The pristine, clean city of Canterlot was far different from the jungles one aptly named pegasus, Daring Do, was used to. the city was dominated by unicorns and kept in top shape. Marble and gold buildings lined the streets, some impressive mansions or institutes of varying businesses, but her destination was inside one of the city's many universities, one of which she now strode through.
Daring hastily navigated through the crowd swarming the hallways as she made her way to a room where one pony with one of the most recognizable names in the world was giving a lecture. Daring huffed. She could handle poisoned darts, jets of fire, quicksand, and tight spaces, but swarms of ponies were far from second nature for her. Other ponies weren't her thing.
She continued to huff as she bumped into a few young unicorns. A few of them muttered soft apologies, but some shot her sharp, condescending glares instead. Nopony recognized her as Daring Do, and she was pretty sure nopony recognized her as A. K. Yearling either. It was something she welcomed. While she wasn't exactly in a hurry, since Princess Twilight Sparkle's lecture wasn't the reason she was there, she didn't exactly want to stop to talk to anypony.
Eventually, she navigated through the hallways and found herself on the second story of the University. She frowned a little as she walked through the doorway and found herself in what appeared to be more of an auditorium than a lecture hall. She pushed the concern aside and glanced around, then found a seat on a bench and sat down in the middle of a lecture by the Princess of Friendship.
Twilight smiled, levitating a long, slightly pointed stick in her magic to assist in her lecture. "...but what we do know for sure about the Elements of Harmony is that they're not natural. While it can be argued that their nature is closely related with the nature of Equestria, there is no way the Tree of Harmony is a result of natural events." She walked to one side, then turned around and pointed at a representation of the Tree of Harmony on the whiteboard behind her. "Now, we know this to be a fact because the Tree of Harmony is unique. While there are other 'crystal trees' which can be found around the world which can closely resemble the Tree of Harmony, none of them show any signs of a connection to the Tree."
She levitated out a marker, then quickly sketched out what Daring first thought was going to be her cutie mark, only for her to stop with the central starburst. "Now, as almost everypony is aware, I myself represent the Element of Magic. I am its bearer. The fact that I am the only pony to have shown the ability to wield the Element of Magic in several centuries is significant. Perhaps even more so due to the fact that prior to my using the Element of Magic against Nightmare Moon, the only ponies who could wield the Elements of Harmony were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves." She paused to draw out six cutie marks, ones recognizable as those of her friends, with her cutie mark just below the Element of Magic. Above her friends' cutie marks, she drew out the Elements each of them represented.
"Now, if you look closely, anypony can clearly see some resemblance between my friends' cutie marks and the appearance of the Element they represent," Twilight said. She pursed her lips and shifted her weight. "While there is no direct evidence to support this, according to Princess Celestia, the Elements looked the same way they did when she wielded them, raising interesting questions."
She walked to the other side of the stage and spoke, "Was this intentional? Were my friends and myself pre destined to wield the Elements?" she asked. "There is some proof to indicate this is the case, however that also raises more interesting questions," she stated. She turned, then looked at the floor and walked to the other side. She waited to get to the other side, then paused and shook her head.
Daring looked around the room. The auditorium was packed in first half, but the last half was sparsely populated. She frowned a little, surprised that there weren't more occupants.
Twilight took a deep breath, then walked back to the middle of the stage. "It is also common knowledge about the connection that my friends and I share, and that connection is also linked to the Elements of Harmony and the Tree of Harmony. The fact that we are linked and that I have a castle from the Tree seems to indicate that the Tree of Harmony has some form of sentience- it may be more aware than any of us realize. On top of this, the ramifications of my travel to alternate dimensions seem to indicate that the Elements of Harmony, and or the Tree of Harmony, may have the knowledge to know how things are meant to be from the standpoint of destiny. This seems to indicate that the Tree of Harmony may be artificial in nature and that a higher power may have had a hand in its creation."
Twilight paused and frowned. "The Tree of Harmony also predates both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but all analyses have proven inconclusive, and the more thorough ones cannot be risked due to the nature of the Tree," she stated. "And back to the topic of destiny," she said, her mood turning more cheerful, "there is a proven link between my friends and myself. Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom directly led to us six gaining our cutie marks. Our 'destinies' are indisputably intertwined, and furthermore, without them, I never would have become the Princess of Friendship," she said. She stood up straight and beamed at the ponies in the audience. "In conclusion, there may be more to 'destiny' than we think, and it may be intertwined with harmony, and the Tree of Harmony, more than anypony realizes. I do hope that you all were able to follow that. I know the lecture is a little rough around the edges, but there's still so much we don't know." She paused and look a little glum. "And I wasn't given much time to prepare this, either..." she grumbled, then smiled. "I hope you all have a nice day and a wonderful week!" Twilight said, then turned around and started cleaning up her white board. Ponies stood up and slowly shuffled around, heading toward the doors, most of them discussing the various points of the alicorn's lecture.
Daring Do sat up straighter and took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled. It wasn't the first, nor the longest lecture she had ever attended. That award went to one of the villains who had managed to capture and hold her hostage for two hours. She nearly died from boredom, and it was welcomed when he finished up and cut to the chase.
Once the crowd had died down, Daring stood up, then made her way down to the stage. "Princess Twilight Sparkle," she greeted in a casual voice.
Twilight perked up at the sound of her name, then turned away from the whiteboard, smiling. "Miss Yearling, what a pleasant surprise," she acknowledged. "I wasn't aware that you were in Canterlot, let alone that you'd be attending one of my lectures."
Daring shrugged, then made her way up onto the stage. "Not a bad lecture. I've seen worse. It didn't seem very consistent, though," she commented.
Twilight smiled warily. "I was a last minute fill in," she admitted sheepishly. "Which, you know, doesn't really make sense as to why they would have me as a 'last minute fill in,' but... I am supposedly the foremost expert on it, so..." she trailed off quietly. "So, what brings you to Canterlot? I thought that you mostly stayed by yourself and avoided major cities."
Daring grinned. "You, actually. I've been working with a professor by the name of Ancient Knowledge. She's running a site out in the badlands, and we found something very interesting," she said vaguely.
Twilight tilted her head. "I didn't think you worked with others?" she asked quizzically.
