Strange Encounters
Chapter 12: Strange Encounters
"Shining...Cadance...What have you done?"
The words escaped from Arkenstone's mouth as comprehension washed over him at what he was witnessing. This was beyond his darkest expectations. He had expected to find Queen Chrysalis licking her wounds, rebuilding her forces. He'd worried that the blast of supercharged love that had blown the swarm from Canterlot might have had severe repercussions once the changelings had absorbed it. However, he had not expected this.
Queen Chrysalis was dying...and her people with her.
"How...?"
"You honestly mean to say that you have no idea how this occurred?" sniped the changeling queen, her voice dry and brittle, much like the desiccated remains of her children in the cavern Arkenstone had left behind.
"I knew that the powerful love that Shining and Cadance generated had blasted you from Equestria," said Arkenstone, "But how could it have managed this?"
"Do you think I know pony?" snapped Chrysalis, "All I know is that those two did something unthinkable. They didn't just evict us from Equestria. In that instant, all the love I'd absorbed, all the strength I gained, it all turned to poison in my veins. I would have died had my children not drained it out of me. But the consequence of that...."
"Was that they died in your stead," remarked Arkenstone, his voice barely a whisper, the reason behind the mass grave of changelings in the other room becoming clear.
"If that had been the result alone, that would have been fine," spat Chrysalis, "I could raise another brood someday. It would only be a matter of time."
"But..." prodded Arkenstone.
"But your princess and her knight did more than just blast me from your nation," hissed the queen, "They changed something within me. I can feel it even now. I can't feed on love anymore. It isn't just the love that Shining Armor gave me that turned to poison. All love is poison to me now."
Arkenstone worked his mouth for a moment, at a complete loss for words. This was horrifying beyond belief. It was the equivalent to somepony getting mugged and pushing their attacker away...only to find that they had accidentally pushed the would-be criminal straight into the path of an approaching train, only on a much grander scale. Arkenstone wondered how Cadance and Shining would react if they found out that they had inadvertently caused the genocide of an entire race.
"And so I wait," continued Chrysalis, oblivious to the inner turmoil of the pony before her, "I wait and grow weaker, starving a little more each day. While I wait, I get to watch and feel as my few remaining children die off one by one. I get to feel the life slip from their bodies, whether I am there to see it or not. I hope your Princess is proud of what she has done."
"No one meant for this," said Arkenstone.
"Ha!" scoffed Chrysalis, "Such words are meaningless now, as is your mission. You know what answer you will bring to Celestia now. You can tell her that we are a threat no more, that we have nothing left to fight with, that there is nothing left of us. I am sure that she will celebrate, knowing that our kind is gone from this world."
"No decent creature could celebrate such a thing," said Arkenstone, "We did not want to see your kind exterminated. I had come on the hope that we could build a peace between us."
"Well, that is certainly impossible now." Arkenstone could easily hear the despair in Chrysalis's tone, given that she made no effort to hide it. "We cannot even make war anymore. We can only wither away, suffering to the very end."
At that moment, an idea occurred to Arkenstone; a terrible, grim, magnificent idea. "Perhaps that is not your only option," he suggested.
"And what else would you have us do?" suggested the proud queen.
"I have a proposition. It may be too late to save you, but you need not suffer anymore."
Twilight stifled a yawn as she put the book away. Looking around, she let her eyes wander over the shelves, the countless tomes and records stacked and organized to an exacting standard, just waiting for her perusal. In the two days since her meeting with Princess Luna, Twilight had spent her time following Spitfire's other suggestion, namely comparing the information she had on ponies who were affected by the Eyes of Nightmare, finding where they had been, tracing their genealogy down into the present day in order to locate potential descendants.
Of course, the first things she'd needed for her project were the records that had been sent to her by Princess Celestia when she had first begun her research. Spike had sent those along the morning after her meeting with Luna. Now Twilight was ensconced within the archives, searching through records, tracing the paths ponies took as they moved from town to town before following their descendants, until she was able to get a fix on a present location.
The task wasn't easy. Several leads had simply ended up as dead ends. Sometimes ponies seemed to disappear, leaving no trace of where they might have ended up. Sometimes Twilight was lucky enough to uncover the trail again. Others, she lost track of altogether. Sometimes, the ponies she was researching passed away without leaving any descendants for her to track down.
She had started with a list of nearly a hundred ponies. After a full two days of research, she had leads on the current location of at least three. She still had about a quarter of her list to work through. A look at the clock told her that further research would have to wait. It was approaching evening and the archives would soon be closing for the night.
With a sigh, Twilight gathered up her notes and carefully sorted them into her saddlebags. "Alright," she said softly, getting to her hooves and heading out. From his position nearby, Arkenstone fell into step next to her as they proceeded down the halls of the Royal Archives and out into the late afternoon sunlight.
As they traveled, Twilight kept a wary eye out. Yesterday, she had been approached by three different representatives from members of the Noble Court, all of them with various propositions for her. One had requested that Twilight bend Celestia's ear about a particular request the baroness the servant represented intended to make at the next Day Court. Another had offered Twilight a generous sum of bits if Twilight gave her support to a certain business. The third had presented the most straightforward effort, presenting Twilight with an invitation to join his master for dinner that evening, an invitation that had been penned with all the romantic sensibilities of a form letter.
Twilight had politely turned down all the requests, doing her absolute best to phrase her responses in the most inoffensive manner possible. While she wanted nothing to do with the members of the Noble Court, the last thing she wanted to do was invite greater problems by antagonizing them, however despicable she may have found such transparent attempts to curry her favor.
