Reaper’s body shimmered briefly as he fully reentered his physical form in Luna’s chambers. He stood and looked around, but saw only Luna slumbering nearby.
“Twilight?” he called out, walking across the floor toward the entrance. There was no reply.
He sighed, then called out: “Guard! Stick your head in here for a second--I have a question.”
He heard shuffling and muttering from the hall: “That’s close enough! What do you want?”
Reaper rolled his eyes and stuck his head through the doorway. There was a scramble as both Luna and Celestia’s guards backed away, trying to avoid eye contact with their unwanted guest.
“My good mares and stalwart stallions,” he said dryly, “if you don’t stand your ground, I’m going to appear smack in your midst and take my answers directly, by staring into your souls!”
The group of guard ponies shied away, but didn’t run, though they all had their ears drooped, and their wings tucked back tightly.
“Wha-what do you want to know?” stammered the lead Royal Guard, looking at Reaper’s feet.
“Buck up, mighty warrior,” Reaper said, “I just want to know where Twilight has gone.”
The guardpony swallowed hard: “She left about 15 minutes ago…”
“She said she needed to talk to Celestia about something in a forbidden scroll,” added one of Luna’s Night Guard.
Reaper nodded: “Then I’m off to Celestia’s chambers, I suppose. I’m sure I won’t need an escort!”
He turned to leave the doorway as the guards fell back, just as Twilight rounded the corner.
“No need, Reaper,” she said, “and I’m sure the Princesses would appreciate you not terrifying their guards! Really--threatening to “stare into their souls!” What would Luna say?”
Reaper grinned and turned to go back into Luna’s quarters: “Probably about the same thing you just did. I only wanted a simple bit of information, and it seemed a bit of dramatic flourish was called for!”
Twilight shook her head: “”Dramatic flourish!” You’re worse than Rarity!”
As they walked back toward the dais and Luna’s dozing form, Reaper cocked an eyebrow and looked at Twilight: “Forbidden scroll? Aren’t two warlocks enough for this story?”
Twilight poured a fresh goblet of cider and rolled her eyes: “I’m no warlock, and neither was Starswirl!”
“I’m not so sure about that…” Reaper retorted.
Twilight settled on her cushions and set her cider to one side of a collection of cracked and fading scrolls.
“Well, be that as it may,” Twilight continued, “if I were a warlock, I probably would have found the secret chamber or whatever it is below the castle that connects to that collapsed stairway you found by now!”
Reaper sat on the low couch nearest to Twilight: “So no new Highbrier intelligence?”
“Not really,” Twilight replied, shuffling a few bits of parchment and opening a book.
“Can I assume you’ve run across the names Verdant Grove and High Heath?” Reaper asked.
Twilight nodded: “Sure--father and son, members of the Greensward clan, during Starswirl’s early days.”
Reaper started to open his mouth to speak, but Twilight suddenly cut him off: “Wait! You think Verdant Grove was Grey Thorn’s father?”
She flipped through several pages and pulled up a second book: “That would certainly fit the family dynamics and timelines, but what I’ve read of Verdant makes him seem like a fairly gentle soul. I have a hard time believing…”
“That he’d abandon his lover and foal to their fates?” Reaper interjected. “I’ve seen it more times than you’d care to know, Princess. However, in this case, I suspect you may be right.”
Reaper sat quietly while Twilight furrowed her brows and chewed on a quill end. Her eyebrows jumped: “High Heath?!”
Reaper nodded: “That seems to fit some of the dream and death vision recollections Luna and I shared with each other.”
“Wow,” Twilight said, taking another long drink of cider, “that makes more sense, actually. High Heath was not well-regarded in his day, especially not by the Highbriers. There was some hope that when Verdant took over upon his father’s death, that tensions might ease.”
“I could see that,” Reaper agreed, “except, of course, that Verdant died young--not long after Rose, actually.”
“Yes,” Twilight said, unrolling a scroll a few inches, peering at some faded writing, “and nopony ever really knew the circumstances, just that he “fell ill and languished for a fortnight before passing away,” according to this old legal document.”
Reaper chewed his lip for a moment: “Yeah, no help there, and neither father nor son had a death vision that really clears this up.”
“So,” Twilight concluded, “either the foal was Verdant’s, and his father found out, or the foal was Heath’s. In either event, it looks like he drove Rose to her death to cover it up, not Verdant.”
Reaper nodded: “So who took Grey Thorn? He must have been found--he was too little and weak to have gotten more than a few yards on his own.”
Twilight pursed her lips and rummaged through the piles and stacks surrounding her: “There had been multiple raids and border skirmishes between several clans in that area for some time. As a result there was a higher-than usual number of orphans in the border communities and clan castles.”
She stood and walked around Luna’s recumbent form, retrieving a map that lay behind the dozing Princess.
“I would suspect that the foal was found by a patrol,” Twilight speculated, “and taken to one of the local fastnesses, likely on the Greensward side, since a Highbrier patrol might have recognized Rose’s body. Let me do some more reading, now that I have a good lead on the family connections, and likely locations he would have been sent.”
“And what of the “forbidden scroll” the Guard mentioned?” Reaper asked, raising an eyebrow.
Twilight snorted: “The silly Archivist is worried about old legends of haunted catacombs beneath the castle, long-buried beneath the original foundations. The “forbidden scroll” is just some old spooky treasure map. But it might have some useful tidbits that tie into that stairway you found.”
“So you’ve run into a bit of a roadblock, I take it?” Reaper asked.
Twilight shook her head and brandished a red leather tube: “Oh, no! When I told her that Celestia had given me free reign, she grumbled, but gave me what I’d asked for!”
Reaper grinned: “Rank hath its privileges! Be aware, however, that not all those old legends are without merit. I tended to a number of deaths back in those caves long ago: some of those “haunting” tales and references to “catacombs” have a bit of truth to them.”
“Really?” Twilight said, ears perked, “What causes?”
Reaper narrowed his eyes as though peering into the distance: “A few mining-slash-construction accidents, a couple of foolish youths who got lost then trapped, and at least a couple of murders and suicides.”
“Remember though,” he said as he stood up and walked back to Luna’s side, preparing to rejoin her on her hunt, “those were a long time ago. I have no idea what those old caves and tunnels even look like anymore.”
Twilight stood up too, and began to walk toward the chamber’s exit: “Well I aim to find out!”
Reaper frowned a little: “Yeah, well just be careful--I don’t want to revisit those old tunnels just to perform my duties for you!”
Twilight winked over her shoulder: “I’ll be fine!”
Reaper chewed his lip as he watched her leave the room, then he leaned in against Luna’s shoulder, and touched his horn to hers again.