Twilight Daylight: Psera, The Legend of Legends

by thedarktome

Chapter 39 - Dawn's Beginning

ACT II

Purple eyes were narrowed. Trained on their highly desired target. The competition was fierce today. The air was thick, the numbers were large. This was the test. The biggest test to make herself even more desirable. Even more smart, even more brilliant. The other ponies didn't stand a chance. Not in this environment.

The walls in this large room were bland and full of historical figures, lacking in any distractions worth staring at. The desks were packed with students pouring through their textbooks as if they were an hour late for work. The carpeted floor was nowhere soundless with nervously tapping hooves. Buzzing wings. Anxious jitters. But the question was already answered.

Princess Fresh Dawn raised her hoof and got those dark and hard gray eyes of her history teacher. An older Pseratep mare by the name of Mrs. Manuar. She had an off-white coat with a curly gray mane and tail, and nine foot wings. She sighed from her desk in the corner by a closed window with an impending thought. "Yes, Dawn?"

Dawn scooped her book up with the pages opened to a specific one so the rest of these high schoolers could see and answered proudly, "Her Majesty Molten Ice. Year twelve fifty-six. She changed the currency from Decimetals to Shims."

"Correct."

The entire class groaned and shot their glares to fifteen year old Princess Dawn sitting in the middle of the room. Smack dab in the middle of all of them. Even though she was small, her mind was sharp. She was the smallest in the class, but the smartest in the school. A smart Alec that uses her royal status to her advantage. Hey if you have it, you may as well use it, right? But no one could help but love her. Thus the reason her wings were average length for a Pseratep. Nine feet.

Dawn grinned and relished in her glory by kicking hoofshoes up on the desk, leaning her head back and sighing in happiness. Another assignment conquered. What does that make, twelve today?

"Hey Princess!" Dawn tilted her head to the side and eyed the only pony in this room that could actually manage to irk her in a friendly way. Kia. Kia Torue. She found out her last name when they were in Grade School together and had been using it to her advantage to have the upper hand ever since. And as the only pony in the country with "a tattoo on her butt," Kia has been using that in return.

"Let some of us get our grades up okay?" Kia ordered.

Dawn stifled a snicker and looked back to the ceiling while the teacher cut the lights for some reason. "It's not my fault you're failing," she replied

"You're asking for it, tattoo butt."

Mrs. Manuar shot her infamous glare to Kia while she pushed a LiVAM sitting on top of a cart to the front of the room. "Watch it, Kia. Okay, class." She stopped her procession in front of the room and turned on the LiVAM with a smile. That smile. The smile that made all the ponies in the room groan. There was something she was going to enjoy teaching, which would mean the next few minutes would be nothing but more learning.

"Oh stop, you'll enjoy this," Mrs. Manuar promised.

The dark brown standard-sized stallion on the far left calmly said, "You said that about Psera's military last week." He looked behind him and locked eyes with Fresh Dawn who giggled at his response. Leave it to Dark Dust to make something slightly more interesting.

Then Kia poked her head into their line of sight with yellow eyes gazing into Dark's. "Hey," she growled. Then pointed to the screen and said, "Eyes up there, not back here." And leave it to Kia to ruin it. Dawn wouldn't trade her two best friends for anything.

"Kia!" Mrs. Manuar scolded. Then switched back to her happy personality and tapped on the LiVAM's side while she spoke. Apart from the screen, the only light seeping into the room was from the little window in the entry door letting in the light from the hallway. Basking her in a warm glow. "Today we are going to learn about the greatest ruler Psera has ever had sit on the throne."

Oh boy, here we go. Again. Dawn sighed and leaned on her hoof with an unamused expression. "We get it," she deadpanned. "Mom was awesome, can we learn about something else?"

"No, and you definitely have to listen, Princess. Because there are a few things even you don't know about your mother that are just now being released to the public."

Well this just got really interesting. Dawn shared a glance with Kia and Dusty while the teacher set everything up and explained further. "Many years ago, Queen Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle did an interview when she was first Crowned behind closed doors. No one in the public knew about it, because the interview was never released. She said a few things on that Camera that actually had Psera a little scared when it was first released. You'll see why."

