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// Prologue 
// Story: Fire of Passion 
// by Zachurra 
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	“Oh! Oh! Look at this one!”

The orange Pegasus mare sighed as she hovered forward, her wings fluttering as he made her way into the next room over. It was there that she found an older tan colored earth pony with a dark mane gawking over a rusty metal object that was sitting on what appeared to be a simple table. 

“Look at this, Summer! It must be some kind of ancient goblet forged some thousand years ago!” He looked as giddy as a filly on Hearth’s Warming day as he circled around the rusted artifact. He carefully took it in his hooves, examining it closely. “Why, I daresay it might even date as far back as the original ruling of the Royal Pony Sisters! Perhaps it could have even be from the original colonization of Equestria itself!”

Summer Love rolled her eyes as she hovered closer, snatching the ancient goblet from his hooves. “Professor Sealed Scroll, please. It’s a friggin’ cup.” Summer tossed the cup over her shoulder with a shrug. Sealed Scroll gasped and dived to catch his prized artifact before it clattered to the ground. He slid across the floor, kicking up dust behind him. He took a moment to fix the position of his explorer’s hat before rising back to his hooves and sending a sharp glare towards his assistant.

“And besides,” the Pegasus continued, “We’re smack dab in the middle of the ruins of the old capitol. Of course anything we find here is going to date back to the old ruling” Summer moved towards an open window of the small secluded home they were in and gestured towards the outside. For miles could one find the ruined former capitol of all Equestria that bore witness to such a great tragedy all those years ago when their diacrchy became a monarchy. “Nopony has lived here since Princess Luna’s uprising some thousand years ago.” She leaned against the frame of the window, using her hooves to support her head. “Are you sure we’re even going to find anything worthwhile out here? When you asked me to come with you on this little journey I was expecting a little more… oh, I don’t know, excitement?”

“You young ponies, always looking for new ways to spice up your lives.” Sealed Scroll chuckled as he made his way forward to stand by his assistant. “I blame those ‘Daring Do’ books. They always make archaeology and expeditions to look like such a thrill ride.” He slowly turned to goblet around in his hooves. It was flaking and looked like it was barely holding itself together. He sighed, “But, I suppose you’re right. Perhaps my old age is just making me all excited over the idea of discovering something worthwhile.” Just as the younger pony had done before him, the professor tossed the goblet over his shoulder. There came the expected clang, followed almost immediately by the less expected clunk and grinding of gears. Both ponies spun around to see that the goblet had collided with a metal outcropping for a candle to be placed and sent it sideways, which apparently caused part of the stone wall to begin sliding backwards before moving out of the way to reveal a darkened staircase.

They stepped forward, the younger peaking around the older as the both gazed into the darkness before them.

“Well!” Sealed Scroll exclaimed. “I certainly wasn’t expecting that!” He confidently began stepping forward before being spun around. 

“Wait! What if something’s down there?”

The professor chucked heartily at his protégé’s sudden change of attitude now that something actually exciting might be happening. “Oh, come now. Even if there is something down there, this door probably hasn’t been opened in years. Anything that’s down there is either long gone or deceased. Now come!” He stepped forward and slipped a hoof under his hat. He pulled out a small box from which he pulled out a match and immediately struck it, creating a small source of light to bat away the darkness. He took two steps before noticing a candlestick on the wall which he promptly lit and took hold of. 

“Come on!” He said, noticing the Pegasus refusing to budge. He inhaled deeply, “Ah, you can smell the adventure in the air, as they say!”

Sealed Scroll began his journey down the ancient stone steps while Summer Love remained behind. Before long the older pony was out of her line of slight as the stairway began to spiral around itself. She bit her lip and looked around before frantically following, not wanting to risk being alone in such ancient ruins by herself. 

Their journey was a silent one, the only sound being that of their hooves against the stone. Not even the wind from the open windows in the house managed to be heard as far down as they were. Sealed Scroll held the candle at leg’s length while Summer was practically on top of him, watching every inch of the shadows just in case somepony – or worse, something else entirely – should decide to make their presence known. 

After another minute or so of walking they finally reached the end of the stairway and were amazed to see it lead to a large room. The darkness shrouded most of the room, but towards the far wall was what appeared to be an altar with two pyres leading out towards the center of the room in a U-formation. It was rather curious to the professor on how, even though this building, let alone just this room itself, seemed completely untouched and left only to whatever time may bring it, the fires still burned brightly enough to illuminate at least a third of the room. 

Such a curiosity was not what lured Summer Love closer, however. Rather, it was what the fire illuminated. Before the altar were a group of what appeared to be statues of ponies who all faced the same direction. She stepped closer to get a better look at them and was rather surprised to see just how detailed the sculptures were. They were greatly varying in size and shape. Some were Unicorns while others were simple earth ponies. Oddly, only one bore the wings of a Pegasus. Even odder was the one who stood towards the back. It was but a child, a young earth pony colt by the looks of him. 

“And what do we have here…” Summer Love was startled by the sudden break in silence, nearly jumping into the air as she spun around to see Sealed Scroll walking right by all the statues and towards the altar itself. This lead Summer to slowly make her way forward as well. He looked with genuine interest towards a small medallion that hung from a small outcropping in the stone. One of the statues stood just below it, looking up towards it with a sort of admiration in its eyes… all three of them. Summer recoiled back at the sight of the pony with a third eye on its forehead. She tried to say something to Sealed Scroll but her words fell upon deaf ears. 

The earth pony extended his hoof forward but the item was just out of his reach. He hopped up onto his back legs and put a hoof on the altar to support him. He pulled the amulet closer to get a better look at the crimson jewel that resided within its socket. “Fascinating…” He seemed so fixated with the jewel, not even blinking as he looked into it. 
“Professor?” The young Pegasus moved forward, “Professor!” 

Sealed Scroll fell out of his trance, jumping slightly from the sound of his student’s voice. The sound startled him enough for him to shake the altar out of surprise. Such an action caused the medallion to fall off from its perch. The two ponies watched as it fell and slipped around the three-eyed pony’s neck. There was a pregnant pause as the two of them held their breath and simply stared at the block of stone, fully expecting it to immediately come to life or something.
“Well,” Sealed Scroll huffed, “That was rather uneventful!”

The two explorers flinched as the stone cracked suddenly. They each inhaled deeply as they saw the crack spiderweb down the statue’s face, slowly growing in size and length. Pieces of its stone body began chipping off to reveal the grey coat of the pony below. The gem within the medallion began to glow brightly as pieces began to fall off from its face. A chunk that covered its left eye split off and fell to the floor, shattering upon impact. It revealed a blood red eye that continued to gain in color as the veins flared. Within its pupil was what almost looked like another eye entirely. 

Before either pony got a chance to speak a word, a blinding light filled the room. When it faded, the pony that stood before the altar was no longer encased in stone. Rather, it was the two intruders who were now replaced by stone replicas. 

“Not even five minutes of being awake and you’ve already taken the lives of two strangers?”

The pony with three eyes did not bother to turn in order to respond to the tall mare that too was breaking from her stone prison along with the rest of them. “Don’t be so quick to call me a murderer.” They grey coated stallion responded coldly. Why did her mouth have to be the first thing to break free? “They have simply fallen into the same state that had overtaken us. Besides, I have no right to take the lives of Queen Luna’s subjects without reason.”