//------------------------------// // Chapter 33: Old Forgotten History (R) // Story: A Forgotten Trooper // by TheIronPone035 //------------------------------// Canterlot's lights were beginning to flicker to life as its residents got prepared for the approaching night. One pony in particular couldn't help but smile upon noticing just how many ponies were still awake and enjoying life, even when the sun had long since been lowered . Standing proudly atop one of the tallest towers of Canterlot's royal castle was a relatively new Princess Luna, her light blue mane and tail only recently beginning to obtain its lost galaxy-like coloration and flouration. Princess Luna looked back up at the night sky, her horn still alight as her magic hoisted the moon higher into the sky. As it reached its intended position, she dismissed the spell and began overseeing her newly made night. Several well placed stars were sparkling in sync, outlining shapes and figures for anypony to spot if they desired. Distant planets and stars were illuminated perfectly, having just enough glow to announce their presence but not enough to draw away from their neighbors. Overall, it proved one thing that Luna took pride in. Even after so many years of being locked away in the moon, she hadn't lost her touch when it involved sculpting a beautiful night landscape. In fact, many ponies were still debating whether or not the night had gotten less dull ever since she'd resumed control. Celestia's magic could handle the job well enough, but Luna's talent with the night is second to none, as evident by her cutie mark. Her older sister had made sure to tell her this when she'd rose her first night in a millennium, smiling alongside her all the way. Luna would've loved to continue her stargazing, but she had plenty left to do tonight. A thousand years off the job meant she had a lot to make up for in the dream realm, but she was more than willing to rectify this. With that thought at the brunt of her mind, Luna retreated into the tower that she now called her room. Her sister went through great efforts to recover most of her belongings from the old castle, and it didn't take long before she had them organized to her liking within this once empty chamber. Yet even with her old stuff organized and placed exactly how she liked, it still felt different from her old room. The window-door hybrid for the balcony, the subtle difference in the wall texture, and of course the complete lack of secret passageways she loved so much. Although that last one she was hoping to rectify at a later date. "Can't complain about the superior view," Luna noted, her tower offering far more sight than before, along with less trees to shield the land from view. The only thing she truly worried about was the fact that the entire city, castle included, was resting on the side of a very tall mountain. Sure it offered some extra defense from creatures without wings, who'd have to scale the mountain's winding paths to reach the top. But the structure supports didn't match her likeness in terms of durability. One well placed bolt of magic, or a large enough boulder launched, and they'd have one less support pillar that was most certainly needed to keep the city firmly planted. Luna remained on this trail of thought even as she got onto the large alicorn-sized bed. But instead of getting underneath its dark blue covers, she sat down atop them and kept her back straight. A few seconds later and her horn began glowing a faint white around its natural swirls, the first sign of her dream-walking magic being cast. Just as her mind began to drift into the dream realm, a series of quick yet firm knocks rang from her chamber's door. A faint but distinctly masculine voice called out to her, one that she identified as one of her sister's lieutenants. "Enter," Luna proclaimed statically, mildly annoyed at the sudden interruption to her work. But she pushed those annoyances aside, and watched as the door was quickly pushed open. The lunar princess's assumption of the pony's identity was quickly confirmed, identifying the dark green stallion's striking yellow armor instantly. Just like when they'd ruled a thousand years ago, Celestia's solar guard kept that blaring golden material to outfit the royal guard. "Your Highness, your sister has requested you in the throne room," The guard quickly exclaimed, cutting right to the point. Luna rose an eyebrow at that, confused as to why her sister would still be up at this time, let alone summoning her. "Can thou't enlighten us as to why we have been summoned?" "I cannot your highness, she only informed me to simply escort you to her," The guard responded matter-of-factly. This only served to heighten her curiosity. She quickly dismounted from her spot on her bed, her previous annoyance at being interrupted now nothing but an afterthought. "Very well, let us not keep our sister waiting," Luna responded, trotting through the doorway and beginning the long trek down a rather extensive flight of stairs. That was