Daring shrugged. "She wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer," she replied dismissingly. "But that's another story," she added. She turned back to her saddlebags, then flipped open the flap and pulled out a manila folder. She extended it out to Twilight, who eyed it cautiously. "I think you might find it of interest, especially given the context of your lecture," she said.
Twilight picked up the manila folder with her magic, then pulled out some pictures and papers. She studied the first picture and frowned, then she pulled it back and placed it under the rest of the stack. Her frown deepened until she came to the last picture. "Where did you find this?" she asked quietly, glancing up from the picture with her cutie mark on the wall of the ruin.
"The deepest part of the ruins we've been able to access. At least, last I knew," Daring answered. "Two day trip by train, and another by hoof. I managed to make the hoof part in a half day by flying."
Twilight nodded, then read over some of the papers. "You mentioned putting this in the context of my lecture? Are you suggesting that this has something to do with the Tree of Harmony?"
Daring Do shrugged. "I really don't know. I meant more along the lines of your destiny part, which is more or less all I caught. We don't know much of anything about this place. Ancient Knowledge wouldn't even tell me how she found it, but she did say that they had no idea what it was. It's a complete mystery to us right now," she said. "I saw that, your cutie mark, and recognized it. I also wondered if it might have been related to some of them having premonitions and seeing you in the future or something, and thus why I wondered about putting it in the context of destiny."
"So you do think this relates to me," Twilight muttered. She squinted uncertainly at the report. "This... this makes no sense. I mean, maybe there's a connection, but... there's no way that they could have seen this far into the future, and..." she trailed off and shook her head. She took a deep breath. "Well, I'm definitely interested in this. I... well, I guess it would technically not be my first adventure like this, and I've been around the loop a few times..." she trailed off, grinning. "I'll pack and we can leave tomorrow morning. That sound good? Oh! And I'll need to tell Celestia and my friends where I'm going."
Daring nodded and smiled brashly.
Twilight stared out the window of her private royal train car, watching as trees, grassy hills, and plains all rolled by. "What can you tell me about your sponsor?" she asked. She looked away from the window, over at her train car's sole other occupant, who held a pen in her mouth.
The pegasus paused in her writing and looked up at Twilight. Daring lifted her wing, then took the pen out from her mouth. She licked her lips. "Well, Doctor Ancient Knowledge is a Professor at the Manehatton Institute of Technology and Archeology," she stated. "Just your average Professor, don't know what else you want to know." She looked back down at her paper. "She's a bit like you, though," she commented.
Twilight nodded. "And... you really don't know how they located these... ruins?" she asked, squinting at the sandy-colored, black and gray maned pegasus.
Daring nodded. "Calling the place ruins isn't really accurate. It's in really good shape. It's remarkably well preserved," she said. "And... no, I don't know how they located them. It's really far out of the way, too... I was a little cautious about it at first, it almost sounded like a trap, but it all checks out."
Twilight nodded and frowned. "Do you... always worry about it being a trap?" she asked.
Daring frowned, then put her paper back into a saddlebag sitting beside her. "In my line of work, yes. I have a lot of enemies, and I wouldn't put it past them to do something like this. Of course, I could handle it, but it would be a setback," she stated.
Twilight giggled a little. "You remind me of Rainbow Dash sometimes," she said. Daring looked at her warily. Twilight sighed a little, then frowned. "There has to be more to this, though. Surely you know more about this than what you've said..." she trailed off, then lit her horn. A small, pink flash emanated from her horn. She smiled and dimmed her horn. "We're safe in here, nothing you say will be overheard, if that's what you're worried about."
Daring shifted her weight. "Princess-"
"Twilight," Twilight corrected, offering a small smile. She ruffled her wings a little. "You don't need to call me by my title, Daring. We might not know each other that well, but I prefer the informality of ponies using my name."
"Twilight," Daring started. Twilight gave her a nod of affirmation. "We really don't have any idea what it is. All we know is that in the middle of the Badlands, some ancient civilization built a structure in a ravine, underground, out of a metal alloy that we've never seen before. The structure predates every known ancient civilization, and it's stood the test of time, and then some."
Twilight leaned forward, lifting her eyebrows up. "Surely you know more than that?" she asked seriously.
Daring grimaced. "None of the known civilizations that inhabited the region have a history going back that far, and none of them had the same capability. No civilizations we know of, even now, in modern times, have the ability to manufacture this material. We can't even figure out what it's made out of," she said, shaking her head and sighing. "At least it'll make a great book. Well, I hope it will. Unless some bad guys show up, it might not be that interesting. I don't think ponies read my books for mystery stories, that's more of a side plot."
Twilight giggled again. "I know I'll love to read it after we figure everything out, although I don't know about Rainbow. I could always try to convince her, I suppose."
"Do you think Princess Celestia or Princess Luna know anything about this... this structure?" Daring asked. "Ancient Knowledge said it predated them, but since you're an alicorn, and you were Princess Celestia's student, I thought that..." she trailed off.
Twilight shifted her weight and slowly nodded. "That I would know more than most ponies? Well... I do..." she said tentatively. "It's... I know a lot more than most ponies realize..." she admitted. "A lot of it I'm not supposed to talk about," she said quietly, then met Daring's gaze, "It's important to keep secret," she said. She took a deep breath and smiled once more. "But, I do know that this structure, if it is that old, does indeed predate Celestia and Luna," she confirmed.
Daring nodded and frowned. "The structure had a few statues of alicorns. They were made of some kind of pinkish crystal, but the texture was like stone," she commented. "They all looked identical, and I didn't recognize them. All of them seemed to have the same proportions as Princess Celestia."
Twilight pursed her lips. "Due to the small population size of alicorns, I could only theorize on what that means. And because Princess Celestia is the eldest of us, I can't say if we would grow into that height. Princess Luna is nearly her sister's age, though, however, there is a pretty big height difference between them. Whenever I've pressed the issue, they always change the topic..." she trailed off, squinting. She sighed. "They can be so vague, even now with me..." she said sadly.
"Aside from your cutie mark and the alicorn statues, there's not much else of detail there. It's much cooler inside the structure than in the ravine, but that's because it's underground. There are quite a few crystals, though. They seem to like them. Just about every door has a rectangular crystal that's surface is smooth and curved, almost like a rectangular oval, to its right. They're at eye height," Daring said.
