(The great lighthouse of Equestria, one thousand years after it was built)
"Oh brother, my mane is all wet again." She grumbled, trotting back inside the lighthouse tower, after cleaning the outer glass and the lens. "Take up working as the lighthouse keeper of Celestia's beacon, they said! It's an easy job and will be a lot of fun, they said! Gahhhh! I can't believe I let them rope me into this mess!"
As she took off her hood, and shook the water out of her mane, the unicorn with the golden coat and tail angrily closed the door out to the balcony, and began trotting her way back down the stairs. Reaching the lighthouse's kitchen on the lower floors, the mare used her horn to light the rusted gas stove. In the bitter and rainy spring cold, she struggled to keep warm sitting close to the stove's tiny flame.
"Flash, where are you!?" The mare called out, looking down the stairs to the lower floors. "Get your scaly butt up here, this instant!"
The latest keeper of the lighthouse called Celestia's beacon, Princess Golden Light had just taken her new position less than three weeks ago. The daughter of one of the richest Daimyos of Hoofkaido, Golden light came from one of the oldest noble families to settle in these lands after the fall of Northern Equestria. Everyone in her family had some sacred duties they had taken up, and after she had shown some talent with lighting Hoofkaido's spirit lanterns. So when word came that the previous lighthouse keeper had died, Golden Light jumped at the opportunity to take up the exalted position.
And that had been a terrible, terrible mistake.
""Yes, Princess, I am here!" The little dragon came running, bowing to the princess. "What is it that you need of me?"
Flash, her tiny dragon companion, who had been a servant of the previous princess who had tended the flame of Celestia's beacon. The little dragon had long served as assistant for the previous lighthouse keepers, whom ever since the fall of old northern Equestria had been a member of royalty. Golden Light just didn't understand why it had to be a royal who took on what seemed like such a menial task.
"Flash, where have you been?" The princess asked impatiently. "I had to go out and clean those lenses and windows all by myself! You are supposed to help me with keeping this lighthouse in shape!"
"Yes, princess! I'm sorry, princess!" The yellow baby dragon replied nervously, dropping several of the scrolls and boxes he was carrying. "I was just cleaning up some of the stuff in the basement, the lighthouse has accumulated a lot of junk over the millennia..."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Flash... I'm sorry." Princess Glow sighed. "It's just.... why am I stuck here, watching over some dumb lighthouse, when I could actually be doing something useful for Ponyland."
"It's always been a pony tradition to have a member of one of the royal households keep watch over the lighthouse, going all the way back to when Northern Equestria became Ponyland." The dragon replied, going back to pull a trunk the rest of the way up the stairs. "It's a way to honor the great Alicorn Celestia, who first lit the flames in this lighthouse... and no royal keeper has ever let those flames go out! You should be honored to take on this burden"
"Well, I suppose you're right... doesn't make it any less boring, though." Golden Glow noticed a medium-sized trunk the dragon had been carrying. "Flash, what in the world is that?"
"Oh, this old thing?" The little dragon shrugged. "I have no idea. It's been down in the basement for as long as I can remember, and none of the previous caretakers ever noticed it." He looked the trunk over again. "When you first asked me to do some housecleaning, I thought I'd just get rid of the thing."
"It's been here since ever since you've been here?! Flash, that was five hundred years ago!" Golden Light rushed over, prying the lid of the trunk open. "There could be something valuable inside, let's have a look before we toss it away!"
Rummaging around through the trunk, Golden Light found several dusty old books that looked like they were about to lose their bindings. Opening one of the covers, she saw a strange language written there.
"Huh, what are all those funny letters?" Flash asked, confused. "That language sure doesn't look like English to me."
"Flash, I've seen this kind of writing before! When my Father took me to the ruins of Canterlot!" Golden Light exclaimed excitedly. "This is the language of Equestria, from before the founding of Ponyland!"
"Huh, well I may not recognize the language, but I sure do recognize the kind of book that is." The little dragon added proudly. Those are the type of log books the lighthouse keepers used back when I first became assistant here... which means these must be the log books and journals of the original keepers, going all the way back to when the lighthouse was first built!"
"Flash, do you know what this means?" Golden Glow asked excitedly, looking through the book she could not read. "If I could get this thing translated, I might be able to understand what is so important about watching this dumb lighthouse." The princess snorted, setting the book back onto the pile. "Then maybe I can figure out what the heck I'm supposed to be doing here...."
And so, she found these tales located within the books pages....