We were in the entrance hall, right in front of the blown open entrance gate. Magma was already there, while Itah has just arrived and started complaining about us still being there, but Princess Luna silenced him. Bon Bon oversaw all arriving ponies. And while we waited for everypony to arrive, I paced back and forth impatiently.
Zeuhl has just arrived as well. He saw Luna and didn’t say a word, though his face said everything.
Bon Bon stepped up to him. “Where’s Zao?” She demanded an answer.
“She’ll be here any moment.” Zeuhl gave the answer coldly.
“What did you do to her?”
“That is none of your business!” Zeuhl sneered.
“I’m here! I’m here...” Zao’s voice came at the right moment. She stepped into the hall, her face still filled with shame.
“Good, everypony’s here.” Itah groaned. “Get on with it!”
I slowly stepped towards the audience, who were now my suspects. But Princess Luna took my dramatic opening.
“It’s been brought to my knowledge, that a monster has been trying to sabotage my plans to open the monastery dedicated to me.” She talked sternly. “This monster shall be dealt with, whether it’s real or a trick.”
A way better dramatic opening, than I could have done. Everything’s got more weight, when it comes from a higher authority like her.
“Excuse me for questioning your highness,” Zeuhl still had the arrogance to interrupt, “but why exactly is it so important to open this monastery?”
“My name’s been associated with fear and cruelty for a thousand years,” Luna said, “my monastery being hidden from everypony certainly doesn’t help that image. I aim to rectify that and make sure ponies look at me with trust, instead of fear.”
Zeuhl had one more question. “And how do we know that this monster is indeed a trick?”
“I admit, I heard that just this evening. But perhaps Ms. Lyra Heartstrings could give us the answers.”
The way she addressed me so formally caught me off guard for a second. I cleared my throat and stated the evidence.
“We know the monster is fake, because we have found the spell that made it.”
“You’ve found it?” Zeuhl interjected. “I showed it to you when I berated you for entering the forbidden library.”
“You ventured into the forbidden library?” Luna looked at me, with a surprised expression.
“No sense in being coy about it, yes I did.”
“And you got out?”
“Yes... Well... I got lost, but if it wasn’t for Zao figuring out how to navigate, then I wouldn’t have.”
I tried cheering her up, but Zao seemed to have become even more shameful, when I mentioned her.
“Interesting...” That’s all Luna had to say about that.
“With all due respect your highness,” Zeuhl interjected again, “but are you really going to put your trust into somepony with such blatant disregard for the monastery’s rules?”
“We will discuss security issues later.” Luna replied.
“A security issue?” Zeuhl took offense. ”If a criminal finds their way into a heavily secured area, then is that really a security issue?” Zeuhl questioned further.
“Heavily secured my flank!” Bon Bon raised her voice slightly. “The most security you’ve done is locking the main entrance. But that place is ripe with secret passages and all you did about that is put a table over one of them.”
“That’s because it’s secret.” Zeuhl argued. “If somepony finds it, then they’re already doing something wrong.”
“When you call something a secret, or forbidden,” Bon Bon continued, “you’re pretty much asking to be found out by ponies like Lyra.”
“The earth pony does have a point.” Luna said. “I maintain, that there’s an issue with security, which we will discuss after the investigation.” Zeuhl definitely didn’t like what Luna said, but he knew he wasn’t in a position to object. “Now, shall we continue, Ms. Heartstrings?”
I cleared my throat again. “So we found the spell that allows the pony of shadows to be summoned and controlled and we also found many ponies who’d have the motive to commit such act. One of which does know the library well enough to find the spell.”
“You’re going to accuse me now, aren’t you?” Zeuhl groaned.
“No, not at all.” I said. “The pony I mention, has advised me to not overthink everything and go with the obvious choice right in front of me. And to me it’s quite obvious, that there’s only one pony here who’s not only opposed to the idea of the monastery opening up, but also knows their way around the forbidden library and feels helpless enough to reach for extreme measures.” I paused, then with a large swing with my hoof pointed at Magma. “And that pony is none other than the abbot himself!”
Everypony gasped in disbelief and Magma looked at me thoroughly confused. I kept my glare at him for a second, just to let the moment sink in. Then I grinned.
“Fortunately for him, I didn’t take his advice and I searched for a less obvious solution.” Relief took over everypony’s faces, with varying degrees of offense. I then turned to Zao. “And with the help of our dear Zao, we found a letter written in ancient unicorn script, sent to none other than Itah.”
Everypony looked at him, but he was unfazed. “Oh yeah, that one. I tried translating it, but it was just a bunch of gibberish.”
“Oh, you’d say that, wouldn’t you? You see,” I continued, “we did actually manage to translate the text and it described the exact location of the spell and spellbook. Spellbook section six, bay sixteen, row six, fourth book in the series, page two hundred and fifty-eight. I memorized it. And sure enough, when we went and searched for it in the forbidden library, it was missing. Meaning, somepony knew where it was and took it.”
“Might I point out,” Zeuhl interrupted again, “that it was Zao who had the spellbook, not Itah.”