another thing she had to get used to. Climbing and descending a fairly long flight of stairs whenever she wanted to get to either her own or her sister's room. More often than naught she simply chose to fly up to them and enter or exit through the balcony, but sometimes she found herself using the stairs when escorting certain individuals. Or in this case, being escorted. Still, the long trek wasn't one she preferred to take, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Even the old castle had its fair share of long and spiraling staircases. Her own personal observatory had the longest set of stairs in the entire structure for lunar's sake! Luckily, it didn't seem to take very long before she and the guard had reached the bottom, and it took even less time to transverse through the halls of the castle and reach the massive golden doors of the main throne room. The lieutenant quickly opened the doors, before standing back and giving the princess a salute. Luna gave him a nod of acknowledgement, before entering the throne room, her ears quickly picking up the sound of the doors gently closing behind her. It took but a moment for Luna to spot her sister, who'd been sitting patiently on her lone throne at the opposite end of the room. She knew her sister had already begun speaking to designers on getting a throne made for her, but it was apparently still in early planning. Fair enough she supposed, no-pony really paid her any mind regardless if she was standing or sitting. It would still be nice to have one again though. The first thing she noticed was that her sister wasn't smiling. Already that rose a red flag, for she always seemed to have a smile on her face throughout the day. Of course, she knew that her sister could put on a very convincing mask, one that she'd clearly perfected after so many years of ruling. Yet her expression now didn't match one of mere annoyance from a long day with stuck-up nobles. No, there was something serious she wanted to talk about, and by the lack of the normally present guards in the chamber, it was something she wanted to discuss alone. "Sister? Thou has't wanted to see us?" Luna began, approaching her sister along the same rug that acted as a runway for her day court. "Yes Luna, sorry about the sudden meeting, but something of great importance has come up. Twilight Sparkle sent me a report on a new creature that's currently residing in Ponyville. So far, the creature seems to be peaceful since she didn't say anything about it hurting anypony," Celestia exclaimed stoically, as if she were giving a speech at a conference. "A creature? What species?" Luna inquired, wondering how a simple creature who wasn't posing any danger could've possibly spooked her own sister. "That's just it, this creature isn't simply something from the Everfree Forest like I'd originally thought," Celestia stated levitating what Luna assumed to be Twilight's report from behind her throne, "She did write down a thorough description of it, and provided an illustration. I'm positive it matches that of the Ancient Ones." That statement made Luna's curious mind stutter for a second. What her sister had just said was impossible, surely she'd just misheard her. "S-Surely you jest sister, we know of certain that what thou propose is impossible." "That's what I thought too... " Celestia suddenly stood up from her throne and trotted around towards the rear wall directly behind it. She motioning with a hoof for Luna to follow, which she did so with confusion. There weren't any halls on this end of the throne room... right? As Luna past the throne and got a clear view of the rear wall, she was certain of it. The only thing back here (aside from basic tapestries) were a set of two ceremonial swords that pointed at an old Equestrian shield. Actually... she recognized that shield. It belonged to one of Celestia's past commanders, a commander who she'd known to have been smart with sending and receiving information. Her own guard, or at least back when she had one, had adapted that very system to relay information too and from outposts. An incredible way to send valuable knowledge without risk of it being discovered, even if taken and magically scanned with anything less than complex seeking spells. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt a familiar giddiness begin to rise. A feeling that she thought she'd only experience shortly after finalizing her room plans and sending them to a small architect team. Sure enough, Celestia's sun yellow magical aura soon engulfed both swords, which slowly began turning outwards. Once they were in position, a faint 'click!' could be heard from behind the wall. Shortly after, the shield rose up, revealing a singular hole with the engraving of a moon around it. Upon noticing that, Luna felt her heart swell a bit with pride. Celestia gently placed her horn within the hole and ignited it, sending magic into the cogs and gears within. The wall soon began glowing a faint teal, before forming the outline of a doorway. That section