Two days had passed since Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash had set off to visit Daring Do.
As Spike swept the throne room of the castle, he looked up at the chandelier overhead, made from the roots of the Golden Oak Library, and wondered where Twilight and Rainbow were at that moment and what epic adventures they were getting into.
"Spike? I'm going out to dinner. Won't you come with me?" Twilight Velvet trotted into the throne room, looking around. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this place," she said with a chuckle.
"Oh...hey, Mom. Is your room okay?"
"It's fine, Spike," Velvet said. She stretched. "Well...so much for my week with my daughter, huh?"
"Eh, she'll be back soon," Spike said. "Besides, you can afford to spend more than a week in Ponyville, right?"
Velvet shrugged. "All things considered," she said. She started pacing. "I can't believe Daring Do never told me she had a daughter. I can't believe her estranged daughter is one of my daughter's best friends! I can't believe my daughter and her friends all know A. K. Yearling's secret! I can't believe my daughter and her best friend are chasing after Daring Do when she's in the middle of one of her adventures!"
Spike dug in his ear with a claw. "I can't believe you and Twilight both do that pacing and ranting thing," he muttered. "So, do you have any idea what it is they're all looking for? Did Daring Do tell you what her next book is about?"
Velvet shook her head. "She never tells me what she's up to. I only find out where she's been and how close she's come to getting herself killed again when I get her manuscripts in the mail."
Spike chuckled. "It's funny, though. All this time you've known Daring Do is a real pony, and you never told anyone..."
"Well, of course," Velvet said. "I'm her oldest and dearest friend. And her editor. If I blabbed, I'd lose a friend and be out of a job." She frowned. "Still, I'm pretty mad at her for never telling me she had a foal. I guess that explains that year she disappeared." She fell into a brown study.
"So...you said something about dinner?" Spike said into the awkward silence that ensued.
"Oh...right. We should get going." *So help me, Daring Do...if you get my daughter hurt or killed, I'll never forgive you!*
* * * * *
"Ugh," Rainbow Dash muttered. "I thought going through some old cave headed for an ancient tomb would be more exciting than this. This is...this is boring."
Twilight Sparkle stepped around a stalagmite jutting up from the broad, uneven cave floor. Every so often, she had to dodge a particularly long stalactite hanging from the uncomfortably low ceiling. A large, sparkling ball of magic hung in front of her, lighting the path ahead.
The caverns of Maretania stretched on for miles. There were side tunnels and alcoves in all directions. In some places, the ceiling was higher. In others, it was so low they had to crawl along the the ground to pass. More than once, they'd encountered an impassable obstruction, forcing Twilight to teleport them past it.
Twilight checked her map, looked around, and made her way to a dark tunnel opening on her left.
"Seriously! There aren't even any monsters down here? Snakes? Big hairy spiders? Nothing?"
"Rainbow Dash! I'm trying to concentrate!"
"Sorry," Rainbow muttered. "I'm just bored. And anxious. And I hate not bein' able to fly."
Twilight sighed. "I know, Rainbow Dash. Honestly, I'm disappointed too. I was hoping a place Starswirl the Bearded had explored would be more..."
A fireball spat out of the tunnel they were headed towards.
"GAH!" Twilight quickly erected a magical forcefield around them. The fireball bounced off, striking the ceiling, where it knocked loose a skinny stalactite that clattered to the cave floor.
"Now we're talkin'!" Rainbow yelled excitedly, her wings fluttering. "Come on out, whatever you are!"
With a loud hissing noise, a scaly creature crawled out of the tunnel. It had a flat, dry reptilian body with thick, pebble-like black scales; its four broad legs ended in curved claws. It had a long, skinny tail, barbed at the end, and two serpentine heads, their necks intertwined, with spiky rings of scales around their crowns and deep-set, glowing golden eyes. One head had fiery red scales, while the other had deep blue scales.
