Today was the anniversary of the Discordian War here in Equestria. Sure, it was an event of a bygone era; but nonetheless one of the cataclysmic events that shaped the world today. For you see, Discord unleashed his chaotic rath upon the world itself, causing great changes in the air, land, and seas around the world.
Here, in Equestria, where the epic battle between the Equestrian living Goddesses and the God of Chaos is where it is most remembered. For during this titanic battle the very earth, ponies now happily milled about their days upon, was used as a weapon in the battle.
Many generations of ponies had passed away in the fray of chaos. Such destruction could not be described by what historical documents that still remain, and the scars of the battle have long healed with time. Only a few skilled hooves were the only ones to truly capture the death and carnage that brought forth the near demise of the world one sees to this day.
Such dark times they were. Now, to this day only idle minded tourists from lands afar and wide-eyed students gaze upon the priceless canvas paintings that depict the war. As if the true horrors have only faded into storybooks and age-old art.
However, to Rosary Mint, they are early hoof made photographs to be passed down through the remaining generations to reflect on the fact that even gods can cause great evil as they can cause great good. though many of this old art is dark, grim, and at times graphic. Yet, ponies have shown interest in such bizarre artwork and with them being released only a single month of the year. It is no wonder that Rosary and all her gallery staff would be at times stretched thin to host tours, prepare lectures, and, with the help of their neighbors from the Museum of Equestrian History; Set up speeches that, every year, at the end of this month, would be presented by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
Today was busier than normal, with tourists coming from as far south as Zebrica and as far North as the Hooviet Union and then some; to see the art, see the sights, and to take land and air tours (of course done by a separate company) to see the still visible scars left behind from so long ago. She always assured herself, despite the noisy foals, repeating questions from individual tourists, and constantly batting away curious hooves from touching the ancient art; history was still being taught in more ways than one.
Rosary Mint was tired after her last tour had departed for the evening. Yet, she still was smiling after the doors were locked for the brief time span of two hours to conduct the shift change, as well clean up, sort away the trash, make sure none of the art went missing as well as bucking sure that not a single hoof touched the art!
"Good job everypony!" she applauded the weary staff as she hovered overhead in the main lobby. The Art gallery was an elegant structure of stone, Marble, and rare ancient woods. The main lobby was a part of an original cathedral dedicated to Goddesses a long time ago. After an invasion, all that remained standing was this massive dome that was held up by ancient stone pillars.
The entire dome above her was a mural painted in dedication to the kingdom: A segment of the mural was a depiction of life in Equestria during the time of the creation of the mural, Earth Ponies working their fields with old-style equipment, the Pegasi manipulating the weather with their magic (or at least before the need of Cloudsdale's streamlined weather system), Unicorn Scholars studying tirelessly over scrolls and tomes to perfect their craft with some even shown channeling their power in mediation.
In the center of it, all stood the Princesses themselves, seemingly back to back with one another, eyes closed in calm concentration, a smile upon their faces with their magic enveloping their corresponding planetary bodies. The sun and the moon.
At times, Rosary would forget about the biggest art piece in the whole building above her and be taken in quiet awe whenever she would see it. Only she was brave enough to fly close to it's painted surface for a closer look. That, and she was the only Pegasus in the building that can hover on her back without straining too much.
"You all know the drill," she glided gently to the floor as she spoke, "We need to get this place back in order for the night shift," she nodded to the two unicorn receptionists as she was addressing the present members of the Gallery staff under her supervision. Despite the smile she had, even she too had the signs of exhaustion but kept her energy up for the sake of keeping everypony else on the move.
"Once we get this done, we can go home."
"oh pleaaase, I don't have to do much, you sure I can't bail out early?" one of her tour guides whined jokingly, an Earth pony stallion, as he readjusted the velvet rope barriers to one of the exhibits. It was a tedious task, but nonetheless, it was one that needed to be done.
As she trotted towards the right side of the main lobby down a hall, she paused to look at the harmlessly "whiny" pony.
"I'm sure, mister Rings If there was any pony that can keep the ticket booths stocked would be you, good sir." She couldn't hear the rest of the grumbling pony's reply as she had turned down the hall to examine the larger scenery portraits, each depicting either what the kingdom looked like all those ages ago before the war or images of the battles that occurred between Equestria's bravest and the monster creations of the god of chaos.
Each of these hoof painted creations gave her the feeling of calm peace or of agonizing horror. She always enjoyed studying art as they were, not only a frozen image of time but an illustration of expression from the creating artist. She wished she too could paint, draw, or even create anything for that matter, however, she didn't have the hoof-eye coordination nor the patience to sit still long enough to create whatever came to her mind, or she so believed whenever looking at the professional artwork. In truth, there hasn't been a time that her mind hasn't been painting imagery that she wishes she could put onto parchment to show the rest of her friends and colleagues.
Rosary was just about to turn back around when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.
One of the restoration rooms, one of four on this side of the museum, had its door ajar. Not sure what to think of it, she walked up to the door. She could see the light was on the inside. Nudging the door open, she caught something that made her gasp. hanging on the wall, with its protective cover removed, was a very graphic scenery portrait. Standing at its base was a pony. With the lamp illuminating the space, the pony looked like it was completely covered in a long coat or cloak of sorts.
