//------------------------------// // The Order's Temple // Story: Music of the Night // by CharlieOist //------------------------------// The Courtyard of Memories sprawled out before the seven ponies. Similar to the statue garden in Canterlot, the entire area was littered with statues, benches, plants, and other paraphernalia, strategically placed to awe and inspire the ponies that had once streamed into the castle from miles around to admire the capital of Equestria and, hopefully, catch a glimpse of the Solar Princess. It appeared to have escaped destruction, as well, with everything appearing in pristine condition. The object that caught the Element bearers attention, however, sat in the middle of the cast courtyard. Discord leered out over the courtyard, his eyes still managing to give off an air of mischief and malice even through their stony prison. He stood in the same cocky position the original Discord statue had been poised in before his release almost two months ago, and he appeared to have been the centerpiece for this garden. Nightsong glanced at the others in the group. “Why do you all look so surprised?” Twilight managed to tear her eyes away from the statue to face the red maned unicorn. “Why is there a Discord statue here?! Surely nopony was crazy enough to copy the original in Canterlot!” The others murmured assent followed her words, though no pony else was able to tear her eyes away from the mischievously grinning statue. Nightsong was shaking his head even before Twilight had finished her sentence. “Of course not. Did you honestly think that statue was the only one? Even though he was completely mad, Discord was still a god, and no god is foolish enough to keep all of his power in one place! The statue in Canterlot is one of many across Equestria! It is kept close to Canterlot simply because it was the draconequus's first avatar to fall, and contained much of his power. After having dethroned the original, the princesses were forced to travel around the rest of Equestria, looking for the rest of the Chaos God's power, trapping all of his avatars in stone, sealing every last bit of the chaos god's being away . As to why this statue does not look as if it has moved in the three thousand years it has been here, I can only assume that Discord only managed to gain his power from the one statue before being once more defeated and turned to stone.” The six mares shared a glance before sighing in relief. “Ah think Ah speak fer everypony when I say: Thank Celestia! One Discord was bad enough!” Applejack's voice rang out of the clamor of voices that had once more taken hold of the group. Nightsong chuckled before turning his head back to the north and beginning to walk towards the opposite end of the courtyard. ******* “And now, we're finally here...” Nightsong's voice was a whisper, filled with a mixture of awe, relief, and fear. The doors to the temple's inner sanctum were set into the side of a rather impressive pyramid. While not large by pyramid standards, being only three stories high, the structure was still quite a feet of engineering due to the composition of the exterior. The walls of the pyramid consisted of a type of black stone that seemed to soak up light, only allowed a small amount of daylight reflect off of it's surface in small dots, giving the impression of a piece of the night sky having fallen to earth in the center of the eastern courtyard. The only exception to this stood in front of the group. The open eye set on the moon, the symbol of the New Moon priesthood, had been placed in full relief on the front of two stoat oak doors. The moon, done entirely in diamond, shone brightly in the noon day sun, while the eye had been done in black glass and fused to the diamond structure, which had, in turn, been magically fused to the wooden doors. Which presented a bit of a problem... “There are no door handles,” Rainbow Dash said incredulously after spending several moments in silence with the others, going over every inch of the doors. Finally, the cerulean pegasus gave a scream of frustration, and she threw herself at the door, shoving with all of her might. “Why won't these damn things open?!” Applejack quickly roped the angry pegasus, pulling her down to earth so that the group could stop her from hurting herself, as they had seen the easily frustrated mare do before. Meanwhile, Nightsong continued to examine the pyramid, his eyes darting over the surface of the architectural marvel, taking in each crack and crevasse. Suddenly, a growling sound, originating from behind him, made the black unicorn jump. He turned, only to bump muzzles with Twilight, from whom the growling sound had emanated, or, more precisely, her stomach. As she rubbed her nose, Twilight attempted to explain, “We were going to set up camp here, since sunset is only two hours away. That way, we have all night to figure out how to open the temple-,” another growl interrupted her speech, and a blush appeared on her face, “-and, perhaps, get something to eat?” Nightsong chuckled, then turned back to the doors, frowning slightly. “The only way to open this is at night. The Elders were very specific on that. Otherwise, they knew nothing of the operation of the temple or what may lie within after more than a thousand years of it having lain abandoned. They could only tell me where I would find the information I sought.” Nightsong lifted his hoof to point to the top of the pyramid. “There is a single large room at the top of this pyramid that housed all of the Order's knowledge, as well as the Head Priest.” Rainbow Dash sighed in despair and flopped onto her side. “More walking?” She groaned. The other ponies stared at her for a moment, before breaking into fits of laughter that echoed through the courtyard.