Chapter 1
“T-This is c-crazy! What have I done?!” I stumbled down the dark, abandoned corridor as my eyesight wavered. I couldn’t focus, my mind was cloudy.
“Focus! M-my name... my name is... Twi...? T-Twilight Sparkle.” I tripped over a stray table leg and fell to the ground, what was happening to me, my head spun, I clambered to my hooves again, bending down to pick up my fallen saddlebag, I halted the movement when I heard it, my ears twitching at the tiny scratching sounds that were following me.
“The scratching! I can hear it!” I stumbled down the corridor, leaving the saddlebag where it lay. I maneuvered over and around the moldy, thousand year old furniture and scattered rugs that littered the floor, my hooves creating a counterpoint to the scratching sounds I could hear in the walls.
“nnngh! Where am I? WHO’S THERE!” my screams and shouts echoed and bounced from the stone walls punctuating the silence, the walls were moving? Why were they moving?
“Where am I?”
‘Nothing to fear Twilight! We’ve got this!’
I stumbled down the corridor again, the moonlight barely piercing the thick, shrouding mist that had gathered outside the windows.
“Twilight Sparkle... Twilight Spark... Midnight Sparkle... Nightlight Twinkle... no, no that’s not right... Focus! I need to hold on to something! Anything!” the wooden floors shook, something was following me, its breathing was making the candlelight flicker!
‘Focus! Ignore the distractions. My name is Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, Celestia's personal Student... Who... Who’s Celestia?’
I came to a door and tried to push it open with my shaking hooves, looking back down the corridor, I could still hear the scratching in the walls and I could feel something breathing in the darkness at the other end of the corridor.
I watched the darkness warily, I could almost see something writhing in the black depths of shadow... I could hear it whispering to me.
“NO!” the thing in the shadows reacted to my denial and several torches blew out in a gust of wind, I screamed and hammered at the door with my hooves but the lock would not yield.
There were hoofsteps behind me, I needed to hide! I ran into a side corridor, sobbing and panting for breath, slamming the door shut behind me and using my magic to push a cabinet up against it. I backed away from the door slowly, hoping against hope that whatever was after me didn’t see me come in here.
‘CRASH!’
I gave a yelp of fear and fell to the floor, covering my eyes with my hooves as the Hunter began beating the door, making the wood shudder and splinter beneath its blows.
‘CRASH!’
The Hunter screamed in rage, I moved my hooves to my ears as the scream rose in decibel, almost deafening and causing the glass of the single window in the room to crack. A gust of wind flew from a nearby fireplace and snuffed out the lights, I sobbed and crawled over to the meager light that shone through the stained glass window and huddled against the wall, trying to drown out the sound of the Hunter’s screams and the shattering impacts it made against the oak door.
‘CRASH!’
“My name is Twilight Sparkle. My name is Twilight Sparkle. My name is Twilight Sparkle!” I repeated my name over and over as the world became darker and the impacts became louder...
‘CRASH, CRASH!’
“Please...” I whimpered and curled into a tight ball as the darkness overcame me...
o.o.O.o.o
I awoke to a weak strand of sunlight that had found its way through the cloying mist, I’d been sleeping on the cold stone floor and my muscles felt stiff, I groaned as I sat up.
I looked around.
I didn’t recognize anything, where was I? I couldn’t see anything outside the window but the mist and the interior of the room was bare, but for a few scattered pieces of furniture and a stone hearth. The only door from the room had been barricaded with a heavy oak cabinet and it looked as though the door behind it had weathered some kind of assault.
Something in the back of my mind told me to fear the door, all was silent and the only thing I could hear was my heartbeat.
I planted my shoulder firmly against the side of the cabinet and shifted it off the door, wincing at the loud echoes made by the legs scraping the wooden floor. I now stood before the large wooden door, whatever had been attacking it had been tremendously strong, much of the door had been splintered inwards and there were even a few cracks. The only reason the door was largely intact and closed was because of the iron supports and the added weight of the cabinet.
I was wary of opening the door, who knew what lay on the other side.
