dirt one final time, flattening herself out and waiting until Philomena had swooped by. She drew in a deep breath and shut her eyes before Philomena’s trail of ash hit her. Then, she waited, counting out the seconds and preparing herself like a runner at the starting line.
3... 2... 1... Go!
Like she had heard the tweet of a starting whistle, Twilight leapt to her hooves, spread her wings, and flew out of the cloud. Her wings caught the warm air currents from the fire, carrying her upward quickly. She kept her eyes shut and kept flying until she felt cool night air again. That meant she was, likely, clear of the smoke, and Twilight sucked in a deep breath of clean, fresh air and opened her eyes.
For a brief moment, she celebrated that feeling. The night air on her face and in her lungs, it was such a welcome relief after being trapped in the smoky inferno the maze had become. A screech from Philomena, however, brought Twilight back to her horrible reality.
The race wasn’t over yet.
Flapping her wings, Twilight flew forward, looking back only briefly to see Philomena swooping in behind her. Like a tiny bird fleeing an eagle, Twilight zigged and zagged through the air, avoiding Philomena’s beak and talons. The ash phoenix seemed even more monstrous accented by the light of the maze, which filled the area with its harsh red light.
Spouts of flame erupted from the maze as the eastern dragon and chimera statues tried to shoot Twilight down. The hippogryph statue aided in the aerial pursuit, diving and harassing Twilight so that Philomena might finally be able to end the game of cat and mouse.
But Twilight stayed ahead by luck and, at times, her own inexperience in flying. And that was all she needed to do for a few minutes, was just to stay ahead. She was just waiting for one thing, and she kept a constant eye on the back of the maze. Finally, she saw what she wanted to see. The hedges at the back of the maze were burning out. The smoke was starting to lessen.
She could see the flicker of the pink light.
Taking a few deep breaths to ready herself, Twilight banked hard and dove. She squinted her eyes against the smoke, silently praying that her vision would stay clear long enough for her gambit to work. So far, it was. Philomena followed Twilight, diving right behind the young princess.
When she was a few feet above the maze Twilight spread her wings, ending her dive and shooting forward towards the pink light. Philomena did the same, her superior flying skills allowing her to close the gap. Twilight could feel the heat on her belly and neck, the heat from the fires and Philomena’s claws respectively. Even the wing beats of the ash phoenix were ominous, like the rumblings of a volcano about to erupt.
Every instinct was telling Twilight to back away, to zip in another direction, but she stayed her course. She flew beneath the canopy of trees that shielded the back of the maze. Twilight had a small hope Philomena would not follow her below the treeline, but the phoenix would not be deterred. Philomena barreled through the branches of the trees, cutting a swath with her wings as her claws drew closer to catching Twilight.
The pink was but a few feet away. It was so close, Twilight could even make out the lantern and the little pink flame. Philomena, however, was even closer. A few inches was all that spared Twilight from being grasped by those talons, from being burned by their searing heat. It was a race, and Twilight looked to be moments from losing.
It was then Twilight turned.
Putting all her weight into a single turn, Twilight banked away at the last second. She then put her hooves down, landing and skidding to a stop as she folded her wings. Philomena screeched, not in rage but in panic, and soon after Twilight heard the sound of snapping branches and felt the impact in the earth.
Looking back, Twilight saw the results of her gambit. Philomena had crashed into the end of the maze, ash body slumped against the trees that stood on the far side of where the maze’s back hedge wall had been. Twilight also saw the lantern. It and its post had been sliced in half by Philomena’s searing claws. The shattered remnants laid scattered on the ground, and amongst them was the candle that had burnt with the small pink flame.
It had landed top down, its wick buried in the cold ground.
The pink light had been snuffed.
Twilight smiled, daring to take few steps closer to Philomena. It was done. Surely the maze would return to normal, as the bath chamber did. Green, leafy hedges and happy statues that depicted dancing ponies and not dangerous creatures.
