Just Another Backyard Dig

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Daring Do wiped the sweat from her brow. The hot, dry desert air seemed to all but literally, sap the life energy right out of the pegasus. She glanced down at her tunic and lifted a hoof, then loosened it slightly. "I'm used to jungles, not deserts..." she muttered, looking back up out across the rocky plateau's yellow, weathered sandstone. The scorching sun glared down at them intensely, baking the rock and threatening a swift death from dehydration to anypony unprepared for the harsh conditions.

"Well, an ancient dig's an ancient dig, ain't it?" asked a cheery, pale brown unicorn from just beside her. She lifted her foreleg, then elbowed the pegasus in a playful, joking manner. "Besides, I thought the great Darin' Do would be able to handle whatever Equis could throw at her!" She chuckled a little. "Besides, that's why you're here. You're the best of the best. This dig should be right up your alley," she said more seriously.

"Yeah," Daring commented off-hoof. "Except most of the time, getting into the ruins is the easy part. The hard part is all of the magically-enhanced traps that have managed to survive for centuries," she said dryly.

The unicorn nodded. "They're making progress, it's slow going, but they're making progress. The doorway and walls are made out of a mineral alloy we've never seen before. We can barely scratch it with magic, so they're probing it to figure out how best to get in. If that falls through, there's always Plan E."

Daring Do looked at her warily. "E as in..?" she asked cautiously.

"Explosives," the unicorn answered, smiling innocently.

Daring tilted her head and opened her mouth, then closed her eyes and looked back at the dig site. She shook her head. "This is a serious operation you have going on way out here in the middle of nowhere if you're willing to use explosives to get into an ancient ruin, Doctor Ancient Knowledge."

Doctor Ancient Knowledge shrugged. "The ruin can handle it. Scans indicate that the interior is made up of the same material, but the ruins interior is also shielded after a certain point. The structure is completely intact, too. It probably won't come to explosives. I hope it doesn't. Having to blow open the doors would leave a bad taste in my mouth..." she trailed off, grimacing in discomfort.

"I can't believe I agreed to this," Daring muttered. "I could have gotten in their alone by now if you would just tell me what this is and what I needed to know. A full expedition is a waste of time!" she growled.

"I insisted on a full expedition," Doctor Ancient Knowledge stated matter-of-factly. "I contracted you because you're the best pony to assist in my endeavor. Once we get inside, of course."

"Of course," Daring snarked.

Doctor Ancient Knowledge took a deep breath, then slowly blew air out of her mouth, exhaling. "There's absolutely nothing out here around for miles... and yet somehow, this is here, and on top of that, we've never seen anything like this before! It's so exciting!"

Daring Do nodded and smiled brashly. "It makes you wonder what this place is and why whoever built it, built it here."

Doctor Ancient Knowledge beamed in excitement. "All the known civilizations which existed in this area don't match these ruins. The design, to say nothing of the materials, do not match. It's so fascinating..."

A pegasus walked out from a nearby tent, then took to the air and flew over to Daring Do and Doctor Ancient Knowledge, then landed. "Doctor, you're going to want to see this," he said. He reached back into a saddlebag on his back, then pulled out a pristine white sheet of paper and hoofed it over to the good doctor.

Ancient Knowledge swiftly picked the paper up from him with her magic, then read over the information, salivating at the prospect of whatever information it held as soon as her eyes read the title.

Mana-dating Report and Material Analysis
Dig 10-10-36B
6/10/1006
I ran the numbers three times to be sure. At first, I thought it was a fluke, but the results are conclusive. The forging analysis and mana-dating results are conclusive.
The material sent for analysis predates the Discordian Era by approximately 7,000 years, meaning that this material was forged over 10,000 years ago. This predates all known civilizations in Equis by 6,000 years.
I tried to account for this by adjusting the analysis means, or adjusting the variables, but the results under such adjustments were inconclusive and lead to even more bizarre results. Adding to the fact that the material sent for analysis is more advanced than anything we have currently available, this means the history books are going to need to be rewritten, Doctor Ancient Knowledge.
The material itself is some sort of crystalline alloy, but current analysis hasn't provided many insights into it. We are continuing to probe the material in an attempt to unlock its secrets, but it'll be some time before we learn anything of value.
Doctor Fluid State, Ph.D., Engineering, Material Science, Canterlot Institute for Material Science.

"This can't be right," Ancient Knowledge said, taken aback. She blinked her eyes and reread the report. "There has to be some kind of mistake!" she groaned. She turned to Daring Do and handed the confused pegasus the paper. "Here, read this," she said in a dry, serious tone.

Daring Do read over the report, and her frown only grew. "That's not possible," she stated, looking up from the report.

"Well, apparantly it is," Ancient Knowledge muttered, turning back to look at the ravine which housed the ruins. At the bottom of the large opening into the earth, she could make out the large, unassuming dark gray wall metal jutting out from the rock. In the center, there was a large, smoothly sloping archway with an inlaid door with no visible means to open it. The metal was smooth, yet had a property which caused it to only reflect enough light to render it a few shades above black, but the metal appeared to have a slight light pink hue to it. "Apparently there was a civilization which had the ability to create a metal which survived for ten thousand years which predates all known civilizations by six thousand years."

The ponies down by the door all jumped back. One of them, a pegasus, fell back on his haunches, then hastily rose back to his hooves. He spread his wings, then flew the thirty feet to the surface. "Professor!" he called. "You're going to want to see this! We got it open!"

Ancient Knowledge and Daring Do exchanged smiles. While Daring Do smiled brashly in eager anticipation of adventure, Ancient Knowledge smiled a cheery, excited, yet reserved smile befitting the bookworm that she was, and her eyes glistened with anticipation. "We'll be right there!" the called out in unison.

"I guess coming out to the Badlands wasn't a complete waste of my time after all," Daring mused. She spread her wings out, then ran forward and leaped over the cliff edge. She caught the air with her wings and glided toward the base camp set up at the bottom of the ravine, near the doors. Opening the doors apparently alerted everypony, as some twelve ponies of varying races were all gathered in front of the doors and geared up for adventure.

Daring swiftly landed and looked around at the ponies, then came to a stop and looked back at the path through the rock face that Doctor Ancient Knowledge was. Despite her eagerness to get down to the entrance, she wasn't prepared to jump over the edge, being a unicorn, and instead took a much safer land route. Barely two minutes later, the doctor and another unicorn came up beside Daring. "I have to get in there!" she exclaimed.

Daring raised a hoof and smirked. "Not so fast, Professor," she warned.

Ancient Knowledge blushed lightly and shied back. "Oh, um, yes, of course. Please, after you, Miss Do."

Daring Do shot her a smile, then walked around to the entrance. As she did, many of the ponies around turned their expectant gazes on her. She studied the path beyond, not sure what to expect, as it came into view. She frowned. There was a hallway made of the same metal alloy which stretched in about ten feet, then it came to an intersection, with a hallway heading to the left, right, and continuing on straight. Unlike all of the other ruins she had explored, this one had no pillars or columns, let alone writing on the walls to indicate anything.

Wary of all of this, she slowly made her way forward, then paused and looked down. Where the stone gave way to the artificial material was seamless, as if the metal, or the stone, had been poured in place after completion. The only noticeable difference was the effects of erosion, having worn away at the stone while leaving the metal to stand the test of time. The metal proved itself over the centuries, while the stone had not.

She looked back up, then took a deep breath, smelling the air. The smell was wrong for an ancient ruin, or maybe it was the desert air that smelt wrong. She decided on the latter after mulling it over for a few seconds. She lifted a forehoof, then stepped down on the metal. She recoiled in shock, lifted her hoof away, and stared down at the metal. Unlike the rock, which even in the shade was warm, the metal was cool to the touch. She set her hoof back down and looked up. She smiled brashly, then turned back and opened her saddlebag. She pulled out a flashlight, generously provided by the Professor, turned it on, then held it in her wing and cast the light into the dim interior. The metal somehow seemed to brighten and turn less gloomy under the glow of the magic-powered light.

She stepped forward in passed the doorway, then paused in the doorway, noticing that the doors slid back into the wall. The crevice which hid the doors were seamless, and if it wasn't for the depression in the walls, she wouldn't have been able to tell where the door was. "This level of perfection is unheard of. Ponies were able to do a lot, but this..." she trailed off, then walked on into the structure, weary of anything that her pegasus senses warned her about. To her surprise, everything felt fine. She let herself relax a little, then looked back. "Alright, come on... Let's figure out what in Tartarus this place is," she said.

She had halfway expected her voice to echo, but the silence was welcome. A few of the ponies, two unicorns, and four earth ponies, stepped forward with her. Doctor Ancient Knowledge and her companion also stepped forward. Her eyes glistened as she marveled at the engineering masterpiece. "This is incredible!"

"And this is just the entrance," Daring mused. "Might want to save that for later, Professor," she added. She looked back forward, then ventured on inside the structure. Her hoofsteps barely echoed, and before she knew it, she had walked the ten feet to the intersection. She walked out into the middle of it and cast her flashlight's glow down the hallway to the left. Along the hallway, there were two more doors. They were barely noticeable, save for having transparent, grayish blue crystals to the right of the doorways. The metal of the wall smoothly met the crystal, and it looked as if the rectangular, smooth crystals were designed to be removed. At the end of the ten-foot-long hallway, there was a door. Just above the door, there was what appeared to be an orange, transparent crystal similar the ones beside the other doors. Unlike the rest of the structure, the crystal seemed to have experienced aging, as it appeared to be shattered. Lowering the flashlight's beam to the floor, she affirmed what she knew, seeing shards of broken crystal at the base of the doorway.

Doctor Ancient Knowledge walked into the intersection, carrying her own flashlight in her magic. She stopped and stared down the hallway and scrutinized every spot with her flashlight. She turned and cast her eyes and light down what appeared to be the main hallway, the one which continued on straight from the entrance. There were no doors to the side, but the hallway continued to stretch on for about ten feet. The walls, like the rest of the walls, were smooth. She shined her light around, then paused on one section, seeing what appeared to be a break in the wall. She swept the beam of light up the wall, across the ceiling, then down the other side, noting what appeared to be a single crystal breaking the entire hallway. Looking more closely, she noticed more, even in the hallway to the left.

Daring turned to the right and found the hallway to be nearly identical to the hallway on the left. She turned back to Doctor Ancient Knowledge. "Where to, professor?"

"I say we keep going forward," she replied, then started walking straight.

Daring quickly took off and took the lead. The nine ponies continued down the hallway to the end, then came to a stop. To the right of the door was another one of the crystals. Daring walked over to it and squinted as she scrutinized it. "What do you suppose these are?" she asked, turning back to Doctor Ancient Knowledge.