A small smile graced her face when she failed to spot any servants, aside from those normally assigned to the Royal Archives. "Do you think we can make it back without any hassles?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Arkenstone.
"Maybe," replied the beige stallion, "It's strange really. Even the Archive staff is keeping their distance."
Probably because they're worried they might get caught up in the Noble Court's squabbles if they're seen as getting too close to me, thought Twilight petulantly. She had been a favorite of the staff back when she had lived there, many of them respecting her as a fellow scholar who shared their passion for learning...and keeping the records organized. She actually went so far as to clean up after herself whenever she was done with whatever project she had been working on, which was a rare thing amongst other students.
However, as Twilight looked around, she noticed that the servants and guards were now absent. The few she had spotted before had seemingly vanished. "Where'd they go?"
"They all suddenly seemed to find business elsewhere," remarked Arkenstone, "I do sense one other coming our way. However, he doesn't seem to be here for us."
"Who is it?" asked Twilight.
Arkenstone didn't need to answer, as the pony in question came trotting around the corner and into the archive courtyard. Twilight's eyes widened in recognition. "Wight Shade."
Indeed, there was no mistaking that peculiarly-colored horn or those deep-red eyes. Princess Luna's chief steward smiled as he saw them. "Ah, Dame Sparkle. I wasn't expecting to see you and your friend here."
"I guess we weren't expecting to run into you either," said Twilight sheepishly, "Are you here to find something for Princess Luna?"
"Indeed," replied Wight, "She asked me to retrieve some scrolls from the Starswirl the Bearded Wing."
"Starswirl the Bearded!" Twilight's eyes began to sparkle at the mention of her favorite scholar. "I didn't realize Princess Luna was interested in his work."
Wight chuckled and shook his head. "She actually reads the work of a number of scholars. I was a bit surprised because she's usually asking me to find works from scholars who gained recognition during the period of her banishment. This time, she wanted me to find a scroll regarding a particular spell that Starswirl supposedly composed during his heyday."
"Ooh!" exclaimed Twilight, "I wonder what spell it is..."
"Would you like to come with me while I look for it?" asked Wight, chuckling at her scholarly enthusiasm, "You are welcome to peruse it before I take it back to the Princess."
"I'd love to!" squealed Twilight as she turned to join Wight Shade. Arkenstone fell in a step behind them, keeping out of the conversation, though listening quietly.
"Do you study anything from Starswirl or Clover?" asked Twilight, looking over at Wight.
The steward chuckled and grinned sheepishly. "Sadly, I have almost no aptitude for magic, in spite of being a unicorn. I've never really had much of an interest in magic, since I can barely use it myself."
"But surely if you studied more, you'd be able to do better magic," said Twilight, surprised that any unicorn would disregard such an important aspect of their nature so cavalierly.
Wight shrugged indifferently. "Unfortunately, my reserves are virtually nonexistent. I don't have enough magic to my name to even light my horn. It's hard to exercise power that you don't have. The doctors I've seen have suggested that it's a side-effect of this thing..." He indicated his off-color horn with a hoof.
Twilight looked away, frowning. Part of her wondered if Wight was telling the truth. She remembered the doors swinging open of their own volition when they had entered Princess Luna's audience chamber. However, there had been no sign that Wight Shade had been the source of the magic moving the doors. And since Princess Luna, the only other pony present who could have done so, hadn't been responsible either, Twilight couldn't help but think that there was something the stallion wasn't sharing.
"Still, it doesn't hurt to show respect for the greats of our past," remarked Wight as he looked up. They were passing the Clover the Clever wing of the Archives, which, predictably, rested adjacent to Starswirl's wing. "After all, even if I have no use for their knowledge, that doesn't mean it I should allow it to be lost."
"Of course not," said Twilight, "Knowledge is one of our greatest treasures. We can't afford to lose any of it."
"Now, I can't quite say that such generalizations are true," remarked Wight, his tone becoming teasing, "Sometimes knowledge is dangerous."
"Even if it is, that isn't reason enough for it to be extinguished," protested Twilight.
"Your mentor would seem to disagree with that," replied Wight. He paused and looked around. Then he gave Twilight a conspiratorial smirk. "We have a bit of time. Why don't I show you something." He then turned and walked past the entrance to the Starswirl wing, leading Twilight and Arkenstone down the hallway before turning off down a side passage that Twilight had never noticed before, in spite of how much time she had spent in the archives both as a filly and as an adult.
Partway down the hall, Wight stopped and gently lifted a hoof to the wall, pressing gently. The wall swung back soundlessly. Twilight's jaw dropped as she saw the secret passage open up before them. Wight led the way in, Twilight quickly following. However, they paused as Arkenstone stopped at the edge of the threshold.
"What's wrong?" asked Twilight.
"I can sense the layout of the building through my hooves," said Arkenstone, "But this way was hidden from me."
That gave her pause. The magic employed by earth ponies was different in nature of that used by unicorns. Earth ponies who refined their skills sufficiently could sense their surroundings through the ground in much the same way that Dawn Lightwing could sense his through the wind. The objects that could be sensed in such a way had to be connected to the ground somehow. The idea that a passage like this could be just as hidden to an earth pony as it was to a unicorn like Twilight indicated that it was the work of an extremely skilled creator.
"In its own way, it's not all that surprising," remarked Wight, "Princess Celestia herself hid this passage. An alicorn possesses the aspects of all three tribes, so it's only natural she could design a way to hide something from all three as well. If a sufficiently skilled pegasus were here, she would probably tell you that she couldn't sense the airflow from the passage either."
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “And just how do you know about it?” she asked.
