Chapter 20: The Remains of Ardent
"And that's where we are." Celestia said to the gathered group of Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Luna, Sky Fire, and Fluttershy.
Their attention was focused on a map that Celestia and Trixie had placed out on the table. It was a place that few knew still existed and most had believed past into myth. The remains of the Human City, Ardent.
Long before Twilight Sparkle's achievements of defeating both Nightmare Moon and Discord, and her brother and sister in law's victory over the Changeling Queen, was the first Great War. It was during this war when humanity was obliterated from existence. Celestia and Luna were veterans from that war, as was Storm Rider, but they didn't like to talk about it much.
The map itself was detailed, despite being so old, of the ancient city. On the map was a large circle. Celestia pointed to it to indicate how important it was for the group to recognize.
"We need you to head to the location Trixie marked and look for any clues concerning the Elements." She said. Twilight nodded, understanding the mission they were given quite well. Rainbow on the other hand, looked a bit flabbergasted.
"So, wait, Humans DID exist?" She asked, "I thought they were just myths."
"So did I." Fluttershy added, nodding her head in agreement. Twilight shook her head some in sadness.
"Not exactly, there was a book that once talked about how they were once close allies of Equestrians, though their technology was somewhat dangerous."
"They got wiped out though." Sky Fire said, giving a dark frown, "Probably because of Amducias."
"Yes..." Luna added in, "To this day, we're still unsure how exactly he did it, but over the course of a single night, it's as if they simply vanished from the world. Some of my close allies from the First Great War were Humans. Their technology was indeed far advanced compared to ours, but as Twilight said, such power often came at a price."
"What should we expect to find?" Rainbow asked, deciding to change the conversation from gloom and doom to what was important. The mission. Trixie flipped opened a tome nearby.
"Well, the town you'll be heading to is far away from Ardent's old capital, so whatever kept the scouts away from it will likely not be an issue." Trixie frowned, "But you never know what you'll find when you're poking through ruins of a long dead era, so be careful.
The group gave a short nod to indicate that they understood. Celestia opened up a portal nearby with her magic. Twilight smiled at her mentor. She truly was the most powerful being in Equestria.
"This will take you directly to the town marked on Trixie's map. Go in, see if can find anything, and come back. " Her eyes narrowed, "I don't want any heroics this early into this incident. Understand?"
Sky Fire and Rainbow gave a quick salute while the others gave a simple nod to her.
"We'll do our best, Princess." Sky Fire said, turning to the others before walking towards the portal, "Let's move out, team."
As the group walked up to the portal, each one of them disappearing one by one, Twilight stopped before entering it. Thinking back on Spike and his safety. She knew that he was in a safe location, but she couldn't help but worry about him. After all, aside from her big brother and his new wife, Spike was her oldest friend. She sighed before turning back to her mentor.
"Princess...if I don't come back from this, could you...do me a favor?"
Celestia frowned at the question.
"Don't speak of such things, Twilight...but go ahead."
Twilight felt some blush rising up to her cheeks.
"Just like Spike know that...I enjoyed every second with him, and tell him he'll be placed in charge of the library." A soft smile came to her face, "It's the least he deserves for being so loyal."
"...Very well." Celestia said with a warm smile, "But I'm sure it won't have to come to that. All the same...be safe."
Twilight nodded her head as she walked into the portal. As she did, the magical gate closed behind her. Trixie frowned before turning back to the ruler of all Equestria.
"Pardon me, your highness," She said, "But are you certain that they should go alone?"
"...I know my faithful student." Celestia answered, "She will be fine. She has not only her friends with her, but my little sister as well."
Trixie gave a small smile. Despite their last encounter, she was willing to redeem herself for what had happened. And she wanted Twilight Sparkle to see her redeem herself.
XxXxX
"Wow...what a dump." Rainbow remarked at their surroundings.
'Dump' was probably the best word she could have used if she was being polite. Their surroundings were downright depressing to look at. Battered buildings dot the landscape and destroyed machines and bites of trash litter the paved road ahead of them. The group shuttered at the sight before them. Even Luna, who had been a part of the Great War herself, was bothered by the state of the town.
"I-It looks like whatever Amducias used hit this down head on..." Fluttershy said, her own eyes a bit wet with sad tears.
Luna and Twilight sighed as they took the lead of the group. Using their magic, they began to survey the area around them. The princess of the night sighed as she glanced back to Twilight.
