Discovering the Past

by Astral Star and Company

Chapter 6: Sleep Over

“I’m getting tired of hallways,” complained Scootaloo

“Toughen up princess,” replied Apple Bloom sternly “It’s the only way we’re gonna get anywhere in this house,”

“Apple Blooms got a point,” added Dinky

“Nopony asked you!”

“Calm down Scootaloo!” cried Sweetie Belle “you might upset Miss Sunshine,”

Verity, did in fact hear their conversation, but wasn’t upset in the slightest. She quietly pretended not to hear them, but listened amusedly. She was leading them to what was, for all intents and purposes, the other side of the mansion. There, Charlene has prepared a room for the Crusaders plus one, and a couple guests. These four were not the only ponies who have asked to stay after all. After a short walk, or what seemed like an eternity to the fillies, they arrived at their destination.

“Here you are,” Verity sighed “In you go, I’ll just go prepare dinner. If you need anything, tap the orange crystal next to the door,”

The fillies wandered in cautiously, only to lose it once inside the room. The room was the same size as one floor of the library, inside were eight beds, each one looked like it belonged to a five star hotel. There was a TV, and various game systems hooked up to the back of the room, between its two windows. A door leading to the bathroom could be seen to on the left wall, close to the window. What really surprised them however, were the other four ponies in the room. These unexpected guests, were not the only unexpected guests after all.

One sat on a bed, quietly reading a book. She was a very pale shade of blue, with a white, curled mane and tail, with blue highlights. She was a Pegasus, and much to the crusader’s disappointment, had a cutie mark, a flower in the shape of a snowflake. Two were playing chess in the middle of the room, looking like exact opposites. One was a unicorn colt with dark, almost black coat and short, ragged, purple mane and tail. The other looked like a miniature Verity Honora, having similar colours and mane style, the difference being that she was a unicorn and her colours were a tad paler than the mare standing by the door. She, like her opponent, was a blank flank. The final stranger was an earth pony colt, with an earthy brown coat and a short, spiky mane and tail of a lighter shade, he too was a blank flank.

“I think introduction are in order,” Verity said cheerfully “fillies and colts, may I present Apple Bloom...”

“Pleased ta meetcha’!”

“Scootaloo…”

“S’up?”

“Sweetie Belle…”

“Hi!”

“and Dinky,”

“Hello!”

“Girls, these are the ponies you’ll be staying with for tonight, this is Noctilucent…”

“Pleasure to meet you,” answered the dark unicorn colt

“Elysium…”

“Greetings!” cheered the yellow unicorn filly

“Asphodel…”

“Hello,” said the earth coloured pony

“and Snow Drop,”

“Um, Hello,” mumbled the pale blue Pegasus, not looking up from her book

“I think you’ll become the best of friends!” finished Verity happily “Now make yourselves comfortable, Charlene and I will be here soon to bring you some food. Take care now,”

She cheerfully trotted out the door, magically closing it behind her. An awkward silence followed, as the two groups measured the other up. The silence was soon broken by Scootaloo, with a lack of tact, surely inherited by being around Rainbow for too long.

“What’s up with her?” she asked, gesturing to Snow Drop with a wave of her hoof.

“There is nothing wrong with me,” replied Snow Drop plainly.

“Why don’t you look at me when I talk to you?”

“I’m sorry, I just don’t see ponies very well,” she murmured

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Chill out Scootaloo,” said Sweetie Belle

“No, it’s alright,” sighed Noctilucent “Snow Drop here, is, well, blind,”

“Then how is she reading?”

Elysium trotted over to Snow Drop and whispered something into the blue Pegasus’ ear. The little blue Pegasus nodded, and Elysium magicked the book from the bed and opened it for the crusaders and Dinky to see. It was blank, no title, no text, no nothing.

