//------------------------------//
// Secrets Unearthed 
// Story: Rising Star 
// by NPP6 
//------------------------------//

	Equestria
The Everfree Forest
Beneath the Ruins of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters
Present Day

The room was dark. Beyond dark. It was pitch black, just as it had been for a thousand years. Or, almost…
Three years ago it had been extremely well lit, when events in the outside world had finally started to peek back in, and once again, a light emerged from the darkness. It was poetic really; the very meaning of the life of the room’s sole occupant now disturbed the room, the vault that had become his tomb.
Three years ago the stars had aligned, and an inevitable chain of events had been triggered, was even now occurring. History was repeating.
Three years ago, the mantles were taken up anew, and six colors of light had filled the room. Since then the lights had revealed a pattern, a progression of events.
Nightmare Moon. Discord. Queen Chrysalis. King Sombra. The ascension of Twilight Sparkle. Sunset Shimmer. The mirror.
History was repeating. Each of these events in the outside world had been accompanied by a flash of dancing lights inside the otherwise dark room. Dancing lights that had emanated from six gemstones at the base of his statue.
The gems were utterly unique, unlike any others in existence. Of course, given their origins, that was to be expected. A thousand years ago, the pony depicted in this statue had died, his fatal flaw taking him again, one last time.
And then a sound, the first besides the music that came with the light. The first natural sound in a thousand years.
*CRACK*
And then a thread, a thread of a new kind of light, softer than the dancing lights, not as penetrating, less focused, but just as strong. Just as welcome.
There was a dull clanking, a grating of stone on stone, the thread of light started to widen, and then…
*SNAP*
The sound of a rope breaking, and then wood shattering, metal shrieking, and the crashing of stones and rubble falling on either side of the wall the light came from and even echoing from inside the wall itself.
There was silence for a brief moment, and then the stone slabs that had been sliding apart fell, toppling into the room and breaking themselves and part of the floor when they hit. It also revealed two ponies on the other side, hard to make out with the torches backlighting them, but obviously a stallion in a cowpony hat and a mare in a pith helmet.
“Uh… that ain’t what was s’posed to happen, was it?” The Stallion queried.
His companion shot him a look in the half-light. “What do you think?”
“That’s a ‘no’ then.”
The mare rolled her eyes and lit her lantern, walking into the room and looking around, her gaze falling on the statue almost instantly. She slowly walked up to it, setting her lantern down before beginning to examine the statue, seemingly searching for something. “This is incredible, its exactly like she described it! Every detail, perfectly preserved after all this time! This is just amazing for a piece of this size…” her adulation trailed off as her focus was absorbed by the statue in front of her.
“Wait, ah didn’t even see any traps comin’ on down here, if’n the Museum’s known about this here statue all along, why’d they send us out here to get it? It ain’t even that far away from Canterlot.”
The archaeologist snorted, “Please, there’s almost nothing left from the Discordian Era. if they knew about this they’d flip. There’d probably be at least a dozen people with us, and we’d never have come this deep alone. The Museum has nothing to do with this expedition.”
The stallion’s confusion was plain in his voice. “But, if we ain’t doin’ this fer the Museum, who is payin’ fer this here statue? It’s nice an’ all, but a lawn ornament ain’t exactly right fer a farm…”
His companion tapped a hoof to her chin. “Actually, that might be the most unusual part of all this, the pony who commissioned us for this expedition is apparently the one who put this statue here in the first place. It’s just… weird. Everything about this job is completely against my norm. It’s easy, simple, the pony that put the artifact away actually wants me to remove it, and instead of delivering to the Museum, we’re going to be landing the airship directly in the castle courtyard.”
“Wait a minute, the Canterlot Castle courtyard? Ya don’t mean…”
“Oh yeah, sorry, she asked me not to tell anypony until we were on our way back. We’re here to get this statue by personal special request of Princess Celestia herself.”
And so the pony known throughout Equestria, whose very name could stop or start firefights and saloon brawls depending on how or where you said it, was struck absolutely speechless. His partner with the monochrome mane was quick to pull a camera and flash from under her wing and capture the moment for their posterity.

Equestria
Canterlot
Just Outside the Throne Room of Canterlot Castle
Present Day

“So Twilight, what’s this all about?”