The white screen turned black for a second. Then a timer counted down from three to one. And finally Queen Arcadia was plastered on the screen. Looking at something that wasn't the camera. But her eyes were still visible and lively. The background was completely black and lights were shining down on her from above and behind the scenes.

Mrs. Manuar flopped down into her seat and said, "This was when she first became Queen. In the first year."

The video played and the camera cut to a mare in a yellow coat sitting behind the main camera. "Good afternoon, everyone," she greeted. Although it wasn't in Ponish, it sounded exactly like it to Fresh Dawn. "The time is now two twenty-six, date o'two one nine one nine. This video will be produced for archived purposes. Joining us today is Queen Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle, Saviour of Psera. Thank you for allowing us to sit down with you, your highness. I'm certain you have such a busy schedule at the moment." Dawn always wondered why they put mom on such a high pedestal like they did. And why she never told them to calm it down. It would've driven her mad by this point.

Queen Arcadia grinned proudly and waved her hoof. "No problem," she replied. "I'm always happy to indulge knowledge. I was always rendered as a sort of teacher back in Equestria so this gives me time to go back to those days."

"This interview is to allow the courts of Psera to know what they don't already know about you. You signed a confidential release to keep this away from the public unless in the event you are presumed deceased after a minimum of ten years. Do you agree to these terms?"

Dawn swallowed hard to push down those old feelings of pain and loss. She doesn't remember much of mom since it her disappearance so long ago, but she did remember it hurt. A lot. She'd do anything to get her mother back, despite knowing next to nothing about her.

Queen Arcadia nodded and answered, "I do."

"Then let's get started. First question. Psera knows you can do magic. And the ponies from overseas know that as well. As a matter of fact, they refer to you as the number one top mage in all of Equestria, and possibly beyond. Your magic is believed to be pure, but the Government knows for a fact that nothing is pure. Is this true?"

"That some magic is unpure? Yes. Is my magic unpure? Depends on what kind of magic we're talking about. In order to create a perfect spell, you have to make mistakes. It's inevitable. You will always mess up on the first try with unwanted consequences. And messing up with magic causes the opposite of what you want to happen. Levitation you can never go wrong with. But simple things such as teleporting can be messy if not casted correctly If I were to miss my target, I'd probably teleport inside of a wall. Then no more Twilight."

Fresh Dawn winced then turned to Kia when she poked her. "Can you teleport?" She whispered.

Dawn shook her head and focused once more on the screen. She only knew how to hold things in her magic, and she was seriously weak in that aspect. Nothing else. They never found Mom's spellbooks. And dad wouldn't let her step a hoof into mom's office. No one has. It's been abandoned for years. There was no telling what lied beyond those violet doors.

The host nodded to Twilight's answer and assumed, "So you know different kinds of magic."

Twilight answered, "Well... Yes. There's the peaceful kind, and there's the destructive kind you accidentally create."

"What is this destructive kind called? Does it have a term?"

"Dark Magic. It's commonly used in attempts to perform necromancy—" Necromancy?! As in bringing the dead back to life?! Dawn gasped unheard. "To take over the living soul, to... to hurt and cause degradation. Basically to create unnatural occurences. The only pony I know who has ever been able to get a hoof in to learn and successfully use it would be King Sombra from Equestrian history, and my magic seems to be much more than above him. The tyrant ruled over the Crystal Empire thousands of years prior my existence.

"He used Dark Magic to enslave all of his citizens against their will and used them to try and take over Equestria. A big battle broke out between him and the Princesses, as well as their soldiers. Sombra lost, but he didn't go down without a final shot. He cursed The Crystal Empire to an eternal winter of snow, wind, and ice. Now the only way to keep the land alive and not under ice is to use the Crystal Heart. Forever."

Whoa. Now that was something Dawn did not need to hear. Her eyes were glossed over on the interview and mouth slightly agape in disbelief. "Magic has a dark side?" She whispered. Mostly to herself, but Kia picked it up.

