//------------------------------//
// The Archive 
// Story: Our Darkest Days 
// by Bluecatcinema 
//------------------------------//

Back at the Crystal Empire, a guard entered Echo's study, having been sent to check on him.

"Hey, Alchemy." He called. "Front and center. The Prince wants to make sure you're staying put."

The guard looked around, seeing no sign of Echo. He even looked up, but Echo wasn't hanging from the ceiling. The guard soon spotted the open window.

"Oh, no." The guard gasped. "That back-stabbing..."

The guard rushed off to the throne room.

"Your highness!" He bowed before Shining Armor, breathing heavily.

"What is it?" Shining asked.

"Echo Alchemy is no longer in his study." The guard declared.

"He's not?" Cadance gasped. 

"I knew this would happen." Shining groaned. "Summon the rest of the guard. Have them comb the Crystal Empire for him."

"Yes, sir!" The guard nodded.

Cadance recognized the look on Shining's face.

"Shining..." She sighed.

"I must've been out of my mind to let him go like that." Shining berated himself. "I should have had him put under house arrest right away."

"Don't blame yourself, dear." Cadance told him.

"I don't." Shining frowned. "I blame Alchemy. Just wait until the guards find him. He'll be sorry..."

In the snowy mountains just outside the Empire, Echo was leading Sunset and Sterling down a pass.

"Mind telling us where exactly we're going, Alchemy?" Sterling griped. "I didn't exactly pack my ski boots, you know."

"Almost there." Echo declared.

"Almost where?" Sunset asked.

"You'll see." Echo told her.

"You do actually have a plan, don't you, Alchemy?" Sterling frowned. "You're not just having us run around in the snow, right?"

"Of course." Echo growled. "Have a little patience, Cross."

"Tell that to my frostbitten hooves." Sterling shivered. "I'm sure Ms. Shimmer is just as cold."

"I'm fine, Sterling." Sunset told him. "Chilly, but fine."

"Maybe we should... share our body heat." Sterling smirked, sidling close to Sunset. "That should warm us both up, if you catch my drift."

"Thanks, but I think I prefer the cold." Sunset rolled her eyes, pulling away.

Echo suddenly stopped.

"Ah, here we are." He smiled.

Sunset and Sterling looked around. There was nothing but a craggy cliff face in front of them.

"And where's 'here' exactly?" Sterling frowned. "There's nothing here, genius!"

"Echo?" Sunset asked.

"Watch and learn." Echo grinned.

Echo placed both hooves on a jutting slab of rock, and pushed downward. The rock lowered itself, and the cliff face slid aside, revealing a hidden pathway.

"What the..." Sterling gaped.

"Wow..." Sunset gasped.

"Ladies first." Echo told Sunset.

Eager to get out of the cold, Sunset rushed inside. Echo followed, with Sterling bringing up the rear. They walked down a short passage, stopping at a pair of doors. Echo opened them, revealing a room full of scrolls and ancient books.

"What is this place?" Sunset looked around, astonished.

"This is the Archive." Echo announced. "It is the resting place of documents listing the location of some of the most powerful dark magic artefacts in the world. It was built long ago, to keep that knowledge from falling into the wrong hooves. A group of influential historians were even charged with protecting it."

"Yeah?" Sterling asked. "Then where are they?"

"It's hard to say for sure." Echo shrugged. "The group was quite secretive. Their members, and what became of them, are a mystery."

"How did you know about this place, anyway?" Sunset asked.

"I heard of it a few months back." Echo revealed. "I sometimes share notes with my colleagues in the field of dark magic research, and one of those notes pointed out the location of this repository."

"Wait, you have colleagues?" Sterling frowned. "As if one dark magic obsessed loony wasn't enough..."

"Very funny." Echo growled. "Now, there should be a document detailing the location of the ten pages somewhere around here."

"Somewhere?!" Sterling repeated. "Don't you know where it is? You know this place, right?"

"Actually, this is my first time coming here." Echo shrugged.

"Oh, great." Sterling frowned. "You mean we have to go through all this stuff?"

"It shouldn't take too long." Echo shrugged. "Not between the three of us."

"Then we'd better get started." Sunset nodded.

"Terrific." Sterling groaned. "And to think, I left the infirmary for this..."

"Stop complaining." Echo shot back. "The fate of Equestria hangs in the balance. This is no time to be thinking about yourself."

"Whatever." Sterling snorted.

They started searching through the documents.

Back in the Crystal Empire, the guard relayed the findings of their search to Shining and Cadance.

"Any luck?" Shining asked.

"None, sir." The guard apologized. "There's something else you need to be aware of, though."

"What is it?" Cadance asked.

