Perfect Rose was on a mission.

The castle gates were up ahead, and there was no shortage of crowds with which to put Sundance’s clever idea into action. Though the griffon had to admit, she was feeling a tiny bit intimidated by those ponies in golden armour keeping watch over everything. They looked cool and stuff, like tough warriors from stories she’d heard. But those spears of theirs looked like they would make an ouchie, and their gazes were all serious and mean-looking…

No! What was she on about? She was the Queen Griffon right now! The Queen Griffon and her faithful followers! She wasn’t afraid of anything!

Plus, she would be super embarrassed if she had to go back to Fluffy without actually getting inside first. She would never let her forget it.

They could do this. They couldn’t possibly fail!

“Onward!” Perfect Rose announced, pointing a talon towards the gate and attracting a few odd looks.

“Get. Off. My. Back,” Bright Spark demanded with no small amount of annoyance.

Perfect Rose grumbled to herself, and yet to not dislodge from her sudden and completely impromptu pony ride. “I am Queen, my subjects should be so kind as to carry me!”

Bright Spark blinked. And then, completely casually, he leant slightly to the side and let Perfect Rose fall off with a resounding thud when she hit the pavement.

“Ouch! Ugh, fiiiine. Sundance?”

“No chance,” she denied.

“Aw. You guys are no fun.”

“Lies.”

“Hrmg…”

“So, we doing this? Because, uh…” Bright Spark scuffed a hoof. “I’m a wizard and all, but I can’t magic us out of getting into serious trouble when those guards catch us.”

“If, Brighty, if,” Perfect Rose corrected. “And we won’t. Because I am your brave leader. And… Sundance also has a smart plan.”

“Maybe she can act her way out of trouble since she enjoys it so much,” he then deadpanned.

“I do. And maybe I will,” the filly retorted, sticking out her tongue at him. “But… we’re small, right? So we can just sit in the middle of the bigger ponies and get inside.”

“Maybe you can figure out a spell to make us all ghost-y and stuff,” the griffon suggested.

“Invisible? Can he do that?” Sundance asked.

“I dunno,” he replied with a shrug. “Hm… Maybe…”

“Actually, no. Let’s just go with her plan,” Rose decided.

“Aw. Now who’s no fun?”

“Still you. So… Crowd…”

They totally had this.

They sat on the sidelines for a little while, watching the crowds and occasionally bickering about whether it was time to jump in or not. Eventually, however, a clump of about a dozen or so ponies came by travelling in a cluster. Finally able to agree that this looked like the perfect opportunity, the children scampered forward and nosed their way into the middle of the large grouping.

“Hey!”

“Watch it!”

They uttered hushed apologises every time they bumped into somepony else in their efforts, but aside from some annoyed grunts, the would-be day court attendees ultimately paid them little mind. They seemed far too absorbed in their own reasons for being there to focus on the issue of a couple of clumsy foals, which served their purposes just fine.

They stayed silent after that, each one clearly nervous that they would be called out and get into trouble should the adults figure out what they were up to. And it was in this terrified silence that the gates drew rapidly closer. And then it was upon them, the crowd moving by the guards and heading inside.

Rose almost froze when she saw one of the guards’ eyes meet hers. But it lasted a mere moment before he got right back to examining the crowd.

Maybe he thought they were with some of the adults making up the crowd?

So far, so lucky…

They stayed with the group as they were shepherded through the grounds and towards the main entrance of the castle, two great doors leading into the interior that looked to the foals like a gigantic maw ready to eat them whole. At least, that was what their imagination told them. But they had to brave it, for the castle dungeon and all its secrets awaited them!

And so they passed into the maw, emerging into a grand entranceway with even more ponies going about their business. Going up the central staircase, the adults started to move off down one of the corridors. And there, down that corridor, was a conjoining hallway that nopony seemed to be watching.

Perfect Rose’s adventure senses were tingling!

