Stormy lost count of how much time did he cried in that room, the memory of her family hit him hard, that was something he decided to close deep in his mind, all he could remember is that is was so awful, that it made him abandon Manehatten, as a little Filly, and live on the streets, for a while, but almost all his fillyhood he forgot it, he lit up his face and dried his tears with his raincoat, he looked at the book that had the map for the archives and the riddle to get out, since the front door was already out of the question, he took the book and with his hooves he ripped the map, so he could use it this time, he also wanted to save as most magic as possible, something told him that, he will be using it a lot, he stored the map on his saddlebags, and also turned off the lantern and put it away on the saddlebags, he used his illumination spell to use his magic as lantern again, he took the steel pipe on his hooves and stand up from the table, he opened the door, leading to the 5F hallway… but that's when everything turned to worse, the hallway already looked old and in the same condition as the rest of the Archives… he slowly returned to the room he was, and it also looked twisted, old and with bloodstains on some places in the walls, the special books, most of them where missing, except the 2 books he already read, he noticed something on the table he was sit before, it looked like a puddle of blood, a drop of it keep falling on the puddle… his mind was telling him " don't look up… don't look up… DON´T LOOK ", but, his curiosity won again, his eyes looked at the ceiling, he saw a corpse in a advanced state of decomposition, without it skin, it was suspended on the roof with barbed wire, it had a glasses on what it looked was the face, a middle age mare, the only thing he could use to indentify the poor pony, was the glasses, he looked at the photo of the table…
"The…The Archives Receptionist! " Stormy almost jumped from the scare
At that moment, he saw a blade near him, he dodged to a side, it was the Iron Mask Pony, his mere presence was enough to make the radio burst into a loud Static, he had a coat on his empty hoof, with a scroll and quill cutie mark, Stormy knight mind did not took long to process what happened, that monster killed the receptionist!, his fear turn into anger as he launch himself to attack him using his recent found pipe. the creature did not move a inch when stormy hit it on the face with it
"You killed a helpless mare!" Stormy yelled
"…" The Iron Mask Pony did not replied
Instead of giving Stormy a answer, he thrown the mare ripped skin towards him, sadly, stormy receive it, all the blood was still fresh and it manage to get his raincoat, mane and hooves stained, the Iron Mask Pony attacked him, using its Big Knife, Stormy instincts and Guard training, told him to shield himself with the pipe, one of the dumbest idea he had all day, the creature strength was huge!, it manage to send him towards the window, which almost broke from the impact, he definitely could not fight that beast, he run away, back to the hallway, as far as his hooves could take him, he heard a sound of a opening door, just what he need it, the creature knows how to use doors, what next?, Dancing?, he did not waited any time on the 4F or 3F with that thing following him, he must get out of the Archives as soon as possible, so he moved towards the 2F, sure there was some doors he wasn't checked that had the Custodian Badge slot, but it was better to come later in daytime, he got quickly to the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing, the door was open, as expected, he closed the door and pushed a bookshelf to give him time, the secret entrance was there, he must use the Hourglass, it was so obvious, he checked the clock, for his bad luck, some of the ornaments of the clock was broken, thanks to Iron Mask, but there was something inside of the sand clock, it looked like a page of a book, Stormy tried to read the title before the sand covered it, it reads " Song of Time "
"Oh perfect!, even if I get the page I could not perform it, my magic only allow me levitation or illumination at the moment, not time manipulation. " Stormy was starting to get irritated
He noticed something like a hole to use something as lever, the pipe he was holding was 1 meter long, so he used the round end of the pipe and put it on the hole, it seems the "lever" could now be moved downwards, so, he did it, as soon as a click was heard, he took the pipe out of the hole, the clock seems to starting to turn around, like spinning, when the clock ended up spinning, the sand on the clock stopped, and just in the center of it, on the ornament, what it looks like a button appeared, Stormy press it, and the clock remaining ornament detached from the clock, and it had turned into a horizontal lever, it did not take much thinking of what to do next, he pushed the lever clockwise, but it did not happen anything, he tried pull it counterclockwise, and the circle where he was, clock included, started to lower itself moving towards the Archives Basement, during the decent, the clock was working, and the sand magically was returning to the upper part of the clock, leaving the book page on the below part without sand, but the deeper the clock goes, the more darker it became, there was one point where the Illumination Magic only was able to let Stormy see where he was putting his hooves, until a loud Clank was heard, it took too much time to get to the basement, but when he did