And then there were five...
“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Princess Luna said to herself, leaning forward over the edge of her private box to better study the pianist. “A little too slow on the last crescendo, but otherwise a very nice adaption. Don’t you think?”
She half turned to the pair of guards standing on either side of the entrance, but they only murmured a quick “Yes, your Majesty” and returned to standing stiffly at attention. Luna shook her head and settled back down, levitating an apple off a nearby tray of fruit. She could remember when the melody had first been composed nearly four centuries ago. Of course, it had originally been a romantic piece, not the somber one modern musicians seemed to want it to be these days. She really needed to keep a closer eye on the classics…
Before she could delve too deeply into memories of the past, a sparkling blue cloud floated through the crack beneath the door. Both the guards jerked at its sudden appearance, but Luna waved them down with a single hoof as the cloud zipped up to her. It meshed into her mane and tail, giving her the temporary appearance of having gained an extra foot and a half of hair. Luna closed her eyes as the memories of her doppelganger melded with her own.
After a moment, she opened her eyes and stood up. “We are about to have a messenger.”
A sharp rap on the door immediately followed her words, opening to reveal a light beige pegasus wearing the pleather suit of the border patrol. Luna took a moment to study him as he dipped into an awkward bow. He was young and his suit was barely creased or travel stained, so he couldn’t have held his job for very long. The feint sheen of sweat still beading on the back of his close-cut mane showed that he had flown straight here after arriving in Canterlot. He bore no saddlebags, presumably having left them at the same station house where he’d discovered she was attending the show, so the message he carried wasn’t secretive enough to warrant hiding it from the messenger. But important enough for him to go straight to her without delivering it to an officer or clerk…
The pegasus tilted his head up and seemed to freeze when his eyes met hers. “Your Majesty… um… I’ve got a message… sorry to barge in on you… I mean…”
“Calm yourself.” Luna said in her most soothing voice, motioning to the bowl of fruit with her wing. “Do you want something to eat? You must have had a long flight, Cadet…?”
“N-no thank you, your Majesty!” he stammered, looking mortified at the thought of eating in front of the Princess. “Cadet Flare Twirl, your Majesty! Um… the message?”
Luna sighed inwardly at his fearful tone, but nodded for him to proceed.
Flare stood quickly and gathered his courage, squeezing his eyes shut to aid his memory. “A dragon has made its cave in the mountains just outside of Hippikes in northern Xenophon. From what little we can gather all it’s doing is sleeping, but it’s snoring a dark cloud of smog that we haven’t been able to stop. It’s already covered most of the city and was spreading to the surrounding towns by the time I left. Commander Ruby Spiral sent me to find you because she doesn’t have any other ideas and I probably shouldn’t have told you that, but this is my first solo mission and I forgot most of my planned report after the first night. And now I can’t stop talking and…”
A hoof tap on his shoulder shocked him into silence and he looked up to see the princess smiling calmly down at him. “Ease yourself, Flare Twirl. There’s no need to get it out all at once. Now, all this is about one dragon, right?”
Flare gulped and tried to stand up straighter. “Yes, Majesty. But it must be a very big dragon for it to make so much smoke this quickly.”
“Possibly…” Luna alleged, raising a hoof thoughtfully to her chin. “But all of the older dragons know that Equestria is not open to their kind. Why does this matter require my personal attention? Any number of weather teams should be able to clear away the clouds and one dragon ought to be easily persuaded to move along. Is the dragon behaving violently?”
“No, nopony has been able to talk to it because of the flowers.” Flare answered.
Luna blinked slowly. “What flowers?”
“The… did I mention the flowers?” Flare looked about to launch into a slew of apologies, but swallowed instead and moved on. “The cave the dragon has laired in is surrounded by a large field of strange purple and green flowers. I guess they’re releasing some kind of pollen or something because everypony that’s gotten close to them has fallen into a deep sleep. The pollen is mixing with the smoke, so none of the pegasi are able to get near the cloud without dropping from the sky.”
“What about the ponies living in Hippikes?” Luna asked, cutting in sharply. “Has the smoke affected than in any way?”
“The Commander evacuated the city as soon as she realized the danger, but anypony beneath the cloud is falling asleep. Oh, but it’s not permanent! You wake up as soon as you get away from the smoke with no more than a headache. It’s just… there’s no way to stop the smoke. Not even unicorn magic worked, since it was coming from a dragon.”