"Twilight, are you picking up anything?"
Twilight didn't respond right away. She was too busy trying to focus on finding any clues they could use about where the first Element of Virtue could be. Eventually, she sighed in defeat.
"It's no good. I'm not picking up any source of energy at all."
"That's...really odd." Sky Fire Said, taking a few steps ahead of the group as he glanced around the landscape, "They must have left something around here..."
"Let's look around." Luna said, taking the lead from Sky ire, "Stay close."
They didn't argue. She might have been younger, but Luna was still a princess. And as far as the group was concerned at the moment, the unofficial leader of their little squad. As they continued to walk down the completely abandoned town, Twilight couldn't help but notice all the different things that the humans had. Vehicles with wheels, small shops, and tall buildings. None of them were taller than Canterlot Castle of course, but they were quite impressive.
They continued to walk on for a bit, until Luna stopped. She pointed towards the nearest building, a small human style house with one of the many destroyed wheeled machines in front of it. Nodding their heads, the small team walked up to the house. Luna slowly creaked open the door and scanned the area with her magic. Seeing if there was any enemies that were nearby.
"...Clear." She said after a few short, but tense, seconds.
As they entered the house, Fluttershy is taken by complete surprise by the house.
"Wow, it's so much bigger on the inside." She remarked. Luna chuckled at her amazement.
"Common human architecture style."
"Take a look at this thing." Sky Fire said, pointing to a set of chairs that most ponies were unaware of. "Why do they have four legs and some kind of flat tops above them?"
Twilight walked up to one of the chairs, examining it carefully herself while trying to figure out what it was. With a sigh, she turned back to Luna.
"I don't think I've seen this before...what is this, Luna?"
"They're called chairs. Humans used them to sit mostly. They only had two legs you see." The Night princess explained, beaming at her knowledge on the human race.
"Hey, what about this thing?" Rainbow asked, pointing to a glowing box. Luna turned over quickly. "It looks important."
"Oh my..." Luna asked, quickly looking over the box, "This is a special devise that the Humans used to store, receive, and exchange information. It was extremely popular, especially among the younger ones. I think it was called a com..." She mused quietly to herself. "Com...something. I wonder..."
Her horn shined as the computer began to move seperate files one at a time. Using her magic, Luna had the computer access its journals of the previous owner. A bright smile came to her face when she saw what came up.
"Bingo! Let's see if there's anything here." She said, beginning to read the journal entries while the others read over her shoulders. "This one's shortly into the War...'The emissaries from Equestria came by again today, and just like before they were looking for the research compound south of the city. I don't know what they're doing up there, but I just hope that whatever it is, it'll win this war. I swear I keep seeing odd shapes outside my window at night.'"
"Wait." Sky Fire interrupted, "This was during the war? How is it that this thing has survived for a thousand years?"
"Odds are that it was unharmed after the humans were wiped out," Twilight mused, "I don't think the monsters would resort to using human technology since apparently it's very dangerous..."
"It'd be helpful in this new battle though..." Sky Fire scoffed. Rainbow frowned as she stood close to him.
"Simmer down now, Sky." She said, gently nuzzling his neck. When she did, the white pegasus immediately went to being calm again. Luna glanced back to the computer screen, looking over the files."
"Hmm, there's a few more entries, this one takes place about a week after the last one." She cleared her throat as she began to read aloud again, "'About two days ago, a weird girl in a cloak wandered into town. She didn't stay long, just picked up some supplies, but she kept mentioning that 'it was coming' and that we should all leave before the end of the month. Most people think she was just a crackpot doom seer, and I'm inclined to agree. Then again, those shapes I've been seeing haven't gone away, and now I think I'm seeing them in my dreams. Hopefully this new medicine the doc prescribed me will help with that.'"
Luna frowned as she thought to herself for awhile. What was this thing that the human was writing about?
"A-Anything else?" Fluttershy asked. Luna glanced over to the next entry.
"Well, yes. Here's the next entry, two days later." She said, "'Something's definitely wrong. No one's seen hide or hair of Bob and his kid after they went hunting in the local forest yesterday. Reports are coming in that the border settlements just up and vanished overnight. And what's more, the Equestria emissaries never came back from their third trip to the compound. The shapes...the shapes are bigger than ever now, and I swear I can hear SOMETHING out in the shrubbery. Maybe that girl wasn't such a crackpot after all. Maybe something big IS about to go down. Well, I for one don't plan to stick around for it. I'm gonna get what I can together and make a break for it, dunno where, anywhere but here. I'll make one last journal before I go, if only for posterity's sake.'"