came… the top of the sand clock suddenly started to give light… Stormy stopped using his illumination spell, but then, he locked down, besides the circular plate where he was before, the floor was made of fence!, and he looked in front of him, there was a big creature in front of him, it looked almost the size of a Teenage dragon, but it had fangs and it color was very dirty, it was also very fat and big, it had two front claws with chains on the upper claw, and the back of the body had missing the back hooves, the spinal column was visible as so part of some bones, what shock Stormy the most, is that it was eating another monsters, he saw at the floor and noticed several Hopping Ponys and Ceiling Filly's screaming in pain, the creature put several of them out of their misery by ripping them apart, as soon as Stormy lay a hoof out of the circle, the sand clock erupted into flames, providing with enough light for the creature to notice Stormy presence, the face did not had eyes, or at least that is what it looked, they where black all over, and just a tiny dot in color red, what could be the iris, the creature with its two massive claws moved towards Stormy, who was still frozen, his mind reacted in time from where the claws of the beast was just centimeters from him, he hold the grip of the steel pipe with his remaining magic, he moved to a side making the creature miss, Stormy attacked him with the pipe, it didn't seem to do much, due to the massive mass of the creature, the creature turned around and hit Stormy with his claw, it ripped his raincoat and also injured him on his side, the nails where very sharp, and he could already feel a little amount of blood leaving his body, but he had a idea, taking advantage of his speed, he hit the spine column with the pipe, although the creature seems to had felt the hit, it turned around and attacked stormy again, he had to try another thing, he tried of using his magic Bullet Spell, but his current magic amount only will last him for 3 fires, he galloped towards the creature, the Monster took the bait and moved towards him, trying to eat him alive, Stormy´s horn glowed as he hit the creature in the face with the steel pipe, making it turn another way, he climbed on the creature and stabbed his horn on the creature dark eye, he then shoot one magical bullet across it, the creature let a loud roar as it's blood stained Stormy face, the blood of the creature was dark red, Stormy´s horn was covered in blood as he was send away hitting the floor by the creature strength, he felt a big pain on his back, the creature, even with one eye working, he could see Stormy very well due to the flames on the clock, it raised it's claw to squash Stormy like a bug, Stormy had a idea, he placed the Pipe on the holes in the Fence and hold into it, when the creature lowered it's claw, the pipe went through it's flesh, since the previous usage of the pipe have sharpen it a little, the creature lifted the pipe making room for him to get out of the way and stand up, the creature had something Stormy did not noticed before, the left hoof had a bracelet, Stormy had to recover his pipe, the creature bit the pipe and took it out of its claw, making it impact the floor, Stormy charged another magical bullet, using that weapon takes too much of him, thanks Celestia he was trained in how to control it use it efficiently, he galloped to the back of the creature and shoot his second fire at close range, the impact manage to break the bone and the creature stopped for a moment, Stormy tried to find his pipe, he was surprised he was actually fighting something so big, the pipe was bloodstained on the floor, he picked up without using his magic
"All right… time to take out the big ugly here" he said as he faced the creature
Unfortunately, the Creature wounds only made it more mad, as it moved more faster to Stormy, this time he could not react in time, the claws of the creature stabbed Stormy body as if he where made of paper, he could feel the cold air and the blood escaping his body, the creature throw Stormy into the fence floor, Stormy felt as how the floor literally broke, he ended up hanging on the edge, he was using the pipe as a improved sword to prevent him from falling to the bottomless abyss
"Gah!, you have got to be kidding me!, that fence did not broke with the creature weight, but it did with a attack?!, Sweet Luna, how Im going to beat this thing?" Stormy questioned himself as he put all his strength on getting back up on the fence floor.
Once he was able to get out of the hole, something felt from his saddlebag, it was the energy drink!, it felt into the abyss, the creature had ripped a hole in it, he did not had time to check if anything else was missing, so he galloped towards the creature, and the creature just opened his fangs to eat Stormy up, he used his Steel pipe and managed to use it to prevent the creature to close it mouth, he charged his last bullet spell
"Open Wide! " Stormy screamed as he used his last bulled with all his strength
He did not knew how much amount he used on that last bullet, but he remember that it took it all his remaining magic, the creature coughed blood as a large thump was heard, the creature was no longer moving, Stormy tired took the pipe and hit the creature head several times, the creature did not moved. It was dead, a faint eco of a Siren was heard at the distance, as Stormy could not stand anymore and felt towards the ground, fainting from exhaustion…everything turned into black again.
