Truly Evil?

"Well, if there's not anythign else we can learn from this room, I say we go back to the dial." June unconsciously slipped the medical document into a side pocket on her backpack, where it landed neatly on top of a larger pile of medical documents. "We did learn quite a bit, after all. Like Mezzy did or will do something big with magic, and some other more politiciany things."

"Yes... yes, that's true." Ician mulled over it. "Well, back to the dial then. We'd better not waste any time. If Sin Ester has a truly evil plan going on right now... we can't waste any time." He marched towards the staircase. "Let's go."

June took a longing glance at the telescopes.  She really wanted one, they could be useful.  Granted, she had a few already, but a couple more couldn't hurt.  But she needed the trust of her traveling companions more, and sticking around after she suggested they lwave would be suspicious.  And Ician was already paranoid, she had only recently earned his trust.

With a sigh, she followed Ician down the stairs.

Dusk followed June and Ician out, deciding to remain silent. He didn't really relax though. He figured something would still try to kill them. If not, he would be pleasantly surprised.

Arriving back into the picture filled room, the three would find it almost the same as they left it, with the dial still holding two colors that had yet to be explored. The yellow one was next if they were going in order, and the black would be last. Curiously enough, the only noticeable chance was that apparently at some point when the dial had been changed to other colors, the doors it had previously opened shut.

"Hm." Ician touched his hoof to the dial and twisted it to yellow. He took a step away from it and looked around quickly, his sword held firmly in his telekinetic grip. "Alright, let's see what you have in store for us..."

A nod from June. "My vote is on lightning or light." She tapped her sunglasses. "I am prepared for one of those."

The dial clicked onto the yellow, and it was followed by another click and panel on the floor opened up. Previously hidden by it, a set of spiral stairs leading downwards was revealed. Artificial magic torches created heat-less light at regular intervals down the stairs to illuminate the passage.

"Oh look. Another suspicious staircase." Ician drew out his faithful trap-checking book and flung it into the passage, waiting patiently for it to trigger any traps.

The book clambered down the staircase, bounding off the walls and the stairs until it disappeared from sight. Yet nothing happened despite any time that crept by.

"Alright. I'd say... this is as safe as I can confirm it to be." Ician took a few tentative steps down the staircase, keeping a three-second interval between each step to give him as much time to beat a hasty retreat as possible.

Dusk again decided to let June go before him. This time it was more important since something could come rolling down behind them, and he would be the best pony to take whatever came at them.

"After you. I'll watch the rear," he said to June. Then he realized what he said sounded kinda bad and blushed a bit.

This earned a giggle from June.  "Well, I suppose I can't stop you."  She followed after Ician, putting a little more sway into her hips.  Something in the back of her mind berated her for flirting in the middle of a dangerous manor, they would need their full focus for this.  Another part of her brain told her that she was far too skinny to make a proper view.  She quickly blocked out both these thoughts, choosing instead to consider what might lie ahead in the mansion.

Oh great, Dusk thought as he followed, Now she's flirting with me. He didn't exactly mind. He figured it was nice to be flirted with. However, he had a task to complete and her swaying hips were not helping him. He couldn't recall ever being more distracted, but he couldn't recall much of anything while trying not to stare at her flanks.

Celestia preserve my sanity.

Never-the-less, down the stair descended, finally ending in what appeared to be something of a shrine. The room wasn't big, but the three ponies could fit in it comfortably. The space was lit by the same magic torches that had guided their way down, and illuminated the high quality bricks making up the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Most of the space was fairly bare except small set of steps leading to a slightly raised platform at the far end. A large stone square coffin resided there, the lid decorated with a carved statue of a pony laying on it's back. Around the coffin were dozens upon dozens of flowers, all magically preserved to continue being in the dark of the place. A single picture resided at the base of the side they were face, detailing the two ponies that had appeared in numerous other pictures throughout the house in a wedding scene. The stallion dressed in formal black attire, with the blue stared tie of a professor of Celestia's premier magic university, and the mare dressed in a gorgeous white wedding dress, but with no house or prestigious markings.

Below the picture was the only engraved brick. It read 'A loving and dear wife who will be forever missed, may you rest peacefully where they can never touch you'.