Stepping in, Rosary looked to her right before adjusting the gas setting to the lights in the room, bringing the lights back on in here.
"Uhh Excuse me," she called out to the stranger as she walked towards them. The pony did not respond nor even turn to look at her. She wasn't sure if she was to be worried or frightened. Either way, this was a pony that wasn't supposed to be in a room they shouldn't be in. As a matter of fact, they did not look like anyone on the roster, so, it explains one thing, somepony that purposely stayed after to somehow make away with the massive art piece.
"Hello, excuse me." Rosary tapped on the desk as she turned the lamp off. That seemed to bring the pony back to earth. As they looked right at her.
She was wearing a thick pair of tinted glasses with side covers, normally this pair of glasses were designed to be worn when either flying or in very windy conditions. These, for some reason seemed to serve a different purpose. As they turned around this pony was wearing, yes, a long black coat with sleeves that covered her forelegs while she seemed to wear either leggings or unique trousers that also covered the hind legs, the wide-brimmed hat also seemed to match the entire if yet creepy attire. either this pony was very well dressed for night clubs or this pony was very into the ever-growing goth scene or probably was a combination of both.
"Oh, I didn't hear you come in." The calm pony spoke as she brought a hoof to her chest in surprise.
"Uhhh, right," Rosary felt something was off with this pony, "uhm, Ma'am, we are currently closed, you know, getting ready for the evening hours." The hesitation she experienced wasn't normal but there was no real way but to address this trespasser head-on.
"Oh, you are?" the stranger glanced up at the strange piece for a moment before looking back down at the curator, "Dear me, I guess, I was lost in the detail of this fine one-of-a-kind piece of artwork."
Rosary looked up at the massive, graphic figment of history.
The art depicts not only the Princesses entangled in a conflict with the god of chaos but also gruesome imagery of ponies of all three species being killed by their own specialties.
on the left side, showed two Pegasi, caught up in what appears to be a tornado of sorts. Even now the weather teams of Cloudsdale would say that there are times that weather can be manipulated by any kind of magic, this case would be by the power of chaos. The sheer wind power of this tornado and debris flying at speeds that one would not even consider imagining; became too much for these two ponies as flesh and feathers were being ripped away in the wind as they tried in vain to stop the storm.
on the right side, two Unicorn mages, appearing to give their all with rings of concentrated magic appearing around their horns, focused their strained magic on a shield barrier that was warping and cracking under the weight of a portal spewing a beam of magic that even Rosary recognized as pure chaos. These mage's both bore signs of burnout as their horns have very visible cracking along one horn as the other was painted frozen at the moment their horn rupturing violently.
The bottom of the artwork showed two earth ponies being buried by the very earth itself as one had fallen into a pit of lava, their face screaming while a melting hoof stuck outreaching in vain for help. The second Earth pony could only stare up in terror as a landslide of huge rocks fell upon them.
In the middle of this madness stood the god of chaos himself, Discord, Standing tall with arms and wings wide open with the smile of insanity while his eyes were to appear to be staring right back at Rosary as she stood staring at this depiction of him. Facing him stood two very battered-looking Alicorns, both horns alight ready to finish their fight with this mad god. this version of the sisters featured Celestia with a pink mane, which was an unspoken correction of the Goddess of the sun as she was very commonly depicted with the multi-colored mane seen today. The pink mane spoke to Rosary, telling that Celestia was still very young in this battle, as her sister, Princess Luna, appeared smaller than she is seen today, again, another realistic correction this time of the Goddess of the Moon complete with her pale blue mane.
Rosary could only admire the great lengths that the artist, whoever they are, went to get the accuracy of even the Alicorn sisters spot on was worthy of whatever praise she can dish out. If only this artist was around to be congratulated for this wonderful, if not unseen, artwork. The art as a whole was probably one of the best to visually describe what it was like during the war. Unlike the other art, that shows armies of both Harmony and Chaos clashing in all their, at times cometic, glory. This one showed a grittier reality of how it was really fought. Sadly, this is the only piece of art that comes really close to the experience all those ages ago.
"I can see why, I'm not sure why we don't have this one on display yet..." Rosary murmured half to herself.
"Probably because it would take a team of unicorns to get this through the door no doubt." That brought the young Pegasus back to reality with a chuckle as she heard the stranger laugh as well. Judging by her voice, one would think she was upper class with her calm but "proper" tone.
"Yet, You are correct my dear," the stranger turned to walk pass Rosary, "I-I should take my leave and maybe get in line like the rest if I would like to return to this-"
Rosary stopped the stranger with a wing, "now hold on, Miss-"
"Rainbow, Lady Rainbow Whistle," the stranger nodded slowly to her.
"Rainbow, right, uhm," she tucks her wing, "Since you have been honest about not knowing about this room and we should be opening soon Sooo-" Rosary paused for a moment, "-How about being one of the first tours of the evening?"
Even with the glasses, there was an expression of impressed gratitude, even the slow, fluid nod was a promising sign.
"That is very sweet of you, yet, I do not think I deserve such a gesture."
"oh don't sweat it ma'am, be a shame to boot you out just before we reopen, so, why not right?"
"Well, thank you my dear, however, I do beg your pardon for I do not believe I know your name." The stranger smiled sweetly.