During the time he was unconscious, he could hear some voices, some voices that echoed in the darkness, he tried to pay attention, but his body was not moving, they where kind of fuzzy, all he could see was a little colt standing next to a big pony in a expensive suit
"Get out of my office Kid, that is not my jurisdiction" Said the big pony while he was eating a big amount of hay fries
"What in the hay do you mean is not you jurisdiction?!, my mother, your secretary is very ill!, she could lost my little bro that is on it's way!, how can you run a Town if you don't help others?! " the little colt yelled
"I said Get out!, Guards! Take this filly out of my office! "the big pony angrily yelled, as the guards took the colt out
"You will not get away with this!, you will pay! " those where the last words of the colt before he was throw outside the office
Stormy´s eyes started to open, still dizzy from the fight… but those voices keep echoing on his mind… he was able to recognize one of them… the little colt one, it was his voice, maybe a fragment of the past he forgot, once he was able to open his eyes without feeling dizzy, he noticed with his hooves that the floor was solid, it was concrete, he took his lantern out and turn it on, he noticed a key on the floor, it reads " Canterlot Castle Main Gate", this was the key for the main doors of the Canterlot Castle, he took it and place it on his saddlebags, but the key felt thought a hole, he took all his items to see if he was missing something, the Book of the Song of Harmony, prevented the lost of the little Custodian Badge, same thing goes for the maps, radio and ocarina, but the Energy Drink was the only thing missing, he looked at his current place, it was a basement, with several wooden boxes there and some very old fabrics, like if they had not being used on a long time, most of the boxes had books, also there was only one door, he took one of the fabrics to fill up the hole on his saddlebags, but it was too big, he checked the room for something else, he noticed some needles, not for tailoring, but it will have to do, he tear a piece of the fabric and started to stitch the bag, sadly for him, using his hooves, since his magic was out again, once he finally was able to fill the hole, he placed all his items and the key again on the bags, he notices on the room that the Hourglass for the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing was right next to him, the sand was in the upper part, but the lower part do not longer had the Song of Time page, he tried to see if the page was near him, so he tried to pull the lever clockwise to go up back, but when he touched the lever, the page was wrapped up like a stroll
"Ok… this is strange, how in Equestria did the page got out of the hourglass?" he questioned as he read the page contents
With his current state, no effect would happen if he play it, due to his lack of magic, but that doesn't mean he didn't read it, the page described that it will turn time backwards or forward depending what the user wants, it affect the whole environment, but the user and the ones that touch him in that moment will be unaffected.
"…" he took the book out of the saddle bags and placed the page inside after he finish reading it "So… Basically, I and anypony who touch me meanwhile I play it, will travel thought time for a couple of hours, and only I and the secondary traveler will remember "
Stormy sighed for a moment, finding the new song he found not very useful in this kind of hell, also the magic song seems to consume a good amount of energy, he got up and held the lantern with his mouth, as he stored the book back with the new page, he walked towards the door he had in front, he walked upwards, as the Receptionist book said, the stairs took him outside, he was in the little path that leads towards Canterlot Streets, Luna wasn't joking when she said she couldn't see the floor from her room, the town was covered with a very dense and thick fog.
Once he was back at the streets, he did no longer needed the lantern, the daylight was providing light enough to continue forward, so he put it away on the bags, he tried to go to his apartment, it was not long from the library, he remembered he had some cupcakes left on home, and even a green apple, so he hurried back to home, he took the usual street, right next to the restaurant, but when he turned around the corner, the road was destroyed, there was no way to enter that way.
" no way… here too?, what Im going to do now?"
