//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Discovery // Story: Deep Dark // by Dragryphon //------------------------------// DEEP DARK Chapter 1: Discovery Sequel to SOLAR FLARE and WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN Written by Dragryphon Hidden deep within Canterlot Castle, home of the ruling body of Equestria and the two Royal Sisters, lay a long stone corridor lined on both sides with heavy steel doors. Beyond each of these doors lay some of the most dangerous artifacts known to ponykind: terrible items, many of them impossible to dispose of safely or destroy. Only the Princesses Celestia and Luna have access to these chambers, the rooms themselves heavily shielded against the powerful items within. However, even among these, there was one chamber that was decidedly unique. It had no door to speak of, no way in or out, and within lay the most dangerous amongst all the artifacts stored beneath the castle, even if the Royal Sisters did not know it. It was but a simple onyx statuette of an earth pony, harmless in its relative appearance. Appearances are deceiving, however, and it was a millennium ago, when Celestia and Luna were new to their rule, that that its magics had worked to create the dark queen, Nightmare Moon. This had been the most recent incident. It had not been the first, of course, nor would it be the last, but for right now it was dormant, slowly gathering the necessary power to complete something. Something sinister. Something terrible. A darkness that has waited and planned while the Nightmare has been imprisoned within the moon. Outside of the chamber, two guards stood at attention, lacking any knowledge of what lay stirring within... or of what would shortly happen to them. For them, the duty was just one of many, routine and regular. In fact, it was nearly time for the change of guard, and both were relieved at the chance to head home to their families for the day. However, the corridor remained silent. Speaking on the job was generally frowned upon, and could easily result in a mark upon one’s record unless it was to a citizen who had asked a question. That did not stop these two, who had been chatting with each other for the past couple hours to stave off the boredom, to woefully little effect, and their conversation had trickled back down to nothing. Behind them, in the silence of the corridor, the cobblestone wall seemed to groan, causing them to twitch their ears in that direction, but when no other sounds came about, their ears swiveled back into an alert position without a second thought. Still, even if both guards had been staring right at the wall, it would not have saved them from what happened next. What had disturbed the wall vanished, only to be replaced by a nest of writhing, black tendrils that burst forth from the stone wall to latch themselves on to the two unfortunate guards, who yelped loudly in surprise. They tried to scream. They tried to shout for help or warn somepony, but nothing further came from their mouths, as if they had been stripped of their voices. There was nothing they could do, the pain in their eyes quite evident as the tendrils seemed to dive right through their hides into their bodies before drawing the two guards up to the wall to dangle helplessly. For them, the pain of the ordeal seemed to last for hours, days, even weeks... Yet, if anypony were to have been watching, they would have seen that the entire scene had actually played out in mere minutes as the tendrils drained the guards dry of life and substance. Their bodies became desiccated and skeletal, so thin and frail that their armor slid off and struck the stone floor with a reverberating clang that echoed through the hall, but fell upon deaf ears. Finally, when there was nothing left for the bodies to give, the tendrils released their hold on them and vanished back into the wall, leaving the now deceased guards to collapse upon the floor and crumble into dust. An hour later, the change of guards came to relieve the previous shift, arriving to nothing but an empty corridor. There were no signs of their predecessors. Not a mote of dust or a piece of armor remained from the previous two guards. It was queer... but there was nothing to be done about it. Later, a report was filed that listed the two guards as having abandoned their posts. _________________ Luna started upright within her bed, breathing heavily as she awoke suddenly from the nightmare she was having. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she peered over at the grandfather clock sitting opposite in the dark of the room. Barely mid-afternoon... Third night this week I’ve had that nightmare. Vacation had gone so well, too, and I get to come back to this... Pushing the covers off of herself, Luna slipped out of her comfortable bed on to the carpeted floor of her chamber. Well, I know I’m not going to get back to sleep after that, if the past couple days are anything to go by... Sighing at the unfairness of it, the alicorn’s horn shimmered, causing the heavy velvet and felt curtains to dash open, flooding her room with the afternoon sunlight. Shutting her eyes at the sudden glare, Luna went about the arduous task of taming her unruly mane and tail, as well as attempting to make herself look a bit more stately in appearance. It wasn’t too bad, though, and even by the