Monster of the Monastery

by JesterOfDestiny

Chapter 1

Bon Bon was out of town today. Some sort of important rendezvous with an old colleague; I didn’t ask questions and she wouldn’t have answered. This secret agent thing seems fun from the outside, but when your closest friend is involved and you’re not allowed to... satiate your naturally immense curiosity, it gets a bit frustrating.

Anyway, she was out of town and I had the whole night to myself. I’ve been hearing rumours of a monastery deep in the Everfree forest. It only appears at night and ponies have ventured in, but couldn’t go further than a few corridors. Apparently, this monastery has been appearing earlier and earlier and ponies even met some of its denizens. Bat ponies! Exciting, huh? Created by inserting some sort of bat gene into a pony... I don’t know either. You don’t get to see them very often. I personally only saw two, when Luna came to Ponyville on Nightmare Night and scared the shoes off everypony. That was fun. Scary, but fun, as somepony I know would say.

With that said, I think you have a very good idea of what I was planning for the evening.

I decided that sunset is the perfect time to set out to explore this rumoured monastery. Close enough for the monastery to reveal itself, but there is still enough light to see. I should have brought somepony with me, because you know, it is the Everfree forest and all. May not be infested with the plunderseed anymore, but it’s still a deep dark forest. But everypony was at a party I totally forgot about and I’m not the sort of pony who can contain her curiosity. So I foolishly decided to venture alone.

I brushed up on my defences. A simple light spell to see in the dark, a mirror in case of cockatrice attack, some matchsticks against timberwolves and faith in Luna and Celestia in case of a manticore attack. I followed the main path and looked for the small overgrown path I’ve been told about. There were many paths that looked like that, but when I found the one overgrown path where the grass was flattened by all the curious hooves trampling all over it, I knew I was at the right place.

I followed the path. It was getting kinda dark at that point; dark enough to not be sure about what exactly you’re looking at. Is that just a bush or a horrible monster ready to leap on you? I fired up my light spell, because the sunlight was no longer helpful. That was when I realized, I strayed off the path. The light spell wasn’t too helpful either; I could see for a meter or two, but everything beyond that was just blackness, with faint hints of orange.

I found a small clearing which the fading sunlight was still lighting up. I turned off the light spell, hoping my eyes could adapt to dark again, so I could see further. Nope. Nothing but trees. I looked up at the sky, hoping to navigate with the help of the stars. Nope, they weren’t out yet. The sounds of the night animals were getting louder, things moving around and making rustling noises, were getting more frequent. I distinctly heard one coming towards me, reaching into a nearby bush. That is when I saw the sunlight suddenly disappear. I looked behind and there was the monastery towering above me. I did not waste any time and ran towards it.

When I got there, the entrance gate was wide open. I ran through and I found myself in the yard, right in front of the main building. Yes, I was inside the walls of the monastery. I was relieved, even though I knew I still wasn’t completely safe. Nopony was around to hear my heavy breathing. It wasn’t even lit properly; the torches on the walls barely made any light, so I still needed my light spell.

I walked around for a bit, hoping to find somepony. The silence was getting slightly unnerving. I made a full circle around the main building and that’s when I heard voices coming from inside. The church’s doors were slightly open, so I peeked inside. There I saw Princess Luna talking to an elder pony, who I assume was the abbot.

“That is because there is a big party in the nearest settlement.” Said Luna.

“But is there no other place we could get visitors from?” Said the abbot.

“There are, but the news of the monastery’s opening haven’t reached them yet. Besides, visitors from Ponyville have been getting lost in the forest, which really worries me.”

“I just don’t want to take it too quickly. The monastery hasn’t seen a single visitor since... You know.”

“I understand, but the baby steps you’re attempting aren’t quick enough...”

“Lyra?” That didn’t come from either Luna or the abbot. That came from Bon Bon, who was standing behind me scaring the soul out of me.

“Bon Bon?” I said after recovering from the scare.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“What am I doing here? You’re the one who’s supposed to be on the other side of Equestria.”

“I’m here to explore, to see if there’s anything I need to worry about. Will you answer my question now?”

“I was just curious about some rumours.”

“Right. I should have expected that.”

“You know, you could have just cut the sheets and bring me here. Did you not think I’m gonna investigate a mystery?”

“I thought you were gonna be at the party.”

“We need to have a serious talk about your secrets at some point, because this is getting ridiculous!”