"Wow, that thing's ugly," Rainbow commented. "What is it?"
"I don't know," Twilight said with trepidation, raising a hoof. "I've never read about a creature like this in any of my books!"
The blue head drew back, then snapped forward like a whip. A huge blue ball of mist flew out of its mouth, headed right for Rainbow Dash. She dodged to the side, then charged forward and bucked the blue head. The red head snapped at her; she barely missed losing a hoof to its jaws. Behind them, the misty ball impacted on the opposite wall of the cave and exploded into a thin layer of frost.
Twilight dropped her shield and fired a stunning spell at the red head. It twitched, shook groggily, and spat another fireball at her. She teleported out of the way.
"Okay, this thing's tickin' me off now," Rainbow said. She kicked each head, flipped past the creature in midair, and drove both of her back hooves into its scaly body in a powerful buck. It toppled over onto its side; the blue head snapped around and spat an iceball at Rainbow which struck her left wing. She screamed as her wing iced over.
"RAINBOW!" Twilight charged forward, horn glowing. Both heads of the reptile glared at her. Both mouths opened. The red mouth glowed with heat; the blue mouth issued clouds of freezing breath.
Twilight snagged both heads in her magic and pointed them right at each other just as the creature cut loose.
A massive steam explosion shook ancient dust loose from the walls and ceiling. Chunks of scaly flesh sprayed in every direction as the creature's heads exploded, splattering the walls.
"Whoa," Rainbow said with a wide-eyed stare at the creature's remains.
Twilight sagged. "I didn't mean to kill it," she said quietly. "I just...I reacted..."
"It's okay, Twi," Rainbow said shakily. "You probably saved both our lives. That thing was seriously nasty." She examined her frozen wing. "Gah...this sucks," she hissed, wincing. Twilight's horn glowed again. A gentle heat shimmered around Rainbow's wing, which slowly thawed out. She shook it out, gingerly testing each feather. "Thanks," she said.
"Sure thing," Twilight said. She looked at the creature's remains and shuddered. "Let's...let's just keep going, okay?"
* * * * *
Daring Do frowned at the repetition of symbols that marked the reliefs carved into the walls of the Holy Road.
"That star-shaped symbol that keeps appearing...where have I seen that before...?"
The symbols of the Sun and the Moon were obvious, especially if her theories about the identity of the Unknown Prince were true. But that star-shaped mark...
Something about it was familiar. Not from her studies of archaeology or ancient pony history, but something more recent...
She stopped to catch her breath, taking a moment to study the engravings. The script that ran along the length of the walls was in an ancient language only two living ponies could read, but some of the carvings seemed to depict the birth of Equestria.
And two very distraught alicorns grieving for the death of...
A brother? Husband? Son?
...a father...?
* * * * *
Twilight Sparkle checked the map, then led Rainbow Dash down a sloping tunnel into a smooth, rounded cavern with no apparent exits.
"Aaaand you lead us to a dead end," Rainbow said.
"Celestia said there was a secret tunnel," Twilight said. "She said we'd need to find the markers ourselves. Check around, see if you see anything."
"All I see is a dead end," Rainbow repeated. She craned her neck around. "There's some rock over here...oh look, there's some more rock over here! Oh, hey, check this out! It's rock."
"Rainbow," Twilight sighed tiredly. "Cut it out." She expanded and brightened her magic glowball and began searching the barren tunnel.
The plink of a drop of water hitting stone echoed in the stillness.
"Huh," Rainbow mused. "There's water dripping in here."
Twilight frowned and looked up at the ceiling, searching it. "Look there!" she said, pointing with a hoof. A narrow crack split a carved relief of the sun.
Rainhow scratched her muzzle. "Huh. I guess...that must be a marker?" She flew up to it and started pushing against it. "It ain't doin' nothin', Twi."
"There must be something else," Twilight said. She kept searching. "Another one! It's the moon this time." Her muzzle crinkled in thought. "The sun and the moon. Celestia and Luna!"
