"You do have a plan, right?" Ancient whimpered.
Daring, still gritting her teeth, continued to stare at the magenta projection of Twilight's cutie mark for a few seconds longer, then she looked over at Ancient, who by now had tears in her eyes.
"Twilight's not here!" Ancient almost growled. Her legs and chest trembled as she inhaled. Daring turned to face her head on. After a few seconds, she relaxed slightly and her trembling calmed. "Twilight's not here..." she whimpered.
"Oh, really? I didn't notice," Daring replied. Ancient glared at her. "Look, Ancient, I need you to calm down. I know you're not used to this sort of thing, but panicking about it and getting worked up over this isn't going to make things any easier on either of us. Okay?"
Ancient's glare lingered for several seconds, then it faded. She turned back to look at Loose, who had bled out on the floor and was now lying in a pool of her own blood. A look of shock and surprise was still in her eyes, which almost seemed to be looking back at Daring. She barely managed to nod. "I-I'm sorry."
Daring took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled. "It's okay."
Ancient swept her head back around to look at Daring. "I-I just... what do we do!?"
"We need to find Twilight," Daring reaffirmed, stamping her hoof on the cold alloy floor. She stepped towards Ancient and motioned her forehoof at the projection. "It's magenta, and the lighting is too. I think it's safe to say that whatever is that happened is now over."
"Y-you mean that the alicorn's gone," was Ancient's summary.
Daring hesitated, then inclined her head. "Yeah, sure, let's go with that. Maybe it's still jumping to conclusions, but I don't think it's a coincidence. And that alicorn definitely wasn't Twilight, so I think it's safe to say that the alicorn we saw did this." She licked her lips, then turned her head and looked out through the half-opened door. The lighting beyond was still the same magenta lighting as in the room. "And that she's gone now," she added. Turning to face Ancient, she said, "Based on the lighting."
"S-so we're going with red being related to danger and a security problem..?" Ancient asked.
Daring nodded. "Well, I mean, I highly doubt that, given what we've seen, red is the color they chose to mean sunshine and rainbows," she commented sarcastically. Ancient winced.
Looking around the room again, Daring confirmed that Loose Translation's body was the only one in the room. "Okay, so Twilight isn't in here-"
"That doesn't mean she's alive..." Ancient interrupted.
Daring narrowed her eyes at the unicorn. "No, it doesn't," she acknowledged, "but until I see her body, I won't believe that she's dead. I've seen her in action." She paused. "Now, granted, she's not a soldier, nor is she, I think the term she used was, 'combatively inclined,' but she can still fight. She fought Nightmare Moon when she was a unicorn, and she fought Lord Tirek! She's not known as Equestria's guardian alicorn for nothing."
"Right..." Ancient muttered, then clenched her jaw. "Where do we start?"
Daring puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. "Well, I'd say we start with the structure-"
"I'm not splitting up," Ancient stated.
Daring nodded. "That would probably be a bad idea," she agreed. "The way I see it, we should be able to search the structure- at least what we've unlocked- in half an hour or so. If that. She has to be in here somewhere if you didn't see her leave. If she's not hurt- and well, even if she is- she's probably looking for us. Or survivors. We should be able to find her."
"What if we don't?" Ancient asked quietly.
Daring paused. While she didn't want to admit it, there could have been a chance that Twilight slipped out of their reach. Or perhaps she was now sealed in some section of the facility, maybe even trapped in stasis that the alicorn had been. She looked over the door, searching for any signs that could lead them to Twilight as she thought more about the predicament. There were no signs that pointed to the door being cut open, although only one side of the door had retracted. She also didn't think that Twilight had been trapped in stasis based on the color of the lighting, but she wasn't certain.
"Then we head to the nearest city and go to Canterlot from there. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna need to know about this as soon as possible," she stated.
Ancient looked at her in shock. "W-what? But! You're Daring Do! You're not going to handle this-"
She sent the unicorn an irked glare. "I am," she retorted, "but we're talking about an alicorn being alive after ten thousand years! We have no idea what we're dealing with here!" she hissed.
"Right... I suppose you make a valid point," Ancient relented. It lasted for perhaps three seconds before subsiding, "But where is she if she's not here!?"