The princess’s eyes widened at that last bit and she started pacing around the small box. For the smoke to be potent enough to dispel magic from that distance, the dragon would have to be very old, almost ancient. Several hundred years at the earliest, and that’s unlikely. Pausing, she looked over her shoulder. “Has Ruby Spiral identified the flower? Is it native to the area?”
“Um, not that I know.” Flare said, racking his brains visibly. “No one from the local towns knew of them when the Commander asked, at least.”
“A coincidence, then? Or perhaps…” Luna nodded to her guards and they opened the door for her. “Thank you for your report, Flare Twirl. I will see to this matter immediately. Rest here in Canterlot for as long as you need.”
Flare hastily dropped into a bow, but sprang to his feet immediately. “Th-thank you, your Majesty. But won’t you need me to show you the way? It took me two days to fly here, and the Commander said I was the fastest in the squad…”
“I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to keep up, Flare Twirl.” Luna replied, exiting the booth without breaking stride. She dismissed her guards with a flick of her wings; they would let the appropriate parties know of her departure and the reason. It should only take me an hour or two to reach Xenophon. And then…
Lost in her thoughts, the princess ignored the theater goers bowing around her as she exited the building and launched herself into the sky. Had she been paying attention, she might have noticed the pair of glowing yellow eyes that tracked her from the alleyway across the street until she was out of sight. A rasp of stone, and the eyes vanished as if they had never been.
…
“And this,” Trixie said, pointing dramatically, “is a statue of… a pony standing on her hind legs and holding a flag. There are stars all around her and she’s wearing a cape, so that’s cool…”
“We can see what it looks like ourselves, Trixie.” Raindrops deadpanned.
“I think it’s very interesting.” Cheerilee cut in, deftly maneuvering the conversation before the argument could form. “This might make for a very interesting field trip. Do you know what this statue represents?”
Trixie scratched her head and tried to think. “…Victory, I think? I don’t really remember, it’s been a long time since Luna taught me about them.”
Leaving Lyra to her alone time with Bon Bon, they had decided against listening to the rest of the recital and left the theater. Declaring that the night was too early to return to the rooms they had prepared in the palace, Trixie had led them off to see the sights of the city. It had quickly become apparent to her friends that Trixie didn’t get out much when she'd been living here, though.
“Where do you think the Princess was going in such a hurry?” Ditzy asked. They had left the theater just in time to see her soar off out of the city.
“It must be very important for her to just leave like that.” Carrot Top agreed. “But I’m sure she’ll be able to handle whatever it is.”
“Of course she can take care of it. She’s the princess!” Trixie stamped her hoof, miffed that they were interrupting her tour.
“Anyway, this one is a bunch of fillies standing on each other’s backs. I guess it represents friendship or something like that…”
“Hey, what’s with that cleared area over there?” Carrot Top asked, pointed at a big open region devoid of statues next to the royal maze. “It looks like the grass is newer over there, like it’s been recently replanted.”
Trixie glanced irritably at the field and suddenly burst into nervous energy. “Why don’t we head over here? The Royal Libraries are all along this part of the gardens. You’ll like that, won’t you Cheerilee? You’re a teacher…”
“It looks like the pathway curves around it, so there must have been something there.” Raindrops shaded her eyes to peer better. “Say… is that where…”
“Oh this is fairly interesting!” Trixie practically shrieked, telekinetically pulling her friends along with her as she charged the nearest building. “It’s the Stat Swirl the Bearded wing! I spend a lot of time in here when I was studying under the princess! Did you know that he was one of the strongest spell casters of the classical era?”
“Hey, look! There are statues over here too.” Ditzy said, pointing ahead of them at two shapes on either side of the building’s entrance.
Trixie brushed that aside with a shake of her head, dropping her magic from the others. “Those are just the guards on duty tonight. This is one of the most securely guarded sections of the archives. I’m sure they’ll let us in if I ask, though. I am Princess Luna’s apprentice, after all.”
“Um…” Raindrops said, flying up and tapping one on the head. “These are statues, Trixie.”
The other four slowed as they got close enough to see clearly. The two guards, both pegasi, were indeed made entirely of grey stone. They stood with shocked expressions on their faces, a long spear help crooked in their foreleg’s unused. They were both turned to look behind them at the door to the library. A door which was hanging slightly ajar. In their shocked silence, they heard a thump and what might have been a muffled curse from inside.
