10 of 7

Candlelight didn't appreciate the saddlebags. They were necessary, useful even, yet she couldn't get used to the sensation. It didn't make things easier that the damned things weighed a ton. Food, utensils, and half a dozen other things - all things she might need. Of course, none of the were weapons. The pagasi apparently didn't trust her enough for that. The arrangement was that If push came to shove, Candlelight could use magic, but only as a very last resort. Somehow, however, that didn't make her feel all that safer.

"Clouded," the unicorn whispered, as they walked along the hallway. "How many rooms are there?"

"Too many," the other answered curtly. Clearly she wasn't big on conversations.

"And that would be?" Candlelight persisted.

"You talk to much," Clouded Judgement said with an icy tone. "Don't talk in hallways."

Another rule. They just kept coming up. Candlelight didn't know who she should be more frightened of - mirror images or her new... friends? Could she even call them that? She had met them less than a few hours ago, and already they creeped her out. Companions was a much better word to describe them. That or fellow prisoners. Would be nice if she could rely on them.

They continued along the hallway until it split in two. There Voiceless stopped. Thinking nothing of it, Candlelight went on as only to have her path blocked by Clouded's wing. What was that about? She turned towards the pegasus.

"Why did we stop?" she whispered. Clouded didn't budge a muscle, instead focusing on the wall straight ahead. Candlelight looked at it. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just a plain wall that didn't even have a painting hung on it. From there the corridor went left and right, like the arms of a infinite letter T.

Diverting her attention, the unicorn started examining the corridors. Both were nearly identical to the one that had led the ponies here - red carpets, paintings, brightly lit candelabras to the sides. The only difference, a Candlelight could see from this angle, were the painting frames. On one side they were wooden, while another had them made of metal.

"Metal frames," Candlelight pointed.

"Ex-mirrors," Cloudless said, a hint of approval.

For a moment it seemed as if she would elaborate, though that didn't last. A single look from Voiceless was enough to close her mouth, any remnants of positiveness towards Candlelight vanishing like a flame in a draft.

This was not the first time this happened. Ever since they had left the room, the dark indigo pegasus had made certain that any attempt at conversations would be quickly squelched. Whatever the relations between the pegasi were, It was clear Voiceless was in charge. As such, maybe it would be better for Candlelight to address him instead.

"Voiceless," the unicorn said clearly.

He didn't react, letting the word slide by as it was meant for some else. Candlelight, however, was not willing to give up just yet.

"I need to know what you are doing," she went. "I must be worth something to you or you wouldn't have let me join. If that is to remain I need to learn things. That way I'll increase my chances of survival, and yours as well. Otherwise I might as well cast the strongest spell I know and be done with it."

A knife suddenly appeared in Clouded's wing. It had happened so fast, that Candlelight hadn't noticed until it was there. Had the pegasus wanted to kill her, it would have been over already. The fact she was still breathing proved two things - Voiceless indeed was in charge, and for some uncertain reason he needed her alive.

Slowly the indigo pegasus turned around and looked her in the eye. This was the first time she had got to see his face up close. Eyes lacking any emotion stared back at candlelight. It was as if she was standing in front of an inanimate object, a sophisticated machine wearing the skin of a pony. What exactly had Voiceless experienced after waking up to become like this? Candelight dearly hoped the same would befall her.

Slowly the colt moved a wing towards the tip of her horn. His feathers seemed frighteningly sharp and flawless. A hair's length away, they stopped, as if hesitating whether or not to continue.

"He's searching for messages," Clouded said breaking the tension. The knife previously in her wing had disappeared. "The rooms remain the same, but the hallways always change."

Snorting, Voiceless pulled back his wing violently and returned to examining the wall. For some reason Candlelight felt relief.

"You mean if we go back to where you found me the illusion spell will still be there?" she asked after a moment.

"They always put in new traps," Clouded shook her head. "We never know what or where, so we look for clues. When we find an unmarked trap, we leave a message for other wakers to see. That way they at least stand a chance."

"You wrote the messages on the wall?" the unicorn asked. That seemed up characteristically nice of the two. To be honest, it also seemed extremely difficult to believe.

"A few. Not the big ones, though. Those have always been here."

Another thing Candlelight had difficulty believing. Surely the had to be somepony to write them. The more she thought about it, the more illogical it seemed their captors would waste time scribbling on the walls.

"What are ex-mirrors?" she asked all of a sudden.

Clouded's expression darkened. "You don't need to know," she hissed, ending the conversation.