Daring, giving Ancient a flat look, replied, "Well, knowing her, she's probably at the nearest library waiting for us."
Ancient stared at her for a few seconds, then blinked.
After a few seconds, Daring walked towards the door. "Come on, we should get started."
"You didn't answer my question," Ancient said as she walked toward Daring.
"No, I didn't," Daring replied without stopping. "Because I don't know where she is. It's not like I can just magically locate her or anything!" She walked out of the room and made her way through the hallway while Ancient followed behind her. "If we can't find her then we head to Canterlot and let Princess Celestia and Princess Luna know what happened. They'll know what to do better than me. And then we can come back here."
Daring walked on out of the room and sighed, shaking her head. Ancient followed close behind her, then caught up with her and walked beside her. In a quiet voice, Ancient asked, "What about... um... everypony who..."
Daring grimaced as she continued to walk along. For a few seconds, she hesitated to answer. "We can't do anything about those who died. We can't take them with us- there's too many. We'll make sure that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna know so that they can send some ponies to take care of things, and we'll make sure that their families know," she stated forcefully.
Ancient bit her lip and nodded quickly. Of course, she knew there was nothing they could do for them now, except finding justice for them, but it didn't make it any easier. Given the harsh desert conditions, by the time their bodies could be recovered, the families wouldn't be able to hold proper funerals.
Walking past the two reared up, crystal alicorn statues, Daring slowed and looked over both of them. The crystal statues held a certain majesty to them, but for some reason, as she looked at them now, she felt a certain unease. "The cracked alicorn statue you lost," Daring started. She came to a stop and looked at Ancient, who paused and looked at her with a bit of a frown.
"I didn't lose it... somepony misplaced it," Ancient corrected succinctly.
Daring ignored the correction. "What if that wasn't actually a statue?"
Ancient's expression blanked for a few seconds, then her brow creased as bewilderment filled her features. "What?"
Daring looked back at the statue on her right, then motioned a hoof at it. "What if the statue you found was actually an alicorn that had been imprisoned in stone?" Daring shivered as she voiced the thought. "Discord was imprisoned in stone by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna using the Elements of Harmony," she added.
"Yes, but-"
"And you lost track of your statue-"
"I didn't lose track of it! Somepony misplaced it!" Ancient huffed indignantly.
"Sure," Daring replied sarcastically. She looked at Ancient and met her gaze, asking, "But did you ever manage to find that statue?"
Ancient fidgeted on her hooves and looked at the crystal statue behind Daring to avoid her gaze. "W-well, no, I didn't... But that doesn't mean anything!"
Slowly, Daring nodded, then looked at the crystal alicorn statue. She scrutinized it, searching for any cracks or imperfections, but found none. It looked perhaps as pristine as it had when it was created. She blew air out of her mouth and nodded again. "Right, I guess you probably just lose it-"
"I didn't lose it..." Ancient muttered.
Ignoring her, Daring continued, "-since it doesn't make sense. The statue wouldn't have been inside the room where it seems like this all originated from, so I'm probably jumping to conclusions again."
"Do you make a habit of that?" Ancient demanded.
Daring looked at her and shrugged. "Call it intuition," she stated. A playful smile grew on her lips. "It's why I'm here, isn't it?" she asked sweetly.
Ancient snorted and simply shook her head. "And what else, exactly, is your intuition telling you? Anything actually useful?"
Daring looked away from the statue, then resumed walking forward. "That we're wasting time. It's a day's walk back to Appleoosa, then two days by train to get to Canterlot."
Ancient sighed softly and nodded as she fell back in sync with Daring's pace. "Right..." she whispered. "Although, now that you bring that up, it's a bit odd that the statue wouldn't take any preservation spells..." she mused. "I don't know if that means anything or not, though..." she added.
"Would preservation spells be able to affect the statue if it actually was an alicorn who had been imprisoned?" Daring asked.
Ancient sighed. "I don't know. I don't know that sort of thing. Magic isn't my special talent, but I bet Twilight could answer that question for us."
