They all sat at the big table in the dining room. Tankard, still a bit sleepy, had lit up a couple of oil lamps to provide some more light. Cold Pint, Crystal Vial and Blackwing all wore confused expressions, while Memento Maury looked unmoved as usual.
“Blackwing, this is Memento Maury. Memento, this is Blackwing,” she introduced the pegasi to each other, a hint of disappointment in her voice. “Memento told us she saw you visiting Miss Vial in the middle of the night yesterday as well as breaking into the town hall tonight,” she addressed Blackwing. “She says you two are plotting something against the mayor.”
“I saw you flying to Miss Vial’s house, but I thought it was rather harmless. Tonight however, when I saw what you did, I decided to act,” Memento explained indifferently.
“It was you! You were eavesdropping under my window and sitting on my petunias!” Crystal cut in, but Memento ignored her.
Blackwing was stunned. “You were following me? But...” Usually, he was the one to sneak behind somepony’s back, to follow others, unaware of his presence. “...uh, never mind. Look, if you were there under Crystal’s window, you know what’s going on. I explained everything back then.”
For the first time something like a blush crossed Memento’s face. “Umm, I...” She looked down at the table. “You were talking for quite a long time. I might have fallen asleep for a while.”
“On my flowerbeds,” Crystal mumbled, irritated.
Blackwing sighed. “I guess it’s time to tell you all the whole truth then. I’ll try to make it as short and clear as possible.” He cleared his throat and threw the siblings a very serious look. “Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once. There is a lost artifact called ‘The Steam Key’. We don’t know what it does, but according to Princess Luna it could be a threat to all of Equestria. It may or may not be in Shadington and that’s why I was sent here from Canterlot. It’s a secret mission, so I couldn’t tell you the truth right away.” He looked at his hosts and to his satisfaction, noticed more interest than distrust in their expressions. “The wizard who had created the Steam Key, known as Steamwand, is believed to have been the first mayor of this town.”
Memento, for a change, seemed interested. Well, it wasn’t too apparent, but slightly visible. It was because of the name. Steamwand – she had heard that name before; or had she seen it somewhere?
“You sure ‘bout that?” Tankard seemed less sleepy than before. He even took out his pipe and started to smoke, observing all the guests very closely.
“Ninety-nine percent sure and now, after a visit to the archives, I know how to confirm that. But I’ll get to it later.” An inscrutable smile crossed Blackwing’s face. It seemed that the locals believed him, and even Memento Maury didn’t look very skeptical. Truth, it’s risky, but it works – two out of three times. “Crystal Vial had been trying to find some information about Shadington’s history, but the current mayor has prevented her from finding anything about Steamwand. I’ve looked myself and almost everything about the first mayor and his times have been removed.”
Crystal blinked and turned to Blackwing. “Wait, almost everything?”
He gave her a smug smile. “Steamhorn overlooked something: a couple of issues of the local newspaper. There were a few articles about Steamwand’s death of very old age and his funeral.”
“Yes!” Memento shouted, ecstatic as she finally remembered. Everypony else looked at her with confusion. “I was sure I knew that name but I couldn’t remember where from. Now I know. Steamwand’s tomb is one of the biggest in the old cemetery.” She paused for a second remembering something else. “And I think I saw somepony hanging around there this morning.”
Blackwing and Crystal exchanged quick looks. “It must have been Steamhorn,” she said, a worried expression crossing her face.
“We must find what he was looking for,” Blackwing stated firmly and stood up.
“What, now?” Coldie raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you wait ‘till morning?”
“No time to lose,” he answered and headed towards the door. Crystal followed him.
“I’m going too,” Memento stated indifferently. “I’ll show you the way.”
Blackwing sighed and shrugged. “Whatever.” He was still a bit angry with Memento and her assumptions.
“Wait a minute.” Coldie disappeared behind a kitchen door for moment. She returned with something that looked like a wide, steel pipe with a wooden butt and a flintlock. “Now I’m ready.” Tankard, Blackwing and Crystal gave her questioning looks. “What? It’s a shotgun. It shoots pins.”