The interviewer nodded as if it were the most normal thing in the world. No matter how out of the world it sounded to a Pseratep's ears. She took a breath in and asked, "Now do you know any Dark Magic, your highness?"

"Yes I do. When you make a mistake in magic that does the opposite of your goal, that is Dark Magic. Unlike most ponies at the age of when I started doing magic, twelve..." Dawn bit her lips and shut her eyes when everyone else's turned to her. Jeez, she wasn't her mother! "I messed up a lot. I made a lot of mistakes. So I would write down what I did wrong to study how I could improve. I noted down the cause. And the effect. And I still have those notes today, although hidden."

"That's good to hear. Next question, and this may or may not be a little personal. But what were you doing before all of this? Before the fighting, defending, and being summoned to defend with other ponies?"

Twilight grinned happily and sighed. Her intelligent mind delved back into her memories. "I was a librarian. A simple librarian. A bookworm, a 'nerd', I was always into books and knowledge. I loved my job there and I miss it sometimes if I were to be honest. But my skills were needed elsewhere."

"Your homework..." The teacher's voice broke them away from their interview and over to her. "Is to find out as many facts about Queen Arcadia as you possibly can for tomorrow. Class dismissed." The bell rang at exactly the same time the video ended with a government issued number.

But Dawn stayed in her seat. With her eyes glued to the LiVAM. How did she not know about any of this? That magic held a dark side? She knew so little about her roots and the power they held.

A nudge to her head broke her out of her trance. Kia was staring down to her unamused with her bags hanging from her wing. "C'mon, your royal shortness," she teased. "Let's get out of here."

---

A flight back home was what was needed to clear the mind. The heat of Psera beat against Dawn's coat as well as her friends'. The guards were used to them. The blue skies of Cop were aflutter with the wings of Pserateps. The overlapping bridges busy with Pods, and the buildings occupied by the thousands of Pserateps inhabiting the massive city-state.

They flew over the CPC memorial where thousands of names were engraved on a massive marble waterfall. In honor of the building itself, the water would change colors during the night in a spectrum of beauty. A little under a mile away sat the Castle of the Gods. The home of Princesses Fresh Dawn, Lightning Fire, and Daisy Fire. The latter two could never get along with her sister. As a matter of fact one could hear them running after each other through the halls.

The Castle of the Gods' main doors burst open and Princess Dawn rushed inside from the blazing heat with Dark Dust, Kia, and Lightning and Daisy Fire. The glossy floors of the castle were busy once more with ponies doing their thing. Whether it was carrying items from one area to another, sending documents to a pony in charge, or going to the court King Madun held with the nation, it was always active.

Lightning and Daisy were once again at war to decide who was right about something that the other three didn't care about. And out of all of them, Dawn was the smallest. Whereas the others were reaching the height of their parents, Dawn was at half the height of Princess Merry. Deemed the smallest pony in the castle now, although the second oldest out of all of them behind Kia.

Dawn led her friends across the large foyer for an elevator nearby and pressed the only button next to it. Then turned to Dusty and asked amongst the noise, "So how are we going to get this assignment done?"

Before he could give a suggestion, Kia wrapped a hoof around his neck and shot her cockiest smile down to her. "Easy. We'll just raid your room. I'm sure there are all kinds of creepy momma dolls in there or... Or some other weird mom things."

Dawn rolled her eyes and faced the elevator doors again when they slid open. "What is it with you and my room?" She grumbled. Then trotted in first followed by her friends. Daisy and Lightning were still going strong about... Whatever.

"I wanna go in it at least," Kia pleaded. "C'mon, Dawny, we've been friends forever, let me in your room!" She gave Dawn the best puppy dog look she could manage. Wide yellow eyes, big ol' pouting lip. That'll surely get her.

Dawn pressed the button for the third floor and deadpanned, "No, Kia. My room's off limits, you know this." The elevator quickly ascended with a hum while the twins continued arguing. It seemed to be winding down since they were hugging it out now. Whatever it was couldn't have been worse than yesterday. They argue at least once each day. At least.