Cheerilee was the first to break out of her surprise. “There might be more ponies inside!” she exclaimed, making for the door.
Raindrops flew into her path and stopped her short of going in. “Wait! We don’t know what happened to the guards. There might be a cockatrice or something loose in there or something. You can’t just go in unprepared!”
“All the more reason to go now!” Cheerilee argued, though she made no attempt to brush past her. “What if somepony is trapped and needs our help?”
“How would a cockatrice have gotten loose in Canterlot?” Carrot Top asked.
Drawing a deep breath, Trixie stepped forward and put a hoof on Raindrops’s shoulder. “She’s right; we can’t just leave anyone inside if they’re in danger.” Concentrating, a blue nimbus of magic formed around each of them in turn. Within moments they had all faded from sight and any sound they’d make while walking was similarly muffled. Trixie channeled one more time and small ball of magic appeared in front of each pony, visible only to them.
“I’ll be able to keep track of everypony with that.” Trixie voice said, apparently coming from nowhere. “Stay close to the spheres so we’re all together. And if anypony sees anything, speak softly so you don’t attract too much attention.” With that she slowly pushed open the door and led the group cautiously inside.
The corridor inside was sparsely lit by torches along the walls, lines with doors and dark tapestries. Another petrified guard, an earth pony this time, stood in the middle of the corridor. He appeared to have been running at something.
“Over there… ah…” Carrot Top muttered, realizing that pointing when invisible was useless. “Down the turn on the right. I saw a shadow move on the wall!”
Trixie guided the group around the corner. Halfway down this hallway was a room with an iron gate instead on a wooden door. The gate stood wide open and the large lock looked like it had been half melted away. The sounds were coming from in there.
This corridor had a lot more petrified guards in it, along with one who appeared to have been a librarian, and Trixie felt one of her spheres move closer to that one. “They’re all pegasi and earth ponies.” Ditzy’s voice said. “Where are the unicorns?”
“In here!” Cheerilee said in a strangled whisper from the open door. Trixie rushed over, prepared to tell them off for not staying together, but what she saw when she stepped through the portal killed the words on her tongue.
Most of the bookcases in the room had been shoved over and a few were smoldering, leaving a stench of burnt paper in the air. About a dozen unicorns, three in soldier’s armor, sat in a huddled group bound and blindfolded. A large pedestal stood empty in the center of the room, the deep grooves in the top hinting that something large had been displayed there recently. But it was the creatures laboring around a large hole in the floor on the other side of the room that arrested their attention.
They appeared like large snakes, the smallest of which would have been taller than Princess Luna even reclining. Their scales were burnished gold and red in hue and appeared to glow softly in the dim lighting. They each had a broad chest about two feet down their necks from their heads, from which sprouted two strong-looking arms. Their arms were tipped with three sharp talons, which they used to grab things. Their faces were more like a lizard’s than a snake’s, and their eyes were all a solid color. Each creature wore a golden breastplate and skull cap, along with dozens of pieces of jewelry. Bracelets and rings and loops of long necklaces, all worked gold like the armor.
Two of the creatures guarded the group of prisoners, while the rest were gathered about the gaping hole. The top of what looked like a giant hourglass disappeared down the pit as they watched, handled by the creatures as carefully as a newborn. Another one slithered back and forth along the lip observing the process. This one was slightly longer than the others and it had twice as many arms, with five armbands of gold on each arm and a worked headdress of shining spikes. Where the other creature’s eyes were solid emerald, this one’s shone bright gold.
“What are they?” Carrot Top asked in a terrified whisper.
“We have to rescue them!” Raindrops said at the same time, trying to slip into the room from above.
“Just hold on or they’ll know we’re here!” Trixie hissed, stepping slowly forward. “Everyone just wait right here. I’ll try and loosen the ropes without them noticing.”
She inched forward carefully, trying to step on as few scrolls as possible. Her spell might muffle her steps, but it wouldn’t render the books invisible as they were knocked about. She got right up to the pedestal before deciding she was close enough and peered at the prisoners. They were all bound by a single length of rope held by only one of the guards. Both the creatures had their attention on the group working on the hole, swaying slightly as if in anticipation. It was clear that the prisoners would soon be following that hourglass down the pit soon enough.
