[Canterlot] Down in the Deep Archives (Closed)

[SilverMint]

The Canterlot Library is one of the oldest buildings in all of Equestria, built even before the rule of the Princesses Celestia and Luna. It appears almost timeless from the outside, a single broad building surrounded with bright, stained glass patterns, coloring the interior with softened sunlight, perfect to read any of the tens of thousands of volumes available to the general public. It's commonly known that there are archives below the main floor of the library, old tomes, ancient scrolls of magic, and other sources of information that are too delicate... or too dangerous... for the everyday pony.

However, few ponies know about the Deep Archives; a magically sealed sub-basement that spans a huge underground expanse, digging deep into the side of the very mountainside on which Canterlot was founded. Every 500 years, several unwitting ponies are selected, based on the extent of their fervor for the library's knowledge, to be magically teleported into the Deep Archives. There, the ponies will be tested on the extent of their knowledge to see if they're worthy of the information they seek.

To be revealed in the next few pages are the accounts of several ponies who went through the Deep Archives... read... and enjoy...

Silver Mint

Silver Mint slammed another book shut in frustration, prompting the angry, hissing "sssh's" of a dozen other ponies in the Canterlot Library. He held his face in his hooves and rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted from looking through dozens of books. He was looking for a book with information on the First Era playwright, Stage Hoof. He was the one who developed the style of play that Equestria used today, and if he could understand the foundation of his craft, then he could probably take a step forward in his goal to be the greatest actor of his generation. He knew that if a book on Stage Hoof existed, it would most likely be in the Canterlot Library, but so far, nothing but a passing mention in "Equestrain Culture, Past and Present," and a short paragraph in "The History of Equestrian Playwrights."

Silver Mint looked up from his book and around the vast main chamber of Canterlot Library. In addition to the innumerable shelves of books, spread across three stories of ancient, pure-white stone, a vast stained-glass skylight, depicting the Princesses Luna and Celestia circling each other, the Sun and Moon in their respective wakes, spread a soft, natural light over the library's main floor, where dozens of ponies sat reading, browsing shelves, or simply just marvelling at one of Canterlot's most iconic and historic buildings. These things weren't lost on Silver Mint, but he had to ignore them. He had a mission, and he was hoof-bent on completing it.

Silver Mint groggily put his book on the return cart, amid the many others he had placed there. The librarian pony on the front desk gave him a dirty look, but he didn't care. He had to find out about Stage Hoof! He made his way back to the card catalogue and hoofed his way through the cards looking in vain for something that might lead to any information on Stage Hoof. As he reached to pull out one of the card-laden drawers, his hoof bumped another that was reaching for the same drawer.

"Oh, I'm sorry, go right ahead." He said, withdrawing his hoof and turning to the pony he had bumped.

[MidnightRead]

Midnight Read screwed up her piece of parchment and threw it away in frustration. She gently hit her head with her right hoof trying to think of ideas for her story but her mind went blank. Midnight stopped hitting her and lifted up the pieces of parchment that was scattered around on the table she was currently sitting at and shoved them in her saddle bag which was resting on the chair opposite to her.

She gave a long and impatient sigh and stared at the stunning stained glass window which was letting the warm sunlight hit her face. Midnight was just about to think about leaving but thought she could get some inspirational ideas from the card catalogue.

So Midnight lifted her saddle bag of from the chair and put it onto her back and made her way towards a random draw.

She was just about to pull out a draw her hoof bumped another pony.

She turned her head to find a colt reaching for the same draw.

"Oh, are you sure? I can look in another draw if you would like..." She said quietly while looking down at the ground.

[Karnaloth]

Strife was probably the only pony visiting the Library for this particular reason, it was a humiliating one, atleast thats what she believed. She walked through the bookcases, seeing all kinds of fascinating books, but none that she looked for. In her head, she'd assume they'd have those kind of books here... she looked through each bookshelf before finally stumbling upon a book with a cover that she assumed meant well it had a stallion and mare on it, hugging each other, her heart melted at the picture and without even bothering with the title she opened the book and read through it quickly, realising this was absolutely not what she was looking for she closed it and put it away Mom what were you talking about, there's no books here that can help me getting a relationship... all I can find is books about how amazing life is with a special somepony Strife had always wondered since she was a little filly, why she was one of those mares stallions didn't seem too bother with, she didnt really care when she was a filly, but later on the lack of a special somepony made her feel lonely, it drove to all kinds of wild assumptions, thinking she didnt have the looks, or maybe they thought she was a mean pony.