Twilight nodded and frowned in thought. "That's not that uncommon. A lot of ancient civilizations used crystals..." she trailed off. "The crystals... did they look... identical?"
Daring nodded. "More or less," she answered.
Twilight hummed a little. "Most ancient civilizations didn't have the ability to do that..." she mused. "I... guess we'll find out more when we get there. Maybe they'll have made progress by the time we arrive."
"Well, you certainly faired better than I expected, Twilight," Daring commented as they landed at the edge of the base camp.
Twilight smiled. While tired from the long flight and the heat of the sun, she wasn't a pushover either. It was predominantly thanks to her alicorn nature that she fared as well as she did- as most of the time, she didn't fly quite as much, let alone fly in a desert. However, she was no stranger to flying, either, as ever since she had ascended, she had grown to enjoy flying. And to further add to it, Rainbow Dash had personally taught her how to fly. "Well, I was really looking forward to getting here," she answered. She shook her head, rustling her mane. She took a deep breath, then exhaled. "It's really warm out here, though... I don't envy the ponies who had to set up the camp."
Daring shrugged, then started making her way through the camp, looking for Ancient Knowledge's tent. The camp was small, and they quickly found their destination. Daring peeked into the tent, then glanced around. "We're back," Daring said.
Ancient Knowledge looked up from her journal, then turned around to face Daring and beamed. "Oh! Wonderful! Excellent, now we can finally make some real progress!"
Twilight walked up beside Daring, who stepped to the side, giving Twilight a chance to meet the professor. "Doctor Ancient Knowledge, I presume?"
Ancient Knowledge smiled giddily, then hopped out of her fold up chair and hastily rushed over to greet Twilight. She fell into a bow and stared up at Twilight with reverance as if the alicorn was somepony she worshiped religiously. "Princess Twilight! It is such an honor to meet you! I'm so happy that you could come to our excavation!"
Twilight blushed a little and shifted her weight. "There's no need for that, Professor," she said, offering a warm smile to the unicorn.
The unicorn smiled sheepishly and stood back up. "Oh! Please, come in out from the sun. The shade doesn't help much, but it's better than nothing. Just yesterday, somepony passed out from the heat."
Twilight accepted the invitation and walked inside the tent. Daring followed close behind her. "That's terrible..." Twilight said with a frown, "Are they alright?"
Ancient Knowledge nodded. "Yes, he's recovering right now," she replied. She swallowed, then licked her lips and walked over to her desk. She levitated an incomplete, recently penned map in her magic, then extended it over to Twilight.
Twilight took the map in her magic and studied it. "This isn't a lot to go by. Is this the structure that you found?" she asked.
Doctor Ancient Knowledge nodded. "Yes. That's all we've been able to access so far. The doors refuse to budge. We can't even get them open with magic."
"Anything new since I left?" Daring Do asked, moving closer to Twilight to study the map. She frowned. "That isn't anything more than what we were able to access. You've had a week and you haven't made any more progress?" she asked, exasperated.
Ancient Knowledge smiled apologetically. "We haven't been able to access any more of the structure," she affirmed sadly, "but we have made progress. The crystals beside the doors- we determined their function. They're supposed to serve as... sensors, of sorts. They control the doors. We haven't been able to get them to work, but there is still some small quantities of magic inside them. We removed one of the crystals for study and sent it off to the University of Canterlot for further analysis."
Twilight nodded absently. "I'll want to take a look at these crystals. I'm not the foremost expert with crystals, but I have some experience with them," she said. "There are two larger chambers in the structure. The one deeper inside has the door marked with my cutie mark, correct?" she asked.
Ancient Knowledge nodded. "Yes, and we haven't been able to make any more progress passed that point, nor the side hallways. We tried using our magic to access the crystals to open the doors, but they didn't respond."
Twilight nodded absently. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a closer look as soon as possible."
Ancient Knowledge flashed Twilight a smile. "Oh, of course! Anytime you're ready, Princess. I'd be more than happy to accompany you right now. Of course, Daring will be coming with us also."
"I'm always ready for adventure," Daring said with a brash, eager smile.
Twilight smiled at the two mares. "Well then, if you'd be so kind as to lead the way."
Daring drew back from Twilight, then stepped outside and made her way over to the edge of the ravine. Twilight frowned as she followed her, then came to a stop near the edge, looking down into it. "There is a ground path, but I prefer to fly down in there," Daring said.
"I can show you the ground path, if you'd prefer, Princess," Ancient commented, heading to right alongside the cliff.
Twiligth scrutinized the camp at the bottom of the ravine. "No, it's fine, I can just teleport us down there," she said. She lit her horn, then grabbed the two mares accompanying her with her magic, then teleported all three of them down just in front of the doorway.
"You can teleport!?" Ancient Knowledge squeaked in excitement.
Twilight nodded absently. She tilted her head and studied the structure. She felt coolness from inside the ruin flow out, and it was a welcome relief from the scorching heat of the day. "This material..." she mused. Without missing a beat, she stepped forward, then placed her forehoof on the metal alloy. She held it there for a second, then slid her forehoof down a little lower. "And this is supposedly ten thousand years old? How has it survived the environment? How did it survive Discord?" she wondered aloud.
"We can barely scratch the alloy with our magic," Ancient Knowledge said in a calm yet serious voice. "You have no idea the lengths we went to to get a sample of the alloy free from the rest of the structure to send it off for analysis."
Twilight grimaced, then set her forehoof back on the ground. She looked on in passed the doorway to see a few ponies moving about, and that there had been lights set up to illuminate the structure. She strode forward, then paused to look at the depression left behind by the doorway. She studied it briefly, then continued on in passed the doorway. As she stepped hoof inside the hallway, the nearest crystal break in the wall glowed to life. Twilight paused as the crystals blue glow grew brighter, casting the hallway in a pleasant shade of light.
Twilight wasn't the only pony to notice the change either. "What the..." Daring muttered. She glanced around and looked down at Twilight's hoof. "Princess?"
Ancient Knowledge hesitated, then rushed on inside passed the two ponies and stared intently at the crystal, studying it closely. "It just... reacted to your presence..." she absently stated. "So maybe the structure was designed to react this way only to alicorns?"