Stormy was trying to find a answer, he looked at his building, where his apartment was, and the hole itself, most of the buildings next to the hole are almost falling inside, but his apartment remains untouched, that means, there must be another way, he had to go back, and take a detour, between the Art Gallery, the radio emitted a faint static, on the fog, Stormy manage to indentify a hopping pony, he did not had time to fight it, so he run away instead, the radio stopped the sound, seems that the creatures where not fast enough, he found out that the street, right next to the Fairytale's Bookshop Store, his apartment was there, he was in the Canterlot Residential Area, he placed his hoof on the doorknob and open it, once he enter inside the building, he had to go a couple of stairs up, once he opened the door, it was still as he left it, cupcakes where laying on the floor, his video game consoles perfectly hooked up to his TV, his bathroom, he searched his table for the green apple, but it was not there, he searched for the cupcake, there was only 1 left… can he have already eaten all of them during the last 4 months?, he carefully placed the cupcake on a little cardboard box and store it on his saddlebags, the Mint Cupcake, was his favorite, Pinkie Pie usually makes it for him when he is feeling depressed, a echo of another memory sounded in his head, it was Pinkie Pie singing, and he even heard her bouncing happily, he opened his kitchen door, and he was frozen in place, for what he saw
"All you have to do is take a cup of flour,
Add it to the mix!
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour,
A bit of salt-just a pinch!
Baking these treats is such a cinch,
Add a teaspoon of vanilla.
Add a little more, and you count to four
And you never get your fill-a~
Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty~
Cupcakes-don't be too hasty,
Cupcakes~ cupcakes,Cupcaaaaaaakes! "
Said Pinkie Pie singing to a younger little colt, as she made cupcakes with him, Stormy eyes filled with tears, he noticed the little colt, and that memory, it was the first time he had saw Pinkie pie, when he was a little colt, when he first visit Ponyville
"… I guess a little bit of mint will also work " the little colt replied
"Pinkie Pie!" Stormy screamed jumping towards her
When Pinkie noticed, she smiled, Stormy tried to hug her, but he went through her like a ghost, he turned around and Pinkie Pie was no longer on there, the kitchen had remaining of cake mix and candies all over the place, the fridge was also opened, with 2 green apples inside, Stormy picked up one apple and eat it… satisfied to had eaten something, but his face still had some tears left, he store the other apple on his bag just in case, he felt as if a bigger amount of magic had returned to him, but his smile, quickly turned into a sad expression, he imagine Pinkie Pie there, even though, he already knew he was all alone there, he tried hard not to cry, remembering he still have a mission to do.
" I Can't waste anymore time now, I must go to the Canterlot Castle "
He turned, ready to leave, he was aware that the apple will spoil quickly, so he had like a 30 minute window for it, when he turned around to take a final look on the kitchen, he noticed something on the bowl with cake mix, candies and vanilla, Stormy took it out, it was a key, with a cupcake in it
"What in the name of Pink?, this is the Sugar Cube Corner Key, how in Equestria did this key get to Canterlot from Ponyville?!" Stormy was more confused that ever
Sugar Cube Corner was located in Ponyville, how did the key to Pinkie house get in there?, he store it in his saddlebags, it was starting to get full, so he used the same spell he used on his raincoat to have extra space, of course, it was testing to see if the apple, which it did, with his magic restore to a half, he could perform more spells, he exited his apartment, the same way he enter it, and ran towards the Canterlot Castle.
As expected, there was no guards on the front gate, Stormy took out the key from the castle from his saddlebags and use it on the Castle Main Doors, the clicking sound of a unlocking was heard, Stormy moved forward inside the Castle.
"The Canterlot Castle… this is where I came to train to be a Lunar Guard… "
Stormy remembered his first sword training, the attacks with magic that he learned from Shinning Armor, even he remember playing his ocarina at night on the training grounds, he took his ocarina out and played the Winds of Friendship song, to contact with Princess Luna again, the amount of magic he used this time, was more little that last time, and the ocarina this time reacted almost immediately, the princess had responded
"I heard the song from up here, I guess you are in the Castle right?" She said
"Yeah Princess, im coming, have you seen anything unusual?" Stormy replied, worried about her safety
"you should be more concerned about you guard, but yes, I heard a metallic echo on the hallways, but I did not saw the pony with your sword" The Princess replied
Stormy concern grew more, the metallic echo is the big knife from the Iron Mask Pony he encounter on the Archives!, how in Equestria did he get there so fast?, he started to run, levitating his ocarina to keep in contact with his magic.
