Deep Castle



Two royal guards, one brave and the other the loser of a ‘don’t pull the short straw’ competition, tasked with surveying the unmarked lands of the dark forest, set out through the thick brambles. They were accompanied by ink and quills, empty scrolls waiting to be painted by the lands, and each a spear to their side.

“It was rigged,” said Tapioca, the shortest and most scared of the group. “It’s no fair I had to pick last. It’s just not fair.”

“Not fair you had to pick last?” Said Shiver Timber, the brave strong earth pony who towered above her male pegasus counterpart. “It’s not fair I had to be stuck with a wimp like yourself.’

“Boo hoo.” Tapioca pretended to cry. “As if you couldn’t do this on your own.”

“I very much could have done this on my own, thank you very much.” Shiver held her head high, a brave ploy to hide the nerves inside. “Just think, it’s only a forest. What’s the worst that could happen? A manticore pops out of nowhere, feasting to eat us alive? A cockatrice with two new additions to their empire of statues? Dogs made out of the living branches of the trees surrounding us? Give me a break, it’s only a forest. Nothing more than that. Tall tales to stop the colts and fillies from being up past their bedtime.” Her teasing had done nothing more but invite the insanity lingering in Tapioca’s mind to reality, and it blinded her from the spiked roots of a rather large tree nearby which tripped her, causing her to tumble down a cliff.

“Oh my goodness, are you okay!?” Tapioca spread his wings and raced down the edge of the cliff, dodging other spiked barbs which threatened to preen his wings. He landed beside his companion, now somewhat dazed and confused. “Are you hurt?”

“My bones fractured in every joint in my body.”

“Stay right there, I’ll go get some help!”

Shiver grabbed his tail before he could make his grand exit. “I’m fine. Just a few bruises, nothing that won’t keep me from sleeping tonight.” She let go and held a hoof to her beating head. “Though perhaps I’m seeing things.”

Before the pair sat a long bridge stretching over a much steeper cliffside. On the other side, an unrecognizable structure waited with dusty doors, waiting to be explored. Shiver’s eyes lit up, and Tapioca recoiled.

“If you’re seeing ruins,” Tapioca said, “Then I’m seeing them too.”

“And if I’m not seeing ruins?”

“Well then, perhaps there’s something wrong with me.”

Shiver raised an eyebrow which transformed into the rolling of her eyes. “It looks like it’s been untouched for centuries.” She rubbed her chin, deep in thought, and motioned with a hoof. “You better start drawing. I think we’re the first to stumble upon this in a very long time.”

Tapioca didn’t hesitate; he threw his saddlebag from his back, dug out his drawing utensils, and began to paint the ruins, bridge, and cliffside which had rudely invited them down to the one-of-a-kind discovery. “Dis is great!” He exclaimed. “I can’t bebiebe it!”

Shiver wasted no time in crossing the bridge and stepping up the stairs into the foyer of the ruins. “I can’t believe it either.” She said to herself. Her companion rushed to her side, eyes now covered in stars. She took slow steps around the perimeters, grazing the unlit torches and dusty cobwebs with her tail. “I just can’t believe it. I truly can’t. This is amazing!”

“What do you dink it ith?” Tapioca asked, struggling to keep up with a quill in mouth and scrolls in wing.

“Can you please stop talking with your mouth full?” Shiver asked rather impolitely. Tapioca dropped the quill, and Shiver continued. “It must be some sort of a castle. Look.” She motioned to the desecrated piles of armor which evenly littered the seemingly random walls. She picked up a helmet, replacing her own, though she struggled to make it fit. “Darn things are too small.”

“Or you’re just so big.” Tapioca chidded. “Or perhaps ponies back then were just smaller.”