Blackwing wasn’t even trying to stop her. Coldie seemed very serious and determined. Besides, she was armed.
“You’re going too? With this?” Crystal asked, unsure if the younger mare was serious.
“Of course. No holding secrets from me anymore. Tank—”
“No sis’. You’re not going anywhere in the middle of the night. Not without me.” Tank was very serious and Cold Pint couldn’t oppose the huge stallion. Blackwing just rolled his eyes.
“But Sprocket—”
“Will be asleep ‘till mornin’. But you can stay and guard him if you wanna,” Tank replied. “Besides, he’s not a lil’ foal anymore.”
Blackwing sighed. He didn’t like the idea of having company at all, with the exception of Cameron. While the siblings discussed who should go and who shouldn’t, he walked upstairs to his room. He took the chameleon with him, stopped by Sprocket’s bedroom and listened for a few seconds. When he heard a quiet snoring, Blackwing returned to the dining room.
“The colt is asleep. Leave him here or stay at home, both of you.” He addressed the siblings. “I don’t want to waste any more time.”
Tank and Coldie both wanted to go so they agreed to leave the sleeping Sprocket. The next day was Sunday and the colt was likely to sleep in anyways. Just in case, Coldie left the lamps in the dining room lit and put some cookies and milk on the table. Soon, the procession led by Memento headed from the siblings’ house, through the empty streets, and towards the edge of the forest.
- - - - -
Moonlight poured through the tall windows of the hallway as a Night Guard opened the door to Luna’s studies for Twilight Sparkle and Spike. The teenage dragon, almost as tall as the unicorn, was carrying a stack of over a dozen of books. When they entered, they passed by mountains of thick tomes and folders of notes.
“Gee, Twilight. You didn’t have to bring your own books. Looks like she’s got enough of her own.” Spike breathed heavily under the weight of his load.
“It’s not about the quantity Spike,” Twilight answered.
“It is to me,” he grumbled as they entered Luna’s living room.
The princess was snoring quietly as she laid on her desk next to an empty mug. Luna was surrounded by candles, notes and books; the room was almost literally swimming in paper.
Twilight coughed in attempt to wake her up. “Ehk, Your highness?”
“Wha-what?” Luna said as she was startled from her sleep. She jumped and knocked over the empty mug as she looked around and noticed her guests. “Oh. Good evening Twilight Sparkle, good evening Spike. Forgive me; I haven’t had much sleep as of late.”
“Figures,” Spike whispered to Twilight.
“Spike!” she scolded him in similar whisper. Then she addressed Luna. “Your highness, we came as fast as we could.”
“Yes, I appreciate it very much.” Luna smiled at Twilight, but her smile was interrupted by a big yawn. She covered her muzzle with a hoof for a second. “Oh, and you know that you, of all ponies, can call me by my name, Twilight.”
Twilight Sparkle smiled back. “Yes, I know Luna.”
Luna gave her forelegs a stretch and made her way through the piles of books and notes towards her guests. “You will have to forgive me for the mess as well.”
“I’m sure my number one assistant will take care of it.” Twilight grinned, while Spike, obviously unhappy about the perspective, grumbled something under his breath.
“That’s very nice of you. Tell me Twilight; are you familiar with the subject of our research?” As she spoke, Luna levitated the stack of books from Spike’s hands to her desk to the dragon’s relief.
The unicorn nodded eagerly. “Machine magic. I’ve read a thing or two. We’ll be focusing on ‘Steamwand’, right?”
“Yes. My latest findings indicate that he had been experimenting with some variations of the spontaneous animation spell.”
Twilight frowned. “Oh. That was prohibited even in his times.” She brightened up. “I remember a book I read a couple of years ago about that.”
