The Tome of Faust

by DungeonMiner

Chapter 2

Mouse moved through the hundreds of corridors, trying to find his way out. Without his unsuspecting guides to lead him through, the maze hidden in the dungeons was confusing at best, and almost actively attempting to keep him lost at worst.

More than once, he could have sworn that the walls were moving on him.

But, he was armed. The short sword at his side, with its long handle designed to be held in the mouth, was decorated with a crossguard shaped like a horseshoe. Beyond that, Mouse wasn’t sure if it was a decent blade, but it was sharp enough to cut the rats in half.

The longer he spent down here the more rats he found. He had come across trenches and pit filled with them, writhing masses of fur and squeaks that were both fascinating and terrifying. Having grown up in the cells here in the dungeon, he had seen what a swarm of rats could do when they were hungry enough.

On the other hoof, rats were easy to cook.

Doing his best to avoid the rivers of rats, despite the one he had tied to his belt by the tail, he continued forward, always keeping a respectable distance from the rivers of rodents.

He had dropped his clumsy invisibility spell, but still stuck to the shadows, moving carefully and stealthily through the maze around him. He was fairly certain he wasn’t being followed, but he had a scar from the last time he made a guess like that.

He turned down a corridor, almost as wide as he was, and he immediately pressed himself against one of the walls. He moved slowly, keeping his blade drawn, and breath quiet, moving his hooves carefully against the flagstones to keep his steps silent.

But it seemed the only ones to hear him, were another couple of corpses. Both the purple-clad unicorns lay, bleeding from wounds that the guards had no doubt left. The scene was gruesome, but not horribly so. Mouse had seen worse.

Mouse poked around the bodies, looking for something that he could take. The cloaks were soft, he would admit, soft enough that they would make wonderful blankets and bedrolls, despite the bloodstain along the hem on one. The other, though, was clean, and Mouse gladly took that one as opposed to the other.

They also seemed to be decorated with a strange bit of embroidery. It appeared to be a thin, five-pointed star done in magenta, with the topmost point done in silver, and decorated like a unicorn’s horn.

Odd.

He quickly began to fold the cloak, and let it sit on his back. He certainly didn’t want to wear it, not with the guards looking for unicorns wearing them. Not now at least. Later perhaps.

Thinking back on it, he should have grabbed the robe on the first unicorn the guards killed, That would have made quite the bed. They both had pouches on their belts as well, the first holding a hoof full of gold coins that nearly made Mouse’s jaw drop.

One of these could buy some of the best narcotics in the prison. With just one of these, he could have the fixers bend over backwards for him. He could get Blackglass, Eagle's eye, or even Good Medicine with this. He could eat like a king with all five.

Reverently replacing the coins in the bag, he tied it next to the rat he planned on eating later, before moving to the other. This bag, however, was different, marked with same star and horn. Reaching inside, however, he found that it was deeper than he first thought. It swallowed his whole leg before he realized the bag was magic.

Making sure that he could, in fact, pull his leg back out, he then reached back in, searching for anything he could find. Finally his hoof found something, and he pulled it back to find a red fruit in his hands.

He blinked, before smelling the thing he found.

Was this...an apple?

He had heard of apples, he had hear some of the inmates praise and crave them alike...but…

He bit into it, and its crisp, juicy flesh exploded against his tongue.

It was paradise.

Such flavor, such texture, such sweetness and the juice! This! This was everything he wanted. Forget the sky, apples were everything he ever wanted.

He reached back into the bag, searching for another, and was surprised that it seemed to leap to his hoof. He smiled as he kept eating his apple, letting it’s flavor take him to places he had never been before.

He ate it down to the core, and smacked his lips with joy as he finished the apple. He then took a moment to look over at the second apple he had procured, and was about to bite into it as well before a scream echoed down the hall.

He paused, before replacing his apple, and stuffing the cloak in the bag as well.

And then he saw the faint trail of blood leading off into distance.

Well...it seemed he still had his guides after all.

He turned, getting ready to leave, before he dropped the rat.

He didn’t need them anymore.

He had apples.

The darkness hugged Mouse’s form, and he slithered between the hallways, following the trail of blood.

No new bodies, yet, but the blood kept leading him forward, and so he followed, hoping for the sky that he was searching for.

That and possibly more apples.

His sword was drawn, his bags were tied to his belt, and he was ready for anything by this point.

Ducking under an archway, he found himself in a cistern, and blinked at the sight that met him. Another one of the purple-clad unicorns lay dead at the feet of an equally dead guard. The pegasus’ spear was braced against the ground, held upright by the dead body of the guard. The unicorn, meanwhile, was stuck on the spear head, held aloft in the air.

It was...well, it was almost impressive. Mouse didn’t know bodies could freeze up that way.

He looked down at guard, and then the purple unicorn that was pinned in the air, before a swift kick knocked the spear off balance, and they both came crashing to the ground. He searched the body, but found nothing but another cloak. He did take a look at the spear, however, with its wing-shaped head, before he decided to leave it be.

He wasn’t sure he could get it to fit in his bag anyway.

