Revelations of the past
Chapter I: The Royal Archives (Prologue)
Twilight hummed to herself as she walked along the stony pathway that led up to the gates of the Palace. On her back was her saddle bags almost bursting out with an assortment of quills, ink pots, blank scrolls and note books. She was also carrying another bag that contained a packed lunch made for her by Spike, Twilight had made this trip before, and to Spike it was simply like any other excursion to Canterlot.
Twilight was planning to stay in Canterlot with her brother and sister in law for a couple of days to do some research in the Royal Archives, which was the largest collection of information regarding everything known in Equestria. Spike had asked her the first time when she made the trip why she was going with all the equipment she packed if it was just to see her sibling; she had simply said to him each time that it was just to visit her brother. In more recent times when Spike had asked again she replied that she was also visiting Cadence, who had just returned to Canterlot from her honeymoon with Shining, and wanted to be ready for anything. She continued to give excuses like these avoiding giving Spike a proper answer
Spike would give up after continually getting the same reply and would leave her to it; her friends knew about her visits to Canterlot as Twilight would ask them to keep an eye on Spike, Owlicious and the library while she was gone. Unlike Spike they hadn’t questioned why she would over pack each time, simply accepting her unusually packing as just normal Twilight. The only one who knew what she was doing was Fluttershy; Twilight had been visiting Fluttershy on and off in the following months when she had been Lost within the Everfree forest. She had been taking notes and asking questions about her saviour, the human mage Grendel Emeric and of his world. Each time she had made the trip she did stay with her brother and sister in law but she spent a considerable amount of her free time there in the Archives researching anything she could find on humans, sadly however each time the trip had been unfruitful.
Some ponies would give up after doing this routine after a year or so but not Twilight; even though she couldn’t find anything each time she had still found some interesting things within the Archives. From time to time if the Princesses were around she would ask them if they knew of any books or tomes that may contain the information she desired, sadly though they didn’t. She got the feeling that they were hiding something, but it didn’t deter her though, she knew the Archives were far too large for the Princesses to possibly know every book and tome in there.
“Back again Miss Sparkle?” The guard at the gate smiled at her.
“That’s right Sergeant.” Twilight replied smiling.
The guard had gotten used to Twilight’s trips to Canterlot and enjoyed the small conversations she had with him, it was nice to have somepony to talk to when you were on guard duty. After their conversation the guard opened the gate and the two bid farewell to one another, Twilight continued up the path and into the Palace, she decided that she would go and see if Princess Celestia was around before greeting her siblings. Heading up to the main throne room passing by the familiar faces of guards and servants, the one who was guarding the door frowned slightly as she approached him.
“I’m sorry Miss Sparkle, if you were planning on visiting the Princess today I’m afraid she’s away on business in Manehattan at the moment.”
Twilight frowned at this but smiled back at the guard and thanked him for telling her.
’Oh well, I can still go see Cadence and Shining’ She thought to herself as she left to go find the two.
She thanked the guard once more and headed off down the hall, she wasn’t downhearted about the Princess not being there after all, she was the Princess. Turning a corner she smiled seeing a familiar stallion that was with two guards seeming to be issuing orders, he stopped when he saw Twilight and grinned dismissing the other two before quickly trotting over to her and giving her an affectionate hug.
“Hey Twily.”
“Hey Shiny.” She replied with a giggle returning the hug.
“Back again for another research trip?”
“Mhm.”
“Gee and here’s me thinking you’re here to actually see me and Cadence.” Shining said with a goofy pout.
Twilight giggled and playfully pushed him with her hoof as he let out a chuckle.
“Oh shush, you know I’m only here to visit you out of pity.”
“Pity eh?” Shining grinned as he pulled her into a playful headlock. “I’ll show you pity!”
Twilight giggled as he began to gently ruffle her mane shouting protests in between her giggles, she felt Shinning suddenly stop and saw him levitating above her slightly confused. He then let out a surprised yelp as his mane suddenly started to ruffle itself.
“Pick on somepony your own size.” A female voice giggled.
Twilight turned to see Princess Cadence step out of a nearby room her horn glowing, they both giggled as Shining was gently placed back on the ground grumbling and trying to sort his mane out.
“Cadence!” Twilight cried running up to the alicorn.
Cadence smiled and embraced her little sister, the three set off to let Twilight place her belongings in the room she would be sleeping in. The three sat down for a cup of tea and to chat about how each of them were doing. Being the first time she had seen them since returning from their honeymoon she began asking them all about it and if they had fun, naturally the two had to shy away from some of the more…explicit things that had taken place during their honeymoon. They showed Twilight several photographs including one of Shining being buried in the sand up to his head, Twilight had found it most amusing to see the next photo with Cadence evilly sticking a freezing cold ice cream on Shining’s head. The two mares began to laugh as a disgruntled looking Shining scowled at the two who only began to giggle more, they settled down when a knock on the door gained their attention.
“Enter.” Shining called out.
A Pegasus guard entered and gave a salute to Shining who in return have a salute back, Shining motioned for the guard to be at ease and then allowed him to speak.