"Im going to your room, hang in there, and if you heard the echo getting more and more closer, don´t wait for me!, get out! " Stormy replied to the princess, his voiced sounded scared
"You should hurry, I heard the echoes on the Castle Armory "The princess said to stormy as the ocarina stopped glowing
Stormy stored his ocarina on his saddlebags and eat the second green apple, his magic was recovered not to the maximum, he was going to need it if the Iron Mask Pony was on the Castle, he took the map from the castle, and took the quickest route to the Princess Celestia and Luna's bedrooms.
The Castle was intact, the armors, torches, carpets on the floor, even the curtains or the doors, everything was as if they never got damaged, he passed through the Guards training grounds, that is when he noticed the door to the bedrooms locked, he kicked the door several times, but it didn't budge, Stormy called the princess from below, but his voice could not be heard, he remembered that Luna said the Iron mask Pony was on the Armory, that is on the Basement 1, almost next to the dungeons, his instinct told him to check the Throne Room, since Celestia spend most of her time there, she must have the key, The thone room was on the 2F from the main lobby, he moved to there, but when he open the door… a blood trail goes towards the throne… Stormy felt a cold chill heading down towards his spine, he stained glass showed the heroic deeds of the Mane 6, Defeating Nightmare Moon, Returning Discord to his Stone prison, and even Spike saving the Crystal Empire, when Stormy reached the throne… Celestia´s crown was there, but no trace of the princess… just a huge amount of blood making her silhouette, Stormy did not liked the looks of this… should he inform Luna?, the Crown had blood in it, but below it, was a blood stained page that it reads " Princess Lullaby " it was another song from the book, but Stormy was not able to finish reading it, since his radio started to emit a static, he turned around and saw the Armored Shadow from the Archives, the armor he had to fled because nothing was able to hurt it, he had no need to use the illumination spell, since the light entered from the windows, he concentrated and used a magic bullet on the creature, the creature took the blow, it didn't do anything, Stormy stepped back, as the Armored Shadow tackle him, he dodged to a side and almost immediately hit the helmet of the armor, the helmet was send flying to a extreme of the room, but the shadow pony was still ready to attack.
Stormy as ready to attack, he hit with the steel pipe another piece of armor, and noticed that the shadow pony made a face like if he was hurt, that's it!, the Armored Pony is just a possessed Armor, taking out each piece with a strong hit, will break the pony connection to it, The shadow pony used his own armor as weapon and hit stormy on his stomach, making him move backwards, the creature tackle him again, making Stormy hit the floor, when the Creature tried to step on Stormy body, Stormy charged one magical bullet on a non protected part of the shadow body, the bullet hit him, making the creature scream in pain, seems that light based magic is deadly to it, Stormy charged another blast and finish the creature off, the remaining pieces of the armor felt to the ground.
"uuff… for a shadow, it really had quite a kick"
Stormy took advantage of this moment and read the page he found, it says that it was the princess Lullaby when they where little filly's , used to be played by The Mother Alicorn, but the Alicorn name was bloodstained and could not be read, but the song was readable, Stormy played the song, and it was not hard to master, but the magic consumed was not much, seems it didn't had any magic effects, sadly the key was not in the Throne Room, so he moved towards the kitchen, not before taking Celestia´s Tiara just in case that Luna asked what happened to her sister. When he exited the throne room, the radio burst into static, he saw 2 Ceiling Filly, he was not going to waist time, so he fired his magic bullets, it took 2 shots to kill them, Stormy entered the kitchen, but it smelled horrible, several ants where on the tables and the cooking pots had dried soup in them, he put his hoof on his nose for a while, " sweet Luna…. This smells horrible, hard to think 4 months ago this was used to make wedding food "Stormy think to himself, as he searched for the key, or something he could use, there was a note on the table… with a blood stained knife?
"2 horns, 3 Pegasus feathers, a liver and a heart….. What kind of soup is this!? "
Stormy was shocked to read the note, it looked like somepony was cooking ponys, this made him instantly throw up, he did not wanted to check the pots or the fridge, he did not had enough courage for that, he exited the kitchen and headed to the Guards Private rooms, yeah, each guard that chooses to live in the palace, get their own room, separated due to ranks, from the lower, to the highest Rank, once Stormy entered the tower where the rooms are, he heard a little static, seems there was a creature near him, he did not wanted to lose time, he was concerned about the princess, he checked room per room, most of them had the doorknobs broken, or the door was destroyed allowing to see inside, although, the rooms that they where opened, they had something at least to use, one room had a Energy drink, another room had a red apple, and a Soldier Diary?