There was a line on this red carpet leading to the left up to the throne room when the doors slid open. Ponies waiting with their complaints and demands. Dawn stepped out first and waved a hoof to all the ponies she passed.

"Dad's busy today," she muttered.

Dusty nodded and said in his average stallion voice, "Well he's the king, I should hope he was busy. How about asking him about... You know... The room?"

The room? Dawn glanced up to him and clarified, "Mom's office? He'll say no."

"Ahh, but this time it is for education," Dusty reasoned. "We need that material. I'm plenty sure there's a bunch of stuff your mom has in there that no one else can see but you."

Dawn turned a left down the narrow hallway leading to the back of the throne room and sighed while thinking. That possibly may get them in. Dad was always on her case about getting educational material done. And this was for a grade. "Well... I can try, but I can't guarantee anything," she reasoned. "So don't get your hopes up."

The rest of the trip was spent in silence. The guards standing at the rear entrance to the throne room pulled the doors open for her and only her. Her friends and cousins weren't allowed unless their parents were with them or they had business. Other than that, the gold plated doors were closed behind Dawn and Dawn only.

She always enjoyed staring up at the ceiling. The paintings above were mesmerizing. They always made live images play in her mind. The action of the soldiers that Dusty wanted to be. The Queens that Dawn wanted to be with. The change she wanted to bring.

Then she bumped into the table holding Secretary Gardeen that knocked her back into reality. She was always distracted looking up to the ceiling daydreaming. And Gardeen was prepared by supplying the edge of her table with a cushioning so her papers wouldn't fall.

Gardeen's eyes trained down to look into Fresh Dawn's eyes. Her marriage necklace shimmered from the lights with light blue eyes full of happiness that made Dawn smile too. "Good afternoon, Princess," she greeted.

Dawn rolled her eyes and warned, "Gardeen..." She didn't like being called Princess by the ponies she considered family. It was just... Wrong. Gardeen was her sister, for her to call her anything but her name was just... Strange.

And Gardeen knew that. She chortled and affirmed, "You know I'm playing with you. Hey, your father's exhausted, why not go cheer him up."

Dawn looked past Gardeen towards King Madun on one of the four thrones up there. He hadn't changed much over these past years. He had gotten rid of that Goatee and decided to stick to being bear-faced. He maintain his garden like he maintained his figure. No one was messing with his little girl.

Dawn smiled and skipped up the stairs to her own throne. She had to make this quick before another pony walked in. That was a long line out there. She poked her father's right hoof and greeted, "Hey, daddy!"

He looked over and delivered his own small smile. She continued to grow like her mother. No matter how small and premature she was. He leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Hey, Sugar Plum! How was school?"

She groaned like it was no big deal, "Ugggh, I stole more points."

"That's my girl. You can't be Queen with bad grades."

"And the teacher wants us to research Queen Arcadia."

"Well that may be a slight challenge." He hummed and observed the paper he was looking at. This issue needed a solution as soon as possible.

Dawn's hoof pointed to one area about sales and said, "Raise this." Then to the interest below it. "Lower that. It will increase demand by a small but noticeable percentage and the current economy won't even fluctuate."

Smart like her mother. He smiled and silently chuckled. "Leave it to you to figure this out before your old man does. Alright, what do you want?" Before Dawn could deny her wanting anything, Madun raised his hoof and said, "Dawn, I know my daughter. The only reason you come in here in the afternoon is if you want something. Other than that, you're at home eating all the junk food you can find before I can get to it. What is it?"

Dawn rolled her eyes and decided to throw caution to the wind. "We really need mom's office for this assignment, dad," she quickly answered. "There has to be something in there we can use. Anything."

Madun sighed and looked back to the doors of the throne room. Then at the throne Dawn was sitting on. It was Twilight's but she likes to sit on it from time to time. He bit his lip then acquiesced. "Fine."

