Inheritance

by Azuras

Chapter 8

A bright light glares down towards Twilight, she knows she should be getting up but she is just so content. She managed to ignore the poking and prodding, she could easily ignore a little light.

Smiling from content her eyes firmly closed to keep out as much light as possible she smacks her lips. When suddenly a horn blasts next to her ear.

She screams in fright kicking out banging her forehooves on a table as she falls back still screaming before landing into a large pillow. However she continues to scream and flailing her limbs in fright from the noise which awoke her from her slumber. Just as she begins to realize she's on something soft a bang occurs which she assumes must be a door.

She cranes her head seeing a very angry Shield holding up Spike in her telekinesis giving him a very stern look.

“What did I tell you when you asked me to help you wake up the Princess the first time?” Shield asks harshly.

“Umm… That the Princess will get up when she gets up” Spike replies slowly

“And the Second time?” Shield asks as Twilight slowly turns herself so she can get onto her hooves to help defend Spike before Shield can chew him out more.

“The same thing?” Spike says as Twilight clears her head from the ringing of the horn.

“It's alright Shield… Spike was just being helpful in his own way” Twilight says with a smile.

Shield gives her a bemused look “Spike managed to gain a Trumpet, laid out all of your pillows and blankets on the ground around your chair, locked the door to prevent me from entering and then blew said trumpet in your face” She says gesturing to each of the different items used in Spikes plan. “That is not helpful”

Spike chuckles looking nervous glancing between Shield and Twilight. “Um… trying to help?”

Twilight looks at Spike with a small smile before looking at Shield “Please put Spike down”

Shield nods letting the dragon down before heading towards the door “I'll be outside Princess, breakfast will be here shortly” Shield says before walking out closing the door.

“So… I'm not in trouble?” Spike asks hopefully giving Twilight a smile.

“Oh Spike. You're in a bunch of trouble” Twilight replies evenly

The Dragon lowers his head and sighs deeply knowing he's in for a scolding.

---

After scolding Spike, having a shower and eating her breakfast Twilight was ready to take on the day. Thankfully due to Spike’s antics she only slept till 8:37 in the morning. Meaning her time table wasn't to damaged and she manages to get caught up easily.

Smiling to herself Twilight heads out of her room with an upset Spike upon her back. She'll let him stay with Shining for some “Colt time” as Spike once put it. That'll cheer him up. And it'll mean she won't have to worry about him to much.

“Hello Shield” She greets her Escort with a smile causing Shield to sigh as she follows Twilight at a distance.

“Hello Princess. You are in a good mood” Shield notes

“Why yes. While eating my breakfast I was re reading some notes from last night and I believe I have a theory as to why the lost civilization and ours share the same numbers” Twilight explain happily as she trots towards the throne room

After a moment of silence Shield speaks up “And what is that Theory Princess?”

“Well, it's been believed for some time that ponies first used our current digits after interaction with nomadic Minotaurs. For before that point we used the Imperial numbers which were letters. And Tombs mentioned something about the person in the image speaking something like an old minotaur language. I figured that there must be a connection between this race and the Minotaurs” Twilight finishes with a large smile.

“You believe that this race was in contact with Minotaurs?” Shield asks.

“That or, the Minotaurs found something like these structures a long time ago. Possibly before they became united. And the Minotaurs have been recording history far longer than the pony tribes”

“So you're saying that the Minotaurs found this place first?” Spike asks.

“Maybe not this place. But I think there may be traces of this civilization in other regions” Twilight replies turning to look at Spike with a smile glad that he is taking an interest. “But it's just a theory right now”

The three of them move towards the entrance to the throne room, Shield has gone quiet while Spike seems to think about what Twilight had said. Twilight meanwhile continues to ponder her theory trying to find the areas that will require more evidence and the aspects which don't make sense.

She almost bumps into the Crystal Guards standing in front of the entrance to the throne room when Shield taps her on the shoulder. “Princess” Shield says to help catch Twilight's attention.