Smiling back, "Rosary Mint," she introduced herself, "I'm one of the head curators of this museum, thus why I can get away with giving you a tour for free and such." Rosary chuckled nervously; of course, she feared that her boss, Mr. Turn Buckle, would have her wings for pulling this crap behind his back, but again, she couldn't just walk somepony, like this sweetheart, out because of a misunderstanding.
It, just, didn't feel right at all...
"Rosary Mint," Lady Rainbow nodded musing over the name, "Your name rings of art on its own, are you an artist yourself?"
That brought a bashful side of Rosary out of her, "Oh, uhm, I wish I can proudly say yes, buuut-" she blushes out of embarrassment, "-I, Can't, do any real art, I uhh, tried many times but couldn't really-well, can't-uhh-can't get it right..." with ears flat she looked away before feeling a hoof touch her chin followed by a gentle lift to align Rosary's mint-colored eyes with the black panes of Rainbow's glasses.
"Rose, dear, I can see potential in you," Lady Rainbow smiled, Rosary's jaw could of dropped had it not been for Rainbow's hoof, instead a perplexed expression stares back in the reflection off those glasses; "I doubt naught that you have some skill hidden away," she let Rosary's chin go before stepping back. Rosary could only stare on in a moment of awe, there, for a moment, the confidence of pursuing that dream flickered across her heart and mind.
However, in an eye blink, Rosary came back to reality, "I don't doubt your words Mi'lady-"
"Please, Just Rainbow." Lady Rainbow brought a hoof up to stop the attempt at formality.
"Right, Rainbow, I don't doubt your words, but when the feeling to try again comes up, we'll see." Rosary glanced behind her at a large clock on the wall, it read an hour and ten minutes to evening shift.
Then work came spinning back to the forefront of her mind. She'll need to notify the evening Head Curator that she will be staying a little longer to conduct a private tour for this very honorable guest and more along the way if needed of course.
"For now, Rainbow, we should be heading along to start your tour, of course, there are a few things we should cover before we begin."
"Oh but of course Miss Rosary, we shan't not keep the memories of the past waiting correct?"
"Uhh, sure!" The two ponies turned to the door to exit the room.
Out of courtesy, The curator opens the door letting the older mare through.
"Age before beauty," Rosary joked pleasantly while the dark clothed pony smiled back.
"Ah, but at least we pegasi stay beautiful longer than most!" Lady Rainbow laughed with Rosary before she closed the door behind them.
As the duo trotted to the front, Rosary greeted the Evening Head Curator, Tea Leaf, and informed her what was going to take place just as they prepare to open the museum for the rest of the night-time customers. The massive, Antique doors opened slowly letting in a variety of guests, unlike the groups of tourists and or school foals, the evening crowed consisted of the richer brand of folks. Though the tours had yet to being, the lobby was reopened for patrons to enter and queue up for the night.
From the Noble Elite to University students to other higher class ponies along with visitors from abroad, as well some families taking their children out for nightly activities. Of course, the Nobility was the whole reason why Rosary refused to take an evening shift. Those, up nosed, bratty courtiers always looked down upon anypony lesser than them regardless if they realized they were behaving in such a way or not. To any end, she still holds bitterness towards them due to being born into a life given to them on top of a silver tray and a golden spoon up their-
"My, this establishment draws quite a crowd on days like this." Commented Lady Rainbow as they both ventured away from the main lobby and down a corridor towards one of the many wings of the museum, "Never thought I'd see such a thing In this day an' age."
"Yeah, but not everypony is immune to the hunger of curiosity for history." Rosary looked behind her as well, putting the lynching thoughts towards the Elite in the back of her mind for the time being.
"I see," Rainbow looked forward, "So Rosary, where shall we start this journey tonight?"
"Well, I think we should start off with the seasonal exhibits-"
"What about the Discordian-Equestrian war?" she asks looking up at the temporary sign pointing to the two wings that had the artifacts and other ancient memorabilia on display.
Aside from the surprise that somepony actually pronounced the era correctly, Rosary looked up at the sign too.
"Must see what the fuss is all about, correct?"
"uhh, yeah, right you are, might as well get ahead of the snob-I mean the crowds."
"Worry not Rose, I care not for the current generations of nobles if they even dare to claim such a title."
Rosary's ears flicked at how Rainbow said that but shrugged it off. She clears her throat before walking ahead of her guest.
"I see, well, right this way and we shall begin the tour and since it is just you, feel free to take your time and ask any questions if anything sparks your curiosity."
"Will do Mis Mint, lead the way."
Rosary clears her throat nervously, she had done private tours before with individuals that either pay well or just want to be separated from the rest of the bustle of the masses. Most times it's both...
However, this time, Lady Rainbow made her nervous, as if Rainbow is some VIP that no one knew about that was just announced here.
Regardless, as the pair walked up the halls, Rosary began to explain the facts, history, and other details about the museum, who did what to establish this place. A rehearsed introduction that is just second nature to her at this point in her some-odd year career here. Lady Rainbow Whistle, listened with interest while examining at passing portraits and other scenery art.
"-Unlike normal routes, we usually take," Rosary explains, "where we begin with the exhibits of the discovery of our civilization and the history on Canterhorn Mountain; we will instead be going towards the Discordian-Equestrian war exhibit while it is still available to the public."