Another scream from further down the way, and Mouse began to move again. With luck, he was almost out, and he wouldn’t need these ponies for much longer. He moved again, keeping to the walls and sticking to the shadows as he always had.

He snuck down into another small corridor, and paused as he saw light leaking from the room ahead of him.

“Halden watch over their poor souls,” the silken voice of the princess muttered, echoing off the walls. “Oh...Captain Emerald, we fear that we will not make it,”

“Don’t...worry,...Princess,” a voice said, with gasps breaking his words. “I’m not going to leave you alone.”

“We know you would not falter,” the Princess continued. “We simply hope that the others will forgive the loss of their best stallions.”

“It’s all...alright...my Lady. We knew...of the risks.”

Moving slower, quieter, and hoping the shadows would cling to him. He snuck closer, staring into a new room, much smaller than the cistern he was in not moments ago.

“If he were here, we would be doing better,” Clover moaned, staring at her hooves.

The guard grunted, still holding the torch. “I’m having a hard time believing that a criminal with no training could help us, Lady Clover.”

“Leave her be, Captain,” the Princess ordered. “Let’s...let’s just keep moving forward.”

The Captain nodded, and began leading the mares away.

“He would be leading us through the darkness,” Clover muttered. “We would be hidden, all the way until the end.”

Mouse watched, almost confused as he heard the green mare mutter. It wasn’t...that easy to guess he was the kind to avoid conflict, was it?

A thunderbolt interrupted his thoughts, and the guard went down screaming.

“Not so fast, either of you!” a unicorn yelled, followed by another. Both unicorns quickly flanked the mares, and they quickly found themselves with their backs to the wall.

Mouse had a perfect line of sight on them.

The one closest to him had a spell ready, a ball of flame just waiting to be unleashed.

The far one, drew a knife. A purple blade that he swore he could see through caught the torch light, even as it lay on the floor. “You two aren’t going anywhere.”

Mouse stared on, blinking wildly as he watched the scene unfold before him. The robed ponies stood, spell and weapon ready, and advanced on the mares, and yet, even as Clover and the Princess backed up, they seemed to harden, eyes becoming fiercer with every step backward.

Mouse blinked at the sight of the princess and her aide. They stood proud and still no boasting, no fighting. They merely glared, as though their gaze were a weapon unto itself. Mouse had never seen someone face death like that before.

“Stay out of the way, Miss Clover,” the knife wielding pony said. “We only want the Princess.”

“You’ll take her over my dead body,” she growled in answer. “I knew I would lose my life today, I will lose nothing.”

Mouse kept watching.

And slowly, he came to an awful, terrible conclusion.

He had to do something.

He had to save the Princess, and he didn’t know why. The air about her screamed of her importance and...and well…

She hadn’t done anything.

She didn’t deserve this.

If she had taken food, or called someone names, or anything, then he would understand, but she had done nothing.

The knife-wielding pony moved closer.

Clover tensed.

And the Princess merely glared.

If Mouse moved, he was a dead pony. He knew it.

He wouldn’t be able to take them both. One maybe, and only if he were to strike from the shadows, but both of them?

And before he knew it, he was moving.

His short sword came up, and he charged, slamming into the unicorn with a speed that frightened those who saw it. The blade flew through the unicorn’s head, smashing bone and biting into flesh as the spell fizzled and died.

The remaining unicorn cursed, turning as Mouse leapt over the dropping body of the spell wielding unicorn.

Steel bit into the strange glass of the unicorn’s knife, and the fight began in earnest. The robed one began to fire spells, fire, lightning and frost firing towards Mouse.

The bright bolts of magical electricity burned in a way Mouse did not understand. The frost was colder than the coldest nights alone in the prison, and it was only through luck that he managed to avoid the flames.

Mouse screamed, falling backwards as magic ravished him, and the robed unicorn cursed. “Halden take you, filthy beast!” he growled, before he prepared another spell, only for a blast of green energy to slam into his side.

“Mouse!” Clover yelled, rushing to his side. “Up! I will keep you hale!” she yelled, before a warm light began to surround the dark grey unicorn.

The robe unicorn cursed as he brought a hoof to his head. “You will die for that.”

“Unlikely,” the princess told him before a flash of light filled the room.

Mouse went blind from the light, but felt the pain wash away before a pair of hooves picked him up. “Get up! Up! This is your chance!”

With the short sword still in his grip, Mouse got to his hooves, even as the world spun, white and bright.

He heard the ring of a horn, the sound of magic, and as if flipping a switch, the world snapped into focus.

The robed unicorn had no such help.

Mouse ran up, closing the distance between them, and realized only a moment too late that his sword would not be ready. Their bodies slammed together, and they rolled against the flagstones.

And the robed unicorn was stronger than him. Mouse felt it the moment they began to wrestle, and punches began to fly. Mouse attacked with all his might, throwing his hooves into the would-be-assassin’s face.

And he was answered with a blow that made his ears ring.

He lost all sense of direction. Almost lost his sight. There was only the push of the other unicorn’s body, and the pounding of his opponent’s hooves into his skull.

He tasted blood in his mouth, and he knew he lost a tooth.

And he truly began to regret running into this fight.

