The Crescent Pact

by Chromentazol

3 - The Infiltration: Part 1

The castle's hallways were filled with the sounds of countless voices. A large crowd had amassed inside the palace, many ponies either following guides or exploring on their own. Aphelion, Sandstorm and Misty had merged in the crowd, slowly heading towards the royal library. While Sandstorm was looking all around her, seemingly invested in the festivities and taking many pictures with a camera, the two unicorns focused on going forward. The stallion felt increasingly anxious, just wanting to be done with this task while the mare simply did not want to spend any more time than necessary inside the castle. The upcoming steps of Sandstorm's plan could very easily fail if they were not careful and required the unicorn's full focus. Aphelion glanced at Misty, who remained expressionless as she walked to his side, then towards Sandstorm, trailing behind them. She had stopped, taking pictures of a large stained-glass window depicting Celestia raising the sun. Turning to Misty, Aphelion asked: "Sandstorm's behind. Should we wait for her?"

Without even turning back to see what her friend was up to, Misty sighed. "No. If we wait, we'll never have the time to... Visit the library in time. Let's go, she'll catch up with us."

While it was true that Sandstorm's role in this heist was more focused on distracting guards and securing an exit for Misty and Aphelion, he still would have preferred if she remained close to them in case things went bad. Of course, he didn't doubt her plan: from what Aphelion had seen, this infiltration had been in the making for a long time and this day presented a one-of-a-kind opportunity. The plan required two unicorns and for a lower concentration of guards inside the palace, which at first glance appeared to be the case. Sandstorm had explained that there was a show with high attendance on the other side of Canterlot for the first day of the festivities, which required a higher number of guards patrolling that side of the capital. This meant that the royal guard was understaffed for the protection of the castle. While Sandstorm enthusiastically described this situation as a great coincidence, her friend didn't seem like she wanted to go forward with this plan at all. Aphelion thought about asking her why, but he hadn't had the chance. Besides, Misty hadn't been particularly friendly with him and certainly wouldn't have shared what was on her mind.

Finally stepping inside the royal library, Aphelion and Misty immediately began scanning the room. They saw many booths and stands, each focusing on a different part of Equestrian literature. While there were less ponies inside the library compared to the hallways and other more grandiose rooms of the castle, the crowd was still large enough for Aphelion and Misty to hide in plain sight. As predicted by Sandstorm, there weren't many guards looking over the crowd, which put Aphelion's mind at ease. "Maybe this heist is going to be fine, after all", he thought. Turning towards Misty, he whispered. "Do you see a good spot?"

The mare took a moment to answer as she observed the room. Finally, her eyes stopped on a row of bookshelves on the eastern side of the library, which she pointed towards. Above these shelves, a banner was floating in the air with depictions of stars, constellations and Celestia's face drawn on it. Across the banner, the words Astronomy and Cosmic Science were clearly written. It gently moved on its own, held aloft by an unseen magical source, a purple glow all around the banner. Next to these shelves, Aphelion noticed a cart filled with books and scrolls. If somepony was to stand behind this cart, they would be much more difficult to see, Aphelion thought. He smirked. "Nice! That should be it, then. Everything is going smoothly, so far," he whispered once again. Misty stood still while she kept scanning the room.

"Sure. Go ahead, I'm making sure I didn't miss anything," she whispered to him. Her expression became worried for a few seconds, before going back to her regular expressionless state. Aphelion nodded and approached the shelves, not noticing Misty's worry.

As Aphelion began walking past the books, his eyes danced around the covers and titles. There was so much material that piqued his interest, it took all his willpower to prevent himself from stopping everything and reading one of the books. Everything there was entirely new to him, as all his research material in the manor was written and provided by members of the Crescent Pact. "In a way, the pact controls as much information as Celestia does, huh..." he thought, doubt chiming in once again in his mind. This time, however, Aphelion did not attempt to repress this skeptic voice inside of him. His eyes finally rested upon an old tome: an encyclopedia of stars and constellations, laying at the top of the cart in front of the shelves. It seemed to be a lot more detailed and thorough than the similar ones he possessed in the manor. Looking back, he saw Misty slowly walking towards him, still scanning the room. She wasn't looking at him. Glancing back at the encyclopedia, Aphelion pondered. He could get away with leaving with one book from the library, right?

With Misty being near, Aphelion only had a brief moment to make up his mind. Acting on impulse more than anything, the encyclopedia was engulfed in Aphelion's aura and quickly floated inside his saddlebags. Just as he finished his manipulation, Misty finally arrived next to him. Aphelion did his best to not look like he just took one of the books from the royal library, planning to steal it. "Are we good to go?" he asked with a hushed tone. The two unicorns stood between two bookshelves, pushing the cart to hide behind it.

"...We should be," Misty answered. There was a hint of hesitation in her voice.

"Is there something wrong? You look a bit out of it."

"It's... Nothing. I just wanted to triple-check where the guards were. None of them should be able to see us right now. Alright, give me some space. I need to focus."