Yet, unlike the bath chamber, things did not change. The hedges remained dead. No new life was breathed into the maze, and the fires in the distance still raged. Instead, the glowing red lines in Philomena’s ashen skin began to glow brighter, as if a fire within was growing stronger. Twilight’s mind tripped back, remembering the lore she had read about ash phoenixes. The last life stage, vengeful spirit, created by desecrating ashes, explodes when it dies.
Twilight’s eyes widened.
In a panic she spread her wings, flying back into the skies. She flapped her wings with all her strength, trying to put as much distance between her and Philomena as possible. It was, however, too little too late. The fire that had been Philomena’s life, blood, and existence came bursting forth from her body.
The force of the explosion hit Twilight, kicking her in the back like a whole army of bucking broncos. She tumbled, falling head over heels as she arced through the air, her singed tail leaving a smoke trail behind her. She tried to right herself, tried to remember what Rainbow Dash had told her to do when she was out of control, but it was simply too much.
She hit a window of the castle, breaking through the glass and crashing to the floor inside. Her head hit hard. Her vision swam, her body ached. She struggled to keep herself conscious, but the darkness soon overtook her. She passed out, there on the floor, in the pile of shattered glass as the small cuts on her body began to weep blood.
~~~
Outside the castle, the last embers of fire glistened like stars in the night. Philomena’s explosion had destroyed yet, at the same time, saved parts of the maze. The back end of the maze, and the forest that neighbored it, were nothing but a crater. But the force of the explosion had blown out the other fires around the maze, stopping the blaze from turning into a wildfire that could consume the castle and surrounding forest.
Amidst the ash and burnt branches, the shattered remains of the statues lay across the ground. The life was gone from them, their parts strewn about. The chimera’s heads were separated from their body and serpentine tail. The hippogryph, which had fallen from the air, was nothing but crumbled dust except for a couple lucky limbs. The eastern dragon had, by chance, fared the best of all them. While its head had turned to rubble, much of it’s body and its antlers were intact.
There was only one flutter of life nearby, one thing that had come to the maze after the explosion should have scared away any and all things from the area. It watched from the branch of a tree that had been spared from the fires and explosions, hanging upside down. Its leathery wings were wrapped tightly around its small frame, and its large ears stood erect, twitching and listening to the area.
The bat surveyed the scene for several minutes, ensuring the maze’s guardian, Philomena, wouldn’t find some way to rise from her ashes again. Only then, when all seemed safe and the last of the linger fires were shrinking away, did the bat spread its wings. It fell from its branch and flew into the maze, eventually landing on top of a piece of broken statue before sniffing at it intently.
It was the eagle claw from the hippogryph statue.
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an eagle claw?...... discord! a bat and an eagle claw. a bat like wing and a talon are parts of his body............. was discord seperated into pieces?
also, i hope tiwlight is not accidentally killing them. that would be tragic. and i liked how your previous story managed to be frightening yet sitll had a, more or less, good ending. none need be lost forever, but scars existed, celestia marked.
Whoa, Nice chapter
This was a great chapter. It made me start thinking about the riddle more, and I wonder if my thoughts on it will be right.
3737978
Right now.
Ooooo, a couple veterans of the previous story. That could be bad, sometimes that just means you are a redshirt that happened to get lucky.
Hmn, an ash phoenix, that definitely sounds like a candidate for Philomena's greatest fear. Here's hoping whatever is happening isn't permanently killing characters off when they get taken out in their altered state.
An eagle claw, an antler, and a bat...... Discord...
3798781
I don't know. Based on the fact that the unfortunate guards that died/ended their lives in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters had names I'd say that anyone who dies is dead for good. I find Celestia's behavior strange though. I would have expected her to be more concerned. I hope Celestia's not turning into a second Tirek. Assuming that Philomena is no more, I'm guessing it's Celestia's fault or at least a result of what happened to Celestia.
I think game is a misleading term. I can't decide if Discord decided to screw them all, Discord isn't behind this, or Discord being the embodiment of chaos did something to either set things right or at least balance the world somehow. Snuffing out lights seems like the last thing anyone should be doing, but then perhaps it's an inversion of making light?
Masterful work of doom and gloom, though.
