There was a silence over the night sky of Equestria. The moon shone bright, high in the sky, as stars twinkled like blinking lightbulbs. Passing through the sky, Princess Luna monitored her subjects, sleeping and dreaming. Traveling near the Smokey Mountain, she heard a deep, low sound, echoing from the mountain itself. Curious to see what it was, Luna landed on the flat plateau on the side of the mountain. The noise seemed louder here than ever. Approaching a cave, she walked in slowly, thinking that perhaps it was a dragon. Unfortunately, she was wrong, for the sound was walking and she recognized the booming, heavy sound of hooves.
“Hello? Anypony there?” she called out.
Whatever was walking frightened Luna to an extent. Continuing her call outs, the sound rumbled, then suddenly ceased. Luna didn’t hear it again. She turned, only to confront a shadow of dust that seemed to have come from nowhere. Fear taking her, she bolted past it and took of straight into the air. The shadow witnessed her flying away, and faded within the cave.
Luna, too frightened to look behind her, flew as fast as she could back to Canterlot. With only a few hours remaining until the dawn, Luna remained in the castle, scared to even walk outside.
Down below, Doctor Hooves, was worried by Luna's behavior. When she didn't come outside again, he walked into a nearby alley and opened his bag, revealing a crystal orb.
“Report?” a voice asked.
“Nothing bad. Unfortunately, I saw Princess Luna flying at incredible speed back into the castle. It is unusual of her to do that but it seemed as if she was scared of something,” Doctor Hooves reported.
“Hmm, that is quite strange. You and the Archivist will question her in the morning, but for now, you may pull out. Your job is done,” the voice replied.
“Of course, my master,” Doctor Hooves replied.
“One other thing. The Architect requests that you take Princess Twilight Sparkle with you, to visit Luna. She may be of use,” the voice replied as the crystal orb’s light died down.
Doctor Hooves began to think to himself. The only thing that troubled him was, how could a princess, especially an alicorn who once became Nightmare Moon, fear something, forcing her to retreat? Throughout the rest of the night, that notion continued to puzzle him.
Morning came, as Princess Celestia raised the sun. However, at that moment, she noticed her sister, fidgeting as she lowered the moon. Sensing a presence of fear, she walked over to Luna.
“Luna? You seemed to have had trouble lowering the moon. Is everything okay?” she calmly asked.
“Oh, no worries, sister,” Luna nervously responded. “I just had some trouble flying last night, and I'm a little tired. You know…”
Celestia raised an eyebrow.
Luna must be hiding something, she thought.
Luna looked nervous, like something bad occurred to her. Respecting Luna’s response, Celestia reluctantly dropped the issue for now. Something truly frightened her sister, and Celestia was going to find out.
In Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle began practicing some old spells, from one of Star Swirl the Bearded’s books she had possession of since their recent return from the ruined Castle of the Regal Sisters. Spike remained in the back of the room, sorting out books when he saw Twilight struggling.
“Um… what are you doing, Twilight?”
She looked through them and noticed one particular spell, written in an unusual language.
“La… laaaaa… che… van… tu… se… var… eee…” Twilight grunted. “AH!!! I can’t believe that Star Swirl wrote some of these spells in different languages. It’s as if it wasn’t supposed to be translated.”
Before Spike could speak, a voice was heard from the doorway.
“That’s because it’s not supposed to.”
Twilight turned and noticed the Archivist. She walked over, towards Twilight.
“But why?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Well first, I want to ask you where you found that book? In what section? And were there any books next to it?” The Archivist asked.
“Well… um… I only found this book, on the historical section inside this strange room that looked like a cave,” Twilight replied.
The Archivist squinted.
“Understood,” she said as she walked over to the book and read it.
Reading it for a while, she closed it and dropped a candle on it. Twilight yelped, but the Archivist held her back when she tried to douse the flames. It was too late: the book was gone.
“Hey! Why did you burn that book? I wanted to learn it!” Twilight angrily said.
The Archivist, satisfied, headed for the door, but turned to speak before she left.
“It is illegal to speak the ancient language, Twilight Sparkle. In addition, Star Swirl broke the ancient laws of attempting to rewrite one of the master’s spells. If he were still alive, he would’ve been found guilty of treason. That’s why I burnt the book. To save you from a harsh sentence. Anyhow, this a matter for another time. I, along with Doctor Hooves, must request your assistance,” The Archivist responded, leaving Twilight speechless.
Twilight took a moment to register her words and walked a bit closer, curiously.
“With what?”
“Canterlot. Luna encountered something in the Smokey Mountain, where you went to remove the Dragon from the cave. I believe she found something else in there. However, we've never been up the mountain,” The Archivist said. "I'd appreciate if you'd answer some questions."
At the doorway, Pinkie Pie arrived, waiting to greet Twilight, unfortunately was stopped by The Archivist.
“Umm… where you going, Twilight?” she asked.
The Archivist stepped in.
“She is going to Canterlot for something important. But she’ll be right back.”
Pinkie Pie stared and stared for a few seconds.
“Okieedokieelokiee,” she said slowly as she turned and hopped away.
The Archivist tilted her head.
“To be honest, I still can’t get accustomed to the Element of Laughter,” she said.
Twilight giggled.
“Let’s get a move on, since you mentioned this is important. I would be happy to answer all of your questions,” she replied.
Twilight looked for Spike.
“Spike. While I’m gone, can you fix up the remaining books?”
Spike smiled.
“No problemo, Twilight. I’ll get them done…whoa!” Spike said, tripping over a book.
Twilight smiled back, and joined The Archivist. Soon, the two were headed their way to Canterlot.
On the Smokey Mountain, a group of six pegasi journeyed up the mountain as a regular hangout. However, what they would encounter would be something that would haunt them. As they jumped around, doing tricks, and showing off, they quickly ceased their activity after hearing a deep rumble. The six walked in to see what it was, only to flee right out again after seeing a shadow with red eyes glow.