Chapter 17
The Trials Beyond the trapdoor
The past couple of weeks have been rough for Twilight. She couldn't forget the terrifying night in the forest. It was difficult for her to focus in any of her classes. That wasn't her only problem because she also had to deal with the burning pain from her cutie mark. The pain got worse everyday until she couldn't take it anymore.
"Twilight, are you feeling alright?" The unicorn then turned to see concerned glances from Applejack and Rarity. Twilight knew that she couldn't keep the pain a secret anymore and decided to tell the truth. "It's just that I'm feeling a lot of pain from my cutie mark." Twilight explained. "It's happened before hasn't it?" Rarity guessed. "Yes, but it never hurt this badly. I think it's supposed to be a warning for when danger is near. It can only mean that Flintheart is close to achieving his goal." Twilight fretted.
As Twilight was talking, she caught a glimpse of Big Mac working outside his hut and it gave the unicorn an idea. "Of course!" she exclaimed and rushed towards the hut. "Twilight, where are you going?" Applejack asked as she and Rarity followed Twilight. "Do you two find it a bit strange that Big Mac has a fondness for phoenixes and somepony just happened to show up with a phoenix egg? What if that pony wanted some valuable information that only Big Mac knew?"
Twilight approached Big Mac's cottage, and the stallion waved. "Good afternoon, Twilight!" he greeted. "Big Mac, I need to ask you something. Who was the pony who gave you the phoenix egg?" "I can't say for sure. The pony had his hood up." the stallion explained. "But he must have said something. Did he ask you for anything?" Twilight asked. Big Mac took a moment to think back to that day and said, "Now that you mention it, he did ask me if I knew anything about calming down wild animals. I used Cerberus as an example and told him that Cerberus falls asleep when listening to calm music."
The three friends stared at the stallion, shocked. They couldn't believe that he gave important information to a stranger. "I shouldn't have told you that." Big Mac muttered. "Sorry, Big Mac, but we have to leave now." Twilight said as she turned to leave. "Wait! Come back!" Big Mac called out. His calls fell on deaf ears as Twilight and her friends already left. They climbed the stairs leading to Celestia's office. When they opened the door, they didn't find Celestia, but Cadance instead.
"Professor Cadance, we need to speak to Professor Celestia! It's an emergency!" Twilight explained. Cadance looked up from the desk. "I'm sorry, but Professor Celestia isn't here right now. She is off on official Canterlot business." the pink alicorn explained. "Professor Celestia is gone!" Rarity gasped. "But this is important!" Applejack exclaimed. "Somepony is planning to steal the Sorcerer's Stone!"
The farm pony quickly covered her mouth when she realized that she mentioned the stone. Cadance stared at the three friends in disbelieve. "I don't know how you three know about the stone, but it is well protected. Now please go back to your dormitories and don't mention the stone to anypony else." With defeated sighs, Twilight and her friends left Celestia's office.
"What are we going to do now?" Twilight asked as she and her friends made their way through the school hallway. "With Celestia gone, now would be the perfect opportunity for Flintheart to steal the stone!" "Good afternoon." came an all too familiar voice. Flintheart stood above the three friends, giving them a cold glare. "And what do you three think you're doing?" Twilight and her friends stared at the potion master in the eye, but were to scared to speak. "W-We were j-just-" Rarity stuttered for an answer, but couldn't find the words.
"You three better not be planning to sneak out. Ponies might think you are up to something." Without another word, Flintheart turned to leave. "This isn't good." Applejack fretted. "Flintheart knows that Celestia isn't here! What are we going to do, Twilight?" The unicorn already knew what to do, but she wasn't going to like it. "We are heading for the trapdoor tonight."
Night time has fallen on Canterlot and everypony went to sleep. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity took this time to sneak down the stairs into the common room. The moment they reached the bottom of the stairs, they heard a thumping sound from below. They looked down to see Fluttershy's pet bunny, Angel who was stomping his foot in annoyance. He pointed back up the stairs, telling the trio to go back to bed. Twilight didn't need to speak animal to know what he was saying. "Angel, go back to bed. You aren't supposed to be down here."
"Neither should you!" a voice scolded, startling the three friends. A stern-looking Fluttershy then revealed herself. "Fluttershy!" Twilight gasped. "We can explain! We were just-" "No! I won't listen!" the pegasus yelled. Twilight and her friends were surprised by Fluttershy's outburst. They never heard her sound so assertive before.