"Let's hope that's a good thing, and that this place isn't going to try to kill us now," Daring said warily. She strode on inside passed Twilight.
Twilight shifted her weight uncomfortably and shuffled her wings. "I... we should be fine... Unless whoever built this place knew a lot more about alicorns than is publicly known today, I should be able to protect everypony from any traps or anything..." she trailed off, lit her horn, and closed her eyes. She frowned. "I... can't scan the structure with my magic. It's resisting it..." she mumbled.
"We could only get a basic layout from our scans, and that was just knowing that there was a hallway which lead to an intersection from the entrance," Ancient Knowledge said, drawing back from the glowing crystal and turned back to face Twilight.
Twilight opened her eyes and looked uneasy. She took a deep breath, then shook her head and tentatively walked into the hallway, though her uneasy expression lingered. She paused again as the next crystal section lit up. Twilight's frown deepened. "There has to be an active scanning spell, but I can't sense it or find it with my magic."
"I don't like this," Daring said abruptly. "Glowing crystals aren't normally a good thing."
Ancient Knowledge squinted at the pegasus, but remained silent. "There shouldn't be anything to worry about," Twilight said calmly. "I can tell you that their sole purpose was illumination. All the magic coming from them is being used to power a light spell." Twilight hesitantly continued on, then took the lead of the group. As they continued, more crystals glowed to life, then as she reached the intersection, several glowed to light. By this time, the workers had noticed the princess's presence, along with the glowing crystals, and none of them were sure exactly which warranted more scrutiny.
Twilight idly looked around, then continued on through the intersection and straight ahead into the hallway beyond. With each step, she grew more sure and comfortable in the structure, although it was still off-putting that crystals continued to glow to life as she approached. She paused and looked back behind her down the hallway she came from. "The crystals are still glowing..." she muttered. She pursed her lips, then looked back ahead. After a few more seconds, she stepped into the first, larger chamber. The second she passed through the doorway, the entire room became illuminated by a soft blue glow which illuminated spots that the artificial lights didn't.
Ancient Knowledge slowed to a stop and looked over the room with wonder. "This is even more impressive like this..." she said under her breath. She swallowed and licked her lips. "The fact that the crystals are... still powered after ten thousand years, that's... That's incredible."
Twilight nodded slowly. She briefly surveyed the details of the room and frowned. "I... do not understand what the point of this room could be. Do you have any idea?" she asked.
Ancient Knowledge shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid I don't. They excavated a lot of stone to make this room, so it had to have served some purpose, but I don't know what it would have been. And we haven't found any records or anything either."
Twilight walked over to one of the crystalline alicorn states and lightly placed her forehoof on it. She wasn't sure if she was expecting something to happen or not, but nothing happened. She felt relief at that. "I don't recognize them, but they definitely have the same proportions as Celestia. However, that could just be that they're enlarged for... whatever purpose they served," she commented.
"They seem to be generic alicorn statues," Daring commented.
Twilight continued on into the room, making her way to the hallway beyond. "I find it strange that this place was built out here in the Badlands. On top of that, it strikes me as odd that it's built where it is, in a ravine." She pursed her lips as she thought about it more. "Speaking of that, I would have expected the ravine to have been larger and more sloped if this has been here for ten thousand years. That much time to weather and erode should have done a number on it."
"This area of the Badlands doesn't get much rain," Ancient Knowledge replied. "But that does still leave the question of why they would build something here. There's not much of value around."
Twilight studied the walls as she continued deeper into the ruin. The soft, yet powerful blue glow from the crystals made the place look relaxing. The color slightly reminded her of Rainbow Dash's coat, although it had a deeper, more crystalline quality to it. She pushed the thought aside as she walked into the next room. The room glowed to life as she entered, and her attention was drawn to the depiction of her cutie mark. She felt a slight shiver run down her spine at the sight. She lifted her left wing up, then turned her head back and looked at her flank, studying her own cutie mark. After a few seconds, she looked back at the wall and folded her wing.
"Well, what do ya think?" Daring asked casually. "They captured it quite nicely, didn't they?"
Twilight remained silent. She cocked her head to the side and studied the painted symbol. She walked forward to the middle of the room, then turned around and looked at the wall above the entrance. She pursed her lips. "I guess you two missed that?" she asked. She nodded her head, drawing the two ponies' attentions to the large crystal in the shape of the pink starburst of her cutie mark above the entrance. What appeared to be white crystals of some kind were set in place to represent the white.
"No... we didn't notice that before now," Ancient Knowledge said. She frowned a little, looking at the crystal more closely. "It seems to be glowing slightly?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes, I can sense magic in it," she stated. She turned back around and then took a deep breath. She walked up to the door, halfway expecting it to react the same way the crystals had an open at her presence. The door remained sealed. She pursed her lips and studied the door. "I could probably cut through this," she said. She looked to the right of the door. The crystal set in place beside the door had a faint blue glow to it, running through the center. "But I don't think that will be necessary," she said. She quickly lifted her forehoof up and brought it over to touch the crystal. Before she made contact with the crystal, as her hoof passed in front of it, the glow coming from the crystal turned a shade of magenta, similar to her aura. She heard a sound coming from the door and looked back at the center to see it sliding apart. A second layer behind the first slid diagonally, and the third layer behind it split horizontally. Each layer was as thick as Twilight's hoof, unlike the rest of the doors which had been maybe a sixth as thick.
"Well then," Daring said.
"Had I known it would be that easy, I would have had you join the expedition from the start instead of Daring Do," Ancient Knowledge stated, drawing a sharp, disapproving squint from the pegasus which she paid no mind. "If this place survived ten thousand years, then I wonder why the extra protection was placed here with this door..."
Twilight ignored them. Drawn on by her curiosity, she stepped in through the doorway. She lingered for a moment, then after she was assured nothing bad was about to happen, she strode forward. Almost all at once, the entire hallway lit up from the crystals. She resisted the urge to stop and examine each one and continued on to the end of the hallway. As she approached the door at the end, she glanced at the crystal, expecting to have to stop to wave her hoof in front of it. Instead, as she approached, the door opened before her. She paused and frowned at that.
"Oh, I think it likes you," Daring commented.
"A structure can't like something... Structures aren't alive!" Ancient Knowledge retorted.