"a soldier diary?, let see… the last page was from 4 days ago" Stormy said as he read the contents of the book
"I Overheard some Lunar Guards last night, the Princess Luna is not been able to sleep at all, is just like those stories that the Element of Laughter told us the last time she was here on royal duty, according to her, you lost your appetite for your favorite meals, also you look sad and tired, then the nightmares came back, I think the problem was caused due to the recent events with the Cristal Empire, the Princess wanted to help, but Princess Celestia insisted on letting Twilight Sparkle go, most of us the Lunar Guards, sometimes see her taking long flights around Canterlot and Ponyville with a few hours, maybe seeking advise from the Element of Magic?, I don't even know now, I want to help our princess, but only Shinning Armor had the key to enter the Princess Towers, when is bedtime, all Guards must leave, to let either Celestia or Luna sleep… what could be making Princess Luna stay awake even in daytime? "
Stormy stopped reading… could be… that the Luna he was talking about, was another creature disguised as the Princess he swore to protect?, or that really, the Princess herself is also having nightmare, that are somewhat connected to him? How can that be possible… unless…. He exited the current guard room, it was a Solar Guard, maybe other guards keep more information in they journals, he searched more decided this time each room, he entered on a Lunar Guard room, besides their armor, a note was on the bed, looks like a journal entry, just what he was searching for… but this one was very strange, it had some messages missing, it was bloodstained.
"No Sleep-That Raincoat Colt- Bad Dream- " the note continued stained for a while, but there was a readable part, it said ; " I know his Sin, and I will tell the princess! "
For some reason, those last words send shivers to Stormy spine, what could he have knew to write that?, he tried to exit the room, but he felt something on his back again, the radio bust into static, it was a Ceiling Filly, those little devils where very good at avoiding activating the radio, just that this ceiling filly was different, besides the already look and screws they have on the head, it was wearing a remaining of what it looked to a suit, a cyan suit, Stormy shook it off, and attacked him with the Steel pipe, the filly escaped the attacked, launching itself a attack, Stormy placed the pipe in defense, the creature ended up biting the pipe, Stormy swing the pipe downwards making the creature hit the floor hard, the creature got up, but stormy used his pipe again on its head, the creature started to emit a painful growl, Stormy put all his strength on the last blow, making the filly to go quiet… painlessly… it did not felt the hit… he exited the room quickly and searched for other rooms, there was only 3 rooms remaining, Shinning Armor room, his teammate and his superior in the Lunar Guards, Noirstar, and the room from the second in command from the Solar Guards, Starlight Sight, he checked Starlight first, he loved seeing stars at night, he found another journal entry in the telescope on his room, Stormy read it to find more information on what is happening to Luna
"Being awake at night, like most of the Lunar Guards, I can see many things, one night I saw the princess Luna, crying in her room, talking to Princess Celestia, seems she still has a hard time getting used to the modern times, but I had overheard several strange rumors about the princess of the night, she had been suffering of terrible nightmares, so awful that even Celestia was shocked, I could not hear much, but I could noticed on the weeks after that conversation, that Princess Luna was awake most of the time during the Day, trying to be helpful in any way, one day even she took a armor and made guard with us for a whole shift, kind of humorous really, but still the same problems happens each time she want to sleep, Celestia herself told us to keep this information secret, but I have to get it out of my head, she said that Luna had been having nightmares where she ended up murdering everypony on the Castle, including Celestia, being possessed by Nightmare Moon again, could be possible?, that the Elements of Harmony had not eliminated all of the corrupted state of Luna, when she was Nightmare Moon?, only time will tell, she told us she will try something to help her, let's pray that Celestia knows what the hay she is doing…"
That Last journal entry cleared all to Stormy, or at least the reason Luna was also there… she had been having the same horrible Nightmares as him, that's why Celestia took immediate response to his plea of help… with more reason that ever, he wanted to get to the princess, she will not survive this hell all by herself, not with her fear being corrupted again, he searched the remaining 2 rooms, The one from Noirstar was opened as he entered the room, he founded painted in green color, the floor was slippery and the closet had a spare armor, but the strange thing of the room, was a recent letter, addressed to Noirstar, Stormy read it carefully, Noirstar was one of his closer fiends on the force. But it said something on the letter, it says….