The professor frowned and walked closer. Daring stepped aside to give her more room. "Well, they're crystals. I can tell you that much. They likely served a decorative purpose, however, some ancient cultures were known to use crystals to store magic like we do today. It's possible it was used for that, although I'm not sure what it would be doing out like this." She frowned. "We can store spells in crystals, it's possible that they could too, but unlikely, as the earliest recorded instance of a civilization being able to store spells in crystals was the Crystal Empire, and that was only about two thousand years ago, and the spells weren't very complicated."

"I don't suppose you can use your magic and figure out what they're for?" Daring asked. "Because it seems kind of like a trap to me. Placing crystals at eye level, although they're not hidden very well..." she muttered. "This place hasn't really shown signs of traps, though."

Ancient Knowledged grimaced. "That's good, but maybe we should leave the crystals alone then..." she said.

Daring shrugged and turned back to the door. "Help me out with this then, will ya?" She stepped closer to the door, then placed her hooves on it. She tried to figure out the best way to handle it, then decided to just push the left half of the door to the left. She grunted as she put her strength and weight into the door, hoping to budge it, only for it to remain still and unmoving. Two of the earth ponies stepped up beside her and threw their strength and weight into the doors, hoping to part them, only to fail. The two adventurous unicorns lit their horns, then added their magic to the door. Doctor Ancient Knowledge and her companion's additional magic was just enough to earn a creek from the door, which led to the sound of metal sliding on metal, a prelude to the door opening enough to slide a hoof in between the two slabs of metal. The earth ponies manage to push the doors aside with the better grip, then they stepped back, breathing heavily.

Daring took a deep breath, then exhaled calmly and proceeded into the next room. "Ah, now here are the pillars and columns!" she exclaimed. She hurried into the room, and Doctor Ancient Knowledge walked in right behind her. They swept their lights around, breaking the darkness and studying the room. The room was large, with a ceiling probably fifteen feet high. Eight pillars of granite rose up to the ceiling at the opposite side of the room, and in the middle of the innermost two, there was another hallway.

"The amount of stone they would have to have excavated..." Ancient Knowledge muttered. She frowned a little and bobbed her head. "This would have been hard work... It's not that hot in here right now, but back then..." she trailed off.

The room appeared to have only one entrance, but the continuing on ahead could have led to another entrance or exit. As Daring and Ancient Knowledge swept their lights toward the hallway ahead, both of them froze, scrutinizing the two statues, one on each side of the door, which led into the next room. The winged, horn statues were made of a light pink crystal but had the texture of rock. "Alicorns..?" Ancient Knowledge said quietly, surprised. The alicorn statues looked to be the size of Princess Celestia, and they faced each other. Both of them were reared up on their hind legs, and their wings were flared out. The alicorns looked proud as they stood guard of the entrance, forever watching over the structure.

"It's not uncommon for ancient cultures to have worshiped alicorns," Daring commented, then frowned as she walked forward. "But what is uncommon is for more than one to be depicted, although both of these are identical, so they're probably based on the same alicorn," she stated. She came to a stop, squinting. "I don't recognize them. They're not Princess Celestia or Princess Luna."

"This structure predates the princesses by several thousand years," Ancient Knowledge commented absently.

Daring looked back at Ancient Knowledge and shined her flashlight in her eyes, making the unicorn recoil and shield her eyes with her hooves. "Nopony knows the true age of the Princesses. Most of history was lost prior to the Discordian Era. For all we know, these could be one alicorn, or maybe two, who were alive back then," she said, then turned back around. "Even though they're identical statues," she added as an afterthought.

"She might have been the ruler of the land," Ancient Knowledge acknowledged.

Daring Do nodded, then walked on toward the hallway. She paused and looked back at the additional ponies accompanying them. "You should go ahead and start setting up camp inside the ruin," she said, "if it can be called that," she muttered. "But be sure to stay clear of areas we haven't explored yet." Two of the earth ponies nodded, then headed on back out the way they came from.

Ancient Knowledged walked up to Daring. "Shall we proceed?" she asked warmly.

Daring nodded quickly, then continued on into the hallway. Scanning the walls revealed them to be much alike all the other walls. There were no doors along the hallway, but there were crystal breaks in the wall every few feet. As they came to the end of the hallway, the area opened up, revealing a small room with one door. Two crystal alicorn statues dominated the room, much like the prior two statues.

Daring and Ancient Knowledge swept the room with their flashlights. Ancient Knowledged paused, her light illuminating a symbol above the doorway. "This symbol," she started, frowning, "I haven't seen it before. Nowhere in the place besides here, and I haven't seen it anywhere else before. On top of that, it's more colorful than the rest of this place combined," she said. "It looks familiar somehow..." she muttered.

The symbol appeared to be a six-pointed, bright pink starburst, with five smaller six-pointed white starbursts surrounding it. Daring swept around and gazed at the symbol. She frowned. "That does look familiar..." she acknowledged. She stepped forward, then came to a stop. "Where have I seen that symbol before?" she asked herself. "A six pointed pink star, with six white spokes coming out of it, and five smaller white, six-pointed stars surrounding it..." she muttered to herself. "I don't think I've seen that in any of my other treks, but... wait..." she trailed off, her frown deepening in confusion. She turned to face Ancient Knowledge, looking bewildered. "Isn't that Princess Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark?" she asked uncertainly.

Ancient Knowledge's expression turned blank, then she lit up with recognition. "You're right... that... but... that doesn't make any sense... this structure is ten thousand years old! How would they know anything about an alicorn ascending ten thousand years into the future!?" she demanded in exasperation.

"Maybe their ruler or somepony could see the future with magic," Daring mused.

Ancient Knowledge wanted to retort the pegasus, but she clamped her mouth shut instead. "It's possible... it's the only thing that makes sense..." she muttered. "But still... Prophecy magic is advanced and predicting the future that far ahead is supposed to be impossible..." she trailed off, then turned to Daring, smiling warily. "You think we can get the Princess out here?"

Daring grinned. "Are you kidding? I've met her before. She'd love this," she answered.

Ancient Knowledge lit up in excitement. "Then it's settled! I'm sending you back to contract the Princess's assistance with this dig!"

Darign winced and shifted her weight. "That might be a bit difficult..." she mumbled. "Considering that she's, you know, a princess," she said dryly.

"Oh, well I'm sure you can interest her if you tell her that we found her cutie mark in the ruin," Ancient replied.

"Yeah, maybe," Daring tentatively agreed. She turned her attention to the doorway and scrutinized it, along with the sides, searching for any way to open it. There was another crystal on the right side of the door, at eye height, but unlike the other door, it didn't look like this one was going to be opened physically. Daring grimaced. "Maybe she'd be able to help us out here with the excavation," she commented. "I don't think we're going to get through this door with anything short of an alicorn. I'm not sure if Plan E would even work on this door."

Ancient Knowledge frowned, then reluctantly nodded in agreement upon further scrutiny of the doorway. "I think you're right..." she grumbled. She sighed and hung her head, her ears folding back. "We should probably go send word that we managed to get in, along with what we've found. And you, Daring, have a train to catch," Ancient Knowledge said with a smirk.

"Yeah," Daring said with a roll of her eyes. She turned around and started walking back the way they came. Ancient Knowledge and the rest of the group followed close behind. As they continued on, they encountered ponies carrying in small crates of equipment and setting up magically powered lights to illuminate the ruin. As they stepped out into the canyon, they shielded their eyes from the bright, unforgiving sun, and the warmth once more sapped the life from their chilled bodies.

Princess, Professor, Pathfinder

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The pristine, clean city of Canterlot was far different from the jungles one aptly named pegasus, Daring Do, was used to. the city was dominated by unicorns and kept in top shape. Marble and gold buildings lined the streets, some impressive mansions or institutes of varying businesses, but her destination was inside one of the city's many universities, one of which she now strode through.

Daring hastily navigated through the crowd swarming the hallways as she made her way to a room where one pony with one of the most recognizable names in the world was giving a lecture. Daring huffed. She could handle poisoned darts, jets of fire, quicksand, and tight spaces, but swarms of ponies were far from second nature for her. Other ponies weren't her thing.

She continued to huff as she bumped into a few young unicorns. A few of them muttered soft apologies, but some shot her sharp, condescending glares instead. Nopony recognized her as Daring Do, and she was pretty sure nopony recognized her as A. K. Yearling either. It was something she welcomed. While she wasn't exactly in a hurry, since Princess Twilight Sparkle's lecture wasn't the reason she was there, she didn't exactly want to stop to talk to anypony.

Eventually, she navigated through the hallways and found herself on the second story of the University. She frowned a little as she walked through the doorway and found herself in what appeared to be more of an auditorium than a lecture hall. She pushed the concern aside and glanced around, then found a seat on a bench and sat down in the middle of a lecture by the Princess of Friendship.

Twilight smiled, levitating a long, slightly pointed stick in her magic to assist in her lecture. "...but what we do know for sure about the Elements of Harmony is that they're not natural. While it can be argued that their nature is closely related with the nature of Equestria, there is no way the Tree of Harmony is a result of natural events." She walked to one side, then turned around and pointed at a representation of the Tree of Harmony on the whiteboard behind her. "Now, we know this to be a fact because the Tree of Harmony is unique. While there are other 'crystal trees' which can be found around the world which can closely resemble the Tree of Harmony, none of them show any signs of a connection to the Tree."

She levitated out a marker, then quickly sketched out what Daring first thought was going to be her cutie mark, only for her to stop with the central starburst. "Now, as almost everypony is aware, I myself represent the Element of Magic. I am its bearer. The fact that I am the only pony to have shown the ability to wield the Element of Magic in several centuries is significant. Perhaps even more so due to the fact that prior to my using the Element of Magic against Nightmare Moon, the only ponies who could wield the Elements of Harmony were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves." She paused to draw out six cutie marks, ones recognizable as those of her friends, with her cutie mark just below the Element of Magic. Above her friends' cutie marks, she drew out the Elements each of them represented.

"Now, if you look closely, anypony can clearly see some resemblance between my friends' cutie marks and the appearance of the Element they represent," Twilight said. She pursed her lips and shifted her weight. "While there is no direct evidence to support this, according to Princess Celestia, the Elements looked the same way they did when she wielded them, raising interesting questions."

She walked to the other side of the stage and spoke, "Was this intentional? Were my friends and myself pre destined to wield the Elements?" she asked. "There is some proof to indicate this is the case, however that also raises more interesting questions," she stated. She turned, then looked at the floor and walked to the other side. She waited to get to the other side, then paused and shook her head.

Daring looked around the room. The auditorium was packed in first half, but the last half was sparsely populated. She frowned a little, surprised that there weren't more occupants.

