//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Of things forgotten, (Part one) // by Kalros //------------------------------// Of Things Forgotten Prologue: Dark. That was the first thought to run through Twilight’s mind as she made her way through the dusty hallways beneath the royal palace. It was also very cold, but that didn’t bother her as much; she wasn’t planning on staying long. Coughing slightly, the unicorn paused. Her face distorted into an expression of concentration before a bright purple light burst forth from the tip of her horn, but that did little to help push away the darkness. Instead, it only served to make the area seem scarier than it had previously been, the light casting shadows that seemed to stretch ominously high on the walls. Then there were the other objects that occupied the remaining space. Do not touch ANYTHING! The mare shivered as those words echoed in her mind. She had never heard the Princess sound so serious before, and looking at the devices and objects littering the floor of the hallway she wondered why. They all seemed harmless really; some even looked like they wouldn’t be out of place in anypony’s home. Despite this, there seemed something off about them; the items seemed to be larger. Others, like a typewriter hidden away beside a stack of dusty rags, seemed completely out of place were a pony to use them. Maybe a baby dragon or a griffon, but otherwise there were too many small buttons for anypony to use properly. Why hadn’t Celestia sent any guards with her? Better yet why hadn’t the Princess joined her down here? It seemed all too easy to simply trip and stumble into something damaging it out of accident. Looking forward, the mare sighed before resuming her trek ahead into the gloom .It didn’t matter now; she came down here for a reason and once she found the tome she was looking she would leave. The mare continued her stroll for what seemed like a half hour before finally stopping in a massive chamber. How far below Canterlot was she? No matter, there in front of her was the object she had been searching for. An old book Celestia had stored down here and Twilight hoped it would explain in detail the events surrounding the dark ages; the time before the coming of Luna and Celestia, Twilight had been petitioning the Princess for more information for months now, ever since she had begun researching that era. What little ponykind knew about that time was steeped in mystery and legend, the most prominent one being the story of Hearth’s Warming Eve. But what happened after that? Legends rarely could be relied on for facts and truth and the unicorn knew that the information from that time had to be stored somewhere. Twilight knew that if anypony knew where it was it would be Celestia. “But why here?” Twilight muttered. Why would Princess Celestia put such an important book down here where no one can access it? “Why here indeed?” The mare blinked for a moment as a voice echoed in her head. Where had that come from? She was most definitely alone in the chamber… “Maybe you are… This is just a sign you're going crazy…” The voice called out again, a deep chuckle following it. It was definitely male, though, from what the unicorn could tell. “Who's there? Show yourself!” the mare called out, looking around frantically, trying not to let the fear she felt show in her voice. “Oh, I'm sorry if I scared you. If you’re wondering where I am just look in front of you,” the voice replied, sounding a bit nicer and more trustworthy that it had before. Frowning, the unicorn advanced forward and gasped as her horn revealed something astonishing. It was a statue. A statue of… something. It certainly didn’t resemble anything she had seen before.Only a couple feet taller than her it’s upper body seemed to be similar to similar to that of a Minotaur., However as she looked lower the legs were not the familiar furry goat legs of their kind, instead they seemed to resemble the arms of the creature. Its head was strangest of all. It was as if somepony had flattened a pony's face keeping only a small nub that the mare could only assume was a nose. Above it two small eyes stared defiantly ahead. Oddly, Twilight noticed a lack of hair all over the creature’s body, although from what she could tell it seemed like the head could have had some at one point but now was adorned with strange markings like tattoos. “What, are you? Ive never seen something like you before” Twilight whispered, she had over a dozen books detailing all the different species residing in Equestria; from griffons to changelings the books left nothing out and Twilight was certain that this creature was not one of them “I’m what you would call a human, and I’m probably the reason you’re down here.” A human? Twilight had never heard of such a creature in Equestria before. Examining the statue closer a thought sprang into her mind. “Discord…” That was it. The statue was similar to that of Discord which sat in the royal gardens. Did that mean... "Discord? Ah, yes, I guess I do share a similar fate as that wretched creature," the statue seemed to mumble, as if to itself. Suddenly,Twilight was more intimidated by this thing than she had been moments earlier. If this thing was like Discord, and had to be turned to stone by the princesses... then it was dangerous. She had to leave, now. Summoning up her magic, she made a grab for the book at the statue's feet only to find... resistance? Something else was fighting her for control of the book! She could feel the statue's presence latching onto her magical connection to the book and making its way up the stream to her horn. “Nononononono!” All thoughts of the book forgotten, the pony turned around and ran. She needed to get away from this thing! “I'm sorry, but I need to do this. I need you to see, to understand,” the statue said almost angrily before its magic seeped into the unicorn's horn and then dove into her mind. Twilight Sparkle gave a gasp as the alien energies entered her body before letting out a small scream and collapsing to the ground as the darkness enveloped her.