PROLOGUE
Sharpsight didn't know for certain what it was that he had found. But if it was indeed what he believed it to be, it was the most important object he'd ever discovered. And the most horrible.
The crisp morning air carried with it the smell of spring and sunlight, but the chill of the river nipping at his legs clung to winter. Patches of snow still lurked to places hidden in shadow, as well as in drifts around rocks and in valleys and ditches. The runoff from the snow being melted by the sun had made the river swell and heave, roaring as much as it could given its small size.
The Crystal Empire Museum of History's small archeological expedition to the northern riverbanks had been intended to look for examples of plant life from long ago, taking advantage of the exposed layers of strata that the area was famously known for to search through hundreds of years of history in mere hours. All in all it was not one of the more exciting trips Sharpsight had led as head of the archeology department, but just being outside at this point had been a relief. As much as he was reluctant to leave his studies, the overwhelming volume of material that he had to catch up on was enough to drive a pony to the brink of insanity. This little diversion was a welcome change of pace.
But after seeing this…thing…the trip had now become something else entirely.
It had been hiding in the muck of the riverbank, barely visible save for the sharp point protruding ever so slightly from the mud under the water. Judging by the way it had been buried, Sharpsight estimated it had not sat there for more than a few months. It had most likely been washed downstream for some time before landing here. His keen vision had first noticed the small wake created by the tip as it barely crested the surface, leaving a thin line flexing in the current. Then upon closer inspection he had seen the deep crimson of the knife-like object, clashing with the brown mud and gray rocks of the riverbed. Using a small spade he had cleared away the sediment, kicking up brown clouds and muddying the water until he couldn't see it anymore. As he waited for the haze to be whisked away, the thing which sat on the bottom of the stream, now nearly fully uncovered, began to come into vision.
It was as he had suspected.
"Professor Sharpsight!" a voice called from the opposite riverbank. "We think we may have found the remains of some ferns!"
It was his assistant, Terra Ore. He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there in the hock-deep water just staring at his find, but as he was snapped from his trance he found his hooves to be numb from the cold. Not moving from the spot so as not to lose position of his find, he pivoted around and tossed her a slightly frantic looking smile.
"Ah! Yes! Ferns! Very good, Terra! That's very good! I'll be there shortly!"
Terra looked at him in puzzlement.
"Did you need help with something, Professor?" she asked.
"NO!" Sharpsight replied far too quickly. He then collected himself and lowered his voice, "No, no, no that's quite alright, Terra my dear. I've just, ah, got this confounded bit of gum stuck on my hoof and I'm trying to get it off in the water, don't you know?".
"I see," she said. "Well, we're right over there, when you're ready. We've already started the excavation."
"Wonderful. Just wonderful," Sharpsight said with a smile. The expression remained on his face unmoving until Terra turned around and started back to the rest of the group. She only looked back once, eyebrow raised, but Sharpsight didn't budge until she had rounded the turn in the river and was out of sight.
As soon as she was gone, he whipped back around and dove his hooves into the water, drawing his find out of the muck. As the mud cleaned off in the river, sending more brown clouds downstream, it was finally bare in all its horrible glory. Sharpsight felt the weight of the moon in his hooves.
He could barely stand the sight of it. Quickly taking his pack off and shoving it inside, he stuffed it beneath the books he had said he wasn't going to bring and the sleeping bag he had expected to not use. Trotting out of the water, he made a brisk pace following the shoreline south, back towards his students and home.
Terra and the others were busy with their find, a rather impressive specimen all told, but Sharpsight had little interest in plants as he made his way past them.
"Wonderful looking find, Terra," he said over his shoulder as he trotted past them in an obvious hurry. "I'm sure you're got everything well in hoof so I'll be taking my leave don't feel too well at the moment I shall see you all back at the museum great job everypony good day."
Terra and the others were too surprised to know what to make of that. Before they could say anything, Sharpsight was nearly out of range of polite conversation, and not too long after that he was beyond anything but shouting. And shouting at your professor wasn't very polite, so Sharpsight got away without having to explain one word further.
"Well, what in Equestria's gotten into him?" asked one of the interns.
Terra shook her head as she watched her boss make a line straight back to the Crystal Empire, his saddlebag bouncing heavily as he double-timed it across the shallow river, spraying droplets everywhere, sparkling as they were caught by the late morning sun.
"I have no idea."
Ms. Oldenburg was gone. Given the time she was most likely out to lunch. That was good. It wouldn't do to have her sticking her snout into things, as she always did. Not right now. He knew if she were here she'd chide him for leaving early or ask what he had in the bag or why he needed to be alone. He knew he would be unable to tolerate her irksome prying right at that moment. The last thing Sharpsight needed was another matronly lecture as if he were a foal. He was a noted scientist. Or at least he had been before fate had so cruelly taken that from him. All the same, he didn't need some old nag telling him how to be an archeologist.
Clearly he was still capable of great things. The proof was right in his bag.
He opened the door to his study. As he walked inside he took his pack off and set it on the table, then locked the door behind him. Turning around once more, his flank pressing against the cold metal knob, he stared for a moment at his pack, so innocuously sitting before him in the middle of the room.
The curtains were drawn as they had been for weeks, but the daylight peeking around the edges of the window lit the room with enough dim light so as to see. The thin rays of the sun that made it into the room stretched across the floor to highlight the dust motes floating in the stale air of the study. Sitting between two sharp beams, the table and the bag sitting on top of it seemed enveloped inside a pillar of shadow.
Or was that simply darkness coming from the bag itself?
Warily approaching the bag, Sharpsight took a deep breath. With shaking hoof, he undid the strapping on the side, and laid the contents bare. He removed the books on top. Then, with both fear in his heart and insatiable curiosity in his mind, he lifted the sleeping bag out as well.
And there it was.
Crimson red, angrily curved and wickedly sharp looking, it lay at the bottom of his bag. The shadows in the room seemed to get deeper, and a dull throbbing of wintry malice hummed in the silence of his study.
All the fear and terror and hopelessness that Sharpsight had felt for eons came rushing back. He wanted nothing more than to stop looking at it, but for some horrible reason he couldn't pry his eyes away. He wanted to smash it, to destroy it into a million pieces until it was too small to perceive.
And yet—somehow—he knew that he couldn't do that. This was the most important thing he'd ever been a part of. This could make a difference. The magic contained within must be truly staggering. The possibilities of what one could learn from it, if one were only to be brave enough to delve into it, were potentially endless. More so, this would make it so that nopony would ever question his skill or consider him useless again. He had found the most important artifact the Crystal Empire would ever know.
That was as it should be. He always knew he was meant to do great things.
Sharpsight. His name said it all. And soon everypony would know it.
He was the one who found King Sombra's horn.