Twilight took a deep breath, then walked back to the middle of the stage. "It is also common knowledge about the connection that my friends and I share, and that connection is also linked to the Elements of Harmony and the Tree of Harmony. The fact that we are linked and that I have a castle from the Tree seems to indicate that the Tree of Harmony has some form of sentience- it may be more aware than any of us realize. On top of this, the ramifications of my travel to alternate dimensions seem to indicate that the Elements of Harmony, and or the Tree of Harmony, may have the knowledge to know how things are meant to be from the standpoint of destiny. This seems to indicate that the Tree of Harmony may be artificial in nature and that a higher power may have had a hand in its creation."

Twilight paused and frowned. "The Tree of Harmony also predates both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but all analyses have proven inconclusive, and the more thorough ones cannot be risked due to the nature of the Tree," she stated. "And back to the topic of destiny," she said, her mood turning more cheerful, "there is a proven link between my friends and myself. Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom directly led to us six gaining our cutie marks. Our 'destinies' are indisputably intertwined, and furthermore, without them, I never would have become the Princess of Friendship," she said. She stood up straight and beamed at the ponies in the audience. "In conclusion, there may be more to 'destiny' than we think, and it may be intertwined with harmony, and the Tree of Harmony, more than anypony realizes. I do hope that you all were able to follow that. I know the lecture is a little rough around the edges, but there's still so much we don't know." She paused and look a little glum. "And I wasn't given much time to prepare this, either..." she grumbled, then smiled. "I hope you all have a nice day and a wonderful week!" Twilight said, then turned around and started cleaning up her white board. Ponies stood up and slowly shuffled around, heading toward the doors, most of them discussing the various points of the alicorn's lecture.

Daring Do sat up straighter and took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled. It wasn't the first, nor the longest lecture she had ever attended. That award went to one of the villains who had managed to capture and hold her hostage for two hours. She nearly died from boredom, and it was welcomed when he finished up and cut to the chase.

Once the crowd had died down, Daring stood up, then made her way down to the stage. "Princess Twilight Sparkle," she greeted in a casual voice.

Twilight perked up at the sound of her name, then turned away from the whiteboard, smiling. "Miss Yearling, what a pleasant surprise," she acknowledged. "I wasn't aware that you were in Canterlot, let alone that you'd be attending one of my lectures."

Daring shrugged, then made her way up onto the stage. "Not a bad lecture. I've seen worse. It didn't seem very consistent, though," she commented.

Twilight smiled warily. "I was a last minute fill in," she admitted sheepishly. "Which, you know, doesn't really make sense as to why they would have me as a 'last minute fill in,' but... I am supposedly the foremost expert on it, so..." she trailed off quietly. "So, what brings you to Canterlot? I thought that you mostly stayed by yourself and avoided major cities."

Daring grinned. "You, actually. I've been working with a professor by the name of Ancient Knowledge. She's running a site out in the badlands, and we found something very interesting," she said vaguely.

Twilight tilted her head. "I didn't think you worked with others?" she asked quizzically.

Daring shrugged. "She wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer," she replied dismissingly. "But that's another story," she added. She turned back to her saddlebags, then flipped open the flap and pulled out a manila folder. She extended it out to Twilight, who eyed it cautiously. "I think you might find it of interest, especially given the context of your lecture," she said.

Twilight picked up the manila folder with her magic, then pulled out some pictures and papers. She studied the first picture and frowned, then she pulled it back and placed it under the rest of the stack. Her frown deepened until she came to the last picture. "Where did you find this?" she asked quietly, glancing up from the picture with her cutie mark on the wall of the ruin.

"The deepest part of the ruins we've been able to access. At least, last I knew," Daring answered. "Two day trip by train, and another by hoof. I managed to make the hoof part in a half day by flying."

Twilight nodded, then read over some of the papers. "You mentioned putting this in the context of my lecture? Are you suggesting that this has something to do with the Tree of Harmony?"

Daring Do shrugged. "I really don't know. I meant more along the lines of your destiny part, which is more or less all I caught. We don't know much of anything about this place. Ancient Knowledge wouldn't even tell me how she found it, but she did say that they had no idea what it was. It's a complete mystery to us right now," she said. "I saw that, your cutie mark, and recognized it. I also wondered if it might have been related to some of them having premonitions and seeing you in the future or something, and thus why I wondered about putting it in the context of destiny."

"So you do think this relates to me," Twilight muttered. She squinted uncertainly at the report. "This... this makes no sense. I mean, maybe there's a connection, but... there's no way that they could have seen this far into the future, and..." she trailed off and shook her head. She took a deep breath. "Well, I'm definitely interested in this. I... well, I guess it would technically not be my first adventure like this, and I've been around the loop a few times..." she trailed off, grinning. "I'll pack and we can leave tomorrow morning. That sound good? Oh! And I'll need to tell Celestia and my friends where I'm going."

Daring nodded and smiled brashly.

Twilight stared out the window of her private royal train car, watching as trees, grassy hills, and plains all rolled by. "What can you tell me about your sponsor?" she asked. She looked away from the window, over at her train car's sole other occupant, who held a pen in her mouth.

The pegasus paused in her writing and looked up at Twilight. Daring lifted her wing, then took the pen out from her mouth. She licked her lips. "Well, Doctor Ancient Knowledge is a Professor at the Manehatton Institute of Technology and Archeology," she stated. "Just your average Professor, don't know what else you want to know." She looked back down at her paper. "She's a bit like you, though," she commented.

Twilight nodded. "And... you really don't know how they located these... ruins?" she asked, squinting at the sandy-colored, black and gray maned pegasus.

Daring nodded. "Calling the place ruins isn't really accurate. It's in really good shape. It's remarkably well preserved," she said. "And... no, I don't know how they located them. It's really far out of the way, too... I was a little cautious about it at first, it almost sounded like a trap, but it all checks out."

Twilight nodded and frowned. "Do you... always worry about it being a trap?" she asked.

Daring frowned, then put her paper back into a saddlebag sitting beside her. "In my line of work, yes. I have a lot of enemies, and I wouldn't put it past them to do something like this. Of course, I could handle it, but it would be a setback," she stated.

Twilight giggled a little. "You remind me of Rainbow Dash sometimes," she said. Daring looked at her warily. Twilight sighed a little, then frowned. "There has to be more to this, though. Surely you know more about this than what you've said..." she trailed off, then lit her horn. A small, pink flash emanated from her horn. She smiled and dimmed her horn. "We're safe in here, nothing you say will be overheard, if that's what you're worried about."

Daring shifted her weight. "Princess-"

"Twilight," Twilight corrected, offering a small smile. She ruffled her wings a little. "You don't need to call me by my title, Daring. We might not know each other that well, but I prefer the informality of ponies using my name."

"Twilight," Daring started. Twilight gave her a nod of affirmation. "We really don't have any idea what it is. All we know is that in the middle of the Badlands, some ancient civilization built a structure in a ravine, underground, out of a metal alloy that we've never seen before. The structure predates every known ancient civilization, and it's stood the test of time, and then some."

Twilight leaned forward, lifting her eyebrows up. "Surely you know more than that?" she asked seriously.

Daring grimaced. "None of the known civilizations that inhabited the region have a history going back that far, and none of them had the same capability. No civilizations we know of, even now, in modern times, have the ability to manufacture this material. We can't even figure out what it's made out of," she said, shaking her head and sighing. "At least it'll make a great book. Well, I hope it will. Unless some bad guys show up, it might not be that interesting. I don't think ponies read my books for mystery stories, that's more of a side plot."

Twilight giggled again. "I know I'll love to read it after we figure everything out, although I don't know about Rainbow. I could always try to convince her, I suppose."

"Do you think Princess Celestia or Princess Luna know anything about this... this structure?" Daring asked. "Ancient Knowledge said it predated them, but since you're an alicorn, and you were Princess Celestia's student, I thought that..." she trailed off.

Twilight shifted her weight and slowly nodded. "That I would know more than most ponies? Well... I do..." she said tentatively. "It's... I know a lot more than most ponies realize..." she admitted. "A lot of it I'm not supposed to talk about," she said quietly, then met Daring's gaze, "It's important to keep secret," she said. She took a deep breath and smiled once more. "But, I do know that this structure, if it is that old, does indeed predate Celestia and Luna," she confirmed.

Daring nodded and frowned. "The structure had a few statues of alicorns. They were made of some kind of pinkish crystal, but the texture was like stone," she commented. "They all looked identical, and I didn't recognize them. All of them seemed to have the same proportions as Princess Celestia."

Twilight pursed her lips. "Due to the small population size of alicorns, I could only theorize on what that means. And because Princess Celestia is the eldest of us, I can't say if we would grow into that height. Princess Luna is nearly her sister's age, though, however, there is a pretty big height difference between them. Whenever I've pressed the issue, they always change the topic..." she trailed off, squinting. She sighed. "They can be so vague, even now with me..." she said sadly.

"Aside from your cutie mark and the alicorn statues, there's not much else of detail there. It's much cooler inside the structure than in the ravine, but that's because it's underground. There are quite a few crystals, though. They seem to like them. Just about every door has a rectangular crystal that's surface is smooth and curved, almost like a rectangular oval, to its right. They're at eye height," Daring said.

Twilight nodded and frowned in thought. "That's not that uncommon. A lot of ancient civilizations used crystals..." she trailed off. "The crystals... did they look... identical?"

Daring nodded. "More or less," she answered.

Twilight hummed a little. "Most ancient civilizations didn't have the ability to do that..." she mused. "I... guess we'll find out more when we get there. Maybe they'll have made progress by the time we arrive."

"Well, you certainly faired better than I expected, Twilight," Daring commented as they landed at the edge of the base camp.

Twilight smiled. While tired from the long flight and the heat of the sun, she wasn't a pushover either. It was predominantly thanks to her alicorn nature that she fared as well as she did- as most of the time, she didn't fly quite as much, let alone fly in a desert. However, she was no stranger to flying, either, as ever since she had ascended, she had grown to enjoy flying. And to further add to it, Rainbow Dash had personally taught her how to fly. "Well, I was really looking forward to getting here," she answered. She shook her head, rustling her mane. She took a deep breath, then exhaled. "It's really warm out here, though... I don't envy the ponies who had to set up the camp."

Daring shrugged, then started making her way through the camp, looking for Ancient Knowledge's tent. The camp was small, and they quickly found their destination. Daring peeked into the tent, then glanced around. "We're back," Daring said.

Ancient Knowledge looked up from her journal, then turned around to face Daring and beamed. "Oh! Wonderful! Excellent, now we can finally make some real progress!"

Twilight walked up beside Daring, who stepped to the side, giving Twilight a chance to meet the professor. "Doctor Ancient Knowledge, I presume?"

Ancient Knowledge smiled giddily, then hopped out of her fold up chair and hastily rushed over to greet Twilight. She fell into a bow and stared up at Twilight with reverance as if the alicorn was somepony she worshiped religiously. "Princess Twilight! It is such an honor to meet you! I'm so happy that you could come to our excavation!"