Nudging the others, she pointed towards the turn they would be making. Getting mutters of confirmation, they waited until the group started to pass by the turn before making their move. Breaking away from the crowd, they darted down the other hallway as quickly and sneakily as they could.

And then they were free. The corridor stretched out before them, and none of the castle’s staff were any the-

“Hey! Where do you kids think you’re going!?”

Uh oh!

“RUN!”

Without missing a beat, the troublesome trio sprang into action and sprinted as fast as their little legs would take them away from the voice. Rose dared a glance over her shoulder to find the source, finding a maid quickly following on with a panicked expression on her face.

“Children! You can’t be back here!”

With promises of scolding and other such repercussions on their mind, they somewhat foolishly continued on despite the mare’s frantic calls to the contrary. They rounded the next corner they came across, ideas for escape rushing through the young griffon’s mind. Maybe they could hide behind a tapestry? A decorative suit of armour? Duck into a closet somewhere? Maybe they should just bail?

All those thoughts soon went away, however, as all three of them suddenly skidded to a halt in front of a very confused-looking colt wearing a smart suit. Perfect Rose was about to tell the others to ignore him and move on, that mare would be around the corner herself any second after all! However, when her mind actually caught up to what she was seeing, she realised she recognised this colt.

“Goldenblood?”

“Uh…” he muttered in a dumbfounded manner. “Hi…?”

“There you are!” the maid breathed out with a sigh of relief as she caught up to them, taking in heavy breaths at her unexpected sprint. “What are… you… doing!?”

“We’re… with him!” Sundance suddenly declared, pointing at a surprised Goldenblood. “We got lost. Sorry!”

“Yeah. Totally!” Bright Spark quickly agreed. “Isn’t that right, Goldy?”

“Um…”

Perfect Rose regarded him a moment, shifting uncomfortably as he was. Their eyes met, and she couldn’t help but remember how their previous interactions had gone. The shouting of his older brother that day, the trouble he could get in…

Part of her thought that she should play along with the ruse, but it didn’t feel right. She didn’t want the colt to get into trouble with his meanie of a brother because of her. Besides, this was their idea, he should be dragged into their game if he didn’t want to play. He was shy after all, Fluffy wouldn’t approve.

She sagged, a resigned look of defeat crossing her face. “Actually-”

“Actually!” the colt suddenly interrupted. “Yeah! That’s right, we got separated and they aren’t used to the halls and their layout.”

Perfect Rose blinked, staring at the Prince with wide eyes as he gave her a nod and smile. Why was he going along with this? He was always so shy at school, not to mention they’ve never said a word to each other since the incident with Blueblood. Why would he lie for them?

She was more than a little confused by this.

“Then… why did your friends run…?” the mare asked in confusion.

Goldenblood bit his lip, and Rose suddenly found him looking towards her for an answer. Rose gaped a moment, her mind trying to catch up with everything that had just happened. But, after a moment of collecting herself, she turned to face the maid.

“You scared us,” she replied truthfully. “Sorry…”

The pony sighed. “Alright… Keep your friends close, Prince Goldenblood. I’d rather not give the guard cause for concern.”

“Thank you, ma’am. We will.”

The mare nodded, heading off back down the corridor from whence she came.

“That… was… awesome!” Bright Spark gushed, getting up in Goldenblood’s face excitedly. “You totally saved us! That was great!”

“Oh, um…” The shyness returned in force. “Hm… Uh…”

“You’re scaring him, Sparky,” Sundance chided. “Thank you. That was super nice of you.”

“So, since you’re a Prince, you can tell all the staff what to do and stuff, right?” Bright then asked.

“I guess…” he replied with a shrug. “But… um… I don’t wanna shout and stuff. That’d be mean.”

“Why help us out?” Perfect Rose asked him. “I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything…”

“Well… you were nice to me, remember? And then my brother was mean, and he shouted like he always does. I kinda felt bad.”

“Really…?” He remembered that day too? “I… I’d only wanted to be your friend, and then he got grumpy just because I’m a griffon.”

