Unforeseen Consequences - The house of shadows

>”Okay Anon! Follow me!” Royal- dang it, Pearl started to sneak around the bushes, carefully avoiding to step on any flower and going in the direction of the east wall “Mmmm… We can use this window as our entry point, but we have to be careful, otherwise-”
>Speaking of windows, only a couple of rooms had any light. That means that there ain’t many ponies in here, which was good, it increased your chances of not getting caught and sent to jail for trespassing.
>You let out a sigh, shook your head and then teleported right behind her.
“Or we can go through the door. Easier, faster and more optimal.”
>Pearl let out a yelp but quickly placed her hooves on her mouth, then she frowned at you and angrily whispered “What’s the big idea?!”
“Asking you about your big idea”
>Pearl quickly placed her right front hoof on your mouth and shushed you “Do you want us to get caught? No, right? Then lower your voice volume!”
>You slapped your face and let out a groan
“Caught by who? Didn’t you say that this is your home? Seriously, let’s just knock, get inside and then grab the documents. If somepony stands in our way, one of us can distract them while the other-“

>”Anon, Anon, Anon.” Pearl gently slapped your cheek “We could totally enter the house like I do every single day, but where is the fun in that? Where’s the excitement?”
“Oh, you were doing the whole super spy act because you wanted to have fun? Should’ve said it earlier, I could just teleport us then, bet you will have a blast adorning your dad’s carpet like you did with his petunias”
>Pearl narrowed her eyes at you and groaned “Jerk!”
>You let out a chuckle as you started to carefully observe the window
“Barftastic art aside, if you want to go through the window then so be it, just tell me before I do something stupid, that window is not tied to some stupidly complicated and hyper precise magical alarm system, right?”
>Pearl shook her head “What? Of course not! They just have a simple lock that it’s super easy to get around. Just stand aside and look out for anypony who might see us while I work my magic on this thing”
“I actually could open that thing with my magic but fine, whatever, let’s take the longer route and do it your way”

>As she started to lock pick the window, Pearl rolled her eyes and said with an annoyed tone ”By Celestia! Are you supposed to be the Prince of whining or something?! Why don’t you stop worrying and have fun for once? Geez!”
“To be fair, me not being the guy who comes up with the stupid plan is pretty rare, that means that your plan is somehow more stupid than whatever I would’ve came up with”
>”Hush! This idea is perfect! To have fun that is” You then heard a clicking sound as Pearl happily exclaimed “Aha! There’s no lock that my hoovsies can’t pick!”
>”Come on, Anon! Fun awaits us!” Pearl opened the window and then jumped in… only to jump back to the garden mere seconds later “Okay, you’re kind of a jerk but you were right. That was a bad idea” Huh… despite her super white coat, Pearl was looking pale.
“What happened? Did somepony see you?”
>Pearl gulped and nervously nodded “You could say that…”
>You rolled your eyes and walked past Pearl.
“Geez, we’re not even two seconds in and we already blew up this thing. Hold on, lemme check if…”
>When you peeked through the window, the first thing you noticed was a small yet comfy looking library illuminated by the dim light of a candle.

>You didn’t see anypony either but rather the muzzle of a large black dog who was growling at you. Of course, you bravely yelped as you fell on your back.
“The guy is still there….”
>You quickly stood up and looked at Pearl
“Sweet science! What was Blueblood thinking when he got that thing?! The fangs of that guy were larger than my frickin’ horn!”
>Pearl crossed her front hooves and hoofed ”Dad only did it because we needed a guardian dog, he cares about my safety, okay?!”
>You rolled your eyes as you gave Pearl a sarcastic look
“Oh and it worked so great, the dang thing is guarding the house even from its owners!”
>”That “thing” has a name, you know? He’s Puffy Paws… but… I have no idea why Antoine let him to roam around the house because he’s
supposed to guard the backyard and only the backyard…” Pearl rubbed her chin “Something’s fishy here”
“Best explanation possible is that your butler laughs at Blueblood behind his back, I mean, I’d do it too…”
>”Antoine would never do that, you jerk!” Pearl looked away for a minute and then turned back at you “Maybe the maids… but not Antoine!”
“Hey, it’s a possibility, another one is that maybe he drank a whole lot of cider, it doesn’t matter, really, I’ll use my magic on that dog and be done with it”
>”Puh-lease, I can tell that you know some advanced spells but do you really expect me to believe that you can stop a dog as big as a stallion? C’mon, we’ll find a different window”

“You seriously don’t know what can I do with my magic? Oh man, you should hang with Cherrywood more. Anyway, we’re losing a lot of time just standing here. Be right back!”
>You peeked through the open window and jumped into the library
>Pearl tried to stop you but realizing the dog was still there, she stopped herself from jumping too, limiting herself to say “Wait! Are you crazy?! That dog will eat you alive!”
>You snickered and wave your hoof dismissively
“He won’t do a thing, just watch”
>You quickly lit up your horn at the very moment the dog growled and rushed at you.
“Hey, Fido! CATCH!”
>The moment the dog jumped to munch your precious face, you casted an immobilization spell. Which of course worked wonders.
>Pearl mouth remained wide open when she jumped into the library and carefully inspected the dog who was frozen in mid-air. After the initial surprise, she turned to you and asked as she pointed at the dog “What in the whole wide world of Equestria is that spell?! No! How did you pull that kind of magic?!”
“I’m gonna be honest, I actually wanted to shoot a laser at the dog… oh well, guess I have to practice that spell a bit more”
>”WHAT?!” Pearl grabbed you by the shoulders and angrily yelled “YOU WANTED TO VAPORIZE MY DOG?!”