Twilight blushed a little and shifted her weight. "There's no need for that, Professor," she said, offering a warm smile to the unicorn.

The unicorn smiled sheepishly and stood back up. "Oh! Please, come in out from the sun. The shade doesn't help much, but it's better than nothing. Just yesterday, somepony passed out from the heat."

Twilight accepted the invitation and walked inside the tent. Daring followed close behind her. "That's terrible..." Twilight said with a frown, "Are they alright?"

Ancient Knowledge nodded. "Yes, he's recovering right now," she replied. She swallowed, then licked her lips and walked over to her desk. She levitated an incomplete, recently penned map in her magic, then extended it over to Twilight.

Twilight took the map in her magic and studied it. "This isn't a lot to go by. Is this the structure that you found?" she asked.

Doctor Ancient Knowledge nodded. "Yes. That's all we've been able to access so far. The doors refuse to budge. We can't even get them open with magic."

"Anything new since I left?" Daring Do asked, moving closer to Twilight to study the map. She frowned. "That isn't anything more than what we were able to access. You've had a week and you haven't made any more progress?" she asked, exasperated.

Ancient Knowledge smiled apologetically. "We haven't been able to access any more of the structure," she affirmed sadly, "but we have made progress. The crystals beside the doors- we determined their function. They're supposed to serve as... sensors, of sorts. They control the doors. We haven't been able to get them to work, but there is still some small quantities of magic inside them. We removed one of the crystals for study and sent it off to the University of Canterlot for further analysis."

Twilight nodded absently. "I'll want to take a look at these crystals. I'm not the foremost expert with crystals, but I have some experience with them," she said. "There are two larger chambers in the structure. The one deeper inside has the door marked with my cutie mark, correct?" she asked.

Ancient Knowledge nodded. "Yes, and we haven't been able to make any more progress passed that point, nor the side hallways. We tried using our magic to access the crystals to open the doors, but they didn't respond."

Twilight nodded absently. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a closer look as soon as possible."

Ancient Knowledge flashed Twilight a smile. "Oh, of course! Anytime you're ready, Princess. I'd be more than happy to accompany you right now. Of course, Daring will be coming with us also."

"I'm always ready for adventure," Daring said with a brash, eager smile.

Twilight smiled at the two mares. "Well then, if you'd be so kind as to lead the way."

Daring drew back from Twilight, then stepped outside and made her way over to the edge of the ravine. Twilight frowned as she followed her, then came to a stop near the edge, looking down into it. "There is a ground path, but I prefer to fly down in there," Daring said.

"I can show you the ground path, if you'd prefer, Princess," Ancient commented, heading to right alongside the cliff.

Twiligth scrutinized the camp at the bottom of the ravine. "No, it's fine, I can just teleport us down there," she said. She lit her horn, then grabbed the two mares accompanying her with her magic, then teleported all three of them down just in front of the doorway.

"You can teleport!?" Ancient Knowledge squeaked in excitement.

Twilight nodded absently. She tilted her head and studied the structure. She felt coolness from inside the ruin flow out, and it was a welcome relief from the scorching heat of the day. "This material..." she mused. Without missing a beat, she stepped forward, then placed her forehoof on the metal alloy. She held it there for a second, then slid her forehoof down a little lower. "And this is supposedly ten thousand years old? How has it survived the environment? How did it survive Discord?" she wondered aloud.

"We can barely scratch the alloy with our magic," Ancient Knowledge said in a calm yet serious voice. "You have no idea the lengths we went to to get a sample of the alloy free from the rest of the structure to send it off for analysis."

Twilight grimaced, then set her forehoof back on the ground. She looked on in passed the doorway to see a few ponies moving about, and that there had been lights set up to illuminate the structure. She strode forward, then paused to look at the depression left behind by the doorway. She studied it briefly, then continued on in passed the doorway. As she stepped hoof inside the hallway, the nearest crystal break in the wall glowed to life. Twilight paused as the crystals blue glow grew brighter, casting the hallway in a pleasant shade of light.

Twilight wasn't the only pony to notice the change either. "What the..." Daring muttered. She glanced around and looked down at Twilight's hoof. "Princess?"

Ancient Knowledge hesitated, then rushed on inside passed the two ponies and stared intently at the crystal, studying it closely. "It just... reacted to your presence..." she absently stated. "So maybe the structure was designed to react this way only to alicorns?"

"Let's hope that's a good thing, and that this place isn't going to try to kill us now," Daring said warily. She strode on inside passed Twilight.

Twilight shifted her weight uncomfortably and shuffled her wings. "I... we should be fine... Unless whoever built this place knew a lot more about alicorns than is publicly known today, I should be able to protect everypony from any traps or anything..." she trailed off, lit her horn, and closed her eyes. She frowned. "I... can't scan the structure with my magic. It's resisting it..." she mumbled.

"We could only get a basic layout from our scans, and that was just knowing that there was a hallway which lead to an intersection from the entrance," Ancient Knowledge said, drawing back from the glowing crystal and turned back to face Twilight.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked uneasy. She took a deep breath, then shook her head and tentatively walked into the hallway, though her uneasy expression lingered. She paused again as the next crystal section lit up. Twilight's frown deepened. "There has to be an active scanning spell, but I can't sense it or find it with my magic."

"I don't like this," Daring said abruptly. "Glowing crystals aren't normally a good thing."

Ancient Knowledge squinted at the pegasus, but remained silent. "There shouldn't be anything to worry about," Twilight said calmly. "I can tell you that their sole purpose was illumination. All the magic coming from them is being used to power a light spell." Twilight hesitantly continued on, then took the lead of the group. As they continued, more crystals glowed to life, then as she reached the intersection, several glowed to light. By this time, the workers had noticed the princess's presence, along with the glowing crystals, and none of them were sure exactly which warranted more scrutiny.

Twilight idly looked around, then continued on through the intersection and straight ahead into the hallway beyond. With each step, she grew more sure and comfortable in the structure, although it was still off-putting that crystals continued to glow to life as she approached. She paused and looked back behind her down the hallway she came from. "The crystals are still glowing..." she muttered. She pursed her lips, then looked back ahead. After a few more seconds, she stepped into the first, larger chamber. The second she passed through the doorway, the entire room became illuminated by a soft blue glow which illuminated spots that the artificial lights didn't.

Ancient Knowledge slowed to a stop and looked over the room with wonder. "This is even more impressive like this..." she said under her breath. She swallowed and licked her lips. "The fact that the crystals are... still powered after ten thousand years, that's... That's incredible."

Twilight nodded slowly. She briefly surveyed the details of the room and frowned. "I... do not understand what the point of this room could be. Do you have any idea?" she asked.

Ancient Knowledge shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid I don't. They excavated a lot of stone to make this room, so it had to have served some purpose, but I don't know what it would have been. And we haven't found any records or anything either."

Twilight walked over to one of the crystalline alicorn states and lightly placed her forehoof on it. She wasn't sure if she was expecting something to happen or not, but nothing happened. She felt relief at that. "I don't recognize them, but they definitely have the same proportions as Celestia. However, that could just be that they're enlarged for... whatever purpose they served," she commented.

"They seem to be generic alicorn statues," Daring commented.

Twilight continued on into the room, making her way to the hallway beyond. "I find it strange that this place was built out here in the Badlands. On top of that, it strikes me as odd that it's built where it is, in a ravine." She pursed her lips as she thought about it more. "Speaking of that, I would have expected the ravine to have been larger and more sloped if this has been here for ten thousand years. That much time to weather and erode should have done a number on it."

"This area of the Badlands doesn't get much rain," Ancient Knowledge replied. "But that does still leave the question of why they would build something here. There's not much of value around."

Twilight studied the walls as she continued deeper into the ruin. The soft, yet powerful blue glow from the crystals made the place look relaxing. The color slightly reminded her of Rainbow Dash's coat, although it had a deeper, more crystalline quality to it. She pushed the thought aside as she walked into the next room. The room glowed to life as she entered, and her attention was drawn to the depiction of her cutie mark. She felt a slight shiver run down her spine at the sight. She lifted her left wing up, then turned her head back and looked at her flank, studying her own cutie mark. After a few seconds, she looked back at the wall and folded her wing.

"Well, what do ya think?" Daring asked casually. "They captured it quite nicely, didn't they?"

Twilight remained silent. She cocked her head to the side and studied the painted symbol. She walked forward to the middle of the room, then turned around and looked at the wall above the entrance. She pursed her lips. "I guess you two missed that?" she asked. She nodded her head, drawing the two ponies' attentions to the large crystal in the shape of the pink starburst of her cutie mark above the entrance. What appeared to be white crystals of some kind were set in place to represent the white.

"No... we didn't notice that before now," Ancient Knowledge said. She frowned a little, looking at the crystal more closely. "It seems to be glowing slightly?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes, I can sense magic in it," she stated. She turned back around and then took a deep breath. She walked up to the door, halfway expecting it to react the same way the crystals had an open at her presence. The door remained sealed. She pursed her lips and studied the door. "I could probably cut through this," she said. She looked to the right of the door. The crystal set in place beside the door had a faint blue glow to it, running through the center. "But I don't think that will be necessary," she said. She quickly lifted her forehoof up and brought it over to touch the crystal. Before she made contact with the crystal, as her hoof passed in front of it, the glow coming from the crystal turned a shade of magenta, similar to her aura. She heard a sound coming from the door and looked back at the center to see it sliding apart. A second layer behind the first slid diagonally, and the third layer behind it split horizontally. Each layer was as thick as Twilight's hoof, unlike the rest of the doors which had been maybe a sixth as thick.

"Well then," Daring said.

"Had I known it would be that easy, I would have had you join the expedition from the start instead of Daring Do," Ancient Knowledge stated, drawing a sharp, disapproving squint from the pegasus which she paid no mind. "If this place survived ten thousand years, then I wonder why the extra protection was placed here with this door..."

Twilight ignored them. Drawn on by her curiosity, she stepped in through the doorway. She lingered for a moment, then after she was assured nothing bad was about to happen, she strode forward. Almost all at once, the entire hallway lit up from the crystals. She resisted the urge to stop and examine each one and continued on to the end of the hallway. As she approached the door at the end, she glanced at the crystal, expecting to have to stop to wave her hoof in front of it. Instead, as she approached, the door opened before her. She paused and frowned at that.

"Oh, I think it likes you," Daring commented.

"A structure can't like something... Structures aren't alive!" Ancient Knowledge retorted.

Daring looked at Ancient with a dry expression. "This whole place just acknowledges her presence while completely ignoring us."

"It's probably because she's an alicorn princess," Ancient Knowledge refuted. She winced a little. "And scanning spells detecting her presence..."

Daring shrugged and continued on.