Stepping back, Aphelion watched as Misty's horn glowed in a gray light. This part of the plan was crucial: the library, while available to the public, was protected by many spells and enchantments to prevent ponies from leaving with books without officially borrowing them, as well as defenses against unauthorized magic inside the library - the kind of magic Aphelion was going to use for the next step of the plan. Sandstorm had explained that her friend's talent was in the dissipation of these types of magical protections. Aphelion waited for Misty to finish her spell when something came to his mind.

"Wait, is stealing a book really such a good idea?!"

His eyes grew wide, his heart beating faster. He wasn't sure if Misty's spell was going to allow him to leave with the book, or just delay the alarm. Tripping the alarm could potentially alert the entire castle, ruin their plan and lead towards their arrest. Sweating bullets, he attempted to sneakily place the book back where he found it without drawing Misty's attention. The book was only floating halfway outside his saddlebag when an almost imperceptible shockwave traveled through him. A barely visible gray bubble appeared between the bookshelves, just big enough for Misty and Aphelion to stand inside of. The pink unicorn's horn kept glowing, as she looked back at Aphelion with a pained look in her eyes, sweat dripping down her face.

"Alright... Hurry up. I don't think I can hold this for long."

The encyclopedia slid back into Aphelion's saddlebags. He knew he should place it back to avoid issues down the line, but Aphelion decided to trust in Misty's magical abilities. He reasoned that he could get away with the tome if he was quick enough. Aphelion also didn't want to let Misty know he planned on stealing one of the books, his curiosity having overtook his critical thinking. He gulped then lowered his head, bending his front legs so that his horn touched the ground. He focused on his own spell, targeting Misty and himself, then released it. Both of their bodies glowed in a faint yellow light as they began to quickly phase through the marbled floor, falling through the ground itself and into the room below the library.

For a while, all Aphelion and Misty could see was pitch blackness. They could only feel the cold stone covering their entire bodies as they slid through it, holding them firmly in place. Overall, it was a disturbing and claustrophobic moment for the both of them. After what felt like forever, the two unicorns reached the room that was right underneath the library. Appearing from the ceiling, they fell to the floor the moment they were freed from the stone. The fall was also itself an unpleasant moment, as they were too exhausted from their prior spells to use their magic to slow the fall. They both splat onto the floor, the sound if bodies hitting stone resonating through the room. Misty was the first to het back on her hooves, groaning as she did so.

"Gah... So that's done, at least. I don't think anyone noticed us, so that's good."

Slowly standing up, Aphelion felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He limped a bit. "Y-Yeah... Sorry I couldn't make the experience more, uh, enjoyable."

"It's fine. None of us can focus on two spells at once anyway, so I expected the landing to be rough. That's why we needed two unicorns, remember?"

Aphelion nodded silently, looking at the room they landed into. It looked like a large empty abandoned storage room. The only sources of light came from blue bioluminescent mushrooms growing through cracked stone on the walls and the floor. On one side of the room laid an old wooden door. The only sound they could hear was that of water dripping down from the ceiling, forming small puddles all around. Aphelion felt relief from that silence: it meant that no alarm was triggered, at least for now.

A bright light illuminated the room, centered on Misty's horn. "This... Isn't the archives," she said.

"No," said Aphelion. He looked at the ceiling. "We went much deeper than planned. Either we stood in the wrong spot, or the archives were located somewhere else. I think we went through sixty to eighty feet of stone before reaching that ceiling."

"Which means Sandstorm's intel was wrong," Misty said following a sigh. "Where even are we?"

"I don't know. I want to say an old storage room, but I'm not sure. Given how abandoned this place looks, I think it's fair to say we won't be found here, at least."

"Let's check the door. Maybe we can find our way out of this mess."

The two unicorns approached the door. Its wooden surface was rotten with age and its hinges were completely covered in rust. Aphelion slowly pressed a hoof on the door, which didn't bulge. He tried again, putting more weight behind it. The door remained motionless. "Crap," he mumbled. "It's stuck, we can't go on without breaking it."

Misty facehoofed, then grabbed the door's handle and pulled. The door opened without any issue.

"Or, uh, we can also pull instead of push. Good call!" said Aphelion with an awkward smile. For a moment, Misty's face showed a tiny smirk.

Behind the door was a long hallway, the room they landed into being located at one end. More bioluminescent mushrooms covered the hallway's walls and floor, revealing a sharp turn to the left at the very end. Along the walls, many wooden doors were equally spaced out. Before going any further, Aphelion focused on another spell. The previous one had made him tired, especially since he wasn't used to that kind of magic, but he felt like he still had a few more casts in him before running out. He released his spell, once again targeting both himself and Misty. Their hooves glowed with a faint yellow light. The pink unicorn glanced at him with a puzzled look on her face.

"In case somepony else is lurking around," he explained. He violently slammed one of his hooves on the ground, which made no noise at all on the impact. "Sandstorm asked for stealth spells, didn't she?"

"Good call," she whispered. "How long can you maintain it?"

"It'll last for an hour. More than enough to find our way back, I hope."

