Viral

by AnchorsAway

Chapter 10: The Mare in the Bath

---

Canterlot Castle was quiet, all of her inhabitants asleep, safe in their beds for the passing night.

Save of course for the Night Guard hiding in the shadows.

Such was normal, for while the Day Guard was a show of force - a visible deterrent to any ne'er-do-wells - the Night Guard was a much different affair. They kept to the shadows with their dark armor, waiting out of view. Nothing would disturb the denizens of the castle tonight under their guard.

But while the rest of the castle was asleep, lost in their timeless dreams, two ponies conversed in low voices and whispers in the dim banquet hall, lit only by the glowing and smoldering embers in the fireplace.

“He’s hiding something,” Luna said, leaning over in the chair pulled close to the hearth. “I can see it now.” Her eyes gazed into the hearth, twin orbs that glowed as she stared deeply into the orange coals that crackled and popped.

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Lakeshore added, rubbing his temples. The flight back to Canterlot had passed uneventfully, Romulus quickly excusing himself to his guest chambers in the waning twilight. Their night, however, was just getting started.

“He’s agreed to let you try and recover his memories first thing tomorrow morning. Why would he be trying to hide something?” Lakeshore wondered.

Luna levitated a fire poker, shifting the coals, tiny sparks dancing across the smoldering shards. “I never said he t'was trying to, or that even he was aware of it. The mind is a compelling force, good Professor," she mused. "It can stop even the strongest of wills. That much I can see in him. A fear he is hiding. Strange," she paused, "not like him at all from what I remember.”

“Then what are our options? Because if you have any ideas, I’m eager to hear them.” Lakeshore threw his hooves up. “We’re in your field of expertise here, Princess.”

Luna shook her head, standing up and putting away the fire poker. “The way I doth see it, we have two options on recovering whatever memories Romulus has of the expedition. One, we can try the easy way. Much like a trance, this option. I would be able to retrieve whatever he thinks of through a little suggestion."

"And you think that will work?" If it sounded too easy, it was.

"Not likely," she admitted. "In his current state, I doubt it t'would work. A distressed mind is a fickle creature, Professor. The harder we dig, the more his subconscious shall only block us out.”

Luna sat up and trotted around the table, standing in the frame of the high windows overlooking the mountainside.

A new moon hung in the sky hidden behind a veil of darkness. “No, we need to make a surprise entrance — no chance for him to build his mental fortifications. I remember Romulus well from his time in the Guard. He is not a pony to be caught off guard, even in his dreams.”

She knew Lakeshore could already tell what she was going to do. She wouldn't like it either, but both knew it had to be done.

“Will he remember when he wakes?" Lakeshore asked, gravely. "Can you do it without him noticing? It just feels..." He paused for the right word. "Violating: infiltrating his dreams without his permission."

“He shouldn’t have even the slightest recollection," she humored him, watching her heavenly body crawl across the sky. "I shall be quick, in and out before his subconscious even knows I’m there. I'll find what has him so afraid, what he refuses to remember. ”

---

The Night Guard, watching diligently from the shadows in the guest quarters, stood motionless. They made no sound, did not move; their glowing orange eyes knew of everypony and everything that moved within the castle. There was not a pony or other that could get past them without the Night Watch knowing about it.

Everything was dead silent out of Professor's room, which they knew because he was still awake in the dining hall. And out of the other guest room, one of their own kind resided, the thralls of light snoring filling the rotunda with a melody of soundful sleep.

As the moonlight grew, the guards' minds began to drift unannounced, an unseen force causing all three guards struggling to remain awake. They fought desperately, shaking whatever phantom was dragging them down toward the richly carpeted floor in a deep slumber.

But it was powerful. Soon they were all piled across the rotunda, their more traditional muffled armor making hardly a sound as they fell one by one, each in turn submerged in dreamless, overpowering sleep.

The blue alicorn gingerly stepped over the sleeping guards, treading carefully so as not to knock against their armor. She approached one of the doors of the rotunda, the light from the solitary lantern casting a hazy shadow over the door. Her horn lit with a muted glow, the lock on the door sliding back inside with barely a clack.

Tiptoeing, she silently entered the chamber, her waving hair swirling about her, twinkling as if filled by stars.