A few seconds passed by with nothing else said, and in the silence, Ancient's heart grew heavy once again as her thoughts drifted back to knowing that everypony that she had seen, everypony who had been on her expedition- all of whom she knew- had been killed. She nibbled on her lips and her ears folded back against her head. "Why did she do it?" she asked.
Without stopping, Daring looked aside at her. "We don't know for certain-"
Ancient scowled at her. "Yes, but it's our assumption- which seems to be supported by evidence, even if circumstantial, that the alicorn we saw fly off-"
"Teleport off," Daring corrected.
"-is responsible for this!" Ancient finished. Her voice broke as she asked, "Why?"
Daring looked away from her, taking in a deep breath, then letting it go. "I don't know," she answered calmly. "If I did know, I'd tell you. All I can do is guess and think. She was probably trapped in stasis or something. I have no idea why, but that's the most logical conclusion I can really think of. Maybe she was evil or was corrupted and that's why she was locked in stasis. But I don't know! And then there's that alicorn's skeleton that we found. What happened to her? Why, and how, did she die? I wasn't here ten thousand years ago to see what happened. When you find somepony who was, ask them. Who knows, maybe Twilight'll be able to figure it out, then you can ask her."
"But... I don't understand!" Ancient retorted. "Every single myth and legend I know about alicorns says that they were and have always been essentially innately good! They were said to guide and protect pony civilizations! Ponies worshipped them! Some civilizations claimed to be lead by alicorns! Even if we've never found concrete evidence that these claims were true. And they probably weren't because some of those civilizations were quite violent, so it was probably just a normal pony making everypony else think they were an alicorn."
Daring frowned. "Twilight said that the text she read mentioned a war, and she seemed to imply it was a war the alicorns fought. I may not be fully versed in all alicorn mythology, but that's the first I heard of something like that. Twilight said she hadn't heard anything about that before, either, so I'd guess neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna has either."
"And I've never heard of such a thing anywhere before either," Ancient agreed. "No legend, no myth. Nothing. Everything I know says that is antithesis to them."
"Well, she did say that from what she read of the text that this was an alicorn society, so I guess maybe we really shouldn't be surprised that we saw a live alicorn," Daring added idly.
Ancient stopped in her tracks and starred at Daring. "What!? You're just telling me this now?" she demanded.
Daring shrugged and smiled. "Slipped my mind," she admitted. "Although I thought it was implied when I said an alicorn could have survived that long. Plus we already knew this society had one alicorn."
"Yes, but you didn't specify that Twilight said this whole society was an alicorn civilization!" Ancient complained.
"I'm sorry, it slipped my mind," Daring stated. "I had other things on my mind at the time. Besides, it sort of makes sense given what we've seen. Advanced magic, the skeleton of a deceased alicorn, and of course the living alicorn who seems to have murdered everypony else here."
Ancient closed her eyes, lifted a forehoof to her forehead, then groaned. "Right... fine. I'll ponder the ramifications of potentially having confirmation that an entire civilization of alicorns, rather than just a few ancient ones, existed later." She shook her head and put her forehoof back on the floor.
"If it's any consolation, I think we're two of only three ponies who know this right now," Daring offered. "So, it really is the sort of thing you like."
Ancient thought about it for a moment then nodded. "I suppose you're correct, Daring Do," she admitted. She actually managed to smile at that.
"Like I said, we already had our suspicions," Daring commented. She licked her lips, then lifted her forehoof up to adjust her hat. "Right, well, we're not making a lot of progress, so we should get back to it," she stated, then took off at a quick walk to search the rest of the hallway. Ancient quickened her pace to keep up with her.
"This is going to rewrite a lot of history books, isn't it?" Ancient asked curiously. "An entire alicorn society..."
Daring glanced aside at her as they continued towards the entrance. "I thought you said you were going to think about this later?"
"An entire civilization of alicorns that predates every known civilization. Can you really blame me?" Ancient asked with a sheepish smile.
Daring hesitated for a moment, then bobbed her head right and then left. "No. I suppose not."
"We've always thought alicorns were rare! But this could mean that there was an entire alicorn pony subspecies!" Ancient added. After a moment, she frowned. "Which is actually rather terrifying if you think about it..." she mused. Her frown deepened and her brow folded downward. "Considering what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can do... moving the sun and moon..." she mused at length. "For an entire civilization of ponies that powerful to have existed..? It's a good thing that..." she trailed off and winced. "If the legends and myths are true, then it's probably a good thing that they were so benevolent. That kind of power..."