“Princess Luna knows about it as well,” replied Wight, “She sometimes requires information from this ‘wing’ of the archives, although such occasions are rare.”
“So she has you retrieve it?” asked Arkenstone.
“Indeed. I believe your brother knows about this little secret as well,” said Wight with a wink to Twilight.
The lavender mare bit the inside of her lip, wondering why her brother and Celestia would keep something like this a secret from her.
The three of them progressed down a set of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, the hall opened up into a larger room. The instant their hooves crossed into the room, crystals stationed about its perimeter began to glow with a strange, unearthly light that slowly and clearly illuminated the room.
Something about the light those crystals emitted made Twilight shiver. And yet, she just couldn’t put her hoof on it. It was almost as though the light was a color that wasn’t a color, at least, not in a sense that she was familiar with. Because of that, the light washing over the desks, shelves and papers occupying the room gave everything a strange shading that left Twilight with the impression that she wasn’t really there, like she was watching the room on a projection screen rather than actually wandering through it. It all seemed strangely unreal.
She was surprised to see Arkenstone shiver, even though his eyes couldn’t see the light. “This room feels unnatural,” he said quietly, “This light doesn’t feel like something of this world.”
“That’s largely because it isn’t,” said Wight casually as he strolled to one of the shelves. Rearing up on his hind legs, he plucked a scroll from a higher shelf and carried it over to where Twilight stood, depositing it on a nearby desk. “They were his creations after all. Everything he made had that quality.”
“That light?” asked Twilight.
Wight shook his head. “That feeling; the subtle sense that it is something that shouldn’t be.”
“I don’t understand,” muttered Twilight.
“Take a look at that scroll and you’ll get an idea,” said Wight, “It’s a good starting point for getting a hang of what this guy was about.”
“Oookay,” said Twilight dubiously, using her magic to unroll the scroll and hold it in front of her eyes.
As she read, her breathing quickened. Her heart began to beat faster in her chest an excitement began to well up within her. This is...This is amazing!
“What is it?” asked Arkenstone, his keen senses picking up the signs of her excitement.
“This is unlike any magic I’ve ever seen...well not exactly unlike it. But it takes things way further than I would have ever thought possible.”
“What do you mean?”
Twilight lowered the scroll and turned to look at the beige stallion. “Do you remember the whole thing about...arcanasteel and what it does?” She nearly mentioned the ring he had given her, but managed to remember, at the last second, that they had another pony listening to what she was saying.
Arkenstone nodded. “It actualizes magic to transform it into matter.”
Twilight nodded. “Apparently this mage was studying something even more dramatic than that. It’s at a completely different level. Actualized magic, like what arcanasteel produces, is still magic at its fundamental level. That’s why it disappears when deactivated, it’s simply returning to its natural state. Once actualized, magic needs to be maintained in that state because, otherwise, it simply goes back to being energy.
“It’s the same with conjured constructs. When I create an object with my magic, I conjure the materials its made from, but those materials ultimately revert back to magical energy when my conjuration spell expires.”
Wight chimed in. “There do exist spells, at the highest level, that are capable of truly creating matter, not merely conjuring it.”
“But those spells are only capable of creating earthly matter,” added Twilight, “For example, spells of that level can create stone or wood, but not something that doesn’t already exist.”
“I’m guessing then that this magic is meant to create matter that doesn’t normally exist,” said Arkenstone.
Twilight nodded. “It’s the creation of completely new matter, matter that isn’t unknown, but matter that never existed until the caster created it. It operates according to its own laws and rules, almost like it’s something that came from another world that operates according to its own laws of physics. The results when the laws of that alien matter interact with the matter of this world could be stunning.” She turned her gaze back to Wight. “This is incredible! The pony who developed this theory could change the face of Equestria if he succeeded in this! Whose research is this?”
Wight chuckled and took the scroll back from Twilight. He quickly returned it to its shelf before answering. “His name was Morning Star. He was a talented mage who studied under Princess Celestia about ten years before you did.”
Twilight blinked. “I can’t believe that somepony this brilliant studied under Princess Celestia, yet I never heard of him.”
“That’s because the Princess has wiped all evidence of his existence from Equestria,” replied Wight calmly, as though this were a completely natural thing, “Morning Star’s name, description, everything about him has been expunged from every record, every archive, every registry it ever appeared in. Princess Celestia completely obliterated everything about him.” He gestured to the room around them. “This small shrine to his work, hidden behind one of the most carefully concealed passages in all of Canterlot, is the only remaining testament to the fact that he ever existed at all.”
“Why would she do that?” asked Twilight, aghast. It shocked her to her core to believe that Princess Celestia would do something to a pony like that.
“He was dangerous,” replied Wight Shade, “Terribly dangerous. You already have a handle on what his magic was capable of. You must realize the implications. Introducing foreign matter into the world that does not obey the rules of the world allows for the realization of phenomena that should be completely beyond the realm of possibility, turning conventional logic on its head.” He regarded Twilight levelly. “As such, it would even be within the realm of possibility to create matter that could not be affected by Princess Celestia’s magic, or even turn her own power into something that is harmful to her.”
Twilight’s jaw dropped as Wight finished speaking. What he said matched up with the primer she’d been reading on Morning Star’s magic. Princess Celestia was one of the most powerful beings currently alive. Only the eldest dragons, or an entity like Discord could possibly challenge her power. She had millennia of experience to draw upon, countless centuries spent building, honing, and developing her strength and magic.