"Why If I may ask, do we keep it out for only a short amount of time?" Rainbow asks, glancing from art to Rosary.
"Uhm, most of the artifacts on display are still resonating with energies from war, very volatile in rare cases. Which is also why currently we are doing supervised tours for even the normal exhibits."
"Do not want curious hooves tampering with them?"
"Exactly, we had a few incidents during the first annual display of the exhibits," Rosary explains as they make a turn down a corridor. Mister Rings, who was exiting out of a staff-only door, more than likely catching up on a late break, catches the mares in the halls.
"Uh, Minty, what are you doing?" He asks looking at both of them. His golden ringed, blue eyes dart between the two then stay on Rainbow.
"This Poor lady had gotten lost and I found her in one of the large art restoration rooms,"
"Wait, which one?"
"The one."
"Oh, no shit?"
"Rings!"
"What?"
"Tis alright Rosary," Rainbow smiles with a gentle wave of a hoof, "I have heard many foul words of this day and age and, well, am quite used to it, now," she looks at the stallion, "As to who you are?"
"Oh, Uhm, I'm golden Rings, ma'am, I'm nothing special really, just run the counter and such, other times I'm just a glorified janitor if it's dead around here."
"Hm, interesting choice of words Mister Rings,"
Rosary Mint was giving him the Pokerface with dagger eyes, she dared not to correct him at any point in this. She'll grill him about proper communication with customers later.
"Eh, what can I say, I can be kinda black-n-white when it comes to talking with the ladies," he says gently rubbing his hoof on his red vest then glances at it, he finishes his line with a wink at her with a click of a tongue.
"Oh my, you sound like quite the charmer, very fitting for a colorful stallion such as yourself."
Rosary didn't really see anything special about him. He's just a blend of golden tipped blue mane to accompany a shade of dark blue that made his coat.
"How about we share a-"
"Thank you mister Rings!" Rosary finally buts in, cutting the stallion off, "I believe that you should be getting back to work, we got a tour to finish."
"aww, come on, this is one of our most interesting customers yet." His eyes never leave the mare.
"You son of a-"
"I'm honored to receive such a compliment sir, in fact, maybe we should remember this encounter with a gift."
"What?" Rosary glances at Rainbow as she carefully reaches inside her coat then produces a tiny item in her hoof.
"Here." she presents what looks like a pin of sorts to the stallion, "a token of kindness for the lively stallion."
Both clerks look at the pin for a moment. It's a flower pin, neatly made out of gold metal with rainbow-colored gemstones embedded in it. Mister Rings takes the pin to look closer at it before carefully clipping it to the collar of his vest.
"Thank you, ma'am, I have never seen such gems before, have heard of Rainbow gems before, but we have never gotten one to come through here."
"Yeeah, you're right Rings..." Rosary stares at the pin as it faintly glints with different colors.
"Well, I should probably let you two get back at it then, just remember Minty," He turns his attention to Rosary, "Customers gonna be pouring in here shortly, and it ain't gonna be the regs either."
"Got it, I'm pretty sure Glassy is gonna be here shortly, so make sure she gets the heads up on that too."
"You got it boss!" he salutes then gives Rainbow a parting wink before trotting down the hall. He seems to be in a good mood now that he managed to flirt with a stranger,
right in front of his supervisor...
"Dear me, I have forgotten how lively some ponies are at times." Lady Rainbow grins sweetly before looking at Rose, "shall we continue our adventure?"
"uhh, of course, let's get going, He wasn't kidding when he said it's gonna be busy here shortly."
"And I do not doubt such a fine specimen's words at the slightest, let's be off then!"
The chipper tone of the mare lightened the mood for Rosary before she continued the tour at first in silence till she was able to find the place she left off from in her mental script of things to say. Rosary kept her pace and explanation of what they are about to go see. She also apologizes for the redundancy of reciting the special rules for the war exhibit before running through them.
All patrons must maintain a fair distance away from the marked artifacts; no touching any of them at all for the consequences have variable reactions. No using magic of any kind when in this specialized room for some of the artifacts tend to have a reaction to most forms of magic and a couple of other rules but pretty forgettable but still needed some mention mostly out of habit.
To her surprise, she finishes giving her guest the rundown on the room’s rules just as the unique door leading to the exhibit came into view. This door is nothing more than a barrier, a blurry curtain of dense magic.
“A very well protected room,” Rainbow comments as they both stop at the barrier, “You and your colleagues put a lot of effort into protecting the populace.”
“So very true, it is the only way to observe the artifacts without any of it getting out or being stolen,” Rosary says in this moment of pause.
“How troublesome are these objects?” Lady Rainbow asks, “Has anyone not considered finding ways to render them inert to make them safer to see?”
“I don’t think there isn’t any way to do such a thing sadly,” Rosary admits with a nod, “There has been talk about permanently installing this exhibit, but ever since Discord been re-petrified for a short time courtesy of the Elements of Harmony-”
“Wait, what do you mean re-petrified?” Rainbow asks with genuine concern in her voice.
“Don’t you know, he broke free of his prison in recent times.”
“Oh Goddess, they have managed to stop him from the sound of things.”
“Well, yeah, of course, he almost did turn them against one another,”
“He was that powerful at one point,” Rainbow notes aloud.
