• Published 29th Jun 2019
  • 852 Views, 29 Comments

Terror Puppet - Windrunner



One usually finds Celestia in the throne room. She seems a bit odd, today.

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Torn Veil

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A weeping hour draws ever near, sowing increasing doubt and fear. Fear it is too late. This is what Twilight Sparkle fears as her hurried scurrying through this infernal underwork those above have no awareness of both drives her forth into the blank ahead and gives pause to shrink back from it. The shadows themselves almost seeming to evade what light she brings with her, scattering as if the secrets held therein might be laid bare. The air stifling increasingly, making catching breath a chore of its own. A gulp or single gasp of fresh air would be most welcome, but none is forthcoming. The dark encroaching ever more, it feels as though the light illuminates less and less. Perhaps just vivid imagination running wild.

The way ahead is narrow, almost dangerously so. Still, she slips through. The cool of the walls against her almost welcome amidst the warmth of this stagnant air.

"I feel it, that way. Something dark and wrong. I..want to go back." For an indecisive moment there stood the mighty, shivering and uncertain. Giving her head a hard shake brings reality back into sharp focus.

"No! What am I saying.. I think this place is getting to me. I can do this." Gathering her nerve to step forward once more takes an unusually great effort and force of will rarely needed. What could possibly give rise to such a feeling in her?

"Remember, good things. Happy things. Warm pancakes, syrup and butter. My brother. Cozy blankets and friendships glow." Twilight muttered of favorite things and good feelings. It helped to give strength to take further steps into the dim halls. Were this place a city, it would be magnificent. As it was the surroundings only spoke to some unheralded beastly thing or other. The feeling as if some great bulwark were holding her back dispersed as she recalled these better moments. Strength of will returning as her venture continued.

"How far? It must be..If I calculate the...yes.. nearly half a mile underground." Twilight gulped, almost panicking herself.

The thought of the immense amount of earth above that could come tumbling down were whatever supported it to give way was a great way to frighten oneself. Stop that.

"These walls must have been magically shored up somehow. How long would such a spell last without reinforcement I wonder?" Thinking of the logistics behind these things instead of immediate concerns played to her own likes and strengths. Learning and knowledge even now a driving force in her life. She looked at the bracings and hefty pillars holding up the tonnes of dirt and rock above. The physical engineering was clever and solid, though ancient and warping by now.

Whatever magics may have been applied to them as well were likely either fading or long since dead. It was likely why the entire place hadn't collapsed by this time, extending the lifespan of these structures by some good amount. Certainly, not all of the tunnels remained intact. Dead ends were apparent everywhere and digging them open once more would be far too lengthy and unsafe to engage in.

"Why is this place so big? Something about that isn't right." Twilight mused as her hoofsteps echoed. Some chambers were much worse than others for this. Bringing the entire place down via incidental sound was not an outcome she desired.

"There must be more to this. Am I missing something?" Study was one of her strongest suits. Doing so to the layout of this place lead to a most startling conclusion.

"It can't be. I must be wrong about that. It wouldn't make any sense." She shook off the idea forming in her head and dismissed it as impossible. Such dismissal was logical enough. It must be a fallacy in her thinking.

"I wish my friends were here." She wistfully announced to herself. The endless gloom did little to allow spirits to recover from moments of darker thinking. Occasionally imagining some vicious thing ahead did little to help matters.

Did something stir in the chamber up ahead? To this point encountering nothing was almost worse than engaging some monster in battle. She was no stranger to doing so. Could this really be any darker than her past portrayed?

"Don't go jumping to conclusions now. I know better." Speaking to herself for comfort still, it did work some wonders. This maze of shafts, corridors, halls and tunnels was wearing on the nerves and senses in some manner all their own. A great wearying of the soul few ever face felt as if pushing down on her, a gathering weight to hinder action. This was a tiring journey. Almost intimating boredom, save for that feeling ahead.

"How far is it? I must have been moving for a couple of hours now. That means I could be four miles from the castle. Oh my goodness." This was a revelation all its own. There was no real sense of direction down here, no familiar signposts or landmarks to truly distinguish. Where was she in relation to the world above? So far there was little to no sign of anyone having used these passages in ages. This might mean little. She was simply taking the most obvious route possible towards that dark feeling. A few missteps here and there could quite easily have resulted in serious injury. Caution was certainly the order of the day in this labyrinthine depth. Visions of monsters most terrifying danced in her head. Hard not to imagine.

There really was something ahead. An opening into a grand chamber quite unlike the rest. Her eyes went wide to see glittering hoards of all manner ensconced in the walls, these were no relics of mining. An ancient suit of pony armor in a style she'd never seen even in poring over old books stood off to the side, covered in cobwebs so thick it could just as well have been made of the moistly glistening material. She gasped at this marvel of sight and sense, were it not for that terrible feeling still being present this would be a most astonishing and glorious find. Instead the novelty wore off quickly. She was not alone here.

---

And behold a pale horse: and his name was....