“I might have to spend more time in museums,” Flash commented, trotting past a mannequin dressed as a soldier of the Crystal Army from the late 19th century, charging towards an unseen threat with bayonet fixed.
“For your own edification, or because you want to spend more time with me?” Twilight asked with a quirked eyebrow.
“Can’t I want both?” Flash grinned, causing Twilight to giggle and Spike to roll his eyes and stick a claw in his mouth.
Continuing their tour of the Crystal Empire History Museum, the trio entered another room, this one with a sign over the door that proclaimed its theme in English and Crystalline.
La Guerra dei Cristalli: the Crystal War.
“I still remember when Empress Amore was alive,” Twilight said soberly as the walked among exhibits that spoke about the lead-up to the war: the election of Sombra as Prime Minister, his gradual claiming of more and more power from the mysteriously ill alicorn, his building up the army under the excuse of fending off rogue frost dragons, and the military exercises at the Equestria-Crystal Empire border as a prelude to war.
“She actually came to the Royal Academy a few times as a guest lecturer," Twilight continued, looking up at a photograph of the smiling alicorn. "She was always so kind to everypony. As a foal, I could hardly believe that she was almost six hundred years old; I thought that she and Celestia and Luna had always been around and always would be.” She sighed quietly as she stared at a photograph of thousands of black-clad mourners gathered on the streets as the empress’s coffin was carried past in a carriage. “I couldn’t believe it when she died,” she whispered.
Flash paused before a display that held the front page of the Stella del Nord for the second of the Moon of Grain, 1940. Immortalized in black and white was a troop of Crystal soldiers hustling into vans, weapons in hoof and grim hatred etched into the faces. “Guerra!” declared the headline above. Flash turned and read the Equestrian text in the box beneath.
Following Empress Amore’s death on the twenty-first of the Moon of Sun, 1940, the autopsy revealed that she had been systematically poisoned for several weeks prior. Sombra framed a page in the Court as an Equestrian spy and announced that Princesses Celestia and Luna had had Amore murdered as a prelude to taking over the Crystal Empire and that they were holding Princess Cadenza hostage under the pretense that she was staying in Canterlot for additional study. Crowning himself Emperor in absence of leadership, he declared war upon Equestria during the night of the first of the Moon of Grain. Hundreds of troops began to move out for the border as soldiers already stationed there for "exercises" began to shell Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Vanhoover.
“I was only 11 when the war started,” Flash mused out loud, trotting past another exhibit detailing how the North Griffon Empire and Yakyakistan, the Crystal Empire’s allies by treaty, had both entered the war. “I remember being so confused about what had happened, why we were suddenly fighting with our friends.”
He paused before a photograph of Princess Celestia meeting with Equestrian Army officers. Slowly, he raised a hoof to touch the glass and leaned his forehead against the window, his breath frosting on the glass as he closed his eyes. “Why my dad had to go,” he whispered.
Twilight pulled Flash close into a hug, tucking her head against his shoulder in comfort. He sniffled, pressing his face against her lavender-scented mane for a moment to hide from the world before recollecting himself. “Thanks,” he whispered to her, kissing her on the forehead.
“You’re welcome,” Twilight replied, guiding him away from the display and back towards Spike, who was studying a model of a Chiroptera fighter-bomber with its distinctive bat-like wings, the first of the jet engine-powered planes that made the Crystal Air Force feared across Equestria and beyond.
The trio passed through most of the rest of the exhibit in relative silence, passing through four years of warfare. They recalled the election of separatist members to the Parliament of Mareland, their declaration of secession from Equestria, and their war upon the Griffish Isles with the Crystal Empire’s support, which led to their neighbors Prance and Gerwhinny entering the war. They flinched at photographs of the North Griffonese Navy occupying the Horseshoe Bay, their aircraft carriers placed in range of major cities, including Ponyville and Canterlot. They studied Princess Cadenza’s negotiations with Dragon Lord Torch and watched jittery motion picture footage of Dragon Princess Ember leading the charge that liberated Manehattan. They followed Princess Luna's campaign against the North Griffonese Navy, eventually forcing them to retreat and ending the griffons’ and yaks’ involvement in the war. They lowered their heads in grief at the iconic image of the mushroom cloud over the remnants of Vanhoover. And finally, they thrilled at images of Princess Celestia and the ascended Princess Cadenza leading the charge into the Crystal Empire itself, their wings spread against the sky. As General Shining Armor fought the forces on the ground, the three alicorns breached the Palace and defeated Sombra, ending the mind-control spells he’d put over the empire’s citizens.
“I just want to know why,” Flash mused as they studied a photograph that marked the moment on the eleventh of the Moon of Frost, 1944 when Princess Celestia and Empress Cadenza signed the peace treaty that formally ended the Crystal War. “Why Sombra wanted to kill Amore and declare war on Equestria.”