Trixie muttered under her breath and stared intently at the rope. One of the oldest spells she had ever learned came readily to mind and the rope glowed softly, moving to her command. Starting with the one at the end, she slowly untied the knot and slipped the rope away from her legs. The unicorn gasped in fear, but otherwise kept her head and remained quietly in place. The two snake things didn’t even shift, focused on what was happening with their companions. Two more scholars, then one of the soldiers, another scholar, then…
The sixth prisoner shrieked when the rope loosed from his legs and jumped to his feet. “I… I’m free!” he shouted, stumbling blindly away and immediately crashing over a fallen pile of books.
Trixie cursed, ripping the last bonds free quickly while simultaneously tearing off everypony’s blindfolds. “Run for it!”
The guards had spun around when the first one had shouted, but Trixie gave them no time to do anything. The rope whirled around the two of them in an instant, pinning their limbs to their sides and dragging them off to the side out of the way.
A half dozen of the snakes slithered out of the pit faster than Trixie would have thought possible, but the one with the four arms waved them back. “Protect the Hourglasss with your lives!” she hissed in a commanding voice, moving forward on her own.
"Get the civilians out of here!” one of the soldiers ordered, turning around to meet her advance. His horn glowed bright silver, but sputtered out almost immediately. The guard clutched his head as if in pain and stumbled.
The snake creature clutched at something amongst her necklaces and held one of her other arms in his direction. A sickly green light shot out from her talons an enveloped the unfortunate unicorn just as he was looking up. He froze in place as the color seemed to bleed out of him all at once. The green light faltered a couple times as the petrification completed, and she glared down at whatever it was she was holding, giving it a little shake.
Trixie pressed herself against the pedestal despite knowing she was still invisible and shuddered. “All right, that’s enough of that. Time to get out of here.” It was then that she noticed for the first time that the other hadn’t waited at the door like they’d been told.
“Come on, hurry! This way!” Cheerilee shouted over by the door. A panicking unicorn almost jumped out of her skin feeling an invisible hoof land on her back and propel her towards the door. On the other side of the room, one of the snakes trying to untie their companions jerked violently backwards as if it had been kicked in the face. Trixie distinctly heard Raindrops snicker as she flew away from the creature’s wildly swinging arms.
“There’ss ssomething invissible in here, High Preisstesss!” the creature that was kicked howled, clutching at its head. Its golden skullcap was visibly dented and hanging off at an odd angle.
“Jusst get out! I will handle thiss!” the leader hissed, rising up on her coils and closing her eyes. The slits of her nose flared as she breathed in deeply and she suddenly spun, lashing out with a claw. Ditzy cried out on pain as she was knocked from the air to crash against a fallen bookcase. The creature hissed in triumph and closed in on the crash site, using her sense of smell to keep track of her quarry.
“NO!” Trixie shouted. She charged the snake from behind, but it spun faster than thought and caught her about the neck. Furious, Trixie started to channel the largest lightning bolt she could, but shuddered as a tremor ran though her body. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt her magic dim and vanish completely.
The snake creature smiled in triumph and then seemed to remember her original prey. Lashing her tail at the bookcase, she discovering the pegasus had slipped away while she was distracted.
At least she got away… Trixie thought, slipping into unconsciousness.
“High Priesstesss, we have to go now!” One of the creatures shouted, leaning over the edge of the pit and waving at her. She gave one last disgusted look at the fleeing ponies and slithered into the hole, taking the blue unicorn with her.
Cheerilee stared in horror at herself as the invisibility spell vanished. “Trixie!” she cried, rushing to the edge of the hole. But just before she arrived the ground lurched and she fell. Scrambling the last few feet, she found the pit filled with stone and dirt packed tight. The creatures had collapsed the hole behind them, cutting off any hope of pursuit. Nearby, a lonely pointed hat decorated with stars lay amidst the dirt and scrolls.
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I'm reasonably certain that if Trixie starts whining, these snake-creatures will start stabbing. So hopefully she won't be dumb enough to try and pull a Rarity.
Heh. And I know what used to be in that clear area...
Jeez, it's been nearly a month since the last chapter! I really need to keep better track of all my projects... I'll try and not leave this another month! I promise I'm not that cruel.
1451580
Yes, I though you might like that little touch. Tiny references are what I live for!
....oh those stupid jerk snake things.....
and nice touch, using the Dragonshy problem, only more problematic. Probably all a distraction to get Luna out of Canterlot ultimately.