“She doesn’t see ponies very well,” explained Elysium “but she sees other things clearly,” she paused and scratched her head “I’m not entirely sure what though,”

“Right,” Scootaloo commented drily

“How am I supposed to know? Snowdrop doesn’t really talk too much,” Elysium mulled over what she just said, looking at the ceiling with a roll of head. “Well, except Uncle Astral, Auntie Honora and Uncle Bound,”

While the rest of the gang made idle banter, Dinky took a closer look at the new ponies. Snowdrop was indeed blind, her pale blue eyes glazed over, giving a somewhat unsettling appearance. The rest of her looked fragile, cold and sad, like she stood alone on a brisk winter’s evening. It took some will power not to cry for her. Noctilucent seemed to be the leader, he was a little taller and slimmer than the rest of them, but not by much. He had this unsettling glint in his eye, almost like he was calculating the most efficient way to end you where you stand. Given his previous and obscure history, she wasn’t far from the truth, but he himself was oblivious of it. Elysium seemed to be the kind of filly to crack a joke, share a smile, with a bit of mischievousness thrown in. She was overly happy, but not like Pinkie Pie, that’s for sure. Asphodel seemed the silent type, only chipping in when some pony said something wrong. He was small, brown and uninteresting, but the latter was certainly used to describe her father at first glance. Dinky returned from her mental analysis to see that Sweetie Belle has set up her laptop, Apple Bloom, Elysium, Noctilucent and Scootaloo were playing cards and Asphodel and Snowdrop went back to reading.

“Sweetie Belle? What in the hay are you doing?”

“Just setting up a video chat room,” The white unicorn answered cheerfully

“Who’re you talking to?”

“Well Twilight wanted to know about Astral,” Sweetie explained “So what better way than to talk to these guys,”

As she finished, the screen blacked out, then grew to the moving image of Princess Twilight Sparkle. The video and sound quality was perfect, but the behaviour of the newest princess left something to be desired.

“Hello there Sweetie Belle, how goes your trip?” asked the purple alicorn

“Fine so far,” Sweetie Belle replied “We met some new faces around the house, wanna see?”

“Sure! Tell them to come over,”

Sweetie Belle stood up for a quick moment to gather all the ponies in the room. They all assembled quickly behind Belle’s laptop, and in view of its camera.

“Let me introduce you. This is Asphodel, Noctilucent, Elysium and Snowdrop,” she said, pointing a hoof to each respective pony. “It’s good to see you all,” spoke Twilight happily “But some of your names seem familiar. Noctilucent and Snowdrop, where have I heard them before,”

“You probably seen them around Ponyville,” suggested Scootaloo

“Maybe… I’ll have a look later,” The next time she spoke, her inner-school-filly was showing again “So, find out anything?”

“Not really, not yet. We’ll find out some stuff and fill you in tomorrow morning,” said Apple Bloom

“Ok then, see you tomorrow,”

“Bye Princess,”

The video chat was closed down, and a Minecraft main menu popped up. “Okay…” sighed Dinky, now what?”

“Does she really want to know that much about Uncle Astral?” asked Asphodel with a raised eyebrow

“Yeah, the princesses are really worried if they’re a threat or somethin’,” answered Apple Bloom

“Sounds like a load of hogwash to me,” said Noctilucent sternly “They haven’t done anything to deserve that kind of suspicious treatment,”

“Well, how about you? What’re you doing here?” inquired Sweetie Belle

“Our parents sent us here for Astral to teach us magic,” Elysium explained “They say he’s the best magic user whose ever lived,” she accentuated the last part with a wave of her hooves.

“Yeah, well he can get in line behind the Princesses,” scoffed Scootaloo

“No, you don’t, understand,” corrected Noctilucent “Those three are really, really old,”

“So are the princesses,”

“Again, not understanding. Twilight may be the element of magic, but there is still so little she knows about it. She isn’t the first magically adept unicorn to be born in Equestria,”

“Well…”

“I’m not finished, there are things those three have done to get to where they are now, some were good, and some were bad. But what myself and my friends can agree on, it’s they are here to help us,”

“How would you know?”

“Because,” Noc sighed “In one of my past lives, I was one of his instructors,”

This was met with a collective gasp from the Crusaders and Dinky, then a deluge of questions.

“Really?”

“What did you teach him?”

“Past lives?”

“But you’re younger than him,”

“Prove it,”

“ENOUGH!” Noctilucent bellowed.