“Yet, before he could gather his full strength, he was stopped and thrown back into stone.”
“That’s, Uhm, that is fortunate.” she breathes a quiet sigh of relief, “Can not imagine what vengeance he would have brought upon the world if he had managed to surpass the Elements.”
Rosary arches a brow at her guest in confused curiosity before shaking her head free of any suspicion. She glances around to spot a wall clock not too far down the hall. Time was ticking.
“Yeah, uhh, again, with him back into stone, there is no one really to explain how to properly disable these artifacts.”
“No surprise,” Rainbow scoffs, “to try to understand chaos magic is to embrace the insanity that it would cause, unstable energy that even the sisters wouldn’t dare attempt to copy.”
“True…” Rosary didn’t really know what to say to that, not very many ponies know the details on that. Even the Princess of magic, who is responsible for reinstating this exhibit, didn’t want to tamper with such magic. The last anypony knew she is working on how to safely remove the magic.
“So, shall we?” Rosary gestures to the magical veil.
“We shall lead the way, my dear.”
With no extra words to exchange, they crossed the threshold.
Staying on the enchanted carpeting, the pair viewed the artifacts one by one. Some mundane displays, such as floating checkered chunks of earth that are suspended in a glass case. At times they would flux into different colors and patterns whenever anyone or anything would stand close to them. Some displays showed ethereal objects that would phase in and out of existence.
Another display consisted of what used to be a pegasus pony, they were unfortunately frozen in flight, their entire body, wings, and hair were replaced with various colors of yarn, the only one specimen of this transmutation exists in this condition.
What looked like statues on the corners of this solid white room are actually guards of the time period their bodies turned into various materials. Two of them were marbleized, as in their bodies resembled the playable marbles for children with their original pastel coat made the color of the marble’s core. One had been turned into solid bronze, the pain-stricken expression on its face was the indication that it was a slow transformation.
The fourth positioned at the entrance. Stood at the ready with shield and spear raised but completely frozen in time; it was mentioned a brave researcher attempted to touch the subject, but they phased through the “body”. The element of Laughter identified this as a “glitch” in terms the body was supposed to drop after being hit by chaos magic but instead froze in place, kinda like a solidified ghost. In other words, this poor guard is still visible but physically not there. The only way it was moveable was that it was magically bound to a stand which can then allow anyone to move the aptly named “glitch” guard around.
Aside from the bodies. There are other key objects that have been marked with danger ribbons.
Such three objects are an alicorn doll that is securely locked inside a display case, it at times sits in the middle of the display but in this case of Lady Rainbow and Rosary Mint passing by. The Doll came to life for their amusement, flying around the case before blasting the reinforced display glass with a gout of what most would assume some type of show magic but Rosary mentions that it was later identified as Chaos magic in it’s weakest form.
However, it was quickly mentioned that magic can still do some randomized harm if this doll was allowed to go free.
The second object is a Foals book that would float then snap open, revealing a picture that would slide off the page then form into a living manifestation of that picture. The safety spell matrix activates and unleashed an airburst of magic in the display case, forcing the book to snap close. The instance that came from the book dissolves into a puddle of ink that quickly evaporates.
Lastly, is an amulet, suspended in a smaller, reinforced display case. It's an ornate amulet approximately 15 centimeters in the circumference of pure white gold, with 13 fine cut diamonds surrounding an oval cut ruby in a sunburst pattern. It had been lost to time since it was first seen during the war, but recently had been recovered from an Acolyte of Discord that apparently committed ritual suicide in an attempt to release the mad god from his prison or themselves from the amulet.
No one really knows what it does but magical scans have detected some sort of soul magic imbued within the metal of the amulet.
Rainbow showed interest in the cursed jewelry, but Rosary suggested that no pony, no matter how powerful or rich they claim to be, can not and should not attempt to wear this artifact. Not sure why, but gut instinct always made her warn anyone about this whenever wallets were presented in an attempt to buy the object.
The whole walkthrough took some time to allow her guest to examine some of the displays here. However, there are a few moments that Rainbow would appear to get lost in thought as she looks at a few of the objects. Mostly when looking at the ponies.
The glitched guard served as an example of how even the genetics of pony kind had changed since the war.
The hooves of the pony were larger in circumference or in other words, their hooves were larger which meant larger calves yet their legs thin out towards the shoulders and thighs. If the guard would stand casually, he would be about a hoof taller than the average stallion nowadays, his kind back then had eyes about a few inches larger. They maintained the same length and width as modern ponies, however, their skull features were more “animal-like” in comparison to the smaller profile of modern ponies.
Needless to say, the fable that Discord had tampered with the genetics were half-truths. He didn’t directly tamper with them, just changed them with the death and destruction that he caused as well how the world was affected in his wake after his first petrification.
As Rosary mentioned the aftermath of the war, Rainbow’s demeanor changed enough to make her stop mid-sentence.
“Uhm, is something wrong Rainbow?” she asks as Rainbow slowly walks away from the glitched guard, “was it too much to disclose?”
The mare stopped to look out a window, though it was blurry with magic, the blotches of lights underneath a night sky were still visible. Rainbow did not respond for a short time, Rosary did not know what to say or do at first, even from here, her senses were getting the feeling that something in here had finally set Rainbow off.