time she had finished that and settled her breastplate and shoes into place, the sun had barely crept a fraction across the sky. Shutting her eyes and pushing away the lingering images of her nightmares from the past few days, Luna took a deep breath and slowly let it go it as she opened the doors leading from her chambers and strolled out into the hallways of the castle. She smiled as she remembered the vacation. It had been quite pleasant, and she could have sworn her coat was now a few shades lighter due to the amount of sun she’d gotten. Even Twilight Sparkle’s little unannounced visit had been nice, though she didn’t particularly like reliving the few memories she had left of the time before her banishment. At least, not the ones that had involved Nightmare Moon. It was enjoyable to read what I had been like before then. Though, I still can’t remember much... My memories are all clouded... Servants and government officials bowed to the princess in the hallways as she passed. Luna let out a soft sigh; things were so different from what they used to be. There was so much to learn, so much to catch up on, and so many new technologies and studies to explore, including one she greatly enjoyed: Astronomy. To think! A study of her sky! Of her stars! There was an entire field of science entirely dedicated to her and the masterpiece that she cherished so! Recalling the surprise and delight she felt at discovering this greatly improved the Goddess of the Night’s current mood, and she trotted into the throne room whistling under her breath, remembering her own studies of her sky. While it was one thing to be one with the sky, it was another entirely to be able to see everything from a distance through a complicated device of mirrors and lenses. The sheer ingenuity of it had impressed Luna greatly. A bemused smile sat upon Celestia’s face as she watched her sister take the throne next to her while the goings on of the court happened before them. Noticing an upbeat air around her sister, the Day Goddess chuckled to herself and said, “I see you’re in a good mood, dearest sister. Has the nightmare you’ve been having run its course and left you alone?” At the mention of the nightmare, Luna’s ears flattened and her good mood vanished again in a puff of smoke. “Cellyyy!” the midnight blue alicorn complained. “No, it woke me up early... again! I’m never going to get a good day’s rest if this keeps up!” Embarrassed, Celestia bowed her head to her sister, “Oh! I’m so sorry, Luna! But, I can most definitely say that while I know you like bananas, you aren’t a female dog, and nor would I ever stuff you into a cannon and launch you to the moon. Though...” Celestia glanced out of the corner of her eye towards a certain unicorn who claimed to be her nephew, “I can say for sure that there’d be one pony I certainly would do it to...”   Blueblood. Currently, he was out amidst the other ‘highbloods’ throwing his snooty nose into the air and acting like a royal pain in the rump... While Prince Blueblood’s title was such, it was inherited from a family of ponies the Princess had given said titles to for their extravagant assistance to the crown. The relationship to Celestia was a technicality, at best.  Though he was noticeably larger than other stallions his age, it was more to his draft pony breeding than anything relating to the Princesses. Of course, when confronted by this fact, he had thrown the biggest hissy-fit ever and claimed that in no such way was he related to any sort of country draft pony. Rolling her eyes and giggling, Luna turned her head away from the court to whisper, “Well, no... It wasn’t just that one, Celly...” Celestia raised an eyebrow in worry and leaned in close, “There are others, Luna? If they’re bothering you, then you know that you can tell me about them, my sister.” “Yes. I know... But I’m worried that you’ll just scoff at it and not believe me!” Luna replied, her eyes trying their best not to meet her sister’s. “Oh, Luna... I’m not the pony I was a millennium ago, surely you know that by now!” Celestia assured her, slipping a wing over the smaller alicorn. “I learned a long time ago to always listen to you or any problems you may have. Now, my dearest sister, what other nightmares have you been having? Is... She back?” Luna didn’t need the name to know who her sister was talking about... but she shook her head. “No, not in that way. It’s just, sometimes I still dream about her, but it isn’t actually her, just a dream. I know the difference between the two. No, Celly, it’s... different. In this dream, I’m Nightmare Moon, and yet... Not. I’m still myself, but I have her body and powers, and something keeps calling to me. And then, every once in a while, I get to sort of see it...” Luna swallowed visibly and a shudder passed through her diminutive form. “It calls itself the Harbinger, and while I never get to actually look at it, I can see it out of the corner of my eye. It’s... I just can’t describe it. It’s like some sort of zombie pony... an undead monstrosity straight out of one of those stories I read. Like a forest wraith, or one of the cursed townsfolk out of The Story of the Blanks!” Celestia’s heart stopped for a moment, and she recalled her look into what could have happened if her sister’s Nightmare had won over her faithful student. “Are you sure it’s a dream, Luna...?” the