"Well, maybe we now know how most ancient civilizations knew about alicorns," Daring commented idly.
Ancient slowly shook her head. "But this civilization predates them too much. Predating the Discordian Era by around seven thousand years! That's thousands of years older than the most ancient civilizations we know about! And even what we know about those civilizations is limited because of the Discordian Era! How did they know about alicorns when this society predated them by so long, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna hadn't been born yet? The myths and legends, where did they originate from!?"
Daring came to a stop, and so too did Ancient. Daring looked at Ancient, who looked back at her with a mixture of awe, wonder, curiosity, and confusion. "Left or right?" Daring asked.
Ancient blinked and confusion replaced the other emotions. "What?"
Daring lifted a hoof and motioned at the intersection before them.
Ancient looked ahead and saw the intersection before them. "Oh."
"Left or right?" Daring asked again.
"Um, left?" Ancient offered.
"Good enough for me," Daring replied. Turning left, she once again took the lead, avoiding all of the scattered debris left over from crates. Ancient followed her but lingered back so that she could hold the lead.
"There's just so much we don't know and could learn! This could rewrite the history books about myths and legends of alicorns! Maybe it could even explain how civilizations predating the Discordian Era knew about alicorns before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Ancient practically squealed with delight.
"Okay, you're starting to sound like a broken record," Daring commented. "Please, save the Twilighting for when we find Twilight. I know she would love to discuss this with you," she said.
Ancient fell silent for a few seconds as they made their way beyond the doorway. "Yeah..." she drawled. "I hope she's okay..."
"I'm sure she's fine," Daring comforted.
Ancient winced and slowed. "Um, Daring, we're not going to get in trouble with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna if, um, something bad has happened to Twilight, right..?" she asked.
Daring stopped and looked back at her.
"I-I mean, it... it would sort of be our fault, and well, she's one of Equestria's princesses, and um, she's the Bearer of the Element of Magic and Equestria's guardian alicorn, and um-"
"Stop," Daring sighed. "You're not going to get in trouble. I'm not going to get in trouble. We couldn't have known this would happen, alright? Alright!" she said. She took a deep breath, then shook her head and walked forward. "I miss how you acted before we got into this place," she muttered beneath her breath. She resumed her pace forward.
After a few seconds, Ancient followed after her. Walking into the hallway, they saw nothing too different from before, although Daring felt like the atmosphere was colder, perhaps more threatening than before, as if something bad had happened since she had last stepped hoof inside this hallway. Rounding the corner, she paused and stared at a gap in the wall.
The one doorway that they had passed by without any thought on the ride side of the hallway was now, unlike before, wide open. The crystal to the right of the doorway also glowed with the same inner pink light. The room beyond was flooded with magenta light, and she could make out what looked like a flat table with a massive slab of crystal on its top. The crystal glowed with a pink light.
Frowning, she walked through the hallway, then ducked into the room and looked around. From where she stood at the doorway, she couldn't see Twilight, but the room had an odd feeling to it that she couldn't place. It didn't feel as cold as the rest of the structure, nor did it seem to give off the same feeling of dread. Instead, it seemed to emanate warmth and almost welcomed her inside.
Slowly, she meandered inside and to the left, walking around the table, which rose up to what would have been Princess Celestia's chest. The table was rectangular in shape, with rounded corners. Likewise, the crystal's corners were rounded. The table was large enough that she felt it could have been used as an impromptu bed for Princess Celestia, or another alicorn of her size, although she suspected that was not the table's purpose. But what the table's true purpose was, she could not ascertain.
Walking around to the side hidden from view, she found a slanted outcropping at the center of the table that had another rectangular, pink-glowing crystal set in it.
"What is this?" Ancient finally voiced as she stepped into the room.