I gathered my courage and placed my shaking hoof on the deadbolt and pushed it aside slowly, wincing again at the unusually loud sound it made in the utter silence. I pulled the door open a crack, doing my best not to make the hinges squeak too much, and peeked through the crack.
The part of the corridor I could see was empty and a few torches burned in their sconces. The door creaked loudly as I nudged it fully open and stood in the doorway. The shadows in the corridor flickered in the meager torchlight and the far end of the hall was completely bathed in shadow.
Warning bells sounded in my mind as I stared at the darkness and I averted my gaze as my heartbeat began to quicken. I made my way down the corridor, towards the darkness, carefully stepping over the furniture that had been strewn across the floor.
‘iT’s RudE tO igNoRe sOmEPoNy whEn ThEy’RE tALkiNg tO yOu , DoN’t iGnORe mE!’
The whisper had come from the darkness, I squinted, trying to pierce the veil of black, all I could see was the wall of shadow at the end of the corridor, I took a step towards it, “H-Hello? W-W-Who’s there?” nothing replied. I took another step and my hoof bumped something, I looked down and saw an abandoned saddlebag. I bent over and picked it up with my mouth, the cloth it was made from was relatively new and in good condition, the polished metal clips holding the dual bags closed reflected the firelight. It wasn’t too heavy and it felt like there were a few books in it.
I put it on my back and strapped it on, securing it to my flank, the contents shifting around slightly with the movement.
“Run Twilight! Get out of here!”
“Rainbow Dash! Don’t be stupid, I’m not leaving you behind!”
“GO!”
“Aaaahhh!”
The voices were sounding from within my head and I put a hoof to my temple, I could feel a headache coming on and the walls appeared to shift and waver. I put one hoof in front of the other and pressed on towards the darkness, I ignored the whispering and looked at the floor as I walked.
“My... head... Why can’t I... Remember?” I stopped and stood stock still, something in the corridor had changed, something was missing, I felt the blood drain from my face when I realized that the constant scratching sound had ceased. I hadn’t even noticed the sound to begin with but now it was gone, my heartbeat rose and started breathing audibly, something was following me.
I yelped as a strong gust of wind blew from the darkness, snuffing out all the lights in the corridor and leaving me in total darkness. I sank to the ground in abject terror, my mind was screaming at me to get out of the darkness, to seek the light.
I reached a hoof behind me and fumbled with the saddlebag, trying to undo the clip in the darkness. I finally got it open and felt around inside the bag, my hooves shaking from fear, looking for something, anything, to bring forth some light.
I found a single candle inside and wrapped my hoof around it, drawing it out of the bag and into my lap. I rummaged through the bag again, if there was a candle in there it was only reasonable to suggest that some tinder would also be in there too.
I made out the familiar shape of a tinder box in the darkness and quickly drew it out, fumbling with the lid, it popped open and I withdrew the fire-steel and flint. I struck the fire-steel with the flint, desperately trying to light the candle, finally, one of the sparks caught and the candle lit. I let loose a sigh of relief as I watched the candlelight flicker, holding the oppressive shadows around me at bay.
I held the candle in one hoof and rummaged around in the saddlebag further, my hoof closed around a thick book and I drew it out.
The leather bound book looked like it had seen better days, the spine of it was cracked and worn as though it had been opened many times, and the edges additional pages stuck out at odd angles. I carefully opened it, giving a small start as two loose pages fell out, I quickly placed the candle on the ground and picked up the two pages. The first page turned out to be a map the many creases on the old parchment telling me it had been referred to many times.
“Old Canterlot Ruins? This must be where I am...” I looked over it, it had been marked in places, but I didn’t know what to make of the strange markings, there were notes in Equestrian but they were nonsensical and made little more sense than the symbols. I put the map back into the book and turned my attention to the second page, this one appeared to be a note...
‘CREAK’
I snapped my head over my shoulder, thinking I’d just heard something move in the shadows. I calmed myself down and turned back to the note, retrieving the candle from the floor and holding it close so I could read well.
o.o.O.o.o
September 21st year 7002 of Celestia's reign
Dear Twilight,
I’m unsure how to begin this, so much doesn’t make sense, so many questions left unanswered. When you read this you won’t remember much, I can’t tell how strong I made the potion, I don’t know how much you’ll remember.