“I don’t know Rainbow Dash, Princess Celestia just told me that it had to do with my being a princess and to come ‘with all speed.’ I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Well I certainly hope it isn’t something too dreadful. After that last incident with Sunset Shimmer I’d hate to have to watch Twilight go off on her own again.”
“Oh, don’t worry nopony’s going anywhere. Princess Celestia probably just wants to let us in on some huge secret that’s going to shake Twilight to the core, redefine Equestria as we know it and completely throw our lives out of whack for the next few years.”
“What makes ya say that sugarcube?”
“Just a hunch.”
Twilight froze. Then she dropped and brought her forehooves over her face. “No. Oh no. Nonononono.”
Her friends gave her some rather concerned looks. “Are you okay Twi? What’s wrong?”
“Every time. Every time Pinkie says something like that on a hunch, she’s right. Every single time!” Twilight took a deep breath “Elements girls, if Pinkie’s right we may just need them.”
The six ponies put on their respective necklaces/crown and began walking again. When they and the four fillies with them reached the doors of the throne room, Twilight nodded to the guards, and as one they crossed the threshold.
The sight that greeted them was a strange one indeed. Princess Celestia was standing in the middle of the room, apparently watching the sundial in the courtyard just outside. An Earth Pony Stallion in a duster and cowpony hat and a Pegasus mare in an olive green shirt and white pith helmet were standing off to one side, glancing around and looking rather uncomfortable on the whole, especially since the guards seemed to be eyeing the Stallion and the rifle on his back. But what really made the scene strange wasn’t even the large cloud crash cushion next to the throne. It was the statue that seemed to have been placed as a centerpiece for their meeting, or more specifically the effect it was having on the room’s only other occupant.
Discord was in shock. Full-blown medical shock. He was sitting on a stool with his feet in a wooden tub of steaming water, staring at the statue with a blanket draped over his shoulders while cradling in his claws a hot chocolate that appeared to have had half the mug sipped off of it. He was even muttering incoherently under his breath.
Their entrance drew the gaze of everyone in the room except Discord, the two ponies off to the side smiling in relief at seeing some friendly faces and the guards relaxing ever so slightly with the Element Bearers present. Princess Celestia smiled at them brightly, but with a slight hint of regret in her eyes. “Twilight Sparkle and her friends. It is good to see you again. Now we’re just waiting on a few more ponies and–”
She was cut off as the door opened again and Shining Armor and Princess Cadence walked in. “It seems that almost everypony’s here then, I do have to ask that nopony take action when Princess Luna arrives.”
The small black alicorn filly next to twilight had until this point been giving the statue a scrutinizing stare. At Princess Celestia’s comment her eyes went wide in shock and a small “oh no” escaped her lips, going mostly unheard by the other ponies in the room.
A pegasus guard with a sun-shaped halberd snapped his head around to stare at her. “Princess? What… but…” he shook his head as if to clear it. “Princess Celestia ma’am, if you expect violence from your sister then it is our duty to–”
A sad smile graced the Princess’s lips as she interrupted him. “No captain, I’m afraid that I probably deserve what’s coming. I may even deserve more than she’s going to do…”
Discord finally broke out of his trance, genuine fear showing in his eyes. “You mean you didn’t tell her? Clear the room, abandon ship, every pony for themselves! Tartarus has nothing compared to what’s about to come dow–”
He was cut off by the doors to the throne room blasting open and slamming against the wall, one of them proceeding to fall off its hinges. Through the smoke and dust all that could be seen was a pair of glowing eyes. As it cleared, a pony was revealed, her form flickering between Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon, as if she couldn’t quite decide whether to go dark or not. “Celestia!”
Those ponies that didn’t get out of her way on their own were removed by Celestia’s and Discord’s magic as Luna charged into the room at full tilt and fired off a magic blast sending her older sister flying backwards into the cloud crash cushion. As Rainbow Dash and the guard with the sun halberd from earlier leaped forward they found themselves stopped short in midair with their tails in Discord’s claw and paw respectively. He reeled them in while shaking his head at them. “There are two…” He paused and cast a sidelong glance at Twilight and her daughter “three things in this world that I am unashamed to say truly frighten me, and Luna when that pony is involved is the second one.”
Their attention was diverted by another magic blast from Luna, this one deflected by a shield Celestia hurriedly threw into place which shattered even as it stopped the magical attack. It did nothing about the verbal onslaught however. “You knew! This whole time you knew where he was and you didn’t even bother to tell me!?”