“Message from the Princess Captain, she wishes for you and Princess Cadence to join her in Manehattan as soon as possible.”
Shining nodded as the guard turned and left before frowning with a sigh.
“Sorry Twily-” he began.
“It’s ok Shiny, I can always see you two tomorrow anyway and besides. I have some research to be doing.” Twilight smiled up at him.
“We’ll make sure to make time for a dinner together when we get back, Ok Twilight?” Cadence said nuzzling her gently.
“Ok, take care you two.”
Twilight gave the two another hug as they left to get ready to depart for Manehattan, Twilight was a little upset that she had only spent a small portion of the morning with them and would have to wait till tomorrow. But she knew that being Royalty and the Captain of the guard sometimes meant things would crop up; smiling as she waved them off in their carriage she trotted back to her room and began to check she had everything she needed for her researching.
“Ok let’s see…quills? Check…blank scrolls? Check” she muttered to herself as she levitating the mentioned items into the air.
Satisfied she had everything, she re-equipped her saddle bags and headed off towards the Royal Archives, the part of the Archives she needed to get to wasn’t located in the normal wing where she had once gone to as a filly. No the place she was going to today was the last wing she needed to fully explore that had gone neglected by her in the past couple of years, The Discordian Era wing. To most ponies who knew their history this was the time when Discord, the embodiment of chaos itself, ruled Equestria before being defeated by the two Princesses as well as the years that followed.
The wing however also contained details about the Crystal Empire and its harsh ruled King Sombra who rose to power some point during the era, which lasted until the Equestrian Reneighssance. As she descended the winding stairs that led to the wing, she passed by a mare balancing several books on her back and levitating a few more beside her. She smiled when she saw Twilight coming.
“Oh hello Miss Sparkle, what brings you all the way down here?”
“Hello Feather Scroll.” She replied. “I’m just doing my research again.”
“Ah I see, well the head scribe is in the wing today so if you need any help give him a shout.” Feather Scroll replied as she headed up the stairs past Twilight.
Twilight thanked her and headed towards the wings large doors, with a strong push the doors opened with a loud creak and groan. She slowly entered looking around the wing at taking in the sheer amount of books that were before her, she had seen the sheer amount before in all of the others wings but every time she came to a new wing. Her reaction remained the same. A chesty chuckle followed by a cough brought her out of her trance like state.
“Well, well, well, back again eh Miss Sparkle?”
Twilight turned round to see the desk with a very elderly looking unicorn stallion sitting down smiling at her at a desk, his coat was a light grey and he had a pure white mane. His large circle spectacles comfortably sat upon his nose as he shakily and slowly got up and walked over to her, giving her a cheeky grin which one would normally see on a young colt.
“Back again for more research on this mysterious creature? The one you never tell me about?” Quill Pen grinned as Twilight giggled slightly embarrassed.
“Yes I am Quill Pen.” She replied with a smile.
“Well then, would you like any help?”
“No thank you, I should be ok…” she trailed off; she had never truly told Quill Pen over the years what it was she was actually looking for, so she decided to ask him. “But I was wondering, do you have any books on a creature called ‘human’.”
Twilight was surprised to see Quill Pen’s cock his eyebrow.
“Oh? And why do you wish to know about these, ‘humans’ as you call them?”
“Well…It’s a long story; let’s just say I know a friend who claims she saw one.” She replied rubbing her leg with a hoof.
“Is that the reason why you have been coming here to the Archives all this time?” he asked with his brow still cocked.
“Yes it has been…I would have said to you earlier but I know the notion sounds silly and with what-“ She was interrupted by Quill Pen giving a soft chuckle.
“My dear Twilight…how long have we known each other?”
“Since I was a filly but-“
“And have I ever considered you to be ‘silly’?”
“Well no but-“
“Then it is not a silly notion.” He smiled.
Twilight smiled back and was about to ask him if he did in fact have any books before he raised his hoof slowly stopping her.
“However regarding any books on ‘humans’…”he stopped to look around, there were a couple of other ponies there as well as a couple of guards. He let a smile creep across his face as he leant over and whispered into Twilight’s ear. “Follow me.”
Twilight blinked a couple of times as she watched him slowly walk away, however her curiosity was at an all-time high and she began to follow him. They walked deeper and deeper into the wing, walking past several bookshelves containing books that seemed to age more and more as they progressed deeper into the wing. They eventually came to a wall right near the back of the wing and Quill Pen looked around before walking to the left and pulling on a torch that was fixed to the wall. Twilight heard a mechanical whirring sound and stepped back, slightly confused. She gasped as a small doorway opened inwards into the wall revealing a small dimly lit corridor, Quill Pen entered and she quietly followed. She looked back to see the door closing again with a soft groan, she was a little unsure what was going on but was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of Quill Pen coughing.
