The screen flickered on and off as the equines were fleeing from something. At first it was hard to see who was leading them, but as the smoke cleared it was clear that Destrier was at the front.
"Down!" a voice yelled.
At once they all ducked towards the ground, even the girls who watched knowing fully that the images could not harm them, slammed their bodies to the ground out of reflex. That was how strong and authoritative the voice was. The voice of the Prince.
A beam of green light sliced through the hall and an explosion of fire engulfed the area. Moments later it vanished as a familiar glow of a magical barrier formed around them and the entire screen shifted towards Midnight, his horn glowing brilliantly in the darkness. Blood trickled out from his left nostril.
"I cannot block many more of these. We have to get out of this place before those two rip it apart," the black unicorn declared. "They'll destroy everything within ten leagues of here."
"Run. Stop talking and start running. Now." Destrier pushed Midnight with his head. "Go!"
Again the video bounced roughly as they all galloped away from the sounds of what seemed to be a full scale war. There were explosions echoing from behind them, bits of debris seemed to rain down on them.
As they charged forth, a group of changelings crossed their path from an intersection and stopped. The two groups eyed one another in shock and bewilderment before the green glow of magic formed around the horns of the changelings. They charged forward with a high screeching noise that sent shivers down the spines of the girls watching.
Destrier reared his legs up and plunged down hard with his hooves, the ground beneath him shattered and pressed into the ground while the other end of the large stone tile flipped upwards forcing two of the front changelings to slam right into it. Then the large stallion turned the lower half of his body using his hind legs to kick the vertical slab with all his might.
The power from Destrier’s blow sent stones hailing towards the attackers, shredding through the two front. Midnight used his magic to catch the stones and redirected their trajectory to pass through four more changelings, bringing them down in a shower of green blood that glowed for a few seconds before fading into black, or red -- it was impossible to tell in the darkness. The other four who witnessed this stopped, turned and fled without another sound.
The group continued on, continuing in straight through the intersection, and down the long dark corridors. Still bits of light flashed from behind and several times the runners stumbled as the entire building shook.
“There!” Midnight shouted, pointing towards the large open doors.
Without another word, all rushed towards the exit, passing through the stronghold’s massive doors, and made a beeline for the nearest clump of trees. A group of more Equestrians could be seen waiting for them and they covered their retreat, their weapons ready.
“Where’s His Highness?” one of the stallions asked.
A red beam sliced open the rear half of the keep sending molted stones miles into the air.
“Never mind. What are your orders, sir?”
Destrier looked at the group with him. “Form teams. We are going hunting. No changeling is to leave this place alive, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
Midnight placed a hoof on Destrier’s back. “Are we doing the right thing?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. I thought we might help Tender, but her mind is not all there. I don’t know how she is fighting with His Highness, but whatever the case, we do our part. I will do my part. We hold the ground and purge this cancer now, else it will be a poison to every generation hereafter.” Destrier turned around. “My weapon!”
“H-here, sir,” came a voice as a mare laid the weapon on the ground near him.
Destrier narrowed his eyes. “And who are you?”
“My name’s Rose, sir.”
“Very well, Rose. You’re with me. The rest of you fan out.”
As they all turned to go their own separate ways, a green flash washed over Rose’s eyes before the entire image faded to black.
None of the girls said a word as the lights turned back on and the familiar bluish-white glow returned.
“I think we need a break,” Twilight stated and headed out of the castle.
“What I don’t understand,” Twilight said as she took another bite of her sandwich, “is why Tender did what she did? I mean, she should have known after being warned.”
“Didn’t you remember what Pinkie said?” Rainbow put in, taking a sip from a glass of blueberry juice. “About not understanding because you can’t understand because the words of… you know.”
“The word I believe is perspective,” Rarity clarified. “Tender had no perspective as to how to explain the concept of independence to the changelings. At least that’s what I gathered from the conversation.”
“‘Conversation’, yeah right,” Rainbow scoffed. “I mean, everything we’ve seen is all doom and gloom. How come it’s like that?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight sighed. “Maybe it’s just important events happen to revolve around this kind of thing. I don’t think we ever supposed to find this place. I think it was buried on purpose.”
“On purpose?” Celestia asked.
“Well, the formation of these caverns is unnatural. It’s so unlike anything. Like all this crystal. What’s it for?” Twilight patted the glowing crystal beneath her for emphasis. “What troubles me is how Chrysalis knew about these caves. It makes me wonder what other secrets are hidden from us right under our noses.”
Celestia nodded at her star pupil and took a sip of tea. “Perhaps there are answers in this library you spoke of.”