Thinking back to the royal wedding, in truth, Twilight realized that there was more to Queen Chrysalis’s victory than merely the love she’d been feeding off of. Celestia had not been able to use her full power in such a situation. If she hadn’t moderated her own attack, she could have incinerated everyone in the building, destroyed the Palace, or even wrecked all of Canterlot. Because she hadn’t been able to bring her full strength to bear, she was defeated by Chrysalis, who could, or rather, who was more than willing to and didn't care nearly as much for the safety of bystanders.
But this mysterious magic completely changed those rules. It could lead to the creation of a “world” where Princess Celestia’s power gave her no advantage, or might have even been a detriment. If the Morning Star had been of a mind to, he could have defeated Celestia with ease...presumably. Of course, this was assuming he’d managed to take this magic beyond mere theory.
Then Twilight’s eyes looked to the crystals around the room, shining with their strange, unearthly light and she realized that he had.
“But still...” she murmured, “That’s not a real reason. Princess Celestia’s not the kind of pony who would harm another simply because of something that he might do.”
“True enough,” agreed Wight Shade, “She is not such a paranoid pony that she would turn against someone simply because they possessed the capacity to threaten her position.”
“Then why would she go so far?” asked Twilight, looking around the room at the assembled research, the work of a pony she’d never met, and probably never would.
“What troubled the Princess about Morning Star was not his magic, but his mind,” said Wight simply, “He saw the world...differently than just about anypony else.”
“What do you mean?”
“Simple things like right and wrong, good and evil, things that most ponies think about, agonize over, orient their entire lives around...they are quite subjective when you think about them,” said Wight, looking askance at Twilight.
She nodded. Many ponies had their own ideas of right and wrong. She and her friends based their morals primarily upon the principles that Equestria and Princess Celestia’s rule had been founded upon. But there were also ponies like Red River and Storm Front (and Dawn as well, in a way), who followed codes that seemed alien, or even repugnant at times to Twilight and her friends. And then, there were ponies like those who followed the Cult Solar, who had turned everything into an absolute dichotomy that flew in the face of what Princess Celestia represented, even though they claimed to revere her. “So he had a different set of morals than Celestia could accept?” she asked.
Wight shook his head. “More like he did not perceive them as having existed at all. In his own way, he was a whimsical creature, doing whatever appealed to him at the time. But, because he never gave the slightest thought to, or even recognized as a concept, the idea of right and wrong, he was capable of absolutely anything.”
Twilight felt a chill go down her spine.
“Of course, it was all mostly harmless. He didn’t care to hurt anypony as much as he didn’t care not to hurt them. In the end, the source of the conflict between him and Celestia was rather cliche really.”
“Cliche?”
Wight chuckled dryly. “It was the classic mad scientist spiel. You know, advancing his studies, making progress in his work, consequences be damned. If it was to further develop his magic and theories, he would do anything, not caring if anypony was hurt in the process.”
“But to go so far as to completely erase all evidence of him...” said Twilight dubiously.
“Was because his crime warranted such a response,” said Wight wryly, “His magic was based on the creation of matter that does not exist in the world. However, the idea that it didn’t truly exist was mostly theoretical. Morning Star’s greatest anxiety was that he was merely tapping into or creating some unknown matter that simply hadn’t been discovered yet. And for every assurance that it was something that could not exist in the world that he had, there was always that niggling doubt in the back of his mind.”
Twilight was listening intently, fascinated by the story of this mysterious mage. However, Arkenstone was listening carefully for a different reason. For a pony who shows little interest in magic and the works of great mages. He certainly has a rather intimate knowledge of the one he should rightly have no knowledge of.
Wight continued. “Say you wanted to add something to the design of a house, something that it didn’t have before. In order to be able to add it and confirm that it wasn’t something the design already possessed, what would you do?”
“That’s easy,” said Twilight, “You’d look at the blueprints.”
Wight nodded. “So, in order to determine whether or not this new material that he had created was something that truly did not exist in this world before he created it, Morning Star wanted to look at the blueprints for this world.
“I’m not sure of the details. But, apparently, what Morning Star planned to do in order to see the 'blueprints' of the world was so dangerous that it threatened the whole of Equestria. Princess Celestia learned what he was trying to do and ordered him to stop. However, Morning Star, being the kind of pony that he was, went ahead with his plans anyway. When Celestia realized this, she resorted to using force.
“Of course, Morning Star defended himself, utilizing the material created by his magic. I read that it was a dangerous battle, where Celestia nearly perished. However, in the end, she managed to obtain victory.”
“What happened then?” asked Twilight.
Wight sighed and looked up at the stacks of scrolls. “Seeing that Morning Star harbored no remorse for his intended actions, even though they could have ended the lives of countless ponies; and not even because he believed that his work could have been a boon to Equestria, but merely to satisfy his curiosity, she decided that she had no choice but to levy the harshest punishment she was capable of, one even worse than execution.”
“What is it?” asked Twilight.
“It’s called Excommunicare-Equestris, complete exclusion from Equestria. Not only was he banished, but all records of his existence, of his achievements, every mark that he left upon this nation, was completely erased. Not only that, but his horn was removed.”
A shocked squeak escaped from Twilight and her hooves immediately went to her horn. The thought of losing it was terrifying. Technically, a unicorn’s horn could grow back over time. But losing it was an agonizing occurrence and the regrowth was painfully, glacially slow. This was the first that Twilight had heard of such a horrifying punishment. The fact that she’d been completely unaware of its existence until now was an indicator of just how rarely used it was if Princess Celestia herself never spoke of it.