“Uhhh-”
Rainbow’s ears perked to Rosary’s voice as she glances back at her,
“Oh,” she clears her throat, “It's quite alright dearie,” she pauses to turn around, the slightly pale-faced mare looks at Rosary.
“I just can't help but think about the damages that had been done to the world,” Lady Rainbow says slowly panning a gaze around the room, “I fear this is only a droplet of what the world has yet to see.”
“True, there are archaeologist teams out there still recovering remnants of the war to this day and-”
“It was just a game to him,”
“Excuse me?”
“He, he wanted to see what he could do because he was bored and wanted a little fun, never mind what it would do to us!” she stamped a hoof twice as she seethed. The hoof impacts on the carpet let off an alert sound which was enough to cause the dark clothed mare to stop and take a deep breath.
“My apologies Rosary,” she turns to look at her, “That was not proper of me,”
“It's quite alright,” she looks around, the noise had brought the doll to life, it had flown to the nearest corner of its case, the head glancing around, trying to see what was causing the ruckus through its button eyes.
“I think we should take our leave, we don’t want to unsettle anything in this room for sure.”
“Yes,” Rainbow nods quickly, “let's depart from here and leave these horrors behind.” she did not wait for Rosary to lead the way as she headed for the exit doorway from this nightmarish room.
The curator stumbled over her own mind as she watched her guest walkout, “Uhh, wait for-uhm, hold up!” she hurried after her.
Finally out of the exhibit, The Museum mare trots after her guest. Passing by her, headed towards the exhibit, a pair of stallions. One with short black hair in an orange long sleeve shirt and matching trousers while the other with short reddish mane, dressed in what looked like some scientist outfit, black shirt with a light brown sweater complete with a white lab coat and khaki tan trousers
Skidding to a stop, Rosary turns quickly, “Uhh, excuse me, sirs.” they both come to a halt.
“Ah fuck-” the earth pony in the orange outfit mutters, “-we’re screwed now doc...”
“Shut up!” the “doc” quietly snaps at his buddy before turning to look at Rosary.
“Ahem, yes?”
“Y-you can’t be in there, not without a proper escort.”
“Don’t worry about it, it's fine, we’re a part of the exhibit team, you know the crew responsible for maintaining the artifacts, we are here to check up on one of them.” he reaches into his coat to quickly flash what looked like some sort of identification. She could only manage to see a picture and a blur of a symbol before the ID vanished back into his coat.
“See, we have clearance to enter.”
“Uhh, okay, just, don't hurt yourselves then.” Rosary did not have time to double-check if they were a part of Twilight’s artifact management team. As she turned her attention to catch up to her guest, who, of course, had long vanished around a corner. Rosary continued her pursuit.
However, her ears pick something up as she walks away.
“Fuckin’ really? any dipshit could've fallen for that shit like you have any kind of real clearance in the first place-”
“-like how you faked those animals out with that stunt with the train?”
A short awkward pause,
“Sooo?”
“Jesus chri-Get in the damn barrier…”
Now Rosary will have to find these guys later to question them what the hay they were talking about?
Never mind, one curious character at a time!
The pegasus mare had to lift off into a short glide to get down the rest of the corridor, around the corner then halfway down a hall before landing to see that rainbow had stopped short of another window. She gazes out onto the street while quietly waiting for her hostess to catch up to her.
“Sorry about that, ran into somepony else, took care of it though.”
“It’s alright young Rose,” Lady Rainbow replies with a sigh, “It should be me to be sorry for my behavior earlier.” she sits before the window to carefully remove her hat, running a hoof through her very short mane. Either from personal preference or from age, the mane looked sickly and pale.
Out of politeness, Rosary did not comment on the sight as Rainbow held her neck while staring out the window.
“It’s okay Rainbow, another side effect of that exhibit is emotional fluctuations, it is not rare for somepony to feel angry or sadness when in there.”
“True on that, never do I want to go in there again though.”
“I hear you, not very many want to go for a second viewing after already being around so much negativity.”
Rainbow replaces her hat on her head before standing up, “Despite that, I would tell you that you are not at any form of fault for what took place a bit ago.”
“Are you sure, It was my idea after all?”
“Oh posh, this has been a pleasant experience so far, regardless of what happened.”
The darkened mare steps over to Rosary, “You did a splendid job, now, I believe that the hour is waning, we should take our departure from here.”
“Of course, follow me, we both should be leaving anyways.”
With a nod of agreement, the duo went through a set of double doors then down some corridors. Some of the museum’s intersections were getting traffic from the night tours but no pony bothered the two as they headed back to the front. Rosary did not kid when she said it was gonna be busy, the Discord commemoration events that were going on at the same time, drew curiosity to this place as well.
What took them just shy of over an hour took a bit of less than ten minutes to leave the premises.
The air was still warm so Rosary did not need to dash back to the employee back room to retrieve anything. Today was easy for her as take out was delivered to her and the staff earlier at noon.
Yet now, as night had long fallen upon the city, she exits with Rainbow.
“Well, this has been a pleasant evening.” Lady Rainbow speaks as the two walk down the sidewalk, putting the noise of the night traffic behind them.
“Yes, again I’m sorry for what happened back-”
“Oh strike the worry from your mind dear Rose,” Rainbow waves with a polite smile, “You said it was part of the tour, so, I wouldn’t take the consequences of being around remnants of the past so close to heart.”
