Caverns & Cutie Marks: Our House Now

by TheColtTrio

Chapter 14: A Tour Through History

Light Patch checked his reflection in the mirror one last time before smiling and saunting out of the bathroom and down the hallways in Canterlot Castle. He approached a door flanked by two guards who were expertly looking bored at pointlessly guarding a room.

With a small tilt of his head towards one of the guards, Light Patch quietly slipped into the room. He casually took a seat across from the only other pony present in the room.

“Thank you for meeting me on such short notice,” Light Patch said, bowing his head towards Celestia, who chuckled.

“I should be thanking you! After all, this is letting me get away from sitting in the Royal Court all this time,” Celestia repiled, still chuckling. “Though I do find it strange for you to ‘just happen’ to be in Canterlot.”

“Well, I figured since I was seeing the sights I’d try to see Canterlot, and maybe have a chance to talk to you and your sister. I tried to see Luna, but she was busy meeting with another. And since I was still in the castle, I figured rather than just heading out and checking out some of the history museums Twilight recommended, I’d see if I could talk to someone who could tell me all of the little stories they don’t have on the plaques.” An impish grin tugged at Celestia’s lips, and she demurely took a sip of tea.

“It’s not every day one so politely calls me an old mare,” Celestia said, her grin blossoming into a full smile as Light Patch floundered.

“Forgive me, I was just trying to-”

“Worry not, Light Patch,” Celestia replied before he could flounder too long. “I was simply teasing you. Yes, I think I can remember a fair amount of history. Is there anything specific you were interested in learning about? Perhaps if you tell me what museums Twilight recommended to you?”

“Ah, well, several of them. She said there was a good nautical focused one, but it’s down in Pearlescent Harbor. I was curious though... Got any interesting stories about powerful artifacts lost to history?”

“I may know of a decent story or two,” Celestia replied with a shrug. “I’d hate to tell you this, but few have been ‘lost to history’. Most have been located thanks to the previous efforts of my sister and I, or one of the many archaeologists I’ve employed throughout the years. Most are now locked in the vaults, or were depowered.”

“Yeah, probably not a good idea to leave items of immense power and capability for anyone to just accidentally kick off a cliff and blow a hole in a continent.”

Celestia took a sip of her tea, hiding her intense study of the pegasus across from her out of her eyes. “Yes, that was a part of it. Also, I’m surprised that Twilight didn’t direct your attention to the Royal Naval Officer’s Research Office here in Canterlot. They keep a small, but quite well curated museum considering this is where they are based.”

“Oh. Well to be fair, she was already starting to compile the list, and I’m not even sure she’d heard me when I’d asked.”

“I’m surprised that it’s not on the list, still. It is actually one of her favorites. They keep a hydraulic scale model of several ports that they allow visitors to see.” The chime that was Celestia’s laughter lit the room. “Ah, sorry. An old memory came back to me.”

Light Patch looked at the princess, trying to figure out if she was baiting him into accidently calling her old again. “You’d be surprised what can drag old memories up.”

“Oh, this one is directly related to the R.N.O.R.O. There was a little song Twilight used to sing when she’d get excited about going there. ‘RNO, RO, row your boat’.” Celestia sang the short snippet before she had to stop again to pause for her laughter once again, joined by the grey pegasus in the room with her.

After a few moments, Light Patch was able to gasp out, “Tell me it’s their unofficial anthem.”

“I don’t think it’s ever been officially acknowledged as such. However, I swear I still sometimes hear ponies humming the tune when I visit.”

“I’ll definitely have to go check it out for myself, then. I love those kinda setups myself,” Light Patch added, making a mental note before seeing the very questioning look he was receiving from Celestia. “Okay, you’ve caught me in a small lie. Twilight is not exactly aware of my location. I decided to let her and her friends deal with everything, and take my time getting to explore your world while I have the chance for myself.” He smiled and tried his own tea as Celestia gave a very unconvinced sounding humm as she joined in the tea drinking.

“You know I am reminded of a story about a sailor from the three tribes era.” Celestia said cautiously.

“I’m all ears.” Light Patch said relaxing back and listening to Celestia as she started the tale.

* * *

Light Patch slowly twisted his head to the side as he looked at the object of his attention, which was a huge white canvas with a single pinprick of black ink. “Trying to figure out if I consider this art, is as frustrating as Celestia’s tight lips concerning artifacts of power,” the stallion muttered, looking around at the rest of the objects in the room.

“Okay, everypony!” called a mare standing in the middle of the room. “I think we’ve all had our fill of the Deconstructionist Art wing of the museum. If you follow me, we’ll get back to some less philosophical grounds.” Light Patch, and most of the other ponies in the room, followed the mare to another room.