"I know what you are planning to do. You're only going to get Gryffindor in trouble again! I will stop you in any way I can." Fluttershy said. "Fluttershy, please forgive me for this!" Rarity said as she took out her wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" The moment the spell hit Fluttershy, her body became paralyzed and she fell to the floor. "Was casting that spell necessary, Rarity?" Applejack asked. "I really feel awful for doing this, but she should recover soon." Rarity explained. The trio then started to leave, but not before apologizing to Fluttershy.
After casting the invisibility spell, Twilight and the rest of her friends retraced their hoof steps back to Cerberus' room. They approached the door and unlocked it for the second time. Unlike their last visit, the room was filled with soothing music being played by an enchanted harp. "Oh no! Flintheart has already been here!" Twilight whispered.
She directed her attention to Cerberus, who was sleeping peacefully with his paw on the trapdoor. "Applejack. Rarity. Help me move Cerberus' paw." The three ponies carefully lifted the paw and moved it slowly to the side so they wouldn't wake the sleeping beast. With the paw out of the way, Twilight and her friends opened the door and peeked inside. The trapdoor was pitch-black. There was no telling how far down it was.
"Listen, girls!" Twilight spoke up. "If anything bad happens down there, I want you two to get yourselves out and find some help." "We're not going to leave you behind Twilight! We are in this together." Rarity explained. "Hold on a moment. Why is it so quiet all of a sudden?" Applejack asked. Fearing the worst, the trio moved their gazes to where the harp once was. "The harp! It disappeared!" Rarity gasped. "If the harp is gone, doesn't that mean-" Twilight's voice trailed off as she and the rest of her friends looked up to see the growling heads of Cerberus. "Everypony jump!" Twilight screamed. The three friends immediately jumped through the open door before Cerberus could attack.
After falling for what felt like forever, the three ponies eventually landed on the floor. "Wow! We must have been falling for miles. I can't see a thing down here!" said Applejack. "Neither can I! Let's use our wands to make a light." Twilight suggested. As Twilight and her friends lit their wands, they noticed black vines spread throughout the room.
The vines instantly wrapped themselves around the three friends. The girls struggled to free themselves, but it only made the vines' grip tighter. "What are these things?" Applejack asked in a panic. "They must be vines created from plunderseeds!" Rarity answered. "There has to be a spell to stop them, but I can't remember the spell!" "If only there was some way to burn these vines off of us." Twilight suggested.
Rarity then remembered the fire spell she used on Flintheart back at the Cloudsdale Stadium. The white unicorn struggled to reach her wand and managed to grab it. Rarity ignited sparks from her wand, causing the vines to burst into flames and release the trio. The flames kept spreading until the vines burned to ashes. "Way to go, Rarity!" Applejack cheered. "You really saved us with that spell!" "It was nothing, Applejack! I'm just glad we managed to escape those creepy vines." Rarity sighed. "Me too. Now let's get going. We must be getting close to the stone!" Twilight hoped as she led her friends to the next door.
As the trio walked further into the next room, they started to hear a sound of hundreds of fluttering wings. "Is it just me, or does anypony else hear that noise?" Applejack wondered. They continued further until they found the source of the sound. The room they entered was filled with hundreds of tiny flying creatures and a broomstick in the center. "Are they birds?" Rarity wondered. "No. They are flying keys." Twilight answered as she inspected the creatures closer. "But what do the keys have to do with the broomstick?"
While Twilight was pondering the puzzle, Rarity attempted to unlock the next door. "It's no good." the white unicorn groaned. "The door is magically shut." "I reckon if we find the right key, the door would open." Applejack suggested. "But there are hundreds of keys in here!" Rarity explained. "Any one of them can be the right one!" After observing the keys for a couple of moments, one particular key caught Twilight's eye. "Hey look! The key with the broken wing looks different from the others. That has to be the right one!"
The purple unicorn then took a glance at the broomstick and finally knew what to do. She reached for the broom, but hesitated. Twilight felt that this would be a lot harder than buckball. "Go on, Twilight!" Applejack encouraged. "If Flintheart is able to ride that broom, you can do it as well!" Twilight smiled in appreciation for Applejack's encouragement. She finally gathered her courage and grabbed the broom.
The moment she touched it, the keys started to scatter around the room. Twilight then took off into the air, flying after the key with the broken wing. It was hard for her to concentrate as hundreds of others keys were flying around her. Despite that, Twilight managed to catch up with her target and grabbed it. "Applejack! Rarity! Catch!" Twilight shouted as she threw the key to her friends. Her friends then caught the key and headed straight for the door.