More importantly, this powerful mage had existed and, if Wight’s story was to be believed, had nearly defeated Princess Celestia in open battle. And yet, she’d never heard an inkling of this story. She’d also never had any idea that a room like this existed within the Royal Archives. The thought of such a serious secret being kept from her made her extremely nervous.
Cautiously, Twilight cast her eyes around the room, looking at all the scrolls and books penned by the mysterious Morning Star. Part of her wanted to drop everything and dive right into this pile of new knowledge just waiting to be reintroduced into the world. However, the thought of her obligations to Dawn and the fact that Celestia had kept this place hidden for a reason stopped her.
“Something is bothering me,” interjected Arkenstone carefully, “You seem awfully familiar with this mage. You profess to have almost no interest in magic, yet are clearly familiar with the work of this forgotten pony and even have a stated understanding of his mindset. It seems rather odd to me.”
Wight laughed. “I guess that makes sense. I probably spend more time in this room than I should. While I’m not exactly a magical scholar, I was fascinated with this guy because I wanted to know why he was banished, why his accomplishments were erased, and what he did to make Princess Celestia so furious. Granted, I wasn’t actually supposed to get all involved in this, but I couldn’t help myself.”
It sounded like an abuse of Wight’s position to Arkenstone. However, at the same time, he could easily imagine Twilight doing the same thing, if given half a chance. And if Wight was worried about the knowledge of his reading habits coming to light, he probably wouldn’t have shown them this chamber to begin with. But that did bring up one niggling question.
“Why did you show us this?”
For the first time, Wight seemed uncomfortable. Arkenstone’s ears picked up the sound of his heart-rate increasing.
“To be honest,” said Wight, “I’m a little nervous. Because of my position, I hear things that don’t make it down to the general public...or faithful students...or trusted Knights apparently. I heard about that affair in Cloudsdale, something about a colt whose wings were implanted with mithril feathers.”
Arkenstone and Twilight nodded.
“I’d read about something similar to that in these.” He gestured to the scrolls and books. “Apparently, Morning Star started out working with earthly materials for the purposes of his study, namely replacing or adding things to pony bodies that weren’t originally there or composed of substances you wouldn’t normally find in pony bodies, such as certain types of inorganic matter.”
“You mean like metal wings for a pegasus?” said Twilight.
Wight nodded. “It’s all in his writing. He was studying the interaction and integration of such features into pony physiology. Apparently, it was branching off from there that gave him the idea to create his own material that could be designed for whatever purpose he required whenever regular substances didn’t do the job.”
“I see,” said Twilight, “So you think that he may have something to do with the wings made for Perlin Bluestreak.”
Wight nodded. “From his writings, Morning Star has struck me as the kind of pony not to allow something as trivial as having his horn removed get in the way of his studies. I fear that he might still be out there somewhere, plotting to complete his experiment.”
“I see...” Twilight gulped. The thought of somepony so dangerous wandering around made her nervous. On top of that, it was yet another concern to add to her lists. She already had the Cult Solar and the Noble Court to worry about. I should be glad that the fiasco in Cloudsdale is over. I’d hate to have to worry about that too.
Arkenstone’s ears swiveled between the two ponies. “I believe we should probably call it a night,” he suggested, “We’ve been down here for quite some time.” His ears fixated on Wight. “You still have your errand to run, don’t you?”
Wight Shade froze and his eyes widened. “Oops!” He let out an embarrassed laugh. “Sorry. I got carried away showing this to you two. We should probably head up.”
Together, the three of them made their way up the stairs and back into the halls. As they stepped out into the hallway, the door to the secret passage closed soundlessly behind them. Traveling down the hall, Wight turned to Twilight and Arkenstone.
“For the time being, I suggest you don’t bring this up to Celestia or Princess Luna,” said Wight quietly, “I’d like to think that they had good reason for not telling you about this. Besides, from the sound of things, you have enough to worry about already.”
Had Arkenstone’s eyes been open, he would have narrowed them. It struck him as very suspicious that Wight Shade had gone through the trouble to show them such an important secret, before then suggesting that they not discuss their findings with said secret’s chief architects. Given that his decision to reveal the hidden archive to them had been largely impulsive, it was quite likely that he was merely trying to keep his chief employer from learning of his indiscretion. However, Arkenstone resolved to be very careful around Princess Luna’s chief steward from now on.
“Alright,” agreed Twilight, answering Wight’s suggestion without the slightest preamble.
Arkenstone’s ears immediately oriented on the lavender mare as he fought to keep the expression of surprise from his face. Such an easy agreement seemed out of place for the normally inquisitive mare, particularly when it meant passing on the opportunity to discuss a subject at length with her mentor.
They stopped outside the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. “Well, this is where we part company, I guess,” said Wight simply, “Have a good evening.”
“Thank you very much,” said Twilight earnestly, smiling cheerfully at the stallion, “I’m glad I got the chance to see that.”
“It was my pleasure,” said Wight before he headed through the door and towards the shelves.
“Come on Arky,” said Twilight, “Let’s get home.”
“Right,” said Arkenstone, falling into step beside her. As they made their way through the courtyard and down the streets of Canterlot, he couldn’t help but ask, “May I ask why you were so willing to keep this from Princess Celestia?”
Twilight sighed. “I’m just thinking that, if Princess Celestia wanted to keep that a secret from me, she must have had a good reason. Something tells me that this issue she had with Morning Star was very personal, something that hurt her deeply.”
“What gave you that impression?”
“She erased every trace of his existence, made it as though he was never here in Equestria to begin with. So then, why did she collect all his magical research, all the documents of the advancements he’d made and hoard them together? If I were trying to erase all trace of a pony, that’s probably one of the first things I’d destroy.”