“No Luna, I didn’t tell you. I didn’t think you were ready… I didn’t think any of us were…”
“How dare you Celestia! How dare you make that decision for me! How—” Something seemed to snap in Luna, her voice dropping in tone and a pair of crystalline droplets falling from her eyes. “How could you? Midnight followed me through Tartarus. Even after I turned, even after I became Nightmare Moon he stood with me. He never stopped fighting for me. Me, not the nightmare, just the moon. Just Luna. Even in that final battle where he had to fight me to save me, he was still fighting for me. And then I escaped, and I got healed, and I found out that he was finally gone. I thought he was dead Celestia. Dead! As soon as I realized that you were dodging my questions about him, that he wasn’t just off on some mission or other saving Equestria again… I was locked in my room for a week! You had to temporarily take over raising and setting the moon again! And now I find out that you knew where he was this whole. Entire. Time. Why didn’t you tell me Celestia? Why?”
“Shame. And fear. I thought it better that you not see him… like this.” She nodded to the statue. “Equestria had forgotten about him and I thought it better to not dredge up old memories. He wouldn’t have wanted to be brought back only to be a fallen hero. A martyr. He would have preferred to only be remembered by those who actually knew him. You know that”
Luna took a long look at the statue. Then she took a deep breath. “Who did this Celestia? Who did it and just what hole did you throw them down, because it’s not deep enough to keep me from going down and throttling them.”
This time it was Celestia’s turn to have a single tear roll down her cheek. “I didn’t throw them down a hole Luna. I didn’t lock them up or put them away. Instead I gave them a fancy title and built them a castle on a mountainside. Do you understand Luna? I turned Midnight Star to stone.”
Twilight interrupted “Excuse me Princesses, but who exactly are we talking about?”
The pegasus mare with the monochrome mane stepped forward “I’d kind of like to know that too, this pony is apparently a key historical figure, and yet I don’t recognize him at all. Who exactly is this Midnight Star?”
“Midnight Star is quite possibly the single most important pony in Equestrian history. He is also one of Equestria’s most closely guarded state secrets. Before I begin though, let’s get everybody comfortable, Discord, some couches if you please.” Celestia raised her voice slightly, “Doctor, you can come down now, I’m afraid you won’t be able to hear very well from the balcony. Feel free to come on down now.”
At this point a bat-pony mare wobbled in, obviously dizzy and more than a little punch-drunk from being caught in the vacuum of Luna’s wake. She then proceeded to collapse in the middle of the floor.
As the guard with the halberd rushed over to her and Celestia cocked an eyebrow at her sister, Luna had the good grace to blush. “Umm… I was talking with her when the news arrived…”
A hidden door in one of the walls opened up and a brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie marked walked out rather sheepishly, followed by a Pegasus mare with a gray coat and yellow mane and tail.
“Now that everypony’s here,” Discord queried while fixing the doors Luna had destroyed (Read: Replacing them with a solid steel drawbridge that was painted pink with blue flowers and purple polka-dots plastered all over it and a fish tank in the middle.) “Do you want to start telling them all who Midnight Star is, or should I?”
“I’ll do it.” Luna finally came out of the frozen state of shock she had been in since her sister had informed her of who exactly had turned the pony in question to stone. “Discord I don’t trust to tell it right on general principle, and you—” she shot a glare at Celestia, “—have already lied about him enough as it is. Besides, I know more about the beginning than either of you do… although I’m obviously not up to date enough on the ending, which begs the question of why you sealed him away in the first place Celestia?”
“He asked me to. He told me to use the elements to send him to the stars and told me that it was the only hope left for either of you. The only way to get you back from Nightmare Moon, and the only way to stop Starless Night.”
Nyx gasped and dove between her mother’s legs at the last bit, frantically whipping her head back and forth, looking around in a state of dead terror, almost as if expecting something to jump out of the shadows at any moment and grab her. Twilight looked down at the alicorn cowering beneath her and then back at her mentor. “Who’s Starless Night? And more importantly, why is my daughter terrified of his very name!?”
“Starless Night is the second most dangerous and feared pony Equestria has ever seen. He trumps Sombra and Chrysalis combined. He rivals Discord at his worst. The only reason that you don’t know him is because he was eclipsed, quite literally. As for why Nyx is so personally afraid of him, well—”
The filly that was once Nightmare Moon spoke up, finally realizing that the topic of conversation wasn’t actually in the room with them, her whisper somehow resonating through the room and silencing all other noise as it carried to every ear. “He was my general.”