“Oh yes?” Twilight asks surprised looking back towards the contact.

“We are here your Highness” Shield says.

Looking forward Twilight sees she's standing just in front of a Crystal guard. She chuckles and steps back. “Sorry gentlecolts I was lost in thought. Didn't mean to bump into you”

The Guard nods his head as if to accept the apology not speaking.

“Could we go into the throne room” Twilight asks.

With another quick nod the guards push open the throne room doors allowing Twilight and Shield to easily walk in.

The throne room had several Crystal and Royal guards standing at attention. Far more than yesterday Twilight mentally notes. Shining is sitting on the throne looking over some papers and scrolls, not yet noticing Twilight.

Twilight walks towards the Throne ignoring the Increased security. “Hey BBBFF” She says to Shining.

Shining looks up at her with a small weary smile “Hey Twi. Been pretty busy this morning” He sighs deeply clearly tired and frustrated but hiding it “So what can I do for you Twi?”

“Well. Wanted to say Hi and I wondered if I could leave Spike with you Today. He seemed scared of the Dig Site” Twilight says as Spike grumbles.

“I'm not scared. I just.. I just didn't want to be there” He says puffing up his chest earning a chuckle from Twilight and Shining.

“I can do that Twi. Having your number one assistant will help me out a great deal. And I could teach him all the things about being a real Stallion” Shining says as he puffs out his chest with a grin causing Spike to laugh as Twilight rolls her eyes.

“Alright. Also is it alright if I. Head to the vault to pick up some of you know who's journals?” Twilight asks as Spike climbs off of her to sit next to Shining.

“Yea, just make sure you sign them out. The Vault Guards get upset when they can't find the inventory” He says with as smile.

“Alright. Talk to you later Shining. Hope you and Spike can have that bonding time” Twilight says with a smirk before walking towards the exit Shield in tow.

“Twi. Can I borrow Shield for a moment? Need to ask her a few things” Shining suddenly says.

Looking over her shoulder at Shining and Shield, Twilight can't help but feel something is off. “Alright. I'll head over to the vault while you do that” She says with a smile before heading out the doors opening as Lieutenant Shield looks to Shining.

As the doors close Twilight can't shake the feeling that she should have at least stayed. She shakes her head removing those thoughts as she begins to make the trek to the Vault already noticing the absence of Shield.

---

After descending several flights of stairs Twilight arrives in front of the ‘Crystal Empire Vault’ the Vault door is massive but still dwarfed by the doorways at the dig site. It's made of crystal rather than metal and seems to radiate light possibly from enchantments

She also comes face to face with a dozen of the heaviest armored guards she has ever seen. All but two of the guards are Crystal Ponies. Each of the Crystal Ponies are clad in thick crystal plate, the plates covering their entire forms. Only there muzzles can be seen and each has a massive halberd made of steel, an alloy more common in the Empire than the rest of Equestria.

The two other ponies are unicorns and wear thick robes, one being a dark grey with black and silver details, the other being a lighter grey with white and gold details. Both however have an emblem that Twilight has never seen before upon their shoulders.

The emblem is split into six parts with a six pointed star in the center. Each part is a different color, the colors being red, yellow, white, blue, green and black. The unicorns heads are hidden under thick hoods making everything about them a mystery.

Smiling and pushing her fear to the side Twilight steps toward the guards. “Hello, I'm here to enter the vault and retrieve a few items”

Twilight assumes that the ponies keep their gaze upon her as none move. She continues to smile still walking towards the vault.

“Is that alright?” She asks after a moment of her hoof steps being the only sound as her clip clops echo throughout the stone chamber.

She passes the first two guards both looking forward not paying her any mind. The two crystal guards next to the vault entrance suddenly move to the side and begin to enter a complex code at the same time causing Twilight to halt.