“True, I just feel bad for how you were acting is all, but you are right, we are away from there so we can just walk away from it.”
“And from here, I believe we shall part ways, however, I owe you my deepest thanks for your hospitality.”
“Thank you, It was an honor to have been able to grant you such a unique experience.” Rosary bows slightly to Rainbow.
“Indeed, now, one more thing.” Rainbow reaches into her coat then extends a hoof out to Rosary. Puzzled at first, Rosary puts a hoof underneath hers before something is gently placed into it.
“A token of thanks for your wonderful hospitality and, can say you are a pure of heart as well.”
Rosary pulls her hoof back to look at the object in her hoof. To her surprise, it was the similar flower pin that was given to Rings earlier. How many of these did she carry?
“Thank you, I’ll keep this close for sure.”
“I hope you do,” Rainbow nods, “but now, we shall bid each other a good night, farewell Rose.” Rosary glances at the pin again before looking up at Rainbow to give her a nod before turning to walk away too.
The tiny object resonates with enough magic to make it glow gently in the dark, she utilizes this light to examine the object more thoroughly. The individual petals of the flower pin glow a green color while the center of the flower fascinated her the most as it slowly but constantly changed colors of the rainbow.
Heeding her new friend’s words, she fits the pin to the collar of the vest she wears for the job. Upon doing so, the pin’s glow increases, giving her a little extra light to guide her home.
However, loneliness serves only as a time for one to think as Rosary replayed Lady Rainbow’s outburst back in the Chaos exhibit.
“I fear this is only a droplet of what the world has yet to see-”
“He only did it because he was bored-”
“It was just a game to him!”
Rosary could not help but wonder, why was Rainbow so worked up over the exhibit? She was very upset by the left overs of the war, as if she had borne witness to the true horrors of the war itself. But how? The only known immortals of the world are the Alicorn sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The wife of Prince Shining Armor, Cadence, The element of magic herself, Princess Twilight; then there were a few others among the known villains of the world. Lady Rainbow though, from Rosary’s freshly gained experience from her, does not fit the criteria of a villain, let alone been able to have lived this long.
Could Lady Rainbow be a private delver of the history of the time period too? Could have she been so very in depth with the research that it had driven her to a state of personalizing the death and destruction of what Discord had caused?
Shaking the looping train of thought, Rosary could only try to dismiss the thoughts as the more she concentrated on curiosity, it only spawned more questions than any answers. She almost sank into more thoughts when something crashed close by. It sounded like it came from an alleyway.
In startlement, the pegasus mare’s wings unfurled in a sign of caution, she looked directly towards the origin of the sound across the street.
However, the clatter of objects, laughter and drunken slurs, followed by a couple, a stallion thestral and a mare unicorn; emerging onto the sidewalk.
“See, told ya we can travel by shadow!” the bat gestured back down the alleyway behind them.
“I-Its a bit too close for comfort for two to travel like-like that.” the mare wobbles before leaning up beside the more stable looking stallion.
“Nonsense, thhhe, more closer the better is how I see it.'' They both share a sheepish giggle as the stallion nuzzles the mare and makes a vain attempt to playfully nip at her ear before she bobbed her head down, unknowingly denying the stud as they clumsily walk up the sidewalk.
“Oh please, I think we should be somewhere indoors before attempting that again.”
Rosary stifled a snerk, her sense for caution easing as the couple stagger along.
“Then, by all means,” the bat steps away to stand in front of her, “Let me give you a lift.”
He emphasizes the offer unfurling his, rather impressive, leathery wings, “We can get to that somewhere faster if you wish.”
“Oh my, feeling strong tonight are we?” his “prey” giggles, “We could just stand close and let me teleport us there.”
“Right, drinking and casting is sooo much safer than drinking and flying.”
“At the least I won’t risk your wings trying to carry me home.”
“True, vvvvery con-” he pauses in thought, “-siderate of you, but I would prefer to wake up in a bed than goddess knows where.”
As the two continued their banter, Rosary eyes a glint of light on them. The bat’s blazer and her dress have a similar pin attached to them. Their petals resonate with a different color but, just like her own, the flower’s center is the pool of randomizing color.
She wanted to approach the two but seeing that they are enamored with one another, she shouldn’t bother their mood asking strange questions. Even then, as the courage found its way to her heart, the couple were already attempting to leave with the mare carefully climbing onto the bat’s back as he readies himself for take off.
Rosary, in her surprise, neither of them noticed anypony around them as they attempted to take off. Indeed, the bat showed some strength but either from the drink or the lack of proper experience carrying another, the thestral faltered a bit before regaining balance. They would share nervous laughs as they actually do clear a few buildings before vanishing out of sight.
Which reminded Rosary of her own wings. Being so lost in thought she didn’t realize that the hoof traffic was starting to filter onto the streets around her. The flight traffic above is pretty clear tonight. Checking for carriages and carts, Rosary steps onto the street before opening her wings to take to the skies.
The natural instinct to be above the ground always puts pegasi like her at ease as most dangers would be on the ground. The cool night air always felt relaxing against her body as she glided over the city below. Taking the moment to-
“WATCH IT!” a fast approaching voice calls out, “COMING THROUGH!” Rosary turned from her city gazing intime to shoot her wings back to avoid a blur speeding by. The flyer slows down enough to turn themselves around to look back at her.