- - - - -
They walked through the woods for a while before they reached a big clearing. It was rather bright, despite the late hour; the moon was shining and the night sky was clear. The graveyard was surrounded by the rusty remains of an iron fence. They could spot a few dozen tombstones and sepulchers, some small and destroyed, others big and magnificent, despite the moss trying to cover everything in sight. The most frightening things in the cemetery were the stone statues of ponies on some of the tombs - tall dreadful figures, centuries old, often crippled, missing a limb, a wing or a head; they gazed at their visitors with their blind eyes.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Memento Maury commented.
“Gives me shivers,” Cold Pint responded. She still felt insecure despite the shotgun and supply of pins in her saddlebags.
“Which one is Steamwand’s?” Crystal Vial asked Memento.
For the first time, perhaps because of the circumstances, Memento smiled. She led the group to a large tomb, maybe the biggest of all on the graveyard, at least among those that were still intact. It wasn’t as damaged, as if some spell had made it more durable than the others. Its rectangular base was almost two meters tall, with four columns set at each corner. On top was a tall statue of some alicorn mare, standing on her hind legs, with a pair of very large wings reaching forward, as if she was trying to put them together in front of her. Between the two front columns was an epitaph. All five ponies approached it and read the inscription.
To wander the Elysian Fields
Few ponies are allowed,
Only the wise and courageous
Will get to the other side.
To cross the river with heroes
Just spread thy wings and fly.
Here lies Steamwand,
The visionary, the inventor,
The mayor of Shadington.
“That confirms it,” Blackwing mumbled to himself.
“Yeah... what’s with the poem though?” Coldie asked as she scratched a hoof against her forehead.
“It’s an old verse, one traditionally placed on pegasi tombs. It originates from the period before the founding of Equestria. The pegasi were a tribe of warriors and they believed that the greatest among them were permitted to live after death in the Elysian Fields. This inscription was supposed to help the spirit ascend like the greatest of heroes and get there.” Blackwing explained and Crystal nodded in agreement.
“Then something’s wrong,” Memento stated indifferently.
“What do you mean?” Crystal asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You said that this Steamwand was a wizard, so he must have been a unicorn. He couldn’t have had wings.” Memento answered.
“Well, it could be a metaphor.” Crystal shrugged.
“Or not.” Blackwing was closely inspecting the epitaph again. “There’s no date of death. Suspicious.”
“What do you mean?” Coldie asked as the two earth ponies and the unicorn looked at him with interest and anxiety.
“It may or may not be a riddle.” He leaped in the air to look at the tomb from above. “Somepony, maybe even mayor Steamhorn himself, was here lately. Since I don’t see any flowers or candles, I don’t think he was simply visiting. He must have been looking for something.” Blackwing landed next to Coldie. “And I’m going to find out what and why.”
“Starting with this ‘riddle’?” Crystal asked as he nodded. “Well, if it’s really a riddle, let’s figure it out together. Five heads are better than one, right?” She gave the others a hopeful glance.
There was still some distrust in their little group, but eventually they all agreed to try and look for clues, even the skeptical Memento. She and Blackwing flew around looking for anything unusual around the tomb. Cold Pint walked around it, pushing every stone block on its walls, looking for some hidden switch. Crystal examined the epitaph and Tankard simply sat in front of the tomb, staring up at the intimidating, blind-eyed statue. After about fifteen minutes of staring, a thought struck him.
“Eh, sham,” he addressed Blackwing, who stopped mid-air and turned around to him.
“What?”
“You could just try to do what the poem says.” Tankard kept looking the statue in the eyes. “You know, ‘spread thy wings and fly’.”
Both pegasi stared at him blankly and flapped their wings harder.
“Not yours.” He pointed a hoof towards the statue. “Hers.”
“But that’s just a stone stat-” Blackwing wanted to respond, but the same thought struck him. “Oh. Tank, you’re brilliant,” he said smiling widely at Tankard. “But I will need your help. And Memento’s too.”
