//------------------------------// // Part 2: Is This Pony Penitant? // Story: A Ghost Story for Equestria - The Treasure of Princess Luna // by Hereward //------------------------------// On the following day, about mid-morning, the door to the Golden Oaks Library burst open and the cutie mark crusaders stumbled in over one another. "Twilight!" They shouted in a panic. "Somepony stole our archaeology papers!" Twilight turned to them with a brief look of confusion before her eyes bugged out as she realised just what they were saying. "Somepony's got the paperwork we've been doing?" She double-checked, earning a nod from each of them. "Oh, this is bad. I had just finished reading the reply to my letter to Princess Celestia and the news is not particularly encouraging." She pulled out the letter in question and read out. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, I was most interested to read about your efforts to study the missing treasure of Nightmare Moon. I have had the opportunity to discuss this with Luna and we have agreed that you must do all you can to ensure that nopony reaches it before she arrives in Ponyville this evening to talk about the removal of the guardian that she left there." Twilight didn't bother to read out the sign off at the bottom. "If whoever it was managed to reach the treasure, then... I don't know. But it can't be anything good." "So, what should we do?" Apple Bloom asked. Twilight paused to consider this and answered. "School starts again tomorrow. Keep your eyes peeled for any unusual behaviour or if somepony's absent for no reason or for a rather vague reason." With that she escorted them out of the library. That evening Princess Luna entered the library with a non-verbal flourish and greeted Twilight at a reasonable volume but retaining an archaic style. "Oh Princess," Twilight groaned as she prostrated herself, "I regret to inform you that somepony managed to get hold of the research we've been doing and could very well have already been down there." "We art aware of this, Twilight." She replied. "When a hoof was set upon the stone to remove the cover we were immediately aware of this and, despite the effective theft of our old horde as well as thy work, we do pity that pony." Twilight cocked an eyebrow at this. "So that guardian's been there for over a thousand years?!?" Luna nodded matter-of-factly and added. "'Tis a being of darkness in keeping with our command of the night, it has no need of food or drink but during Celestia's time it is quite helpless." "Celestia's time?" Twilight was puzzled by this because she always associated those two words with the millennium where the Princess reigned alone. "Sunrise to sunset." Luna clarified. "We are also disappointed by thy procrastination, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight cringed at this, but was confused as to what Luna was getting at. "Thou should have informed us of thy intent to recover our fehu the moment thou had known the mottos upon the window." Twilight felt a dreadful sense of guilt and self-pity and struggled to reply. "P...Princess, I... had hoped... to surprise you with the gift of returning your possessions." As tears began to roll down her eyes Luna lifted her chin up with a hoof and calmly stated. "We... I am not angry with th... you, just disappointed that you didn't pick up on the possible danger considering that it was our darker side that buried it." After a few moments Princess Luna decided that Twilight needed a bit more than absolvance and so called Spike. "Please get us some tea, preferably with honey and plenty of it." "Uh, yes your highness." Spike sounded nervous in his reply as he made his way to the kitchen. "We can discuss this situation once thou hast recovered from thy emotional state." Luna told Twilight. A few days past. The cutie mark crusaders did manage to inform Twilight that Diamond Tiara hadn't been seen at school or anywhere but their sense of relief at this meant that they didn't deliver the news with much gravitas, also Silver Spoon kept turning up late and seemed rather eager to see Diamond Tiara immediately after school; she had told Cheerilee that Diamond Tiara was feeling under the weather in effect. Twilight's reaction was one of concerned intrigue but felt that there wasn't enough information at that time as there were no indications of some unspeakable horror passing through Ponyville overnight. But then, on Saturday morning, while Twilight was discussing with the crusaders as to what signs they should look out for Silver Spoon came a-knocking. When Spike had opened the door to her they could see that she was looking rather frantic, a trait missed by the crusaders during school hours. "Miss Sparkle," She addressed in a somewhat uncomfortable manner, "Would you come check on Diamond Tiara? She says she needs some magical help but won't speak of any details until you're there." When her gaze fell upon the cutie mark crusaders she didn't show contempt but instead seemed to be exhibiting remorse. "Okay." Twilight consented. "But I'd like these three to come too. It could prove fruitful to their learning." Silver Spoon sighed and conceded, leading them towards Filthy Rich's abode. Upon arrival Filthy Rich was most welcoming towards Twilight and bade a fair greeting to the cutie mark crusaders. He seemed most anxious that Twilight should see Diamond Tiara and almost led her up himself until she persuaded him to leave her to dealing with the matter. One oddity in the household was that a maid should be scrubbing on the stairs that late in the morning. "I'm tellin' ya, miss," She spoke when Twilight made a polite inquiry as to her well-being, "For the whole week past it's bin nothin' but scrub, scrub, scrub along 'ere. Ev'ry mornin' there's this thick mouldy slime from t'front door to youn' Diamond's bedroom and nopony but tha' little Silver Spoon can git in." "Slime, you say?" Twilight was puzzled by that. "Aye. It's almost as though some oversized slug was crawlin' along overnigh'. But nopony's seen nothing', or if they