It’s trying to break the door down, to get to me... us... I can’t think clearly, all this darkness and horror, it’s making me think the walls are moving, I can’t believe what my eyes are seeing, I’ve tried not to but the fear is still real.
The Hunter has stopped for now, but it won’t be long until it tries again, the study’s doors are strong but they can only take so much punishment.
I need to drink the potion soon, I don’t have much time left, I know you’re scared, I’m scared too but you have to overcome that if you’re going to escape this castle alive. The first thing you need to know is that you are being hunted, you can’t fight it I’ve tried everything and I can’t stop it, the only thing you can do is run or hide.
The second thing you need to know about is the mist, STAY AWAY FROM THE MIST, I don’t know what is in there and nothing I’ve tried seems to disperse it-
tHe sHAdoWs wILl coME, THe SHaDoWS WilL ComE, thE shAdOWs WiLl cOMe.
-atever happens. The third thing, oh... I’m a monster, what kind of a pony am I?! How could I have left her behind? I know she told me to but Rainbow Dash can be such a hothead! I left her behind, I don’t know where she is but I pray to Celestia she was able to escape and go for help.
Please, tell her I’m sorry... I’m so, so sorry for leave-
eMOtiOn iS a wEakNeSS, EmOtIoN iS A WEaKneSs, EMoTiON iS a wEaKnEsS.
-xperimentation. Don’t try to stop him, just run, get out of here before it’s too late. I know you’re afraid, and alone, I can’t tell you everything it would just defeat the purpose of this potion, just know that I have a very good reason for wanting to forget.
Your memory will recover in time Twilight and then we can go back to Ponyville and forget this ever happened.
Forgive Me.
Your former self, Twilight Sparkle.
o.o.O.o.o
I finished reading the note, my heart was racing, amnesia? What was hunting me? What was in the mist? I read over it again, trying to make sense of the strange script that Twilight... I... had written in places. I shook my head and put my hooves over my eyes, letting the note fall to the ground.
I couldn’t remember anything, why would I do that to myself? Why would I nee-
‘THUD’
My heart froze when I heard it, I retracted my hooves from my eyes and looked up slowly, something was on the floor above me, I squinted as I stared up at the wooden floorboards that made up the roof. A little cloud of dust fell...
‘THUD’
I gave a small squeak when it moved again, another cloud of dust falling from the ceiling, a little further ahead from the last one. My legs were shaking and my breaths were coming out in ragged gasps, steaming in the ice cold castle.
‘THUD’
I couldn’t move, I was paralyzed with fear, whatever it was, was big, and the impacts it made as it walked were solid and meaty and it made the ceiling shudder. I blew out the candle and sat still, afraid to alert it to my presence.
‘THUD’
I hyperventilated, the combination of utter darkness and the presence of the Thing above me left me cowering on the floor. Still shivering in fear, I somehow managed to crawl along the floor, making my way to the end of the hall, away from the Thing.
‘THUD’
I crawled along in the darkness, my shivering hooves dragging me forwards bit by bit, I was starting to hear whispering in the darkness and my head ached.
I couldn’t take it anymore, I curled into a ball, clutching my tail and let the darkness take me.
o.o.O.o.o
“Okay... okay I need, uhm, okay, I can’t teleport out of here and I can’t go by hoof... there has to be another way out of here!” I skimmed through the undamaged books in the archives, they had to have stored the layout of the castle here somewhere.
o.o.O.o.o
I opened my eyes, and I was greeted with nothing but darkness, if I couldn’t feel them I wouldn’t have been certain I’d opened my eyes at all.
I noticed a dim light outlining a door as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I got to my hooves and stumbled towards it slowly. The floor creaked beneath my hooves, and I winced at every step I took, I had to keep quiet or the Thing would come again.
I finally made it to the door and pushed it.
It didn’t budge; I pushed it again, harder this time and was rewarded with a loud echoing ‘clang’ as the door hit the door frame again. It was at this point I realized that it was a door I had to pull open.
