The End War

by SC_Orion

Gifts to be Imparted

Daring casually glanced at the skeleton lying against the wall as she approached the doorway which had been sealed. She stared as she walked closer and she scrutinized the skeleton and the armor. 'How did you die?' she wondered. She frowned and turned her head to continue to watch the skeleton as she walked passed it. 'You were sealed in here... did you suffocate? Starve? Die from dehydration..? Or were you poisoned..? You could have been killed before you were sealed in here too...'

She grimaced and hesitantly looked away from the skeleton. Her steps grew slower and shorter the more she thought about it. As she stepped through the doorway, she pushed the thought aside. 'You probably died before the room was sealed. Twilight managed to get through the door without any problems.' She looked around the hallway, idly looking for the professor. The sides of the hallways were lined crates and various instruments, but only a few ponies were present, and most of them were heading straight through the main hallway. None of them was the unicorn she was looking for.

She continued walking around, then she reached the middle of where the hallways met and she turned to her right. She paused for a moment and looked at the statue of the alicorn. She tilted her head to the side and watched it for a moment, squinting at it, even as a chill ran down her spine. She slowly walked over to it and grimaced as she looked over the cracks in it. Despite their best efforts to preserve the statue, the cracks had expanded. The most noticeable cracks had grown significantly. One of the large cracks ran from the shoulder up the neck and then to the jaw. Several cracks covered the body and wings, and another major crack ran along the alicorn's left flank and split where a pony's cutie mark would have been in two, then ran down the leg until just above the joint.

"I guess the heat really did a number on you." Daring's lips pulled into a grimace. "That's a shame, you were in really good shape," she sighed. She shook her head and pulled away from the crouched down alicorn. As she walked away, she could almost hear the statue continuing to crack. She stopped and looked back at the statue but saw nothing out of the ordinary. 'I must be hearing things. Maybe all this paranoia is finally getting to me...' She pulled her hat down to cover her eyes, then she turned back towards the exit and leisurely strode out of the ruin. The heat of the day hit her almost like a brick wall. She took a deep breath and then exhaled calmly. Even with her hat blocking the sun's rays from her eyes, the bright lighting made her eyes water. She squinted as her eyes adjusted.

She looked around, then spread her wings out and flew up towards the top of the ravine where their main camp was. She flew around for a bit, surveying the camp for Ancient Knowledge. She looked around and then smiled and banked right and flew down toward the ground. A whitish gray unicorn with a soft, flowing yellow mane and tail walked alongside the professor. Her cutie mark was a skull with a black question mark beside it. 'How does a pony get a cutie mark for that anyway...' she wondered as she landed.

Ancient Knowledge stopped as she heard a pegasus land, and she turned to look who it was. "Oh, Daring," she greeted. "I thought you were with the princess?"

"She wanted me to come and get you," Daring replied. "We found something you'll be interested in."

Ancient's face lit up with an excited smile, and the mare practically pounced on Daring, swiftly galloping up to stand in front of her. "Oh! What did you find?" she asked.

"Another room with a projection," Daring answered. She looked at the professor cautiously and ruffled her wings, then glanced at the dull white unicorn, who squinted uneasily at the professor.

Ancient frowned and squinted. She looked down at the ground and licked her lips. She glanced back up at Daring. "Another room with a projection?" she asked. "What did it show?"

Daring's lips slowly drew into a smirk. "Oh, I think you'd rather see it for yourself..." she said in a light, warm voice. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you," she said teasingly.

Ancient snorted at Daring, then sighed. She pulled away from her then hastily trotted toward the path down to the bottom of the ravine. Daring smiled for a moment as she watched her leave, then she glanced at the other unicorn, who slowly leaned to her left and then took off at a brisk trot after the professor. Daring spread her wings out, then casually lifted her body from the ground and then flew around back to the bottom of the ravine. She turned around and watched the path that Ancient Knowledge trod. She followed the unicorn with her eyes and waited for her.

