We entered a well-preserved cavern with a glossed-over surface extending across ten meters wide. Small jagged crystals protruded out where the floor sunk deeper on both sides of the room. Their radiant glow lit our path. The rubble underneath our hooves showed signs of wooden decay. The trickle sound of dripping water echoed against the damp black walls. The ceiling hung low without restricting Sumica's tall stature. Despite the bumpy exterior, the hallway was in pristine condition.
"Twilight!" Sumica shouted as she passed by me.
An unusual tightness grabbed hold of me when Sumica nudged against my shoulder. The name she called out did not merely come from her voice. In that brief moment, I heard another, deeper voice whispering underneath. The sound hollowed my line of sight. Darkness enveloped around my friends. It ripped through the sides of the tunnel stripping away the light from the crystals. A dreary feeling prodded against my mind identical to the one from my dreams. My eyes burned as the lines between fiction and reality blurred.
"Twilight!" Sumica shouted again.
Darkness seeped into my mind. The dark voice grew louder this time. My legs buckled as if a crate full of apples was placed onto my back. The conversation between the ponies muffled beyond recognition. A menacing aura swirled around the artifact hanging from Sumica's neck.
I closed my eyes for a few seconds only to see a shadowy image appear standing right next to Twilight. The figure had a rigid mouth and two sharp ears like a fox. He turned his head and looked directly at me. Alexander's words rang in my ears as his piercing red eyes tightened. They were like dragon eyes hiding in the dark. The apparition disappeared and the vision dissipated when something gentle touched my left shoulder.
"Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked with a stooped posture.
"Yeah," I stated, rapidly blinking my eyes. "I was just a little lost in thought, that's all."
Fluttershy smiled. "Ok."
Once the group ventured farther into the depths, Twilight inquired, "Why is it called Lela's Grace?"
Sumica responded, "I'm so glad you asked. There is a fascinating story behind it."
"Here we go," Rainbow Dash blurted out.
Sumica imparted, "There once was a dispute between the Beskar Clan and the nyati."
Twilight questioned, "That word. Alexander used it too. What does it mean?"
"Dragons used the term to define any being not of their kind that is capable of living magic. It was later used synonymously with unicorns."
Twilight smiled. "Ok. Please continue."
Sumica explained, "The black dragons discovered a certain kind of crystal lying deep inside the mountain range. These unique crystals were very delicious and highly coveted by the Dragon Lord. However, the unicorns that lived in the nearby forest also prized these same crystals and sought out to preserve them for their luminescent qualities.
"Both factions argued that they had the right to claim the crystals for their kin. So they agreed on the terms that a third party would mediate between them. The party would have to be familiar with both races and carry no desire to steal the crystals for themselves. They chose upon the pegasi to broker a contract.
"The pegasi developed a plan to gather up all the clouds in the land and draw forth the waters from the depths of the sea. They pulled the giant cloud over to the center of the mountain and poured down the rain into the bowels of the earth. The resulting flood formed a physical boundary that would evenly split the land in two."
Twilight observed, "But this area doesn't seem to divide anything."
Sumica revealed, "Because the pegasi saw the potential for both dragons and unicorns to co-exist. They momentarily rerouted the water in secret through the middle of the mountain to form a single path that connected the two races. Afterwards they sent the dragons and the unicorns a message explaining all that they had done.
"The Dragon Lord was so furious upon receiving the scroll that he threw it upon the ground and burned it. He then ordered his clan to adhere to the new arranged boundaries but refrain from entering the channel. The entrance was to be boarded up and a notice with the attached remains of the blackened scroll hung front and center as a warning for all to see. The only thing left of the parchment that survived the flame were the letters le and la."
Pinkie said, "Then what happened?"
"There came a time when the clan lost many in a fruitless battle, including the grand Dragon Lord himself. To prevent this from ever happening again, the dragons decreed for the bloodstone scepter to be passed on to the wisest among them instead of the strongest. It is written that the very dragon they chose was originally there that faithful day the heat seared away the letters on the scroll. The portion read as follows: let the water flow through and connect the two races in order to lay the proper foundation for a better future. He broke down the boards and reestablished the waterway. The scholar then deemed the passage Lela's Grace."