“I’ll choose to believe the latter.” Shiver took random turns this way and that. The pair’s hoofprints stained themselves in the dust of the walkways, and cobwebs fell victim to the point of her spear.

~~~***~~~

The pair eventually found themselves in front of a throne. The size far outweighed that of the armored remains within the hallways, and was even much too big for Shiver. “Who could have fit that?”

“Maybe a mantacore?” Tapioca suggested. “It’s about that size.” He sat in the middle and hastily mapped out the room, down to the very etchings on the throne.”

“Perhaps.” Shiver stepped around every nook and cranny, studying every fixture. “But I’d rather choose to believe it must have been for something else.” She pulled up on a banner much too stained to make sense of. “I do wonder however, how has this simply been abandoned for so long? Surely we can’t be the first. What happened to the residents? Why has this place deteriorated into such a fashion? Just…why?”

“And what could this be?” Tapioca asked, brushing the dust away from the structure protruding in the middle of the room; six perfectly round stones sat on scales circling the pylon in the middle. “Must have been some weird tradition or something.”

“I’m not sure.” Shiver tried to pick up a stone, but it was much too heavy, even for her. She strained, then gave up. “Lots of unknowns here. Perhaps we’ll get answers in time.”

Tapioca sat in the same place. His hooves, wings, and mouth were now covered in ink which seeped onto the stoney floor. Like a moth to a flame, it would take a miracle to pull him away from his scrolls.

Shiver took careful steps over the cracked glass littering the empty window frames in which branches found their way in. “What if this was the place of the banishment?”

“The banishment?”

“You know, that old story about Nightmare Moon? The one imprisoned on the moon?” She chuckled at the irony of the names.

“You think this could be it?” Tapioca pondered. “But why? Why would it go into such a state like this? Surely Princess Celestia would have wished to maintain it. After all, it was still a castle.”

“Who knows? Maybe bad memories, or-” she was interrupted by a series of spikes which sprung from the wall. She perfectly danced out of the way onto another pressure plate which opened the floor into a long endless pit. She yelped and screamed for help as she tripped and fell, only hanging on by a hoof. “Help!”

“Where did you go!?” Tapioca screamed. “Where are you!?”

“Over here!” Shiver screamed. Before she could be rescued, the sweat accumulating on her hoof caused her grip to slip, and she fell deep within the hole. She fell deep into the darkness, deep where nopony had ever gone, and disappeared from Tapioca’s voice.

~~~***~~~

“Are you alright?” An unfamiliar voice asked from the darkness. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. Just more bruises to stop me sleeping at night. Guess a good night’s sleep isn’t for me.” Shiver clutched her shoulder.

“I know how that can be.” Said the voice. “A good night’s sleep seems to be rather far away for either of us now.” The voice sighed. “I’m sorry you’ve gotten yourself into this mess.”

“Wha?” Shiver returned to the world of consciousness, but she couldn’t see anyone. “Who are you? Tapi?”

“No, I’m not Tapi. You don’t know me, and you won’t meet me. I…well, I am long gone from this world.”

“What in Celestia’s name are you talking about?” Shiver reached into the darkness, but could find nothing but dusty air.

“It’s okay,” the voice reassured her, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“That’s not what I was afraid of. I’m more afraid of being stuck down here forever.” She rubbed her eyes, hoping she could clean the lightbulb in her brain waiting to be lit. “But who are you?”

“I am neither here nor there. Perhaps I was at one point, but no longer am I here.”

“Great. Riddles. I sure do love riddles.” Shiver said with a totally-not sarcastic tone. She felt her way along a wall, surrounded by the pitch black nothing. “So what do I do? Are you going to help me or confuse me?”

“The only pony who can help you now is yourself.”

“I don’t know what that means.” She grumbled to herself. “I should have brought a torch.”

“Why are you here?”

“I fell down a well.”

“A well?” The voice inquired. “I did not know my castle had a well.”

“Oh ho, your castle you say? So the voice truly isn’t just in my head. Are you a spirit of some kind?”

“Is that what I am?”

The two sat silently, the words echoing through the deep nothingness. Shiver interrupted, “What happened?”

There was a longing silence once more, this time interrupted by the voice. “I’m remembering now; my castle, my kingdom, my…sister. Oh what great fun we had in our castle.”

“Okay, I think I get it,” Shiver said, doing her best to do what Tapioca would do better. “Am I right in assuming you’re the sister banished to the moon?”

“I don’t know.” Said the voice. “I know not what I am.”

“Listen,” Shiver nearly begged, “I’m not in the right headspace to brave this story. I just need to find a way out. This is your castle, is it not?” Then the lightbulb lit. “Can you, uh…well, what is it that you want?”