Eventually, the unicorn caught up with her. Daring leisurely turned around and took a step toward the ruin, then paused and looked back at Ancient. "Should we wait for your analyst?" she asked.

Ancient shook her head. "No, it's fine. I told her where the skeleton was. She should be able to find it herself," she answered.

Daring nodded casually and headed into the ruin. Ancient followed close behind her. The unicorn found herself staring and wincing at the statue. "I didn't realize it had gotten that bad... at this rate, I don't think it's getting out of here in one piece..." she sighed.

Daring grimaced. "I'd offer a suggestion on how to fix it, but unfortunately I can't think of anything. I'm not used to being where there's such a big temperature difference. I'm generally used to being where it's hot and humid all the time, rather than hot and dry during the day, and cold and dry at night."

Ancient's head dropped down and her muzzle pointed straight down at the floor. Her ears folded back and she sighed. "And that was about the only artifact of interest we could actually take back to study. Well, easily take back anyway. We still have the samples of the alloy and the crystals for analysis, but I don't think we can take the projection with us. I may have to ask for more resources for this expedition."

"Oh great, more ponies to work with..." Daring groaned.

Ancient squinted and lifted her head back up. She glared at Daring, even if the pegasus didn't look back at her. "Hey! You and I both know you couldn't have made it this far on this expedition without our help, Daring," she stated. "You may be an expert adventurer, but you don't have the resources of an entire expedition to help you along on your adventures."

"Yes, we both have skills in different areas, Ancient Knowledge,-" Daring smirked and continued to look straight ahead, "-but let's not forget who has more expeditions under her belt," she cooed.

Ancient opened her mouth to retort her but paused and pursed her lips. "And you wouldn't be here, were it not for me," she stated.

Daring shrugged and continued on. Ancient Knowledge followed on after her. "It feels like no matter what we do, we only end up finding more questions than answers here," the professor commented.

Daring nodded in agreement as she turned down the hallway with the door Twilight had cut through. "That's part of the adventure, isn't it?" she asked. "Not knowing, and then finding out. Every good story needs that," she affirmed.

"True," Ancient sighed. Her walk turned into a shuffle and she grimaced, staring down at the floor. "Knowing all the answers would take the fun out of life. You wouldn't be able to explore or experiment or learn new information since you'd already know anything. You probably wouldn't have opportunities to grow, either."

"Plus, without knowing all of the answers, you get to find the answers and maybe be the first pony to find them," Daring commented.

Ancient nodded as the two of them passed into the recently unsealed hallway. A few ponies, mostly earth ponies, had already filled the hallway and were setting up lights and boxes of equipment. For the most part, everything and everypony were towards the walls, leaving an open path for the two mares to walk down. Daring skillfully jumped over a couple of crates, while Ancient sidestepped them. "They really don't waste much time, do they?" Daring asked.

"Well, I did tell them to come and set up, but I did ask them not to disturb the skeleton," Ancient replied.

Darign nodded and slowed, turning her gaze to the skeleton on the floor. As she neared it, she slowed to a stop. A moment later, Ancient stopped beside her. "She probably died before this place was sealed," Daring commented. "It makes more sense than her dying after it was sealed since Twilight didn't have any trouble cutting through the door."

Ancient pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "That's a good point. But... what if she was alive and couldn't break through it like Twilight did?" she asked. She blinked, then looked at Daring. The pegasus turned her attention to Ancient. "We have no reason to believe that these alicorns were as strong as our princesses..." she offered.

Daring grimaced and bobbed her head. "I suppose that's true, but the myths still say that the ancient alicorns were pretty powerful. I guess she still might not have been able to cut through the door like Twilight. Maybe she had been weakened or something?"

Ancient nodded and frowned, then looked back at the alicorn skeleton. "I guess there could be damage we can't see, too," she commented. She sighed softly, then shook her head. "Once the preservation spells are in place, we'll be able to check. Although we still won't be able to tell if she was completely uninjured, since anything that hurt her could have missed her bones."

Daring nodded, her eyes still lingering on the alicorn's skeleton and armor, studying it. "Right." She turned away from the skeleton and headed back down the hallway. "Maybe we should go find our alicorn, now?" she suggested.