they had told her to start dating, but she always shy away at that thought.. maybe she was simply to shy, maybe that was her problem, so she continued, this time franticly searching for a book that could help you get over shyness. In her head this made her giggle a bit, after all it was quite funny how when she was on duty she'd shy away from no pony at all, and when she isn't she's like the shyest pony she knew of, it was probably because the armor re-assured her, she put a stack of books on a table and began reading through them.. no, no no no NO! this is pointless, why can no pony help me? she sobbed inwardly, put kept her guardsmare pokerface up no matter what c'mon girl, your a guardsmare, no crying or weeping allowed! she shook her head at her own thought I cant let myself turn into one of those emotionless ponies, maybe thats my problem.. maybe I seem to emotionless! and like that, with renewed faith, she went searching for a book on emotions.

[Gaedwyn]

Skyra, moved threw the main chamber of the library, there were so many books on alchemy here, and she had read all except for one... though, finding one book in an entire library can be..... troublesome. She searched the shelves for hours, still nothing!

She had tried talking to the librarians, but the just ignored her and helped a more... "Likeable" pony, she thought that this was just rude! Your job is to help people! she thought to herself angrily. Skyra was so obsessed about finding this one book that she failed to notice another pony as he (or she) crashed into her with an all mighty thud! Oh! I'm so so sorry! exclaimed Skyra, I should of looked were i was going!

[RarityDash]

Arcana's eyes poured over book after book. Nothing. Absolutely nothing in this library interested her. Bitterly, she laughed. Why should she even be surprised at this point? Canterlot was a city of libraries. There were countless libraries in this town. It was the foundation of the entire useless city. Arcana had, in her quest for a very particular sort of knowledge likely visited around half of them. Seldom was the task very fruitful.

Only recently she had made an excursion to the so called Great Library of Canterlot, and while that had provided moments of intrigue after she had found her way into the archives, it had mostly just turned out to be a night long annoyance. She hoped this one would provided more of interest to her. While that had been touted as the largest library in Canterlot, this one was supposed to be the oldest library in Canterlot, and in fact one of the oldest buildings in Equestria. That's what gave Arcana hope. If the sort of knowledge she sought existed anywhere in Canterlot outside the castle itself and its Starswirl the Bearded wing, a place Arcana wasn't quite ready to breach, then surely this was it.

Arcana was a magic seeker. To her magic was power, and power was a thing she coveted. With power, she could change things. With power, she could be somepony who mattered in the grand scheme. And so she spent her days searching every dark corner of Equestria for magic rare, ancient or powerful. It was her singular obsession, and to accomplish it, she cared not who or what her hooves would have to stomp over.

Book after book passed by her eyes as she searched for any spell that interested her, but all of it was far too common. She was beginning to get annoyed. That was when, suddenly, while she was moving to get another book nearby, some common pony had the indignity to ram clumsily into her.

"Oh! I'm so so sorry! I should of looked were i was going!" the guilty pegasus mare exclaimed.

"Indeed. You certainly should have," Arcana said as she stood back up, her face showing an unamused scowl. "Such reckless disregard for one's surroundings in a place such as this is entirely inappropriate."

[Gaedwyn]

"Oh! what manners for such a 'Important pony' " Skyra said with a glare "Maybe you should take yourself 'and' your ego to the princess herself! I'm sure she would approve.." And with that, Skyra turned away and continued her search.

[SilverMint]

Silver Mint

"Oh, are you sure? I can look in another drawer if you would like..." the young mare said, looking down at the ground. Was she embarrassed? Silver Mint smiled, despite himself. He wasn't going to hog an entire drawer's worth of information to himself. Without a word, he pulled the entirety of the long thin drawer out from it's holder.

"C'mon," he said as warmly as possible. "If we're both looking in the 'Entertainment and History' section, we may just be looking for the same thing. What are you looking for? I may have seen it before, since, Celestia knows, I've been delving the info in this drawer for the last couple days." He chanced a glance at the unicorn mare to see how she was reacting, but something else caught his eye. At the very back end of the drawer was a deep red piece of parchment that obviously wasn't a part of the card catalogue. He gingerly fished the parchment out from the drawer and looked at it. It appeared to be some old parchment someone had crammed into the back of the drawer and forgotten about. Why would they do that when there were dustbins readily available all over the library? He unfolded the sheet and looked at it.