There was no telling what clues Voiceless saw, or did he find any at all. At one point he just turned and went down one of the corridors without hesitation. Candlelight still didn't like the idea of following him blindly, but she did. There wasn't much choice in the matter. The hallway in question was with the one with normal painting frames. In itself it seemed quite harmless, but she could help but notice that both pegasi were on edge.

After a while they came to small door on the side. Here, for the first time, Candlelight saw a warning message. "Live mirror inside" it read.

The unicorn paused for a moment. The message was quite different from the ones she had seen. It wasn't vague enough and the writing style was significantly different. This specific one looked to have been made by a sharp object, possibly a knife of some sort.

"Don't," Clouded warned.

"Eh?" Candlelight blinked.

"Don't open the door. I've seen what happens," a note of anger mixed with sadness came through in her words. "Just walk on. We'll reach a new room soon."

Candlelight nodded, but did make a note to inquire about it later. She had far too many questions and not enough answers.

"This new room," she began, trying to sound as casual as possible, "have you been there?"

"No. We lost the last safe room when we found you."

Was that an accusation, Candlelight couldn't tell. Part of her urged her to remain quiet. Another, the stronger, persisted to keep at it. After all there was always the teleportation spell.

"Tell me about t he rooms you know," she said.

"Always with the questions," Clouded snorted. "That's dangerous. But good," the last was added in whisper, as if the pegasus was afraid to admit it to anypony, including herself. "There are three main rooms I know of. We call them the Unicorn Dome, the Pegasi Cell and the Pony Pool."

"The Pony Pool?" Candlelight asked surprised.

"None of us have seen it, but that's what we believe it must be like. These are the rooms we wake up in. Each plays on our fears. My room was like a cell, yours - a giant dome of darkness. For the earth ponies it must be a pool."

"No one told you?"

Clouded looked at her, then slowly shook her head. She didn't say anything, but the response was written all over her face.

"You have never seen an earth pony," Candlelight whispered, dawning on the realization. "All this time you have been with unicorns and pegasi, but never earth ponies." A scary thought. Certainly there had been traces of such. Or had there really?

"How do you know there are earth ponies at all?" she inquired.

"Mirror images," came the answer.

Apart from the three main rooms, Clouded spoke of several more. According to her there were seven in total: the Storeroom - where Candlelight had been tied up, the Hall of Mirrors, the Music Room, the Broken Library, the Statue Ward, the Empty, and the Carpet Chamber. Each sounded special, and if the Unicorn Dome was to be any indication, probably represented a worldly itself. However, Candlelight couldn't shake the feeling there were other rooms she was not told about. Apparently for now, she would have to settle for seven.

As they walked, Clouded went into some detail, just enough to quench Candlelight's desire for answers. The Hall of Mirrors and the Empty, she wouldn't comment on. The most the unicorn could out of her, was that she hoped never to near them again.

The Music Room was what it sounded like - an large room full of old music instruments. From what Candlelight could understand, most of them were broken beyond repair. For a moment she wondered whether the record player hadn't come from that place. It was the closes explanation she could think of. Apparently the room had been a safe haven for quite some time before the mirror images had found it, forcing the pegasi to find another. If what Clouded said was true, this had been their first encounter with mirror images outside of the halls. She never did say, however, whether there had been other ponies with them.

By the way in which, thee Statue Ward was describing bed, it was clear Clouded shared no love of it either. In her words it was "a creepy place full of life size pony statues, though mostly unicorns". Quite useful in barricading the entrance, but lacking in terms of food. The pegasi had used to frequent it quite often, especially when in need of tools, though that had ceased once they had discovered the Storeroom. Candlelight inquired whether that was where Clouded had learned to use blades, but got no answer. Apparently, it was another topic the pegasus didn't want to talk about.

The remaining two rooms were described as "harmless but useless". The Broken Library had nothing but empty shelves, and the Crpet Camber was just that - a smallish room full of various carpets. Too heavy to move or even unroll by two ponies, they carpets left there to rot. What Candlelight found most concerning, however, were not the rooms, but the absolute lack of curiosity on the part of the pegasi. Were it up to her she would rush back and carefully search through each and very room until she was absolutely sure she had found everything there was finding. Her companions seemed merely contempt with just surviving. It was as if they had made a pact with this place - they wouldn't go around poking it, and in return it would let them live a bit longer. The problem was, things didn't work that way. Even ignoring the deadly traps and mirror images, there was the matter of food, but more than that - there was the desire of freedom, of control over one's own destiny. How could anypony choose to forsake that?