The voice pondered and sighed. “Perhaps a friend. Forgiveness. I hurt so greatly, and that has caused me to hurt many. There are many crimes I have yet to atone for, many seeds of wisdom waiting to bloom. I don’t know what I want.”

“Sheesh Ma’am, you really are throwing me through a loop here.”

“I apologize. My intention was not to complicate things.”

“We’re far past that.” Shiver said. She shook her head. “But it’s fine. Whatever.” She sat in place. “Seeming as I’m stuck here for now, would you uh…well, would you want to…maybe just like…talk?”

“Talk? Talk about what?”

“I don’t know. Your feelings I guess?” Shiver closed her eyes, swearing she could see something past her eyelids. “It’s never good to keep feelings like these to yourself. You said you’re hurt, and that you’ve caused hurt. I’m not really a therapist or anything, but if I was hurt, and if that led me to cause hurt, well, I would be beating myself up too.”

“That is true.” The voice pondered. “I believe the guilt of my actions are what’s keeping my conscious here. I never intended to hurt my subjects. I loved them dearly. But they hated me.”

“You caused hurt because they hurt you?”

“It was wrong, I know. Much like you, I found myself in a deep pit of darkness of which I could not escape.”

“And you didn’t ask for help?” Shiver asked. Her question was met with silence. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” The voice said. “You’re right, I should have asked for help. I wanted to so badly. But…”

“But you couldn’t.” Shiver said. Again, the deep dark room fell silent. “It must have been difficult for you.”

The voice wept. “I’m so lonely. I’m so very lonely.”

“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”

“Be sorry not. I remain trapped here in this void, but that is not your fault. None of this is your fault.”

“I know, but still, I wish I could help.”

“You’ve helped enough, Shiver Timber. I’ve, well, I haven’t cried like this in many nights.”

“Well uh, I guess I’m glad I could help.” Shiver stood and paced. “That said however, I’m still stuck. You don’t wish to keep me prisoner, do you?”

“Absolutely not. I’ve learned much in our brief conversation, but I wish no more to hold you captive. Thank you Shiver. I…thank you.”

“Uh, yeah, no problem.” Shiver mentally facehoofed, then scratched at the dark walls. “Now, do you know how I can get out of here?”

The darkness which covered the room enveloped her mind, and like a light switch, she fell asleep.

~~~***~~~

Shiver turned in bed, groaning as the pain of her bruises shot through every nerve of her body.

“You’re awake!” Tapioca shouted. “Thank goodness too, I don’t think I’m strong enough to carry your limp body back to camp.”

“I uh, yeah, I sure am awake.” Shiver sat up and clutched whatever bruise hurt the most. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. After you fell in that pit, I flew everywhere around the castle. You wouldn’t believe the things I found. I found you on a lower level, eyes dark and talking to a wall. Once you seemingly spotted me, you just fell limp. I had to carry you to this bed.” He proudly stretched his wings. “Are you okay?”

Shiver opened her mouth to speak, but no words could be found. She closed her mouth, pondered with a tapping hoof to her chin, then found those lost words. “I’m okay, yeah. Did you uh, did you happen to hear anything? Some kind of other voice?”

“No?” Tapioca inquired, “You must have hit your head real hard there.”

“Perhaps I did.” Shiver stood up on shaky hooves, supported by Tapioca’s frail body. “Thank you. And um…sorry about what I said earlier.”

“Where is this coming from?” Tapioca giggled. “Apologies are rather uncharacteristic of you.”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ve been thinking a lot of thoughts. A lot of things, really. But if I had hurt you in any way, I’m sorry. I greatly value you as a friend, and I would never wish to inflict any kind of harm upon you.”

“Oh, well, geeze, thanks, I guess.” He gave another giggle, this one more awkward than the last. “I uh, I appreciate it.” He helped Shiver down the stairs and out the front as they limped and returned to their camp. “I guess I value you too.”

“Thanks. It means a lot to hear that.” This time, Shiver giggled. “So uh, weird question, but uh, what do you think of Princess Luna?”

“Who?”