"...really?" Dawn flicked her ears just to make sure she wasn't hearing things. "We can go in? Just like that?"

"Put everything back where you found it. Your mother has a very specific order. She goes nuts about it if they're missorted." Dawn darted forward and wrapped her hooves around her father's neck in a hug that he returned. They hugged everyday, but this was one of those times when it meant way more than love. It meant trust too.

"Thanks, daddy!" She let him go and darted off the throne, then soared around out of sight.

The rear entrance doors burst open and she said, "Let's go!"

Kia jumped out of the chair she was lounging in onto her hooves and repeated, "It's a go? For the room?"

"Yeah, come on!" Dawn started the walk ahead of her friends back the way they came while they tried to keep up. She may be small, but she was certainly fast. The walk to Queen Arcadia Nova's room wasn't too far. As a matter of fact, it was literally right around the corner. On their left into this peaceful hall that led them towards the back of the Throne Room.

The red floors under their hooves muffled Dawn's anxious hoofsteps. The hoofsteps of her friends catching up to her. The halls over were clear. Completely clear of any form of conscious life. There was nothing but decorations and pictures. It was entirely abandoned deeper in by the time they reached those looming purple doors that have piqued Dawn's curiosity for some time. For years. What lied beyond them?

Dust stopped beside her and stared with the rest of his friends. "What do you think we'll find?" He whispered.

She didn't have an answer. Why guess when the facts were beyond these doors? Dawn lifted a hoof and gripped the handle on the right one. She pulled it open to reveal the wonders inside.

The doors emitted a deep groan of age that echoed around this hall and whatever lied beyond it. A garden. Dawn took a step into what would be an excellent rendition of her own home in the castle if there were two floors. But there was only one here. And just the two doors up ahead accentuated in purple surrounded by brown bland walls.

A random source of light above lit up their environment from the darkness. A faint glow of life in this space of utter peace. Talking loud seemed to be a taboo in this space.

"A chandelier," Daisy squeaked. She focused on the source of splashing water. A tiny park lied, big enough to house a single Pseratep. But it obviously wasn't for an adult. There was a swing set, a wooden bench, a small stream of water flowing in and out of a source she couldn't see. And a single wooden sign painted in purple reading in Old Pseratopian "Dawn's Playground."

Kia gasped and trotted right over fawning in glee. "Aww, you had a little playground in here? That is so cute~!" She gave the swing set a little nudge. The seat squeaked back and forth with age, painting stars in Kia's eyes.

She was so easily distracted. Dawn wrapped Kia in a wing and guided her over to the doors at the end Dusty and the Twins were waiting at. The office of her mother. The one place she was always seen at. If you couldn't find her anywhere else, you could find her here. At least when she was around.

Dawn wasted no time. She grabbed the handles of the doors and yanked them open. A bright light forced her to squint and cover them briefly. She was all for learning new things, but being blind shouldn't be involved. They walked onto a surface much softer than what was in the entire castle. She couldn't tell what, but this room was a lot more inviting. As if she were outside. Was she? It sure felt like it. She had to know and there was only one way to find out. So she lowered her hoof, opened her eyes, and gasped in wonder.

A forest. Well more like an elegant clearing. The "floor" was soft grass. It was bright, green, and full of life. The warmth was a floating and rotating sun above them providing the heat they felt on their coats. There was another stream coming from underneath the many bookshelves covered in decorative vines in the room. Towering over them up to the ceiling blocked from sight. On both sides of the bookcase behind Twilight's desk were windows made of magic. Dawn couldn't remember a time she's seen magic like that.

The desk Twilight sat behind still had the pictures and a notebook set directly in the middle. In front of the desk were two mushrooms. Very big mushrooms that Daisy and Lightning ran to and jumped on. Up, down, up, down. Daisy grinned at Fresh Dawn's nonchalant face before she was grabbed in magic, and lowered back to the grass. Same for her twin.

Dawn walked forward for the edge of her mother's desk and said, "Try not to break anything, you two. This is all mom's stuff."