After walking for a substantial amount of time, Voiceless finally stopped. That seemed his way of saying it was time for a break. And when it was a time for break, it was time for food.

"You'll have to eat fast," Clouded said as she took out some provisions from her saddlebag. "It's not safe to eat in the hallway."

"You told me the mirror images don't eat," Candlelight grabbed the piece of bread offered to her. It would have been easier to levitate it, but no magic was said to be unsafe in hallways.

"There are other things beside mirror images," the white pegasus whispered. "Eat."

The food was filling, but not satisfying. Not exactly stale, but not fresh either. Candlelight forced the last few bites down her throat, chucking them down with a few gulps of water. She certainly hoped they would eat better once they got to a room.

"He's not hungry?" Candlelight gestured at Voiceless.

"He doesn't eat," Clouded devoured her ration. Unlike the unicorn, she didn't seem to be overly picky. "He's mirror-touched."

"Ooh," Candlelight nodded, as if that explained anything.

"Don't ask," the pegasus said before Candlelight could even form the question. "Not yet."

"Why are we still in the hallway?" the unicorn decided to try different approach. "We passed a dozen doors. Only two of them had warnings."

"Voiceless knows best. When he finds one, he finds one. Until then, we walk. Now, please stop talking."

Please? That could be considered a minor victory. Candlelight fought the urge to move the conversation to a more personal level. For one thing she didn't want Clouded to get defensive once more, for another - Voiceless was listening. Hopefully they would get to be alone sometime soon, though.

Break over, the walking continued. More paintings, more candelabra, the occasional door they would pass... Whatever the size of this place was, it had to be enormous. If the rooms and hallways were any indication, it had to enough to house a dozen cities within its walls. But even then, there was space missing. Even if Candlelight were to assume there were more rooms than doors, it still didn't make much sense. Nothing here did! The space between doors at times reached several funded steps. That meant the room had to be the size of a field.

"Clouded, do you know anything about the people who build this place?" she asked. "Or when?" In truth she wanted to ask "why". That was the real question. Everything else was just a step to get there.

"We call them the Architects," the pegasus replied, much to Candlelight's surprise. "It is believed they created everything you see. My mentor had doubts. He believed in something quite different..."

The next hour continued in silence. At one point, Voiceless finally stopped. He had founds door worthy of his attention and started examining it carefully. It was very different to the ones the group had passed so far. It was massive - two marble columns rising on either side of a double wooden door. Merely looking at it, made Candlelight feel intimidated. There seemed to be a certain coldness emanating from the room, something she couldn't quite describe. Also there was the message burned into the wall above - "Luna lies", written in nearly perfect block letters.

"What do you think it means?" she whispered to Clouded.

"Probably what is says," the white pegasi replied coldly. "There are a lot of those. Somepony definitely has it for Luna."

"Do you think she is the one who put us here?"

"You never know," the way Clouded spoke it was clear she felt uncomfortable about something. "Charred Fire seemed to believe so. He suspected we might be trapped in a dream," for a moment a slight smile appeared on Clouded's face. It was a sad smile, a smile of longing.

"Charred Fire?" Candlelight directed the conversation in that direction. "Who was he?"

"Somepony I used to know," the pegasus sighed. "He found me and Voiceless, told us everything about this place. The leader of our first group. He knew everything that had to be done, how to do it. Before he went insane..."

A sudden scraping noise interrupted her. Voiceless had opened the door.

"Come," Clouded moved forward. "And be ready for everything."

The one thing Candlelight could think about, while following the pegasi in the room, was her teleport spell. If things became complicated that's what she was going to use. Or maybe she could teleport them as well? It was an option, as long as she had the strength... and was sure they wouldn't kill her afterwards.

Giant apparatus rose on all sides - silent gearwork contraptions that made little sense. One, the largest, seemed to be a planetary model of sorts. Orbs of various sizes and colours hung from steel rails orbiting a giant central spire, tens of feet high. There were dozens! What was the purpose of this? A chart of the night sky, a work of art, or something else completely different. Candlelight had absolutely no idea what to think of it.

"Bring in one of the candelabras," Clouded ordered, as she flew up to get a better view of the room.

"But the room is already lit," the unicorn protested.

"Nothing is as it seems," came the reply.

So much for taking a break. Candlelight went back in the hallway and grabbed the nearest candelabra in sight. The thing was heavy. Using magic she could levitate it without problem. Using hooves, however proved a different matter. Even with the carpet, pushing was a nightmare. Most the unicorn could do was move it a few steps forward, before pausing for some rest. A slow and laborious process. Things got even worse upon returning to the room. No carpet anymore, the metal legs screeched as they were dragged along the marble floor.