Those four words would have started a panic if not for the sharp sound of Celestia’s forehoof striking the stone in front of her. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. This really needs to be told in its proper order. Luna, you’re right, you do know more about Midnight before… that than either myself or Discord. Why don’t you start?”
The Princess of the Night nodded as she stepped forward. “Just over a thousand years ago…”

1038 Years Ago 
The Main Road to the Library, Almost Outside of Town 
The Village of Everfree 
Most Definitely NOT Equestria

Inkwell was running full tilt. The extra studying he had done last night had kept him up later than usual and he was now running late. He could only hope that the old man was starting late like he usually did, but given Inkwell’s usual luck…
The wizard’s apprentice took another bite of the apple in his hand without breaking stride, even as his other hand supported his weight as he jumped over a farmer’s hay cart. He landed, reaching into the satchel at his side, and then pulling out a small box which he threw into the air in front of him, running all the while. The box unfolded before it hit the ground, revealing that it was in fact a long plank of wood that had been folded accordion style with a crystal on the back end that had two wooden flaps to either side with glowing runes inscribed upon them.
The young boy smirked as he jumped aboard his floating creation; his late-night studying and modifications had been worth it, with the new tweaks he should be able to just make it in time. He tapped a foot to a glowing rune on the main body of the board, and raced away in a cloud of dust.
Two minutes later Starswirl the Bearded came down the stairs into the main room of his tree after hearing a knock that sounded suspiciously like his apprentice’s body striking the front door. He opened the door with a genial smile on his face and took in the scene on his doorstep in an instant, his smile growing even broader as he did.
He watched as his apprentice picked himself and a long piece of wood up off the ground eyes twinkling as he observed, almost as if talking to himself “A word to the wise, never start something unless you happen to have a way to stop.”
Inkwell grinned ruefully even as he flushed and the leaned his board up next to the door as he followed his mentor into the tree that served as his home, library, and laboratory. The old wizard then led the way through a door and down a spiral staircase into the basement, the subtle spring in his step betraying how pleased he was in both his student’s progress with his transportation project and his excitement at the near-completion of his own most recent project.
The project in question was today going through its final stages of experimentation before being put into use. The completed device would revolutionize the study of magic. Imagine, being able to turn any reflective surface into a portal to a world beyond their own, the discussions he could have with the alternate versions of himself alone would provide astounding insight into magical theory…
As his apprentice had pointed out though, the nature of the magic was such that performing the final test in the enclosed and underground space of his basement probably wasn’t the best of ideas, especially since the spell was bound to the physical location. So that was how they found themselves lifting an antique mirror, uncounted pages of notes and calculations and various magical implements into his backyard.
The experiment had to be completed today as well, because it would be at least another three moons before the moonrise and sunset were so exactly aligned, and he would need the ambient magical energy of the celestial alignment to open the gateway. There was simply no way he could generate that much magical energy on his own. They had to act quickly though, moving things outside had taken more time than expected, and they still had plenty of preparations to do, magic circles, spell containment fields and the like. Starswirl and Inkwell may have been slightly reckless and without forethought in some of their experiments, but they were by no means stupid. This was dangerous and untested magic, and they would have to be careful with it.
Fortunately they managed to finish in time, and just as the sun and full moon both reached the halfway points of their respective rise and set, a thin beam of light, thinner than a thread linked between them, passing through a crystal at the top of the mirror. The thread broke, almost as if the light were trapped inside the crystal, and then spread, flicking from jewel to jewel around the mirror’s rim, forming a magic circle across the flat and magically treated crystal before the mirror itself flashed and came to life.
Soft white light poured from the mirror and onto the grass. Inkwell picked up the note that his teacher had written, folded it up into a bird, and used a small flare of his magic to set it flying through the portal. Another paper creation came out and landed in Inkwell’s outstretched hand. He smiled as he looked at the giant dragonfly cradled in his palm before he silently stroked its back before tapping it just behind the head and between the wings simultaneously with two fingers on his free hand.
The note shivered at the small amount of magic in his touch and then unfolded in his grasp. He read it and grinned as he held it up for the old wizard to see. Same message. Different fold job. Same tongue. Different hand.
The portal worked.