The pegasi helped Tankard climb onto the top of the tomb. He reached out and started pulling one of the statue’s wings, while Memento and Blackwing did the same to the other. Nothing happened at first, but soon the stone wings finally started to move. Slowly, the three ponies managed to set them in a spread-out position. Once set, they heard a noise, like the sound of chain being pulled and gearwheels turning.
“Look, the wall!” Coldie exclaimed. She’d been standing behind the tomb and now stared at its back wall. The others joined her to watch as it sank into the ground, revealing the tomb’s interior.
Blackwing, used to such things as he was, trotted inside merrily as the rest anxiously followed. It was dark inside and their steps were silenced by a thick layer of dust covering the stone floor. In the darkness ahead, Blackwing could’ve sworn he heard a faint sound of a ticking clock.
“Aw golly. I should’ve taken some lamp instead of the shotgun,” Coldie grumbled. A second later a faint green light illuminated her unhappy expression. It was Crystal, who put her magic to work and gave them some light from her horn. “That’s better, thank you.”
“It’s still dark,” Memento stated as she glanced around her. “Not like there's anything to actually see here.”
“Indeed,” Blackwing agreed with her. Truthfully, the big tomb was completely empty, except for some carvings on the walls. “No coffins, no skeletal remains, no nothing. What a disappointment.”
“I, for one, feel perfectly content with no skeletal remains around—” Coldie was interrupted by a loud noise of stone rubbing against stone. They all glanced behind just in time to see the exit close before anypony could even make a move.
“If you complained about the lack of corpses, now we’ll have a perfect opportunity to raise the body count,” Memento addressed Blackwing.
He frowned as he looked at the wall, where the entrance had been just a moment ago. Coldie seemed very scared, almost trembling with fear. Her brother approached the wall and tried to move it. Despite the immense strength Tank possessed, his attempts were in vain. The wall stood there like it had never been made to move.
“It’s not possible for a heavy stone wall like this one to move so quickly,” Crystal stated, a frown crossing her face. “There must have been some magic at work.”
“You think that somepony could…” Tank addressed her, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Give me a moment,” Crystal replied curtly in a way that suggested a massive amount of thoughts were crossing her mind at once.
She approached one of the walls and directed her light at the carvings. They could see that it was some kind of writing. Also, the stones with the carvings seemed different from the rest of the blocks composing the tomb. Crystal closed her eyes and put a hoof on a carved inscription.
“These are old; very, very old; much older than this place. Somepony must had found them and brought them here. Let me try something.” The green light disappeared and the five ponies found themselves in complete darkness. Then, they saw a faint flash from Crystal’s horn and all the carvings around glowed with a faint blue light. “Runes: Ancient magic. They were placed here to seal the tomb in case of trespass.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If these are some kind of guardian runes, then what are they guarding? This tomb is empty.” Blackwing had learned about runes years ago and he was trying hard to recall this knowledge. “Who would purposely take the trouble to bring ancient runes here when there’s nothing to guard.”
“I… I don’t know.” The runes stopped to glow and Crystal once again illuminated the tomb’s interior with a green light from her horn. “Maybe the tomb had been prepared for storing somepony or something but it was never placed here—”
They all heard the loud noise of the stone blocks moving and gearwheels turning. The ponies all glanced around, afraid of any more unpleasant surprises the tomb could hold for them. Then, faint moonlight started pouring inside as they saw that the entrance was once again opening. They all approached it and waited for the wall to sink into the floor, just to see the familiar red unicorn colt standing on the other side. Sprocket gave them a nervous smile.
“Sprocket!” Coldie jumped to hug him while the others just stared, their mouths agape. “It was you? You rescued us?”
“Yeah…” He seemed very nervous. “Just please, please don’t tell me dad! I’ve heard you were going on some adventure and I just couldn’t fall asleep again.”
Coldie hugged him tighter, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s okay. You saved us. We coulda all died in there without yer help.”
“We’d manage,” Blackwing mumbled under his nose.
“Wait. What actually did you do? Tell me.” Crystal approached Sprocket and eyed him very closely.
“I came here and hid behind that tombstone,” he pointed one of the graves. He was obviously a bit afraid of Crystal. She noticed that and it made her expression soften. “When I saw the tomb closing, I wanted to rush and help you but… I was afraid… afraid of ghosts.” He sniffed, as his eyes began to wet.
Crystal smiled at him. “Oh dear, there are no ghosts here. We checked.” Tank and Blackwing nodded in agreement. “There’s nothing to be afraid of now.”
“B-but I’ve seen one! He appeared out of nowhere,” Sprocket pointed a hoof in a direction of a couple of big tombs. “He stood there and watched you. He had a long cape with a hood. I had to wait ‘til he went away.”
Crystal and Blackwing exchanged serious looks. “I see. You’re a very brave colt. And what did you do later?” she asked.
Sprocket brightened up a bit. “The mechanism seemed simple enough, I just made the wings move like you did and it opened.”
“Of… course…” Crystal processed his statement with a blank expression on her face while the siblings hugged Sprocket and Blackwing tapped him on the back with appreciation.
- - - - -
A gentle prod in her side woke Princess Luna up. She squinted as bright rays of sunlight poured through windows to lay on her face. It was morning.
“Morning!?” Luna exclaimed as she jumped, almost knocking down Twilight Sparkle who had just woken her. “But I didn’t lower the moon!”
“About that, Princess Celestia was here a couple of hours ago. When she saw how tired you were, she decided to lower the moon herself so you could sleep some more. She’s really concerned about your condition, Luna,” Twilight explained.
“That’s nice of her,” Luna said as she suppressed a yawn. She blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes. “It’s awful that this research is interfering with my royal duties like this. But I simply cannot stop working, not when we have no real clues about what we’re dealing with. I hate feeling useless.” The last sentence was quieter and a little bitter.
“Then you’ll be happy to hear that we finally have some actual information. That’s why I woke you up,” Twilight said as she grinned at Luna. She looked tired as well, but not half as tired as the princess. “There’s an interesting bit about Steamhorn in those archives from Fillydelphia.”
“Steamhorn? Really?” Luna enlivened a bit.
“He was an engineer and inventor. And he died in Fillydelphia, more than twenty years ago.”
“Now that really is interesting.” Luna put a hoof to her chin as she glanced somewhere outside the window.
“There’s more. It seems very possible that he was a descendant of Steamwand. I’m still working on it, but he may have also been related to some other infamous unicorns.”
“Blackwing must be informed right away,” Luna said as she stomped a hoof with determination. It woke up Spike, who’d been snoring quietly on the sofa until then.
“Oh, I forgot to mention.” Twilight levitated a familiar scroll with a dark blue ribbon in front of Luna. “You’ve got mail.”
- - - - -
Crystal Vial had just finished preparing her meal. Early afternoon was pretty late for a breakfast, but she didn’t care. She had allowed herself the luxury of sleeping in on Sunday after the previous night’s escapade. She had woken up around midday in a surprisingly good mood considering the disturbing events she had witnessed not so long before. She realized that it wasn’t caused by the possibility of terrible death in that tomb, but by the fact that, despite potential dangers, finally something interesting was taking place in Shadington; in her life.
Crystal put her plate and a cup of coffee on a wooden tray and levitated it in front of her as she left the kitchen. As she entered the living room, only her supreme skills in levitation saved the meal from a crash landing on the carpet as she halted in surprise.
“Hello there,” Blackwing greeted her as he chuckled at her surprised expression.
“You startled me. I don’t remember letting you in,” Crystal said. She regained her composure quickly and took a place at the wooden coffee table. The tray landed on it with a quiet knock.
“I entered through the window in the back. I didn’t want anypony to notice me coming here,” he explained patiently.
“Fine, just don’t make a habit out of it. Do you want something to drink?” Crystal asked as she reached for her cup with her magic.