Rainbow Dash chuckled, "That never happened."
Sumica replied, "Maybe, but let me ask you a question - how do you think Cloudsdale came about?"
The group halted their advancements to an unusual split in the cavern halls. A small stream of water flowed down across our path at a thirty degree angle. The crudely-built wooden framework that originally held the entrance together now laid buried and broken underneath a pile of rubble.
Twilight remarked, "Looks like a cave-in. What should we do now?"
Sumica turned to her right and balanced her hooves on the elevated ground. She lowered her head and looked up the path. "We can take another route up here through The Dragon's Nest."
Rainbow Dash asked, "It isn't really a dragon's nest, is it?"
Sumica responded with her deviously trademarked smile, "Don't worry. It's just a place where dragons can go and rest their wings for a bit after a long flight."
As we followed Sumica up the large crawl space, the atmosphere around us dampened. The mixture of mud, clay, and water beneath our hooves made traversing the slanted landscape much more difficult than I initially anticipated. Small water droplets trickled down from the ceiling. The tiny vines we saw from the outside spurted through the cracks in the wall. The shallow howls of the wind through the air pockets in the earth made the whole experience very uneasy.
"Do you think Jade -" Fluttershy flinched when water tapped against her forehead "- came this way?"
Twilight's right hoof slipped further into the brook. "I don't think so. We would have seen tracks coming up."
Sumica noted, "That collapse back there looked recent. Jade could have made it through the tunnels."
The tip of Pinkie Pie's mane rubbed against the dirty ceiling. "And what about Rarity and Applejack?"
Rainbow Dash looked at her muddy left hoof and cackled. "Can you imagine Rarity in a place like this? She would be all like 'Ew, it's so dirty! You're not going to make me go down there now, are you?'"
I chuckled. "And Applejack probably wouldn't mind being here one bit."
The area widened as we approached a half-broken pier. On the corner of the wooden deck rested a bent metal pail. A stone barrier eloquently pooled some water away from the stream into a tiny reservoir below. Near the edge of the platform chiseled tiny letters too small and faded to read into the cavern wall. The nailed down planks abruptly stopped at a meticulously well-crafted hallway.
A door made of steel and iron stood just a few meters ahead of us. Twilight brushed her hoof against some mysterious markings. They twirled in a circle around the shapes of a sun and moon. Instead of reaching for the rusted door knob, Sumica carefully observed the frame's stony exterior.
"What's the holdup?" Rainbow Dash impatiently asked.
"This door - " Sumica carefully pressed her hoof between the two symbols " - wasn't here before."
Twilight stated, "Looks old, very old."
"Ancient is more like it," Rainbow Dash added.
Without exerting much force, Sumica slowly turned the door knob. She abruptly let go of the handle when the door creaked open all by itself. An unusual glow shined from within. The room was begging us to enter, and we weren't about to refuse its invitation.
What was inside puzzled us. A sharpened crystal in the center of the room illuminated the blue writing on a black stone tablet meticulously placed to the left of it. On the other side drooped a chipped table with a small slit dead in the middle. At the far end of the chamber, a visibly drawn line in the shape of a door divided the room into two sections. Circling around the room were ten mirrors; they were evenly proportioned with five on each side. Each mirror had three items - a light crystal attached to the wall on the left side, an inscribed symbol on a stone tablet hanging on the right side, and a statue of a dragon's head mounted on top.
Members of the group wandered around the room carefully observing the curious mirrors. Their reflections were distorted by the slant metal frames as we passed by them. Rainbow Dash amused herself in front of a mirror that stretched out her calves. Pinkie Pie made goofy faces while rocking her head to-and-fro in another. Fluttershy peered into one that made her appear small and dainty. Twilight stared into one that enlarged her figure.
