CHAPTER 2
The approach to Cloudyon had been strenuous. The winds around the city were surprisingly calm, given its altitude. The ancient weatherworkers must have put up permanent windbreaks around the city, Daring marveled. She looked around, searching for the telltale cloud-walls of the windbreak, but saw none; only open sky. She shuddered; as far as she knew from her classes, Ancient Pegasi needed to use the same methods as their modern descendants. So what was breaking the wind? Daring wondered, Okay, this is already eerie.
The calm air forced the two adventurers to tow the balloon to the city and set it down on a clear place near the cloud edge. They set the cloud-anchors and tied down the balloon before Daring took a good look at the city in front of her. She was stunned. While Cloudyon was far from perfectly preserved, it had fared a great deal better than any other Ancient Pegasus city she’d ever seen. Many of the walls and roofs were disintegrating and a couple of the more permanent structures were collapsing, but wow!
A tap on her shoulder startled Daring. She turned to find Shifty looking at her once again with that annoying smirk on his face. Daring took a second to compose herself, folding her wings back into place, and glared at the small pegasus. “What?!”
“Nothing,” he replied, passing Daring her saddlebags. He had already put on his own and turned to walk towards the city proper. Daring quickly threw her saddlebags across her back, adjusted her trusty pith helmet, and followed.
As they walked, Daring tried to recall what she knew about Ancient Pegasus cities. It appeared that they were on the Governing Cloud, usually the largest and lowest cloud. She looked up and scanned some of the higher clouds. She quickly identified the arena, the weather-training field, and a few others. She couldn’t quite make out what was on the highest cloud, but remembered that houses were usually built there.
If Cloudyon’s Governing Cloud was like those of other Pegasus cities, then where they had landed should have been just outside the Barracks Square. Beyond the Square would be hospitals, parks and other features. Further on would be the marketplace, granaries, and, at the opposite end, the port. Daring was glad that they did not have to walk (or fly) across the entire cloud to get to the interesting stuff. Her energy could be put to better use exploring.
Archaeologists used the term "Barracks Square" to refer to the administrative sector of an Ancient Pegasus city. It was so called because the largest and most central building in the Square was, of course, the Barracks. More than just a home for soldiers, the Barracks served as an armory, a gymnasium, a records office, and a court of law. It was also where the Captain would conduct much of his business ruling the city.
Daring’s eyes widened as she saw a vast chasm where the Barracks should have been. She looked both ways and saw that the canyon stretched from one side of the cloud to the other. "Was it like this the last time you were here?" she asked Shifty.
"Of course it was," he answered, "Do you think I would have missed this?”
“Well, didn’t you think it was worth was worth mentioning?” Daring shot back.
Ignoring his colleague’s question, Shifty replied: “All I can tell you is that it’s too big to be the result of battle damage. This was done after the Rebellion.”
"Yeah," Daring agreed, "This looks like storm damage. Still could have happened during battle, though." Ancient Pegasus warfare usually involved the creation of a huge storm, which both sides would try to push into their opponent's lines or fortifications. It wasn’t unheard-of for a battle-storm to go out of control and do a lot more damage than intended. But Daring had to admit that Shifty was probably right: this was a lot more damage than a single storm could have done, at least a storm that could have been created in less than a week.
Hurricane sure wanted to get his message across, Daring thought in awe as they approached the gaping fissure. She glanced at the edges of the chasm, keeping an eye on Shifty. She still did not trust him, although she didn't believe he would try to push her over the edge. Anypony who tried that with a pegasus usually ended up with a very angry pegasus, and, besides, Shifty was certainly smarter than that.
As she carefully approached the edge and looked over, she noticed that the chasm did not go all the way through to the bottom of the cloud. In fact, it didn't even go halfway through. Instead, at the bottom she saw a couple of large, exposed rooms. Shifty noticed Daring's interest: "Storage rooms," he said, "Empty and, quite frankly, uninteresting compared to anything else here." Shifty pointed across the chasm to his left, where Daring saw a relatively small mansion resting on top of a cloud-hill with a grandiose stair leading up to it. "That would be the palace. Straight ahead is the main avenue that leads into the rest of the cloud," he pointed right, again across the gap, "And there-"
Daring held a quick breath, and then squealed, "Ohmigoshomigoshohmigosh! The Temple of Thunderheads! It's real!" She took wing immediately and bolted toward the structure, only to be pulled back by her tail. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!" She shouted at the other pegasus.