alabaster alicorn asked in trepidation. “As near as I can tell, Celly, yes... It hasn’t started yet, has it?” Luna looked up into her sister’s face, fear hiding within her eyes. “No, it couldn’t have... Else we would have known by now...” __________________ “Spiiike!” Twilight Sparkle called, scanning her gaze around the study for her diminutive dragon assistant. “Spiiike! Where are you!?” A moment later, the baby dragon came running down the stairs from her bedroom, rubbing at his eyes, appearing as if he had just awoken. “Arrgh... I was having such a great dream, too! There I was, having dinner with Rarity. There were candles and music and a whole spaghetti dinner, and... anyway! What is it, Twilight?” Spike asked, a little put off but dutiful nonetheless. Twilight giggled and responded with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, “You can dream about her later, Romeo. Right now, I need you to locate a few books for me. First, I need to find the Seer’s Standard for Sight, Sound, and Sensations, and the Clairvoyant's Chapter for Characterizing Conjurations.” “Wait... aren’t those books about fortune telling? I thought you told me that all of that was just a bunch of old school hocus-pocus gobblity gook,” Spike retorted, already making his way up one of the small step ladders scattered about the library to peruse a suspect row of tomes. “Well, not exactly. While there is plenty of that sort of subject in them, there are other things that I found quite useful. But if what Princess Celestia has told me is true, then she has the ability to see events that might have taken place, had certain situations turned out differently. If that’s possible, and my experience with the histories is anything to go by... What I’m going to do is see if I can figure out what spells Princess Celestia used to do it, and maybe look up some other related items in the process. With that knowledge, I might even be able to find out how to see into the past! Or even the future!” The unicorn’s eyes lit up at the thought of getting to see historical events unfold first hand, or even explore the various possibilities that the future held! Spike’s voice, however, cut through her thoughts, instead. “Umm, Twi? I don’t mean to interrupt your little daydream, but isn’t it almost time to meet with the others at the Canter Café? I mean, it’ll be the first time in a week you’ve gotten to see them!” He crossed his arms over his scaled chest and sent her a glare that pretty much told her to “get out and socialize.” “Oh! I almost forgot! Thank you, Spike! Ohhh, where did I put my bags?” the mare asked as she darted her gaze around the room, then quickly ran past Spike up into the bedroom. As she began to frantically dig through her things for her saddlebags, Twilight heard a cough from behind her and turned to see Spike holding them up. Blushing in embarrassment, she hovered them over to her flanks and tied them into place. “Thanks, Spike,” she said with some slight embarrassment. The little dragon just rolled his eyes in return. Opening the flaps, Twilight made sure she had everything she needed: a bag of bits and various reading materials, including the tome the Princesses had sent her. Closing the bags, she announced, “Alright, ready! Are you coming, Spi-” The mare cut off when she noticed Spike back in his bed with his blanket pulled up tightly around him. Shaking her head in amusement, Twilight Sparkle made her way down the stairs and took a final look at her surroundings. While it was good to be back home, she missed being with the Princesses during their vacation. As unexpected as it was, it was rather enjoyable to be around Princess Celestia for such an extended amount of time. And Princess Luna, too! I’d barely gotten to talk to her before then! She seemed honestly amazed at how much I knew about her sky, and jumped at the chance to regale me with all the various tales and myths about it. At least, the ones she said she remembered, and the ones she knew from Princess Celestia. The fact that I knew a few that she didn’t surprised me by itself! Stepping out the door, Twilight shielded her eyes from the sun for a moment as they adjusted to the glare, before she stepped out into the warm, summer air. Looking up into the deep blue sky, she started walking down the long path towards the cafe. I hope the girls don’t mind that I was gone for so long, I’ve just had so much to think about since I got back. That... history of theirs was very informative, but I could tell that not everything that happened was told. Princess Celestia even said it herself! And I know the Princesses are still hiding things. I mean, they are the rulers of Equestria, but... if they can’t trust me, then who can they trust? Twilight shook her head as she looked around, smiling at the various ponies she knew. Lyra and Bon-Bon sat upon a park bench conversing, Carrot Top was watering her garden, and even Ditzy Doo was flying around, delivering mail in that strange fashion of hers.  It truly was a great day to be out and about, and just up ahead, Twilight could see the Canter Cafe and her friends, seated at a couple of the tables, awaiting her arrival. Grinning broadly, Twilight broke into a gallop to join her friends at the cafe. They were all parked around a pair of tables that had been pushed together so that they all had a place to sit. As she approached, she noticed that Pinkie Pie seemed to be enjoying a cheese and hayfry platter that was considerably more cheese than fry and was making an absolute mess of herself while eating it, with Rarity looking on in horror. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having another contest, seeing which one of them could chow down a row of apples the quickest. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, appeared to be studying the migratory habits of a few grains of sand on the ground near her cushion. “Hey girls! Sorry I’m late!” Twilight exclaimed as she settled between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, slipping her saddlebags off and setting them aside. “Oh, hey Twilight!” Rainbow Dash replied, her response muffled by a mouth full of apple. “Where have you been? You’re like a half an hour late!” “Well, to be honest, I had completely forgetten that we were meeting up today! Thank Celestia that Spike reminded me!” “Well dear, you have been gone all week, and without the slightest announcement!” Rarity commented, shaking her mane out of her eyes as she finally drew herself away from the trainwreck that was a certain pink pony’s table manners. “We were starting to get worried...” Fluttershy said, looking up to Twilight with a little smile, glad to see her friend was indeed alright. “All that Spike was able to tell us is that you had gone off to see the Princesses! We were all quite curious as to exactly what you had gotten yourself wrapped up in,” Rarity added. “And I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we are just dying to hear what sort of strange adventures that you have been ha-” “Oh! Oh oh oh!” Pinkie Pie interrupted, the cotton candy pony giggling, as she bounced in her seat. “I bet she was off fighting pirate monkeys, or robot pirates, or even robot pirate monkeys! Or maybe she was off exploring the snowy tundra when she was attacked by gryphons that fired exploding beachballs! Ohohoh! What if she was climbing up a mountain in search of an ancient artifact when suddenly a-” Fortunately, Applejack had decided at that moment to plug Pinkie’s mouth with her hoof, giving a little chuckle as she turned to look back to Twilight. “Don’t mind her, sugah’cube, though it’s true; we’ve all been mighty curious as to why you’ve been gone fer so long.” “Well, um...” Twilight chuckled nervously, “It was pretty interesting, though it definitely wasn’t as... exciting, as Pinkie thought.” Getting rid of the hoof in her mouth, Pinkie’s ears flatten, “Awww, it’s never as exciting as I think. Oh! Maybe I’ll have to go on an adventure sometime to make it that exciting!” Twilight gave a little giggle in spite of herself, “I wouldn’t doubt you’d be able to manage it, Pinkie.” “Well... that’s okay if it isn’t... I’d still like to hear about it,” muttered Fluttershy, who peeked out from beneath her mane shyly, “I mean, if that’s alright with you...” “Well, the short and long of it is that I was doing some important research for the Princesses. It was very interesting, and I learned a ton about them that I didn’t know about before. Though, most of it I’m not really allowed to talk about. Sorry girls...” “Pfft... figures,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes before tossing another apple into her mouth. “I know, I know... Oh, but... while I was studying, the Princesses gave me this.” Twilight turned and hovered the tome out of her saddlebags, setting it upon the table in front of her. ”Princess Celestia said she used her magic to ‘see’ what could have happened if Nightmare Moon had beaten us.” “Nightmare Moon? Win against us!? Oh pfffthahaha!” Rainbow Dash burst out laughing and tumbled to the ground, causing no few of the other Cafe patrons to look at her curiously. “As if! We totally kicked her flank and everything she sent us! There’s no way that could have ever happened.” “Yeah... I know,” Twilight gave a slight nod in agreement. “Still... it does make a pony wonder.” “Well, if ya don’t mind me asking, what happens in that there book, Twi?” Applejack asked, poking at its binding with a hoof. Twilight looked to the side and then at each of her friends. “Well, I haven’t read it, yet. Call me cautious or trepidatious...” “Trepidawhatnow?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.  “...Buuuut I’ve been trying to look up what spells Princess Celestia used first, and frankly, I’m still a little flabbergasted at everything I learned while with the Princesses.” “Flabbergasted, you mean like in shock?” Rainbow inquired, planting a hoof upon the tabletop and pulling herself upright. “What did you learn about them that put you so on edge?” She leaned nearly over the entire table to stare straight at Twilight, the pegasus’ eyes narrowing to mere slits. “Are they-” Pinkie Pie decided to jump up at that moment and interrupt, “Aliens? Vampires? Oh! I know! They’re humans in disguise! Or maybe-” Pinkie once again found herself with Applejack’s hoof in her mouth, the orange farmmare rolling her eyes at the mention of ‘humans’. “Pinkie, y’all know that there’s no such thing as humans... Now, Twilight’s already said that she can’t tell us nothing about what she did with the Princesses, so let’s stop prying into her business and just have grand ol’ time, alright?” Applejack snorted, glaring a moment at Rainbow before turning and