As I passed by one particular mirror, I caught something uneasy in the corner of my eye. A black void occupied the space where my reflection should have been. Though immediately after turning my head, the feeling vanished. The image displayed in the glass was what you would constitute as your average typical pony. I reassured myself that it was only a figment of my imagination as I watched Sumica approach the table in the center of the room.
Sumica placed her hoof upon the black glossy slab. "It looks like some kind of riddle."
A small draft soughed down the cavern walls. The front door shut itself in. An sinister silence filled the chamber.
"Now what do we do?" Pinkie Pie asked.
Twilight pointed at the empty spot on the wall. "I guess we find a way to open that door."
Without the sound of the outside stream and the light from the cavern crystals, the chamber felt unusually still and small. The shard from the narrow cavity barely shined bright enough to illuminate the entire room. The darkness altered the architecture of the dragon heads just enough to make them appear more menacing and fierce. The aura from the blue writing glowed sharper than anything else in the room.
As I leaned over to look at the letters inscribed on the table, the stone curiously rotated around. Rainbow Dash accidentally pushed the counter when attempting to look down into the slit.
I saw the word - okot - shine upon the table's surface. "Sumica, what does this word mean?"
Sumica tilted her head back and pointed at the writing. "Here."
"Yeah, what does it say?"
Sumica repeated herself with greater inflection, "Here!"
"Oh."
Twilight intrinsically pulled next to us and touched upon the cuneiform. "What about this?"
Sumica read,
"Open the door with the power of your mind
Read carefully the clues and you will find
Dragon eyes judging on what you will do
A single mirror shines straight through you
Impart to me and I'll play my part
Now show me here what's in... "
"What is it?" I asked.
Sumica rubbed her hoof against the nicked corner. "The stone's broken off here, but according to the way the writing slants inward and the rhyming scheme, it probably meant to say your heart."
Twilight deduced, "So pick the right rune and drop it into the slot?"
Pinkie Pie glanced at the ten tablets around the room. "But which one?"
Sumica scanned the ten symbols and examined the ten heads. "The runes here represent the ten virtues of seeking dragonly wisdom: courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, pride, honor, good temper, friendliness, truthfulness, and wit. The riddle mentioned dragon eyes, but I only count six dragon statues with their eyes open."
Sumica demonstrated sound reasoning. There were ample enough distinctions between all the dragon statues - eight had two horns, three had long snouts, two had opened mouths, and one had curly whiskers. Their expressions seemed to match each of the virtues. Though out of the mirrors that paired with the six, only three didn't distort your figure. I knew concave mirrors made you look taller and convex mirrors made you look shorter. Only those standing straight would give you a proper reflection.
I beseeched the knowledge from the wise pony that led our group, "Sumica, what virtues are these three over here?"
"Honor, friendliness, and truthfulness."
Twilight asked, "Do you think truthfulness is the answer?"
Rainbow Dash stated, "I don't know. A pony can lie if they really want to."
Fluttershy added, "You can also be just as respectful and friendly to some pony without agreeing with them too."
Sumica trod over to the mirror with a rune in the shape of a sideways hourglass. Her eyes were glued to the glimmer in the marking. "Time is an illusion that once realized, is lovingly embraced, none the less."
"What was that?" I asked.
Sumica disclosed, "It's something Alexander would say on occasion. It's taken from an old story about a dragon named Dagaz. He brought hope and happiness to his clan simply by having them change their outlook on life. He taught that not a single ideal was sufficient to live on, which meant they could potentially abandon all their beliefs if they only applied what was left in their heart - the truth, the paradoxical truth. You know, his name actually derives from the word day and - " Her mouth stopped moving when she noticed the confused looks on our faces.
Fluttershy gave out an empty stare. "So is this the one?"
Once Sumica realized her statement made her sound like an advanced classroom teacher in front of a bunch of kindergartners, she quickly grabbed hold of the stone. "Yes. This one. This is it." She hurried to the table and pressed the tablet with a jagged bottom down into the hole.
