//------------------------------//
// Bingo! 
// Story: Starlight, star bright 
// by Dusty Hooves 
//------------------------------//

It was hard for Starlight not to fall asleep, tucked in as she was in the dark, cozy replica home but she knew she needed to stay alert. 
She waited patiently in her hiding spot for an hour or so after the museum closed and in that time, she had not heard a single hoofstep. Time for me to go, she thought, I'm fairly sure everypony has gone home for the day. Even so, as Starlight carefully exited the replica house she remained very quiet in her movements.
Starlight knew the curator was keeping something from her. He was far to anxious when he had returned from the archives. That and she thought he slipped up when he mentioned not having any scrolls. Starlight never said anything to him about scrolls. He was hiding something and she knew it. 
Starlight carefully went through the roped off area to the archives section. Upon reaching the door, she read a large sign painted on it. 

EMPLOYEES ONLY
BEYOND THIS POINT

She tried the door, it was unlocked. That's rather curious, she thought. why would the curator leave this door unlocked? Especially if there was something in here that he was trying to keep secret. Maybe I'm all wrong about this. Starlight found her mind beginning to fill with doubts about what she had thought was suspicious earlier. Well, since I have already come this far, Starlight thought, I might as well see it through to the end. 
Slowly opening the door so it would not make any noise, she cautiously went inside. The room was large, about the size of two average ponies houses put together. There were no lights on and the only illumination came from a skylight overhead. The area was cast in shadows. Starlight thought, It's awfully dark in here. Closing the door behind her so no light would escape, Starlight lit up her horn so she could see. The room was full of shelves that dominated the space. They were loaded with relics consisting of old domestic items like pots and pans, furniture, some costumes and farming tools. There was a reading desk in one corner and next to it, another door.
Starlight started down the isles, looking for something, anything that might be a clue. Coming close to the end of the room, she turned the corner and almost jumped out of her skin as she spotted what appeared to be half a dozen ponies standing together in the shadows near the reading desk. "Ahhh!" she cried out. 
With her hoof over her heart, trying to keep it from exploding out of her chest, she tried to slow down her breathing and looked more closely at the group of ponies who had not moved or uttered a word since she had seen them. 
Ponnequins. They were just a collection of unused ponnequins.
Starlight, you silly mare. Why must you be so jumpy! she admonished herself. With her breathing returning to normal, Starlight continued with the task at hand. She glanced at the door near the reading desk.
It had writing on it similar to that of the archives door but in bold, red letters:

RESTRICTED ACCESS


This looks promising. Thought Starlight.
Looking at the door, the first thing that caught her attention was the old and rather large padlock securing it. Now, she thought, What is so valuable that it needs to be locked up in a room within a room?
Being a city of mostly earth ponies and seeing how the curator was himself an earth pony, he had locked the door with a old fashioned mechanical lock and not a spell. Easy-peasy. Thought Starlight. 
She enveloped the lock in her magic aura and quietly whispered "alohomora" but nothing happened. It was worth a try she thought, slightly amused with herself for even considering such a thing. 
Bringing herself back to reality, Starlight tightly closed her eyes as she tried to picture what the internal mechanism of the lock looked like. Straining with concentration, her tongue starting to poke out of the corner of her mouth and beads of sweat popping out on her forehead, she manipulated the parts within the lock. Within seconds the lock made a loud "click" and was open. 
Startled by the noise of the lock opening, her ears flattening against her head, Starlight froze in place, listening for the sounds of hoof steps approaching. After hearing nothing for a couple of tense minutes but her own heart thumping, trying to beat it's way out of her chest, she proceeded to open the door and go inside.
"And my teachers said I was not good enough to remain in their oh so precious school. Harrumph! I popped that lock probably faster than any of them could." She whispered to herself with more than a little pride in her voice.

The room behind the door was so small, Starlight could illuminate the entire area with the light from her horn. It was not much bigger than a closet. Against the far wall was a series of shelves and besides some old jewel encrusted items, rolled up tapestries and other stuff Starlight was sure wasn't related to her search, there was a chest, about the size of a foal. Written on the lid was: 
"Not For Public Display!"
It was secured with a lock similar to the one on the door of this room and Starlight, being a fast learner and now familiar with this type of lock, quickly had it open and lifted the lid. Inside were three very old scrolls. Carefully picking them up in her magic, she left the small room and took the scrolls over to the reading desk.

Using great care so as not to damage them, she unrolled each one in turn, reading what was written on them. The first one had something about a treaty between the griffons and the ancient earth ponies. She set it aside. The second was full of dates and names and some kind of reward or titles. Not interested in this one either, she opened the last one. This one looked more promising.

What she read was that there were indeed a group of unicorns that did form some sort of settlement and that these "cultists" as the scroll referred to them, were planning some kind of coup and that a detachment of earth ponies, under orders from Canterlot, raided and disbanded the cult, apparently many years before Princess Luna was banished to the moon. 

According to the writing on this scroll, which being written in an obscure form of Equestrian was proving difficult for Starlight to read, the earth pony detachment was ordered to arrest all the unicorns and relocate them. Breaking them up into smaller groups and resettling them in different parts of the land. Warning them that they could not re-estabilish their community under threat of imprisonment. 
Reading on, it looks like 38 mares, 21 stallions and 6 children, all unicorns, were resettled. The unicorns, the scroll detailed, did not offer any resistance. Apparently, the "cult" as the scroll referred to them, was non-violent and accepted the conditions placed upon them.
"Incredible!" Starlight whispered, "It's no wonder the curator was so nervous. If this was ever made public, it might prove difficult for the princesses to explain."
Tucked inside the scroll was a faded map showing the location of the unicorn settlement. Bingo! Starlight thought. Looking around for something to write on, she found a tablet and a pencil and quickly copied the map.
Replacing the scrolls in the chest exactly how she had found them, she closed and relocked both the chest and the door.
Starlight made her way through the dark to the front entrance. This place is scary at night with all the lights off and deserted like this. She thought as the shadows from the skeletons on display seemed to follow her every move.
After checking to make sure nopony was around, (she did not think there were guards here, but better safe than sorry) she used her magic to unlock the entrance door (I'm getting rather good at this. Starlight thought) and she quickly left, making sure to re-lock the door after she was out. 

Now safely on the street, she could allow herself to relax somewhat. With the map securely tucked into her saddle bags, she would find someplace to sleep and in the morning, buy whatever supplies she needed and make her way to this place she hoped would have some answers! 

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Back to where we started...

Two days, Starlight thought. I've been wandering alone in the desert for two days and as she shook her canteen, hearing barely anything slosh about inside it, I'm almost out of water. I'd better find something soon or I'll end up like these tumbleweeds that I see, just another dried up husk on the desert floor.