"My Subject, or should I call you Noirstar now?, I will get straight to the point, I didn't send you to infiltrate the Royal Guard to make friends!, you are a subject, who lives to serve me, I own you, get it? I know that you have been very happy on Canterlot, let me tell you, that happiness will not last forever, one day, Celestia will know that you are a Changeling and will banish you, all the ponys you knew will turn around, so I will give you one final order, go to the princesses Bedrooms and kill them both!, only like that you will be accepted back on the Hive!, otherwise… well, let's just say that I will pray a lot to do not see each other again. Your Truly, Queen Chrysalis, Changeling Queen "
There was something else on the letter, Stormy turned around, it was green blood writing, and had a key attached to it, it says…
"I can't do it!, but… what about if they never know?, I want to be remembered as a pony, not as a traitor changeling, but this are my Queen orders…. For the love of Celestia!, I can't take it anymore! Somepony… anypony….Help me... "
It was Noirstar writing, this was too much info to digest…his best buddy, was a changeling?, that can't be true!, if he was a changeling, he has been feeding on love from everypony, he could be easily kill Celestia or Luna, but why he hadn't say anything?... oh yeah… the Wedding invasion, if he had said anything after the wedding, Celestia would probably had locked him in a dungeon and banish him, maybe he was too scared to talk?, and maybe, just maybe on the back of his mind he always had suspected of him, the strange strength and agility, ability to fly without any visible wings, and his green magic aura when he shield himself, he couldn't also betray his friend in telling Luna or Celestia, but will defend himself if necessary, he took the key from the letter, it was the princess tower key, he took the key and place it on his saddlebags, he checked the last room, it was Shinning Armor room, did he ever lock his door? The place had a big picture of Princess Cadance and the Armor he always wear on the Castle, she sometimes visit Shinning Armor in his room, that is why the bed is big for 2 ponys, he searched the room, there was a white stain on the bed, also, there was lot of funny smells on the room, a adult pony would already know what happened there, but there was something on the bed, besides the white stain on it, it was a magic stroll, it mentioned a more powerful bullet spell, with it, he could fire more bullets using less magic, or even a send energy to his sword, or in this case, pipe, to make it more powerful in each hit,, also it had a magic shield spell, but the amount of magic to use it was huge, he had to increase his magic limit, Stormy read it and store it on his saddlebags to practice it later, he exited Shinning Armor room and galloped full speed to the Princesses Bedroom.
During the way he was meditating about what he had found out so far, Celestia is nowhere to being seen, Luna had the same nightmares as he had, about murdering innocent ponys, and the problem with Noirstar, if all that information is correct, then he is definitely not on a dream, he is on another dimension, trapped on a endless nightmare, he reached to the tower, but at least 3 hopping ponys where waiting for him, Stormy took the magic scroll he took from Shinning Armor room, and tried his improved spell, the magic bullets where more powerful, the hopping ponys took the fires, and was enough to took them out with one shot, he then used the key on the doors and open them, he could hear a metallic echo on the tower, Stormy heart jumped to his neck as the echo was getting louder, each time he took a step closer to The Princess Luna bedroom, he tried to enter Celestia´s room, but the door was damaged, he reached to Luna room, and called her, as she mentioned, the door was locked from the outside with a powerful magic on the doorknob.
"Princess… im here!" Stormy called to the door
"Guard?, you sound more childish in person, get me out of here" Luna replied
"That's what Im trying, but there is a powerful magic spell on the door, it won't budge" Stormy mentioned as he tried to kick the door down
"It´s no use, I felt my sister magic on the doorknob, why did she left me in my room locked?, did you find her Guard? " Luna asked, her voice sounded concerned
Stormy has gone silent… what he was going to tell her?, Sorry Luna, your sister is dead and only I had her bloodstained tiara, yeah, that sounds very smooth, he tried to reply to the princess, but each time he tried to open his mouth… the words wouldn't come out, Luna asked again, and Stormy found no other way that telling the truth to her…
"Im sorry Luna… you are the only one alive that I had encounter so far… I only found Celestia´s tiara covered in blood on the throne room " Stormy told her the truth
"….."Luna did not replied, just her breathing was heard
"Princess?, Princess!, Luna say something!" Stormy started to worry
"….." again no response from the princess
Stormy panicked, he was not getting response from the princess, he took Celestia tiara and wear it himself, he remembered a spell that Celestia used to lock the elements of harmony hallway, maybe he could imitate it? He concentrated all his magic on his horn, sparks where forming on the tip, he inserted his horn on the hole in the doorknob and used a unlocking spell on the door, he was so panicked and worried that his magic aura was getting bigger, but mysteriously, his body flashed for a second, like if something had awoken, after he used his spell, his horn was still glowing… but had not a mysteriously dust, he touch it and noticed that the " dust " disappeared…and his horn stopped to emit magic, the color from that dust was pure white… as the Moon, that the princess Luna always bring. He got up and opened the door, storing Celestia´s Tiara in his saddlebags.