“Blueblood’s a jerk,” he replied. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to play. But then he had to be a stupid head and ruin it all.”

Perfect Rose cheered up instantly. He was going to accept her offer to be friends!? So she hadn’t messed it all up! And neither had the mean pony! That was super fantabulous! Because she was the fantabulous Queen Griffon about to gain another follower!

“Then I accept!” Perfect Rose declared. “I am leading an adventure to the dungeons, and you’re coming with us!”

He shrank down. “I… am…?”

Rose blinked at his demeanour, and then promptly reined her enthusiasm in a little. “I… Sure! If you want to come, which would be super cool and all. Friends?”

“You still want to be friends? Even after what happened?”

“It was like… forever ago,” Rose dismissed. Two years was practically forever, right? “Yup! I wanna be friends! And I know Fluffy would too.”

“Fluffy? Oh. The doll, right?”

“Uh-huh!” she confirmed. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“It’s just… I… uh… don’t really have… friends…”

“Aw, that’s not nice,” Sundance lamented. “Then we’ll be your first!”

Bright Spark shrugged. “Eh, couldn’t hurt.”

“See? We’re all your friends now!” Perfect Rose insisted.

Her enthusiasm, and the agreement of the others, seemed to get the colt to perk up a little more. “You really mean it?”

“Yup! Oh! And since you know your way around the castle, do you know how to get in there?”

“Well… I’m not really supposed to go in there. Nopony is. It was sealed away.”

“So… we really can’t get in?”

Sensing her impending disappointment, Goldenblood bit his lip in contemplation for a moment before deciding that he didn’t want to let his newfound friends down mere moments after its declaration.

“…But, I do know a secret way in. I heard some guards talk about it once,” he informed them. “Come on, I’ll show you!”

The griffon grinned. This was so great! She was on an adventure and she had finally made that friend she’d been trying to make since… well, ever. And with no big mean ponies around to stop them, she and her other friends all fell into step behind the young prince as he led the way through the corridors towards this secret entrance he supposedly knew.

And it was definitely easier with him around. The first time a couple of guards rounded the corner they immediately prepared to run again, only for them to merely nod and walk past with little more than a glance. That glance had been made towards Perfect Rose specifically, but the presence of Goldenblood seemed to remove any concern they may have otherwise displayed at the group’s idle wander through the halls.

He really did have free reign over the castle. That was so neat!

They went a fair ways further before coming to a stop at a seemingly inconspicuous wall. It was blank, sitting on another corner with but a single displayed suit of Royal Guard armour decorating the otherwise blank spot. Rose studied it curiously, then moving her gaze towards Goldenblood with a questioning look.

“All I see is a blank wall,” she noted. “Where’s the door?”

“It is the door,” he replied, his horn lighting up and taking hold of the armour’s helmet. He twisted it to the left, a loud ‘click’ sounding before the helmet moved itself back into position and the wall jolted slightly. It seemed to open slightly, just like a door that was barely ajar.

“Oh, it actually worked,” Goldenblood mused. “Cool.”

“You didn’t think it would?” Sundance asked with a frown.

He blushed. “It’s not like I tried it before! You know… I just heard it, so…”

“You’re awesome, Goldenblood!” Perfect Rose stated, catching the Prince off guard with a sudden glomp of a hug. “Thank you thank you!”

The blush only deepened. “Uh… Um… Okay…”

“So, we getting this adventure going or what?” Bright Spark asked, lighting his own horn and opening the secret door wide enough for them to get inside.

What laid beyond was an incredibly dark staircase leading downwards. Spiderwebs covered it practically from top to bottom, the stone looking cracked and as if it hadn’t been maintained in a very long time. They all noticeably hesitated at the sight, but with each of the unicorns having their horns providing enough of a glow to light their way, they started down the steps and shut the door up behind them.

They descended down, the stairs continuing for a surprisingly long stretch before they emerged into a square chamber with a cobblestone floor that contrasted heavily with the pristine architecture of the castle above. The darkness seemed even more crushing now that they had reached it, a broken table sitting in the corner and several open but barred prison doors leading off in several directions.

