Ailios Heartstrings

by Phoxxie

Chapter 3

Far beneath the streets of Parleyford, Eachann and Daniel sat in a large dark hall reading a scattering of papers silently by lamplight. The walls where fashioned as bookcases, each row containing thousands of scrolls and books reaching onwards in to the gloom beyond the pocket of lamplight. The floor was coated with a thin grey carpet and the ceiling had been carved out of the rock and was supported with ancient wooden beams. The air was cold but dry; the preservative chemicals conjured the taste of sawdust and soap in the mouths of the two stallions. A whispering echo passed by them, causing the grey pegasus to look up in surprise.

Daniel stared into the darkness, unsure of what he was expecting to see. The archives where a place of mystery and wonder for him; all of Caledonia’s history was here, including the parts that the ministry didn’t want anypony to know about. It was as if the place was alive and all of history’s dark secrets would emerge from their hiding places to walk its halls when nopony was looking.

Eachann on the other hoof simply dismissed these sounds as the echoes of other ponies working in the archives. Being older than Daniel, Eachann saw the archives as nothing more than a departmental asset. Clues and links hidden within the text stored here were an integral part of his job and his life. But he never saw past the raw information, preferring to leave the storytelling to his wife and daughter.

Daniel looked back down at the scroll in front of him. Something about it was bothering him, after reading a few sentences he would begin to feel dizzy, sleepy or become distracted. After looking up for a few seconds his senses would return to normal. Frustrated, he decided to move on to the next of many scrolls that he would have to read.

---

Ailios was sitting looking out of her office window, the sky had once again become a miserable murky grey and raindrops where beginning to make polka dot patterns in the snow. Above the southern part of the city a long flexible pipe reached up from behind the rooftops and disappeared into the clouds, the crew aboard the weather balloons were some of the few lucky ponies that got to see the sun during the early spring rains.

This was typical Caledonian logic, to replace pegasi with machines. Since the industrial revolution the Caledonian cities had become stained with factories and the population had expanded to the extent that most of the Parleyford valley had been converted into farmland in order to support it. Even the Everfree forest, the natural barrier between Caledonia and its eastern neighbour Equestria had receeded 10 miles in the last century. Despite being considered rich nation, even after the civil war, the mood was never bright and never would be to an outsider like Ailios. Her homeland of Gallia was a land where the sun shone brightly most of the year and whose vineyards would stretch as far as the eye could see. Equestria on the other hoof was a nation that was obsessed with control. The pegasi where forced to micromanage the weather to the extent that Equestrian subjects would become fearful if they where to stray outside there borders. But despite it’s hatred for nature, Equestria was a peaceful land. It’s subjects where permitted to have any job they wished as long as they all got along with each other.

Ailios looked up at the clock. The time had moved faster than she had expected and with haste she put on her coat and rushed out of the open office door.

---

Ailios shook the rain water from her coat as she entered the café. The room was full of ponies sat around round bistro tables eating and talking. Outside the window ponies rushed past trying to get out of the rain. Navigating her way through the noisy and crowded café she spotted her husband and Daniel sitting at a window table. They had already begun to eat their lunch, but on the table next to them were an untouched plate of food and a cup of steaming black liquid. Ailios made her way over to them and sat down.

“Hi, I got you your usual” Eachann said between mouthfuls.

Ailios looked down at the plate, a mixture of hay and tinned dandelion inside two slices of thick granary sat upon it. Levitating the sandwich to her mouth, she took a bite. As she chewed she looked up across the table to see Daniel staring at her with an excited grin. Ailios swallowed, the sandwich fell back down onto the plate.

“Daniel?” she asked

Eachann let out a muffled grunt as he finished a mouthful. “Dan found something in the archives.” He said. “He’s had that stupid grin on his face for hours now.”

Daniel took this as a que to start his explanation, “While we were working I found this scroll that Cottonspinner mentioned. But I couldn’t read it.”

“You couldn’t read it?” Ailios asked.

“No, it had been warded or something.” Daniel replied with abandon. “But I looked to see if there was and updated version of the same document available and found a description of something called Nightmare’s Echo.”

“What’s this got to do with ornithopters?” Ailios interrupted.

“When the relic is activated it supposedly gives the user the power to speak with the inhabitants of the moon.” Eachann explained “It was crated by the Lunanites when one of their patrons was banished into space by her sister, if you can believe that such a thing is possible.”

“I’m thinking that she either killed her sister, or…” Daniel insinuated. “Perhaps Luna changed her name.”

“Ugh! Not another one of your conspiracy theories.” Ailios exclaimed. “Her Holiness is likely to be related to Luna, but I serially doubt that she is Luna. Besides she had become ‘Nightmare Moon’ by the time she was banished, not to mention the fact that it may simply be all a myth. And you still haven’t explained what this has to do with ornithopters!”

“I was getting to that bit.” Eachann said. “The relic has a side effect, it’s ‘echo’ or reply message causes storm clouds to appear and can somehow damage machinations. It’s said that during the civil war it caused an airship to make an emergency landing just north of where Steel Memorial plaza is now.”

“So you think it was the Lunanites who caused the plane to crash?” Ailios asked.

“No.” replied Daniel “The relic is in possession of the Magicians Guild. It’s on loan from a private collection at Meadtrough castle.”

“Wasn’t that the place that Lyra went to on her school trip?” Ailios asked as she turned to face her husband.

“Yea.” Eachann said before taking a bite of his lunch.

The trio returned to eating their lunches for a moment before Ailios spoke.

“I was wondering if you boys wouldn’t mind if I visited the chapel this afternoon. I’ll meet up with you later.”

“Sure.” Replied Eachann. “Dan and I will head over to the Magic guild and ask around.”