"What, what..." Candlelight tried to ask, as she breath,essay pushed the candelabra towards the central apparatus. "What now?"

No answer.

"Look," the unicorn said, slightly annoyed. "Just tell me why you hate unicorns! Do that and I won't bother you again until we sleep. Otherwise, I might as well continue on my own!"

It was an empty threat, but it did seem to put the unicorns on edge. The indigo unicorn flew down slowly, his hooves touching the floor with a slight metallic sound. Utter hatred emanated from his eyes.

"Voiceless," the other pegasi said. "I'll handle it. You check the hallway, please."

No reaction. It was as if he had gone into a trance. Slowly he started to walk towards Candlelight, each step leaving a mark in the marble.

"Voiceless!" clouded shouted. "Please!"

For a split second the sound seemed to reach him. Pausing, he looked at his companion.

"I will take care of this!" she was almost shouting. "Go check the hallway!"

The seconds stretched as Voiceless considered his next action. Candlelight had already prepared to cast hew spell. Should he make one more step forward, she would teleport out of the room. Fortunately for her, it never came to that. The indigo Pegasus snorted, then leaped in the air furiously flying out of the room.

"Thanks," Candlelight exhaled in relief. "For a moment..."

A sharp wing-smack cut her sentence short.

"Never do that again!" Clouded shouted. "Do you know how close you were to dying? If you think magic can save you from Voiceless, then maybe you do deserve to die!"

Candlelight looked at her, confused, a hoof on her cheek.

"You think we saved you because we enjoy it? Because we need you?" the Pegasus laughed. "Well, we don't! We gave up trying to escape ten chimes ago! Now we only want to survive as long as we can. Get it through your thick skull! Death is the only escape here! It's all a matter of time. Whether they'll get you today, tomorrow, or a hundred chimes from now, it doesn't matter. Everything you have to look forward to is survive as long as possible and die painlessly!"

Candlelight was shocked. A few hours ago she desperately wanted to get Clouded to talk. All that time plotting how to get under her skin, how to trick her into showing even the slightest emotion. Now, she regretted it bitterly. If that was the truth the pegasus lived by, it was horrifying. It was the same as being in a pit of darkness, hoping that talking to the nothing would keep insanity at bay a bit longer.

"Clouded," Candlelight began uncertainly. The pegasus stood there, feathers ruffled.

"You want to know why we hate unicorns?" Clouded asked anger in her voice. "We hate them because they let us down! Charred let us down! He was a unicorn, the greatest fools like us had the fortune to meet in this forsaken place! He wasn't the first one we came across. There were others - walkers more clueless than us, loners who would kill us if we approached, marauders who saw us as pleasure toys to be used then thrown away, even eaters who survived on pony flesh!"

Candlelight's eyes opened wide with horror.

"You think being along is bad?" Clouded laughed bitterly. "If you come across the wrong pony it could become worse. Charred wanted to change things. He believed in forming a group in which everypony was welcome. He helped us see the traps so the hall wouldn't claim us. We absolutely adored him!" she hit kicked the floor with her back hoof. "Nothing could stand up to us, nothing! Because of our number even mirror images didn't dare approach. The Empty was out base. Some would remain there, while others went through the corridors searching for anything useful - food, gear, messages..."

Messages? So there were more, as Candlelight had suspected. Somehow they were part of the puzzle. Charred probably had thought so as well.

"We had everything we wanted," the pegasus went on. "We could have formed a community, have children, and call this place our home. And why not? Old names no more! None of us knew anything about our past. We might as well start anew here."

"And then he betrayed you?" Candlelight suggested.

"No," the other said through her teeth in depressed rage. "He betrayed himself! Even when we first met him, he was wanted to find a way out. He believed there was something beyond the walls, a place the Architects had not created. As time went by, his condition became worse - he started thinking too much. All because of two messages."

Candlelight swallowed expectantly.

"'Luna lies' and 'ten of seven'."

"Ten of seven?" The unicorn blinked. "What does it mean?"

"Insanity, that's what it means!" Clouded was shouting now. "Charred was constantly coming up with theories. He tried to use mathematics to find a meaning, he then started writing the symbols in reverse... even considered looking in a mirror! Those two messages drove him insane!" she paused, only to take a breath. "At first it was small things - he would forget to eat, call us by the wrong name, repeat the same sentence several times in a row. Then he'd stop sleeping. He somehow got the idea that we were all in a dream. Started saying that if he wished something hard enough he'll get it."