Shifty spit her tail out of his mouth and said, "Calm down, Ms. Do. That is indeed our destination. We have plenty of time: no need to rush in. It would probably be better if we set up camp directly on the other side of the fissure. Then, when we have our equipment ready, we can go see it."
Daring replied with a snort and crossed her forelegs, still hovering in the air. "You're no fun at all. So, what are we waiting for?" With that, both explorers flew back to the balloon and began unpacking.
***
By the time they had finished setting-up camp and ate a quick dinner, it was already late afternoon. Despite Shifty’s protests, Daring insisted that they explore the Temple immediately. As she stood at the foot of the steps leading up to the Temple, she gazed in wonder at its façade. It was the second largest temple of its kind that Daring had ever seen (only the Temple of Unity in Pegasopolis was larger) and, amazingly enough, the storm clouds that were used to build the structure were still preserved.
Most pegasus weathercrafters knew how to shape clouds into walls or platforms as hard and durable as stone (although non-pegasus ponies would still fall through), but doing so was especially tricky with thunderheads. Not only did protections have to be placed to prevent ponies from being shocked, but a storm cloud ran out of energy over time, eventually becoming a normal white cloud. This was the fate of all known Ancient Pegasus temples that existed today: while originally built out of thunderheads they have since degraded. That this one remained stormy was baffling; Daring guessed that maybe only one or two pegasi living today had the skill to create a storm cloud that lasted for even a few decades. Great, even more weirdness.
Giving a final reverent look at the gray columns and cornice, she started up the steps and entered into the colonnade. She flinched as lightning suddenly flashed inside a column next to her, small sparks arcing up and down the shaft. Gotta give it to them; they certainly knew how to build something intimidating, Daring thought. When she finally reached the temple entrance, she noticed that the Temple doors were gone from their frame, but went inside with little hesitation.
The interior of the Temple was nothing less than a wonder to behold. Late-afternoon sunlight filtered through the pane-less windows in the west wall and reflected off the gray walls and columns, giving the inside an odd greenish glow. The stormy clouds made the inside dim enough that she could not see the far end of the Temple, other than small areas that were briefly illuminated by quick flashes of lightning. She was standing in the central aisle, which was flanked on both sides by a double-row of smaller cloud-columns. The air smelled heavily of ozone and Daring could hear the quiet, but constant rumble of suppressed thunder. So this is how the Storm Elders were meant to be honored, the explorer marveled as her fur, mane, and tail started to frizz out.
The Storm Elders were the legendary Mothers and Fathers of the Pegasi, who taught their children how to shape clouds and control the weather. The Ancient Pegasi built temples, not to worship the Elders, but to honor them by showing off their weatherworking skill. According to legend, after Princesses Celestia and Luna defeated Discord, the pegasi decided to show their respect by re-dedicating their temples to the Royal Sisters. The Princesses found this practice distasteful and put an end to it, explaining that they were not to be treated as conquerors. After that, no further temples were built and the existing ones soon fell into disuse.
I can't wait to rub this all in Derring's muzzle when I get back! thought Daring, relishing the idea of making her older sister jealous. Daring's relationship with her sister had never been close, particularly after her parents disappeared. Derring was left to take care of her and their younger brother, Darrin (whom Daring was much more fond of): an arrangement that never suited the independent older sister. As soon as her siblings were able to look after themselves, she went away to school and only bothered to check up on them every few months. Not only did she share the same passion for equinology as Daring, but she was also very good at it and was beginning to make a name for herself in the field, a fact that annoyed Daring to no end. What made it nearly intolerable, though, was that she never missed an opportunity to let Daring know just how good she was. Daring long ago resolved to outdo her sister, and was only beginning to realize just how hard she would have to work to do it. But that was alright: Daring was always up for a challenge.
“Quite a sight, isn’t it?” Shifty said from behind her, causing Daring to yelp in surprise. Why do I keep letting him sneak up on me like that? she wondered. It seemed as though Shifty had the uncanny ability to escape her notice whenever it suited him. Thinking about it made Daring shiver; for the first time, she wondered if Cloudyon was worth the constant paranoia she felt when she was around her companion. “Come on,” the smaller pegasus continued, “What we are interested in is at the other end.”
“Why? What are ‘we’ interested in?” Daring asked pointedly.
“Why, the Eternity, of course. I did mention that I thought I knew where it was.”
“O-Oh, yeah. Right!” Daring replied. Shifty was right; that did interest her. She followed him as he walked down the center of the aisle, making sure to stay at least a pony-length behind him.