Ancient nodded and looked over at Daring. She lingered there for a moment, thinking as the pegasus wandered further away from her. She blinked, then quickly strode forward to catch up with Daring. Once she caught up with her, she walked beside her and fell in sync with her. "Still don't want to give me any clues about what you found?"

Daring smirked. "Oh, I already did give you a clue," she said playfully. "It's another projection," she stated.

"That doesn't help," Ancient replied.

"I know," Daring answered, still smirking.

"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you," Ancient asked, squinting at her pegasus companion.

Daring looked over at Ancient, not even trying to hide her playful smirk."Oh, what would be the fun of not doing it on purpose?" she asked. "Besides, you should know I don't give out spoilers until after they're not spoilers. You hired me, after all."

Ancient looked away from Daring and shook her head. "The door's closed," she commented.

"What?" Daring asked. She looked away from Ancient and came to a stop, blinking to make sure there wasn't something in her eye which looked like the now-closed door. "It was open when I left," she stated.

"Maybe Twilight closed it?" Ancient offered.

Daring glanced at her and shrugged, then headed over to the door. "The control crystal's light is red," she commented.

Ancient frowned and hurried over to the glowing crystal. Daring continued on at a casual pace and approached the door. Ancient waved her forehoof over the crystal. Nothing happened. She groaned and waved her forehoof over it several more times. "I really wish these crystals reacted to us too," she lamented. "Even if it was just a beep to let us know that we're not getting in. It just... ignores us."

Daring took a deep breath and stepped forward, stopping just in front of the door. She lifted her right forehoof and knocked on the door several times. Ancient looked straight ahead at the crystal and blinked, then looked over at Daring. Daring glanced at Ancient. "Twilight's inside, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. At the worst, maybe she'll have to cut the door open."

"Right," Ancient said with a nod. She pursed her lips and studied the crystal and sighed.

Daring waited a few seconds before knocking on the door again, harder than before.

"The door is pretty thick, it might also be soundproofed," Ancient commented. "It does seem kind of quiet in here, doesn't it?"

"Twilight!" Daring shouted at the door. She knocked again. Several more seconds passed without any response. Daring shook her head. "I don't think she can hear us. Any ideas?"

"You're the adventurer," Ancient replied. "I can go and see if I can get some earth ponies and unicorns to try to help get the door open," she stated.

Daring nodded. "That might be our only option unless Twilight eventually decides to cut the door open..." she trailed off. "I don't like this," she stated bluntly. "Twilight's in there all alone after I left her there. We're in an unexplored section of a perfectly preserved ruin, in a section that was sealed off and has an alicorn skeleton..."

Ancient turned to look at her and frowned. "You... think something's wrong..?" she asked cautiously.

Daring bobbed her head vigorously. "My instincts have been telling me that something is wrong here since we got inside the ruin, and it's only gotten worse as we've made progress. I feel like opening up this section was a mistake- it was sealed for a reason..."

Ancient offered a weak smile. "Daring, whatever reason this place was sealed for... well... ten thousand years have passed. Whatever it was, it's not going to be a problem anymore."

Daring groaned. "You probably just ended up jinxing us..." she muttered.

Ancient tilted her head to the side. "Jinxing?" she asked.

Daring looked at her flatly. "It's when saying that something bad isn't going to happen causes something bad to happen," she answered evenly.

Ancient snorted and shook her head. "We'll be fine," she stated.

Daring sighed relentingly, then looked at Ancient with a grimace. "Alright, fine. Why don't you go get some ponies to help try to get this door open?" she suggested.

Ancient nodded and turned around, then she started back down the hallway at a hasty trot. "Alright. If that doesn't work, there's always Plan E," she replied casually.

Daring watched Ancient leave and squinted at her upon her mention of 'Plan E.' After a few seconds, she groaned, then shivered as a chill raced down her spine. She looked around cautiously and fluffed her wings, attempting to generate warmth. "Well then..." she muttered to herself. She knocked on the door again. "Twilight? Can you hear me?" Once again, silence met her calls.