“We now find ourselves leaving the room of ‘Questioning the Worth of Your Traditional Arts Degree’.” Light looked at the paintbrush the mare had as a Cutie Mark. “And find ourselves way back in time, before Equestria was formed and before even the princesses.” The group oohed and awe’d as they left the hallway and passed through into a much larger room. “For we find ourselves in the times of the Three Tribe!,” The mare stood on two legs and waved her front legs as a flourish. “This is a time of animosity, wars, and... artists who know how to make actual art,” the mare finished under her breath. She looked around and sighed when she saw a grey coated hoof in the air.

“Any interesting artifacts of terrifying power?” Light Patch asked, earning a glare from the tour guide and a few others.

“Actually, yes.”

“The Elements don’t count.”

The tour guide sent a two-second glare before she restored her happy guide face. “Actually, there are a few artifacts of power besides the Elements,” she replied, seemingly satisfied to put Light Patch in his place for once. “One of which is rumored to be even more powerful and dangerous than the Elements.” The mare pointed towards a large tapestry in the far end of the room. “You can find out all that's known of the artifact from that tapestry.”

“How do we know it’s real, and not just rumors?”

“It’s explained on the information plaque,” the guide said, speaking up to recapture those who’d lost attention, “if you want to know more about that. But for right now, please allow me to take us back to the earliest documents we have.” Light Patch tuned her out as he wandered over towards the tapestry.

He stopped in front of the plaque, and let his eyes track over the tapestry. On the far left were some ponies clearly losing a battle, if the faded red covering most of them was any indication. The middle showed several unicorns in the kind of busy you get when not wanting to do actual work. The right showed another battle, but this time one of the ponies held what had once been a vivid blue circle.

The battle appeared to be going poorly again, but this time the pony seemed to activate their held item and, in a flash of light, both armies were decimated; only the pony holding the artifact survived. The final scene shown on the far right was the surviving pony casting the artifact into an icy chasm.

“Or the weaver had run out of everything but pale blue and white threads,”, the pegasus mentally added.

Done viewing the scenic vistas of the tapestry, Light Patch looked down and started to skim through the informational plaque in front of him. He skipped over the general information and information about who’d donated it to the museum, then it got into explaining what was on the tapestry, and Light Patch found it quite interesting.

No-pony was, or is, sure exactly who or what the tribes were warring with, but the plaque described that the records of the time stated that while the enemy was vaguely defined—likely griffons given the time period—that the enemy had forced the pony tribes back then to unite to defeat the foe. They were losing, but the unicorns had an idea of creating an artifact with help from the magic of all tribes. It was supposed to boost the natural magic and magical abilities of the tribes when used. But instead of just boosting the magic of the ponies around it, it turned that magic on the one holding it, even reacting with the world's magic around it.

“Its first use was also its last,” the guide exposited to the group that had stuck with her in the room. “In fact, the princesses confirmed that they had sought this artifact first in their quest to defeat Discord. But the more they learned, the less they liked. Not liking the totality of its destruction, nor what its effect might be if it reacted to Discord’s magic, they left the Orb of Glacious to the icy north and continued their search eventually finding the Elements of Harmony.'' Light Patch to turn and glare at the mare.

“Hey, you interrupted the narrator! I was listening to him lay out all of the important bits so I can just kinda stand here half asleep.” Whatever the response from the guide, group, or narrator would have been, it was lost as the pegasus blipped out of existence, reappearing in a library with a book in his hooves. “Oh, a scene change,” he muttered, putting the book on a handy table. “Real mature.”

He skimmed through the book, idly flipping through it to see why he’d been drawn to it. Finally, he found the information that had caused him to seek this book out. It was an in depth study of the battle of Glacious; where the Orb of Glacious got its name. All research pointed to the artifact existing, backed up by Celestia, Luna, and even Discord. At least, if the pencil notes scribbled into the book's margins were to be believed.

The grey-coated stallion sat down and began to read more studiously. Skimming over the more generic details of the battle, he focused on whatever they told him about the Orb. Not used until what was technically the second battle, but still considered a part of the first. “Only used once,” he muttered, still paging through the book. “Devastated both armies. Ditched into a crack in a nearby glacier likely made by the activation of the artifact. Bright light reported to be seen far away. All kinds of interesting facts, but nothing that will help me find it.”

“You want page two hundred and thirty four,” a mare's voice chimed in. Light Patch looked up and found himself looking at Moon Dancer, who was staring back at him. “They talk about the supposed location of the Glacious Orb on that page. I noticed you were in that section of that book and... may have overheard you muttering about its location.” She finished with a faint blush and scooted down the table.

