Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 12:06:36 GMT -6
Synth Pop took in a deliberate breath, which nevertheless was exhaled as a long yawn. She blinked the water from her eyes so she could see the pony in front of her, which led her into another yawn. She took off her shades and wiped her eyes. In a corner of the corridor, a clockface embedded in the wall read, in numerals made from dainty strokes captured in gold, a time so painful to see that for an instant she wished the clock was wrong: 11:05. That was eleven o' five in the morning, the part of the day she would have slept away in the comfort of her cushiony, pillow-top bed. That was where she should have been, but told somepony she would join them on a tour of the castle, so there she was, half-asleep and scowling at a clock. With a shake of her head, she trotted to catch up with the touring group, the leader giving them a very, very thorough history of the square-meter tiles they were walking over. Synth tried to bring her attention to the details. The tiles were purple and an off-white that seemed to take on a pearly-lavender color depending on the angle one saw them at. For the most part, however, they were covered by a two-tone, red, highly-fine carpet that took up the center of the path. Synth listened to the tour guide. Apparently, the stone for the tiles was quarried somewhere up north and...and the voice seemed to drift away as Synth's eyes began to close and her head began to lower. She distantly felt terrible about being so sleepy. She had been born and raised in Canterlot, living in easy view of the castle's soft, violet towers roofed in royal purple and gold in swooping designs. Today was the first time she had ever been in the castle. It should have been fascinating. She wanted it to be fun, but the only sensation she had as she walked was the rhythm of her hooves sounding dully and quietly off the tile under the thin cloth. Then, just as that sound was about to fade away to whatever dreams her unrested, uncaffeinated mind had in store, she was stunned as something hard met her forehead. She stumbled, stunned, and after a few blinks, found herself staring into the wall -- specifically, the seamless, nearly golden wood paneling of the wall before it went high up into lavender paint and ancient tapestries. She reflexively looked around and saw nopony. Not her group, and not a single guard in gilded armor. She was alone at the intersection of two corridors, the only other details being the occasional set of tall double-doors in darker, richer wood. Had...she seriously gotten lost? She looked around again, sleepiness suspended in a rush of anxiety. There were no signs or anything of use, just what she saw before. She even removed her shades for a wincing moment to look, and still it seemed that all she could do was pick a direction and walk. She briefly considered calling out, but how would she explain herself if a guard showed up? Securing her shades to her face, she went with the first feeling that came: left. She walked quietly down the corridor, which soon opened up into a wider hallway. When she approached a pair of double doors, she hesitated for a moment, then, after looking both ways, opened a door and peeked inside. The room was dim with the curtains pulled. That...probably wasn't it, so she closed the door and continued down the hall. When she came to another set of doors, she looked inside the same way, and saw a large room with books...perhaps a study of some kind? Still, that probably was not the way out, so she closed the door carefully and continued. The hall soon straightened out, and at its end was a pair of double doors, except with a panel of stained glass in each door, sunlight on the other side illuminating an abstract depiction of who she assumed was Princess Celestia and the recently-returned Princess Luna circling around each other, the door splitting them apart. If there was sunlight, then naturally, this was a way outside. She vaguely remembered the part of the tour that covered the grounds. Outside, perhaps Synth could find her way to the front of the castle and write the whole thing off as a really awkward, but safe moment. Outside, her spirits immediately fell. What she saw in front of her was not a part of the grounds, at least, not a part that she had seen earlier. The place was bordered by gigantic hedges cut perfectly square. As she walked into the space, her hooves fell on cut but soft bright-green grass. At first, Synth almost felt even more lost. Latticework made from curved and carved wood formed walls that seemed to circle the area, making it a seeming circular maze, the walls positively covered with countless breeds of vines producing flowers in the deepest reds, blues, purples, yellows and greens such that she could barely even begin to identify them all. The smell of the place was floral sweet in air that was just slightly cool on Synth's contrasting, charcoal-colored coat. There was no doubt in her mind, as she continued to walk into...perhaps it was a garden...that this place was not meant for her. And yet, like a fool from a story, she walked deeper into the garden. As she did, the ground began to dip, and coming around a bend, briefly startled by a passing honeybee, she saw the path of the ground. The whole garden dipped towards a small pool in the center that kept a fountain made of mossy stone in the telltale shape of the sun, water trickling down from the tips of the depiction's wavy corona. Planters held small curved trees that made just enough of a soft canopy over the path down to the fountain that sunlight made it down in kaleidoscopic shapes over the grass. Synth walked down to the fountain and simply just looked around. She'd probably get in trouble if she didn't leave, and soon, but it was still a lovely garden, and as she started to lean up against the walls of the fountain, her sleepiness started to come back, and she thought that perhaps she could sneak in a nap...just a little nap...she was lost anyways... |