Suddenly the door opened behind me. Luna and the abbot were standing there. Luna had a displeased, but surprised expression, while the abbot seemed to be really happy.

“See? Somepony did find their way here.” Said the abbot.

“Right.” Luna turned to him. “I’m still going to spread the news tomorrow morning. Mere two ponies aren’t enough, even if they tell everypony they know.”

“I suppose that’s fair.”

“I’d just like to point out,” I butted into a conversation that I barely even had an idea what it was about, “I got lost and almost got mauled by an animal, before I got here.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have set out all alone!” Bon Bon scolded me. “What were you thinking?!”

“Curiosity trumps reason when it comes to me, you should know that.”

Luna took what I said and gave a very stern look to the abbot. “You heard her! Your reluctance to leave your secrecy got somepony in danger. The path should be clearly laid out by the monastery’s next emergence tomorrow night.”

The abbot nodded reluctantly.

“I shall go now,” Luna said now in a much calmer tone, “I must attend to my nightly duties. But tomorrow night, I want to see this monastery full of visitors.” She then left the building and flew away.

The abbot stepped up to us. “I apologize for that. This monastery has been hidden from the public, since Nightmare Moon’s first appearance.”

“Understandable,” said Bon Bon, “bat ponies didn’t have a very favourable reputation at the time.”

That is when I realized, that the abbot, was indeed a bat pony. He had the slit pupils and the tufted ears and the leathery wings and everything. He was pretty large for a flyer too. The years have not been kind to him either; his mane and beard were almost as grey as his coat.

“Please, let me introduce myself.” He said. “My name is Magma and I am the abbot here.”

“I am Bon Bon.”

“And I am Lyra Heartstrings, the cat that curiosity killed.”

Magma welcomed us warmly (no pun intended) and he showed us around. By that I mean, he showed us a map of the place; The diner, the scriptorium, the forbidden library. Yes, forbidden library. Because no ancient mysterious place is complete with an even more mysterious corner. He then left us on our own.

Since Magma didn’t seem to know how to show visitors around, Bon Bon and I decided to show ourselves around. We visited the scriptorium first. I was going to vote for the forbidden library, but Bon Bon thought it wasn’t a good idea to break the rules on our first visit. Fair enough, I guess.

So we entered the scriptorium. There was only a single pony sitting there, writing something by a lantern’s light. I guess not even bat ponies can read in the dark. He barely took a glance at us, with his orangeish eyes, before getting back to his writing. The scriptorium had its own small library, filled with hoofwritten codices. I guess that’s what that brown bat pony was doing. I wondered why he was all alone.

“Where are the other scribes?” I asked him.

“Hiding.” He mumbled.

“Hiding from what?”

“Hiding from the visitors.”

“Why are they hiding from the visitors?”

The bat pony sighed and span around on his stool. He had a small dark blue beard on his chin, but an otherwise very young looking face. Possibly younger than me. “Look, most of us here still aren’t sure about the monastery opening up, so they hid away. But somepony still has to write the codices. Got it? Now if you’ll excuse me,” he span back around, “I’ve got more important things to do than talking to you.”

A bit rude, but I didn’t mind. I walked up to him and took a look at what he was writing. He wasn’t writing, he was drawing elaborate pictures next to the text. Lots of vines with flowers, dogs with bird heads, alicorns fighting snails. It was weird, but in an impressive artistic kind of weird. I guess I was staring a bit intensely, because the scribe hissed at me.

“Do you mind?!”

“Sorry.” I backed away. “Gee, not the most hospitable place, is it?” I whispered to Bon Bon.

We heard a loud gasp coming from the scriptorium’s entrance. It was a young bat pony mare. She had a light greyish purple coat, bright yellow eyes and blue mane with a light red headband in it. And she had a very excited look on her face.

“I have never seen a unicorn before!” She pranced up to us and started firing questions at me. “What is it like to have a horn? Can you levitate stuff? Can you do magic? What spells do you know?” She then looked at Bon Bon. “I haven’t seen an earth pony either. Ooh, I love your mane! How did you get the two different colours? Are these curls natural?”

“Woah, woah, slow down!” Said Bon Bon.

“I’m sorry, I got carried away.”

“Sounds like somepony I know.” Bon Bon glanced at me.

“A kindred spirit.” I said. “I like her already.”

“Oh, how rude of me,” said the bat pony, “my name is Zao.”

We introduced ourselves as well.