The doors many mechanics can be heard shifting as the locks begin to click. After twelve clicks the door begins to open inwards revealing a dark ominous chamber.

Twilight forces herself to not gulp as she walks forward again past all the guards up to the two unicorns at the center. They both part for her and turn flanking her as she enters passing through the massive vault door.

As soon as she steps foot into the vault it's as if a veil is removed from her the darkness vanishing instantly. She looks around in awe seeing piles of gold and Gems. Ancient treasures laying about everywhere. It's like walking into a gold covered museum.

She grins as she looks for anything that catches her eye. The darkness being pushed to the side for now as she walks deeper into the vault the two unicorns following suit as the door begins to shut.

She spots a suit of armor standing near one of the piles. It's like the one which the statue in the main hallway to the throne room had. However rather than a wolf shaped helm it was shaped like a bear and was made of a dark alloy. She examines it closer seeing nothing else of interest but wanting to know why he helm was shaped in such a way.

Sighing she turn to the unicorn on her left, the unicorn was wearing the darker robes and even at this distance she couldn't see into the hood. It was similar to how she couldn't see into the vault.

“Excuse me. But where can I find Sombra’s Journals? I need to look over a few of them for any information about his excavations” She says looking at the figure.

The unicorn simply lefts a hoof and points deeper into the vault. Causing Twilight to frown and their actions.

“Thank you” She says anyway and moves in the direction of the hoof passing more items of wealth along the way. Before long she comes to several small bookcases standing out in the open. They have few books upon them causing Twilight to once again frown by not questioning it.

She approaches one of the book cases and skims the titles noticing most are related to magic. Specifically dark magic's. She sighs moving to the next shelf finding what she was looking for almost instantly.

Sombra’s personal journals, each one is fairly thick and made of a black material, the lettering is all written in silver showing the worth of each journal. There Is however only six journals far less than Twilight expected. She pulls them out and notices each is locked with a simple latch.

She floats each of the journals into her saddle bags and turns to the two unicorns whom escorted her. “Which way is out?” She asks with a smile.

The lighter unicorn points to there left, Twilight smiles still unnerved by the behavior of the two ponies but heads in the direction anyways.

As she approaches the vault door it begins to open inwards once more and she notices that the chamber outside the vault is pitch black as well. She frowns and casts as simple scanning spell to see what's the cause of this.

As she walks through she detects multiple spell matrix's all interconnected to form a powerful illusion of sorts that's subjective to a single location rather then an object or a pony. While in thought Twilight doesn't even notice her surroundings.

“Princess?” Shield asks causing Twilight to once again jump slightly startled.

“Oh! Hello Shield. Sorry I was thinking about the spell matrix that makes the vault appear to be dark” Twilight says with a small smile.

“It's no problem Princess. Found what you needed?” Shield asks as Twilight begins to walk towards the stairs Shield flanking her as the vault closes once more.

“I believe so. There wasn't much which is surprising” Twilight replies.

“Hopefully it is enough Princess”

Twilight nods her head before turning to look at Shield “So what did Shining want from you?”

Shield stares ahead not looking at Twilight as she replies “He wanted to inform me of the increase in Guards”

“Oh. Alright I'm just wondering because he seemed slightly worried about something” Twilight says with a sigh looking ahead as she begins to climb the spiral stairs.

“You have nothing to worry about Princess. Let us go to your room and then the dig site” Shield says still flanking Twilight as they head up the stairs.

Author's Note:

So, New chapter up, as well as a bunch of edits to previous chapters. Specifically grammar and spelling since mine is horrid. Also, I added a few more bits of info to pervious chapters to fix things which didn't make since such as Tombs magical knowledge of English. I actually covered that more here. And, I'm hoping to get the ball rolling again considering its been a few months now.

Anyways, the next chapter will hopefully be much longer to make up for the long wait. Hop you enjoy.

Comments

[Earthpatriot117]

I am loving this story!!! :)