“Sure, but she had no way to know where the book was and no way to retrieve it, because she didn’t understand the script and didn’t know how to navigate the library.”
“Didn’t you just say yourself that you got out because she knew her way around?” Zeuhl argued.
“She figured it out while we were inside. If she knew it already, then she wouldn’t have brought an outdated map and we wouldn’t have gotten lost.”
“She figured out the way while she was inside?” Magma commented. “I must admit, that is remarkably quick.”
“She is indeed smarter than she lets on,” Zeuhl replied, “but she lacks wisdom. That’s why I think she’s more likely to be the pony behind the shadow.”
“That maybe so,” I argued, “but that would have required her to feign ignorance both on what the letter says, the map and her knowledge of the library, just so she could clear her name of a consistent misdeed that not only she has no incentive to commit, but also goes against her entire personality.”
“And is it more logical, that she just found both the letter and book, just wandering the monastery?” Zeuhl got visibly annoyed at me.
“Yes!” I declared. “We know that Itah has discarded the letter after he claimed it was untranslatable. It is very likely, that he’d carelessly discard another important clue like that.” I then turned to Itah. “Or perhaps he was trying to dupe Zao into it.”
“Wait, you’re accusing me?!” Itah said in an offended tone.
“Just think about it.” I turned to the rest of the audience. “Itah continuously demonstrated his distaste towards outsiders, which means he’s got the motive. He then gets a letter, in a language he definitely has no problem decoding, considering he’s a scribe and has seen many languages and secret writings. He finds, that said letter describes the exact location of a spell he could use, and the book containing it goes missing, with the described spell casted multiple times. He has the incentive, the tool and the clues describing both! The pony of shadows was created by none other than Itah!”
Everypony looked at Itah, while he turned his face towards the ground. He chuckled ominously, then turned to me with pitch black eyes.
“Guess you found me, Lyra.” His body got enveloped by black smoke and he turned into the pony of shadows. “There’s a lot more where this came from, you know!” He roared and attempted to stomp on me.
Thankfully, Luna was there again. She stood above me and casted a shield for protection. Itah’s shadowy hooves slid right off the dome of energy, which allowed Luna to blast him with a magic beam, slamming him against the wall and destroying his shadow form.
“For the crimes of violently opposing my will and the attempted murder of a pony, you shall be evicted from my personal royal staff! “ Luna’s voice boomed across the monastery. Even I was scared. She then tied him up in magical chains, rendering him completely immobile and silent.
Luna then stepped to me. “Thank you Ms. Heartstrings for exposing this criminal. Your reward will be great.”
“He was my student!” Zeuhl yelled. “He was supposed to be the next librarian! Now who’s going to take care of the library after me?!”
Luna glanced at him, then diverted her gaze onto Zao. “I think you’ve got the perfect successor, right there.”
Zeuhl directed a very disapproving look at Zao, who could only look back at him with a sheepish smile.
“Really? Her?” Zeuhl groaned.
“Not a bad idea,” Magma remarked, “she does already know how to navigate the library doesn’t she? I think her remarkably quick wit will save you a lot of time, Zeuhl. Plus, she’s going to leave a much more positive impression on visitors.”
“Deciding to open the monastery after all?” Luna said.
“Yes! All my life I thought that outsiders would only bring danger to the monastery, so I was reluctant to open up. But as it turns out, there’s more danger in being secretive.”
“I’m glad we could find a solution. And I’m sure Zao will make an excellent librarian.”
Zeuhl rolled his eyes. “We’ll see.”
What I would like to know, however, “Magma said, “is who wrote that letter to Itah.”
“I would like to know that as well.” Luna turned to me.
“I’m not sure.” I replied. “The signature was just a drawing of a chameleon.”
“A chameleon you say?” She shared a glance with Bon Bon. Then after a few seconds, Luna turned to Magma and said: “In any case, I will take Itah to court for his crimes. When I return, we shall discuss the monastery’s security.”
Magma nodded, and with that, Luna flew off, taking Itah with her. He then turned to us.
“Thank you for unveiling the pony of shadows.” He said. “You brought back my confidence with the monastery and my plans of opening up. Though I could have done without you accusing me.”
“Oh, that was just to show how wrong you were with your lecture about thinking too much.” I grinned.
“Oh well, I guess that’s on me.”
“Don’t worry about outsiders Magma,” said Bon Bon, “the ponies are very friendly and accepting. We even have a few dragons living among us.”
Zao ran up to us and hugged me as tightly as only I could. “Thank you Lyra! Thank you for saving me!”
“Saving you? What do you mean?”
“Zeuhl was ready to evict me from the whole monastery. I was so scared to find out what he had planned for me.”
“Don’t worry Zao,” Magma put a hoof on her shoulder, “no punishment will be dealt to you. And I think you’re going to make a fantastic librarian.”
“Thank you. I’m just not sure Zeuhl agrees with you.”
We then glanced back at the hall and we saw Zeuhl giving us the death glare before disappearing down a corridor.
“If he’s not going to teach you,” Magma declared, “then I will!”
“That’s probably for the better.” She said.