“So… this place to super creepy. Not just me?” Bright asked with a shiver.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all…” Sundance agreed. “How long has this place been so… empty…?”

“I’m not sure. Super long I heard. Bad ponies are sent to other prisons now,” Goldenblood explained. “There wasn’t a need for this place anymore.”

“There are definitely ghosts down here,” the other colt then remarked.

“Bright Spark!” Sundance hissed at him. “Not. Funny.”

“But there totally are!”

“No! Stop it!”

Perfect Rose left them to bicker, her eyes being drawn to one of the open doorways. She crept on in, peering inside as far as the light of her friends’ horns would let her. She felt a chill along her back, there being nothing but silence if one were to discount her friends and their chatter. As she entered in slightly further, the talking stopped as the others moved to cautiously follow.

CRASH.

SQUAWK!

Rose’s noise of extreme surprise was accompanied by the equally startled screams of the others as the griffon, missing it due to the darkness, ploughed straight into something metal that immediately fell over and clanged to the ground. They all shot backwards through the door, diving behind the walls to escape the obviously terrible monster ghost thing that they had just awakened and now wanted to gobble all the naughty children up!

…But no monster followed.

Slowly, they all poked their head back around the doorway and glanced into the darkness. Spotting a shape from where the clatter had occurred, they all cautiously approached with the unicorns lighting their horns as brightly as they could for the best possible view.

“Pfft,” Bright Spark snorted at what they found. “Ha. Who said anything about ghosts? It’s just an old suit of armour.”

He ignored the very angry glare Sundance shot his way.

But indeed, Perfect Rose had stumbled into an old suit of armour that looked… super old. She’d never seen any of the guards wearing it. It was a dark purple colour, the helmet fully obscuring where a pony’s face might have been. It also seemed like it would have covered the wearer’s whole body and had a lot of spiked edged and a covering for the whole horn. The whole thing looked more than a little intimidating… if it wasn’t a pile of scrap scattered along the floor.

“There’s more,” Goldenblood noted.

Rose looked up and, with a mix of the added light and her own eyes adjusting to the dark, she could indeed make out several more suits lining the hallway as if standing guard over the various cells.

“Guards used to wear this stuff?” Sundance wondered. “It’s creepy.”

“Woooow. But so much cooler!” Bright Spark added. “Why they’d stop?”

“It looks a little… mean…” Perfect Rose noted, wandering up to one of the completed sets and staring up at the helmet above her. They were really tall… “Like the stuff bad guys wear in stories.”

“Equestria used to be a little rougher in the far past…” Goldenblood noted. “I have a tutor at home as well as school. Mother insists he go over things that Miss Caring Hoof doesn’t.”

“You sounded super posh just then…” Bright Spark noted with a gag.

“He’s a prince,” Sundance pointed out, flicking her friend with her tail.

Perfect Rose looked back at her friends. “So, they just stopped and started using the ones the tough ponies use now?”

Goldenblood shrugged. “I guess?”

“The Princess is supposed to be really nice, so I guess she wanted the guards to look nice too,” Sundance surmised.

The griffon tilted her head. She guessed that made sense, though that had to be so long ago that she couldn’t entirely wrap her head around it. She wondered how Equestria actually was back when these suits were worn. Was it when Queen Grizelda and the other griffon kings and queens she’d been reading about were around? Well, since she was currently a Queen Griffon, this was perfect!

She turned around to face the armour again, ready to give it orders as if it was alive.

The issue was, its helmet was now looking right at her.

“Uh… Guys…?”

They all started to move.

“GHOSTS!” Bright Spark screamed.

They all decided now was a very good time to bring their adventure to a close and run!

They all turned tail, the armour sets all coming to life as they sluggishly started to pursue while adjusting to years’ worth of rust. They quickly seemed to speed up, however, a blue magical glow emanating from inside each of them as they moved to pursue.