Twilight frowned as she stepped into the next room. Studying the room, she determined it to be octagonal in shape. The room also happened to be larger than the room with the sealed door. As she took another step inside, a circular crystal in the middle of the room glowed pink, then another sound similar to the sound of the door opening filled the air. The crystal, along with a section of the floor surrounding it, rose up into the air, a pillar of sorts rising up. The pillar stopped rising once the crystal was a little lower than eye-height for Twilight.

Twilight cautiously walked over to the crystal. Scrutinizing the floor, there was a slight circular depression in the center of the room, which dominated most of the room's interior. She held her breath as she stepped into the circular depression, but nothing happened. She let herself relax a little. She studied the crystal as she stood before it. "This... looks to be about the perfect height for Celestia to use it as a button..." she commented. She glanced back at Daring and Ancient, both of whom shrugged. She turned back to the crystal, took a deep breath, then lifted her forehoof. She hesitated for a second, then waved her forehoof over the crystal.

A high-pitched, yet gentle artificial sound flashed through the air. Twilight stepped back as a teal orb of light shot up into the air from the crystal, then stopped at about head height for Celestia. The light shifted to the same shade as Twilight's magic aura, then a second later, the light illuminating the room took on the same color. Twilight shifted her weight nervously and bit her lip.

"Is... that a good thing or a bad thing?" Daring Do asked quietly.

"That's the same color as her aura... I have no idea," Ancient replied.

Twilight studied the orb intently. She wanted to see if it would respond to her magic, or if it would react in a similar manner to the crystals controlling the door and the room, but she felt uneasy, uncertain, and afraid. A chill ran down her spine. She knew that the ruin wasn't affecting her magic, other than resisting her former attempts to scan it. She pursed her lips, then went to scan the ruin again, wondering if anything else had changed.

She was interrupted by an earth pony. "Doctor! Do you know what's..." he trailed off, watching Twilight and seeing her horn glowing.

Ancient Knowledge looked at him wryly. "Are all of the lights the same color as her aura now?" she asked.

The earth pony blinked, then nodded, but continued to remain silent.

Ancient pursed her lips. "That's interesting..." she mused. "Anything else happen?"

The earth pony blinked again, then turned to Doctor Ancient Knowledge. "The crystals beside the doors are glowing pink too, but we still can't open the doors. They flash red if we get too close."

Daring Do frowned. "I'm guessing that 'red' means 'denied' in this culture, just like ours."

Ancient nodded slowly. "Given the circumstances, I agree..." She frowned in thought. "I wonder if that's related to Twilight..." she mused.

"I didn't do anything on purpose..." Twilight said defensively, shifting her weight and rubbing her wings against her side.

"I didn't mean to say that you were," Ancient said sheepishly.

Twilight eyed the professor for another second, then turned back to the magenta orb.

"Go back and tell the others it's nothing to worry about," Ancient Knowledge said, then turned her attention back to Twilight.

"R-right..." the earth pony answered. He lingered for a moment, then took off at a steady trot back to the others.

Twilight reached up with her forehoof toward the orb. As her hoof touched the outer edge, it felt like she touched a magic forcefield. The ball of magic reacted by emitting a short, gently beeping sound. She quickly drew her hoof back as the orb winked out of existence. A moment later, a projection glowed and thrummed to life, centered around where the orb had been. She immediately recognized the projection, it was similar to a spell she had used many times before.

Ancient Knowledge frowned. "That's... that spell isn't that old..." she muttered in disbelief. "It wasn't created until-"

"It's a different spell. It's a similar design, but it's different," Twilight said in a low, calm voice. She studied the projection closely. The outer edge of the projection looked to be composed of magic formed into a barrier, leaving a square screen of sorts. Inside the screen, she could make out buttons along the left side, along with more buttons and data along the bottom of the screen. Each of the buttons was large enough that it looked to be designed for somepony to tap with the edge of their forehoof, and the screen itself was larger than Princess Celestia's body. There was a large button along the top right of the screen. She looked at the crystal atop the pillar and could see it glowing. "This crystal seems to be projecting this... I can't make any of this out," she said, then let out a groan.

Ancient Knowledge walked over beside Twilight and looked up at the projection. "I... can't either. I don't recognize it."

Daring joined them. She grimaced as she studied it. "That looks like it'll take a while to translate, and we don't have anything to go by."

Twilight nodded. "Any ideas?"

Ancient Knowledge grimaced. "I can go and get-"

She was cut off by a sharp, short and dominating buzz sound. One of the buttons on the screen lost the pink outline and the outline flashed red. A red triangle flashed to life to the left of the button.

Twiligth swallowed. "That... seems bad," she stated.

Ancient Knowledge frowned. "They might have had access to more advanced magic..." she muttered. "Any idea what that was?" she asked.

Twilight pursed her lips, then reached up with a forehoof and tapped the button with the edge of her hoof. There was a gentle chime, then the button flew out to the center of the screen. It expanded, surrounded by a red frame. The original text centered on the button lingered at the top left of the inner frame, and the projection filled with what Twilight assumed to be text. Most of the text was in magenta, but several sections were in red. The left side of the projection still displayed all of the prior buttons, as did the bottom of the projection.

Twilight uneasily pulled her hoof back, then lightly touched the screen. To the right side of the projection, a magenta bar appeared. The bar was about twice as high as it was long and was surrounded by a new frame just on the inside of the projection's outer edge. She slid her hoof up a little, and the text flew upward, while the bar dropped down lower. Twilight squinted, then dragged her hoof back down, causing the text to fly down and the bar to fly back up.

Twilight pursed her lips. "I can figure this out, but I can't read it," she said. She groaned a little.

"I'll go get somepony who might be able to help you translate that," Ancient Knowledge said. She turned to leave.

"I can go check to make sure everything's okay. Unless you're afraid to be alone," Daring said, smiling slyly.

Twilight glanced back at Daring and rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. I've been to ancient ruins before, and I've dealt with things that would make most ponies turn tail and run," she stated casually. "You know, maybe you've heard of that? Nightmare Moon, for instance?"

Daring shrugged, then took off after Ancient Knowledge.

Twilight took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled, turning her attention back to the projection and crystal. She scrutinized the text and groaned once more. "Of course it wouldn't be easy... a ten-thousand-year-old dead language... there's probably no way to translate this, either, because of the Discordian Era..." she grumbled.

She shook her head, then surveyed the room. At random, she walked over to one of the sides of the wall, then placed her forehoof on it and lightly slid it down. As she expected, nothing happened, however, she did notice that, unlike most of the walls, this one had markings. Straight lines, some of which eventually came to dots or had other diagonal lines jotting down from them, leading to more straight lines, which formed an intricate design. She idly looked it over, mulling over what it could be. She slid her hoof down the markings and felt the subtle difference from the indented lines. The lines were sharply cut into metal and distinct, yet the edges were soft and smooth.

She pulled back from the wall, then slowly walked around the room. The only thing that stood out was the raised platform housing the crystal, along with the projection coming from the crystal. Eventually, she walked back around in front of the raised platform.

Twilight inhaled, then puffed out her cheeks and slowly blew air out of her mouth. She idly looked over the projection, then turned her attention to the crystal. She lifted her forehoof up, then waved her hoof over the crystal. The projection flashed out of existence. She waved her forehoof back over the crystal and the projection flashed back to life, returning to the same view it had before the projection disappeared.

She tilted her head to the side, then swept her hoof over the crystal again, this time in the opposite direction. Once more, the projection disappeared. "So it doesn't matter what way, hmm..." she mused. She waved her hoof over the crystal, bringing the projection back.

She lifted her forehoof up higher and held it near the projection and looked it over. She scrutinized the edge of the frame of the projection, then lightly touched the edge of her forehoof to the frame. Once more, she felt like her hoof was touching a barrier of magic. She pursed her lips, then swept her hoof to the left. The data displayed inside the projection all shifted to the left along with her hoof, then disappeared, and new data came into view inside the frame of the projection. She repeated the process, but in the opposite direction, and received expected results, the projection returning to the first view.

She tapped the button that had the red triangle to its left, and the inside frame filled with magenta and red text collapsed in reverse of how it had expanded to fill the screen. Twilight studied the buttons, then tapped the button at the top left of the projection. She could barely reach the button, but she managed.

A new frame came into view inside the outside frame of the projection, similar to the first. However, the center of the projection was dominated by a projection of Twilight's cutie mark in the background. Twilight pursed her lips and scrutinized it, then turned her attention to the vast array of buttons in the foreground of the new frame. All of it appeared in the same magenta shade as her magic. She touched the edge of the inner frame, then slid her hoof up. The frame didn't react to her movement. She tilted her head curiously and swiped her hoof downward. Once more, the frame didn't react. She looked over the projection, then tapped a button in the upper right corner of the inner frame. The projection's inner frame flashed out of existence, then a new frame appeared exactly like the one before, but the buttons had different text on them. She looked over the projection, then found a new button in the bottom right corner. She tapped it, and the projection winked back to the prior state.

"Figuring everything out alright, Princess?" Ancient Knowledge asked as she walked into the room, a cheery tan unicorn with a pale yellow mane in tow.

Twilight looked back at them and smiled warily. "Well, so far as operating this, yes. As far as understanding it? Not quite as much," she stated.

"You can operate that?" the newcomer asked, stepping out from beside Ancient Knowledge and walking over beside Twilight. The new arrival, a young unicorn, had a soft, musical voice to her which was gentle like the wind, flowing off of her tongue like honey. She scrutinized the projection, but she couldn't make much out. "That doesn't seem like it was designed for ponies because of the height," she stated.

Twilight nodded absently and furrowed her brow. "No, it doesn't. It's... curious that this place didn't react to any of you, then it reacted to me the second I set a hoof inside it." She turned back to face the unicorn. "Any idea on where to start translating? I could give you a look through all the text I've found, but I'm a little leery about continuing to look through it all since I can't read it, meaning that I have no idea what any of the buttons do. Well, except for the ones I've already used."

The unicorn grimaced. "No, Princess. I'm not really sure where to start. I would say the main screen that you saw when you first activated it. And- oh!" She stopped and turned to face Twilight. "I didn't introduce myself, I'm sorry, Princess. I'm Loose Translation. A linguist expert from the University of Canterlot." She blushed a little. "This is my first time on an expedition like this, it's really fascinating!"

Twilight smiled. "Well, I hope you enjoy your first time!" she answered, giggling a little. She turned back to the projection, still smiling. "I've... been through similar experiences, but still. This is pretty unique."

Loose Translation shuffled her hooves a little on the floor. "It can't be that unique," she said timidly. "You've done a lot, Princess..."

"Yeah, but this place is the strangest. It has my cutie mark and reacted to my presence where it didn't react to any of you," Twilight commented. She frowned a little, then tapped the button with a red triangle beside red text, bringing that screen to life. "Any idea what this is? It was one of the first things I noticed, and it seems to be a warning of some kind, or at least that's my assumption."