Quill Pen opened the door at the end of the corridor revealing a surprisingly well lit room; inside Twilight saw there were three tables which had an old map of Equestria on it. From looking at it she deduced it was drawn up from towards the end of the Discordian Era, looking around more she noticed a glass cabinet in the centre of the room. Inside resting on a fine purple silk cloth was a fairly large tome, from the look of it she could tell it was old, really old. The cover was a plain light brown with a simple title written on the cover.
“Revelations of the Past?” she said to herself.
“Yes.” Quill Pen said. “It was written by my ancestor, Ink Quill. Around the time the Discord era ended.”
Twilight didn’t respond, she merely nodded not taking her eyes of the tome as Quill Pen continued.
“When the Princesses first begun to rule Equestria, they had many ponies who had a passion for the pursuit of knowledge hired as Royal Scribes. Much like I am one today as well as many others, now, the modern day scribes tend to keep an eye on the Archives. Making sure all the textures are kept in good order and what not but back then, there was so much that wasn’t recorded due to the chaos Discord had caused.”
Quill Pen walked over to the cabinet and smiled to Twilight before continuing.
“When Ink Quill became a scribe, Discord had already been defeated and peace and harmony was slowly being restored to Equestria. This is where the scribes began to start the proper accounting of the world’s knowledge and begun to store it in what later became the Royal Archives. As you know far to the north in the Crystal Empire its ruler, King Sombra had been mistreating his subjects for many years and the Princesses decided to free them and restore peace to the Empire.”
Twilight nodded, she knew the story as did anyone who had read a history book. King Sombra was defeated by the Elements of Harmony wielded by the two Princesses.
“Well, that story is wrong.” Quill Pen said turning to her.
Twilight tilted her head confused.
“I’m sorry…did you just say that…the story is wrong?”
“Indeed I did Miss Sparkle.”
“But how I-“she was interrupted by another raised hoof from Quill Pen.
“Originally King Sombra never ruled the Empire from the start; he ruled a kingdom that was further to the north in the mountains. He had planned to invade the Empire but was hesitant because he knew of the Elements power and was afraid of a quick defeat, so he did something nopony would ever believe possible.”
Quill Pen turned back to the tome, pausing for a moment before turning his gaze back to Twilight who was staring at him hanging on to his every word.
“But I’m sure you’d like to read it for yourself.” He smiled as he opened the lid of the cabinet.
Twilight was at a loss for words, she couldn’t truly believe that this tome, the only one of its kinda had the only true knowledge of what happened in the Crystal Empire. She looked up at Quill Pen her face etched with questions, questions he had the answers to.
“But…but does the Princess-“
“She’s aware of the books existence, she and Luna along with everyone in my family who have run the Archives since Ink Quill know of it. It’s a guarded secret we keep.”
“But why? Why doesn’t any other pony know about it? Why lie and keep it at all!” she replied a hint of annoyance and betrayal in her voice.
“Because the Princesses made a promise, she promised to a certain friend of hers she would not reveal the real truth of King Sombra and the Crystal Empire for the sake of Equestria’s safety. But they asked Ink Quill to write this tome as a simple way of remembering their friend’s great deed.”
“But wouldn’t other ponies have written things down?” Twilight asked.
“Ah, that was her first problem. However Celestia cast a spell that over the years made the ponies of Equestria forget the original version and supplemented the one you know now, save for a few.”
Twilight frowned at this; she didn’t particularly take it well that not only had the Princesses lied to all of the ponies in Equestria. But they hadn’t trusted her with the secret either.
“I can sense you feel betrayed a little?”
Twilight simply nodded as Quill Pen chuckled at her.
“When my father retired and I became the head scribe of the archives, Princess Celestia came to visit me. She and along with my father told me all about the tome and its room and why it was there, at first like you I was sceptical but when I myself read it. I could understand her reasons.”
He placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder and smiled.
“She came to me one day after your fifth visit to the archives and said to me, if I saw you were truly serious about your research into humans. You would be allowed to see this tome.”
“But it’s been nearly two years Quill Pen! I’ve been very serious about my research, why has it taken this long?” Twilight asked him a little annoyed.
“I…may have forgotten about it in my old age…” he replied giving a weak chuckle.
Twilight groaned and shook her head but couldn’t help but smile; Quill Pen began to leave the room and turned around before leaving Twilight in the room.
“Now, any further questions you need answering you can find within the book. If you need anything let me know, oh and Twilight.”
Twilight turned to face him.
“Please respect the Princesses’ wish and keep your knowledge of the tome a secret.”
“Of course Quill Pen…thank you.” Twilight smiled back at him.
Quill Pen smiled as he left her in the room, carefully opening the secret door and closing before returning to his desk. Twilight carefully levitated the book out of its display case and opened it up to the first page and began to read.
‘Revelations of the Past’
Chapter I
My name is Ink Quill, by Royal decree of Princess Celestia I have been tasked with the documentation of the event that has become known as ‘The Crystal War’ in this tome which I have named ‘Revelations of the Past’.
We begin with the arrival of a letter addressed to the two Princesses that had arrived from the most northern watch tower, regarding some reports about the mountains to the north of the Crystal Empire…