are they ain't talkin' 'bout it. My guess is them two fillies is meddlin' wi' some chemistry stuff; there jus' ain't nothing natural 'bout it." Twilight sniffed and the crusaders followed suit. "'Cor." Apple Bloom remarked. "It smells like rotten apples in a pigsty durin' a bad case of potato blight." "Phew." Sweetie Belle put in. "Rarity wouldn't stand for this. Why she'd grab all your cleaning supplies and evict everypony else until she was sure it's spotless." "Yes, it does smell rather mouldy." Twilight affirmed, a sense of trepidation growing on her. Once they were at the door to Diamond Tiara's bedroom the door was open, Silver Spoon having gone in ahead of them. Stepping in they saw Silver Spoon perched on a chair near the bed, and when they looked at the bed itself they saw Diamond Tiara. The cutie mark crusaders were uneasy about coming here for they were certain the brat would begin mocking them all over again, or when an adult was around give them a look like they hadn't bathed in days. What was sitting in that bed was not looking at them at all but was staring off and rocking to and fro like some nightmare had gripped her; when Silver Spoon directed her gaze to Twilight her look of abject fear faltered with a glimmer of hope. "Oh!" The filly cried with uncharacteristic distress. "You've come at last!" The crusaders considered this remark typical. "You have to help me. Every night I've been disturbed and I can only conclude that you must take that away from here!" She gestured to a comparatively small sack sitting at the foot of the bed. "Take it, please! Take it anywhere! Send it back to the bottom of that gunge pit if you have to, just get it out of here!" Her ranting was both in her nature and anomalous at the same time. Twilight slowly walked towards the sack and before she had a chance to levitate it Silver Spoon put her hoof on it and, with a dangerous calm, said. "If anypony keeps it, be sure that they'll bar their doors and windows before night time." Her voice rang with a barely suppressed anxiety. To Twilight it seemed that they were both struck with the same affliction but Diamond Tiara was suffering the most. Giving Silver Spoon a reassuring nod she lifted the sack and began to take it out. "Let those blank flanks have it!" Diamond Tiara shouted suddenly. "They wanted it in the first place, so they may as well keep it." A double-take led Twilight to suspect that she had found the thieves but their behaviour strongly suggested that they needn't face any penalties as of yet. She calmly led the cutie mark crusaders out. That evening Twilight requested the cutie mark crusaders stay with her for the night in the hopes of mutual support for whatever was going to happen and also sent off a message to Princess Luna in accordance with their agreement. As she watched the sun sink towards the horizon she insisting on all doors being locked and went to shut all the windows, the crusaders following and drawing the curtains as an added effort to avoid any exposure to what it was that could be creeping about Ponyville. Once that was done they congregated on the first floor, just below Twilight's sleeping quarters and made investigations as to the contents of the sack. Twilight gasped at the sight. It was all there. A silver crown encrusted with jade and other relatively dark gems stood out among the assortment of artifacts but it was quite clear that this was Princess Luna's missing treasure. None of the younger four wanted to go downstairs until the morrow but Twilight couldn't help but be drawn by morbid curiosity. When the others were tucked up with a few simple lucky charms that could offer little more than reassurance Twilight slowly made her way down to the ground floor. As she stood at the bottom of the stairs she heard a slow soft scraping from outside and a gross oozing approaching the door, the knob twisted in folly before whatever it was moved on to attempt another door. Twilight crept forward and espied a portion of foul-smelling slime seeping under the door. She swallowed uneasily and hoped that Luna would not leave them to fend for themselves the following night. Twilight stirred from her fragmented sleep by the sound of someone knocking on the door, stirring she could see that the sun was up as it filtered through the curtains. Deciding to take a chance she peaked out one of the windows and breathed a major sigh of relief as she unlocked the door. "We see that thou had an unwelcome guest last night." Princess Luna stated as She stepped in, dissolving the remnants of slime under Her hooves. Twilight nodded unsteadily. "Why did thee bring it here for the night?" "I didn't want anypony else to be saddled with the prospect of some creation of Nightmare Moon and if I sent it back to the old castle it would've seemed like a waste of time in returning it to you." With a sigh Luna rested a surprisingly clean hoof on Twilight's shoulder and said. "We shall welcome the return of our property from thee, but we must still confront the original thieves and hear what ordeal they hath been through." She then followed Twilight upstairs where the reception was simple but eager. "Oh, Princess Luna!" Apple Bloom cried joyfully. "Are we relieved to see you?" "Are we ever?" Scootaloo added. "I really struggled to get any sleep last night. Just what was it we were hiding from, anyhow?" Luna simply accepted the sack from them and said. "I have a feeling that two young ponies you have a familiarity with can give you some idea of what was keeping watch over this." Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon entered the library looking really sorry for themselves, however it seemed that one undisturbed night had given them enough time to collect themselves so as to face up to the true owner of that horde. Indeed when they saw the bag beside the Princess they began to exhibit anxiety again until the offering of elevenses and Luna's reassurances settled them enough that both Twilight and Luna felt sure they could explain what they'd been through and so Luna bade them speak.