All four foals were screaming now, fleeing as fast as they could back up the stairs before barrelling out into the hallway.

“What the-!?” the guard on the other side exclaimed, he and a couple of castle staff apparently having been inspecting the suddenly open secret entrance.

“Monsters! Ghosts!” Bright Spark further stammered out, pointing behind the group.

The pony frowned. “Kids, what are you- Huh!?”

Like a horde of locusts after a crop, the animated suits of armour burst out and into the castle hallway. Their focus remained on the children, the guard they’d run into looking more than a little alarmed at this turn of events.

“Blasted kids, you’ve tripped the old security golems! You two!” he shouted at the staff, pummelling one of the suits aside as he drew his weapon and letting it clatter lifelessly into its various armour pieces. “Sound the alarm!”

The armour spring after the kids, the guard unable to stop them all as a dozen of them in total entered the pursuit. Not waiting for an invitation, they decided to keep running. They quickly left them in the dust, the guard being left behind too as he toppled a second set were they blew past him, and he was forced to chase after the rest.

The following sequence of events was a panicked blur. Perfect Rose wasn’t entirely certain how long it was they’d been running, but Queen Griffon and her followers had no intention of letting the scary armour monsters catch up to them! Hallway after hallway, turn after turn, they kept on moving even as the animated armour adamantly refused to give up the chase. Surprised shouts greeted them wherever they went from the various ponies inhabiting the castle.

The griffon was pretty sure at least a couple more got tackled and taken out by arriving guards, but most were forced into the chase as it continued on for Celestia knows how long.

But the blur finally ended, everything coming back into a more cohesive environment, when the exhausted youngsters were forced to stop their flight as they ran straight into a crowd of ponies waiting outside a great set of doors.

All eyes were immediately on them, the guard and civilians alike before them all confused at the sudden entrance of the four children.

And then they all started to shout in surprise and fear as the suits of armour also arrived in their hot pursuit.

“Stop them!” one of the guards shouted, all of them rushing into action as the other ponies moved to flee back the way they’d came.

It was utter chaos. The guard grappled with the animated suits in an effort to hold them back, several surprisingly able to hold their own as they tried to be rid of their attackers to get at their targets. One made an effort to grab at Sundance, though Bright Spark bit down onto her tail and pulled her to one side.

Perfect Rose, looking at all of this, didn’t know what to do! She was meant to be leading this little adventure, but things had gone so far off the track she was at a loss! There were too many ponies around to run without bumping into something and tripping, there was no small amount of danger around them as the guard continued to try and get the rampant golems under control.

What was she meant to do?

And then the door exploded.

That was a start!

“Inside!” Rose shouted at the others, all turning to follow her quickly into the next room.

And then they tripped. As one of the suits of armour was dispelled its pieces clattered towards them, causing the group as a whole to lose their balance and go flying in a heap through the doorway.

All those within had looked back in utter surprise at the sudden spark of mana that had cast the door aside, launched by one of the defending guards. The shouts and the sound of beating hooves persisted as the group tumbled their way inside, as well as the far stronger clanking of metal. But they landed safely enough in a pile, surrounded by the splinters that had once been the door.

But behind them came running several of the animated suits of armour, the soulless automatons refusing to give in even as they were pounced upon by the frantic Royal Guard as they tried to stop the rampage.

And yet, for all that, suddenly the young griffon found herself far less scared of what lay behind her. Oh no, the most terrifying thing was now the two uncomfortably familiar ponies staring at her with the most bewildered expressions imaginable.

“Perfect Rose!?” her mother shouted in shock and horror.

Oh no.

“Uh… I can explain.”

She wasn’t sure she could explain.

Princess Celestia, sitting on the throne behind her parents and several other ponies, raised an eyebrow as she stood up and lit her horn. A pule of golden light spread out around them, the rest of the suits that hadn’t been contained falling lifelessly to the ground as the magic keeping them mobile was dispelled.