What he saw was a confusing mass of letters scrawled out in a language he didn't know... It read: "Reperies, qui exquirunt prudentiam, sed paratum et erit cum apparuerit?Voluit cognoscere quam cognoscant numquam eos sit. Ibunt in altum orci. Invenire te secreta Equestriae..." What was this?

[MidnightRead]

"Oh, I'm not really looking for anything particular, I was ju-" ​Midnight started to say quitely but noticed the colt wasn't listening but had his eyes locked onto a red piece of parchment, Midnight caught a glimpse of the text, with a type of language she had never seen in a book before, "What language is that?" She asked him,

[RarityDash]

"Oh! what manners for such a 'Important pony'. Maybe you should take yourself 'and' your ego to the princess herself! I'm sure she would approve.."

The nondescript pegasus filly called after Arcana, clearly irate with her attitude. Arcana just had to laugh. She was smug and self-important, but it was warranted. She was a pony who was going to matter someday, once she had accrued the right level of power.

"Oh, believe me, I will. Celestia shall have her day someday..." Arcana mumbled very quietly to herself as she smirked. "I just need to find the right knowledge..."

It wasn't worth it to say anything directly to the pegasus. Arguing with such a pony wasn't worth her time, especially when she had an entirely library to search through for something even remotely interesting. It was then that, out of the corner of Arcana's eye, she could see a Stallion find something quite curious in one of the card catalogues. It was a piece of parchment. Just from the look of it she could tell it was quite ancient. Just maybe it was something that might prove interesting to her.

Quickly she moved toward the stallion and the filly standing near him. He passed a mare in the armor of a Lunar Guard. She'd have to be careful if there were guards nearby. Being too confrontational could make for trouble.

"You there," she started as she stepped toward the stallion, a green earth pony with a gray mane. "Might I take a look at that you've found? I'm a scholar of sorts. I might be able to decipher it."

[SilverMint]

Silver Mint

Silver Mint was about to answer when a curt voice interrupted: "You there," said a dark-pink unicorn with a black scarf and hat. "Might I take a look at that you've found? I'm a scholar of sorts. I might be able to decipher it."

Silver Mint frowned. He had felt as though this unicorn was barging in on a secret find that he and his new friend had accidentally stumbled upon. However... it wasn't as though they'd be able to figure out what the message said. Silver Mint couldn't even tell what language it was in... probably some form of archaic Equestrian text, or maybe even Aquellian? He looked to Midnight to see what she thought, but she was looking away from the brash unicorn. Well, he'd dealt with bigger egos in the theater world, so maybe it was worth dealing with this odd unicorn mare, if only to find out what this parchment said.

"Of course, we'd be happy for your help." he said, as politely as he could, but not giving up the parchment to the unicorn. "Let's go someplace a little less crowded though. I see there are some empty tables over by the Self-help Section. Only one dark-blue Pegasus over there, and she seems rather preoccupied." Without waiting for a response from the intrusive unicorn, he headed off towards the self-help section, parchment in hoof. He paused a moment to look over his shoulder at the violet unicorn who was quietly watching. "Oh, and please do come with us. I would never have found this without you. I think you deserve as much as anyone to know what it says." he said, with as warm a smile as he could muster.

[Karnaloth]

Strife had found a book on emotions by now, looking through it, she came to the realisation she wasn't that emotionless at all, if anything, she was protective, but she knew that.. putting her head on her hooves she peered around the library, noticing several ponies gathering, one of which she saw passing by earlier. Not really worrying about what they were doing until she noticed the red parchment, she noticed it because of her training, always check if an opponent might have something dangerous on their hooves.. although this green stallion didn't seem to be much of a threat to her.. she decided it was probably best to keep an eye on them. She got back to what she was doing then, her watcheful eye watching them from this point on, she grabbed another book on emotions, and this time.. though she knew it was useless anyway she grabbed a few books with ''love'' in the title, just to check what these mares and stallions did to win each other.. knowing this was silly and just fantasy, she did think she MIGHT gain something of off this.

what am I missing? she thought, as she continued her search.