While they investigated the room, Dusty stood still with an open jaw to the sun twirling above. It was moving. On its own!

"How did she do that?!" He exclaimed. Dusty looked to Dawn and jabbed his hoof to it. "How is that even possible?!"

In the chair behind the desk, Dawn kept her eyes on a picture and shrugged. "I dunno, magic?" She guessed. That was the most obvious choice. She tenderly picked up the picture. The only picture up here of their family. It was of her, daddy, and her mother. Twilight Sparkle. She knew enough about her mother to know that she was a foreigner. A foreigner that gave birth to her. According to her father, she really loved Dawn.

She wished she knew how much.

Dawn set the picture frame back down and started searching just like the rest of her friends. This library wasn't going to search itself. "Dusty, pick your jaw up off the floor! Let's do this!"

Two Hours Later

Dawn placed the final book she could find on history to the right corner of her mother's desk. Was this what being a Queen was like? She was already exhausted, there was no way she could do this! Dawn dropped her face down on the hard wood and groaned, "I'm doomed."

Dusty's laughter pushed her head back up to look to the right side of the room. He as well as the others were scanning the shelves there since the left side was completely done for.

He smiled at her and brushed his head of brown hair back from in front of his face. "Aw, come on Dawn. You just did one side, let's do this one now." He placed his hoof on a book, but kept his eyes on Dawn. "Just a few more then—ow!!" He jumped back after an electrical spark snapped at his hoof that they all witnessed. "Jeez, all this dust."

Kia walked over to him and deadpanned, "Surprisingly, there is no dust in here, idiot. You probably touched a live wire or something. Let me see your hoof, dummy."

While she investigated Dark's hoof, Fresh Dawn rose up out her seat and walked over to where he was with the twins to check it out. It didn't look too bad, like a small first degree burn. Like he dragged his hoof against rubber. But it was still... Strange. That was a mighty strong electrical discharge for a room like this.

She looked up from his hoof to his eyes and asked, "What book did you touch?"

He pointed to the one ominously titled "The Sanctuary" in Old Pseratopian on the spine. It was a light brown one that had definitely seen better days. But didn't look too bad for its actual age. Dawn approached it and laid her hoof on it herself. Based off of what she saw, that was some magical security thing Queen Arcadia innovated. That's what it looked like to her anyway. She had a feeling it was for something else. Something no one had ever seen.

Kia grumbled, "Now if this idiot got burned because he touched it, why would you do it too?"

Dawn didn't answer. At least not yet. Not until the book glowed with magic. Then the whole bookcase shimmered with a low hum.

They jumped back out of surprise before the bookcase slowly swiveled outwards like a door, creaking with weight. Once it was at a full ninety degree angle, the case stopped moving and revealed something else. Behind this bookcase was a steel room. Gray, silent, and empty.

Dawn and her friends decided to stay out and stare. Stare at the hidden room behind the bookshelf. After a butterfly landed on Dawn's head, Kia whispered, "Dude... What the buck did you just do?"

She shook her head and stammered, "I-I don't know, I just touched it! And it... What is this, some kind of closet?" Dawn was about to walk in, but Kia grabbed her tail and pulled her back.

"Whoa there, Princess Deodorant!" She let her go and ignored that growl Dawn was shooting her with. "Didn't Daddy ever tell you not to go walking into strange rooms? I'll go first." She didn't wait for a retort. Just walked around Dawn and straight into the room boldly with that head of silver mane held high. Besides steel and a small light above, nothing else was here.

A deep sound below her ceased anymore movement. What was that? She lifted her right hoof and banged it twice. The sound resonated for a few seconds. That wasn't normal. Not in this space. Kia shook her head and turned around to face them.

"This isn't a closet," she informed them. "I don't know what it is, but it's not a closet."

Dawn walked in with her and jumped up. Her hoof shoes clanged on the metal. She heard it too, a resonance below them. A deep one. "There's an empty space underneath." She looked up to Kia and asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm thinking there's something under here."

"Ohhh, let me try!"

"Me too!"