“Hey, I’m flying here!” The cyan mare’s voice snaps before she turns and in a single gust of powerful wings, she is gone.
“Was that-” Rosary watches the faint trail of color dissipate, “Whoa, didn’t-didn’t know she was in town…” She thinks aloud before continuing her flight towards home.
Her apartment building, like most in this city, has a landing pad on the roof for winged tenants. She would be one of eight that stays in this particular building. None of them really socialized with one another, either spoke in passing or only recognized and acknowledged each other's presence. In the big city, there are simply too many to get to know or, like Rosary, prefer solitary over being around others.
As she bids the night sky a final glance, she opens the roof access then descends the stairs. She lives on the fourth floor and the halls were mostly empty. The only signs of life are other tenants going about their lives behind closed doors. One pony has their Telegem-vision up to loud, he is one of the many smiths in the city, so no surprise there.
Another door rattled rhythmically in it’s frame as Rosary walked by, Rolling her eyes in passing.
Raised voices echo from another room, not sure if they are shouting at one another or just normally loud, it had been hard to tell during the recent month they were here if they were yelling at one another or just casually that loud?
Other than them, this floor didn’t have that many other tenants living on it, so thankfully, her apartment on the end of this hallway had two unoccupied apartments on both sides of her. Even though she is a social being, she still preferred the solitary silence of living alone.
Once inside, the front door firmly locked and secured, Rosary Mint carried on with her nightly routine, though sure, an hour off her usual schedule but it was worth it in her mind. Her strange guest, from the clothing to old timey charm, their time together left a lingering impression on her mind as she went to her bathroom to start her night home.
After a shower and preening check, which this time, her wings were not that bad since she didn’t use them all that much while at work; a quick clean up later, she carried on into the kitchen.
With a light dinner prepared and set at the table, she turns her TV on to watch something while she enjoys her meal. She had forgotten that she had left the channel on the news, so she observed the nightly news with a shrug. On screen, she sees a reporter mare telling about something that had been recently happening,
“-investigators are still on the trail of the disappearances of two local ponies from Central Canterlot, they say that there isn’t anything new to add but suspicions are being made known today as they continue to follow a lead,
On screen, images of the two mentioned victims of this strange occurrence appears on screen. A group photo of four with the two highlighted in circles, one of them, a clay brick red, pegasus mare and the other, a grayish white, unicorn mare.
Rosary didn’t know them but knowing they are gone, away from friends and family, is indeed troubling, however, it doesn’t really affect her as two ponies out of a massive city’s population doesn’t really tip the scales in terms of emotion or anything of the sort.
“In an interview with lead investigator, Canterlot yard senior constable, Lieutenant Turpentine Wash, has brought up the possibility of abduction with evidence indicating that there were signs of a struggle at the scene of their disappearances. Yet, it can not be confirmed at this time but it has not been ruled out.
As the reporter rattled on with warnings and such. Rosary had finished her meal and went ahead to clean it up. All the while leaving the TV on for at least some background noise. She ventures into her room to collect a book she kept on her desk, along with some pencils.
Tonight, aside from the outburst, was inspiring and she felt she needed to put something down for her before the inspiration flew away.
Sitting back at the table, she opens the sketch book to a blank page, taking the sharpest pencil of the bunch, she sets to work drawing. She did admit to being into art but nothing as intricate as the artworks of old, mostly doodles and sketches to either pass the time or put what she feels or remembers down onto the page.
This time, the mysterious mare resurfaced in her mind once more as she went to work.
Time seemed to slip by and blurr with every line, curve, and feature Rosary would imprint onto the page from memory. To her fortune, Lady Rainbow had no real noticeable features, aside from the faded teal color muzzle and the reseeding mane. The image of Rainbow without her hat on, looking out the window resonated with the novice artist as she began to add details to the lines.
In this sketch, the glasses would simply shadow over the eyes.
In time, once it finally came back ground to only pass her again, the picture was complet.
The image was only a side view sketch portrait of the mare. Her ears were shorter than Rosary’s, the muzzle, though more prominent in contrast to everyday ponies, was still more slender and complemented the beauty that still retained in the eldery mare’s face.
There are a good number of ponies that are blessed with near ageless features, Rainbow is no different. Though, as Rosary sets the pencil down to examine her newest creation, she feels there is something else about this pony that keeps puzzling her.
What did she know?
How old was she really?
Many questions resurfaced but quickly fell short of any real thought process as the relaxing task of drawing reminded the young pegasus that she will need to venture off to bed. It is the start of her two days off tomorrow, but getting an early start to get personal stuff done and what not always helps to keep boredom away.
Getting up from the table, Rosary goes to turn off the TV before collecting her art book and supplies then venturing off to her bed, turning the lights off as she went.
As she climbs under the covers for the night, she looks at the pin, she had placed on the nightstand next to the bed. The light of the petals had faded when she took it off but the rainbow gem in the middle of the flower continued to glow gently.
The lull of the light helps Rosary Mint drift off, however, though no thought had crossed her mind, she saw something, a shadow perhaps, that passed across the window of her bedroom.
With a sleepy dismissal as a flier passing by, she falls asleep.