Daring looked at Ancient with a dry expression. "This whole place just acknowledges her presence while completely ignoring us."
"It's probably because she's an alicorn princess," Ancient Knowledge refuted. She winced a little. "And scanning spells detecting her presence..."
Daring shrugged and continued on.
Twilight frowned as she stepped into the next room. Studying the room, she determined it to be octagonal in shape. The room also happened to be larger than the room with the sealed door. As she took another step inside, a circular crystal in the middle of the room glowed pink, then another sound similar to the sound of the door opening filled the air. The crystal, along with a section of the floor surrounding it, rose up into the air, a pillar of sorts rising up. The pillar stopped rising once the crystal was a little lower than eye-height for Twilight.
Twilight cautiously walked over to the crystal. Scrutinizing the floor, there was a slight circular depression in the center of the room, which dominated most of the room's interior. She held her breath as she stepped into the circular depression, but nothing happened. She let herself relax a little. She studied the crystal as she stood before it. "This... looks to be about the perfect height for Celestia to use it as a button..." she commented. She glanced back at Daring and Ancient, both of whom shrugged. She turned back to the crystal, took a deep breath, then lifted her forehoof. She hesitated for a second, then waved her forehoof over the crystal.
A high-pitched, yet gentle artificial sound flashed through the air. Twilight stepped back as a teal orb of light shot up into the air from the crystal, then stopped at about head height for Celestia. The light shifted to the same shade as Twilight's magic aura, then a second later, the light illuminating the room took on the same color. Twilight shifted her weight nervously and bit her lip.
"Is... that a good thing or a bad thing?" Daring Do asked quietly.
"That's the same color as her aura... I have no idea," Ancient replied.
Twilight studied the orb intently. She wanted to see if it would respond to her magic, or if it would react in a similar manner to the crystals controlling the door and the room, but she felt uneasy, uncertain, and afraid. A chill ran down her spine. She knew that the ruin wasn't affecting her magic, other than resisting her former attempts to scan it. She pursed her lips, then went to scan the ruin again, wondering if anything else had changed.
She was interrupted by an earth pony. "Doctor! Do you know what's..." he trailed off, watching Twilight and seeing her horn glowing.
Ancient Knowledge looked at him wryly. "Are all of the lights the same color as her aura now?" she asked.
The earth pony blinked, then nodded, but continued to remain silent.
Ancient pursed her lips. "That's interesting..." she mused. "Anything else happen?"
The earth pony blinked again, then turned to Doctor Ancient Knowledge. "The crystals beside the doors are glowing pink too, but we still can't open the doors. They flash red if we get too close."
Daring Do frowned. "I'm guessing that 'red' means 'denied' in this culture, just like ours."
Ancient nodded slowly. "Given the circumstances, I agree..." She frowned in thought. "I wonder if that's related to Twilight..." she mused.
"I didn't do anything on purpose..." Twilight said defensively, shifting her weight and rubbing her wings against her side.
"I didn't mean to say that you were," Ancient said sheepishly.
Twilight eyed the professor for another second, then turned back to the magenta orb.
"Go back and tell the others it's nothing to worry about," Ancient Knowledge said, then turned her attention back to Twilight.
"R-right..." the earth pony answered. He lingered for a moment, then took off at a steady trot back to the others.
Twilight reached up with her forehoof toward the orb. As her hoof touched the outer edge, it felt like she touched a magic forcefield. The ball of magic reacted by emitting a short, gently beeping sound. She quickly drew her hoof back as the orb winked out of existence. A moment later, a projection glowed and thrummed to life, centered around where the orb had been. She immediately recognized the projection, it was similar to a spell she had used many times before.
Ancient Knowledge frowned. "That's... that spell isn't that old..." she muttered in disbelief. "It wasn't created until-"
"It's a different spell. It's a similar design, but it's different," Twilight said in a low, calm voice. She studied the projection closely. The outer edge of the projection looked to be composed of magic formed into a barrier, leaving a square screen of sorts. Inside the screen, she could make out buttons along the left side, along with more buttons and data along the bottom of the screen. Each of the buttons was large enough that it looked to be designed for somepony to tap with the edge of their forehoof, and the screen itself was larger than Princess Celestia's body. There was a large button along the top right of the screen. She looked at the crystal atop the pillar and could see it glowing. "This crystal seems to be projecting this... I can't make any of this out," she said, then let out a groan.
Ancient Knowledge walked over beside Twilight and looked up at the projection. "I... can't either. I don't recognize it."
Daring joined them. She grimaced as she studied it. "That looks like it'll take a while to translate, and we don't have anything to go by."
Twilight nodded. "Any ideas?"
Ancient Knowledge grimaced. "I can go and get-"
She was cut off by a sharp, short and dominating buzz sound. One of the buttons on the screen lost the pink outline and the outline flashed red. A red triangle flashed to life to the left of the button.
Twiligth swallowed. "That... seems bad," she stated.
Ancient Knowledge frowned. "They might have had access to more advanced magic..." she muttered. "Any idea what that was?" she asked.
Twilight pursed her lips, then reached up with a forehoof and tapped the button with the edge of her hoof. There was a gentle chime, then the button flew out to the center of the screen. It expanded, surrounded by a red frame. The original text centered on the button lingered at the top left of the inner frame, and the projection filled with what Twilight assumed to be text. Most of the text was in magenta, but several sections were in red. The left side of the projection still displayed all of the prior buttons, as did the bottom of the projection.
Twilight uneasily pulled her hoof back, then lightly touched the screen. To the right side of the projection, a magenta bar appeared. The bar was about twice as high as it was long and was surrounded by a new frame just on the inside of the projection's outer edge. She slid her hoof up a little, and the text flew upward, while the bar dropped down lower. Twilight squinted, then dragged her hoof back down, causing the text to fly down and the bar to fly back up.
Twilight pursed her lips. "I can figure this out, but I can't read it," she said. She groaned a little.
"I'll go get somepony who might be able to help you translate that," Ancient Knowledge said. She turned to leave.
"I can go check to make sure everything's okay. Unless you're afraid to be alone," Daring said, smiling slyly.
Twilight glanced back at Daring and rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. I've been to ancient ruins before, and I've dealt with things that would make most ponies turn tail and run," she stated casually. "You know, maybe you've heard of that? Nightmare Moon, for instance?"