He should have let the Princess die.

Then, at least, he would be alive, and perhaps, even free.

Mouse was slammed backwards, and the world re-focused.

The robed unicorn had him by the throat, and his knife was gripped in the golden glow of the robed one’s magic.

“You have annoyed me,” he growled as Mouse struggled to breath. “If you had stayed out of it, we would have let you be, but now I will sacrifice you to our cause.”

Mouse was faintly aware that his short sword was still in his own grip, hovering halfway across the room where he had left it.

It was too far.

“For the Mystic Order!” came the cry, and Mouse prepared himself for the bit of the strange knife.

It cut through fur, bit through flesh, and blood began to flow.

But Mouse felt nothing.

Trying not to lose consciousness, he opened his eye again, and saw the green mare between them.

“Clover!” the Princess cried.

A gurgle escaped her lips.

She...she took the knife for him.

She gave him time.

Using the last of his strength, Mouse pulled the blade toward him, and it obeyed, slicing through the air, and piercing the robed pony’s back.

And all three of them fell to the ground.

Mouse gasped for air, trying to stop his head from swimming, when he saw the figure of Clover moving toward him.

“I’m not...I won’t make it beyond the sewers,” she told him. “Take...take what I have left.”

“Clover!” the Princess yelled again, running towards her.

Already the green mare was casting a new spell, and Mouse could feel his strength returning, and his pain fading.

“Clover! Clover, stop!” the Princess yelled, “we can get help!”

“No, Princess,” Clover replied, her voice weak and fading. “There’s no help for me. I have seen it.”

“You don’t know that!” The Princess said again, her voice, which had been so strong and so steady all throughout the attempt on her life, began to crack. “You will live, so help me!”

“It is written,” Clover answered. “What is written cannot be unwritten, but there is hope.”

“Don’t say that!” she whimpered. “You will live! You have to!”

“Look to Mouse,” Clover replied, her voice barely a whisper. “He will save us all.”

Mouse stood.

The Princess risked one look up. A glance at the one that was to be her savior. This scruffy, emaciated, scared pony who had to be a petty thief at best or a murderer at worst. This pony that her friend had sacrificed everything for.

And Clover the Clever breathed her last.

The Princess shook her head, tears falling from her face. “Halden take you to paradise, my dearest friend…”

Mouse watched, blinking as a strange sense of sadness fell over him.

He didn’t know this mare. He didn’t even like this mare. She was obviously crazy, thinking that he was some sort of hero.

And yet…

Yet she took the knife made for him.

She...at least she believed he was worth something.

And Princess Platinum wept.

She wept over the loss of Equestria’s founders.

The one who had believed in this dream more than any of them.

She wept over her friend and confidant.

Her first, and best friend.

Mouse did not stay long. He lingered a moment or two until he felt uncomfortable, before the Princess finally told him where to go.

“You killed the last one,” she told him sobbing. “You and Clover saved me both.”

He quickly moved onward, taking the last few turns toward freedom. Even still…

Even still he couldn’t help but pause at the wailing of the Princess, weeping over her lost friend.

Perhaps he should have said something.

But what did he have to say?

He didn't know her. He didn’t understand her obsession with him. He didn’t get her at all.

But she saw something...something valuable. She saw value in him and that was something that no one else had ever done, except for the old man…

And...well, he had at least said some words for the old man when he passed away…

“Well…” he muttered, trying to find the right words for the mare that died for him. “T-thank you, Miss Clover,” he said, hoping that was her name. “I won't forget this.”

The words still felt empty.

But it was all he had, so it was all he offered.

Only silence answered him.

And...well...to be fair, that’s all he ever expected.

He liked silence. It was a good sign in prison. It meant that no one was hurting him. It meant there was peace, no matter how short lived it was.

Yet even that was empty.

He stared into the darkness behind him, with the infrequent drip of water and the Princess’ sobs echoing against the stone walls.

He waited a moment, maybe two, before he finally turned.

And his eye caught the light.

Light.

The same light that had peeked through the window of the little cell. The light of that thing called the sun.

His heart began to pound, and he began to move faster, approaching the light faster and faster with each passing second.

He almost panicked when he found the grate. For a moment he thought perhaps the sewers were trying to keep him trapped, separated from the light he had loved since he was a child. He quickly found the gate in the iron bars, however, undid the latch, and pushed forward, swearing to never let bars separate him and the light again.

His vision was flooded with it, and he blinked wildly as his world transformed into a formless, white field.

He blinked some more, and shadows began to form before his eyes.

And then came color, such colors that he had never seen before. The greens of the hillsides, the blues of water and sky, the white of foaming waterfalls, and the gold of wheat.

He sat there, staring at it, mouth open wide.

And he laughed.

You realize that all your life you have been coasting along as if you were in a dream. Suddenly, facing the trials of the last few days, you have come alive.

Comments

[jakeedge04]

yep elder scrolls much..... with slight differences..

[DungeonMiner]

7962182
Yes, I have drawn inspiration from the elder scrolls. I'm glad you noticed.

[jakeedge04]

still somewhat interesting.... cant wait for the next chapter!