“Who can say?” Twilight replied, briefly flinching as she glanced at a photograph of Queen Chrysalis, the tyrant of the changelings surreptitiously photographed in a meeting with King Sombra and Prince Rutherford of Yakyakistan. “It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s dead.”
“Are you sure?” Spike asked. “From what I remember, they never found his body.”
“Because he was disintegrated by three simultaneous beams from the three most powerful magic-wielders in the world,” Twilight said patiently. “I’m not surprised.”
The sound of rapid hoofsteps approaching made Flash look around, one hoof half-raising to his chest before he remembered that he’d left his holster and sidearm at home. His eyes caught the intruder: a young blue pegasus mare in a purple uniform that marked her as a page from the Palace. He relaxed as the mare hustled over to Twilight.
“Miss Sparkle, Detective Sentry, Mister Spike,” the page reported. “The Emperor and Empress have asked for your presence at the Palace urgently. Please come with me, I have a car waiting.”
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked in alarm.
“I do not know, ma’am,” the page said. “All I know is that they need you back quickly.”
“Well, let’s go!” Twilight cried, hurrying after the page with Spike on her shoulders.
Flash sighed. “Mother, please. I’m on vacation,” he grumbled as he hurried after them.
Phillip leaned against the banister of the balcony outside their guest room, drawing on a cigarette as he looked over the magnificent city beneath him, watching the toy-sized ponies walking over the crystalline streets as they went about their morning. Somewhere in the distance, a clock struck out nine-thirty in the morning.
He exhaled slowly, watching the smoke swirling through the pure blue air for a moment before dissipating, then reached for a steaming cup sitting on a tray on the banister next to him, brought up by his request for some strong coffee and something brown for Daring. Next to the cup was a silver pot of coffee and a bottle of a pale-gold liquid called Frangelico, a hazelnut liqueur that the servant who brought it up had assured him was excellent when mixed with coffee.
As Phillip raised the cup to his lips and took a long sip, he mentally agreed with the servant’s suggestion. The sweet, nutty, almost candy-like taste contrasted wonderfully with the bitterness of the coffee, invigorating him to the core. It wasn’t Kanga-Rum, but he might have to ask for a bottle to take home.
A golden dot appeared in the sky behind a cloud. Phillip doused the cigarette and started pouring a second cup of coffee as Daring flapped down and landed next to him.
“You know you can see Yakyakistan from high enough?” Daring said, watching as Phillip stirred a shot of Frangelico into the coffee.
“Well, you’re not bloody taking me up there,” Phillip commented, passing her the cup. She took a long sip of the drink and made an appreciative noise, licking her lips.
“Damn, we should sleep in more often if it comes with this,” she grinned.
“You all right?” Phillip asked.
Daring’s face fell and she placed the cup down on the tray. “Yeah, I’m--” She paused when she saw Phillip’s raised eyebrow and let out an annoyed sigh. “You already know I’m not,” she grumbled.
“You slept late, barely touched breakfast, and went for a long fly by yourself,” Phillip listed off. “You’re upset because the spell didn’t work.”
Daring stared down at her reflection in the silver tray. Before her eyes, the apparition blurred and turned into her younger self once more, her face shaded by her mane and blood spattered across her face, scowling balefully back at her.
“I killed ponies,” Daring mumbled, rubbing her foreleg as the venomous pain started slithering up her limb. “Am I supposed to be able to forgive myself for that?”
Phillip wrapped his forelegs around her barrel and pulled her tight to him. “Mojo and the others coerced you into that,” he said, nuzzling her ears. “They beat you and threatened you when you tried to say no. This wasn’t your fault.”
“I could’ve tried harder, done something sooner…” Daring mumbled, swallowing back tears.
"Shhh." Phillip kissed the back of her head. “You are not that mare anymore,” he assured her. “You’ve done so much to save lives and protect Ponyville. Your younger self would be proud of you.”
“I just wish I could make it so that it never happened,” Daring whispered. “But I know I can’t.”
They stayed silent for a few moments longer, Phillip continuing to hold her close. Finally, their moment was interrupted by a rapping at the door.
“Detectives?” a page asked upon entering. “The Empress and Emperor have requested your presence urgently.”
“Aces, we’re coming,” Phillip said, releasing Daring and grabbing his trilby from the bed. Daring started to follow him, then abruptly turned around and headed back, snatching up the bottle of Frangelico and chugging down a few gulps of the liqueur.
“Okay, ready now,” she declared, setting the bottle down and dashing after Phillip, who shook his head as the page led them down the hall.
They met up with Twilight, Flash, and Spike on a lower floor and were guided to a door labeled “Riservato.” The page knocked at the door. After a moment, there was a click as it unlocked and he opened it. “Your Highnesses, your guests,” he declared, giving a bow and gesturing for the others to enter.