---

Daring grimaced, studying the ponies grunting and groaning as they strained themselves to try to part the door open. The five earth ponies' muscles were showing, but the door wasn't showing any signs of budging. The three unicorns adding their magic to the mix, aside from the professor, all stared at the door intently, as if it was challenging them, and they shook from exertion and concentration.

"I don't think this is working," Daring muttered. "This door's sealed worse than the door to the right hallway."

"Alright, take five..." Ancient sighed. Over a couple of seconds, the earth ponies and unicorns all stopped their efforts and took a few steps back or sat down on their haunches. "We've been at this for a solid half hour," she commented. She looked over at Daring warily, her eyes no longer filled with curiosity and excitement, but exhaustion, frustration, and disappointment. "Do you have any ideas?"

Daring walked around the ponies, then stood beside Ancient Knowledge. She took a deep breath, then surveyed the door and the control crystal. "Well, the door's active, so that probably isn't making our job any easier," she commented. "As for getting through, normally there's a secret passage, or a riddle or something that I'd have to solve, where the answer is fairly obvious. Or sometimes there's a key that you need," she stated.

Ancient winced. "And Twilight is our key..." she said at length in a low tone.

Daring nodded slowly. "And she's on the other side," Daring acknowledged. She pursed her lips. "You'd think she'd notice by now," she commented. She took a deep breath and winced. "Actually, nevermind. Knowing her, she's probably engrossed in studying the projection. And maybe the room. She probably doesn't even realize the door was sealed, or that so much time has passed."

Ancient lifted an eyebrow at Daring. "Really? I've heard she likes to read and study, but is she really that bad that she wouldn't notice that she got locked in?"

Daring remained silent.

Ancient's eyes darted back and forth, studying Daring to see if she was going to offer any more suggestions. Several seconds passed, then she took a deep breath and exhaled. She turned back towards the door and grimaced at it, almost as if hoping her display of disappointment would serve as a key to unlock the door and gain access to the mysteries beyond, along with Twilight. "Plan E?" she asked casually.

"I don't think using explosives would be a good idea. Twilight could get hurt," Daring retorted. She shook her head and cautiously approached the door. She hesitantly lifted a forehoof, then placed it flat against the metal alloy. The door was cold to the touch, and the coolness lingered and seeped into her hoof. She took a deep breath and let her hoof fall back to the floor. "Okay, so this door is sealed, and we know that it's active," she acknowledged. She turned and walked over to the control crystal and studied it. Every second that passed while she continued to study the crystal left her feeling more dread than the last. "I don't like this..." she said under her breath.

Ancient tilted her head. "What was that?"

Daring shot Ancient a look. "I said I don't like this," she repeated. She looked back at the crystal. "What would happen if we removed the crystal?" she asked.

Ancient blinked once, then stared at the door. A few seconds passed before she answered, "I'm not sure." She licked her lips and walked over beside Daring to scrutinize the crystal. She lit her horn and enveloped the crystal in her magic. 'Okay... this seems to be identical to the rest of the crystals. I can't make anything out.' She pursed her lips and cautiously tugged on the crystal, wary of any negative reactions it could produce. Her worries were unfounded, as the gentle tug changed nothing- the crystal was still in place, and glowing with an inner red light. She looked over at the unicorns. "Give me a hoof with this, will ya'?" she asked. The three resting unicorns stepped towards her, lighting their horns and enveloping the crystal in their magic. She looked back at the crystal and focused more of her magic on it.

The four unicorns grunted with strain as they pulled on the crystal. "It won't come out..." one of the unicorns muttered. The crystal remained firmly in place, as if their magic was nothing but a light summer's breeze, barely affecting it, almost seeming to not even touch it.

"It can't be that hard..." Daring muttered. She stepped over to the crystal and grabbed it with her hooves. She took a deep breath, then braced herself and gave the crystal a tug with all her might, throwing her weight away from it in an attempt to dislodge it. Her forelegs ached and she grunted from the strain, but the crystal didn't budge. She grimaced and pulled it more.