Arkenstone pursed his lips in thought. “So you believe that she had some personal investment in Morning Star’s work, or even Morning Star himself.”
“Maybe,” said Twilight, “Somepony that powerful, who’d made that much progress...I wouldn’t be surprised if he used to be Celestia’s student somewhat like how I was. Maybe it’s just too personal for her to talk about right now. I’m sure she’ll tell me about it if she thinks I need to know.” She sighed. “I just wish I could go back there and read more of his research. Just that first scroll made his ideas sound so amazing. I’d love to read about some of the things he’d actually created.”
“Maybe another time,” suggested Arkenstone, smiling wryly, “But, in the meantime, have you made significant progress in your present research?”
Twilight nodded. “I’ve found maybe three ponies who I can definitively trace a line of descent to ponies who were recorded as having the Eyes of Nightmare. There’s one in Manehattan, one in Trottingham, and one in Cloudspire. If I can get in touch with them, we can see if any of them possess the trait. If they do, I can try to isolate the factor that causes the condition.”
“And do you believe that this will dissuade the Cult Solar from pursuing Dawn?” asked Arkenstone.
“Probably not,” said Twilight, “The ponies who believe that hogwash about demonic possession enough to come after him in the first place aren’t the sort who’d change their minds just because I’ve found a scientific basis for his condition. What it will do is help ponies outside the Cult understand just how ridiculous the Cult Solar’s beliefs are and strangle support for them, deny them further membership and hopefully leave them to wither away once and for all.”
“If that’s the case, does that mean you’ll be ready to return to Ponyville soon?” asked Arkenstone.
“Maybe,” said Twilight, “I still have a quarter of the ponies on my list to go through. However much I may want to rush, I need every sample I can get in order to get a proper data spread.”
“In that case, we may be here in Canterlot for a little while longer.”
Twilight nodded.
“Then that means you will be attending Steel Flint’s little soiree tomorrow night.”
A frustrated sigh escaped the mare. “I know,” she groaned, “Ugh. I wish I’d thought to pack one of my dresses. Now I’ll have to go shopping for one tomorrow, which will cut into my research time, which means I have to spend even more time fending off these jerks.”
“Stay strong,” said Arkenstone softly, stepping so that he could brush up against her, “I’ll be with you. So don’t worry too much.”
“I won’t,” said Twilight, her anxiety dissipating at the stallion’s touch. She leaned back against him with a sigh of contentment.
As things turned out, Twilight had better luck than she realized. One of her mother's old dresses fit her perfectly well and was deemed suitable for the party (Twilight suspecting that a "lowly knight" like herself wouldn't be expected to have much worthwhile to wear anyway). Without the need to go shopping, she managed to spend a good half of the day continuing her research in the Royal Archives, until her mother showed up out of the blue and dragged her off to make sure that Twilight was presentable for the party.
Though the invitation had been extended to Twilight specifically, she'd been counseled by her brother and Prince Blueblood that she was permitted an escort. Naturally, Arkenstone would be the one accompanying her. And so, while Twilight's mother took her daughter to the salon to have her groomed before her Society appearance, Arkenstone was taken in by Blueblood and Shining Armor to do some grooming of his own.
And so, a few hours later, Arkenstone found himself waiting outside the home of Twilight's parents while Twilight herself went through her final preparations within. For the occasion, the beige stallion had been lent a light-gray suit with white for the collar and cuffs. The suit fit quite well, given that Blueblood had had one of his tailors work on making adjustments to ensure that it fit Arkenstone's slightly heavier form. It was rather understated, especially in comparison to the gaudy affairs that would be worn by many of the other stallions in attendance, but it suited Arkentsone nicely, though he felt a little uncomfortable wearing formal clothes.
Arkenstone's ears twitched as he heard the door to the house swing open. As Twilight Sparkle stepped out, his ears caught the faint swish of her gown. He carefully sniffed the air, picking up a hint of perfume that emanated from her. Fortunately, Velvet clearly had a light touch when it came to applying it, which meant that Arkenstone's sensitive nose wasn't overwhelmed by the scent. For the second time in recent memory, he found himself cursing the loss of his eyes, as he would very much liked to have seen how beautiful Twilight was.
Twilight was wearing a very light-purple gown. The edges were embroidered with a much darker purple and gold thread. It was a beautiful dress, given its age, being something that Velvet had worn during her school years. However, a restoration spell from Twilight had returned much of its luster, which would last for the whole night. Her mane had been thoroughly combed and then tied up into a short tail that accentuated the streak of hot-pink that ran through her mane in a style that showed off her elegant neck. Given the rather hurried state of the preparations, the results were no less than stunning.
Twilight smiled and stepped down from the front door to join Arkenstone. She knew better than to ask what he thought of her looks. All the same, she wished that she could somehow make herself beautiful in a way that he could appreciate. Abruptly, she stopped as an idea occurred to her. Quickly filing it away, Twilight made a note to speak to Rarity when she got back from Canterlot.
"Ready to go?" asked Arkenstone softly.
"Yes," replied Twilight.
"Then let's be off."
Together, the two of them began to walk down the street in the direction of the stately manor where Twilight felt that she'd be subjected to yet another test, one that seemed all the more dangerous because Princess Celestia was not the one behind it.
Twilight and Arkenstone had opted to walk to the party, rather than rent a carriage to ride there. It had been a relatively short journey from the mid-level districts occupied by well-off commoners, like Twilight’s family, to the higher-level ones occupied by the noble families. In front of them, a steady stream of carriages pulled up in front of the door to drop off their noble cargos, all of whom had chosen to ride for a much shorter distance than Twilight and Arkenstone had walked. Of course, distance wasn’t the issue, but opulence. Carriages, and the ponies that pulled them, were status symbols among the elite. The mere act of not arriving by one would have been a minor scandal in and of itself amongst the members of the already established noble houses.