The room proved to be a windowless study, the walls lined with bookshelves with locked glass doors. A map of the Crystal Empire took up almost the entirety of one wall. Cadence and Shining Armor were sitting on the opposite sides of two large, ornately carved desks, their faces grim as they studied the litany of reports covering the surfaces of the tables.
“Thank you, Timepiece,” the Empress said, waving the servant away without looking up. The page closed the door behind them; no sooner had it latched than Cadance secured the lock behind him with a click.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, her worry increasing at her siblings’ furrowed brows and deep frowns.
“Come closer,” Cadance instructed them.
The five clustered around the desks. Shining Armor lit up his horn and a purple bubble of magic encased them.
“A Silence Spell?” Twilight asked, her fright increasing along with her confusion. “Shining, what’s going on?”
“The room’s already warded against eavesdroppers, but we need to make sure that this is kept secret,” Shining said. He turned over a photograph and held it out to his guests. The stallion in the picture was a green-white crystal stallion with a bushy gray mane and the cutie mark of a fossilized skull encased in a stone.
“This is Professor Crystal Fossil, professor of archeology at Cuore University,” he explained. “He was murdered this morning by an intruder.”
The five ponies remained silent, taking in the dead stallion smiling up at them.
“Professor Fossil was involved in a project to find any hidden temples dedicated to the Old Gods in the Empire,” Cadance continued. “He reported directly to us.”
“Hidden temples?” Daring asked.
“There are a few in the Empire that we know of, yes,” Cadance nodded. “The worship of the Old Gods predates the founding of the Empire, and continued even during mother’s time, hidden away in secret.”
“Guessing that there’s more to this than history books if he reported to you,” Phillip grunted.
“Some of those temples contained artifacts and emblems with powerful dark magic,” Shining reported. “Sombra used them during the Crystal War: he even constructed a few secret temples and items himself. After the war, most of them were destroyed or hidden, but there’s still a lot out there.”
“And if Professor Fossil was killed for his work finding them, then that means that somepony else might be after them,” Cadance added.
“What specifically was he working on now?” Flash asked.
“He was cooperating with a former member of Sombra’s research staff, Blue Moon,” Cadance said, turning a file on her desk around to show them. The file inside was a personnel report with an attached photograph of a midnight blue unicorn stallion with wispy, silvery hair and a haunted look in his pale gray eyes, the color of which matched the crescent moon on his flanks. Marks of anomalous color on his coat showed where a number of tattoos had been hastily removed.
“Moon was a member of a research group developing and experimenting with dark magical artifacts. Towards the end of the war, they buried most of the temples and the artifacts inside so that if Sombra or his followers returned, they'd be ready and waiting for them,” Cadance explained. “He got a lighter prison sentence in exchange for becoming an informant and was released on parole earlier this year so that he could help find the temples and destroy any artifacts inside.”
“Recently, Moon and Professor Fossil told us that they were getting close to a temple that they think contains a very dangerous weapon that Sombra himself designed,” Shining said, taking out another picture. “It’s called Tirek’s Mirror.”
One was a closeup on a single blue pony with a wild red mane wearing the uniform of a Crystal Army officer, a single silver star and crown on his shoulders marking him as a Brigadier General. His face was covered in scars, many of them fresh, his azure eyes blazed with maniacal glee, and his mouth was drawn back in a grin that seemed too wide for his face. After a moment, the observers noted with disgust that the stallion had no lips, torn flesh surrounding his bloodied gums to indicate where they’d been sliced off. In one hoof, he held up a strange device that seemed to be composed of a set of mirrors set upon a tree-like sculpture of bones, all of them with strange runes carved into them, the glass glowing in an array of colors that hurt to look at.
“Wow, that guy is really bad at shaving,” Spike commented.
“That is General Still Lake,” Shining commented. “One of Sombra’s most loyal generals and a Tirek cultist. Those scars are self-mutilation as part of worship.”
“He was the one who perfected Tirek’s Mirror and used it against us in the war,” Cadance added.
“What does the Mirror do?” Daring asked.
Shining responded by taking out another photograph and showing it to them. All five studied it for a moment, then drew back with soft sounds of shock.
The picture was a wider view of the picture of General Lake wielding the relic. He stood on a small rise over a crowd of ponies: some of them civilians, some of them wearing the tan and gray uniforms of the Equestrian Army. All of them were mauling each other, the rage in their faces terrifyingly palpable as they shot, stabbed, struck, and strangled one another without mercy; Twilight felt her stomach twist at the sight of a crystal pony filly no older than five tearing at the throat of a soldier. Their eyes were glowing the same anomalous colors that were emanating from the Mirror.