Hooray update, good chapter all round I liked Trixie not really knowing much about Canterlot and failing as a tour guide, I liked most of the chapter in general actually, though I did notice one error:
I think you meant snakes, sorry
Poor Trixie and Ditsy, hope the others get down there and save them, also cool design for Corona's latest minions.
The minions are Lamia's right? or Naga maybe
Hmmm...still not sure what to make of this one just yet. Still, good chapter, I suppose.
Snake people. Where have I seen snake people before. Betrayal at Krondor?
Not likely. 
Maybe I should get my Monster Manual.
Noooooooo Trixie!
HOLY SMOKES!
Things sure went serious in a heck of a hurry!
1456944 Well Luna thought Corona wasn't coming back nd we know how THAT turned out... she kinda learned from her mistakes I guess?
Something seemed off. Most notably with Luna and Trixie, they didn't feel quite themselves. There where a couple times it almost felt --I don't know-- more like a mane-line fic with Celestia and Twilight. Notably the idea that Trixie didn't get out much (even though she's supposed to be a major extrovert) and spent all that much time in the StarSwirl archives (she prefers to learn magic by observation).
I did like the references to stuff from the real show like the statue garden and dragon smoke. I was quite surprised to see Trixie as the one that goes missing; I knew one of them was going, but she was pretty much second to last on my list of suspects. Still, two chapters in and I'm not at all sure what to actually make of the storyline here. Stuff is happening, but there's a lot of questions hanging in the air, and not really the good kind like in a suspenseful mystery driven story, more like the 'get to the point already because I'm just getting confused/bored' kind.
I don't mean to sound quite so critical. I think there might be something really good here, I just haven't been able to find it yet.
1461673
Honestly, I'm glad to see some negative feedback. I think my ego has swollen a bit from half a year of youtube comments being my only reviews.
But yeah, I'm a bit out of practice with my writing. When I planned out this story, most of my plans were about what happens in the caves and with Luna and Solrath. Part of the huge wait between these two chapters was me realizing that I had no idea HOW to get them where I wanted them. I will freely admit that these were rushed as a result. I haven't felt like there's been a good spot to include any exposition yet, but it's on the way. I swear this will all make sense soon! I just have to move something forward to the next chapter that I was going to wait on for a bit...
By the way, about the Star Swirl bit? I was only trying to imply that Trixie was babbling about anything in the area, and the Star Swirl wing was the closest place that was interesting enough. Again, apologies if my rusty writing didn't make that very clear.
1456944
Actually, RainbowDoubleDash wants me to be vague about it, so take from that what you want. 
Could be, could be...
Hmm, good action. *Punches the sixth prisoner in the snout. hard* Moron...
1451580 I don't; what was in the clear area?
1451689 You've got nothing; some of my stories have been waiting over three months for a new chapter.
1452103 What he said.
1461523 Eeyup.
I guess I dunno.
On one hand, I like the dragonshy problem and the designs of the snake things, but on the other hand, the snake things and the 'cleared area' made me feel like I was missing something, and as Emeral Bookwise pointed out, Trixie feels a bit off.
1490022
Apparently DagaYemar likes it vague, so I'll put it in white text for those who also want to keep it vague:
It was the location of the ice palace.
1490072 ...Oh.
(I need to catch up with the threads again, this is getting ridiculous.)
1453331 The only cartoon snakemen I can think of were fought by He-Man.
It’s the Stat Swirl the Bearded wing
a long spear help crooked in their foreleg’s unused
shot out from her talons an enveloped the unfortunate unicorn
1. Star.
2. Held.
3. And.
I wonder what these things are, perhaps part cockatrice? That and the basilisk are the only things I can think of that can petrify, and those are neither, hm...
I didn't expect to see gorgons in here.
Thank you, Percy Jackson! I'd never know what those snake creatures were without your mythological series of books!
1490072
Realy? I thought it was discord's statue and Luna decided to move it
5204027
I had to read that comment twice, the whole time thinking, "Percy Jackson? are you sure you're in the right fandom?"
The leader has four arms, yes?
I was going to respond to RDD comment, but then I realized that I sai the sae thing back in December.
I loved watching the girls all pile in when the concert was over, as it showed us that they are getting closer as friends over the course of these last few episodes. I also liked how the capture happen, with the focus being on they did it because they are being their usual heroic selves. I also find the snake beings interesting and the way they attacked very nice.