“Yes! I want to see this library as well, but this hologram thing is just amazing. It’s better than our illusion spells. I mean, it takes a while to get used to the whole ‘moving’ thing, but when you do it’s actually quite exciting.”
“Yeah, at least fer some of you,” Applejack said gesturing with her head towards Fluttershy and Pinkie who looked absolutely defeated. “Think it was way too much for a couple of us.”
“I know. Oh, I feel so frustrated, but this is ancient history! Most of these things happened so long ago that they aren’t mentioned in the castle’s archives! And that’s saying something. I know those archives!”
“Except for the ones in the forbidden section,” Celestia said, a hint of unsaid knowing lurking there. “Right, Twilight?”
The purple mare blushed and put her head down. “Um… well… you see…”
Celestia sighed and rolled her eyes. “I know of your late night excursions to the library, Twilight. I’ve known for years. I’ve been hoping to get you to confess, but you seem quite adamant in believing you were getting away with it. I am glad nothing happened to you, but there are more than just normal books in the deep areas of that section.”
“I know,” Twilight shouted. “Sorry, please don’t banish me!”
“Banish you? Whatever for?” Celestia asked, stunned. “Please, Twilight, you know I am not going to banish you nor anypony for a trivial matter such as this.”
“Hey, where’s Orko?” Rainbow asked, looking around.
“Here I am!” A voice called from above.
“Would you like something to eat?” Luna asked. “We have many delicious dishes.”
“Cake!”
“Cake?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes! Cake. Lots of cakes. Please.”
“Cake it is!” Luna made a sign to a unicorn, who bowed and vanished in a puff of blue light.
“Orko, do you have any family where you come from?” Celestia asked.
The Trollon rubbed his chin. “Yes, but I don’t know if they’d remember me. I mean, I’ve sort of forgotten them.”
“Are Trollons… immortal?” Twilight asked.
“Immortal? Goodness, no. Well, we can’t really die from old age if that’s what you mean. Our magic heals us as we grow older, but it gets tiring the longer we have to do it -- I mean the older we get. So, there’s a point where we give up and we die.”
“Oh, how sad!” Fluttershy said, her eyes full of water.
Orko shrugged. “Not really. Why is it sad?”
“Because… you die… and…”
The next few sentences that came out of Fluttershy’s mouth were too garbled to make sense of, but Orko just laughed heartily.
“No, no. It’s a good thing. Can you imagine wasting away like that? Not for me! When it’s time, it’s time. That’s just how it is. Like me.”
That made a few confused looked turn his way.
“But you’re still alive,” Twilight pointed out.
“Yes, but most of my magic is exhausted. I know that. If I leave the area around Castle Grayskull… well, I’d be a pile of dust. I think. I don’t really know. Haven’t died before.” Orko laughed, but he was alone. “What? That too?”
A snap of his fingers brought out the notepad and he scribbled something on it before snapping his fingers again making it vanish into the ether. “I thought that was really funny.”
“How is dying funny?” Rainbow asked, a mixture of amusement and
“Not quite what I meant. Guess my sense of humor... is grim,” again Orko cracked himself up. He stopped and wiped a tear from his eye. “What? Not even a giggle? Tough crowd.”
“We’re sorry if your morbid sense of humor is a little beyond us,” Rarity stated in a half-sarcastic manner, but the Trollon either was oblivious to this fact or ignored it completely.
Another ‘poof’ sounded and the unicorn guard that had disappeared earlier reappeared with a slice of cake delicately balanced on a plate. Luna made a sign for Orko to have a seat and watched as the unicorn floated it over with his magic and gently placed it on the small table they were all sitting around. Orko reached into his sleeve and pulled out a fork and cut off a small part.
All eyes were upon him as he pulled his scarf to one side a slipped the morsel inside. The hat had really hid his face quite well and all of them realised that until that moment none had seen his face behind the mask he wore. For some reason the light was swallowed up and they could not take a glimpse behind the hat’s shade as the fork returned to the plate followed by a very long, very satisfied, very happy groan.
“Wow!” Orko said and threw his fork aside and dove onto the plate. He looked as if he smashed his head down on the table, but it was obvious that he practically inhaled the cake in those few seconds. “This cake is delicious!”
“Do you mind if I ask, but why do you cover your face with that cloth?” Luna asked.
At the mention of the mask, Orko touched it gently. “This? Well, our world is all sandy and… well, I don’t know. I’ve always worn it. My kind always wears masks… well, no, not always. Most of the time. I don’t know. I guess you could say I’d feel naked without it. Our faces are… private. It feels strange to bare it, but like I said there are those that don’t mind showing it all.”