Luna stepped inside the bedroom, a figure beneath bedsheets snoring much louder than it seemed to be outside. In such a sense, the bat pony had changed very little from what she remembered in that regard.

Romulus’s head rested lightly on the pillows of the bed, his mouth agape with the occasional fit of snoring. Princess Luna approached his bedside and closed her eyes, focusing her magic within her, willing herself to focus. Silvery tendrils of light sprouted from her horn and snaked down onto the bat pony’s resting head. She had to be quick she reminded herself. In and out before he could awake.

---

Tall stalks of corn, neatly arranged in seemingly never-ending rows, swayed gently to and fro in the light breeze that wisped through the air. Dirt beneath Luna’s hooves smelled of earth and was moist with the rich scent of topsoil. Her delicate yet equally powerful hooves pressed indentions in the ground as she strode through the corn, each step releasing fresh smells of organic decay and fertilizer. On and on the corn stretched, a maze that seemed to grow without end. The stalks shifting in the breeze sang around her, their gentle rustling a whisper that spoke to her in the way all dreams did. Something is here they said.

As if she was being steered toward where she was meant to go, the corn parted ahead, revealing a brightly lit plot of land between gently cresting hills covered in grass that swirled in the breeze. Luna could feel it in her hooves, like small vibrations that traveled up from the ground and danced along her skin. This dream was alive, extending far beyond what she could already see. All she had to do now was track down the source.

A short distance away sat a simple farmhouse, complete with a wooden porch and screen door. It was shaded by the boughs of apple trees planted around the humble homestead, their branches heavy and overburdened with the swollen, red fruit.

The alicorn strolled across the dirt path bisecting the valley. Small puffs of dirt gathered from her steps, mixing with the tepid air that hung over the farmland like a leaden blanket. The front gate opened with a welcoming squeak, beckoning her forward,

She approached the house and trotted onto the porch, the boards beneath creaking ever so slightly as she mounted them. If anypony was home, it wasn't readily apparent. But he couldn't be far, she knew.

Perking her ears, Luna heard something coming from around the corner of the house.

It sounded like someone humming.

Luna hopped off the porch and passed around the corner. Open windows set between weathered red shutters looked over the fields of grass and corn. Curtains of sea-blue inside danced with the wind that filtered through the fragrant fruit trees, carrying their pleasing scent with it.

The humming was coming from one of the windows. A mare from the sound of it: a mare with a voice like honey that hummed ever so softly and sweetly.

Luna couldn't help but stop and listen, transfixed by the heavenly sound that was not word or song, but a simple hum. Water from what must be a bath sloshed inside the farmhouse, the curtains rustling with the wind and bathwater to add to the chorus. Luna could smell perfume like something sweeter than the apple trees blooming all around the farmstead. She would have liked to stay and listen for a moment, enthralled by the melody of the unseen mare, but Luna was on a mission. He had to be close.

Turning the next corner, Luna came unexpectedly upon a figure in kneeling on the ground. A hat with a wide brim of straw was atop the figure’s head, shielding him from the radiating rays overhead.

He was poised over tilled soil, a bed of flowers at attention in the fresh earth. He was humming his own tune as he worked with trowel in hoof, transfering the aromatic blooms with the tender care of a surgon. His melody was different from the mare's, deeper and throatier, but with more vigor.

She approached the bat pony and sat on the soft grass beside him.

He looked over at his visitor. He didn’t speak but only gave a smile to the Princess before resuming his humming, looking back down at the bulbs he was planting.

Luna watched the stallion quietly tend to his garden, remaining silent and wondering how this could be the same pony that had once been her own guard. A pony who could strike fear or terror into the fresh recruits with only a look. Yet here he was in his own world of serenity, a dream of overflowing gardens and a simple farmhouse.

“You have a lovely place here,” Luna said, breaking the silence. The bat pony turned to her again and set down his trowel, resting his hooves.

“Thank you,” he said appreciatively. “I always have tried to keep the place up. Been in my family for generations.” He wiped the earth from his hooves onto a rag and stood up. “Where are my manners? Would you like something to drink?” he said oblivious to the fact his visitor was an alicorn, one anypony in Equestria should recognize anywhere. “I just made a cool pitcher of sweet tea. Would you like to sit and have a glass with me?” he wondered, suddenly pleased to have the company of what he must have taken to be a stranger.