Ician stepped forward wordlessly, his mouth slightly agape as he beheld the scene. So engrossed was he that he did not even bother to check for traps this time around. He walked up to the coffin, taking everything in, and then knelt down to inspect the engraved brick beneath the picture.

He was glad that he was wearing his hood. At least the others wouldn't be able to see the tears running down the side of his face.

Dusk also came up to the coffin. In the back of his mind he thought there had to be something guarding this. There was little doubt in his mind that the mare named Ivy was in the coffin, and the fact she and Sin Ester were married further erased any doubt. If he was married, he'd protect his wife with a fury no pony had ever seen him have.

The engraving on the brick caught his attention the most, specifically the last bit. "Where they can never touch you," he mused aloud, "Sin Ester must be mentioning a specific group of ponies." After a few moments of thinking, Dusk then said, "We shouldn't stay in here too long. If Sin Ester knows we're here, I doubt he'll let us leave this place alive."

For once, June was silent. When she breathed, her lungs were filled with the dull scent of sorrow both new and old, and it mingled with the fresh flowers in a distinctive combination: it smelled like a funeral. It smelled like a graveyard, the scent dredging up old memories and it all hit June in a single overwhelming wave. She was silent, standing at the bottom of the stairs, and she slowly lowered her head. "We-" her voice broke, and she cleared her throat. "We should go. We shouldn't disturb here."

"... no." Ician said at last, lifting his hoof to wipe the tears away. "No. We stay. And we search." He whipped around. "Think about it. Sin Ester's had a whole multitude of traps, specifically designed to kill intruders, and we overcame every one. But where would he be most likely to hide something he didn't want us to find?" He swept his hoof around the chamber. "The place where we wouldn't want - no, wouldn't dare - to search. The place which behooves us to turn back."

He strode towards the coffin. "But no. I refuse to leave. I came in here to stop a criminal mastermind, and that's what I'm going to do. No matter how much I have to endure... no matter what I have to do... I. Cannot. Turn. Back!" With that, he set about searching the room for hidden details, much like he had done before.

Dusk had the sinking feeling this was a bad idea. "Fine, but with that same logic, whatever we're looking for would likely be in the coffin itself," he said.

He then turned to the coffin and placed his hooves so he could push the top off. If I do this, then I'm a dead pony. And I promised I'd return home safely too, he thought. He didn't push it open yet. He hoped somepony would talk him out of it.

The search Ician conducted yielded nothing. The flowers were simply held in lightly enchanted vases to keep them preserved. The only brick with any distinguishing feature was the single engraved brick. The picture wasn't fastened to the ground, and didn't seem to hide anything inside the frame. That only left the coffin, and what laid inside.

"You're right." Ician muttered to Dusk as soon as he had finished his search. "The coffin's the only thing left. And..." He swallowed. "We can leave no stone unturned."

He marched up to the coffin and prepared to help Dusk lift the lid off. He strengthened and consolidated his telekinetic hold over the opposite end of the lid.

June stayed silent. She could see the logic in their reasoning, but it wasn't enough. It was just the room getting to her, she knew. But still. She had immense respect for the dead, after seeing so many, but she knew the stallions might be right. So she looked away, trying to tune out the immense sadness in the room.

As the lid to the coffin was moved, the sound of stone not so much as grinding but along the lines of smoothly being moved against itself sounded out. The coffin lid was also fairly heavy with all the extra stone being used to make the pony figure on the top, but it was movable and before long the coffin was open.

Inside was the corpse, preserved almost perfectly by both some enchants and by the fact that almost nothing had gotten into the coffin since it'd been shut. The mare was pale, but still had enough of her coat color to be reminiscent of the pony it once was, and her mane was still as bright as it had been in the pictures. If one didn't know any better, somepony could probably be fooled into thinking she was just asleep, but there was no heat in her body and it would not respond to touch.

This almost feels like looting a corpse. Ician shook the reluctance and hesitation away. No. Remember what must be done. He steeled himself and closed his eyes, his horn aglow.

As gently as he could, he levitated the corpse just out of the coffin, checking the insides of the coffin for any hidden openings or other details that somepony might have left behind. If he's hiding anything... it'll be in here. Somewhere. Hopefully.