While Twilight was being chased by a swarm of angry keys, Applejack and Rarity were struggling to fit the other key in the keyhole. It wasn't long before the key was shoved through the keyhole, unlocking the door. "Let's get a move on, Twilight! The door is open!" Applejack called out to Twilight. The purple unicorn immediately flew towards the open door, trying to keep as much distance from the swarm as possible. Once Twilight was safely past the door, Applejack slammed the door shut, causing the remaining keys to crash into it.
After recovering from the previous puzzle, the three ponies proceeded through the next hallway. They felt certain that the stone was nearby. At the end of the hall was a room filled with statues of kings, queens, knights, and horses. They all stood on a black and white tiled floor. "It's a giant wizard's chess board!" Applejack stared in awe. "Let's just keep going." Twilight suggested. "I don't like the looks of this place."
They headed for the passage way on the other side of the chess board. However, they were stopped at the last moment as the king chess piece suddenly came to life and used it's sword to block the way. Twilight and her friends instantly stepped back from the king's sudden movement. "I don't think we can get any further until we win a game of chess." Applejack guessed. "But Applejack, I don't know the first thing about chess." Rarity explained.
"Just follow my lead. Twilight, I want you to stand on that white tile." Applejack said pointing to a corner of the floor. "And Rarity, I want you to move to that black tile." Once Twilight and Rarity took their positions, Applejack climbed on one of the horse chess pieces. "So, what happens now?" Twilight asked. "Once the players are ready, the game should begin." Applejack answered. As if on cue, one of the chess pieces from the opposing team moved to it's desired tile.
"Applejack, this wouldn't be like real wizard's chess would it?" Rarity asked feeling nervous about the game. Applejack was starting to have second thoughts of the game as well. She then ordered one of her knights to move near one of the enemy pieces. By the end of the turn, the knight was cut to pieces by a sword. Applejack gulped. "Yes, Rarity. This is actual wizard's chess."
The chess board quickly became a battlefield as more pieces destroyed each other. Every turn ended with broken chess pieces flying across the room. The fighting continued until the only chess pieces remaining were Applejack's piece and the opposing team's king and queen. The odds were against Applejack. She took a moment to think of a new strategy. At last, she thought of a way to win, but she wasn't going to like it.
"Twilight, I have an idea." Applejack announced. "If I can sacrifice my chess piece to the queen, it will give you the chance to checkmate the king." Twilight didn't like the sound of that plan. "But what about you, Applejack? This plan is too dangerous." "Wait! What is she doing?" Rarity asked concerned for her friend. "Applejack is planning to sacrifice herself to help us win." Twilight explained.
Rarity gasped. "Applejack, you mustn't! There has to be another way!" "Do you want to stop Flintheart from getting that stone or not?" Applejack argued. She then turned to Twilight. "Listen, Twilight! It's up to you to stop Flintheart from getting his hooves on the stone! If anypony can do it, it's you!" Applejack faced the remaining two chess pieces and ordered her piece to move towards the queen. The horse obeyed the order and proceeded forward.
Applejack felt her heart beating faster as her piece moved closer to the queen. Once the horse was in position, the queen raised her sword and stabbed it through the piece, knocking Applejack off the horse. Twilight and Rarity watched in horror as Applejack fell to the floor. As much as she wanted to help her friend, Twilight knew that there was one more thing to do.
The purple unicorn approached the king, trying not to feel too intimidated by the towering chess piece. Twilight stared at the king in the eyes and said, "Checkmate!" This caused the king's sword to fall to the floor, indicating the end of the game..
Once the game was over, Twilight and Rarity came rushing to Applejack's aid. "Is Applejack going to be alright?" Rarity asked fearing the worst. Twilight leaned in closer and heard Applejack's breathing. "She is going to be fine. I can hear her breathing." Twilight sighed in relief. "Listen, Rarity! I want you to take Applejack to the hospital and send an owl to Celestia!" Rarity nodded. "Twilight, I want you to know that I am grateful to have friends like you and Applejack. You two have taught me a lot about friendship." Twilight smiled. "I learned just as much about friendship from you two. After all, friendship is magic."
Rarity suddenly felt uneasy about the next room and said, "Twilight, please promise me that you will be careful in the next corridor." "I will be careful." Twilight promised. "Once I stop Flintheart, this whole nightmare will be over." Rarity then wished Twilight luck and carried Applejack out of the chess room. Once Rarity left, Twilight turned to the next passageway. Twilight knew that the moment she entered the corridor, there would be no turning back.