“The Mirror causes uncontrollable rage in all creatures around it when activated,” Shining explained soberly, putting the picture away. “Anyone affected will attack the first thing they see, friend or foe. That Mirror nearly destroyed entire regiments before we found a way to counter it.”
“What happened to it?” Daring asked.
“The last time the Mirror was seen in action was during the Moon of the Harvest 1944, a month before the invasion of Cuore; according to Blue Moon, they hid it in a temple to the north of the city that they called the Bone Temple,” Shining said. “General Lake himself was killed by Princess Ember during the invasion.”
Phillip remained silent for a few moments as they absorbed this information. “Who else knows what Fossil was looking for?” he asked.
“There were only a few ponies on his archeological team,” Shining said, giving him a list of names. “Them and Blue Moon.”
“Unfortunately, the cat might be out of the bag,” Cadance said, retrieving a newspaper from a desk drawer and placing it on the table. “Two days ago, a reporter hanging around outside the palace saw Blue Moon coming out with Professor Fossil and recognized him.”
The front page of the paper was a photograph taken outside the Crystal Palace. Blue Moon, his eyes wide with shock, was trying to hide behind Professor Crystal Fossil, who was glaring at the photographer with disapproval. A gendarme in a blue uniform was rushing towards the photographer, one hoof raised to shoo him away.
“‘Former Cultist Working With Empress?’” Daring translated the headline out loud. “‘Blue Moon...seen exiting with Professor Fossil of archeology...known to have worked with Sombra’s temples...rumors of excavation north of Cuore…’ Yeah, if somepony saw that, they could easily put the dots together.”
“Where’s Moon now?” Phillip asked.
“He’s being held in a secret safehouse by the gendarmerie,” Cadance said.
“And where’s the temple with the Mirror?” Daring asked.
“Professor Fossil had an excavation site here,” Shining said, using his magic to draw a circle around an uninhabited region of snowy wastes about twenty miles north of the city. “He and Blue Moon weren’t completely sure where the temple was--Blue Moon didn’t remember specifically--but they’d narrowed it down to that area.”
“We want you to look into Professor Fossil’s murder and find who was responsible,” Cadance said, scribbling out a letter and stamping it with a wax seal. “If there’s somepony trying to find the Mirror or any other artifacts, they have to be stopped.” She handed the letter over to Phillip. “This official letter instructs the gendarmerie to assist you.”
“Where’s Professor Fossil’s home?” Phillip asked.
“He lived at 39 Striga Lane,” Shining said. “Keep us posted.”
“We won’t let you down, sir,” Flash nodded grimly as they passed through the dissipating magical bubble and exited the study.
“I hope so,” Shining mumbled, exchanging a grim look with his wife as his friends exited.
“Sir, don’t you think we should be focusing our efforts on finding Blue Moon?” the sergeant asked, pacing the den.
“Patience, sergeant,” Frostbite replied, turning the page in Professor Fossil’s stolen journal. “He’s not going anywhere. The immediate priority is the Mirror.”
“We know where the dig site is, sir,” the pegasus replied. “We can just go there.”
“That’s still a few square miles to search,” Frostbite replied evenly, tossing aside some ungraded papers. “And there will be ponies guarding it, looking for us. We have to narrow it down somehow.”
The pegasus huffed in irritation, puffing some of his blonde mane out of his face, and resumed pacing as his commanding officer continued perusing the stolen notes. Abruptly, he paused, staring at a side table.
“Sir?”
“Mmm,” Frostbite grumbled, glaring at some notes. “He makes several references to a journal, but there’s no journal here…”
“Sir!” the sergeant persisted.
“What?” Frostbite grunted.
“Look,” the pegasus said, pointing at the page from last night’s newspaper laying open on the table.
Frostbite stood and trotted over to the table, knocking aside an empty orange plastic bottle to read what his cohort was pointing at. He beheld a small photograph taken of Cuore airport, showing a group of ponies being led to a terminal by a mare in the purple uniform of a royal servant. His eyes went to two of the ponies in the picture: a stallion in a green vest and gray trilby and a mare in a green pith helmet.
A soft gasp escaped Frostbite. “Phillip Finder and Daring Do,” he breathed quietly, his heart palpitating nervously in his chest.
“The article says that they were with somepony named Twilight Sparkle, Empress Cadenza’s sister-in-law,” the pegasus noted. “No doubt that they’ll be involved in this now.”
“Which means that they’ll be looking for the Mirror,” Frostbite finished the thought.
“Sir, what should we do about this?” the sergeant asked nervously.
Frostbite remained silent for several seconds, then grunted. “If they’re working on this, then Lake or whoever in the Palace might be counting on them to find the Mirror,” he said. “Which means that they’ll also be looking for his journal.”