Daring shrugged, then took off after Ancient Knowledge.
Twilight took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled, turning her attention back to the projection and crystal. She scrutinized the text and groaned once more. "Of course it wouldn't be easy... a ten-thousand-year-old dead language... there's probably no way to translate this, either, because of the Discordian Era..." she grumbled.
She shook her head, then surveyed the room. At random, she walked over to one of the sides of the wall, then placed her forehoof on it and lightly slid it down. As she expected, nothing happened, however, she did notice that, unlike most of the walls, this one had markings. Straight lines, some of which eventually came to dots or had other diagonal lines jotting down from them, leading to more straight lines, which formed an intricate design. She idly looked it over, mulling over what it could be. She slid her hoof down the markings and felt the subtle difference from the indented lines. The lines were sharply cut into metal and distinct, yet the edges were soft and smooth.
She pulled back from the wall, then slowly walked around the room. The only thing that stood out was the raised platform housing the crystal, along with the projection coming from the crystal. Eventually, she walked back around in front of the raised platform.
Twilight inhaled, then puffed out her cheeks and slowly blew air out of her mouth. She idly looked over the projection, then turned her attention to the crystal. She lifted her forehoof up, then waved her hoof over the crystal. The projection flashed out of existence. She waved her forehoof back over the crystal and the projection flashed back to life, returning to the same view it had before the projection disappeared.
She tilted her head to the side, then swept her hoof over the crystal again, this time in the opposite direction. Once more, the projection disappeared. "So it doesn't matter what way, hmm..." she mused. She waved her hoof over the crystal, bringing the projection back.
She lifted her forehoof up higher and held it near the projection and looked it over. She scrutinized the edge of the frame of the projection, then lightly touched the edge of her forehoof to the frame. Once more, she felt like her hoof was touching a barrier of magic. She pursed her lips, then swept her hoof to the left. The data displayed inside the projection all shifted to the left along with her hoof, then disappeared, and new data came into view inside the frame of the projection. She repeated the process, but in the opposite direction, and received expected results, the projection returning to the first view.
She tapped the button that had the red triangle to its left, and the inside frame filled with magenta and red text collapsed in reverse of how it had expanded to fill the screen. Twilight studied the buttons, then tapped the button at the top left of the projection. She could barely reach the button, but she managed.
A new frame came into view inside the outside frame of the projection, similar to the first. However, the center of the projection was dominated by a projection of Twilight's cutie mark in the background. Twilight pursed her lips and scrutinized it, then turned her attention to the vast array of buttons in the foreground of the new frame. All of it appeared in the same magenta shade as her magic. She touched the edge of the inner frame, then slid her hoof up. The frame didn't react to her movement. She tilted her head curiously and swiped her hoof downward. Once more, the frame didn't react. She looked over the projection, then tapped a button in the upper right corner of the inner frame. The projection's inner frame flashed out of existence, then a new frame appeared exactly like the one before, but the buttons had different text on them. She looked over the projection, then found a new button in the bottom right corner. She tapped it, and the projection winked back to the prior state.
"Figuring everything out alright, Princess?" Ancient Knowledge asked as she walked into the room, a cheery tan unicorn with a pale yellow mane in tow.
Twilight looked back at them and smiled warily. "Well, so far as operating this, yes. As far as understanding it? Not quite as much," she stated.
"You can operate that?" the newcomer asked, stepping out from beside Ancient Knowledge and walking over beside Twilight. The new arrival, a young unicorn, had a soft, musical voice to her which was gentle like the wind, flowing off of her tongue like honey. She scrutinized the projection, but she couldn't make much out. "That doesn't seem like it was designed for ponies because of the height," she stated.
Twilight nodded absently and furrowed her brow. "No, it doesn't. It's... curious that this place didn't react to any of you, then it reacted to me the second I set a hoof inside it." She turned back to face the unicorn. "Any idea on where to start translating? I could give you a look through all the text I've found, but I'm a little leery about continuing to look through it all since I can't read it, meaning that I have no idea what any of the buttons do. Well, except for the ones I've already used."
The unicorn grimaced. "No, Princess. I'm not really sure where to start. I would say the main screen that you saw when you first activated it. And- oh!" She stopped and turned to face Twilight. "I didn't introduce myself, I'm sorry, Princess. I'm Loose Translation. A linguist expert from the University of Canterlot." She blushed a little. "This is my first time on an expedition like this, it's really fascinating!"
Twilight smiled. "Well, I hope you enjoy your first time!" she answered, giggling a little. She turned back to the projection, still smiling. "I've... been through similar experiences, but still. This is pretty unique."
Loose Translation shuffled her hooves a little on the floor. "It can't be that unique," she said timidly. "You've done a lot, Princess..."
"Yeah, but this place is the strangest. It has my cutie mark and reacted to my presence where it didn't react to any of you," Twilight commented. She frowned a little, then tapped the button with a red triangle beside red text, bringing that screen to life. "Any idea what this is? It was one of the first things I noticed, and it seems to be a warning of some kind, or at least that's my assumption."
"I'll leave you two to it," Ancient Knowledge said leisurely, then turned to leave.
Twilight glanced back at her. "You're welcome to stay, this just might take a while. I don't mind the company."
Ancient Knowledge paused and looked back at her. "Well, I really need to get a place set up for you to spend the night. It gets pretty cold outside at night, being a desert and all that," she commented, then resumed walking down the hallway.
Twilight frowned and nodded to herself, then looked back at the projection. Loose Translation pursed her lips, then stuck her tongue out slightly. "Do you mind if I..?" she asked, looking at the projection.
Twilight stepped aside. "Of course, go ahead," she said.
Loose Translation stepped over to where Twilight had been standing and looked over the projection. She read over the text, skimming it in an attempt to decipher the language. "Is there a way to see more?" she asked, noticing that the last row of text looked partially cut off.
Twilight nodded. "Just place your forehoof on the screen and slide your hoof upward."
Loose Translation did as she was told, placing her forehoof up on the projection, then sliding it upward. Both Loose Translation and Twilight frowned as the projection didn't react. "Princess?" she asked after a few more attempts. She stepped aside.