"We went over to Sunset Shimmer's apartment, on the oft chance that she might know where Alchemy is, but there was nopony there." The guard declared. "None of her neighbours could recall her coming in, either. There's a chance she may have assisted in Alchemy's escape."

"So much for Celestia's recommendation." Shining said bitterly.

"I'm sure Sunset had a good reason for helping him." Cadance suggested.

"Good or not, she's going to have to answer for her actions." Shining frowned.

"There's one other thing, sir." The guard added. "Dr Sawbones announced that Sterling Cross vanished from the infirmary sometime ago. As Alchemy's watch guard, there's a high chance that he may be involved too."

"Him too?" Shining gaped. "One of my best guards..."

"Let's not jump to conclusions." Cadance told him.

"It's too late for that." Shining declared. "Send out an alert to all royal guard troops. Echo Alchemy and his associates must be found and returned here immediately."

"Yes, your highness." The guard nodded.

"Don't you think you're being a little rash, Shining?" Cadance asked. "They're probably just trying to help."

"We don't know that for sure, Cadance." Shining pointed out. "Not after what Alchemy did... We just can't take the risk of him backsliding."

"I suppose you're right." Cadance sighed.

After what seemed like hours, Echo, Sunset and Sterling were still searching. They found some interesting tidbits, but nothing remotely close to what they needed.

"That's odd." Echo frowned, looking at an empty picture frame at the rear of the Archive. "The way I heard it, there's supposed to be a picture of the historians charged to protect this place right here."

"I was just down there myself." Sterling said. "Didn't see no picture either."

"I suppose it doesn't matter." Echo shrugged. "Not right now, at least..."

"Let's keep looking." Sunset urged.

They continued their search.

"Now this looks promising." Echo held up a scroll. "There was an incident a while ago involving King Sombra's book. Apparently, there was this group of ponies called 'The Order of Darkness' who took great interest in the book, and actually tried to forge a horn much akin to Sombra's, which could bestow great dark magic powers upon the bearer of said horn."

"Really? You mean like when Black Knight had Sombra's horn attached to him..." Sunset brought up.

"Yes. With the book and the horn, they intended to channel the magic from the book into the horn, making it just as good, if not better, as the real thing. The group had intentions of ruling Equestria with this power..." Echo mused. 

"Incredible." Sunset gasped. "Does it say what happened next?"

"They aren't exactly cleared, but it seems like there were complications and the horn ended up exploding their hideout, and scattering the Order of Darkness to the winds." Echo stated. "Soon after, the authorities confiscated the book, and after much debating, they entrusted one the historians to have ten of the book's pages holding some of it's most powerful dark magic spells torn from the book and placed in ten separate hiding places." He then glanced at the document.

"Well, that's fascinating and all." Sterling said sarcastically. "But does it say where the pages are?"

"Actually... it does!" Echo grinned. "The locations of all ten pages are listed right here!"

"That's great!" Sunset smiled. "We'll be able to find them all before that masked pony does!"

"Finally, we're getting somewhere." Sterling declared.

"Speaking of which, we should get going." Echo declared. "No time like the present."

"Out into the snow again." Sterling groaned. "Yay..."

They turned towards the exit, ecstatic. Suddenly, one of the doors flew towards them. Sunset managed to throw up a force field just in time. The door shattered into pieces.

"What was that?" Sunset asked.

They didn't have to look far for the answer. There, in the doorway, stood the masked pony.

"Him again." Sterling frowned.

"How'd he find this place?" Sunset asked.

"He must have been following us." Echo posited.

The masked pony pointed at Echo. More specifically, the document in his hoof.

"You want this, do you?" Echo growled. "Not a chance!"

The masked pony paused for a moment... and then raised his hooves, and a swarm of dark crystals rose around him. With him standing in front of the only way in or out of the Archive, the trio's only option was to try and fight their way past him.

"I got this." Sterling stepped forward.

"Sterling, don't." Sunset urged.

"Relax." Sterling smiled. "He caught me off-guard last time. This time, I'm ready for him."

Sterling charged at the masked pony, who sent a stream of crystals his way. Sterling side-stepped the stream and tackled the masked pony, then started grappling with him. A stream of crystals pushed at him, but he smashed them with his hooves. At the same time, Sunset leveled her glowing horn at their foe.

"Sterling, get out of the way!" She yelled.

"Are you kidding?" Sterling snorted. "I've got him right where I want him!"

"But I can finish this right now!" Sunset yelled. "I just need one clear shot!"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head, Ms. Shimmer." Sterling dodged another stream of crystals. "He's all mine!"

"Listen to Sunset, you grandstanding fool!" Echo roared. "Step aside!"

"When I want your advice, I'll ask for it!" Sterling shot back.

Taking advantage of Sterling's momentary distraction, the masked pony had his dark crystals grab him by the legs.