"I'll leave you two to it," Ancient Knowledge said leisurely, then turned to leave.

Twilight glanced back at her. "You're welcome to stay, this just might take a while. I don't mind the company."

Ancient Knowledge paused and looked back at her. "Well, I really need to get a place set up for you to spend the night. It gets pretty cold outside at night, being a desert and all that," she commented, then resumed walking down the hallway.

Twilight frowned and nodded to herself, then looked back at the projection. Loose Translation pursed her lips, then stuck her tongue out slightly. "Do you mind if I..?" she asked, looking at the projection.

Twilight stepped aside. "Of course, go ahead," she said.

Loose Translation stepped over to where Twilight had been standing and looked over the projection. She read over the text, skimming it in an attempt to decipher the language. "Is there a way to see more?" she asked, noticing that the last row of text looked partially cut off.

Twilight nodded. "Just place your forehoof on the screen and slide your hoof upward."

Loose Translation did as she was told, placing her forehoof up on the projection, then sliding it upward. Both Loose Translation and Twilight frowned as the projection didn't react. "Princess?" she asked after a few more attempts. She stepped aside.

Twilight exhaled forcefully and stepped back into place, then placed her forehoof on the projection and slid it upward. The text flew upward, then stopped. Twilight's frown deepened. "It only reacts to me?" she asked in confusion. "I... guess that makes sense considering the rest of what's reacted only to me, but..." she trailed off, ruffling her wings, feeling put on the spot by the ruin.

Daring idly watched a couple of the workers fiddling with the sealed door at the end of the hallway to the left. For what must have been the twentieth time that she had seen, the unicorn of the group waved his hoof in front of the crystal at the right side of the door, causing the crystal to flash red before returning to magenta.

Ancient Knowledge scowled. "With Twilight helping with the translations, exploring the rest of the ruin is gonna take a lot more time, it'd seem."

Daring shrugged. "Maybe not. You could always have her come and help unlock this place, if you were willing to delay translating everything."

"Well, we can't translate it without her, because the projection only responds to her, apparently. We did manage to get this place open without her. Maybe we'll end up using Plan E anyway," Ancient mused.

Daring squinted at the unicorn, who looked back at her innocently. After a few seconds, Daring stood up and stretched out her forehooves, sliding them forward and bending her chest down to touch the floor, then she stood back up. "Why so much focus on the door with the broken crystal above it? Wouldn't it be better to start with the one that's entact?" she asked.

Ancient shrugged, then stood up. "Well, the one that's damaged is more of a curiosity. The rest of the place is in good shape. Who knows what happened? Maybe getting in would help us figure out what this place is."

Daring took a deep breath, then exhaled. She started down the hallway, weaving in between crates and equipment, then came to a stop just behind the workers trying to access the door. The door appeared similar to the rest of the doors in that it looked like it was supposed to open by splitting into two halves which would withdraw into the wall. Looking up at the orange, inert crystal above the doorway, she felt a shiver run down her spine. The way the crystal was cracked and damaged gave her a bad feeling somehow.

The rest of the structure was remarkably well preserved, but this one crystal above a door was shattered into sharp shards. There were a couple of other broken crystals they had found, but they had been the control crystals to doors. They had no idea what purpose the crystal above the door served. As she studied it, she shifted her weight and noticed that not all of it appeared to have been sharply shattered. Toward the center, it looked like something had melted the crystal, turning it into a thick, viscous liquid which barely flowed, only becoming much smoother, before solidifying once more. She lowered her gaze and looked around to survey the crystal shards which lingered on the floor. Most of them had been taken away and stored, but a few of them hadn't. One of them looked more like a thick liquid had hit the floor, then hardened. It was smooth.

Ancient Knowledge leisurely walked around, taking notice of Daring's sudden interest in the crystal. "Darin'? What is it?"

Daring frowned, then leaned down and picked up the smooth crystal with her wing. She studied it for a moment more, then extended it over for Ancient Knowledge to look over. "Whatever happened to this crystal, part of it melted," she stated.

Ancient slowly frowned and picked up the crystal with her magic. She held it in front of her while Daring folded her wing back to her side. "We sent off a sample of the crystal for a report on it, but it'll be a while before we get any results from it." She blinked and looked away from the crystal to look at Daring, and she studied the pegasus's expression and body. She seemed a little more tense. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Something purposefully destroyed that crystal," Daring stated. "I don't like this. It doesn't feel right."

One of the two earth pony workers turned around to face Daring. "I've felt that way since the Princess showed up and all the lights came on," he stated. After a few seconds, he turned around and went back to work, attempting to open the doors. "This door is really sealed tight," he stated flatly, grunting as he put all his strength into it.

Ancient Knowledge set the crystal down, then enveloped the door with her magic, then grunted as she tried to pry it apart. She heaved and fell forward a little as it refused to budge. "I think that door isn't going to be opened with anything less than explosives or Twilight," she stated glumly.

"We could try the other door at the end of the right hallway," Daring commented.

Ancient pursed her lips and slowly nodded. "Alright, let's try that one."

The two earth ponies and the unicorn attempting to open the door stopped. They looked amongst themselves somewhat awkwardly, then headed off to the end of the other hallway. Daring and Ancient followed behind them. The two earth ponies set up pushing on the doors in an attempt to pry them apart, while the unicorn enveloped the doors in his magic. All of them had strained expressions. "They really didn't want ponies getting through, did they?" Daring muttered. She stepped forward and threw her strength and weight into the right side of the door, followed by Ancient Knowledge adding her magic to the mix. They strained themselves hard but were finally rewarded by a slight creaking sound, followed by the sound of metal sliding on metal. They all relaxed, and the two earth ponies slid their hooves in between the doors and managed to push them apart with the new hold.

The room beyond was pitch black, and a renewed wave of cold washed out over them and flooded the hallway, drawing the attention of the other ponies in the area. Daring felt a tingling sensation trailing down her spine as she looked into the darkness. It brought her a sense of accomplishment and a sense of adventure. She looked forward to exploring it, finding out why it was sealed, and dealing with any and all challenges or traps that it held.

Ancient turned to the unicorn staring into the darkness. "Go get us a couple of flashlights," she ordered.

The unicorn blinked, then turned away and nodded. He set off at a gentle yet brisk trot walking down the hallway the way they came. Daring stepped forward to take his place and brushed a hoof on the cold floor beyond the door. The chill lingered in her hoof. "You know, I'm used to jungles and heat, but not the cold," she commented. "Most of the ruins I've explored have been in tropical or warm regions. This isn't something I'm that familiar with," she stated.

"It's a little off-putting just how cold it is," Ancient replied. "Even for being underground," she added.

A short while later, the unicorn returned with five flashlights and distributed them among the ponies present while also keeping one for himself. They all clicked on their flashlights one by one, breaking the darkness beyond to reveal the same, familiar hallways as before, filled with crystal breaks every few feet.

Without waiting, Daring took the lead, stepping through the doorway into the chilled darkness. Her pegasi senses told her that something was wrong about the place, and it lingered just like from the other doorway. Yet, she also knew that the ruin hadn't been filled with traps, or at least they had encountered none yet. She coaxed her concern aside but paid close attention to her senses as she continued on into the darkness, spurred on by her bravery and curiosity. Ancient Knowledge followed behind her, along with the three workers.

Sweeping the hallway with their lights, they discovered that it had the same architecture as the rest of the structure, however, there was a distinct lack of doors on both sides of the hallway. Shining the light down to the end revealed that the hallway turned to the left and headed in the same direction as the projection room, but straight. The hallway appeared to stretch on long enough that by the time it turned, it wouldn't hit the projection room.

Daring continued marching onward, ever cautious of the darkness surrounding her. The further in they went, the more she found herself relaxing as each step brought no traps to stop the adventurers. As they reached the end of the hallway, they turned to the left and continued. Once more, there were no doors, and every few feet of the wall was broken by a crystal section that would have illuminated the place. Sweeping the light to the right along the wall, Daring noticed that there was, in fact, one door.

The crystal to the right of the door looked inert, the same glossy, dull grayish blue that the rest of the crystals had appeared as before Twilight had arrived. Daring passed it over without much thought, though she did shine her light over the top of the door to see if there was anything to distinguish it. The metal alloy above the door was blank, without showing any sign of anything having ever been there. She continued along the hallway, still sweeping her light along.

The chill of the air seemed to only grow more intense as they neared the end of the hallway and approached the door at the end. Glancing and aiming her light to the right, Daring noticed another door. The crystal control to the door was destroyed. Shards of the crystal were missing. She swept her light down to the floor and found several of the broken shards littering the area beneath it. She also noticed that the crystal looked like it had been molten, as it had flowed downward and smoothed out, covering small, bulging area below what the control crystal should have covered.

Ancient Knowledge examined the crystal with her magic. "I'm not sensing any magic or spells lingering in it. It's toast," she said.

Daring nodded absently and turned her attention back to the other door. She studied it for a moment, then turned around and swept her light over the hallways. Nothing had changed, not that she had expected it to. She turned back. "Alright, let's see if we can't open this door," she said. Immediately, the two earth ponies and the unicorn stepped up and worked on opening the door, which didn't budge until Daring and Ancient Knowledge added their strength and magic.

With some work, they managed to crack open the door, then pry it all the way open. Daring shined her light around and studied the room. She blinked in surprise. The room looked like a bedroom. In the center of the room, sticking out toward the door, there was a metal frame. On top of the metal frame, there was a mattress, which hadn't decayed, despite being at least ten thousand years old. The mattress itself was white, but it looked like somepony had thrown a fit and destroyed it. White stuffing jotted out from it, and small sections of cloth were hanging off it or missing entirely.

"What happened here..?" Ancient asked quietly.

Daring swept her light around. To the right of the room, she saw another door and a crystal beside the door, along with what looked like a dresser made out of the same metal that the rest of the structure was made from. She shifted her weight uncomfortably as she shined her light in the mirror above it. After finishing her sweep to the right, she turned her attention to the left.

Sweeping her light around, she froze as her light briefly illuminated something for a split second which she hadn't expected to see. One of the earth ponies actually jumped back and let out a startled yelp, dropping his flashlight in the process. All of the rest of the flashlights fell back on what Daring had illuminated.

There was a gray, stone statue of an alicorn near the left corner of the room. The statue looked wrong, it was about the same size as Princess Celestia, but the expression worn into the stone was one of contempt, hatred and primal ferocity. Daring found it fascinating, even with as much as it unnerved her. The statue's mane and tail looked so lifelike with how it was positioned, like whoever made it sculpted it after somepony posing for them. On top of that, the statue's features were pristine, unweathered by the elements. The statue was posed in a position where it was crouched down, like a predator getting ready to pounce on prey.