of wall quickly lowered into the floor, exposing a long dreary hallway that extended deep into the castle's depths. Luna felt both joy and pride in seeing her sister continuing the tradition of secret passageways within the royal castle. However, she was quick to muffle those emotions upon seeing the seriousness in her sister's face once again, reminding her of the pressing situation. The two sisters began trotting down the long hallway in silence, enchanted torches igniting and extinguishing as they neared and distanced from them. It didn't take long before they reached the end of the hall, where a massive metal vault door stood before them. As her sister began fiddling with the ancient looking door, Luna felt herself cementing what she'd stated before. "Surely it couldn't be them, they went extinct eons before either of us were conceived!" "We don't know if they went extinct. We were only told that one day, they seemingly vanished from the planet. But if my assumption is correct, then we might have a very big situation on our hooves. " Celestia exclaimed, her horn working her yellow magic once again. Several locks and switches were engulfed in a matching yellow aura, and it didn't take long before a series of latches were undone and locks opened up. Celestia quickly opened the vault door the rest of the way with a forehoof, letting a small but thick wave of dust flow out into the hallway. The two quickly entered the room afterwards, the door remaining open for them to leave whenever they pleased. The room within was completely engulfed in darkness, the thick black abyss making it challenging to see even with Luna's naturally enhanced night vision. Celestia fixed this with the quick cast of a spell, engulfing the room in light as a series of torches all went alight in unison. The walls were coated floor to ceiling with dust, along with weary wooden support beams that looked ready to give if merely grazed. Several wooden shelves were laid out around the room, some of them seemingly haven given way due to age. As luck would have it, most of the stuff on those shelves still seemed in tact, and that was the important part. There were plenty of other strange oddities and 'valuable' items on the rest of the still standing shelves, all coated under a thick layer of dust. Celestia went over to one of the dusty and cluttered corners, the walls lined with several crates stacked on top of one another as well as a few tapestries that had degraded to the point of being unidentifiable. There were also a few torn and burnt flags rolled up and set aside, their colors and meanings were completely unknown to either of the rulers. "This is the vault of Equus' past, thou moved the entire thing atop a mountain!?" Luna questioned, wondering just how in the world her sister had moved the bigger items covertly. If she'd been covert with it in the first place. "Our old castle is a deathtrap sister, this was the most ideal spot. I put and installed everything in here myself. It was... one of the first things I did," Celestia replied, sparing a glance at a particularly nasty looking piece of rotting wood. Luna's own eyes spotted what looked like the remnants of a fallen chandelier in the middle of the chamber, caked in dust and even a few cobwebs. "Clearly you haven't given it much care." The alabaster alicorn approached one of the creates along the far wall, her yellow aura quickly prying off its lid. "It never reached the top levels on my need to do list, not that I could put it on one. A room that shouldn't exist full of items that are supposedly 'long forgotten' wouldn't bode well on it if somepony untrustworthy snatched it." "And prey tell why they'd take your daily ritual parchment questing for this location?" Pale magenta irises rose from looking into the crate, locking with a pair of cyan ones. "Long ago, a young alicorn told me that one can never be too cautious." Luna felt a smile grow on her face. "I missed you so much Lulu," Celestia stated warmly. "I missed you too, Tia." Celestia met Luna's smile with her own, before returning her focus back on the crate and its contents. Not long after did she levitate out a scroll, its parchment yellowing and its strength only remaining because of several preservation enchantments. She blew off a bit of dust that was covering some words before turning the scroll around for Luna to see, along with opening up the scroll she'd received from her student. The lunar alicorn gently took the two scrolls into her own magical grasp, comparing them carefully. She paid close attention to the illustrations, which bared striking similarities. "We didn'th know thou's student were such an artist," Luna pointed out, noticing the elegant swirls and bountiful details of the sketch on Twilight's scroll. "I'm sure she had some help, she's told me that one of her friend's is quite the fashion designer," Celestia responded, continuing to fish through the crate's contents. Luna continued to compare the two illustrations, before levitating them out of view and