Next to see if living things could pass through the portal. Inkwell carried over a cage of mice with wheels attached and rolled it down a ramp and through the mirror. There was a short wait as before, and then a cage full of mice suspended by a miniature hot air balloon floated through.
The mice were alive.
Inkwell plucked the cage out of the air and walked over to his teacher, setting it on the table for him to see. “You know, I’m noticing something here…”
Starswirl smiled, “Getting a reckless idea?”
His apprentice paused for half an instant, head cocked to one side, one eyebrow raised, and then shrugged. “Eh… yeah, probably.”
“Well then tell me what it is boy in case I have to pull you out of the flaming wreckage.”
Inkwell took a deep breath, “The message that came through, the paper folding spell that was used on it was my spell. Not my preferred spell, the spell I created. And the binding on this cage, I know those knots. I created the design for them myself. They draw in ambient magic and use it to strengthen themselves so that they don’t come apart. The things that are coming through are coming on the power of my ambient magic spells.”
The old man cocked an eyebrow. “Are you going somewhere with this?”
“Well if the world on the other side of the portal has another you, then maybe they have another me…”
“Probably, I’m still waiting for the part where I caution you against rushing in and you cite back some stunt I pulled and do it anyway.”
“What if we umm… switched? Me and the other me that is.”
The wizard raised a finger, counterargument already half formed on his lips. Then he stopped. He put his hand down. “Actually, that’s a good idea. An exchange of sorts. The two of you switch places and learn about the magics of each other’s worlds, while imparting what you already know of your own world’s magic to the other’s master… yes, I rather like the idea. You should be warned though, just because it has another me and another you, other people you know, your family, friends, everyone, they may not have a counterpart. And the same is true in reverse. You’ll be going in half-blind, with a third of a map and some inverted directions written into a riddle, are you sure?”
“Yes, I want to study magic to its fullest extent, but I can’t do that since I can’t actually cast it. All I can do is draw on the ambient energy around me, and even that’s limited away from the tree. I need to find a new kind of magic that I can really use, not just these tricks. Plus, it’s the fastest way to trade techniques between the two worlds. I need to do this.”
“Then you have my blessing… Inkwell.”
The young man started, it was the first time that his teacher had used his real name since he had begun his apprenticeship. He had once asked why that was, the reply had bugged him until he finally worked out what it really meant.
“As long as you’re my apprentice, that’s all people will think of you as. You need to make your own name for yourself, you need to earn it. Only then will your name mean anything more to history than the boy who ran errands for Starswirl.”
He felt a tear forming in recognition of the event. Even if he couldn’t cast magic himself, even if this didn’t work, even if he was only ever able to draw on those around him, it didn’t matter anymore. He was respected as a wizard and researcher in his own right by one of the very few people whose opinions actually made any difference to him. “Thank you.” He smiled, took a breath, and stepped through the mirror. He wasn’t sure, but as he was going through he thought he might have caught a glimpse of his own face passing him, and then he was gone, beyond the world he had grown up in.
Meanwhile a body tumbled out of the mirror, rolling a bit before coming to a rest facing the sky. It was Inkwell. Or rather, it was the other Inkwell. Of that there was no doubt. He was exactly the same, a dead ringer right down to the clothes he wore. Starswirl walked to the boy and knelt down. He gently brought him around, only to jump back in surprise and then amusement as his apprentice’s counterpart screamed at the sight of him and began franticly patting himself down and inspecting his body.
The quiet laughter in a voice that so resembled his own master made Inkwell look around before his eyes settled on Starswirl and widened. This only seemed to increase the old man’s amusement.
“What’s so funny?”
“I take it that ‘human’ isn’t the form you were born with?”
The boy shook his head, “No, what happened?”
“Laws of the universe, humans are the primary sentient race here, so the primary sentient race of your own world takes on human form when they come here. I’m sure that the reverse is true for us. By the way, I couldn’t help but overhear you, do you really have wings in your world?”
“…Yeah. And you’re just the same as the Starswirl the Bearded in my world. Did your Inkwell head across to learn to?”
“Yes, although I suspect that having wings will distract him for a time, just as learning to use his Crystalboard will no doubt occupy you for a while. Out of curiosity though, in the other world, your form, what is it?”
“I’m not sure you have them here, what would the name do?”
“Just an off chance, besides, I need to use proper syntax and diction in my letters, and words like ‘people’ are pretty much human terms. So tell me, what form were you born with?”
“I’m a pony.”