"Hey, lemme go!" Sterling yelled.

Sunset finally had her shot.

"Take this!" She fired at the masked pony's center.

Sterling was suddenly pulled in front of the masked pony, taking the blast himself.

"Yeow!" He yelled.

"Sterling!" Sunset gasped.

Sterling was thrown aside, smashing into a crate. The masked pony sent more tendrils at Sunset and Echo. Echo took off, grateful that the Archive had such a high ceiling, and managed to evade the tendrils.

"Ooh, my achin' head." Sterling pushed away the debris. He found a crossbow among the crate's contents. "Oh-ho! Now we're talkin'!"

As Echo dodged the tendrils and Sunset blasted them, Sterling loaded the crossbow.

"Hey, freakshow!" He called to the masked pony. "Eat this!"

Sterling fired a bolt at the masked pony, who formed a shield to block it.

"Plenty more where that came from." Sterling growled, loading another bolt.

As Sterling made to fire, another tendril lashed out at him, throwing off his aim. The bolt flew towards Sunset, shearing off a single lock of her mane.

"Watch it!" Sunset yelled.

"Sorry!" Sterling cringed.

The masked pony rose up on a mass of dark crystals, trying to get close to Echo (since he was holding the document listing the locations of the pages, he was the villains primary target). More tendrils whipped up to attack Echo. He dodged some, while Sunset covered him with magic blasts.

Sterling tried to fire another bolt, but couldn't get a good shot in.

"I need some altitude." He declared.

Sterling rushed over to one of the bookcases, and started climbing it.

"Sterling, what are you doing?" Sunset hissed.

"Taking care of business." Sterling boasted.

Up above, Echo was strafing around the masked pony, waiting for the perfect moment to dive at him and knock him to the ground. One of Sunset's magic blasts hit close to home, the exploding crystals clouding the masked pony's vision.

'Now is the time.' Echo thought.

Echo dived downward. But at the same time, Sterling had reached the top of the bookcase, and leapt at the masked pony.

"You're goin' down!" Sterling yelled.

The masked pony, alerted by Sterling's yell, willed the mass of crystals to lower him down. Echo and Sterling crashed into each other, and landed on Sunset.

The trio lay on the ground, a painful pile of ponies, while the document listing the page locations fluttered to the floor. The masked pony moved to pick it up.

"No, don't!" Echo tried to disentangle himself.

The masked pony flung a stream of crystals at the trio, sending flying across the Archive. Tucking the document into his coat, he turned and left.

Moments later, the trio struggled painfully to their hooves.

"What is wrong with you, you musclebound oaf?" Echo reprimanded Sterling. "I almost had that fiend until you ran your big mouth off!"

"Me?!" Sterling yelled. "If it weren't for you, I'd have taken that freak down."

"Oh, yes, because you had such a brilliant strategy." Echo scoffed.

"Better than yours, you leather-winged loser!" Sterling yelled. "Where does a brainiac like you get off, thinking you know how to fight? Leave that to the real stallions!"

Echo's breathing grew erratic, and small purple whisps came out of his eyes. His rage was reaching breaking point.

"That's enough, you two." Sunset told them. "Fighting isn't going to fix anything."

Swayed by Sunset's words, Echo took a deep, calming breath. The whisps in his eyes vanished.

"You're right, Sunset." He admitted. "And neither is blaming one another." He glared at Sterling. "No matter how much that blame is deserved..." 

"No kidding." Sterling huffed. "That psycho knows where to find the pages, and we've got nothing."

"Not quite." Echo grinned.

"What do you mean, Echo?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah, what are you smiling about?" Sterling growled.

"I know where to find the pages." Echo announced. "Each and every one of them."

"You do?" Sunset gasped. "But how?"

"Did I ever mention to you that I have a photographic memory?" Echo smirked. "I may only have looked at the locations once, but it was all I needed."

"You are amazing!" An overjoyed Sunset hugged him.

"Yes... well..." Echo blushed slightly. "I do have my moments..."

"So we're still in this." Sterling declared, trying to hide the look of jealousy on his face. "We just have to beat that masked menace to the pages, right?"

"Right." Echo nodded. "This is far from over..."

"We'd better get moving, then." Sunset declared. "Our enemy already has a head start."

"Quite right, Sunset." Echo agreed. "We have no time to lose!"

"Just don't get in my way next time, alright?" Sterling told Echo.

"As long as you don't get in mine." Echo shot back.

"Fine." Sterling growled.

"Fine." Echo spat.

The unlikely trio set off to their first target. Their quest had not gotten off to a good start, but there was still time to turn their fortunes around. Meanwhile, back in the Crystal Empire, the Guardspony search party was setting off, determined to bring the fugitives back by any means...