Rarity nodded. “I can understand. Even some of our kind have quirks like that. Some would never leave their house without covering their flanks, and minotaurs never let their lower halves be bare in public.”
“Yeah! Kinda like that. Plus, I like it. I guess that’s more or less the main reason. Gotta look good for the ladies… that I’ll probably never see.” He looked up and sighed.
At once Rarity placed a hoof on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. What was her name?”
“Dree Elle. And, yeah, I kinda liked her liked her. Y’know? I even asked her to marry me!” He looked down at his hands and reached into his sleeve and pulled out a ring. “But we both knew what was at stake. I couldn’t stay with her. She understood. It was painful, and a lot of friends wished it wasn’t so, but she understood. She even offered to come with me! I thought that was great, but she couldn’t come. She couldn’t come because… well, I guess because I didn’t know if she’d survive the journey. I guess I was being selfish.”
“You were very strong and brave,” Rarity assured the Trollon. “I’m sure she thanks you deep down inside-”
“Why’d you leave her! She coulda come and joined you!” Rainbow interrupted. “You shouldn’t have left her!”
“Not helping,” Rarity admonished through gritted teeth.
“What?” Rainbow asked when she spotted Rarity’s grimace.
“It would have been awful,” Orko replied, looking at Rainbow, “living here.”
"I’ve been wondering, if you've been down here all this time, why haven't you come and shown yourself before?" Celestia asked when the girls were out of earshot.
The trollan looked at Celestia and smiled. "Because I can't get too far away from Castle Grayskull. I'm like a prisoner here. Well, no. I am a prisoner here, of sorts. It ain't that bad, just gets rather boring. Spend most of my time sleeping. Other times I read. Mostly sleep though."
"For how long?"
"How long?" The trollan asked not sure what she meant.
"How long do you have to remain here?"
"Ah." He stroked his chin in thought. "Well, taking into consideration that the responsibility of running the place was given to me at the last possible second, and that whoever takes over will be bound to the castle? Forever. Give or take a century. I'm not going anywhere. I don't need to guess either."
The Princess just stared at the Trollan. “Forever?”
“Yeah,” Orko replied quietly and sighed. “I don’t know. The computer has a timekeeping thingy, but I don’t know how to work the thing.”
“Computer?” Twilight asked. “What’s that?”
The Trollon attempted to explain it, but in the end couldn’t. At least, not in a way that made Twilight understand. But then he said, “It’s like all the libraries of the world in once place. There’s a screen that lets you see everything… like that hologram room. That’s part of the computer, the things you’re seeing are records-”
“Wait! You’re telling me that there’s this fountain of knowledge at my hoof-tips and all I need to do is just… talk to the thing?” Twilight clarified, based on what Orko has interated.
“Yeah…” the Trollon replied, not really sure how Twilight came to that conclusion. “There’s also a keyboard for typing things in, but I don’t know if you’d know our language… I mean our written language.”
The girls all exchanged glances, but it was Rainbow who spoke. “Wait, then how come we can understand you and you understand us?”
“Well, that’s because… well... “ Orko blinked and then folded his arms and tapped his chin. “You know, I don’t know.”
“I mean, even our earlier texts and languages from earlier own had Old Equestrian, and that’s not including the native languages of the tribes. It took centuries even before our reign to bring a common tongue across our lands, and even then some of our neighboring nations have their own dialect.” Princess Celestia took a sip of tea and stared at the Trollon. “I find this most interesting and it has puzzled me.”
“Well, we could ask the computer,” Orko suggested with a shrug.
“That’s a great idea!” Twilight barked before any of the others could speak. “Let’s go!”
Without a second thought, Twilight rushed towards the castle followed close behind by her friends. She stopped and turned. "Princess Celestia! Are you coming?"
Celestia, seeing that the silent Trollan was deep in thought, excused herself politely and headed towards the castle. She hesitated as she paused over the spot where the image of the giant alicorn had formed, wondering if she would see the message again. Who had he referenced? It certainly was not her, was it? Was she really looking onto her own biological father? But he was making it sound that she was an only child. Unless she was a single child at the time, but how was that possible? The message seemed quite final, so unless Luna is a half-sister, or something else entirely, there was more questions than answers. Celestia remembered much, but her childhood was all strange and muddled. Memories or dreams were interfused with one another, and it was impossible to segregate the two.
That meant another theory. The message was not meant for her, but for another.
“Mother, if that message was for you, then you were far older than even I dreamed to believe.”