“That would be most pleasant, good sir,” answered Luna, following him toward the back of the house.

Romulus couldn't have been aware that he was dreaming, nor did he recognize her, even though they had both arrived back in Canterlot less than three hours ago. The sleeping mind was an isolated dimension, one where the subconscious has little to no control, entirely at the whim of deeper, unseen depths of consciousness.

Romulus entered the house, the screen door clattering against the wood of the jamb. He returned a moment later, a sweating pitcher of iced tea expertly gripped with a leathery wing, two clear crystal glasses in the other. “Come and sit a spell with me if you like,” he said, motioning toward a pair of rocking chairs. “The sun sure is fierce this summer.”

Luna took up a seat as Romulus poured her tea, the ice clinking against the glass. She accepted the beverage, taking a tentative sip.

“This is delicious," she beamed, the sugary, syrupy liquid making her nerves tingle with delight. "I do not think I have ever tasted tea prepared in such a way before.”

“You’ve never had sweet tea?” He was taken aback. “I feel a little sorry for you, my friend. This is how mom always made it. With ice-cold well water, plenty of sugar, and just a sprig of mint.”

Luna began steering the subject away from the pleasantries. She had a job to do after all.

“You sure seem to have an affection for gardening. The flowers are especially wonderful,” she remarked, admiring the rows of corn, the blooming orchard and the beds of flowers surrounding the homestead.

He shrugged setting the glass of tea in his lap. “It keeps me busy. Plus it can be relaxing too, working with the soil, to bring life forth from the earth.” He let out a chuckle. “Makes you think I would have been more suited as an Earth pony.

Good, Luna told herself. You have him engaged. Make the transition.

“Now I might not have as strong as an appreciation for flowers like you, but have thou ever heard of a spotted marigold?”

The bat pony cocked his head, swirling the ice cubes in his glass. “A spotted marigold? Can’t say I recognize that one.”

“Oh yes,” said Luna setting her glass on the wicker table next to her. “It’s an amazing species. Very rare. Supposably can only be found in the jungles of Caballo.” She picked up her glass again, taking a faint sip of the overpoweringly sweet liquid.

He cocked his head, his brow bunching on his glistening sweat-smeared forehead. "Is that so," he mentioned, as if he didn't fully comprehend what she was saying. "Isn't that something."

“Have you ever been south of the border, Romulus? Caballo is such a culturally rich country, wouldn’t you say?” She would have to strike him, to force the dream to steer toward what she really wanted. She wanted to see what had happened on the doomed expedition. "Such vibrant jungles they have, you know."

Romulus was twisting the glass in his hooves, the condensation dampening his hooves. He looked confused, casting a wary eye around him. “I–I can’t say I have,” he stammered, caught off guard. He looked the alicorn up and down. “Sorry –it's just–” He shook his head, his body hit by a sudden spasm. He suddenly wasn't looking so well, as if the color had drained from his coat. “Oh, stars.” Out of the blue, Romulus leaned over and retched, a sticky mess of bile and sugary tea spilling over the porch.

Luna instinctively recoiled. Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

A blanket of black clouds was rising over the horizon, the first indication besides the sudden affliction. It was spreading over the picturesque valley, the sun vanishing above its reach.

Luna quickly shot up out of her chair as something ran over her hooves. She inadvertently spilled her tea, the glass clattering on the ground before rolling off the porch.

It was water. Warm, clear water was flowing out of the back door in a tiny stream, spilling out of the farmhouse and mixing with the dust on the ground.

“She stopped humming, didn’t she?” Romulus asked Luna, the stallion slipping back into his chair as if nothing had happened. His words had taken a graver tone, his languishing drawl disappearing. “She always stops around this time. It's always when the water starts.”

Whatever was happening, he was right. The humming inside the farmstead had ceased.

The black clouds now covered the valley peaks, the sunlight dancing behind the shimmering surface that rippled in the atmosphere. Luna could see now what was happening. She had witnessed the signs before. The dream was collapsing.

“Romulus!” she told him, gripping him by his broad shoulders in his chair. He didn’t blink an eye, hardly registering that she was present at all. “Romulus. Wake up! Tis just a dream.”

The dream was morphing into something awful; she could feel it like an electric current in the air. Suddenly there came a loud pop from beside her.