His voice was laced with power, deepening it and contributing a low thrum of authority. His eyes turned a glaring white, and all other lights in the room began to fade. The chandeliers swung on their features, the windows began to crack. They could here thunder and see lightning dart across the sky, despite it being absolutely clear mere minutes ago. The dark unicorn’s display of power rattled through the souls of all present ponies, minus a completely unperturbed Snowdrop. His outburst lasted only for a couple seconds, and as its effects began to fade, he was met with a group of horrified colts and fillies, clutching each other in fright. Noc sighed and motioned for Snowdrop to come over. Despite being blind, the blue Pegasus gave a nod and retrieved a small sapphire from the bracelet she wore. Formerly hidden as she sat, it was an elegant but simple band of silver, etched with snowflake and wind like patterns, with a single diamond shaped sapphire embedded in its centre. She passes the blue gem to Noctilucent who took it in his hooves and began to chant. His words were low and whispering, using language from the old tongue, the same language that gave him his name. When he was done, the foals before him begun to relax and disentangle themselves from one another.

“What was that?” asked a terrified Sweetie belle

“That,” Noc sighed, somewhat exhausted from his display “was your proof,”

*=_/)|*|(\_=*

In the kitchen

Verity, despite her filly-hood education, was a master chef. When one lives for millennia, there is not much to do than to learn, in her case at least. She grew up among nobility, and was taught how to act like one, but despite this, she kept her good sense and so no trouble in interacting with ‘commoners’. In a matter of minutes, she had prepared a meal worthy of a five star restaurant in Canterlot; all it needed now was 45 minutes in the oven. Whistling a country tune, she put away her cooking utensils and met her two brothers at the counter. Astral sat loosely by the counter, taking semi-automatic sips of his hot chocolate, and staring at his notes. Honour Bound sat rigid straight, taking large gulps of his scalding hot tea, with a satisfied ‘aaaah’ after each one. Verity set her mug of coffee on the counter and pulled a seat opposite the two stallions.

“So, how’s work?” she inquired

“Uneventful,” admitted Honour Bound “But they are increasing shifts as the gala gets closer,”

Honour Bound took a job as an elite guard. He disguised himself every morning, and took the teleport vigil to Canterlot. He did all of this in disguise of course. He wasn’t really her blood brother, but they inducted him as family years ago. He spent most of his extended life span travelling, seeing the sights and other what not.

“How about you, Astral?”

“Fine,” he mumbled “Stock is flying off the shelves. I’d be surprised if I’ll get to keep any of my newest toys,”

Astral owned a toy and book store in Manehatten. It is really popular, and he’s having a rough time keeping up with demand. The books he sold were mainly educational but with a few popular adventure novels like Daring Do thrown in to keep things interesting. The toys were all of his own creation, mostly wind ups and board games. He, like his sister, took all his extra years learning and applying new skills.

“How about you sis?” Honour asked, smiling slyly “Holding down several jobs at once again?”

“You know the girls and I can handle it,” she said reassuringly, giving a wink to accentuate the point

Astral and Honour smiled knowingly, all too familiar with the “girls” she mentioned. Before the conversation can go any further however, thunder and lightning wracked the outside window, sending angular shadows darting across the room with each strike. Thunder echoed throughout the house, a sound that would alarm even the hardest of ponies. Suddenly, all lights in the kitchen faded to black, but the oven kept going. Astral lit up the room with his magic and tested the lights, they were shut down. Verity only sighed at this highly irregular turn of events and made her way to the room where the foals were staying, Astral and Honour in tow.

*=_/)|*|(\_=*

Back in the Foal’s Room

“Hey Elysium, give us a light please. Cheers thanks,”

After Noctilucent’s magical outburst, the eight foals were temporarily lost to darkness. Elysium provided light using her horn, but Sweetie Belle couldn’t help because she doesn’t know any magic yet, and for Noctilucent, any kind of light-based magic seemed beyond him. It continued to rain heavily as the thunder and lightning receded into distant rumbles. Upon further inspection through the window, one could see that the storm clouds stopped just past the estate grounds, as the stars could easily be seen above Ponyville. The only pony who was not disturbed was Snowdrop, who continued to read her book peacefully.

Minutes later, a knock on the door interrupted the foals from their un-attentive state. They started looking at each other with pleading eyes, but Noc caved in with a grudging sigh and went to answer the door. When he opened it, he was met with the fanged face of Honour Bound, looking down at the little colt with a straight, passive face. The young figure of Verity Honora pushed passed him and fussed over the foals, searching for injuries and making sure they were fine. Honour soon followed her in, but Astral stayed by the door and gave his nephew a steady look. The tension between the two collapsed when Astral offered him a warm smile.

