The Fillies of Humbolt Manor

by Damination

Prologue

The Crystal Mountains were a cold and lonely place. On the slopes overlooking the great white expanse of the frozen north, the wind blew and snow fell, too hard and too thick for anything other than ice and stone to survive. But one mountain stood out, breaking the ranks. Where it should have stood in the range, there was a valley, empty and gaping like a missing tooth.

Near the top of that self-same mountain, on the Equestria-facing slope, a group of ponies climbed. There were five of them, attached to one another by lengths of rope, and they were silent. Their destination was a small blotch, a break in the solid ice above. They reached it without incident, collapsing one by one into the opening, exhausted.

The last pony to make it inside, an elderly unicorn with a snow-riddled beard, was the first to speak.

“Good... good work, sirs. We’re finally here. Barnes!”

“Yes, Mr. Humbolt?” replied a younger earthpony, the first one into the cavern who was already tossing aside some of his heavier clothing.

“What can you tell me? This looks like a regular old cave to me.”

“Oh no, sir. This isn’t no regular old mountain cave; no sir. Like, lookey here, this fog...”

He motioned toward the depths of the cave; a thick pool of mist hung ten yards away.

A different pony, this one barely older than a colt, and mustard yellow, said “plus, it’s pretty hot in here, ain’t it?”

“That it is, kid. And not just because the wind’s gone... something’s keeping this place warm. Be on your guard, boys. This mountain is old,” Mr. Humbolt said. He shared a look with the armor-clad pegasus guard accompanying them, while everypony else began piling up their snow coats and sweaters.

They began descending, clad lightly, with the colt and Barnes carrying torches. The air got warmer. After a while, it was downright clammy, drenching everypony’s clothes and making it hard to breathe. Eventually though, the rough cave walls gave way to smooth stonework. Everypony, excepting perhaps the pegasus guard, seemed excited to discover this remnant of civilization. When they came across carvings resembling text--a plaque at the base of a decadent statue--the colorful pegasus mare of the group squee’d in excitement. She flew over to examine the writing.

“Wow! I-I think I can translate this! It looks like a variation of one of the pre-Equestrian unicorn dialects; could you bring one of those torches over here please?” she said. The yellow colt rushed over, watching the pegasus work. She took out a notebook, scribbling a few things.

“What are y’ writing, Snow Blossom? Can I help?” he said.

“I’m just jotting down what I think it means... and no thanks, just keep that torch up.” She addressed the others without turning. “You can keep going, guys. I’ll need a few minutes.”

“Ok, but we won’t be goin' too far. Holler if anythin' happens,” Barnes said.

The party split up; Barnes, Mr. Humbolt, and the guard continued on. They emerged into a high chamber with a massive stone dome overhead. The dome was covered in a single well-preserved mural, depicting a catastrophic meteor-shower. Rocks rained from the sky, striking a huge white city, while opposite this, unicorns suffered, weeping in a dark cavern. Looking down, the ponies noticed that the chamber was carpeted by still mist, and at its center lay some sort of cylindrical altar.

They approached the altar with care. A wavy symbol was etched across its surface, black on one side and white on the other. The three ponies just gazed at it until the guard broke the silence, speaking for the first time since they’d entered the cave.

“Ah know this symbol, sah. It’s a... a Ying-a-yang. Ying's uh night 'n yang's uh day, plus uh whole bunch uh other opp'site-like stuff. Means harmony,” he said.

Mr. Humbolt was surprised more by the mute guard talking than the curious tidbit, but he nodded to his employee appreciatively all the same. A walk around the altar, and a glance around the dim cavern revealed no more writing, and no other entrances. The unicorn hoped the translation Snow Blossom was working on was significant, or else this trip was a waste of his ever-shortening time.

Barnes, starting to bore of standing about and noticing that his employer was deep in thought, crouched down to get a closer look at the stone altar. He reached out, intending to brush aside a thick layer of dust--but the moment his hoof touched the stone he recoiled in surprise, waving about his bare hoof.

“Flippin' frogs! Ehh, Mr. Humbolt sir, this stone’s scaldin' hot! Real scaldin',” he said. Mr. Humbolt approached, and confirmed the observation. Perhaps this trip was going to be worth it after all. This cavern must have been build before civilization died out in the north, which would make it at least a few centuries old... and to keep something warm for so long would require a remarkable enchantment... assuming the heat wasn’t coming from some natural source. But why enchant it?

Regardless of the motivations of ponies hundreds of years ago, though, Mr. Humbolt presumed he could learn something from the ancient magic itself, so long as he was careful not to dispel it. The elderly unicorn reached into the altar with his magic, searching for the enchantment... but what he found was something far more exciting.

“Woah boys, it looks like something’s alive in there!” he said. The guard tensed, getting ready to draw his sword, but Mr. Humbolt put up a hoof. “Oh, don't bother with that. Whatever it is, it's very much not a dragon. And it’s sleeping. Heavily too--maybe even in a coma. Now, you two, help me. We need to get this cover off...”

A few moments of sustained telekinesis produced a widening crack around the edges of the cover-stone. The other two ponies slid their hooves in and lifted the cover up and away, laying it down nearby. All three gazed into the container awestruck.

“By Equestria!” Barnes said. “What are those, sir?”

The container was filled with a bubbling, slimey green fluid. Submerged in that liquid, curled in a circle around one another--embodying physically the yin and yang--were two sleeping forms, one light, the other dark. Each had four hooves, a pair of wings, and a horn, but the explorers had no name for them.

“Look like ponies t' me,” said the guard, relieved that a dragon hadn’t been inside, ready to pounce.

“Well boys, looks like we’ve got ourselves a real find here. Lets get them out,” said Mr. Humbolt, but no pony wanted to touch the green solution.

He ended up pulling the ‘ponies’ out one at a time using his telekinesis. Just as he finished laying them on the stone floor, Snow Blossom came flying into the cavern, the yellow colt following some ways behind.

“I got it! I think it’s a eulogy for two princesses, fillies who--woah, what happened here?” She approached and Mr. Humbolt moved aside, revealing the unconscious forms lying in the mist. Everypony was silent for a moment.

“Could these be those princesses, miss Blossom?” he asked.

Snow Blossom, ecstatic, came closer to examine the fillies. With a glance at the horn, wings, and cutie-marks of both, she nodded, then cradled the smaller, dark-blue one in her hooves. She smiled, rocking the cute slime-covered form back and forth while keeping herself upright with her wings.

“This one’s called Luna, and the other’s her sister Celestia.” After a thought, she continued. “They’re ahl-e-corns!”

Comments

[Pegasister131]

Pretty cool so far but are the princesses children at this point? you said "fillies" so i'm asuming they are

[Glitterstar]

wow great begining