I don't think Discord's behind this. He seemed to realize that something was up with that gift in the beginning. This was incredibly suspenseful, and maybe this is bad of me but I hope the characters that are taken out in their false forms are gone for good, otherwise what's the point of naming them just to bring them back at the end when you could achieve the same drama (if not to the same extent) with unnamed or original characters?
Idk. Great chapter, anyway. I love a good scary story.
The ash phoenix was genius. What would an immortal bird fear but a horrifying death? Looking over the riddle, the line "break the bars" makes me pause. Obviously this could mean the bars of a cage, but riddles are never that simple. I'm just wondering what cage it may be referring to...
Small mistake here. Remove the second "s".
Wait a second.
The riddle said that you have to snuff the lights to prevent the transformation.
Doesn't that mean that Cadance, Philomena, and Celestia have already failed?
...doesn't that also mean that Twilight better wake up quick?
damn good so far........... please let they not be killed permenantly or something.
perhpas that is your intent, but killiing a character off is too obvious and easy. setting it up that a character lives on scarred is much more intriguing. not to mention that is why i liked your last story, into the depths, so much.
Could this be something like what happened in Season 4?
This strange ring on Celestia's horn was something of Discord's creation, before his reform, that somehow made its way to her without his knowledge? That would explain why he panicked when he saw it, and the eagle claw. Perhaps he designed this...but wasn't the one who set it loose.
Who did then?
>Tyler799
omg i never thought of that. it did seem weird when discord yelled.
When chapter 5 ?
And with this line, the story truly moves into the "horror" genre.
Based on his earlier reaction, I don't think Discord is behind this. If anything, I think the bat is Discord, and he is somehow watching Twi's actions.
Either way, this is insanely good writing! Can't wait for more!
good series so far. The story is well done in the right way for me to wish I had a real power hammer from W40k.
edit: Oh God, this popped into my head during work and I hope that the candles do not represent the life force of of the princesses.
DO NOT EXTINGUISH THE LAST CANDLE TWI.
3859106 I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or change my trousers
Wow, this is getting serious . . . maybe even more serious than the last book. I mean is this really Discord's doing? And who was this "he" Celestia was talking about in chapter 1? I can I get a Tirek up in here!
3859106
Fuck that! Put Spike in charge.
Hmmm, so if you take some of the peices of the statues that just got blown up, something tells me you get a statue of Discord.
Now I have the image of one of the royal guard wearing clown makeup.
Edit;
Lol. Blueblood would be TERRIBLE at ruling Equestria.
...
I love this book.
...
...
It's all coming together now... Twilight, it's taking all of my Fourth Wall powers to say this... Do NOT snuff the last light.
6590794 Ugh did you have to mention clowns? Was Nyx at the party, I'd guess she would have been still collecting candy instead of attending the fancy party. If she wasn't shouldn't she as granddaughter (sort of) of the princesses (as well as being a manifestation of Luna's Nightmare moon persona) and immortal Alicorn in her own right be next in line to the throne?
Everything in me is screaming that Luna was wrong, if she even was Luna, and the colors of the lights are giving me ideas, but there'd have been five of them if what popped into my head made sense, and it doesn't anyway...
So the real twist would be if Luna were RIGHT. Not about Discord, but at least the lights and the mirrors. Writing on mirrors is creepy, so I don't know if I'd do anything they said over what Luna said if I were Twilight, and "Luna" "saved" Twilight from Posestia (yes, I'm going to be a geek and call possessed Celestia that forever now), but none of that makes sense. It's more than hinted at that Twilight chose the wrong door, but with Posestia seemingly not understanding anything above the level of a predatory animal, she can't actually be possessed in a real sense by Tirek. Something evil is clearly afoot, they're missing from the real Canterlot, but it's obviously not Discord - he was the only one who made any move to keep Celestia from doing the thing that caused all the screaming and the massive blackout.
