Twilight snorted awake, her breath hitching for a moment. She groaned slightly, rolling from her side to her belly on the ratty, decomposed mattresses. She laid there for a few seconds more before deciding that sleep had eluded her. Slowly, her purple eyes fluttered open.
She was met with same faintly lit room she woke up to days ago. Her eyes now could see better than they could back when she wasn't... this.
Her body had changed drastically. She looked as if a pony and diamond dog mixed, with a healthy measure of Sombra's dark magic thrown in. She'd grown in size, for one. Her head had now sported a elongated horn and snout, her maw now being filled with sharp teeth. They resembled a wolves in that regard. Her eyes were smaller, still keeping their lavender color, but being much less expressive than her old ones. She still had her mane, it's colors the same, but it was wild and unkempt.
Moving down her body, her neck had much more fur, puffing up around her collar. She still retained her wings, the feathers on them being more than a little beaten from her rough sleeping conditions. Her forelegs now were long claws, again like a wolves. They held more dexterity, however, being similar to a griffon's foreclaw or a minitours hand. Her rear and hind legs were the only parts that hardly changed, her legs only being a bit longer. She still had her tail, and her fur was the same color.
She looked like something from the Everfree. When she'd first spied her reflection, being a passing glance at a shattered mirror, she screamed in terror, the resulting screech causing her more fright. She remembered rearing up and-
She winced at the memory. It had not been pleasant trying to wrench her horn from the ceiling. That had been... 4 days ago. It was hard for the princess to tell the time in dark. She'd slept 3 times since first arriving, so it was probably accurate to say it was her fourth day down here.
The pony sighed, and stood to all fours. She scanned the room she'd called her home for the past few days. It was a square room, containing nearly 2 dozen old, rusted bunk beds. Their mattresses were rotted and tattered, their age showing. Last night, she had picked a few in the best conditions, pushed the frames to the edges of the room, and piled the bedding into the center of the room. The bedding leaked moisture when she laid on them, but they were more comfortable than just sleeping on the floor. Barely.
She'd noticed pretty early on that she was larger than most of the items in this place. The beds around her could only fit half of her on them, for example. Most of the doorways were narrow and short enough that she'd have to duck her head and suck in tight to fit herself through them. And if she stood on her hind legs, her horn would scrape the ceiling.
The pony walked forward, squeezing through the open doorway and into the hallway. She'd learned that nothing else was down here, so she'd forgone closing the metal door. The halls either side of her stretched on in darkness as far as she could see, which truthfully, wasn't that far. Her vision in the dark was just a bit better.
Her horn sparked to life, bathing the corridor in purple light. One thing going in her favour was still being able to use her magic. While it was weakened and stale where she was right now, she was still able to access most of her lower powered spells, such as telekinesis and light generation.
The pony trotted forward, her back hooves clopping and echoing as she made her way to another area of the structure. She weaved past stagnant puddles of water and debris that littered the hallway, past open and closed doorways. She'd travelled down the straight corridor until met a 4 way intersection. She stopped, gazing in each way, before spotting a small arrow she'd inscribed into the wall. She smiled at her intuition, before going into the hallway to her left.
She continued for another minute before the corridor began to become more visible. Light gently cascaded into the hall, it's source a open doorway at the end. She sped up just slightly as she slid through the threshold and into the light proper.
This room was large, it's ceiling much higher than the room's around it. Old machinery sat unused around the room, their intended purpose having to do with the operation of this place. But more important to Twilight, was the small hole in the ceiling. Light and Water spilled from the hole and into the room. The water splashed onto the ground, where a small pond was made in the concrete.
The princess walked forward, and dipped her snout into the small pond. Unlike the rest of the water in the many rooms of this place, this water was fresh and clean, sourced from whatever stream came from above. After taking a few deep gulps of the water, she slowed herself down, removing her snout from the water and just continuing to take small sips of the cool water. While the rest of this building gave her a sense of dread and a small amount of fear, this room, with the small hole that allowed light and water in, gave her a feeling of safety.
The magic was stronger in this room as well. Not enough to allow her to teleport without causing any side effects, but enough to ward off the empty feeling she'd felt in the other rooms. She raised her head away from the water, letting out a content sigh. Despite the confusion on her first day, and the subsequent searching for a exit for the next 2, she felt good standing here. Her continued adventuring of the dark structure would continue soon, searching for a exit and potentially some food. She hadn't eaten, and while it seemed like her new body could last a bit longer without food, she was still growing hungry, so finding something edible would be a priority, along with finding a exit.