The Princess was still unconscious, seems the impression of her sister demise was too much for her, Stormy gently picked her up, she was very heavy, and place her on her royal bed, this was his first time on the Princess Bedroom, no guard had ever do that, well, right now he is no guard, just a civilian, he tried to make the princess react, but she was out cold, Stormy took advantage of this and searched her room, he was going to take the princess with him, the Castle was no longer a safe place, when he opened her closet, and took her saddlebags, he tried to find something that Luna could use as a weapon, her room was filled with videogames consoles and games, but nothing she could use as a alternative weapon, Stormy used his pipe to rip a piece of wood from the door, about one meter long, when he finds another pipe, he will give it to her, he took another look to her bedroom, he tried seeing under her bed, and found out a Energy Drink, Stormy decided to keep the Apple and put in Luna's Saddlebags, the energy drinks he had, once he finish checking her room, he turned his attention to her… this was the first time he was actually this close to the princess, ever since he joined the Royal Guard, he remember the first time he saw the full moon, it was when he was a little colt in Manehattan, he placed his hoof on her shoulder, but she let a painful glow, like if she was sad or something.. he could not blame her, she just lost Celestia in this nightmare, Stormy took out the his ocarina, and played the Princess Lullaby song, since it did not had any magical effect, he use it to relax Luna, it seems that it worked, since she smiled, she got herself up, she let out a yawn…
"Good morning Guard" Luna replied
"Good afternoon Princess, sorry about the news" Stormy apologized for telling her about Celestia
"Don´t worry guard, im sure my sister will not die easily, maybe you found her tiara but not her actual body" Princess Luna said, getting herself out of bed "you prepared my saddlebags? Guard, don't you know about personal space?"
"well excuuuuse me princess, but the Castle is not precisely safe right know, we need to get out" Stormy said to her, kind of mad that the princess didn't thank him
"I understand " said Luna, as she equipped her saddlebags " Stormy Brave was your name, was it guard?" she asked
"yeah… that is my name…" Stormy replied
"Stormy Brave…. I would like you to tell me… what is going on" Luna demanded answer from her new companion
Just in that instant, a Siren sounded again… the light was quickly fading away and the castle was turning into a twisted version of itself, just like in the library, Stormy used his illumination magic, and Luna dis the same, the princess bed was turning red and old, also dirty, the games consoles where also starting to gain rust, and even the flat TV fall apart, Luna, saw how not only her room but also the whole castle started to change, first the walls, losing some concrete and paint, leaving rusty steel rods on them, and the wood form the door felt over, the carpet on their hooves started to had holes, and the floor had a very rusty and dirty look, the floor had some holes in it and what it looked like rain started to fall, this eliminates Stormy theory that Luna bring the night, since her horn is not glowing, maybe in this limbo, the weather and time is controlled by itself…
"GUARD!, WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE MOON IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" Luna screamed using her royal Canterlot voice, as she saw the state of the castle
"Ouch, my ears!, Luna, I have no idea to be honest" Stormy covered his ears " but I can tell you that staying in one place will not be a good idea, we need to keep moving, stay really close to me " Stormy said to Luna
Both of them started to descend from the Princesses Bedrooms or Royal Quarters as the map described that place, Stormy prepared his steel pipe just in case, the princess had a serious look on his face… but Stormy already knew that inside that brave look she is making, she is as scared as him right now, stormy asked her a Question…
"Luna…. You also… had been having terrible nightmares right?"
The Princess Face changed completely…Stormy saw her… and she was frozen… she simply nodded, answering positive to Stormy´s Question, the princess could not believe it, she was really that easy to read?, she hold her tears as she followed stormy, he was silent, he didn't want to cause her to remember a painful memory