Daring and Ancient both shined their lights on the statue's face and studied it closely. "That's... remarkable! And creepy," Ancient stated.

"Why would somepony want a statue of an alicorn like... like that, in their bedroom?" one of the earth ponies muttered, disconcerted by the statue.

"Perhaps it's just part of their society," Daring commented with a shrug. "Some of the older cultures were even more messed up than that. Ritual sacrifices weren't exactly uncommon among some of the earlier civilizations..." she added.

Daring hesitantly lifted her forehoof, then hastily stepped into the room in proper and looked around. "I wish we had more light, we can't really get a proper feel for that statue like this," she commented. She continued forward, squinting at the statue. As she grew closer, she grimaced. "Looks like it has a couple of cracks near the shoulder... Not quite as pristine as I had hoped," she said with a sigh. She shook her head and headed over toward the other door in the room. To her surprise, the door was partially cracked open, and the control crystal looked like it had been fused with the metal surrounding it, as it had flowed down like other melted crystals would have.

She forced the door open and found a bathroom. A single, smooth crystal stretched from halfway up the wall across from the entrance, all the way across the top, then it stopped just an inch before meeting the doorway. Daring stepped over to the sink and eyed what looked like a faucet. It was rectangular in shape and jotted up at an angle similar to ones they would use, but the sink itself was at eye height for her. She propped herself up on it and noticed two crystals on the sink toward the back. One to the left of the faucet and the other one was to the right of the faucet. She hopped back down and looked back at the doorway. There was a second crystal set in the wall just to the right of the crystal operating the door. This second crystal was much more rounded than the rectangular control for the door.

Daring shrugged it off and headed back out into the bedroom. Another oval shaped crystal was to the right of the door control where they had entered. She shined the light at Ancient. "Well, we made more progress without Twilight," she stated leisurely.

Ancient smiled sheepishly. "That we did," she acknowledged. "But I get the feeling it's going to take us a while to fully explore and understand this place." She paused, then winced and grimaced. "How long is Princess Twilight going to be here?" she asked timidly.

"She said she planned on a week, but with all we've found out because of her being here, she might extend it," Daring answered.

"Right..." Ancient said quietly. "I guess we better move some equipment in here so we can study that stature, then. Or maybe we should just come and have Twilight turn the lights on for us?" she asked with a slight giggle.

Daring feigned distress. "Oh, making the Princess a glorified maintenance worker now, are we? Ancient, I thought you were better than that!"

Ancient smiled sheepishly. "It's not my fault the structure only responds to her."

Daring rolled her eyes. "Well, we should try to see what else we can access now that we're getting better at opening the doors without using Plan E, or the Princess," she stated. She walked on through the bedroom, then walked back out into the hallway. The rest of the ponies followed her out, their lights leaving the room and the statue to the cold darkness.

Open Door, Lock Door

View Online

Twilight stifled a yawn with her forehoof. Staring up at the dark night sky above her was breathtaking. The dry, clear desert air meant that thousands more stars were clearer than even on Canterlot mountain, and without any light pollution from civilization, all of it was visible. She could even make out a few smudges of galaxies with her own eyes.

She stretched out her legs and sighed calmly, then shivered a little. Since the sun had gone down, the temperature had rapidly dropped. Even knowing to expect it didn't prepare her for it, but it was still early. The moon had barely passed the horizon and was slowly creeping into the sky, coaxed onwards by Luna's magic. She shivered again and scooted a little closer to the gently crackling fire which cast a soft glow over the camp.

Doctor Ancient Knowledge calmly walked around to her, then sat down on her haunches beside her, staring up at the pristine sky above. "It's beautiful out here, isn't it, Princess?"

Twilight nodded in agreement. "I've always loved astronomy," she replied, tilting her head to the side. She continued to look up at the sky, though her eyes glazed over as her mind drifted to memories of years gone by. A smile grew on her lips. "Looking into the vast expanse of space... it can really put things in perspective. My mentor, Princess Celestia, moves the sun, and Princess Luna moves the moon..." she trailed off, frowning. "Of course, it wasn't always that way. Before them, there were unicorns who had to move it, but before that... nopony knows. The fact that the sun and the moon have to be moved is a bit startling considering just how massive they are compared to Equis. Well, at least the sun. The moon's smaller... But you get the idea."

Ancient Knowledge nodded solemnly. "Yeah..." she trailed off. "Ever wonder how those unicorns knew to move the sun and the moon? And what would have happened if they didn't?"

Twilight shivered, but not from the cold. "There are a few different theories on both subjects. One of the theories is that something happened during the Discordian Era, that Discord did something which made it necessary to move the sun and the moon, otherwise, Equis would have been destroyed, but that theory doesn't hold up to what we know. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna predate the Discordian Era, and they've said that the sun and moon had to be moved by unicorns before then. They took over from them." She took a deep breath and shook her head. "But, either something happened to screw up how the solar system was supposed to work, or the unicorns got together and screwed up the solar system. Both ideas are pretty scary because that means that either something was powerful enough to move the sun and the moon enough to disrupt how orbital mechanics were supposed to work, or a bunch of unicorns a long time ago were able to do that."

Ancient Knowledge frowned. "But isn't that kind of the same with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? They both move the sun and the moon, respectively."

Twilight shook her head. "Their special talents are related to that. Their special talents are actually levitation. Only a few ponies know that..." she trailed off. "But what's scary is we know nothing about what happened which necessitated the sun and the moon being moved by ponies in the first place..." she trailed off and yawned. "Well... maybe scary isn't the right word to use. I just..." she trailed off, frowning. "It's something I've never been able to understand. I can understand both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna being able to move the sun and the moon, but I can't wrap my mind around how a few powerful unicorns could do that. I moved the sun and the moon before when I had all of the alicorn magic, which makes it incredibly hard for me to understand how a bunch of unicorns could come together to do that, let alone why they would want to..."

Ancient Knowledge squinted and tilted her head in thought. "Well, maybe one day we'll figure that out," she replied. After a moment, she looked over at Twilight. "Have you asked the princesses about it?"

Twilight nodded. "They don't seem to know either. Back then, they didn't think that much about it, either." She took a deep breath, then sat up. She stretched her wings out, then lazily folded them back at her sides. She studied the sky for a moment longer, letting her eyes wander over the vast expanse of darkness, marveling at the universe. All too soon, the moment ended, broken by a long, drawn out yawn. She looked over at Doctor Knowledge and smiled sheepishly. "I think I'm going to head to bed... I'll see you in the morning."

Ancient Knowledge smiled politely and nodded. "Of course. I look forward to it. We still have so much to learn about this place..."

Twilight grimaced as she stood up. "Two days and we've barely learned anything..."

Ancient Knowledge sighed and glanced down at the dry, rocky ground beneath her hooves. "None of the doors have given us half as much trouble as that door with the broken crystal..." she muttered, shaking her head in annoyance.

Twilight frowned. "It's strange. The door almost acts like somepony sealed it. Not in the sense of using magic to enchant it to prevent it from being opened either. I checked that."

Ancient Knowledge frowned, then slowly looked up at Twilight curiously. "Maybe it was sealed?" she asked.

Twilight shrugged. "It's possible, although I don't know why it would be so different from the rest of the place. The control room's door was clearly designed for protection, so what would they have sealed behind the other door?" she asked. She shook her head and resumed slowly walking off toward her tent.

Daring Do idly sat atop a crate eating an apple while watching Twilight and Loose Translation work. The apple was a bit tangy, just the way she liked them. The work was going slow, which wasn't how she liked it. Working with others had the drawback that if they were slower than you, you were limited to their pace, or you were forced to leave them behind. However, there was the added benefit of more help.

That said, Daring preferred to work alone. However, she made an exception in this one case, and it was worth it. It wasn't the kind of adventure she was used to, but the fact that they knew next to nothing about the place is what sparked her interest and held it. Instead of looking for an idol or a relic, she didn't know what she was looking for, and she didn't know what it would look like when they found it.

That said, Twilight and Loose Translation didn't know what they were looking for either. Twilight sighed as she swiped a forehoof across the projection, moving the text to the right and bringing up a new projection. "It has some resemblance to Old Equish, but it's next to non-existent. I could be imagining it," Twilight commented.

Loose Translation levitated out a book from her saddlebag. She flipped the book open and flipped through the pages. She skimmed the pages and pursed her lips. "Mmm... I don't think so," she finally said, levitating the book back into her saddlebag.

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "I'm really out of my league here. Translating dead languages isn't my special talent, magic is."

Loose Translation grimaced. "Translating dead languages which haven't been spoken in thousands of years isn't my special talent either."

"Well..." Twilight trailed off. "I... guess I'll leave you to this, then. You probably have a better chance of figuring this out than I do. I'm going to go see what the Professor is up to," she said. She gave the younger mare a smile. "Is this projection good, or do you want it on another screen?" she asked.

"No, this is fine," Loose Translation answered. "I made enough notes about the other screens you've shown me that I have something to work with."

Twilight turned around and headed toward the exit. As she walked passed the crate Daring Do was perched on, the pegasus set her apple core down on the crate, then hopped off and walked beside her. Twilight gave the pegasus a warm smile. "Rainbow Dash is probably jealous that I'm out here, off on an adventure with you," she commented.

"Oh, she'd be jealous alright, up until she realized how boring this would be for her," Daring replied. Twilight giggled.

Walking out into the first major room from the control room, Twilight looked around to see three unicorns, two pegasi, and an earth pony mulling about, examining the structure. A lot of their attention was focused on the emblem of her cutie mark and the crystal set in the wall.

Twilight couldn't help but glance up at the large crystal. A shiver went down her spine. "It's a bit unnerving that not only does this place have my cutie mark in it, but it also only responds to me. Or at the very least, it responds to alicorns. And then there are those alicorn statues," she said timidly. She frowned a little as she walked on. "And then there's the fact that I wasn't born an alicorn..." she trailed off, her mind mulling over all the different possibilities it could mean.

Daring nodded leisurely. "This place seems to have some connection to alicorns. A lot of ancient pony societies had myths of alicorns, so it's not that big of a surprise, at least to me."

Twilight nodded. "Still, this place is just... strange," she commented. She looked around the next cavernous room. It was flooded with light and ponies of all kinds went about their work, studying the walls, moving tools and instruments about, and taking readings as they attempted to discover more about the structure.

They both continued along at a leisurely pace, walking through the hallways and heading towards the exit. The pink-lit crystals continued to glow and cast the walls in a soft shade. As they neared the exit, the coolness of the air started to fade, but it was still far more comfortable than the unforgiving desert air outside. Twilight felt a chill run down her spine as she stepped out into the intersection hallway. She stopped and blinked, then turned her gaze to the right. She stood there and watched the sealed door, her eyes quickly moving around and studying every detail that she could make out.