Twilight exhaled forcefully and stepped back into place, then placed her forehoof on the projection and slid it upward. The text flew upward, then stopped. Twilight's frown deepened. "It only reacts to me?" she asked in confusion. "I... guess that makes sense considering the rest of what's reacted only to me, but..." she trailed off, ruffling her wings, feeling put on the spot by the ruin.
Daring idly watched a couple of the workers fiddling with the sealed door at the end of the hallway to the left. For what must have been the twentieth time that she had seen, the unicorn of the group waved his hoof in front of the crystal at the right side of the door, causing the crystal to flash red before returning to magenta.
Ancient Knowledge scowled. "With Twilight helping with the translations, exploring the rest of the ruin is gonna take a lot more time, it'd seem."
Daring shrugged. "Maybe not. You could always have her come and help unlock this place, if you were willing to delay translating everything."
"Well, we can't translate it without her, because the projection only responds to her, apparently. We did manage to get this place open without her. Maybe we'll end up using Plan E anyway," Ancient mused.
Daring squinted at the unicorn, who looked back at her innocently. After a few seconds, Daring stood up and stretched out her forehooves, sliding them forward and bending her chest down to touch the floor, then she stood back up. "Why so much focus on the door with the broken crystal above it? Wouldn't it be better to start with the one that's entact?" she asked.
Ancient shrugged, then stood up. "Well, the one that's damaged is more of a curiosity. The rest of the place is in good shape. Who knows what happened? Maybe getting in would help us figure out what this place is."
Daring took a deep breath, then exhaled. She started down the hallway, weaving in between crates and equipment, then came to a stop just behind the workers trying to access the door. The door appeared similar to the rest of the doors in that it looked like it was supposed to open by splitting into two halves which would withdraw into the wall. Looking up at the orange, inert crystal above the doorway, she felt a shiver run down her spine. The way the crystal was cracked and damaged gave her a bad feeling somehow.
The rest of the structure was remarkably well preserved, but this one crystal above a door was shattered into sharp shards. There were a couple of other broken crystals they had found, but they had been the control crystals to doors. They had no idea what purpose the crystal above the door served. As she studied it, she shifted her weight and noticed that not all of it appeared to have been sharply shattered. Toward the center, it looked like something had melted the crystal, turning it into a thick, viscous liquid which barely flowed, only becoming much smoother, before solidifying once more. She lowered her gaze and looked around to survey the crystal shards which lingered on the floor. Most of them had been taken away and stored, but a few of them hadn't. One of them looked more like a thick liquid had hit the floor, then hardened. It was smooth.
Ancient Knowledge leisurely walked around, taking notice of Daring's sudden interest in the crystal. "Darin'? What is it?"
Daring frowned, then leaned down and picked up the smooth crystal with her wing. She studied it for a moment more, then extended it over for Ancient Knowledge to look over. "Whatever happened to this crystal, part of it melted," she stated.
Ancient slowly frowned and picked up the crystal with her magic. She held it in front of her while Daring folded her wing back to her side. "We sent off a sample of the crystal for a report on it, but it'll be a while before we get any results from it." She blinked and looked away from the crystal to look at Daring, and she studied the pegasus's expression and body. She seemed a little more tense. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Something purposefully destroyed that crystal," Daring stated. "I don't like this. It doesn't feel right."
One of the two earth pony workers turned around to face Daring. "I've felt that way since the Princess showed up and all the lights came on," he stated. After a few seconds, he turned around and went back to work, attempting to open the doors. "This door is really sealed tight," he stated flatly, grunting as he put all his strength into it.
Ancient Knowledge set the crystal down, then enveloped the door with her magic, then grunted as she tried to pry it apart. She heaved and fell forward a little as it refused to budge. "I think that door isn't going to be opened with anything less than explosives or Twilight," she stated glumly.
"We could try the other door at the end of the right hallway," Daring commented.
Ancient pursed her lips and slowly nodded. "Alright, let's try that one."
The two earth ponies and the unicorn attempting to open the door stopped. They looked amongst themselves somewhat awkwardly, then headed off to the end of the other hallway. Daring and Ancient followed behind them. The two earth ponies set up pushing on the doors in an attempt to pry them apart, while the unicorn enveloped the doors in his magic. All of them had strained expressions. "They really didn't want ponies getting through, did they?" Daring muttered. She stepped forward and threw her strength and weight into the right side of the door, followed by Ancient Knowledge adding her magic to the mix. They strained themselves hard but were finally rewarded by a slight creaking sound, followed by the sound of metal sliding on metal. They all relaxed, and the two earth ponies slid their hooves in between the doors and managed to push them apart with the new hold.
The room beyond was pitch black, and a renewed wave of cold washed out over them and flooded the hallway, drawing the attention of the other ponies in the area. Daring felt a tingling sensation trailing down her spine as she looked into the darkness. It brought her a sense of accomplishment and a sense of adventure. She looked forward to exploring it, finding out why it was sealed, and dealing with any and all challenges or traps that it held.
Ancient turned to the unicorn staring into the darkness. "Go get us a couple of flashlights," she ordered.
The unicorn blinked, then turned away and nodded. He set off at a gentle yet brisk trot walking down the hallway the way they came. Daring stepped forward to take his place and brushed a hoof on the cold floor beyond the door. The chill lingered in her hoof. "You know, I'm used to jungles and heat, but not the cold," she commented. "Most of the ruins I've explored have been in tropical or warm regions. This isn't something I'm that familiar with," she stated.
"It's a little off-putting just how cold it is," Ancient replied. "Even for being underground," she added.
A short while later, the unicorn returned with five flashlights and distributed them among the ponies present while also keeping one for himself. They all clicked on their flashlights one by one, breaking the darkness beyond to reveal the same, familiar hallways as before, filled with crystal breaks every few feet.
Without waiting, Daring took the lead, stepping through the doorway into the chilled darkness. Her pegasi senses told her that something was wrong about the place, and it lingered just like from the other doorway. Yet, she also knew that the ruin hadn't been filled with traps, or at least they had encountered none yet. She coaxed her concern aside but paid close attention to her senses as she continued on into the darkness, spurred on by her bravery and curiosity. Ancient Knowledge followed behind her, along with the three workers.
