Having finished cataloguing and safely wrapping up each and every gem had taken Sunny just about half of the day, with a short break for lunch. But the task was complete, and they were packed and ready to take to Maretime Bay.
Hitch had mapped out all the halls, and while they hadn't gotten to every room yet, what rooms they had explored had almost nothing in them, save for the throne room and the basement. After Pipp had done a short clip on the mirror, they elected to leave it where it was. While intriguing, it was likely too unwieldy and fragile to move.
So before they broke again for dinner, Sunny decided to check the one place no one had been yet; a tower that was effectively the castle's third floor. The only means of access was a crystal spiral staircase behind the throne room. Checking to make sure her headlamp and phone batteries were good, she slowly ascended the stairs, checking for cracks or anything else that might be a sign of structural weakness along the way.
At the top of the spiral, she came to a door, no hallway, just a simple yellow and purple metallic door. She gave it a push, and it rotated on its hinges with creaking objection.
It was one of the smallest rooms in the castle by far. The view was probably spectacular, had shrubs, vines, and bark not completely obscured the window, as it had with every other one in the structure.
She tried not to be disheartened by one of the last, highest rooms in the castle being just as barren as most of all the others. The throne room gems had been an absolute treasure trove, an incredible look back into the Guardians' era, one that would keep historians busy for weeks and months. The mirror was more of a mystery than anything, but she had a hunch it was some kind of magical portal, due to gem #174, which showed a similar glowing mirror with the purple unicorn and her dragon friend. She felt it was best to leave it where it was for now. Even if they had a way to power it back up again, with how much their world had changed, it probably wasn't the best idea to open some magical portal if they had no idea what was on the other side, or how it had changed with the passage of time.
The only thing that seemed out of place with this room was that a section of the left wall was beginning to crack. With a soft sigh, she turned to head back downstairs, but at the last moment, did a double take at the left wall.
Those weren't cracks... It was an inscription!
She trotted towards the wall and dug out her notebook and pen, flipped through all the notes on the gems, to the next fresh page, and began to copy as she read silently.
I have no way of knowing how much time will pass before this is found, if it is found at all. Already I can feel myself fading away, unable to hold this corporeal form much longer. So I'll keep this brief.
I believe I finally understand why they did what they did; why they invariably linked Equus' connection to Aetherius, the source of all magic, into those crystals.
Because they knew that nothing lasts forever, and realizing that, that it would be unspeakably cruel to leave the beings of this world, friends or enemies, to the mercy of the Windigos, not when they had an alternative; a way to contain them.
My greatest fear for years was that everything we have accomplished, all that we have become, could be forgotten. That Sunset, Starlight, Luster, Fizzlepop... All of those who followed in her stead, everything that they have done to carry that magic forward could be for naught.
But on the other claw, that wouldn't exactly be fair, would it? For it to only be up to us? Of course we have done amazing, incredible things for ponies and creatures everywhere here and now, and can give forthcoming generations hope for a better future, but it will be the burden of each and every generation yet to come to take up the mantle of friendship and cooperation, to realize that better future for themselves. There is no answer that lasts forever. Just as we evolve and grow, so do the forces that seek to divide us.
My life has stretched for eons, yet the relationships I have developed with these Equestrians over the last few decades has brought me genuine pause the last several years as I have witnessed this nation collapse; causing me to wonder if I have had the willpower to go on without them. Is this what Celestia went through during her rule? Perhaps it is finally time for me to cross over into whatever is next; vanish into the ether and see if I can find them again.
To whomever finds this, I wonder if you can imagine the unity that we experienced, just as I will wonder what Equestria will look like generations from now. All things change, so they will inevitably change from what they have become now.
Whoever you are, I wish you the kind of luck that only unfettered chaos can bring.
-Di
"Hey, Izzy. Can you go and get Sunny? I think she was looking at the tower up top. Tell her that her favorite camp meal will be ready in ten." Hitch said as he stirred the pot that was hanging on the tripod above the fire. Giving him a salute, Izzy lit up her horn and trotted back into the castle, heading up the stairs and down the front right hallway.
"Sunny! We're breaking for dinner! How's it going?" She called, taking the long way around the curving hallway to the rear door, which was already open. Her lively prance up the spiral staircase was slowed and halted when she heard soft weeping coming from above.
"Sunny...?" She asked, coming up the rest of the stairs and looked into the tower, seeing her friend sitting in front of the left wall, her notebook sitting open in front of her, as well as her phone, which had a picture that she had taken of the inscription before them.
Sunny Starscout's sparkle was definitely dim right now.
"Hey... What's wrong?" She asked, coming up to her crying friend. Tears running down her cheeks, she looked up to the inscription on the wall.
"A... Carving?" The unicorn asked. "We finally found something else, that's awesome! Why are you crying?" She asked, sitting down next to her friend.
"Yeah... And whoever wrote it, did so as they were fading away, as they were dying. They didn't even finish signing their name."
Sunny pointed a quivering hoof at the bottom of the inscription. It was definitely ponish. A 'D', then an 'I', and what looked like part of an 'S', but that was the end of it, as if the scribe had indeed vanished suddenly.
"What could have possibly happened, Izzy?" Sunny asked as a fresh wave of tears began. "We've seen those gems. These ponies did amazing things... And it wasn't enough."
Izzy sat silently, putting a leg around Sunny's shoulders as she took a moment to read the inscription on the wall herself.
"Maybe it was enough... For them." Izzy said, looking over to her friend. "We don't know how long ago this was, but whoever this was, they were absolutely right. Things change, they always do. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. And Sunny? You are the best change I think I've ever had in my life."
The earth mare wiped her eyes, and smiled over at her friend.
"You remember what I told you about your sparkle? Your luminescence?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah... Yeah you said it was lavender."
"Yeah. Pretty close to what our purple unicorn in those gems looks like. She and her friends clearly did amazing things for Equestria, and if you think we haven't, then you need to take another look. Yeah, things got bad, clearly. Sometimes they do. But you're fixing it. We're fixing it. Together."
Sunny sniffled, swallowed her tears, turned, and threw her hooves around her unicorn friend, who immediately returned the hug.
"And I have no idea what Windigos are, but they obviously thought that putting our magic on the line was preferable to whatever they were going to do. The point is, we're doing what we can, and, hopefully, so will everypony else. The generations that come after us will also have to do their part. Hoof to heart." Izzy added.
Sunny released her from the hug, and gave her another smile as she closed her notebook and dropped it into her saddlebags.
"Thanks, Izzy. So I'm guessing you came to get me for dinner?"
"Ooh yeah. Hitch said it was your favorite camp meal ever."
Sunny chuckled.
"He's probably talking about his Maretime Bay Minestrone soup. Alright, let's go chow down."