>You let out a chuckle as you shrugged
“Oh c’mon, it was a joke… kinda, I CAN shoot lasers, my aim is a bit clunky though… eh… anyway, the dog will be fine, I only casted an immobilization spell on the guy”
>Pearl narrowed her eyes at you as she said ”And how I am supposed to know what the hay that is?! Do I look like a walking encyclopedia to you?!”
>You gave her a smug smirk and rubbed your hoof against your chest
“You would know it if you were as cool as I am”
>Pearl shot a glare at you, the kind that could freeze up a frickin’ star, so you decided to tone down your smugness a little bit.
“Okay, bad joke. The truth is, I’m kinda good with magic”
>”Oh really?” Pearl rolled her eyes and replied with a whole lot of sarcasm “What makes you say that? The fact that you can teleport around? Nah, it must be the arcane spell that you casted on my dog, right? Nah, it must be something else. Geez, you should have mentioned it before, I could’ve planned something way fun with your magic”
“Sarcasm aside, while I can do a whole lot of magical stuff, this spell is one of the few that I can cast in a reliable manner. Everything else? Well, I almost burned down the castle when my teacher taught me a heating spell”
>”Hmmmm, maybe I can still come up with something good” Pearl tapped her chin as she rested against the frozen dog “What other spells you can use? I’m talking about the spells you can REALLY use. You know, the ones that won’t leave me homeless.”
“You already saw two of them, the other is a magical shield… and I can levitate an entire room, other than that? Nope”
>Pearl raised an eyebrow at you ”Well I’m actually surprised. You raised my expectations only to find the way to get them lower than ever before. Congratulations”

>You let out a groan and gave her a stoic look
“Now who’s being the jerk?”
>”Not me,” Pearl shook her head and shrugged “I’m just saying the truth”
>You rolled your eyes as you turned to the library’s door
“Whatever, let’s go back to the whole stealing your dad’s records deal. Based on what you said before, I suppose that Fido here ain’t the only one we should worry about, right?”
>”Puffy Paws. And don’t worry. The only ones who should be in the house right now are Antoine the butler and a couple maids. Nothing we can’t evade with ease”
“I’m pretty sure that everypony in a mile radius heard you yelling, so as I see it, there are two possibilities, the first one is that the guys you mentioned recognized your… “charming” voice and the other is that they didn’t, either way, the staff should be in high alert by now”
>”Nah” Pearl waved her hoof dismissively “Antoine is almost deaf so he’s not really a problem and the maids are louder than Puffy Paws, we would’ve heard their annoying voices if they had noticed something.”
“Or maybe…”

>”Oh, shut up!” Pearl walked to the library’s door and opened it. “See? There’s nopony coming at us!”
>The door lead to a big hall, one that was almost a 1:1 replica of the castle’s main hall, except that this one was way smaller for obvious reasons. Just like Pearl said, there was no soul in sight, at least not on first glance.
>Thing is, the hall was in complete darkness, so you didn’t blame Pearl for not noticing that creepy figure staring at you from the top of the stairs.
>As creepy as it was, going into the offensive would probably be a terrible move. Maybe it was somepony from the staff trying to figure out who the shadowy and small figures coming out from the library were.
>Nope, you couldn’t break Pearl’s fun or the deal would go kaput, so you decided to continue talking to her, so the creepy maid or butler or whatever could know that he or she wasn’t dealing with actual robbers.
“Is your dad going broke or is there an actual good reason as to why there are no lights in here?”
>Pearl huffed and then corrected you with a proud voice ”First of all, no. Even when he’s not a prince, my dad still is great with handling money and secondly… not really, dad is always telling the staff to keep all the lights on… it helps me to sleep better”
>Okay, that wasn’t loud enough. You gotta make her raise her volume again, luckily, Pearl just gave you enough material to make her mad. You just have to it in a classy way.
“Gotta admit, that just raises more questions than answers”

