At the Twilight of Harmony

by Rammy

Intermission VII: Never Forget What They did here

I stopped as the last part of Storyteller’s story caused me a massive headache. “Okay, I think I believe you about not being Sentinel... I think Discord may be a better choice.”

“Him!?!” Storyteller laughed hard and long. It got so bad that I was tempted to smack him. Luckily for him he finally managed to stop. “Well... I suppose I could see you thinking that, but he’s not the type to drag a joke out this long…”

Back to square one it seems… the revelation that Sentinel is housing another personality eliminated him as being Storyteller unless he just added Vorac to the story to throw me off… My head started really pounding. You know what… Forget this I’m only worsening my headache.

As I looked back up I saw in the distance a grove of trees. It was a bit odd as I had yet to see any signs of trees since the oasis… I may not be a earth pony but even I know that the area around here was too dry for trees. Maybe there was a lake, or, spring, or oasis in the middle of the trees. Or maybe it was because we were getting closer to Hourglass which was probably the tallest mountain I had ever seen and some of the mountains to the north of Equus was quite large and Hourglass made those look a bit small.

An half hour later I could see that it was more than a grove of trees it appeared be a fence around the area. The area was quite large no way that this was watered by an oasis or spring. Storyteller was heading right towards it.

“I thought we were heading to Hourglass.”

“We are…”

“Then why are we headed towards that? Wouldn’t it be prudent to go around this... grove?”

“No, because you need to see what is here.” Storyteller replied as walked along the rod iron fence which was covered by ivy and some sort of flowering vine I can’t identify. He stopped right into of a simple gate. The gate squeaked as Storyteller opened it. “Hmm... needs oiling again.”

“I take it this place doesn’t get many visitors.” I remarked.

I started to walk towards the gate when Storyteller stopped me. “The ground you are about to walk on is sacred so please be respectful.”

I looked past Storyteller to see that beyond the ivy covered fence was an expansive area of green, lush grass. A stone path started at the gate and crisscrossed through the long grass. Intermixed was the large oak and willows I had seen earlier.

“What is this place?” I asked as I got a glimpse at a few markers and statues. This place reminded me of a cemetery except there wasn’t row after row of tombstones. This oddly looked more like a memorial garden but it was expansive… more like park.

“A memorial to those that fell. To those who lost their lives saving our world.” Storyteller sadly answered before he turned to walk down one of the stone paths. “Come, I want to show you something.”

We walk through the park for a few minutes before I saw a black triangle obelisk rising into the sky. As we walked along the spiral path that lead to the obelisk I saw that three statues stood guard around it an alicorn, a griffon, and a dragon.

Once we got closer I noticed that there was writing on each side. Each in a different script. The side that had the dragons had a lot less script. Was this what Storyteller meant when he said ’twice dragons failed to do what was right until it was too late.’

I walked right up to get a closer look. As an archaeologist I was familiar with several ancient scripts and languages but I had no clue what language this writing was… for that matter I don’t think I have ever seen it before either. I would take a rubbing but somehow I think that would get me in hot water with Storyteller. That is if this is what I think it is I would rather sketch I’m an archaeologist not a tomb raider.

“Remember the stain glass window that started this all? This is a list of all the known names of those killed during the Final Battle of Hourglass. Those that are unknown are memorialized in a different spot of the park a place where none but the caretakers may enter and only to keep it maintained.”

I frowned as I realized that the death toll from just this battle was extreme… if the height of the tower and the amount of writing on each side was any indication. “How long ago… was this war... everything here looks like it was put here yesterday. And this war had to occur a very long time ago if it was as deadly as you implied and not to be the history books.”

“The grounds are carefully maintained and the statues and structures are magically kept pristine. How each race reckons time is different plus the calendar used by ponies has changed several times since then but if I recall correctly almost two thousand years.”

“Ta... t-two thousand years!” No wonder there was no record! Historically things got very murky once one goes back six hundred years ago and no pony has managed to find anything more than a fifteen hundred. The crystal tree castle does date from that time period but there was nothing in there to substantiate anything beyond that. No manuscripts, writings, etchings, or artifacts... The only thing that could be authenticated from that time period was some of the surviving stain glass windows from what I now know as Canterlot Castle. Sadly the windows were stylized in such a way that not much could be figured out from the windows themselves hence my reason for my journey.

“Still you struggle to believe…”

“I’m sorry this is so much to take in…” He was right I was struggling and I was losing the battle as more and more I was seeing physical evidence to the story that Storyteller was telling of the Keeper War. I’m starting to see why those at the university scoffed at my theories.

“It’s real, real as the obelisk. The war was won but at great cost. It’s only in the last few decades that your race as recovered… Others are still recovering… some... some may never recover.”

Author's Note:

Extra points for those who figure out the title...

Comments

[Waterpicker]

This is gonna get bad real quick isn't it.