allowing her gaze to once again be on her sister. "We must admit, the similarities are... significant, but what is this being's origin?" Luna inquired. "I've got no idea. But if one can return, then others can as well." Princess Celestia claimed, finishing her search through the crate with a dissatisfied expression. "What about the mirror?" "A guard would've reported seeing it, not to mention how it could get all the way to Ponyville without being seen." Celestia pointed out. Luna nodded in understanding, but that just rose another question. Where did it come from? Celestia trotted over to a shelf that had several old books scattered on it. She levitated a maroon journal with a six-fingered appendage on it, flipped through some pages, before sighing in annoyance and placing it back. She did the same with the next book, and the next. Eventually she pulled out a worn grey tome with a strange symbol on it, its meaning unknown to her. Her sister rapidly flipped through its pages before stopping on one, her eyes scanning it like a hawk. She then rose it up for her sister to see in clear view. The right page was full of words written in a long dead Equine dialect, but the left held a detailed looking illustration. The drawing depicted a tall, red-maned alicorn shaking hooves with a bipedal being clad in what looked like robes. Several others of these bipeds and ponies stood behind their respective leaders, each one staring blankly ahead. Many of the ponies wore armor, and even some of the bipeds, but most wore robes much like what Luna could only assume to be their leader. "Almost everything that's been written down from that time was sadly lost during the age of destruction. But from what information we have, I think our races came to an agreement about a war," Celestia proclaimed, trotting over to another shelf. "A war? Every war that has ever taken part on Equus hath been archived. We've encountered no such records against these bipeds," Luna exclaimed, adamant about her past knowledge of Equestrian warfare. "All the wars on Equus, yes." Celestia agreed, her gaze drifting towards a tapestry that was hanging above where she'd originally found the crate. It depicted that same strange symbol from on the book, only now it was silver against a dark black background. Below it rested what seemed like a depiction of Equus, and it appeared to host a depiction of stars littering the dark background. "But not from beyond the stars," She finished. Luna stared at the tapestry herself for a few seconds, the words her sister had just said flowing through her mind like rapids in a river. What her sister was implying is something typically only ever thought of in fictional stories, old myths and folklore that were seen as rambling from some-creature a few apples short of a bushel. "Twilight stated in her report that this bi-ped spoke of a war, one on a scale far larger than anything we could've imagined. If this is true, and this war is lurking closer and closer, then I fear that our little ponies won't be able to match the coming forces," Celestia stated, a grim look spreading across her face. A look, that quickly dissolved into resolution as she turned to face her sister. "But I do know that as long as we stand, no harm will come to our subjects." Luna felt a feeling of resolve wash over her own face, and she nodded in approval. "Not without a fight at least." "Let us hope it doesn't come to that," Celestia said, placing the grey book under one of her wings. With their business' finished, the two were ready to leave the incredibly stuffy vault. Celestia was already trotting towards the exit, and Luna was ready to do the same. But first, she needed to return the old scroll first. It served its purpose, and the grey book possibly held far more information that they might need. Luna gently placed the scroll back into the crate, and was about to place its lid back on, but a strange glint caught her eye first. Something reflective was resting deep within the crate, and before she could even process it, her magic had already engulfed and pulled it out from the crate's depths. It was small and cylindrical, hosting a silvery metallic color with a few black more rubbery looking sections. There was also a dull yellow switch near its center, which easily looked the most worn compared to everything else. "Luna?" Her sister called out, no doubt wondering what was taking her so long. "We were just putting the scroll back," Luna responded, fully believing her own words as she said them. Her magic once again engulfed the lid for the crate, this time sealing it down like she'd intended to do moments prior. However, she now found herself tucking the strange cylindrical object beneath her own wing. She didn't know why, but it felt important somehow. She'd look into it later though, for she still had plenty of things to do tonight. As the two sisters exited the vault, the door was firmly shut and relocked. The torches within the chamber instantly went out, plunging the area into total darkness once again...