"Okay, so these crystals won't come out if they're active?" Ancient asked, dimming her horn. After a few seconds, the three other unicorns' horns dimmed.

Daring reluctantly stepped back from the crystal. "That could be the case, but it also makes sense that it could be a security measure. We managed to get inert crystals out... I don't think anypony has tried to get one of the crystals with the blue glow out."

"A security measure?" Ancient winced. "Well... that's... understandable..." she said reluctantly. She shifted her weight and scrutinized the door from top to bottom, along the nigh-invisible split where the two plates met. "So Twilight's locked on the other side..." she mused. After a few seconds, her brow creased into a frown. "Okay, if we're assuming that this... the red glow... is supposed to represent some kind of lockdown or something... a security measure... what triggered it? Would Twilight have accidentally triggered it without knowing?"

Daring grimaced. "I guess she could have, but I still really don't like this..." she trailed off, ruffling her wings.

"Any ideas?" Ancient asked.

"Any idea what would happen if you destroyed the crystal..?" Daring asked hesitantly. After a few seconds of silence, she looked over at Ancient, who had pursed her lips and was wearing a look of deep thought, her eyes staring at the crystal.

Ancient blinked every few seconds, then eventually nodded a slow, calculated nod. "Judging from what we've encountered so far, destroying the crystal shouldn't make it explode or cause anything bad to happen... but I have no idea if it would unseal the door. It shouldn't cause a catastrophic release of magic since the crystals don't have that much magic in them."

"It could cause more problems, though, Professor," one of the unicorns commented. "What if destroying the crystal forces the door to be permanently sealed?"

Ancient winced sharply at the prospect. "Right... that would be a problem..." she said under her breath. She looked around, then inhaled deeply. "Okay. We'll try to destroy the crystal. If that doesn't get us anywhere, then we'll resort to Plane E."

"How do you plan to destroy the crystal..?" Daring asked hesitantly, slowly averting her gaze from the door to look at Ancient.

The unicorn smiled. "Plan E," she stated casually.

Daring snorted and glared at her. "Right."

Ancient ignored her and turned to the unicorns accompanying her. "Alright, let's get the DET charges set up. We'll start with one charge, then work our way up," she ordered.

The three unicorns turned and briskly trotted back down the hallway. Ancient watched them for a few seconds, then glanced back at Daring. She watched the pegasus for a few seconds, then turned her attention to the door and the crystal. "So many mysteries..." she mused.

"Professor, what if we tried to use that alicorn's skeleton to open the door?" one of the earth ponies suggested.

Ancient pursed her lips and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"So far, the structure responds to alicorns, and that is an alicorn... just one who has been dead for... well, a while," he commented. "Perhaps the structure wouldn't recognize that the alicorn is dead, and maybe using her hoof would help us unlock the door?"

Ancient grimaced. "It's a possibility, but it's unlikely. I doubt this society would make an oversight like that. Doing that could also damage her, which would be bad."

"Sorry..." he trailed off.

Ancient shook her head. "No, it's fine. It was a good thought," she offered.

"Well." Daring shuffled over to the left wall, then sat down on her haunches to wait. "Problems at every turn..." she muttered. "The hard part is supposed to be getting out of these ruins. Well, relatively hard. The important rooms are supposed to be hard to get into. Most of the time, whenever I'm trying to get out of the ruins, I'm racing against time and whoever else is trying to get the artifacts."

Ancient casually walked over to Daring, then sat down on her haunches. "It's a nice change of pace, isn't it?"

Daring tilted her head and thought about it for several seconds. She blinked, then looked at Ancient. "No. Not really," she answered flatly. "I miss the adventure... instead of constantly feeling that something is wrong, just feeling the thrill of knowing what's wrong and racing against time to succeed."

"The adrenaline?" Ancient asked.

"Yeah," Daring replied.