And then everything was silent. A wave of relief washed over everyone present now that the danger had passed, the guards all letting their sense of alarm bleed away as a few ponies started to return and poke their curious heads inside before being ushered away by those irritated guards.

And then that left the four friends… and the monarch in the room.

“…And what was that, exactly?” she asked with an equal expression.

“Your Highness!” one of the guards called out, rushing in and next to the pile of children. “These kids… they somehow entered the old dungeon and tripped the security golems down there.”

“WHAT!?” Ebony shouted out.

“Golems?” Cash said in a dumbfounded tone. “What… I… Huh!?”

“Snrk…” came a barely withheld laugh from the Princess, her neutral expression breaking. “These foals… managed to…”

And then she gave up, the Princess of the Sun giving a thunderous roar of laughter at the surprising turn of events. Her jubilation echoed throughout the halls, Perfect Rose’s cheeks burning with embarrassment as she and her friends picked themselves up off of the floor in preparation for whatever might come next.

“Princess… they could have been killed!” Filthy Rich noted in shock.

“Heh, eh heh… Oh please, they were never designed for that,” Celestia dismissed, wiping away a tear that had resulted from her great display of humour. “On spotting what they believed was an escaping prisoner, the golems were programmed to apprehend and restrain them until a living guard could take over. They are not permitted to do any actual bodily harm; the children were in little danger. But still, it is good that they could be spared the discomfort of such an event.”

“Yet you find humour in the situation?”

“Oh! I do apologise, but day court can be such a dull affair,” the alicorn explained. “Ah, I do appreciate a good distraction. Now…”

She got to her hooves and approached the four guilty-looking foals, craning her head down towards them.

“Are you alright, my little creatures?” she asked, making a note of Perfect Rose’s presence.

“Uh-huh…” the said griffon replied. “Um… we’re sorry we broke your things…”

“Oh, I quite forgive you. And I thank you for making this day a little more interesting,” she replied with a motherly smile. “However, you still should be far more careful with such things. Those dungeons are sealed away for a reason.”

“Yeah, we’re sorry…” Sundance further apologised. “We just wanted to have fun.”

“Indeed. But there are far safer, and more responsible, ways to do this. I hope you all learned a valuable lesson from this experience.”

“Yeah. Don’t listen to Perfect Rose,” Bright Spark quipped.

“Hey!” Rose protested. “Hrmg… I think what we really learnt is that we shouldn’t go into dangerous places without a good reason. And I don’t think adventure is one of them.”

“And we should probably have told an adult, just in case we got into trouble,” Sundance concurred.

“I think so,” Celestia agreed. “Do not worry about the door. It is easily fixed.”

“So… we’re not in trouble?” Perfect Rose asked hopefully.

“Not from me, no. It is enough that you are in good health, and you have come away from this experience having learnt something,” the Princess decided. She did showcase a rather sinister smirk, however… “But that is just me. I’m afraid your parents are a different story.”

Perfect Rose gulped, looking past the Princess of the Sun and towards her parents. Both of them were giving her scathing looks, their eyes twitching quite erratically.

Oh, she was so dead.

“And you, nephew of mine,” Celestia said far more seriously. “I do hope you realise how much trouble you shall be in.”

“I know…” he said dejectedly. “I’m sorry…”

The tall alabaster pony sighed. “I know, Goldenblood. But I am glad to see you have at least made some friends.”

Goldenblood smiled at that. And it was a smile that helped cheer Perfect Rose up, if only a little.

“But I am afraid that Social Grace will have to be informed. My hooves are tied in this situation, I apologise,” she then continued. “And you, Miss Perfect Rose…”

“Yes, you…” Ebony piped up, walking past the Princess and glaring down at the rapidly shrinking into the floor griffon. “You… Where is Time Catcher?”

“Um… I… We…” The child gulped again. “We kinda sorta ditched him.”

Ebony Rose took in a steady breath.

“Honey, you’re grounded.”

Next Chapter: 16 - Grounded Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes