//------------------------------// // Ruins of History // Story: Echoes of the Old World // by Ultima75000 //------------------------------// Chapter 7: Ruins of History "Understand that everything has a reason, every reason has a purpose, every purpose has an action and every action has its consequences. Once you get that through your head you will realize that nothing is ever pointless; for good or ill." Neither Twilight nor Princess Luna spoke anymore on the event for the rest of day. Even between each other both ponies worried about the male winged unicorn's watchful eye. Princess Luna had retired to the Astronomy tower and stayed there for the majority of week. Twilight however had taken to search through the Canterlot Royal Library for anything that could remotely describe what she had seen. Memory shards, strange soldiers, captured ponies and who knows what else? Further and deeper Twilight searched the depths of library's history section. At the rate she was going, Twilight was going to empty all eight shelves full of books. Restless days and sleepless nights went by as security in Canterlot girdled up to an all time high. Shining Armor had guards on watch every hour on every corner of the city, even night watch with Princess Luna. But Princess Luna was doing her own research. High atop the Astronomy tower within Canterlot's observatory the Princess of the Night gazed endless at the track of stars that their guest had arrived from each night. Where did you come from? Princess Luna anxiously twitched her telescope in random directions seeking any anomaly in the night skies. And why did you come here? Why now? There was a soft knock on the door. "Luna?" The door opened as Princess Celestia made her way inside the observatory. "Luna dear you've spent the past four days up here. You have to get some rest." "Tia…" Luna said getting her older sister's attention as she continued looking through the telescope. "How can I sleep peacefully if I don't know what monsters are out there? Hiding, waiting…" "Sister we are well prepared for whatever comes. You are safe here." Princess Celestia said "I'm safe… but what about them!?" Luna snapped finally taking her gaze off the telescope "What about everyone outside of Canterlot?" "Luna I understand you're concerned but…" "Tia!" Luna began to rant almost manically "Concerned? Of course I am concerned!" "Luna!" Celestia gasped at the ferocity at her words "I saw it sister! I saw it with my own eyes! I felt it…!" Luna was gasping for air as she continued "You weren't there you didn't see it…!" "Luna please calm down!" Celestia cried looking upon her younger sister in horror "What did you see? Where did you go? Please help me understand." Princess Luna dropped to her knees still panting. "I… I don't know…" she muttered "It was… unreal. And yet…" "Luna." Celestia said to her younger sibling softly "Tell me everything." Back down at the library Twilight had finally pulled out the last book in the history section. "Zebra History" Twilight groaned dropping the book back on the shelf. No good… there's nothing here. Nothing! "I wish I knew what to look for!" Twilight screamed in the library surrounded by hundreds of books. "Twilight! You know better than to raise your voice in a library." Princess Cadance said walking over the pile of books. "Cadance! How did you know I was here?" Twilight said quickly trying to put back a dozen books back on their shelves. "You're almost always here. This has always been your favorite place to be; a library. My guess was confirmed when you started to scream at the top of your lungs." Cadance smiled picking up another book on the floor. "It's getting very late. Searching for something important?" "I've been trying to look up ancient history but I get nothing beyond a thousand years. How am I supposed to find out anything on history about more than a thousand years ago?" "Maybe you're looking at the wrong section." Cadance questioned picking up 'Everfree Forest: A Reference Guide' and briefly looking at it. "You tried the myths and legends section?" "Those don't have anything about the royal family. Most of them contradict each other and are theories rather than facts." Twilight grumbled with her head leaning on a reading table. "Well in theory if such an ancient king existed then he must have had left something behind." Cadance said putting down the book on the table next to Twilight. "Cadance, the most that researchers find are little more than ruins with barely any-"Twilight stopped herself "Wait a minute!" She turned her head towards 'Everfree Forest: A Reference Guide' and began to feverishly search through its pages. "Twilight?" Cadance asked looking puzzled at Twilight's sudden change of tone. "Ruins! That's it! The secrets lay in the ruins!" Twilight cried in delight "Cadance you're a genius! I love you!" She gave her a gigantic hug before returning to the pages. "What are you looking for now Twilight?" Cadance asked a bit flustered by the instantaneous hug "The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters." "What?" "The place where my friends and I first found the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight said "That castle… it must have once been Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's home! I can't believe I didn't see the connection! Royal pony sisters; it makes sense! Twilight was squealing so loud in excitement that one of the pegasus guards came in to inspect. "Is there anything wrong in here?" he asked observing the mess. "Oh I'm sorry…" Twilight said embarrassed about the untidiness of the place "I'll clean up this mess, I promise!" "Ok, just keep your voice down. This is a library." The guard answered before turning away. "Guess I got a bit carried away?" Twilight said blushing "You certainly did." Cadance said patting her sister in law on the back "Don't worry about it to much. Focus on what you're doing." "You're right." Twilight agreed turning her attention back to the book. Skimming through a majority of the Everfree Forest's creatures Twilight found very little notes on the ancient castle. As she went to other chapters all she found we're similar notations and no clear description of the site she was searching for. "Anything Twilight?" Cadance asked after watching the unicorn browse the same book for 5 straight minutes. "Nothing." Twilight said flipping all the pages again "The only thing I get is that it's in the forest. How and why it came to be there is still a complete mystery." "How did you find the castle in the first place?" Cadance asked "It was noted in the 'Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide'" Twilight said thinking back "But that book is all the way back in Ponyville's Library!" "Perhaps your friends can help us?" Cadance wondered "I'm sure they can bring the book here." Twilight thought about the idea. It wasn't a bad one, Canterlot was a little over a day away by train and she hadn't seen any of her friends or Spike for over a week. She had forgotten how much time had passed since she arrived. "That could work. But we need to ask Princess Celestia to send a message to Spike. But I don't want to disturb her right now." "Twilight you're her faithful student, she'll always make time for you. I'm sure with an issue like this she wouldn't even hesitate." Cadance assured her Twilight smiled at her old foal sitter and started to walk out of library. She stopped after taking on step and knocking over a small pillar of books. "Oops I did say I was going to clean this up." "Let me handle that, you go on to the Princess." Cadance said sending her off "I'll be back to help you as soon as I can!" Twilight said running straight out of the library passing the same guard who had inspected on them. "Sorry I'm in a hurry but the library will get cleaned up!" The guard didn't get to say much before Twilight ran out of view and for a moment he didn't know what to make of it. For a moment he thought he had just been duped, but against better judgment decided to let it go. His job was to guard the library, he wasn't the janitor. Twilight had to catch her breath after running nearly the entire length of the castle searching for the Princess. Following the sights and directions of the guards she finally arrived at the tall Astronomy Tower. Already out of breath she was loath to climb up the steps to the top observatory. Before she even started towards the stairs the doors opened to reveal a very tired Princess Luna. "Princess Luna? Are you alright?" Twilight asked "I am fine." Luna said rubbing her forehead underneath her horn "I just need to get some rest. I've been busy." "I can see, do you know where Princess Celestia is?" "Sister is taking over while I recuperate. She's up in the observatory." Twilight sighed. She really didn't want to go up those stairs "Thank you Princess. I might as well get started." For the longest amount of time the stood guard over the library door as Princess Cadance was reorganizing the library. He didn't question why as he was one who asked for it to be cleaned up. But he had asked Twilight, not Lady Cadance. His personal honor began to eat away as he heard the scuffling of books and hoof steps through the walls. A Princess should not be doing such labors. Finally after hearing several piles of book fall one after another he took off his helmet, placed it carefully along the side of the door and went inside. "Princess Cadenza" He said bowing towards the Princess "I can finish the job if you wish." "Oh thank you sir!" Cadance said putting down a huge stack of books that was nearly toppling over. She gave the guard a smile and a nod before leaving the library by herself. True to his word the guard went putting back every book he could find back on their shelves. One by one he flexed his wings working each tower of books layer by layer. It wasn't what he was expecting to do on a regular basis but still anything was better than regular guard duty. Guard duty wasn't the problem but the fact that he had been stationed to guard the library. Who'd break into a library? It certainly wasn't the greatest security issue to be appointed. He sighed as he started on the very last pile of books gliding in and out of the aisles. "Wish there was actually something special within these books." He said to himself. As he began to put the last two books back on the shelves he found there was only space for one more. That didn't make sense. Where did this book come from if the history section was already full? He looked at the title: 'Everfree Forest a Reference Guide' The guard shuddered at the thought of the forest. Last place he'd want to be. For a moment he stood there with the book in his hooves as the wind from the outside cast soft breezes through the balcony windows. As the short gusts flowed around his body his nose twitched and he sneezed; dropping the said book. "Excuse me…" he said wiping his nose and picking up the book sprawled face down on the floor. As he picked it up a single thin item fell out between its pages. The guard examined where the item fell out from. Turning the book on its side, a tiny trail of dust spilled out from its spine. A secret compartment! The guard gasped at his luck picking up the object that had fallen out from it. Taking both items to the reading table he carefully placed it on the flat surface alongside the book. The item was a long thin triangular pillar of crimson color no longer than 6 inches long and half an inch thick. In the glimmer of the moonlight looked like a giant blood red icicle. The guard didn't know what to make of it. It wasn't something you'd find in the spine of a book and he was no magic user. Yet he could tell this item was unnaturally magical. It hummed with it's own source of light barely illuminating it's clear insides. After gazing at the said item he finally realized that he'd left his helmet outside the library. Crap if the Captain found me without my helmet I'd be in trouble! He made his away through the aisles of books before turning left at the library doorway. To his surprise his helmet was not where he left it. "Ah crap! Where's my helmet?" he said looking around "This is not good, Captain going to find out for sure!" He looked up and down the hallway twice before giving up his search. His helmet had been on his head almost all day. He remembered taking it off before starting to clean up. Perhaps he left it somewhere closer in the library? Taking a deep breath and turning around he re-entered the library. Slowly he began to check the section he recently cleaned up. Maybe his helmet was somewhere in between the aisles? Several minutes later and he had still no luck in finding any trace of the helmet. What in the name of Princess Celestia did I do with that metal pot!? He thought to himself. He yawned before long as it was the middle of the night and he had spent majority of his watch cleaning the library than guarding it. Back at the table he thought. I'll find it in the morning when it's brighter in here, till then this little crystal wand goes to the vault. He pocketed the crystalline pillar and placed the book carefully standing up on the table before leaving and locking the library. As he finished locking the doors he turned around and found his helmet in the middle of the hallway. How in the- Never mind my shift is almost over better get the thing back on Then there was a sudden surge of pain at the back of his head and his vision went black. The attacker walked over his unconscious body and picked up the helmet. He began to laugh menacingly as he put the helmet on top of his own head. Back at the Astronomy Tower, Twilight had finally made her way to the top. Pushing the door open she found Princess Celestia using the large telescope in the center of the room. "Princess Celestia" Twilight said still panting from the climb "Twilight, still not asleep yet my faithful student?" She asked turning her attention to the unicorn "I'm sorry but I need you to sent Spike a message." Twilight asked bowing towards her "What is this about Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked stepping down from the telescope "I think I may be on to something but I need the Elements of Harmony book in the Ponyville Library. Plus I haven't seen or heard from my friends in a while." Twilight gave a tired and sad look on her face thinking about her friends back in Ponyville. Princess Celestia smiled at her student "Of course Twilight. I'll tell Spike first thing in the morning. Till then get some sleep." "Thank you Princess." Twilight said bowing once more and leaving the observatory. With Twilight gone Princess Celestia took out a writing quill and began inscribing the message she would send to Spike. Dear Spike I Princess Celestia of Equestria invite you and all of Twilight's friends to Canterlot. She misses all of you very much and it is in my best interest that she gets to see you all again very soon. Please bring the Elements of Harmony book from the Ponyville Library as Twilight requested. There will be six train tickets for Canterlot enclosed with this message. One for each you; including you Spike. Signed Princess Celestia Princess Celestia smiled to herself as she finished the letter. "Perhaps you'll discover what Luna and I could not my faithful student." Author's Notes Another filler chapter with some more in-depth plot to come as season 3 draws ever closer. This was slightly cobbled up last minute but I am quite proud of what I've designed for the future. Most likely the updates will stop at chapter 9 as I do feel I'm drawing it out and almost rather wait until the premiere episodes. I hope you readers are excited as I am. Till another chapter; see you later. Ultima75000