Daisy and Lightning zipped inside and started bouncing around like a bunch of hyperactive foals. Ignorant of Dawn's rising temper. She loved her cousins, she really did. But at times like this the question of whether they were really related popped into her mind.

Dusty walked in next and grabbed Lightning to get her to stop acting out followed by her sister. He sat them down side by side to face him like he was their father and scolded, "You two need to take this seriously. We just found a secret room in Queen Arcadia's office—" The bookcase closing in place from behind cut him off. Leaving them in a small steel box without sunlight. Alone. "That closes on its own."

Runes suddenly glowed on the back of the bookcase they opened. Violet ones that illuminated their bodies in a violet glow before the box dropped weightlessly.

They all screamed and held on to each other. "Help!!!" Dawn yelled. "Help, somebody!!! Kahlee, kahlee!! Aunt Odega!!" Despite her shouting, she didn't hear anyone but their own screams. Why didn't Odega show up, she claims to see everything!!

Kia grabbed Dawn and placed a wing over her to provide protection as much as she could while using her hooves to keep herself stable. Is this what her parents felt? Before they perished in that collapsing building? Falling to their deaths?!

Dawn gripped the necklace her mother gave her glowing at the base of her neck. Red and purple. She was not going to lose this when they crashed because, let's face it, they were!!

Then the box slowed. They all felt it. The moving wall in front of them changed from stone to gold. They knew that color anywhere. It was on the new CPC in downtown Cop. On a few pairs of Dawn's clothes. The color of her school jersey that had been too big for her to wear and had to be resewn by her aunt.

The box slowed more before it came to a complete stop in front of an open hallway lined with gold. Then it was all silent. They didn't move, they barely breathed. They chose only to stare down the hall to the double doors at the end.

"...you wanna get out first?" Kia whispered.

"Nope," Dawn answered. She glanced to the twins huddled behind Dark. "How about you girls?"

"No way," Lightning and Daisy answered at the same time.

That left only one pony. With wide eyes, Dark glanced from them to the hall with wide eyes. Back and forth, back and forth. "Fine," Dark acquiesced. "But only because no one else would do it."

Dark Dust stepped out first and gazed at his surroundings. Just a small hallway made of gold with doors at the end. No big. Everything underground was gold. Which meant only one thing.

"We're underground," Dark whispered. "Underneath the castle. Was your mom some kind of superhero?"

Since it seemed safe, Dawn walked out and timidly answered, "No. My mother was the Queen of Psera." Then looked down the hall past Dust and whispered, "Who has a secret room underneath the castle."

They followed her eyes down the hallway to the looming and mysterious doors at the very end. The golden ones with the worn out crest of Psera at the very top. They could tell just by looking at it that it's been around for centuries. The entire hall was silent. Really, really silent. There was no open space, no wind or air shifting around. Which meant the atmosphere was about as soundless as the rest of them. Almost. Their hectic breathing was accounting for the difference.

Dawn gulped and asked, "Does anyone want to check that out?"

Dark boldly stepped forward and placed a hoof to his chest. Muzzle to the ceiling, his spirit strong, he volunteered himself once more. "I'll do it! I'll open the doors!" Then trotted forward bravely.

Kia shook her head and grumbled, "He's going to get himself killed doing all of that."

"Be nice, Kia."

Dark stopped at the doors and slapped his hooves on the handles firmly. Then pulled. But they didn't budge. He did it again. The same result. He blinked at the handles once. Then two more times before he turned and reported, "Yeah, the doors are locked."

Seriously? All of that for no reason? Dawn didn't believe it. She walked past Kia's suddenly defensive attitude and past Dark for the doors. Then grabbed the handles and pulled the doors wide open. Wait...

All eyes looked to Dark who merely shrugged and said, "Hey, it didn't work for me."

Dawn only smiled and patted his chest in a response. Then while she was walking into that atmosphere, Kia shook her head at him and followed after with the twins.