[SilverMint]

Silver Mint

Sitting down at a large empty table, Silver Mint spread the sheet of red parchment out and smoothed it out. It must have been a trick of the light-- probably caused by the colored light streaming in from the stained skylight above-- but the words seemed to glisten as his eyes moved over them, seemed to quiver in excitement. Silver Mint rubbed his eyes. He was probably still tired from reading so much over the last few days. The words on the parchment, black on red, still sprawled over the page, almost begging to be deciphered.

Silver Mint made sure to keep a hoof on the parchment... he wasn't sure why, but he felt oddly possessive of it. "Here we are, miss." He said to the black-hatted pegasus. "Do you recognize this language? Can you tell us what this says?"

[MidnightRead]

Midnight smiled back at Silver and took up his offer of joining them.

She followed the two ponies to a table and watched as he opened up the red parchment. Midnight Read stared at the parchment being fascinated by the secrets it held.

She looked up at the Pegasus who had just taken a seat, waiting for the answer of Silver's question hungry to find out the language and it's secrets.

[RarityDash]

((ooc: just so we're clear, Arcana's a unicorn... ))

Arcana nodded as the stallion suggested moving to a less crowded section. It was some concern that they moved toward the guardsmare she had noticed before and not away from her, but there was little Arcana could do about the matter without being conspicuous. He was less thrilled with the stallion inviting along the seemingly uninvolved unicorn filly standing with him, but again, she had no place to complain without drawing suspicion.

The three found their way to a table and sat at it. "Here we are, miss. Do you recognize this language? Can you tell us what this says?" the stallion asked as he set the parchement out on the table. He kept a hoof steady at it, a clear sign he didn't trust her. Rightfully so, Arcana supposed. If this was indeed useful to her, she might just decide to steal it from him.

Arcana started to look the parchment over. The text was handwritten and a little faded, but still legible. Arcana recognized the language nearly instantly.

"This is Old Equestrian. It's an antiquated, dead language that not many know today. My own experience with the language mainly extends to reading old spellbooks," Arcana started as she looked it over. "And this doesn't appear to be a spell."

She tried not to make her disappointment at this detail obvious, though perhaps it showed just a little. She nodded. "However, to translate a short passage like this is foal's play regardless," she started as she continued to look at the words on her page. "Making sense of its meaning might be the greater ordeal."

Arcana coughed and then started to read aloud. "'Seekers of knowledge, do you know what you truly seek? Those who would discover this knowledge may find more than they have wanted. Come find the secrets of Equestria.'"

"It sounds almost like a challenge," Arcana summarized with a nod. "But I haven't a clue what it means..."

[Karnaloth]

(who's the blue unicorn mare btw? ''dark-blue unicorn over there'' you meant Strife?)

Strife overheard the conversation, not really purposly but having kept an eye on them, she couldn't help it. She really didn't know what to think of all of it, seemed like a stupid prank to her, it seemed odd to her, secrets that the princesses would hide, if they were the ones to hide it that is. she doubted that even more, she'd never think Luna would hide anything since she had returned, it would leave a bad mark if that ever came out, perhaps it was princess celestia, she had the tendacy to hide stuff from her subject, but always with good reason.

she thought it was especially odd that this mean unicorn would aid them, she had heard the remark she made to the other pony earlier when she apologised. But deciding that it didn't require her attention yet, Strife continued her own personal reading.

[SilverMint]

Silver Mint

'Seekers of knowledge, do you know what you truly seek?' Those words sent a shiver down Silver Mint's back. He knew that he was seeking knowledge, but the words seemed to make his blood run cold... 'Those who would discover this knowledge may find more than they have wanted.' The room seemed to darken around them eerily, or was the page gleaming brighter? A cloud must have passed over the sun... yeah, that must be it, darkening this room filled with natural, stained-glass light... 'Come find the secrets of Equestria...'

Silver Mint's heart sank. What was this cryptic message? He felt the sudden urge to crumple up the parchment and dispose of it, but the hoof he had placed on it seemed glued to the page. Whatever this message was, there had to be some sort of magic attached to it, even as an Earth Pony, Silver Mint knew what magic's effects felt like, even if he had no control over any himself. He shook his head, he was probably letting his dramatic spirit influence his actions...