That was uncanny. Candlelight had thought the same thing not too long ago. It did stand to reason. And if all this was a dream, it had to obey her will. Maybe that's how she learned to teleport, how she heard the record player, how she had found companions. Clouded and Voiceless were quite harsh to her, but despite all their threats, they hadn't harmed her. Threatened, yes, but never harmed. Could it be they were just fragments of her dream?

"Do you have a book," Candlelight asked suddenly, as a horrifying thought came to mind.

"What?" the pegasus blinked, losing her chain of through.

"A book," the unicorn repeated eagerly. "Any book, as long as it has over five pages."

"No... Why.."

"The knife then," Candlelight urged. "I want you to stab me with it."

The pegasus gave her a long stern look. Candlelight thought she might protest, try to talk her out of it, but she didn't. Instead the pegasus slowly went to her saddlebags and took a knife with her wing.

"Ready?" she asked, surprisingly calm. No trace of her outburst just seconds ago.

"Yes," Candlelight said way too eagerly. "Just let me close my eyes. And don't tell me where you'll do it."

"You know," Clouded jabbed the unicorn above the cutie mark, "Charred said the exact same thing once."

The pain was very real, to the extent that Candlelight instinctively jumped to the side. Horrified, she looked at her left flank. Just a scratch was visible. Thankfully, Clouded hadn't gone overboard.

"I thought..." The unicorn began' gently touching her wound with a hoof. It stung.

"That we're trapped in a dream?" the pegasus frowned. "That's why we hate unicorns. So convinced they are right that they stop thinking. Was this the first time you experienced pain here?"

Candlelight winced. She had acted like a fool! Of course this wasn't the first time she had felt pain. She had scarred her shoulder in the first room, shortly after waking up. And while pain wasn't a guarantee this wasn't a dream, it was pretty compelling evidence to the fact. To ask to be stabbed just to test a point was crazy, it was thoughtless. Charred must have done something similar, with a more tragic outcome. No wonder the pegasi hater unicorns! To see a pony they believed to be their savior, ask them to kill him just to prove a crazy theory, was more than anypony could take. In their minds he had become a traitor, along with his entire race.

"Sorry," she apologized, for him as well as herself. "I won't do that again, ever."

"I know," Clouded put the knife away. "He would have liked you. You're curious. Charred liked curious. And that's exactly why you must stay as far away from Voiceless," she moved closer, so as to whisper in Candlelight's ear. "You remind him too much of Charred. And as much Ashe wants to adore you, he wants to kill you."

So this was how things stood. Not good, to be honest, but at least Candlelight had clarity. She would have preferred to find a way that would put her in Voiceless' good graces, but that was unlikely. At least Cloudless seemed more or less on her side.

"Will Voiceless be mad at you for telling me this?" she asked.

"A bit. But only at you."

"That's reassuring," Candlelight attempted to force a laugh. If nothing else, she had to give the impression of bring strong. "Hopefully next time..."

Boing! A dull metallic sound filled the room. Instantly a pale yellow aura wrapped her horn. Clouded didn't hesitate either, knives now visible in both wings. Quietly the two ponies moved back to back, scanning the room for any source of danger. Another boing followed, then another. The source of the sound remained elusive, coming from several directions at once.

"This is impossible," the unicorn whispered. There was no was the sound could be coming from everywhere! Unless if what they were hearing wasn't the actual sound...

Candlelight looked at the giant apparatus above her. The lifeless mass of metal stood there, cold and imposing as when they had still arrived. It's sheer size was such that if it were to attack there was nothing they could do. For once, Candlelight regretted that Voiceless wasn't with them.

Another boing. This time, however, the unicorn saw it. One of the spheres on the device vibrated ever so slightly. Whatever the source of the noise, it was inside. Candlelight didn't pause to think. Her horn shone bright with magic, as she teleported the whole giant orb a few feet to the left, then released it, letting it fall. Subject to gravity, the large mass flew down, promptly smashing in the marble floor. Sirup-like liquid splashed everywhere.

"What the buck?" Clouded whispered staring in front of her.

On the floor, at the very spot the sphere had broken to pieces, lied a pony. It didn't have wings or a horn. Seeing them the pony smiled for a moment, whispered something unintelligible, then collapsed.

"Well, Clouded," Candlelight said cautiously, her horn still glowing. "I think we found the pony pool..."