Twilight looked up at Steel Flint's manor with trepidation. It had been built along the lines of classical Canterlot architecture, stretching upwards a good five stories. Given that Canterlot was a city built on the side of a mountain, space was at a premium. To compensate, many architects looking to flex their creative muscles built up rather than out. It was nothing like the skyscrapers that lined the horizon of large cities like Manehattan or Las Pegasus, but it was taller than the more sprawling manors favored by the rich and powerful in the wider countryside.
The yard was smaller as well, with barely enough room for an extremely well-tended flower garden situated around an elegant fountain, which featured a noble unicorn mare in a dynamic pose, rearing as water sprayed from the tip of her horn. Twilight eyed the statue dubiously, thinking she saw something familiar in the haughty appearance of the stone pony.
"Ah, hello Dame Sparkle." Twilight was knocked out of her reverie as she heard the familiar cultured voice of Fancy Pants, who had just disembarked the carriage that had pulled up along the manor's curved driveway, which allowed the transports of various nobles to pull up, disembark their passengers, then pull away without any confusion or congestion.
"Ah, it's good to see you again Your Lordship," said Twilight, bowing as the stallion approached, glad for the book of courtly etiquette her mother had dug up for her review earlier that afternoon.
A chuckle escaped Fancy Pants' lips as he returned Twilight's bow before lifting her hoof and planting a brief kiss on it (notably not holding it as long as Steel Flint had). After lowering it, he gave Twilight a friendly smile. "I'd tell you that there's no need for formalities between us. But for tonight, it may be best to keep up appearances at the very least. You'll need it for dealing with the rest of the Court."
Twilight nodded and turned her gaze back to her statue, something still niggling her at the back of her mind about its appearance.
"Ah that," said Fancy Pants, following the path of Twilight's gaze, "That statue used to be the centerpiece of the estate of the late Marchioness Lulamoon. It was modeled after the mare in her younger years."
"What is it doing here?" asked Twilight. Something about the noblemare's name struck another chord within her. Like the appearance of the statue, there was something familiar about the name.
"Her son, who inherited her rank a few years back, sold it along with many of the more gaudy pieces of their estate before turning all the profits and the whole of the estate itself over to Princess Celestia. The estate and its manor are the site of one of the largest and best orphanages in all of Equestria now."
"Wow," said Twilight, "What happened to the Marquess?"
"He's an odd sort," replied Fancy Pants, "Despite being a ranking noble, he's hardly ever in Canterlot. He turned over all his assets to Princess Celestia to use as she sees fit. As far as I know, he has no assets elsewhere either. He spends a great deal of time in the far north, in the areas around the Crystal Mountains, including the space now occupied by the Crystal Empire. No one knows what he does up there. He only comes back once every few months. And when he does, he uses a small townhouse on the lower end rather than his old manor."
"That's...strange," Twilight noted.
Fancy Pants chuckled. "I've actually heard that he returned the very night of the day you arrived. He may even make an appearance at this little gathering if we are lucky. He's quite notorious for detesting Society affairs though and is completely unconcerned about offending anypony, another unusual quality of his."
"Perhaps we should continue this conversation inside," suggested Arkenstone, who had remained silent until now, "We do not want to give our host the impression that we are reluctant to come."
Twilight nodded and the three of them proceeded towards the entryway. "By the way," said Arkenstone, his ears twisting towards Fancy Pants, "I notice your wife is not with you."
"Ah, she was not feeling quite up to it I'm afraid," replied Fancy Pants, a fond smile playing across his lips, "With her pregnancy advancing, she doesn't quite feel that she's in a position to make social appearances."
Twilight caught an angry tone to the posh stallion’s voice. “Is everything alright?”
Fancy Pants paused before letting out a sad sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s nothing terribly important. It’s just that, a couple months ago, Fleur and I were attending a gathering at the palace. We hadn’t openly announced her pregnancy yet, but she was just starting to show. A few of those high-class nitwits started making insinuations that she was simply getting fat and that I would drop her the moment I noticed. Of course, she knows better than that. But it didn’t change the fact that those degenerate backstabbers would use one of the most important events of our life together as another means to attack her.”
“I’m sorry,” whispered Twilight softly.
Fancy responded with a smile. “Don’t be. We’ve put it behind us. The words of idle idiots can’t do much harm.”
Twilight smiled at his words before turning with a gulp to regard the large doors that loomed up ahead of them. She had a sinking feeling that, in her case, the “idle idiots” would be a more tangible threat. Oh well, she thought nervously, Let’s do this. With Arkenstone by her side, she made the last few steps up towards the manor’s doors.
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Well. that was......dark
Something's rotten in the state of Equestria
So... what the hell does this make Trixie?
Also, Wight Shade... he is acting too suspicious. As it has been stated that a unicorn's horn grows back, does it grow back the same colour? He knows too much about Morning Star than just from scrolls. Way too much.
Now, the party. This should be fun.
I like to see that Celestia can make some hard decisions.
Trixie is now a noble? Interesting...
Twilight meets a lot of jerks. I lost count.
I just found this on Youtube
Cult Solar, anyone?
So, I'm assuming that's Trixie's grandmother? Why doesn't Twilight recognize the name?
So is Twilight going to meet a different kind of jerk? Or just another one...