“That’s some magic you put up there, good work,”

Noctilucent stood speechless. He had single-hoofedly stalled the whole mansions power for close to an hour and conjured a storm cell right over their heads and this midnight blue unicorn was congratulating him?

“I, don’t understand Uncle Astral,” the young colt stammered

“It’s a part of magic my boy,” replied Astral soothingly “That is the nature of your magic, all you can do is work with it,” He paused, then threw a cheeky grin back to Noc “You might want to have a look at your flank, young colt,”

“Did I sit in something?”

“Just look,”

The young unicorn stood up and looked at his flank. Sure enough, in a flash of white light, the image of a storm cloud, with rain and lightning appeared on his back thighs. Overcome with childish glee, he broke an enormous smile and leapt onto the older unicorn, giving him a tight, but meaningful hug. Astral gently chuckled and returned the embrace, disregarding the fact that all present company was watching them now. He didn’t care; he’s finally received his cutie mark.

*=_/)|*|(\_=*

Meanwhile, at the Golden Oaks Library (Twilight’s House)

Ever since she made that call to Sweetie Belle, something has been gnawing on the young princess’s mind. She’s heard those names, somewhere before, and she had the feeling they were significant. So, setting everything aside, she initiated a research project, and a rather short-lived one at that. The reason being was that she found her answers almost immediately, but in the most unlikeliest of places. She spent almost an hour trawling through genealogies, history books, newspapers, magazines, but she found her answers in two books. One was a popular foal’s bedtime story book, and the other was a text on Ancient Equestrian Mythology.

Elysium and Asphodel were two of the many realms that resided in the underworld, where all beings went when they died. She made the mistake of telling every pony that Cerberus guarded Tartarus, when he in fact guarded the whole subterranean empire. She barely lived down the shame. She pushed thoughts of that day beside and found more information on these two names. Elysium was where all the good souls went, those that lived there lives for good. It was heaven, where souls could rest for eternity in happiness and content. Those that did even better were given the choice of rebirth, to live a second life. Ponies who accepted rebirth, and made it to Elysium three times in a row, went to the Isle of the Blessed, which made Elysium look like a 2 star Motel. Asphodel was an endless plane, where all the mediocre, everyday souls went. They spent their eternity wandering through the endless sea of grass, often forgetting everything that they once were and returning to what they came from. Souls that end up here, fade over time as their owner forgets who they were, and are lost forever.

She turned to the bedtime story book, seeing that the names Noctilucent and Snowdrop appeared in the Contents. Noctilucent originated from ‘The Tale of the Necromancer’, a story about an evil practitioner of dark magic and death. The Necromancer would bring the corpses of the dead back to life as his puppets, serving his every whim. Noctilucent was his name, an ancient name dating back further than recorded history. It meant ‘Night Light’, a contradiction of nouns if ever there was one. It is said that this he was defeated by a knight in shining armour in single combat, and upon his downfall, relinquished his dark power, and shrunk back into a foal. The foal was brought to a young couple, and raised in secret. No one has ever heard of the Necromancer since.

Snowdrop originated from a more peaceful story and one Twilight was familiar with, it was called ‘The First Snowflake’, a sad little tale of acceptance and understanding. Princess Luna told her the story herself, remembering it fondly, but it did little to hide the guilt settling on the moon princess’ heart as she told it. According to the story, Snowdrop was a small, pale Pegasus filly who was born blind. She has suffered many hardships, and just when she couldn’t take it anymore, she found her calling. She made the snowflake, in tribute to the stars she couldn’t see, and for everything she wished came true. She became good friends with Luna, and spent her life making these stars, thousands upon thousands each winter. She lived well, but she lived alone, her only source of true companionship being Princess Luna. She lived to a ripe old age, but she did not die happily. She died knowing that the friend she once knew became a monster. It was a real tear jerker, and was adapted into many plays, movies and books. Twilight has seen a few of them herself. What she wants to know, is what connection do these foals have to their namesakes from the past, if any. She knows just the pony to ask, and she can do it tonight.