Rainbow blinked. "Wait. You think...you think they built this tomb we're lookin' for?"
"Or at least found it and marked the trail," Twilight said. She narrowed her eyes as she studied the two markers. "But what does it mean? Oh, if only I had something more to go on..."
"Hey, I think I see something," Rainbow said suddenly. "Move your magic ball thingie over here." Twilight walked over to where Rainbow was pointing, lowering her magic light to the ground. "Something's glittering down there."
"You're right!" Twilight leaned in for a closer look. "It's some kind of crys...tal..." She gasped, taking a step back and nearly landing on her butt. "But...but that's impossible!"
"What?" Rainbow leaned in for a closer look. Her eyes widened. "Whoa."
Twilight stared at the crystal relief underneath the rock. "It's...it's my Cutie Mark," she said softly. "But why...?"
Rainbow leaned in and prodded it with her hoof. It clicked, and the rock wall above them began to melt. "Whoa!"
"What...?"
A cloud of mist billowed out of a dark hole in the cavern wall. Twilight and Rainbow stared at one another, shrugged, and flew through.
They found themselves in a long, narrow tunnel full of foul-smelling mist that clung to their coats, making them shiver. They were forced to walk single-file. "So this goes to the secret valley, huh?" Rainbow asked.
"It has to," Twilight said.
For nearly an hour, the two ponies crept through the tight, damp tunnel. "I see something up ahead!" Rainbow cried suddenly. "Put out your light!"
Twilight extinguished her magic light with a sigh of relief. Up ahead, dim sunlight lit the tunnel's exit. "Whew...finally," Twilight said. "We need to stop and rest as soon as we're out of this tunnel."
"I hear that," Rainbow said. "I hope there's some place to wash this nasty fog out of my wings..."
A few minutes later, they reached the end of the tunnel. They stepped out onto cool, moist green grass. Spreading out, they looked around and gasped.
They had emerged into a vast, grassy valley with a large, clear pond. Sunlight filtered through a canopy of trees which grew out of the sides of the cliffs towering over them. The trunks and branches of the ancient, gnarled trees intertwined in such a way that nopony would ever suspect, looking down from above, that there was a valley below.
All around the valley, ripe fruits shone on the branches of trees; bushes of berries lined the cliff faces, and sweet-smelling flowers and clover shot in haphazard paths through the fresh green grass. A thin, burbling stream meandered this way and that from the pond, which itself accepted water from a ribbon-thin runoff in the cliffs above.
"This place is beautiful," Twilight breathed, ears twitching.
Rainbow bolted for the pond and drank deeply, then dunked her head in and shook droplets from her mane. "Twi, you gotta come try this water!"
Twilight smiled and glided over to the pond, dipping her head in for a drink. She looked up, letting out a happy sigh and a small burp. "So refreshing," she said.
"I'm all for stoppin' for a bite to eat," Rainbow said, looking at the ripe berries on the bushes and licking her lips.
Twilight giggled. "I'll go along with that," she said.
The two mares spent some time wandering around sampling the various fruits, nuts, and berries that grew in the valley. Everything was sweet, cool, crisp, and delicious. "We should totally bring some of this back to Ponyville with us!" Rainbow said.
"I don't think it'd survive the trip," Twilight said. Something caught her eye; she looked toward the east end of the valley and gasped in surprise. "Rainbow Dash! Look!" She pointed with a hoof.
Rainbow whipped her head around to look in the direction Twilight was pointing. "Whoa."
At the east end of the valley stood a broad marble edifice with pristine columns, an intricately engraved lintel, and a sloped roof. Two phoenix flame torches in brass sconces stood to either side of the entrance. Above the lintel, a carved relief of two alicorns—one dark and one light—bowing their heads over a tomb stood out sharply in the flickering torchlight.
"I guess...that's the entrance to the tomb," Rainbow said.