An eerie silence fell over the group at this entry. It was if nopony had the strength to speak out. Twilight swallowed hard as she found her voice again.
"This...girl the writer was talking about, it sounds like she was infected by something..." She said, Sky Fire's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I'm betting it's some sort of vampire or demon virus, the symptoms sound almost exactly the same."
"Wait," Luna quickly said, "There's one last entry." Using her magic again, she brought the mouse over to the final journal entry. Her eyes grew wide with shock. "This...this was made the day Ardent was destroyed!"
Once again, the entire team went silent. Twilight's eyes shrink in shock. Sky Fire's muscles tensed up. Fluttershy let out a tiny 'meep' sound while Rainbow gritted her teeth.
"But...everyone of them died..." Twilight said, disbelief filling her voice. "How is it that...what does it say?"
Luna clicked on the log data. But groaned at what she saw. Compared to the last few logs, this one was a mess to look at.
"Gah...most of the data's corrupted. I can barely make this entry out." She said. Rainbow cocked her head to the right.
"Well, what CAN you make out?"
The night princess squinted her eyes, reading what she could that was not corrupted.
"'Shapes...shad...they're everywh...killed...outside right...came from...mass of dark...they're...pure...ev...nother...Malev...Creators help u...' And that's all that I can make out." She said with a sigh. Fluttershy however looked confused.
"Wait...the human wrote all that instead of running?"
"Well, from what I can gather, it seems like the Human was corned by whatever was unleashed in his own home. This was like his last will."
Rainbow shuddered at that thought. Looking around the room she examined the room carefully. Despite what Luna said, the room didn't look like it had been attacked.
"Sheesh, and this place doesn't have a SPECK of anything showing a fight." She said, "Whatever got him must've been something else."
Sky Fire nodded in agreement with his girlfriend.
"Whatever it was, it wasn't any monster...it was some kind of demon."
The white pegasus turned his attention to a closet door nearby. While the rest of the group was busy trying to figure out what the last journal entry meant, he took the initiative to check the closet. Tilting his head to the side some, he gently pulled the door open. The moment he opened the door, Sky Fire let out a surprised yelp as dust fell on top of him. The four mares glanced up at his yelp, noticing that he was now covered in dusty.
Rainbow couldn't help but snicker. Fluttershy looked surprised while Luna rolled her eyes. Twilight facehooved as she sighed deeply.
"Sky Fire, be careful would you?"
Before Sky Fire could make a remark back at her, something caught his attention.
"Shh!" He hissed, ears perking up and moving wildly. "...Do you hear that?"
Faintly, just faintly, a new voice could be heard outside the house. The sound alone was enough to make them tense up on the spot.
"Hecarsha...narunaca..."
"No pony move." Luna whispered. Quickly using her magic to cloak them as a misshapen figure carrying a strange weapon enters through the door. The five ponies kept as quiet as they could possibly be as they watched the creature. A short snort could be heard from it before glancing around.
"Nara?" It asked, aiming its weapon around. Like it was scanning the area. After what seemed like a long tense minute, the creature lowered his weapon, shrugging as it spoke again, "Pah...anarasasha." Before leaving the house. A teleport sound is then heard after it left.
The cloak spell fades away. As it does, it reveals a visibly shaken Luna.
"Th-That ...it c-can't be..."
"...What the hell was THAT?" Sky Fire asked. Even he was covered in nervous sweat.
"That...that was terrifying..." Twilight stammered, her own legs trembling in fear.
"It can't be..." Luna said, her voice trying to regain her composure, "They were wiped out eons ago..." She shook her head, "We need to find our clue and get out of here as soon as we can."
"Um...Princess?" Fluttershy said, "There's one last entry."
Luna blinked in surprise as she turned back to the computer. She took a good look at the file. Her eyes narrowed in anger at what she saw.
"Is this a joke? This entry was made TODAY."
"...You sure you read that right?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head.
"I'm positive. Let's see here..." Luna mused, opening the file up to reveal a message. One that had everypony, even Twilight and Luna, seemed surprised by the message. It was just a simple message as Twilight read it aloud.
"Go to the research compound to the south. The item in the closet will protect you against the Demons."
To Be Continued...