Light Patch gave a nod of thanks and flipped through the book to page, quickly skimming through it to see a lot of conjectures. But then, at the bottom half of the page was a small map listing a couple of towns nearest to the probable sight of the battle, as well as some triangulations meant to back up the theories. But also, by correlation it was also helpful for finding the artifact. “Oh, this should do just nicely,” Light Patch mumbled, putting the book in his saddle bag.

“I was hoping to look through that book,” Moondancer said, glaring at Light Patch.

“Ah well, I suppose I only need the one page anyway.” With that, he quickly flipped the book back open and ripped out the page with the map, passing the book over to Moondancer, who was frozen with a look of horror on her face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch a friend's rehearsal.” He flipped his pocket watch open and checked Purple Heart’s Cutie Mark inside.

The stallion vanished just as Moondancer tried to catch him with her magic. She blinked in surprise a few times before picking up the damaged book, only to find the “torn” page still inside. “Some kind of instant duplication from nothing spell?” she muttered, resolving to make the pegasus tell her how he’d done it, should they ever meet again.

* * *

The snow crunched under his hooves as he looked around. It had taken him a few tries and asking some of the locals, but he was fairly sure he’d managed to find it. “Well, that took half of forever.” Light Patch looked down at the copied page from the book. “Next time, just take the whole book,” he muttered, shuffling around the icy desert. “The information on those other pages this keeps mentioning—pages I don’t have—probably would have helped. Still, this should be the right place. Now to figure out how I’ll prove it.” Light Patch looked down at the ground and wiped a hoof over it, brushing away layers of snow to reveal clear ice, through which an old spear was visible held in the claws of a griffon skeleton.

“Okay, that’s a good sign. I hope this isn’t an actual glacier, though, or tracking it’s gonna be a real chore.” Light Patch paused as he found a small trench in the ice, dug by water flowing over it. “Then again, if it was in a glacier, odds are it dropped out into a river or bay or something. Yay, getting to swim in just barely above freezing water to find a small object probably half as large as my head... Then again, maybe I can borrow a submarine, if they even have those here.”

The pegasus continued to walk around, trying to use his magic to feel out the glacier, and finding quite a lot of skeletons and other artifacts but nothing that felt anything more interesting. He was about to consult his notes again when his magic was slapped away from an object buried deep in the ice. He tried reaching out with his magic again, more slowly this time, surrounding the object. Again his magic was slapped away, but this time he’d gotten an idea of its shape.

“Huh, that was easy to locate,” he thought aloud as he scribbled on the tiny map, feeling the thing’s occasional magical pulse wash past him as he worked. He sent out a few more pulses to gage its depth and, after some poorly done math, he came to two conclusions. “I really need a refresher course on math… Also, this thing is fairly deep, and I can’t pull any of Pinkie’s ‘pull it magically out of my hair’ tricks. Maybe if I make mine poofier...” He trailed off in thought before shaking his head. “It’s gonna take time to dig for it. If I want it dug up in any reasonable amount of time, I’m gonna need help.”

He idly walked around, mapping out the full extent of the ancient battlefield he was trotting over. His mind was mostly focused on how he was going to dig up the artifact without having it become news all over equestria and beyond. A regular group or archaeologist would report everything back to the princesses or royal guard, and at least one of them would be well-read enough in the area to figure out eventually they’d found the Orb of Glacious. He could recruit locals, but he’d still need somepony to lead them. Somepony who was well-read and knew what they were doing, but also would know how important it would be to keep quiet about what they were after.

Light Patch shook his head. He’d also need somepony he could trick into helping him. “Moon Dancer knows Twilight. Maybe she’s spoken about me to her. If so, I might be able to convince her I’m helping Twilight quietly recover an artifact of extreme power.”

The pegasus took one last look around, making a couple of final markings on his map before pulling out his pocket watch and looking at the Cutie Marks being tracked on it.

“It’s probably about time I drop in on somepony again,” he thought aloud. “Wits is probably still working through Villainy 101, but maybe he’s had a chance to look at that portal magic. Or maybe I can figure out what Purple Heart is actually up to. I could also drop in on the mares and annoy one or all of them for a bit...”

He sighed as he looked at the much smaller version of the map table in his watch. “This would be easier if Purple and Wits were in some kinda evil league of evil together.”

Light Patch was once again reminded of something. “It’s really more of an idea this tim-” He miraculously managed to trip over nothing before vanishing into a gust of snow driven wind, off to set about on his goals.

“Oh come on, I still haven-” But not before tripping one more time.

Comments

[Mix-up]

Interesting, I wonder if all three of them has some sort of indoctrinations or mind control to get them to follow a very specific plan to destroy or spread Chaos in equestria without them even realizing it.