smiling to Twilight. “Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight replied, hovering the tome back into her saddlebags. “So, what have all of you been up to while I was gone...?” _____________________ “Celly! We’ve had no luck in this section! Are you sure that we’ll find anything in here?” Luna complained, staring down at the nearly indecipherable writing upon the page. The ledger before her was even older than she was, and it was hard to read at times because of the shifts in language that had happened since then. Not only that, but the spells meant to keep it from falling apart were only barely doing so. “Why don’t we start with the oldest things and move up from there? That would be a far more sensible approach.” Celestia rubbed her eyes with a hoof and stared blankly at the pile of tomes and notes strewn upon the table in front of her before giving a sigh, “I wish we could, Luna, but if we did that, then we’d have even more to get through than if we started where we are now. Some of those things are from our grandparents, and their parents, and even their parents. I think we have around twenty thousand years of history to go through if we’re going to find anything, if we’re lucky. The oldest records that we have are naught but bits and pieces anymore.” The War of the Night had destroyed the Everfree Records and History Room, and much of their family’s past had been lost to the destruction, though Celestia had managed to, with help, unearth the rooms and salvage as many of the tomes as possible. “You know as well as I do that we’re going to have many long nights before us if we’re to find anything about the Deep Dark, Erebus, or even remotely related to what’s going on,” the Sun Princess shook her head quietly, rubbing her temples once more. “You’d think Sol or Altair would have told us about it.” Luna sighed at the mention of their parents. She didn’t remember much; the gaps in her memory had given her mere glimpses of them, but from what Celestia had told her, she had loved her father the most. Standing, the Goddess of the Night stretched her legs before heading back into the labyrinth of corridors that composed the resting place of much of their history. “I’m going to look deeper, Celly, maybe we’ll have more of a chance of finding something there.” A noncommittal chirp came from her sister in return, as Luna descended through the maze to a dusty level containing records from her parents’ time and beyond. Looking up and down the rows and upon rows of shelves, Luna let herself fall deep into thought. I just wish I could remember... While that book our parents gave us tells me of what I was like after we came into power, I don’t know of much before that except for what Celly has told me. She says I was playful, artistic, and devoted to our father, Altair, but... What if that is just what she says to make me happy...? The one thing I can truly remember is turning into Nightmare Moon. I was so jealous and alone... I let her take over... She had wandered into the section devoted to her grandparents now, many of the tomes faded, cracked, torn or in some way damaged from the passing of the ages. Magic could only slow time down so much before it finally caught up. There are so many other things I can’t remember. So many things I simply don’t know the reasons behind, anyway. I mean, Celestia said I was always the artist and she the thinker, but at times, I’ve came up with things she didn’t, if just because of my unique perspective. At least, that’s what she said... Just how many of my memories are real, I wonder? Luna could look in no few of these books and not understand a thing that was going on, it had taken her so long just to be re-educated on what had happened during their lifetime and while she was banished, but then there’s also what happened during the rules of their ancestors. Oh Nightmare Moon, how I curse you for taking so much of my life away from me, in more ways than one...  Tears sprang to her eyes a moment before she reached a hoof up and brushed them away. The dust from the floor that came up with it got into the alicorn’s nose, making her sneeze, the noise sounding like an explosion within the lonely corridor. There were few sets of hoofprints within the dust here, and those seemed quite old. This was a restricted section after all, and there were few in the kingdom who were allowed in this deep. Taking a glance to either side, Luna paused for a moment. Alright this is... The rule of Event Horizon and Ceres, my great-grandparents... I wish I could just use magic down here, but Celly said that using magic to find a certain thing in a library was highly erratic and unreliable, and may even damage the spells holding many of these books together. Luna brightened up for a moment before smiling, “Of course, our situation is dire enough to require the aide of it, too!” The alicorn’s words echoed around her before she took a deep breath, coughing violently for a moment due to the sheer amount of dust in the air, and then began working upon a spell. As her horn began to kindle with power, Luna shut her eyes tight and started to work on the specifics of the spell. Alright, let’s see... what if I tried something different? Not a simple search and find spell, but a spell backed by intent, maybe? What if I linked it to my thoughts too, of what I wanted? As the spell became