She planned to check the last corridor at that 4 way intersection this time, along with the rooms in it. The other two led to more empty rooms, some containing desks and machinery, while others had long abandoned shelves and crates.
"I better get started then..." She muttered to herself, though it only came out as almost indecipherable growls and grunts. She glanced upwards at the light, before turning around and leaving to where she had came.
Twilight had been exploring for the last hour, and still had yet to find anything of interest. While this wing seemed larger than the other two, most of the rooms she'd come across contained more debris and old decor. She had found a room that reminded of the tavern in ponyville, one it's walls dominated by dozens of bottles, all behind a large counter. She had taken one, and after giving it a sniff, decided that it wasn't something she should ingest.
And now here she stood, at yet another intersection, deciding which way she should proceed. She debated with herself which way to explore for a few minutes.
"ughh..." She groaned, "I wish I had someway to make a map of this place. If I get even more lost in here, that'll just make it harder to find a exit." She began pacing back and forth, "And if I can't find a exit, the best bet I'll have is the room with the waterfall."
She stood for another few moments before stomping her front leg down.
"Okay Twilight!" She said suddenly, "I've got a solution." She raised a claw, and began pointing to each of the ways, reciting a rhyme. "Eenie, meany, miney, mo-"
Her rhymes were silenced when a loud metallic bang echoed through the halls. Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as her ears swiveled around, trying to locate any more sounds.
"What was..." She whispered, before there was another bang, followed by some other noises. She couldn't make them out now, but they almost sounded like...
A voice?
A voice! Somepony was talking somewhere! A smile formed on her face as her ears tried to locate the sound, with them deducing it came from her right. She quickly galloped down the hall, stopping at another intersection, again listening. It sounded like it came from her left. The voice was louder now! The words were spoken quickly, She couldn't quite understand them, despite it seeming somewhat familiar. Her smile faded just a tinge, as her paced slowed to just a trot.
"Oh ponyfeathers... what if they can't understand me..." She whispered out. "What if they get scared when they see me. Then they'll run and get the guard. And if they do that and don't recognize me then..." She trailed off as she rounded the corner, she scanned the room she'd entered.
This room was another large one. It had tall concrete walls with a high ceiling, filled with more deserted boxes and crates. But that wasn't what drew her attention. Standing in the middle of the room, was a creature she'd never seen before.
It stood on two legs, judging by its silhouette, as it faced a different wall. In one of its forelimbs, it held something that illuminated the wall. The light cast over a sign in a strange language. She could recognize the letters, but it's meaning was unknown to Twilight. It again talked in a different language, it's voice sounding masculine. Twilight swore she'd heard it before, when she was younger maybe.
"I should introduce myself, and see if it... he can find a way out." She muttered to herself. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat, and spoke.
"Hello?"
Immediately, the creature spun around to face her. His face had no snout, but it reminded her of a primate's. Two, forward facing eyes, ears on the side of his head, a small protrusion on the center of his face. It wore some things on it's torso and hind legs. The creature raised it's light, and shone it upon Twilight.
After a moment of blindness and blinking her eyes rapidly, she was able to see the creature. His mouth was held open in shock, eyes wide as he stared at Twilight. He retreated backwards a step, the pony noticing how it's whole body was tensed, looking like it would dart at any moment.
After a moment of silence, the princess spoke, "Hi there?" she gingerly took a step forward.
The creature reacted instantly, turning and sprinting away from the pony.
"W-wait!" Twilight shouted. This only made the creature move faster.
It reached a door, and began desperately trying to move the wheel attached to it. It wouldn't budge. Twilight approached slowly, trying to not spook the creature further.
He slowly turned around, its face looking more fearful as Twilight got closer. She stopped a few hooves away. The creature's eyes darted between her, the object in her hand, and something in his clothes.
"I'm not gonna hurt you..." Twilight tried to reassure it, but seeing as her voice was difficult to understand, the creature just continued to back away against the door. His reached his forelimb into the clothing, and removed something. He waved it in front of Twilight, who sniffed the thing.
"Is that... a sandwich?" She licked her lips hungrily, which caused the creature to back away a little more. He waved it around a bit more, before tossing it to left.
"Hey! That's a perfectly good sandwich!" The pony chased the sandwich, it splatting against the concrete floor. She grabbed it in her teeth, before turning back to where the creature stood, "You're lucky I believe in the 5 second..."
The creature was sprinting away, to where she'd come from, as fast as it could. Twilight quickly scarfed down the sandwich, before dashing after the creature.
He kept running as she shouted after it, "Wait! You'll get us more lost!" It took a hard right, surprising Twilight as she skidded around the corner. She recovered and continued after it, yelling.
"I just want some help!"