And why do I have the feeling wight might be morning star... Maybe used some sort of coat color spell and regret his horn.
I could see Wight Shade being Morning Star, maybe trying to satisfy his curiosity by having Twilight continue it. Or, he could be a practitioner of still way, which would explain the doors, his knowledge of certain magic, and why he knows the passage is there, and is trying to warn Twilight and Arkenstone of Morning Star returning. Also, we still haven't seen a unicorn fight (though I'm guessing Trixie and the cloaked figure will fill that gap soon). Do the other races (particularly griffons, the punching bags of Savage Skies) have an equivalent of the three pillars or Knights? Griffons seem to have the same magic as pegasi in the show, so I hope that the ponies aren't the only race that gets ridiculously op magic and martial arts.
Ah yes, more pieces to add to the puzzle! Now to figure out where they fit...
This Morning Star fellow... Certainly an interesting character (if he's still alive, which I'm guessing he isn't but for all I know...) with quite interesting magic. It certainly does seem like he has had or is having a major impact on the plot. Time will tell.
Lulamoon... Now where have I heard that? I must say, this Twilight chapter did not disappoint; admittedly I thought I'd be impatiently waiting for a Dawn chapter, but this is definitely a more than satisfying chapter. Getting more information while bringing up more questions, definitely excited to get more pieces to put together. Until next chapter then!
Yes, antimatter-matter collisions on even a small scale certainly are "stunning."
Or something like this. It would be cool to find out he was able to make something like Iridium.
A sociopath with this kind of power? That certainly is... different.
Nuclear Physics is not to be trifled with, even if you know what you are doing.
No foreshadowing here, nope. Carry on.
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So, anyone else want to bet that Fancy is secretly a Knight?
I really hope Twilight offends someone in the Court enough that they leave her the hell alone.
Wasn't Morning Star Dawn's mentor or am I getting names mixed up?
3722814 Yeah your getting the name's slightly mixed up but what with the number of characters that have shown up over the course of this series thats understandable; Dawn mentor's name was Darkwing if I remember correctly.
Wight Shade is Morning Star........
3723014 I swear Morning Star was mentioned earlier. Wait! No, Morning star is a the enemy dude on another fic.
That name must get used to often.
still waiting for the inevitable scenes where either scootaloo actually used the gale king to defend herself (even with limited knowledge)
or twilight slaps a Noble for suggesting some inappropriate activities.
3723056 Makes sense that name is used a lot because The Morning Star is another name or title of Lucifer.
And Come on Mr. Lulamoon please be a Harry Dresden or Micheal Carpenter expy, this story needs a wisecracking miracle worker or The Fist of God. In my opinion at least.
Morning Star is the doctor that implanted Perlin's wings. Its gotta be. In the last story you showed that he had some sort of vendetta against Celestia.
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3723056 Rather, Lucifer is the Latin name for Morning Star. Yeah, that's pretty much why I chose it.
I fucking hate nobles, I fucking hate parties. I fucking hate these few chapters... (only by default xD)
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Something tells me, that this party is going to suck so badly, it will be gloriously hilarious/horrible.
Wait is the Mage wight is talking about the one the doctor was talking about before? The doctor of Perlin I mean.
I have a very small feeling that Mister wight just might have changed his name from something much more celestial...
One thing is 4 sure. This party is gonna b something worth remembering.
Lol, cinderella.
"After reading chapter 'The Place Where You Belong'" World record for a guy having a good idea is given to caramel! With a time of... damn, that was faster than instant transmission.
Man... Looking back through the comments, no one seems to recall what Trixies last name is. Makes me wonder if she's going to be portrayed as adopted, thus the orphanage as a gift to foals under similar circumstances to his special one. Guessing the reason he stays up in the north is either a physical requirement of hers, or if he's merely trying to protect her from court machinations. Either way, or however it turns out, I feel like we may be introduced to the most unlikely still way master possible. Not that my fanon of Lyra makes her a more reasonable example.
That shady dude with trixie is probably him.
Also does that person who can create matter seem similar to discord for anyone else?
5658803
How could anyone forget that Trixie's last name was Lulamoon?
This story keeps blowing the top off of it's power scale. We have normal ponies, followed by the guard and other trained soldiers, then a few dozen levels up we have Dawn, then Red and Stormy, then the Knights, then the Alicorns. Except now there's Morning Star, who can apparently ignore all of the above because he can basically break reality, and who has "obvious going to be a villain later" pasted on his forehead.
So I'm just reading this for the first time and I was wondering something: is Morning Star a subtle tribute to Sunset Shimmer? The previous student, talented, had a falling out with Celestia... granted not to the extreme like it is here, but still.
Twilight really should have told Luna and Celestia about Wight Shade going out of his way to tell her about Morning Star. But then, I've noticed, in the cartoon as well as most fanfics, that Twilight adores Celestia so much, it leads her to making poor judgement calls. Like this one.
Random trivia, besides being another name for Lucifer, a morning star is a spiked weapon. So don't trust any pony named after a weapon and the Devil.
3723056
In the bible or so I have heard in my adventure of myths and legends, the Morning Star is also Satan before he fell.
Seriously, someone introduce him to Mortal Coil!
8749709
That's what his name translates into. Lucifer, or Morning Star.
Although funny thing, Satan means Adversary, and refers to any number of entities (although Lucifer was the first). Mostly the current cultural view of him are actually European Deities. Whom much like Ba'al Ze'bul (Lord of That Which Flies), had their name and image twisted by the Abrahamic Faiths for propaganda.
Sadly, as our current political climate can attest to, the words of idle idiots can bring societies to their knees.