more and more complex, some of the loose dust on the floor began to levitate into the air and swirl around her from the amount of static charging it. Then, all at once, the spell fizzled and died, leaving the air around Luna choked with dust. Coughing once again, Luna waved a hoof in front of her face to try to clear the air, frowning. Too complex... What if I...? Once again gathering magic into her horn, she began to construct another spell. Simpler, more utilitarian. Alas, upon its completion, this spell too fizzled into nothing, much to Luna’s irritation. Ugh... This isn’t going to work... Luna, without giving it a second thought, flopped down upon the dusty floor, throwing up a massive white cloud, and sending her into another coughing fit. What am I even doing down here? she asked herself once she managed to blow away the cloud with her wings. I’m not going to manage to find anything. I barely even know what I’m looking for. Wait... The spells fizzled when I tried to cast them. What if I held it within my horn and simply followed where it took me, rather than actually casting it? This was certainly worth a try. Standing, Luna grimaced at the amount of dust covering herself. She would have to deal with that later. Concentrating once again, she laid down the framework of the spell, and then, once that was complete, finally used it to pinpoint where she should go. The hunt, however, quickly proved Celestia to be right. An Exploration of the Deep and Dark Regions of Equestria. Deep and Dark Secrets of Equestrian Nobility. Viewings of the King and Queen of Equestria by Dark Depths. All manner of findings, and yet, not one that seemed to be what she was looking for. Then, just as Luna was about to give up hope, she detected more leads further down in the archives. Ignoring the ones that she was sure didn’t pertain to the subject at hand, the alicorn eventually made her way to the oldest records in all of Equestria, bare remnants and scraps of what once used to be grand tomes of knowledge. Some of them even dated back to the first recorded histories of alicorns in Equestria. Perusing the remnants, Luna found it hard to differentiate some of the notes and ledgers from other, more relevant pieces, some were in such bad shape. Frustrated, she just took everything that her horn had pointed her to and floated it up in front of her, the collection of scraps, papers, and barely held together books making but a tiny pile. Once she felt that she had cobbled together a sufficient amount of material, most of which probably wasn’t even what she was looking for, Luna began the long walk back to the study. ____________________ Celestia rubbed her eyes once again and glared down at the writings before her, wishing they would burst into flame. However, after a moment, she just sighed and turned the page to continue reading. My Chroniclers would be quite unhappy with me if I damaged these ledgers. The Princess looked up and around, then raised an eyebrow, thinking, And where is my sister, anyway? She said she was going deeper into the Archives, but it’s been a few hours now. I certainly hope she hasn’t gotten lost within them... again... Standing up and groaning as her muscles protested from sitting in one spot for so long, Celestia prepared to slip down into the Archive’s corridors in search of her little sister, only to see a glow come into sight. Shortly afterward, Luna appeared out of the dark carrying before her a stack of very sorry looking paper scraps. Settling herself back down, Celestia wearily glanced at the pile of books, notes, and papers that still needed to be gone through. Yet, her body screamed at her to get to bed; it was already the middle of the night. Luna walked over, and planting the pile gently down upon their table, said, “I found these in the oldest sections of the Archives, also, I really think we should dust that place...” It was at that moment Celestia noticed that Luna was indeed covered from head to hoof in a fine layer of grey dust. The Goddess had to suppress a snicker at the sight. “I think somepony needs a bit of a dusting herself.” Blinking, Luna looked down at herself and grimaced, “Yes... Well, that can wait until later, when I can have a nice bath. I swear I must have inhaled in most of the dust down there...” “Regardless, sister, it is nice to have you back... it was getting lonely up here all by myself. Now, let’s see what you found,” Celestia said, starting with the topmost parchment. Skimming the words, she set it down and started with the next as Luna began upon the pile as well. It wasn’t until they were about halfway through the pile before Celestia caught something interesting. While it was immensely hard to read, she managed to translate it with a simple spell. ‘Just as the sky has light and darkness, does Equestria also have its darkness to its light. The Deep Dark contains Equestria’s other half. No alicorn nor pony knows of what it contains, much less what lives there except for the Champions.’ ...Champions? Who are the Champions? Setting it aside on a part of the table kept clear for anything that had good leads, which had remained empty until that moment, the Princess continued on until a few ledgers later she came upon a second reference. Upon reading this one, however, one thought came to Celestia’s mind. Oh, dear Sol... END CHAPTER 1 Chapter 2>>>