Daring looked up at her, then looked back down at the table. Her first thought was to make a sarcastic comment about what the room obviously wasn't, but nothing came to mind, so instead, she simply said, "I have no idea." She looked away from the table, then scrutinized the walls, which were plain and looked like they were made of the same alloy that the rest of the structure was made from. Out of curiosity, she swept her gaze around, looking for anything that looked out of place. Turning around to look behind her, only now did she notice what appeared to be a much, much smaller doorway than was normal in the structure- while most of the doors were double-sided, this door seemed to only have one side to it.
She walked over to it, then waved her forehoof in front of the pink glowing crystal, but as expected, nothing happened. She scowled at the lack of recognition, then turned around. "You know, it's a bit annoying that we can't actually do anything without Twilight," she commented.
Ancient nodded in agreement. "This room feels different," she stated.
Daring frowned and nodded. "Yeah, I felt that too," she agreed. "But I can't figure out why..." she trailed off, then looked above the door that they entered. Only now did she see the crystals representing Twilight's cutie mark. She looked at Ancient, then nodded, and extended her right forehoof towards the symbol. "Look."
Ancient turned and looked where Daring's hoof was pointing. Slowly, she shook her head in disappointment. "I wish Twilight was here."
"Yeah," Daring agreed. She blinked, then looked around the room again. If there was anything else, or anything to identify the purpose of the room, it was hidden, and as such, she couldn't determine anything. "We should probably keep moving," she said as she started walking to her left around the table in the center of the room. Ancient nodded casually and followed her out.
Taking the lead once again, Daring walked down the rest of the hallway, then came to a stop at the last door, which was of course, still open. Looking inside, the room was dark, unlit from any of the crystal lights. Just standing there, looking inside, it left her with a bad feeling. It was a foreboding feeling of dread, and in the back of her mind, she could still see the alicorn statue they had found in there. "I know we've already talked about this, but are we sure the statue we found in here actually was a statue?" she asked.
Turning back to face Ancient, she still received no answer.
"And you never found it?" Daring asked.
Ancient shook her head. "No..." she trailed off. "But I'm convinced it was a statue, not an alicorn. The timing doesn't make sense. Between when we- ahem, they- misplaced the statue and me looking for it and what happened, it doesn't seem to add up."
Daring frowned but nodded. "Maybe. I don't know, I'm not convinced. Nopony in their right mind would have a statue like that."
"Well, Daring, we both know that not all ancient societies were exactly in their right minds," Ancient stated succinctly.
"Fair point," Daring conceded, "But this was an alicorn society, according to Twilight. And let's not forget that all myths and legends say that the alicorns were, you know, rather benevolent. One of them having such a statue doesn't make a lot of sense, now does it? Plus, you know, we know that there are at least two alicorns connected to this society, and one of them is, you know, still alive."
"Okay, I'll admit those are good points, but still!" Ancient retorted. "You said Twilight mentioned something about a war, so... Maybe they weren't so benevolent?"
Daring shook her head. "It would be so useful if she was here to just explain all of this already..." she muttered.
"Well, okay, let's say for a moment that you're right and that the statue we found wasn't actually a statue. What, exactly, does that mean?" Ancient asked.
After a few seconds, Daring shrugged. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "Other than maybe it was an imprisoned alicorn," she stated. After a few more seconds, she turned around, then walked back along the length of the hallway. "I guess we'll search the other half of the structure, then if we don't find anything, we should try to salvage some things like food and water, maybe even a tent and some other supplies, from the camp and make our way back to Appleoosa."
"You... um, said that... there were some... ponies who..." Ancient trailed off.
Daring grimaced and nodded. "Yes," she stated. "Six of them from what I saw. Sorry, Ancient, but you're either going to have to wait behind- and you said it yourself, that splitting up is a bad idea- or come with me and see this."
"I'll... try not to break down," Ancient answered cautiously.
"Good," Daring stated as she rounded the corner.
"But don't hold it against me if I do!" Ancient quickly defended.
Daring hesitantly nodded. "You're not used to this sort of thing," she stated.
They turned around the corner in silence, then walked straight into the hallway across from them. Ancient's gaze lingered on the alicorn skeleton and the odd, golden armor inlaid with grayish-blue crystals that she wore. She grimaced, but at the same time, it drew her curiosity. "I... is it odd that the skeleton doesn't bother me, but... then-"
"No," Daring preempted. "It's not. You didn't know her, and she's been dead for ten thousand years. So no, it's not odd that it doesn't bother you."