Her lingering misgivings were soon forgotten as they walked across the Temple. Along the walls, behind the double-rows of columns, she saw alcoves containing cloud-sculptures depicting the Storm Elders. She also saw an elaborate network of pools and channels that once held liquid rainbows, but their contents had long since dissipated. She pulled her field camera out of her saddlebag and started snapping some pictures of the art and architecture.
“We’ll have plenty of time for that later,” snapped Shifty, “it’ll be getting dark soon and I would like to see where I am going.”
“Well, sooorrr-y,” replied Daring, rolling her eyes, “This stuff needs to be documented, y’know. It’s important to know what everything is like before we start disturbing it too much.”
Shifty sniffed, “You surprise me Ms. Do. You’re a lot less reckless than I thought you were.”
“Yeah,” said Daring, “but I prefer you to think that I’m a lot more awesome than you thought I was. Fine, we’ll do this later.” She dropped her camera back into her pack. They had walked into a more open space, the colonnade having ended, and Daring saw larger statues made of ice and adorned with actual pegasus armor on either side of the aisle. Daring guessed that these statues honored past Captains of Cloudyon.
The two pegasi crossed this area in silence. The sun was setting now and the Temple was quickly growing dark. Daring pulled a flashlight out of her bag and clicked it on.
“I still think that we probably should have waited until morning,” Shifty said, turning towards her and pulling out a flashlight of his own.
“Awwww, are you scared of the dark?” Daring shot back. She smiled at the frosty glare she got in return and said, “Trust me. I can find my way anywhere in the dark.”
Shifty leveled another gaze at her, and then continued walking. “We’ll be there soon anyway. If it’s too dark, we’ll just leave and come back in the morning.”
“Fine.”
***
Before long, the explorers reached another colonnade close to the rear of the temple. Behind the stormy columns, Daring made out a small windowless chamber that was only slightly wider than the aisle itself. Thanks to the waning light, she could not make out the height of the room. She recalled that these chambers, called cellae, were used by the Temple Keepers to hold important objects, such as particularly valuable works of art or trophies from battle. Unlike the entrance to the temple, the chamber’s door was both intact and shut.
“Here we are,” said Shifty as they approached the door. Daring gave it a look, up and down. Ever since she had earned her cutie mark, Daring had a sixth sense about what might be on the other side of any given door. She had expected to feel a sense of reverence, wonder, or at least interest. Right now, however, she was getting the distinct impression that whatever was on the other side of that door meant only one thing: trouble.
“Ok, let’s do this,” Daring said, putting her apprehension behind her as she examined the portal. A thin bolt of lightning was snaking across it, bouncing off the edges at different angles: a lightning seal. Daring had never actually seen a lightning seal before, but she knew enough about pegasus security practices to be somewhat familiar with them. Modern pegasi still used them for high security purposes. These locks not only held a portal shut, but delivered a powerful stroke of lightning to anypony who tried to open the door without first knowing a certain trick. After taking a closer look at the seal, Daring guessed that its strength had degraded over time and it would do no more than give a painful shock to a would-be burglar.
Still, we shouldn’t take any chances, she thought, taking a step back. Since this seal was made before all the modern techniques, the key should be pretty simple. She looked around the door and noticed two barely-noticeable tufts of cloud sticking slightly out of the frame, one at each top corner. Aha! This must be it, she thought as she flew up to give the tufts a closer look.
Daring carefully pushed on one of the tufts with her front hoof, looked down at the door, and then nodded smugly. She turned around and gave it a sharp kick, causing the tuft to sink into the surrounding frame. She did the same to the other tuft and the lightning seal disappeared. “Wait!” she shouted as Shifty was about to push on the door. Almost immediately, the bolt flickered back to life and the tufts reappeared. A part of her wondered exactly why she had warned her companion, instead of just letting him learn his lesson, but she quickly dismissed the errant thought. “Ok, I’ll push them in again. When I kick the second one in, you kick the door open immediately. It appears that this door needs to be opened by two ponies.”
Shifty complied, and the two were rewarded with a deafening clap of thunder. “Looks like they had an alarm, too,” Daring said after her ears stopped ringing. The door opened and the explorers entered the chamber, which was completely empty except for a stairway that descended into the cloud. Down below, Daring saw more bright flashes of lightning accompanied by rolling thunder. Yeah. Definitely trouble, she thought. Sometimes, I hate it when I’m right.