"It sounds almost like a challenge," the black-hatted unicorn said, "But I haven't a clue what it means..."

Silver Mint opened his mouth to speak, but was blinded by a burst of sudden, bright light from above. He shielded his eyes with his hoof and looked up at the library's great skylight. The eyes of Celestia and Luna had both opened, streaming light onto the ponies around the parchment... but this was too bright to be natural sunlight-- Silver Mint wanted to get up and run, but something... either fear or magic... kept him from moving. A voice flew through the air; gentle, but perfectly clear: "Discover what you came here for."

Silver Mint felt himself rise slightly off the floor. He heard shouts of surprise, was it him, or the others caught in the magical light?

There was the tell-tale hiss-snap! of a teleportation spell, and Silver Mint was no longer in the Canterlot Library.

[EquestrianScholar]

(("dark-blue Pegasus over there" I wonder if you meant Stardream))

A dark blue pegasus had gone to the library in her spare time having asked permission from her employer and former mentor Star Gazer before doing so. Stardream, as was her name, was hoping this opportunity would allow her to learn more about how she had the ability to do what she could. She had gather a few books on telling the future but each of them seem to either say only unicorns could do so and/or were spells. Not only that but no book seem to be able to say why a pony could see the future. Nothing she read seem to be able to help her. Closing another a book, Stardream looked up and noticed a group of ponies coming near where she was. She wonders why such a group was gathered... and hears some old friends.

"Go, you might find what you seek if you follow," she heard in her head as the voices of the twinkling stars spoke and the already curious Stardream decided to do so. With that Stardream walked up to the group just as the magical effect took place, the broght light catching Stardream in it's effect and confusing her greatly as she was moved.

"Discover what you came here for." Stardream heard a voice speak, unlike any she had heard and she wondered in her confusion what she had allowed herself to go in to.

[MidnightRead]

'Come find the secrets of Equestria...'

The last sentence of the message echoed in Midnight's head.

Secrets? What secrets would Princess Celestia and Luna keep away from everypony? Midnight was snapped out of her thoughts as a large bright light shined into her eyes.

"Discover what you came here for." A faint voice said,

Midnight was about to ask if anypony had heard that but gasped as she felt her self being lifted into the air.

Before she could question the reason she was being lifted into the air she heard the sound of a teleportation spell and was no longer in Canterlot Library...

[RarityDash]

Arcana's eyes had been so accutely focused on the words on the page that she had missed the magic happening around them. After she had spoken them, she had shut her eyes firmly as she considered their meaning, leaving her oblivious to the light. It wasn't until something reacher her ears that she was alerted to the fact that something had occurred.

"Discover what you came here for."

Opening her eyes to see where the voice had come from, Arcana was completely taken aback and almost fell over backwards at what she saw. The intense light, the powerful magic she was feeling, lifting her upwards. What in the name of Tartarus was happening? Her eyes stayed wide as she noticed the stallion, the filly, and a number of others had gotten caught in the light. It was incredible. It was overwhelming.

Had she caused this in reading the ancient parchment? It hadn't been formatted like a spell, but perhaps it was something else? A verbal key? Was something like that possible. What had the message said? Secrets of Equestria? Was that where this magic light was going to take them? Arcana couldn't help but smile at that thought. This could be the very thing she had always wanted! What awesome lost knowledge lay in wait for her? She could not wait to find out.

[Karnaloth]

Strife was caught of guard when she heard a voice say "Discover what you came here for."

Strife turned to look behind her, and was blinded by surge of light ''in the name of the princesses, what is this!?"

she wanted to move but couldn't as she noticed she was being lifted of her hooves, she spread her wings, but those remained forcefully closed as well.

moments later she found herself on her back, in an uknown place ''that was NUTS'' she then crawled to her hooves.

[SilverMint]

Silver Mint

Silver Mint opened his eyes, and for a brief moment wondered if he had done so. It was so dark, he couldn't see his hoof in front of his face. He groaned as he picked himself up. A wave of nausea rolled over him as the disorienting effects of the teleportation spell began to wear off. He wondered where he was-- where the others were. He perked his ears for the sound of any pony else in the area.

''...that was NUTS!'' called out a voice in the darkness.

"Yes, it was... who's there?" asked Silver Mint, wishing desperately for some light.