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash shouted before the rune slid into place. "Are we sure this is the one? I don't want to die from some sort of poisonous cloud of gas if we were wrong."
Twilight pondered, "Is that what happened in the last book of Daring Do?"
I quipped, "But I don't see any skeletons in the room."
Pinkie Pie observed, "That could just mean no one got it wrong."
"Or the dragons might periodically come in here and clean up the mess," Sumica snickered. "Don't worry. I'm pretty sure this will work. These type of dragons want other races to learn from them, not kill them." She firmly pushed the stone deeper into the crevice. Contact with the base caused the screeching sounds of rusted metal to churn behind the stone walls.
Our futile efforts brought forth one of the longest ten seconds of silence I've ever experienced. The memory shall be permanently engraved into my mind alongside the suspenseful moments before meeting Ordain and Nightmare Moon. And just as anti-climatic, I didn't die. Nothing happened. The door remained closed.
Pinkie Pie asked, "Did you put it in backwards?"
Sumica carefully pulled the rune out of the socket and glanced at the symbol. Without saying a word, she strolled over to the mirror and placed it back on the hook. Her quick thinking cracked open the hidden door. "There!" She proudly exclaimed, raising her chin.
The stone revealed a hallway with a set of stairs curving upward to the left. At the top of the stairs, a large door with a small sliding panel and a long handle blocked our path. The sheer weight of the door prevented Sumica from simply swinging it open.
"Let me help." Rainbow Dash brushed up past me and grabbed hold of the large handle.
The two strong mares grunted and hollered as they pulled on the door with all their might. As the door inched forward, the high-pitched sounds of cracking and shrieking ripped through my ears. A tiny bit of sunlight peeked through the gap. The giant mass of black bolts attached to the outer chassis brought the heavy frame down onto the pavement. The rusted hinges snapped against the stress.
After the girls tired out, the gap still wasn't large enough for us to squeeze through. Fluttershy and I watched the group position themselves around the stubborn door for one final endeavor. Being the smaller one of the bunch, Rainbow Dash braced herself against the wall and wiggled her elbow through the crack. Pinkie Pie fastened her hooves on the sturdy handle. A strong purple aura emanated from Twilight's horn onto the shaft.
"On the count of three." Sumica braced her hooves around the door fixture. "One... two... three!"
The sound was terrible. I covered my ears as the intense screech brought me down to my knees.
Once there was enough room for us to squeeze through, we heard a large thump echo down the hallway behind us. Looking around the bottom of the stairs confirmed my suspicions. The stone door from the previous room had closed all by itself.
Exhausted, Sumica rested her head against the doorframe. "Alright. Let's head on in. As soon. As I catch my breath."
After compressing our fat bodies through the hole, we entered a much more welcoming room than the damp cavern channels we waddled through earlier. Large historical banners and ornaments decorated the walls. The ceiling was meticulously carved in a perfect oval shape. Underneath the barrel-sized amounts of hay scattered all over the floor was a nice wool layer of carpet. A long trough resting by the entrance held a metal pail, similar to the beaten one down by the stream. A luxurious door stood nearly unblemished to our far right. There was no need for crystals or torches since a vast amount of light poured through a large open section from the leftmost portion of the chamber.
Pinkie Pie waved us on from the outskirts of the opening. "Come over here! You have to see this!"
Fluttershy effortlessly spread out her wings while lifting up her chin in delight of the view. "So beautiful."
The outside scenery was spectacular! An intricate wooden barrier encircled around a cliff's edge. An array of orange colors bled through the western sky. A lonely mountain stood in the distance. A giant cloud hovered over the horizon. We saw near the ground the Friendship Express pouring out smoke as it crossed over the river.
Rainbow Dash pointed high to the right. "Hey look! It's Cloudsdale."
Twilight hung onto the railing and pointed straight ahead. "And Canterlot must be behind that mountain there."
"I don't think I can see my house from here," Pinkie Pie disappointingly said, squinting her eyes.
Sumica grinned and meandered back into the room. "Let's rest up here."