Hasty hoofsteps echoed down the hallway. The pair stood back up and watched the three unicorns return, two wooden crates in tow. The unicorns paid them no mind, but slowed down as they neared their destination. "Alright, set them down away from where we're going to be using them," the lead unicorn ordered. "I do not want any chain reactions..." he muttered.

The two other unicorns obliged and set the two crates down against the left wall, a solid twenty feet away from the door, and out of range of the blast. The unicorn with the closest crate cracked it open, then carefully levitated out a small, rectangular brick covered in brown paper. All of the bricks inside the crate were facing up, and were marked DET Charge. He walked over to the crystal, then placed it against the wall and pressed it into place with his forehoof. He turned and hurried back to the crates.

The other unicorn cracked open his crate, then levitated out a smaller black square with two metal rods sticking out of one side. On top of the square, there was a silver-gray ring which could be turned, that had a notch pointing straight up. Around the ring, there were numbers listed in increments of five, going from zero to nine-hundred. In the center of the ring, and separate from it so it would not turn, was a small green crystal.

The unicorn casually walked over to the block placed against the gem and levitated the controller down closer to the brick. He carefully pierced the paper with the prongs, then slid the prongs all the way into the soft block until the square was flat against it.

The first unicorn cleared his throat to draw attention to himself. "Alright, everypony, clear the-"

The red glow of the crystal faded back to magenta, and there was a soft chime which broke the tense atmosphere. The door slid apart with ease as if it had never been sealed in the first place, drawing everypony's attention to the room beyond. The room was lit with a soft magenta glow, akin to Twilight's aura, and the projection in the center of the room, instead of being of Equis, was now a large projection of Twilight's cutie mark. The projection had an almost ethereal quality to it, looking almost as if it were real and three dimensional, while still maintaining a quality of being composed of magic and shimmering.

Twilight was lying on the floor at the base of the pillar jotting up from the center of the room.

"Twilight!" Daring called. She broke out into a gallop and darted into the room, then came to a stop beside Twilight and hastily surveyed her body. The alicorn appeared unharmed. Daring placed a hoof on Twilight's neck to feel her pulse.

Ancient and the rest of the ponies filled the room, and Ancient's gaze constantly shifted between Twilight and the projection. "This is what you found..?" she asked hesitantly. She blinked and turned her gaze to Twilight. "Is-"

"She's unconscious..." Daring muttered. She glanced up at Ancient, then looked at the projection. She grimaced and felt a cold shiver race down her spine, despite the projection's majesty. "That... wasn't like that before... it was a projection of Equis... it... was modern day Equis.".

"What?" Ancient asked. She looked at Daring and squinted. "But that's impossible. This structure is ten thousand years old, they wouldn't be able to know what Equis looks like today."

Daring nodded. "Yeah, yet somehow they did know," she replied. She squinted down at Twilight as something silvery-gray caught her eye. "What's this?" she asked. Ancient looked back at Twilight as Daring brushed Twilight's mane aside with her forehoof, revealing what appeared to be a regalia secured to her neck and gently resting on her chest. The metal was smooth and cool to the touch, and it gently sloped around Twilight's neck. "This looks like Princess Luna's regalia..." she muttered. She squinted, then ducked down to look at the center of the regalia. Instead of a polished white stone shaped like a crescent moon, there was a single six-pointed star set in the center, made out of a vibrant pink crystal.

Ancient frowned and walked around to the other side of Twilight to get a better look. "She didn't have that when she went inside," she stated. She scrutinized the smooth metal embracing Twilight's neck. "It looks like it's made out of the same material the rest of this structure is," she commented. "And the crystal... her cutie mark..."

Daring ignored her. "Twilight?" she asked softly. She shook the alicorn's shoulder with her forehoof. After a few seconds, Twilight's brow creased, and she groaned softly.

After a few more seconds, Twilight blinked open her eyes, then winced. "Oooooh... that hurts..." she groaned, closing her eyes shut again.

"Are you okay?" Daring asked quickly.

Twilight took a deep breath, then slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, groaning. "Yeah... I think so... Ugh... do either of you have any painkillers? This headache is worse than the time when I first met Pinkie Pie..." she groaned.