I stuck my head through the crack as I pulled it open and was shocked to see that I wasn’t in the castle proper, but a secondary tower, several floors above the ground. Placing my hooves carefully, I made my way to the edge and looked down. It was impossible to tell how high I was because a thick blanket of fog shrouded the area a few floors down, hiding the ground beneath a veil of white mist all the way to the distant tree line.
Looking around, I quickly saw that there was no other way off this tower and into the main castle. Of course there would be an exit on the ground floor but the letter from my previous self had warned me away from the mist, and it covered the ground in a thick shroud as far as I could see.
The only method of transport from this tower seemed to be a wooden gondola; I made my way towards it ignoring the creaking floorboards as I went. The gondola would have been in excellent condition in its time, but centuries of disuse had rusted the metal and weakened the wood, making the entire contraption unstable.
I got in carefully and tugged on the crank, the iron mechanism grinded to a halt. I tried again, with no better result, I guessed that something was jamming the mechanism and I inspected it closely, the gears and pulley systems should have worked, despite the rust, and the cables were also made of solid iron, poorly kept but still serviceable.
I looked higher, following a series of gear and pulley systems towards a heavy wooden counter weight.
There.
There appeared to be some gears missing and one of the heavy iron cables had come loose from a pulley, causing the whole system to back up and jam. The cable was easy enough to fix, in an almost dreamlike state, I focused on it and imagined it looping back around the pulley, words echoing in my mind as I did so.
‘Telekinesis is one of the most basic forms of magic a unicorn can perform, it is the method of projecting ones will on the world as magical energy, before you can do this, it is important to feel the object you wish to manipulate...’
The pulley might have been fixed but the gondola would not move with missing gears in the mechanism. There had to be replacements around here somewhere, I noticed a room set off to the side of the gondola mechanism. I walked over to the door and nudged it open; conveniently, there were several replacement parts to be found in here, from lengths of heavy iron cabling, to several gears of various sizes.
I needed to figure out which gears to replace, I dragged a few of them from the room, wincing at the sounds they made as they scraped along the wooden platform. There were two missing gears in the mechanism, it looked like one of the larger weight bearing gears and one of the smaller gears that transferred power to speed.
I used my telekinesis to replace the relevant gears, securing them to their spokes. I made my way over to the gondola and turned the crank, finding the previous resistance gone; I kept turning it, wincing at the screeching of metal on metal as the gondola slowly made its way across the gap.
It took some time for me to make progress, and the mechanism was stubborn as I wound the crank. I was breathing hard by the time I got to the midpoint; I stopped to catch my breath and looked back. I cried out audibly when I saw the platform behind me had become shrouded with mist.
‘CRASH’
I screamed something was beating at the door on the platform; I turned to the crank and frantically began to turn it, trying to get to the other side. I heard the door shatter and turned just as some stray splinters flew past me.
I could see a shadow in the mist, it was huge, and it squeezed through the door frame and roared at me, starting as a low rumble and rising in decibel forcing me to put my hooves over my ears as it reached deafening levels.
I turned back to the crank and tried shifting it, it was moving, barely. I heard the Thing moving around on the mist shrouded platform, I turned to look and saw its shadowy silhouette near the mechanism. It raised its forelimbs and began beating it savagely, making the gondola shudder and sway as the heavy iron cable began to buckle.
The cable snapped, causing the gondola to drop.
I clung to the crank as the part of cable the gondola was still attached to swung it towards the main castle, my lungs burned as I screamed. The gondola impacted the wall and part of a window, shattering it, the rotten wood of the gondola splintered and broke, forcing me to grab hold of the cable as the shattered remains fell into the mist below. I clung to the cold, rusted iron desperately, trying to ignore the high pitched roar of the Thing, still up on the mist shrouded platform.
I reached over to the nearby window ledge, avoiding the splintered shards of glass and pulled myself over to it, scrabbling into the dark hallway beyond.
The Thing roared again and I went headlong into the darkness at full gallop, my heart racing and mind reeling from what I had just experienced.