Without saying another word, the two unicorns stepped into the hallway. As they slowly crept towards the sharp turn at the end, they glanced at the other doors on the sides. Near the bottom of each of these doors, there was a small metal slit that could be opened and closed. Approaching one of them with an open slit, Aphelion looked inside, trying to see what these chambers were supposed to be. The room was quite small, with old rusty chains bolted to the walls. He then checked on another one of these rooms, which was almost identical.

"Jailcells," he declared.

"Really? We've never seen those on the palace schematics," pondered Misty, revealing they had access to the castle's blueprints.

"I suppose Celestia needed a place to stash away ponies who challenged her reign. Maybe the large room we landed into was a torture room, then."

"Aphelion, I don't think..." hesitation could be heard in her voice. In her mind, she was wondering wether or not it would be worth trying to convince a brainwashed stallion that everything he learned was utter nonsense.

"Or maybe, that's where she hid her pet dragon in the past."

Misty took a moment to register what she just had heard. "Her pet what?!"

"According to our sources, she enslaved a dragon a few centuries earlier and kept it hidden, feeding it dissenting ponies. Obviously, she'd hide it deep underground so as to not appear as a tyrant to the other countries."

Misty stared at Aphelion, feeling pity for him. "Do you... Really believe that stuff? You have to admit, that's really far-fetched."

"Of course I do. Our sources are totally trustworthy," he answered with confidence. "You're the ones with falsified information. Even your blueprints of the castle left some pretty major elements out. I'm guessing she purposefully kept that part of the palace unofficial."

Unsure of what to say, Misty turned back towards the end of the hallway. "If you say so. Let's just... Get out of here."

The two unicorns approached the end of the hallway in silence. Aphelion felt uneasy. He attempted to chalk it out to the place they found themselves into, but a part of him knew the true nature of his apprehensiveness. Misty's words left him questioning the Crescent Pact's teachings once again. For the first time in a long while, Aphelion was beginning to think for himself instead of just taking everything his father taught him as gospel.

"...Okay, maybe an enslaved dragon hidden underneath the capital is kind of far-fetched."

The pink unicorn looked at him, surprised, then smirked. "Maybe there's hope for him after all," she thought.

---

Sandstorm had remained in the castle's main hallway for thirty minutes now. She kept taking pictures of the windows, of the architecture and of the statues dotted all around while keeping a certain crimson pegasus in her field of view at all times. As soon as they approached the castle, she noticed the pegasus tailing them from above. Not wanting to give up on the mission nor to make her partners in crimes worried, she kept the information to herself and devised a plan. First, she had bought a gaudy sun-shaped hat before entering, playing it out as just wanting to have a little bit of fun. With that hat, Sandstorm became extremely easy to track down and she knew it. Then, after they had crossed the castle's entrance, she purposefully trailed behind, letting the two unicorns merge with the crowd ahead of her. She figured that the pegasus behind them would struggle to keep an eye on all of them at the same time. With her hat and her choice to remain behind, Sandstorm had managed to force their pursuer to focus on her, allowing Aphelion and Misty to focus on their part of the heist.

Her plan had worked and the crimson pegasus was standing not too far behind her, visibly annoyed. It looked as if he kept scanning the crowd in search of the other two unicorns while also keeping Sandstorm in his field of view. After another few minutes, Sandstorm decided it was time for her to lose him too, judging that her complices must've had enough time for their part of the job. It was also time for her to focus on her part of the heist. Sandstorm approached another mare with a color like her's. That mare was standing amongst a larger group that was huddled together due to the lack of space caused by the sheer number of visitors. When she got close to her, Sandstorm pretended to accidentally bump into her, letting her hat fall to the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" barked the mare.

"Oops, sorry. I'm a bit of a klutz," Sandstorm answered with a large, goofy smile and a wink. The other pony glared at her before turning back towards her friends. Sandstorm quickly left, disappearing in the crowd. Noticing up the sun-shaped hat, the yellow mare picked it up and tried to find Sandstorm.

"Wait, you dropped your..." She stopped after noticing that Sandstorm had disappeared. With a shrug, she decided to keep the hat and put it on. "Guess it's mine, now."

As Sandstorm was sneaking towards the exit, she passed near the crimson pegasus. His eyes were locked on the mare with the sun-shaped hat. Sandstorm's subterfuge had worked and she left the castle, unseen by her pursuer. She began trotting along the royal gardens, heading towards a large fountain. Humming a tune as she walked, she wondered if Aphelion and Misty's side of the heist were going well. Since no guards were running towards the library, Sandstorm assumed everything went well. "Good thing I kept the stalker thing secret, or else they'd be too freaked out to infiltrate the archives," she thought. "I also lucked out with the number of guards. Guess I didn't have to lie about the whole 'Guards being sent to the other side of town' thing, in the end."

Comments

[f0st3r21]

These ne’erdowells seem to have a lot of knowledge about the Pact’s teaching methods. How secure are they if their “third party” intermediaries know about their indoctrination programs?