Ancient glanced at one of the unicorns. "Go get Princess Twilight some water and medicine," she ordered. The unicorn nodded, then took off at a brisk trot.

Twilight blinked open her eyes, then frowned as she looked around. "What... happened?" she asked.

Daring and Ancient shared a grimace. "We were hoping you could tell us," Daring stated. "I left to go get the Professor, then when we came back, the door was sealed shut, and the crystal was glowing red."

Twilight's frown deepened. "I... remember that after you left, the crystal glowed red... I think the lighting flashed red, too. And the projection..." she trailed off as her eyes turned to the projection. She studied her cutie mark. "That... I don't remember that happening..." she muttered. She slowly stood up and continued scrutinizing the projection.

"We tried to get the door open, but we couldn't. We tried to get the crystal out of the socket, thinking it'd unseal the door, but it wouldn't budge," Ancient stated. "We were about to use DET charges on the crystal when the light changed back to the same shade as your aura, and the door opened."

"Any idea what happened?" Daring asked.

Twilight slowly shook her head. "No... I don't remember." She blinked once, then looked down at her chest. "What..?" she asked, her eyes tracing the outline of the new regalia upon her chest. She lifted her right forehoof and touched it.

"We found you like that," Ancient acknowledged.

Twilight nodded slowly. "So... any idea what it is?"

"Well, it looks like a regalia," Daring stated.

Twilight nodded slowly again. "Yes, I can tell that much..." she trailed off. "Why is it on me? And where did it come from..?" Neither Daring nor Ancient answered her question. After a few seconds, she blinked, then looked back up at the projection of her cutie mark. She frowned.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Ancient asked.

Twilight glanced down at the floor, and her eyes darted back and forth, skipping across the metal as she thought about it. "The projection flashed red," she stated. "The projection was of modern-day Equis."

"That's what Daring said," Ancient mused. She grimaced. "I wish I could have seen that..." she sighed.

Twilight pursed her lips.

"Princess?" a unicorn asked. Twilight turned to him. "Water and medicine," he stated, levitating over two small white tablets and a canteen of water.

Twilight nodded once, then took both in her magic. She downed the pills and took a large drink before levitating the canteen back to the unicorn. "Thank you," she said. The unicorn nodded, then turned to leave. Twilight watched him for a moment, then went back to studying the projection. She took a deep breath, then squinted and tilted her head a little. "What now..?" she asked.

"Well... we should probably go get you checked out by a medic and make sure you're alright," Ancient replied. "And examine that regalia... I'll have someone keep an eye on the room and try to figure out what happened."

Twilight nodded slowly, then turned around and started towards the door. Ancient and Daring wait for a moment before joining her, leaving the rest of the ponies to get things taken care of.

They walked in silence towards where the hallways met. As they passed by the alicorn skeleton, Twilight's eyes lingered on it, along with the pony examining her remains. Twilight grimaced and looked at the floor a few seconds later, sighing softly.

"You okay?" Ancient asked.

Twilight nodded calmly. "Yeah, just... I'm not used to seeing that," she stated. She shook her head a little, then looked back ahead. They walked through the intersection, then headed towards the exit. Twilight eyed the cracking statue, and her grimace returned. She shivered as she looked at the alicorn statue's eyes, but she shrugged it off and continued along. She shielded her eyes from the sun as they exited the structure, and she exhaled sharply as the heat from outside sapped the coolness of her body.

Author's Note:

I am so sorry that this took so long to get out. I just... life got busy, and... I got demotivated, and writing turned into a "need" instead of a want... I had written a large part of this chapter, then realized it wasn't what I wanted, and so I rewrote it...

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[SC_Orion]

8572406
That is a good question. In chapter 1, I envisioned Ancient Knowledge with an Australian accent. That has since changed, and now I have no idea.

[Sir Budginton]

Good thing they didn't decide to use plan E a minute earlier because plan E activating just as the door opened would lead to some big problems.