Ancient sighed, "Right..."
"Hmm... In hindsight, I wonder if we should have realized something was up, considering that she has armor on," Daring mused.
"Well, it didn't help her any..." Ancient muttered.
Daring frowned as she nodded. "It's also kind of weird how the armor's so different from everything else we've seen so far, isn't it?" she asked. "The fact that it's golden and not, you know, their favorite color. Gray. Black. Whatever this is."
"Well, it is made of the same material-"
"Yeah, but it's colored gold. Why?" Daring asked.
"I don't know..." Ancient replied. "I would normally say it had some ceremonial significance, but... Well, maybe it still has some ceremonial significance. Maybe she was important?"
Daring took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled. "Maybe, but it'll probably be a while until we figure it out. Twilight could probably do enough translation work so we know for sure, but," she paused, winced, and tilted her head to the left, "Ah, you know, we have to find her and deal with this other alicorn first."
Daring slowed as they neared the corner to turn down the hallway where she found the first body. Her lips pulled up into a grimace. For a moment, she ignored the bend and focused on the rest of the length of the hallway they were in, which ended with the open room that knocked Twilight unconscious. She looked at Ancient, then motioned a forehoof ahead. "Let's check this first," she said. Ancient nodded. She looked back ahead, then proceeded down the rest of the hallway, glancing at the walls and surveying them for anything out of the ordinary.
Nothing about the walls stood out any more than before. Stepping into the room, she cast her gaze around, searching for any sign of Twilight or anything else useful. Projected from the crystal in the center of the room, was of course, still Twilight's cutie mark. Looking behind the projection, the owner of the cutie mark was still absent. She trotted around the depressed floor surrounding the column, then came around and headed straight for the door.
As Daring walked by, Ancient turned to follow her.
Daring fluffed her wings and sped up until she turned around the corner, where she slowed at the sight of the pony's body, then stopped. In a similar manner, almost as soon as she turned the corner, Ancient came to a complete stop. Daring hesitantly looked aside at Ancient and found her staring at the earth pony. After a few seconds, Ancient looked at her, then looked to her right and reluctantly proceeded. Assured that Ancient would be able to continue, Daring resumed her quick pace, although it wasn't nearly as fast as before.
Eventually, they reached the end of the hallway and walked into the next one. Daring sent a cautious glance to Ancient, whose eyes jumped between the two new corpses. She wasn't quite on the verge of tears, but she could see the shock in her expression, how blank and empty it was. Eventually, Ancient swallowed, then stared back at her. She looked away and led on. Ignoring the deceased ponies' bodies, she searched for signs of Twilight, but as with before, it had been futile. Perhaps Twilight had been hidden away in one of the rooms they past, but there was nothing for them to do about those rooms- the control crystal would not react to them, no matter what, it seemed, and as such, there was nothing they could do.
Daring walked into the last room she knew that had been searched, then stopped in the doorway. Likewise, Ancient stopped. Unlike her, however, Ancient backtracked, stepping back, then closing her eyes and whimpering. Daring looked at her, then lifted her forehoof to Ancient's shoulder. "Wait here," she stated.
Ancient nodded and swallowed.
Daring took a calm breath, then exhaled and proceeded inside. The three corpses were in the same position as before, and even with the pink lighting, it felt so incredibly wrong. It all pointed towards their killer having already been in the room as if they were about to crate her up when she struck them. "What if there's more than one alicorn here who was imprisoned in stone as a statue?" she asked.
"I-I don't know, I didn't hear anything about another statue being found..." Ancient replied. "I-I guess there could h-have been one, but... If-if there was, I didn't find o-out about it."
Daring grimaced and looked back at her, then looked ahead. She hesitantly made her way into the rest of the room, then turned to investigate the bathroom. With a sigh, she turned around and left the room behind, shaking her head. "Twilight's not here."
"S-so, we're h-heading back to Appleoosa then?" Ancient asked.
Daring nodded. "Yes, as soon as we salvage what we can. Then we'll get to Canterlot and Talk to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."