"That's a good idea." Rainbow Dash glided to the far back of the straw pit. "My legs are killing me."
Pinkie Pie collapsed onto the pile. "My hooves hurt so much my dogs are barking."
"Now that you mention it," Fluttershy noted, "my legs are kind of aching too."
Sumica approached a small break in the wall and pulled out a hidden drawer. "Here, take these" - She threw out four simple blankets - "in case you get cold." The caring pegasus grabbed one more and wandered closer. "You should get some rest, Moonlight."
The way Sumica half-grinned and sauntered over to the railing concerned me greatly. She demonstrated so much charisma and courage when leading us through the mountain pass. It was almost completely out of character for her. Could she have been masking her feelings and intentions about the trip all along?
I had to say something to cheer her up. I tossed the sheet onto the straw and strolled outside. "Sumica, is something bothering you? Are you homesick? Are you worried about Jade and the others? Whatever it is, things will get better. You'll see. You have us to count on to help you through."
Sumica combed her mane back. "No, Moonlight. That's not it at all."
I pressed, "Then what is it exactly? Is it the dragons? Because you sure know a lot about them."
"I was in a foreign exchange program," Sumica quickly inserted.
"Really?" I asked.
"Oh, Moonlight." Sumica fiercely rubbed the hair on the top of my head. "You are still as gullible as always. No, the answer is a little more complicated than that."
"Then tell me," I replied, straightening out my mane.
"Remember when I told you about the attacks on Manestone?" Sumica picked up a dusty urn from the ground, spread out her wings, and leaned back against the railing. "Well, the princesses called forth a hearing with us guardians. The council reviewed the testimonies from several key witnesses. Two things were consistent about the attacks - a darkness that could not be explained and beings that could easily breathe fire out from their mouth. Princess Celestia openly admitted in session that they had suspected the possibility of dragons encroaching into our territory from the east before. Without knowing anything about the dragons, from their physiology to their - " Sumica waved her hoof in the air " - beliefs, Princess Sparkle felt it would be wise to send out an ambassador, a liaison of sort, to try and communicate with the clans. This would help us learn more about them and what their true intentions were regarding the pony kingdom."
"And you volunteered?"
"It was actually Day Star that volunteered me." Sumica carefully set the urn back down onto the ground and plopped her elbows on top of the barrier. "He told me that I would be their 'ace up their sleeve' if anything went wrong. Day Star was planning something clever. I could see it in his eyes. And come to find out, the situation wasn't as bad as we thought. The dragons were actually much more forthcoming about the idea than we were."
Sumica played around with a small pebble she found on top of the railing and gazed at Cloudsdale high in the sky. "They introduced me to the archivist, who so happened to be the blue dragon you met today. He taught me their language, their culture, and their history. He was such a great friend, something that the dragons have a hard time understanding." Sumica giggled. "He really does have a sense of humor once you get to know him."
"What changed?"
At that moment, the sun disappeared into the horizon. Darkness enveloped the land. A cold wind brushed through my legs and curled a few dozen leaves through the chamber. Sumica never did answer my question. Instead, I was distracted by an unusually bright shimmer from the artifact's golden frame as it laid flat on top of the railing.
Sumica planted her hooves onto the ground. "You should get some rest."
"What about you?"
Sumica walked into the chamber and stretched out her shoulders. "I'm going to keep an eye out."
"All night?" I asked, subconsciously preparing a bed for myself.
Sumica remarked, "I've only needed three hours of sleep anyways. I'll just lock my legs and rest my head a little if I really get tired."
A feeling pecked at my brain when the jewel sparkled in the dark. My friends were eerily silent, for simply stretching out their muscles this early in the evening. They weren't chattering about our adventure, nor were they conversing the whereabouts of Applejack or Rarity. They were all fast asleep.
Sumica smiled and pulled the blanket over me. "It's ok, Moonlight. Rest. Like you said, things will get better."
My vision blurred. My eyes grew weary. The room spun around me. I gently laid upon the hay and fell fast asleep.