Sweeping the hallway with their lights, they discovered that it had the same architecture as the rest of the structure, however, there was a distinct lack of doors on both sides of the hallway. Shining the light down to the end revealed that the hallway turned to the left and headed in the same direction as the projection room, but straight. The hallway appeared to stretch on long enough that by the time it turned, it wouldn't hit the projection room.
Daring continued marching onward, ever cautious of the darkness surrounding her. The further in they went, the more she found herself relaxing as each step brought no traps to stop the adventurers. As they reached the end of the hallway, they turned to the left and continued. Once more, there were no doors, and every few feet of the wall was broken by a crystal section that would have illuminated the place. Sweeping the light to the right along the wall, Daring noticed that there was, in fact, one door.
The crystal to the right of the door looked inert, the same glossy, dull grayish blue that the rest of the crystals had appeared as before Twilight had arrived. Daring passed it over without much thought, though she did shine her light over the top of the door to see if there was anything to distinguish it. The metal alloy above the door was blank, without showing any sign of anything having ever been there. She continued along the hallway, still sweeping her light along.
The chill of the air seemed to only grow more intense as they neared the end of the hallway and approached the door at the end. Glancing and aiming her light to the right, Daring noticed another door. The crystal control to the door was destroyed. Shards of the crystal were missing. She swept her light down to the floor and found several of the broken shards littering the area beneath it. She also noticed that the crystal looked like it had been molten, as it had flowed downward and smoothed out, covering small, bulging area below what the control crystal should have covered.
Ancient Knowledge examined the crystal with her magic. "I'm not sensing any magic or spells lingering in it. It's toast," she said.
Daring nodded absently and turned her attention back to the other door. She studied it for a moment, then turned around and swept her light over the hallways. Nothing had changed, not that she had expected it to. She turned back. "Alright, let's see if we can't open this door," she said. Immediately, the two earth ponies and the unicorn stepped up and worked on opening the door, which didn't budge until Daring and Ancient Knowledge added their strength and magic.
With some work, they managed to crack open the door, then pry it all the way open. Daring shined her light around and studied the room. She blinked in surprise. The room looked like a bedroom. In the center of the room, sticking out toward the door, there was a metal frame. On top of the metal frame, there was a mattress, which hadn't decayed, despite being at least ten thousand years old. The mattress itself was white, but it looked like somepony had thrown a fit and destroyed it. White stuffing jotted out from it, and small sections of cloth were hanging off it or missing entirely.
"What happened here..?" Ancient asked quietly.
Daring swept her light around. To the right of the room, she saw another door and a crystal beside the door, along with what looked like a dresser made out of the same metal that the rest of the structure was made from. She shifted her weight uncomfortably as she shined her light in the mirror above it. After finishing her sweep to the right, she turned her attention to the left.
Sweeping her light around, she froze as her light briefly illuminated something for a split second which she hadn't expected to see. One of the earth ponies actually jumped back and let out a startled yelp, dropping his flashlight in the process. All of the rest of the flashlights fell back on what Daring had illuminated.
There was a gray, stone statue of an alicorn near the left corner of the room. The statue looked wrong, it was about the same size as Princess Celestia, but the expression worn into the stone was one of contempt, hatred and primal ferocity. Daring found it fascinating, even with as much as it unnerved her. The statue's mane and tail looked so lifelike with how it was positioned, like whoever made it sculpted it after somepony posing for them. On top of that, the statue's features were pristine, unweathered by the elements. The statue was posed in a position where it was crouched down, like a predator getting ready to pounce on prey.
Daring and Ancient both shined their lights on the statue's face and studied it closely. "That's... remarkable! And creepy," Ancient stated.
"Why would somepony want a statue of an alicorn like... like that, in their bedroom?" one of the earth ponies muttered, disconcerted by the statue.
"Perhaps it's just part of their society," Daring commented with a shrug. "Some of the older cultures were even more messed up than that. Ritual sacrifices weren't exactly uncommon among some of the earlier civilizations..." she added.
Daring hesitantly lifted her forehoof, then hastily stepped into the room in proper and looked around. "I wish we had more light, we can't really get a proper feel for that statue like this," she commented. She continued forward, squinting at the statue. As she grew closer, she grimaced. "Looks like it has a couple of cracks near the shoulder... Not quite as pristine as I had hoped," she said with a sigh. She shook her head and headed over toward the other door in the room. To her surprise, the door was partially cracked open, and the control crystal looked like it had been fused with the metal surrounding it, as it had flowed down like other melted crystals would have.
She forced the door open and found a bathroom. A single, smooth crystal stretched from halfway up the wall across from the entrance, all the way across the top, then it stopped just an inch before meeting the doorway. Daring stepped over to the sink and eyed what looked like a faucet. It was rectangular in shape and jotted up at an angle similar to ones they would use, but the sink itself was at eye height for her. She propped herself up on it and noticed two crystals on the sink toward the back. One to the left of the faucet and the other one was to the right of the faucet. She hopped back down and looked back at the doorway. There was a second crystal set in the wall just to the right of the crystal operating the door. This second crystal was much more rounded than the rectangular control for the door.
Daring shrugged it off and headed back out into the bedroom. Another oval shaped crystal was to the right of the door control where they had entered. She shined the light at Ancient. "Well, we made more progress without Twilight," she stated leisurely.
Ancient smiled sheepishly. "That we did," she acknowledged. "But I get the feeling it's going to take us a while to fully explore and understand this place." She paused, then winced and grimaced. "How long is Princess Twilight going to be here?" she asked timidly.
"She said she planned on a week, but with all we've found out because of her being here, she might extend it," Daring answered.
"Right..." Ancient said quietly. "I guess we better move some equipment in here so we can study that stature, then. Or maybe we should just come and have Twilight turn the lights on for us?" she asked with a slight giggle.
Daring feigned distress. "Oh, making the Princess a glorified maintenance worker now, are we? Ancient, I thought you were better than that!"
Ancient smiled sheepishly. "It's not my fault the structure only responds to her."
Daring rolled her eyes. "Well, we should try to see what else we can access now that we're getting better at opening the doors without using Plan E, or the Princess," she stated. She walked on through the bedroom, then walked back out into the hallway. The rest of the ponies followed her out, their lights leaving the room and the statue to the cold darkness.