“No, thank you. I just dropped by to share some news with you,” Blackwing said as he smiled at her mysteriously. “This morning I received a letter from Princess Luna. She found out that engineer Steamhorn lived in Fillydelphia and he passed away over two decades ago.”
“Oh.” Crystal lowered her cup, a blank expression on her face. “That can’t be good.”
“Depends on the point of view. It’s a useful piece of information about your mayor, something we lacked on lately.” Blackwing seemed certainly happier about it than she was.
“I see more new questions than answers,” Crystal said as she frowned into her coffee cup.
“Yes. That’s why I’ve decided to pay him a visit,” he said as he grinned at her. “Tell me, is Steamhorn married? Or does he have any family here in Shadington?”
Crystal raised an eyebrow. She observed Blackwing for a moment before she answered. “No. He lives alone.”
“Good. Then if he really is in Balefast, he shouldn’t be at home right now,” Blackwing stated. He got up and trotted merrily towards the door.
“So you’re just going to go to his house, knock at the door and say hello?” Crystal asked, a slight hint of disbelief in her voice.
“No,” Blackwing answered as he turned to her in the door. “You should know by now, that’s not the way I handle things.”
- - - - -
Coldie had explained to Blackwing the location of Steamhorn’s house. It wasn’t hard to find: an old, recently renovated building by the end of Dockers’ Street, the main street of Shadington that led from the old docks through the town square on towards the Everfree forest. The house was situated near the edge of it, not so far from the abandoned graveyard, as Blackwing had noticed.
As he approached the house, he dove into a tight cross street. He snuck to the back of the building. The yard in the back was surrounded with a tall wooden fence but Blackwing noticed a small window in the loft had been left open. He made sure that nopony was watching and he flew up to the roof. After a cautious peek inside, he squeezed himself through the window.
Blackwing found himself in a dusty old attic. It was full of old, shabby furniture, with about a half dozen rolled carpets, some paintings, and a number of various boxes filled with Celestia knows what. In the middle of the room there was a large wooden hatch in the floor. Blackwing approached it and laid down to put an ear to the wooden boards. He remained in this position for good ten minutes as he listened carefully. Convinced that there was nopony below, he lifted the hatch a couple of inches. Cameron crawled from under Blackwing's cape and squeezed himself through the slot. He waited another fifteen minutes until the chameleon returned. He gave Blackwing a gesture he recognized as a lizard version of thumb-up, which usually meant 'clear'. Blackwing opened the hatch carefully and walked downstairs.
As he looked around the place, he found a bathroom, a study, and a bedroom on that floor. The bedroom seemed the most intriguing, as there where two beds, two bedside cabinets and two chests of clothes inside. Blackwing browsed through the clothes and he deducted, that both inhabitants of this room were tall, slender stallions and apparently not pegasi, as there were no holes for wings in shirts, jackets, or overcoats he found. After examining the bedroom Blackwing went to the study. The walls were covered with bookshelves top to bottom. He could only guess that some of the numerous books had been borrowed from the town archives. There was only one desk in the room, but it was very wide and there were two chairs on its opposite sides. There were books on the desk as well, some of them Blackwing recognized as historic publications, others were about arcane arts, but one of them stood out. It was smaller and more worn than the others. When he took a closer look, he understood that it was some kind of a dairy or a notebook. He opened it to the last written page, where there were just a couple of sentences written. The letters were beautiful, a calligrapher's work, no doubt a unicorn.
"...the key to the City gate is probably at the end of the tunnel, however we can't be sure. The trick is to enter the tunnels, as one entrance is closed somehow and the other is still hidden somewhere below. However it is possible, that we are close to finding it."
Blackwing gasped, as he read the notes. Not only had he found evidence that 'Steamhorn' was apparently looking for the Key, but also a possible explanation on why the Steamwand's tomb was empty.
It never was a tomb.
Blackwing's ears twitched; footsteps echoed downstairs. Apparently the house wasn't empty like he thought. He set the notebook down and opened the window. This time he had even had enough time to close it behind him before he flew away.