When Dawn stepped hoof first into the space beyond the doors, she was greeted with a cold darkness. A really cold darkness. She shivered and looked around her for a light switch. "What are we—"

"Gah!" Dawn jumped and looked up to Kia staring at her in surprise. Which slowly changed into humor.

"Did you just jump, short stuff?"

"No, you scared me. We're in a dark room and you're really loud. Where are we?" She stomped her hoof to check the acoustics of the space. The sound spread out really wide. Even beneath them. This wasn't a room. "Good news, we're in someplace huge. Really huge. Bad news, we're in someplace with no lights."

The second that sentence was complete, large lights above flashed on the far right. Directly on something Dawn gasped at. One of her favorite things in the world.

"Books!" She yelled. She ran across the walkway and observed the bookcase they lied upon during her trek. The vast amount was enough to make her slide to a stop and stare. There had to be over two hundred books in this area alone. And there were more. The ground underneath them was tiled and the books traveled all the way down there. These were huge bookshelves.

More overhead lights cast upon bigger bookcases of books which Dawn later verified weren't books at all. But color coordinated binders. Red ones, blue ones, green ones, white ones, yellow ones, shiny gold ones, reflective silver ones, reflective colored ones all around. Dawn slowly landed when the middle row in front of them turned on too. Highlighting things on the bottom level.

Stainless steel tables. Lamps, notebooks... Dawn jumped over the railing of the walkway and swooped down with her friends. She landed at a running start and slowed to a trot so she could take it all in. Tools, materials, notepads, beakers, refrigerators...

"This is a lab," Dawn silently reported. She wiped dust off a binder that was left out. "'BG Test Twenty One.' This place used to be operational."

The overhead lights continued switching on like large beacons. Everything was covered with dust as far as they could see. But it was easily fixed with a swipe of a wing. Then the lights flashed on the biggest device they had ever seen. It towered over their gaping mouths. The lights reflected off its golden surface and the long machine attached beneath.

"Holy Psera," Kia whispered. She walked closer and asked, "Is that what I think it is?"

Dawn couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was just too big, you couldn't miss it. She gulped and whispered, "If you're thinking my mother's Mecrah Portal... Then yeah, I... I Think it is. Guys? We just found the OUT-Port to the Mecrah Portal. On accident."

Author's Note:

Part Two, here we go. Any Questions?

Comments

[XzareAce]

Act 2 is here, and 10-year time skip, I feel twilight is going to be very sad when she finds out she missed out in most of her foals life :(

but this is exciting I can't wait for the next chapter

[ValNitak Choas]

update yea, and dam twilight smart make it so only her magic and her daughter magic could open the way,
next they find some kind of hologram computer with twilight mindset that wake up and teach dawn magic,

[ValNitak Choas]

update yea, and dam twilight smart make it so only her magic and her daughter magic could open the way,
next they find some kind of hologram computer with twilight mindset that wake up and teach dawn magic,

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

So Dawn was... 3-4 years old when Arcadia sacrificed herself to stop Maheera?

Which means she's in her teen years if I'm guessing this correctly.

In other news, seems we might have a way to get Arcadia back home...

[thedarktome]

9852928
5 years old exactly. She disappeared midnight after her birthday.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

9852989
Ah, a bit off on my guess there, but was close enough.

*Gets smacked on the back of the head*

Ow! Not like I can keep track of her age exactly!

[White_Rose]

This all seems familiar. Great threat to the planet. Twilight uses spell of last resort to save planet from said threat. Goes bye bye for 10 years (but could have been a much longer or much shorter time frame) inside of a magic void caused as a consequence of said spell. some of the ideas from Twilight Decade, which I assume you scrapped, if u even remember what I’m talking about. So am I right? Or wrong? Or both?

[thedarktome]

9866020
You're actually correct. I created a post explaining that I was going to implement a few parts of Twilight Decade into this story because Twilight Decade had good ideas. However, Twilight Decade itself had poor planning and the idea had to be scrapped as a consequence.

[Silent_Knight]

10 years of purposely searching trumped by 2 hours of "homework" lol

[thedarktome]

9899018
Lml!!