I would still probably do what Twilight is doing if I were in her place, though, given the evidence (what little there is to put together at all): every pony or creature Twilight encountered so far is either a zombie or actively trying to kill her, except Luna, and Luna's magic did keep them safe... but everything after that is ...'wrong'. There's no explanation for blaming Discord other than a rhyme that happens to have the word Chaos in it. This game seems a touch beyond his level of sadism (at least from what we know about him from the show, and since this is pre-season 4, we can't assume he betrays them, albeit due to naïvety, in this universe), and it seems like he's too easy of a scapegoat. Getting her to snuff out the lights by saying it would be a salvation is a fairly demony thing to do, if for some reason they can't to it themselves (if evil is controlling this world Twilight's in, they could have made spider-Cadance snuff a light, etc.). I haven't caught onto all the symbolism yet.
Sudden random onset of vagueness and hypersomnia makes 'Luna' a totally unreliable source, but she's the only source Twilight has. And isn't it just too perfect that she gives Twilight -rules- to follow to perform a task, which is basically what Twilight needs to function. She has to keep her mind on a task. And Luna can't be asked for details, because... Um, narcolepsy. Or whatever. Evil, magic narcolepsy.
Then again, I can't understand why this version of Tirek-as-basically-the-devil-instead-of-an-inmate would bother with this whole charade, either. It seems like he has a fairly firm hold on Celestia if she's been ordering complicated jewelry -to cover her horn- unconsciously, and following through with the compulsion to put it on because "he wanted this". So, I guess she's hypnotized, but not Tirek's vessel, or the real world outside the castle would already be scorched.
This whole thing could be about manipulating Twilight into helping that happen, which is all I have so far by just trying to use logic. But assuming the wrong door was the wrong door and Luna was wrong or lying or not Luna or Luna but demon influenced from her Nightmare Moon days when writing the notes about the lights, mirrors, and Discord, who was trying to help Twilight when they opened the door? Hinges don't generally meekly say a person's name when that person can't hear them - it was an intrusion on this reality, like the mirror writing. By someone. Currently my postulate is that this is ALL in Twilight's head, and each missing person from the party may have their own version, or be unconscious if they're not important characters.
The horror elements here are great. I saw comments on the first story about too much being given away by knowing Celestia lives and most guards don't. I only read from the point of them finding Twilight in the coffin, because I was just reading to get background for this fic, but I can see how that would make the suspense weak, just a bit. Having not read those parts, the suspense was great, for me Haha, but I can't judge if the exposition added or took away from the experience of the story at all. We all watch things with foreshadowing and have ideas of how it may play out, but still enjoy them.
Here, I obviously have no idea what's happening, as my rambling, speculative comments prove pretty well.
Maybe I should have waited and finished reading before writing one, sometimes, when a story really gets my gears going trying to figure it out, I just like authors to know 'at this point in the story, this is how I feel and think about it as a reader', before moving on to other chapters. I can say the suspense details are great, the little bits from Twilight's perspective, the not wanting turn around when she knows she has to see... It's all on target.
As one author explained (from the point of view of another fictional horror author in their book, but I thought it was brilliant to use that medium anyway), you wan't the reader to afraid not of what's behind a door, but *of the door itself*. You want the character not just to be afraid of what could happen beyond the door if they opened it, but make the door a symbol of horror with no actual connection to the real danger, especially if the reader can't even be sure there is danger behind the door, by association and our own minds making up scenarios. I thought it was a perfect explanation, and you do that very, very well. I'm even concerned about what the 'right' door WAS, past tense, that Twilight didn't take.
So, kudos on that.
....I guess I'll go answer some of my own questions now! *laugh*
Im piecing together a picture here.
It would seem that everyone is turning into their worst fears, and dangerous ones at that.
Celestia turning into a cruel,remorseless monster to be feared.
Phillamina in her late stage of life, turning into a rage fueled spirit of hateful flames.
And cadence abiding the horrid underground caverns in the form of a crystal spider.
These are all things that each characters fears respectively.
And there is bound to be more to come.
But I also sense that's why Luna is sleeping.
So she doesn't turn on her allies and become...nightmare moon? Maybe?
I Mt know.
Jeez, that sure was a heated fight for survival. Phew.
And Twin Blades...................crap. I hope she makes it out alive.