>”Why? Because I can’t sleep with the lights off?!” Pearl clearly took offence by whatever she thought you implied, because boo she was angry “Let me make this clear, there is nothing weird with being scared of the dark, in fact, I’m sure…”
>Dang, whoever that was, he or she didn’t move. You took a step back and started focusing on a shield spell without lightening your horn.
“I wasn’t talking about that, but thanks for sharing the info. I meant that I have a bad feeling about all of this”
>”Why’s that? As I see it, the only fishy thing here is that the staff didn’t follow my Dad’s orders. Maybe they just decided to take the night off while my Dad and I went to that boring party… the only weird thing is why Antoine didn’t stop them but… he’s very old, maybe he went to sleep early”
>You just realized…. That shadowy figure was a griffon. Okay, time to bring the news to Pearl… in a somewhat tactful manner.
“And as I see it either you are right and the staff left the house to go partying like there’s no tomorrow, or…”
>Pearl raised an eyebrow and asked with an annoyed tone ”Or?”
>You motioned Pearl to look where the shadowy figure was standing.
“Or tell me, did your father hire griffons for his staff?”
>”Yeah… That’s… Griselda, the head maid.” Pearl grabbed your left front leg and tried to pull you back to the library “We probably should hide before…”

>You gently broke yourself free from her grasp and shook your head.
“For what use? That gal has been staring at us the whole time”
>”In that case, we use plan B” Pearl walked past you and happily walked to the griffon “Hey Griselda, guess who’s my new friend? Nopony else but the…” She stopped midway when she realized that there was no answer for the maid “Griselda?”
>Pearl continued walking up the stairs but this time much more carefully “Griselda? Is there something wrong?”
>As Pearl was getting closer to the Griffon, you noticed it. It was nothing more than a brief moment but you clearly saw the eyes of maid sparkling with that horribly familiar green.
>You quickly teleported in front of Pearl and casted the most powerful shield you could.
>Pearl looked around, confused and a bit scared “Hey! What are you doing?”
>You turned to her with a stern and hard look in your face and said.
“From this point onwards, you’ll do exactly what I say and won’t leave my side for any reason, understand?”

>Pearl looked at you with curiosity and shook her head “Anon, I’m not dumb. It’s clear that you know what is going on, so if you want me to play by your rules, then you better tell me”
>You looked at Pearl and then at the Griffon who was now being illuminated by your magic. Her eyes had a soulless look and her mouth was moving at an impossibly frantic pacing.
>”Hey… do you think you could tell me like, right now?” Pearl said as she pointed to somewhere in the hall “We have company”
>Your gaze turned to where Pearl was pointing… the rest of the maids, and the old buttler… all of them were standing at the lower part of the stairs… and all of them had those fluorescent green eyes.
>”Anon?” Pearl gave you a gently tug “Why are you tapping that necklace so much?”
>You looked down to your chest… and she was right, you were tapping your necklace like a madpony and not only that… your hooves were shacking like jelly.
>You gulped and trying your best to keep your composure. You asked Pearl
“Pearl, where’s Blueblood’s study?”
>The poor filly leaned closer to you… she was shaking, but just like you, she did her best to keep herself together “Up the stairs, it’s the door at the end of the left hallway”
“Cool. Ready for more fun with teleporting?”

>”STOP DOING THOSE JOKES AND TAKE US OUT OF HERE ALREADY”
“R-Right… sorry”
>You did your best to focus despite your internal freak out. Your horn lit up even harder this time and….
>Of course your teleporting spell worked. That wasn’t the problem, not by a long shot.
“Oh… no”
>The problem is that you just jumped right into the wolf’s mouth, the problem was that your worst nightmares came true.
>The problem is that you were now standing right in front of Chrysalis herself.
> The monster was sitting at Blueblood’s chair, there was a safe in the wall right behind her. It was completely open ”Aaaaah! If it isn’t the young Prince. What a coincidence to find you here… oh! Were you looking for this?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow and gave you a malicious grin as she waved a paper then she cackled “Seems like we had the same idea, no? Well, it’s like you ponies use to say. Great minds think alike. Guess I don’t need to tell you what comes next”
>You couldn’t say anything but you couldn’t run away either. Pearl was also absolutely terrified, to the point where she wasn’t moving.

>You quickly lit up your horn to take you and Pearl away, but Chrysalis was faster than you. She immediately jumped and firmly grabbed you with her hooves.
>”Oh, Anon. Don’t tell me you are planning on leaving already” Chrysalis raised you to her eye level and leaned closer to your face “That would be such a shame, not to mention a terrible display of manners”
>You mustered all your strength to come up with a new spell. Maybe you can’t teleport away but at this distance, there was no way that you could miss.
>You shot a laser, the most powerful one you had, but Chrysalis simply tilted her head to the right and dodged the blast.
>*BOOOM*
>HOW?! HOW COULD SHE DODGE THAT LASER SO EASILY?!”
>The entire wall was gone… but the monster was still here, holding you and cackling “Seems like we have a fighter… good. That already puts you above of most of your kind.” Chrysalis looked away for a moment before holding you harder “Now, what do you say if we make the best out of this wonderful coincidence? I was thinking…”
>You started to feel weak… it was hard to keep yourself conscious…
>As everything went dark, you heard the monster said “Why don’t we go to my place and have some fun together? I guarantee that you will absolutely love the hive. AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”