//------------------------------//
// - XIV - 
// Story: Solem Perditum 
// by PropMaster 
//------------------------------//


- XIV -







Luna nodded to Celestia. “Sister, I fear thou art out of time. The shadow approaches once more, and it is time to awaken.”

Celestia nodded. “Thank you, Luna. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m happy that thou are well, sister, and that is mine only concern. If Sombra was involved, there may be other dark magics at work. It seems odd that he would send thee to the moon, does it not?” asked Luna.

“I thought that too, but I haven’t really taken the time to consider it. I’ve been exploring these ruins,” Celestia explained.

“Indeed... I shall discuss this matter further with Twilight Sparkle and Cadance. Perhaps they will be able to offer further insight as to the nature of the spell that took you.” Luna smiled. “Thou should wake thineself up. Time grows short.”

Celestia nodded, and focused herself on awakening from the dream. After a few moments of intense focus, she felt a peculiar falling sensation.

Celestia opened her eyes. She was lying in the middle of the slab of rock in the center of the massive spell. She stood up slowly, sighing. “Nothing is ever easy, is it?” she murmured.

Stretching herself out, she shook out her mane and yawned, before cantering towards the edge of the circle. She began walking around the circumference of the flat plane, looking carefully. Her sister had left a trail, and she intended to follow it. Perhaps she would find more answers.

After several minutes of walking, a sigil on the corner of a nearby building reacted to her presence. A moon and star symbol with an arrow pointed her ahead, down the street and back into the twisting cityscape.

Celestia placed a hoof gently on the symbol, feeling the power of her sister’s magic, like a arcane fingerprint. It was comforting in its familiarity, and Celestia smiled softly, before trudging onward into the city once more.

Following the marks her sister left on the sides of buildings, she followed the trail for an hour as it meandered through the city, Luna’s path one of careful exploration. Celestia noted a new symbol alongside another direction marker. This one was of a sun, styled like her cutie mark, with an arrow pointing down.

Celestia bend down, examining the ground, and discovered that a tile of the road had been loosened. She lifted it with her magic, revealing a mirror secreted in a hollow space beneath the tile.

Lifting it, Celestia activated the mirror. Luna’s face appeared once more.

“Sister, we assume that it is thou that will be discovering this message. We leave it for thee. I have explored many of the buildings of this place. Whomever the architect was...was undoubtedly insane. The architecture is twisted, and leaves us with a feeling of great unease.”

Luna’s voice grew quiet. “Further... we feel as thou we art being watched. We hath not seen any observers, and as far as we can tell, the city is abandoned.”

The angle of the mirror shifted slightly, showing a nearby building. “We intend to explore this building next, and then move on from this locale. We have noted that the further we get from the center of the ruins, the more organized the city becomes. Hopefully there will be more answers there.”

Celestia glanced at the building, before returning her gaze to the mirror. Inside it, Luna smiled. “Hopefully, thou will find us soon. We would love to explore such a place as this with thee. ‘twould be like an adventure of the olden days, eh, sister?”

Celestia laughed softly as the message dispersed, and murmured, “Perhaps, sister, it can still be an adventure for me to share with you, when you find me.”

Leaving the mirror in its hiding spot, Celestia moved on towards the far edge of the city, following Luna’s ancient trail.