Luna turned to see the pitcher of tea beside them had shattered, the caramel-colored liquid spilling over the wooden boards amongst ice and broken glass. Broken glass skittered in the wind on the porch, the tea mixing with the water gently seeping from the house.

Pop!

Another, one of the windows on the porch bursting into a multitude of tiny shards. Drawn curtains inside were whipped by the gale that blew across the property. It had grown in intensity, a tremendous downdraft that bombarded the farmstead.

Windows along the house burst in turn, each erupting in a brilliant explosion of glass. The cup, still clutched in Romulus’s hooves shattered on its own, the tea spilling over his lap and through the chair’s wooden slats. He did not take notice, hooves still wrapped around the now absent glass, gazing out over the yard with blank expression, staring into nothingness.

“Romulus. You have to take heed,” she warned him urgently. Everything was quickly unraveling “You can’t let whatever is haunting you control you. You must bring your fears under control. End this nightmare,” instructed Luna, alarmed at how fast the dream was transforming. Luna was on her hooves now planted in front of the expressionless stallion, his eyes like lifeless marbles.

Then she heard it. Something carried on the wind. It pulsed like the beat of a heart, resonating in her ears and creeping over the tiny hairs of her neck. The dark clouds were closer, swirling over the valley and spilling over the ground. Her blood froze, cold as ice.

Those were not clouds.

Those were bats!

Thousands, hundreds of thousands of bats! Bats as big as dogs, so thick they blocked out the sun.

“Romulus! Stop this nightmare, lest it consumes thee!” she shouted, but to no avail. Romulus was stiff as a statue.

Then, in the distance, a low rumble, a brilliant ball of light reflecting in his eyes. Luna turned around.

From afar, a massive cloud of fire and smoke mushroomed into the darkened skies, the ground trembling beneath her hooves as if ready to open and swallow the land whole. The rumble grew in magnitude until the very foundation of the house shook, the ball of fire erupting hight into the atmosphere like a tombstone of flame.

A wave of destruction crested the hills of the valley, tearing up everything in its path under its persuasive force. The horde of bats was torn asunder by the shockwave, wiping everything from the earth in a tidal wave of fiery heat.

Winds howled beyond immeasurable proportions, lifting the trees and the roots that bound them to the earth. The blast was now upon them, about to hit at any second.

Luna dove off the porch, covering her head with her hooves in a futile attempt to escape the holocaust upon them. She had no control over the runaway terror, a sickening feeling she had never experience before.

“It’s all gone,” Romulus muttered, gazing into the face of destruction ready to greet them. “It’s all going to fall,” wept with silent tears, eyes staring into the heart of darkness, before the blast consumed them both.

"I knew it then as I know it now."

---

One of the Night Watch outside the rotunda was suddenly awoken by the sound of a feral scream. It was coming from the guestroom.

A sleepy-eyed Lakeshore, shot down the hall, drawn by the commotion.

“What in bloody Tartarus is going on!? Get her out of there!” he shouted over the screaming. “Get the Princess out!”

“Huh-wha.” The guard shook the sleep off of him. His comrades were passed out beside him, still out cold as the night itself.

“Hey. Hey! Wake up. Something’s up.” He shook one and knocked a hoof against the other’s helm, eliciting a resonating thunk that stirred the occupant. They came about slowly, noticing the commotion that was coming from Romulus’s room.

Guards, flanked by the Professor burst inside, the door banging against its stops.

"Princess! Are you alright," the lead guard barked breathlessly.

Inside, Romulus laid against the floor. He was splayed on his back, wings flapping ferociously but uncoordinated. He was grasping at the neck of Princess Luna, who was squashing a hind leg into his bare chest, just out of his reach. Romulus screamed and howled as if he were a wild beast as he continued fruitlessly to wrap his hooves around the windpipe of the alicorn.

This caused her to only press harder into his ribcage. She looked up, taking notice for the first time the guards and slack-jawed Professor. She stared, not know at first what to say, having been caught in the peculiar predicament.

“Um...nothing to worry,” she finally spoke, pointing down at Romulus, who was now gasping for air, her hoof not relenting its pressure. “Just a bad dream is all.”

It was only when Romulus had regained his bearing did his shouts turn into sobs, and the muscled mass of pony shriveled into a weeping ball that curled up at their hooves.