As if on cue, torches lit up the area in an unnatural green light. The emerald-flamed torches mounted on the ends of innumerable, ancient bookshelves made out of stone, and filled with musty old tomes. There were no signs of any windows or doors, and the place had the feeling of being underground. The air was almost oppressively dense and still. Dust seemed to be suspended unnaturally still in the cool, still air, and the combined smells of dry dust and burning torch-oil was slightly offensive to Silver Mint. Once his eyes had adjusted to the green light, he looked around for the others, they were all nearby. They were all in the center of a large, bare-stone circle from which the bookshelves extended like the spokes of a wheel. Along the perimeter of the circle was a long inscription, written in the Old Equestrian language that the black-hatted unicorn had translated earlier. Here was hoping that she was alright... and willing to do some further translation...

He noticed his purple-coated unicorn friend nearby and made his way over to her to see if she needed help. "Are you alright, miss..." he paused, realizing he had never asked for her name...

[EquestrianScholar]

"Bother," said a the dark blue pegasus nearby, having gotten pulled into this and asking in her head what the stars had planned. Yet they gave no answer and she realized she would need to rely on those here. She wenced when somepony said ''...that was NUTS!'' and somepony answered "Yes, it was... who's there?" tried to see where she was before being suprised when when strange green lights appeared around her and she saw the others.

With a sigh Stardream nerviously looked at those before her and asked, "I'm here. Does anypony knew what just happened... where are we?"

[MidnightRead]

Midnight opened her eyes to darkness. She rubbed her eyes but suddenly the room lit up. She heard voices of other ponies nearby giving her relief she was not alone.

Midnight saw he stallion she had met in the library was heading towards her.

"Are you alright, miss..."

"Midnight Read," She replied finishing his sentence, she got up and looked around at her dim surroundings, "Where are we?" ​She asked confused

[RarityDash]

Eventually the powerful magic disappeared from around Arcana along with the light. The group of ponies was left in a deep, impenetrable darkness. She could hear them speak a little to each other until quite suddenly numerous green torches ignited, burning bright and illuminating what had before been invisible. Arcana gazed out in awe at a seemingly endless array of bookshelves, the volume of which would put even The Great Library to shame. The air was rich with the scent of the aging tomes that filled every shelf, which mixed with the smell of the burning oil in the torches in a way that Arcana found almost intoxicating.

Was this real? Was this a dream? This was... this was her every desire made tangible. Arcana, always a cynic, couldn't help but doubt it. She had heard of magics that could make elaborate and intricate illusions. This had to be that manner of thing. This was a trick. Artifice constructed by a cruel yet powerful magic, likely constructed based on their own deep desires. Utterly convinced this was the case, Arcana was able to repress her enthusiasm and keep her cool.

She took her eyes off the books long enough to look downward. There was an inscription at the edges of the circle in which they all stood. It was written in Old Equestrian, much as the earlier text had been. She found the start of it and nodded before reading it aloud.

"Grata ad altum ante. Invenietis scientiam quaeritis, si velint pretium. Hoc interest, quod scias te scire cupio," she first read the text as it appeared, nodding along as she did.

She smirked a little and gave another short nod, before translating the text, "Welcome to the Deep Archives. Here you will find the knowledge you seek, if you are willing to pay the price. To gain this, you must know what you want to know before you know it."

Arcana considered it a moment before stepping forward. "Hmm... Deep Archives... How curious..." she said in a low voice. "I wonder what game they intend for us to play here..."

[SilverMint]

Silver Mint

The black-hatted unicorn walked around the room, examining the writing engraved on the stone floor. She provided the translation: "I wonder what game they intend for us to play here..." Silver Mint shook his head, he had no idea...

A deep, ominous laugh echoed from all around the large room. Silver Mint spun around himself, trying to identify the source of the laughter, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once! "Welcome, subjects, to the Deep Archives" said a deep voice, that resonated down to Silver Mint's teeth. "I do hope you'll be able to find all that you're looking for down here, but... understand that knowledge doesn't come free... I expect something from each of you in order to get the information you desire... Let me start you off down the correct path..."

There was a soft whoosh! as a line of torches changed color from green to red... the line extended off into the darkness.

"Show The Archivist that you're worthy of this knowledge, and I may find it in my grasp to bestow it upon you..."

The voice echoed away into silence, leaving Silver Mint lost in shocked silence.