“Who’s the guy over there?” I glanced at the scribe facing away from us.

“That’s just Itah. Hey Itah!” She waved. Itah waved back in a bored manner, still facing away from us. “Why don’t I show you around? I could learn so much about non-bat ponies in the process.” Zao continued.

We agreed and she took us directly to the places Magma showed us on the map. She even took us to the forbidden library. She greatly emphasized how forbidden it is. Apparently great horrors lurk in there and if you go in, you never come out. She then admitted, that she was just repeating things she’s heard.

“How are you supposed to get books from the library, if you’re not allowed to go in?” I asked.

“That’s what librarians are for.” Zao replied. “You say the title of the book you’re looking for and he gets it for you.”

“But how are you supposed to know what books to get?”

“There’s a list silly, it’s right behind you.”

We looked behind and there was indeed a long extensive list, engraved on a sheet of gold next to the library door. On both sides as well, and there were a lot of titles.

“It’s a bit difficult to navigate, but it gets easier once you know what to look for.”

“Not all books are listed there.” A voice came from the corridor. There was another bat pony approaching us, with a stack of books on his back. He was tall and skinny and had a dark pale blue coat, red disapproving eyes and a black manestyle that looked elaborate, but it was probably very easy to get down in the morning. Or evening. And his face looked a lot more like a lizard than a bat. “Some of the tomes stored in the forbidden library are forbidden as well.” He continued in his own pompous voice.

“And that there is the librarian, Zeuhl.” Said Zao.

“You did tell our curious visitors that they’re not allowed to go into the library, did you?”

“Yep. I told them it’s dangerous.”

“Good.”

“Excuse me, if you don’t mind me asking,“ Bon Bon stepped towards Zeuhl, “but how can a library be dangerous?”

“Because it’s been designed to be a confusing maze.” He talked like we were the idiots for not knowing that.

Bon Bon and I looked at each other, bewildered by the absurdity of that otherwise simple answer. “But why?” She asked.

“This whole monastery was designed by an architect who was very hard of hearing. And apparently to him, library sounded like labyrinth and by the time he realized his mistake, the labyrinth was already mostly finished. As such, the forbidden library is a labyrinth first and library second.”

“And how does one curate a labyrinth-library?” I asked.

Zeuhl glanced at Zao. “Would you look at that Zao, they ask as many questions as you do.” He then directed his disapproving eyeballs back to us. “You can learn to navigate the forbidden library. But only select chosen ponies are taught to do so. Like how the previous librarian, Magma, taught me and how I’m currently teaching my successor, Itah. He’s starting to get it down, but I still don’t trust him enough to leave alone in the forbidden library.”

“That seems terribly inefficient,” I said, “couldn’t you just build another library and have this labyrinth locked up?”

“Look filly, I don’t have time to answer inane questions, I’ve got my own things to do. Why don’t you direct your excessive curiosity towards somepony just as excessively curious as you, like Zao over here?” He then opened the library door and went inside. Zao tried to take a peek, but he casted a very stern look towards her and she immediately backed away.

The door closed with a metallic creak and the librarian was gone. Zao sighed.

“I don’t get why the next librarian has to be Itah. He needed an entire week, just to understand how the list works, even though it took me less than a day.”

“He doesn’t seem to like you.” I said.

“Eh, Zeuhl doesn’t like anypony.” She replied.

We went back to the map at the entrance hall. Magma was there as well and seemed to be happy that Zao has showed us around. She insisted on showing some more things, maybe help us choose a room. But we were tired and wanted to go home and Zao agreed to walk us back to Ponyville. We did promise to come back tomorrow and answer some more non-bat pony related questions.

But when we tried to leave, the entrance door suddenly closed right in front of us. A black smoke emanated from it and formed together into a tall shadowy, vaguely equine figure. It roared so loud I could feel the floor shake under my hooves.

“This monastery shall remain closed!” It wailed. “It shall reveal itself one last time tomorrow and only to get these two out of this place!”

And with that, it disappeared and left the door closed.

Comments

[Whisper Spirit]

But when we tried to leave, the entrance door suddenly closed right in front of us. A black smoke emanated from it and formed together into a tall shadowy, vaguely equine figure. It roared so loud I could feel the floor shake under my hooves.

“This monastery shall remain closed!” It wailed. “It shall reveal itself one last time tomorrow and only to get these two out of this place!”

And with that, it disappeared and left the door closed.

That's not good.