The Curse of the Statuettes

by Dusk Melody

Prologue - Moonbeam

Starlight shone through the clouds, spilling a pale glow across the Badlands. As she stood amongst the jagged silhouettes of cliffs and crags, a cool breeze fluttered through Moonbeam’s cloak and mane. The unicorn did not move. She had not moved for five minutes. Her eyes were closed, her head raised, the hood of her cloak sliding back over her ears. With a soft fwooshing sound, the crackling of her magic broke the night’s silence as her horn in a shimmering electric blue glow.

“There it is again,” Moonbeam whispered to herself. “The strange magical energy…it’s coming from that cave!” she opened her eyes. Set deep into the base of the Dustmane Ridge, the mouth of the cave loomed before her, and a powerful magical presence pulled her towards it.

A brilliant ray of electric blue light from Moonbeam’s horn pierced the pitch black interior of the cave, casting strange flickering shadows against the rock walls. Illumination did nothing to make the cave look more inviting. Moonbeam felt a flicker of doubt, but quickly dismissed it. “No,” she told herself, “I can’t stop now; not after everything I’ve been through, I have to find the source!” the clopping of her hooves against stone echoed through the cave as she crossed the threshold.

Moonbeam soon lost track of how much time she was spending in the cave. Wandering through countless caverns and passageways, she descended deep beneath the mountains, stopping every few minutes to pick up the trail of the magic so she could track it back to its source. Deeper and deeper she went, passing pools of inky water and thick patches of unfamiliar fungi. She began to find small trinkets and stone artefacts engraved with strange carvings. “These look old, ancient even,” she whispered, again to herself.

Always to herself. It wasn’t like she had any friends to talk to, and nopony ever listened to her anyway.

“Looks like nopony has been here in hundreds of years…” she breathed almost in awe. Moving further along the caverns, her horn lit up once more as she felt the strange magic drawing her near, now more powerful than ever. ‘Soon that power will be mine,’ she thought with glee, ‘then nopony will ignore me ever again!’ her determination bolstered, Moonbeam pressed on into an even deeper cavern.

Suddenly, she gasped and stopped dead in her tracks. Towering before her, built into an impossibly high cavern wall, was a great circular stone door that was carved with intricate patterns. Standing there before it, Moonbeam could almost feel the magical power humming in the air around her and flowing from the ground into her hooves. The door glowed gently as if in greeting when she placed her hand upon its surface.

A grin spread slowly across Moonbeam’s muzzle as she felt the magic pass into her body and her eyes went wide as saucers.

“I’ve found it…”