Daring continued on for a few steps, then she paused when she realized Twilight had stopped. She looked back behind her and watched Twilight for a moment. Twilight hesitantly turned to the right. Daring frowned, then turned around and walked back towards Twilight. "Hey, you coming?"

Twilight blinked and hastily looked over at Daring, then turned her gaze back to the door. She squinted, then slowly started walking toward the sealed door. "That door just... it's bothering me. Whenever I've walked past here, I just feel a burning desire to know what's behind it. It could be the key to figuring out what happened here, or maybe figuring out the language," she said calmly. She took a deep breath. "I'm going to open it," she said in a strong, determined voice. "Go get the professor, please. She'll want to be here."

Daring frowned but nodded. "Alright, I'll be right back," she replied. She turned back towards the exit and set off at a leisurely trot. "Don't get yourself into any trouble, Princess," she called.

Twilight glanced at Daring. She smiled and rolled her eyes, then she looked back at the door. She continued her slow approach to the door. The hallway was mostly empty, save for crates and equipment, which she ignored and avoided. She tilted her head and came to a stop right at the door. She lifted her forehoof and tentatively placed it on the center of the door, where it would have split to open. She studied the door, then slid her forehoof downward, feeling along the indent which served to show that the door was two pieces.

She looked over at the broken crystal beside the door. The crystal remained inert and lifeless despite their best attempts, but it wasn't surprising since it was broken. She drew her forehoof back, then waved it in front of the crystal to see if anything happened. As she expected, the crystal didn't react or respond in any way. She looked up at the shattered crystal above the door and pursed her lips.

"Professor?"

Ancient Knowledge looked up from the map of the ruin that they had explored so far. She blinked and glanced back down at it. She briefly looked over the map once more, taking in the explored right side of the ruin. Since they had unlocked that door on the right main hallway, they had discovered a few more small rooms with beds, of which most of them were still in pristine condition. Some samples had been sent off for analysis, while most of them remained untouched. Other than the room with the statue, not much of interest had been found. There was one room of interest, however, that had an elongated, octagonal table in the center. The entire surface of the table was one smooth crystal. Scans had failed to determine much about it, and even Twilight was stumped. The crystal had a soft teal glow to it, and it hadn't reacted to Twilight.

She pushed the curiosity aside, then smiled and looked over towards the tent opening. A dull brown earth pony stood there, patiently waiting, though his expression was strained. Ancient Knowledge hopped out of her chair and walked toward him. "Yes?" she asked.

The earth pony grimaced and shifted his weight. "The statue we found isn't handling the heat very well, Professor. The cracks are starting to widen and we've found a few more areas cracking that hadn't cracked before. The heat must be making the stone expand."

Ancient Knowledge winced and sighed. She nodded her head sadly. "I was afraid of that..." she muttered. "The stone wouldn't be used to the heat since it's been sealed away inside the ruin for thousands of years, and it's probably fragile... Our preservation spells aren't holding, either?"

The earth pony shook his head. "No. From what the unicorns say, the spells won't even take hold on it. There's something interfering, or so they say."

Doctor Knowledge grimaced. "Yet another mystery to the statue..." she muttered. She shook her head, then looked at him seriously. "Go ahead and move the statue back into the ruin, that way the heat won't get to it quite as bad. With any luck, the cooler temperature will slow down or stop the cracking."

"Right away!" the earth pony replied. He turned away and headed off.

Doctor Knowledge walked out of the tent and into the scorching sun. She took a deep breath of the hot, dry desert air, then exhaled. After only a few seconds, she could feel where the unrelenting sun was hitting her back and warming her up. She turned around and hastily walked back inside her tent, returning to the merciful shade it offered, even if the heat of the day still lingered.

She headed back to her chair, then hopped up onto it and sat down. She placed her forehooves on the table in front of her and looked over the map for a few seconds. She stared at the one door which continually barred them from further exploration. She felt anxious about opening it up. She slowly leaned in closer and intently stared at the line which represented the sealed door, and she didn't blink. 'What are you hiding..?' she wondered.

After a few seconds, she sighed and then slumped back down in her chair. She turned her gaze away from the map and levitated a manilla folder over. She opened it up and slid the contents upward without withdrawing them from the folder. It would be days before they heard anything more, possibly even weeks, and not knowing ate her up inside, leaving her jittery with energy that she had nothing to expend it on. The ruin stumped them and refused to let them make any progress. Having completely explored all that they could access still left them knowing no more than when they started off. Their only clues were the crystals, the alloy which the walls were made out of, a magic projection that only Twilight could manipulate, and the crystal lighting having taken on the color of Twilight's magic aura.

"Still salivating over that report, Doctor?" Daring asked.

Ancient Knowledge sighed and sat up straighter. She looked over at the pegasus to see her smirking. She slid the documents back into the manila folder and then set it aside. "It's just so hard to believe, isn't it, Daring?" she asked in response.

Daring shrugged. "I've seen some pretty hard to believe things in my adventures," she acknowledged. "I wouldn't say that this is unbelievable, just unique."

Ancient Knowledge nodded. "History making," she corrected. She smiled. "So what brings you here, Daring? Find anything?"

"Twilight wanted me to come and get you. She seems to have taken a rather sudden interest in that door of yours that won't open," Daring replied. She smiled sweetly. "She said she's going to try to convince that door to open for you," she said in a sweet, almost mocking voice.

Doctor Knowledge rolled her eyes, then hopped out of her chair again. "Well, in that case, let's not keep her waiting," she replied. She trotted over to the opening and Daring pulled back, then turned and flew off towards the ravine. Ancient Knowledge stepped on outside and into the relentless sun. She glanced around, then headed off towards the path which led to the bottom of the ravine. A few unicorns and earth ponies were also making their way toward the path, though their progress was slowed by the large wooden crate they carried. The wooden crate itself was unassuming, although its large size was out of place. Several ponies could have fit inside it, and the sides were reinforced with a plank going diagonally from the top left to the bottom right. An upside down label was directly above an arrow pointing at the ground. Despite their best efforts to keep the crate steady, it continually wobbled from the weight inside shifting as they moved. She frowned a little and squinted at them as it wobbled. "You better not drop that..." she muttered to herself.

Despite her concerns, she continued on and made her way down to the chasm and the entrance which it protected. She sighed in relief as soon as she stepped into the ruin's coolness and out of the harsh sunlight. Daring greeted her with a smile and then lead them forward, deeper inside. When they reached the intersection, they turned left. Twilight stood in front of the door, barely moving, and completely silent.

Daring and Knowledge quietly approached her. "Yes, Princess?" Ancient asked as they neared her.

Twilight tensed up, then jerked her head around towards the Professor. She looked bewildered for a moment, then it passed. She closed her eyes and let out a breath, then she inhaled, opened her eyes, and smiled. "Professor," she acknowledged. She turned back to the door.

"Daring said you wanted me?" Ancient Knowledge asked.

Twilight nodded and lit her horn. "Yes. I'm going to try to cut through the door."

Daring frowned and shifted her weight on her hooves. She cautiously walked around to Twilight's right side but lingered behind her. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Princess?"

Twilight grimaced and bobbed her head. She looked back at Daring Do. "Well, from what I can tell nothing bad should happen... besides, I'm sure we can handle it."

"You say that now..." Daring muttered.

Twilight frowned and squinted at the pegasus. "Hey, it's not like this place has tried to kill any of us..." she said defensively, ruffling her wings.

"Yet," Daring commented. "Ancient ruins like to make you think nothing bad is going to happen and then things go completely, terribly wrong. If there's a pedestal with an idol on it, and it looks completely unassuming, then you're guaranteed that the pedestal is going to sink into the floor and trigger a trap as soon as you take the idol," she said dryly. "I'd think you'd know that because you've read my stories."

"I'm with Twilight on this one," Ancient Knowledge commented. "We're not making much progress with anything we've found so far, and this place hasn't had any traps of any kind from what we can tell. Of course, being cautious isn't a bad thing."

Daring shot Ancient Knowledge a glare. "In my experience, things are usually sealed for a reason," she quipped.

"Alright, stand back," Twilight warned. Both Daring Do and Ancient Knowledge hastily took several steps back. Twilight calmly took a deep breath, then lowered her head so that her horn was pointed right at the center of the door. The aura around her horn glowed brighter, and a beam of brilliant magenta magic shot out of her horn.

The door met the magic head on and refused to budge. Twilight watched the door intently and scanned it with her magic as she continued the assault, attempting to figure out the best course of action. At first, the magic seemed to hit the door and do nothing, but as seconds passed, she could feel waves of heat starting to roll off of the door. She breathed calmly and focused on the singular goal of cutting through the door.

Gradually, the metal alloy around where the magic was hitting started to glow from the heat, and it started to warp under the force of her magic, then as it melted it started to flow downward, spurred on by gravity. Twilight methodically cut through the middle of the door where the two sections met. The alloy cooled quickly as it rolled away and formed into globs of alloy which were completely smooth and displayed no signs of any damage.

It took her a solid half hour, but eventually, she cut through the door, splitting it in two. Twilight hastily broke the beam, then lifted her head up. A sliver of alloy continued to connect the two sections of the door together- she didn't want to damage anything behind the door. She enveloped both sides of the door in her magic, then grunted.

The sound of twisting and groaning metal filled the air as she forced the alloy to break and split. She ripped open the door and forced the two sections apart and back into the wall, only stopping where the melted globs of metal prevented the doors from going back further. Twilight breathed heavily and stared into the pitch blackness beyond.

A shiver rolled down her spine as a wave of cold air washed over her body. Daring Do quietly walked ahead of Twilight. She hesitantly glanced down at the floor and testingly touched her hoof to the floor near where Twilight had heated up the door. The coolness was a welcomed surprise. She looked back at Ancient Knowledge. "Got a flashlight?" she asked.

The unicorn blinked, then glanced back behind her. After a few seconds of looking around, she levitated three flashlights over and turned them on. Daring took one in her wing, Twilight took hers with her magic, and the professor kept one and held it close. The three of them shined their lights into the darkness. "I don't think that Plan E would be able to get through this door as easily as you did..." Ancient muttered.

The hallway Appeared to be the same length and dimensions as the hallway past the door on the right. At the end of the hallway, there were two doors, one going straight, and one set in the right side of the wall.

Daring glanced back at Ancient Knowledge and looked at her incredulously. "Why exactly did you bring explosives with you on an archeological expedition..?" she asked at length.

"We couldn't get the main door open..." Ancient Knowledge replied defensively, shifting her weight and frowning. She hesitantly walked ahead and lifted a hoof to step into the new section, only for Daring to hastily block her way with an outreached hoof. Ancient smiled sheepishly at the pegasus.

Daring leisurely strode forward into the hallway. She shivered as she stepped into the coolness and felt the cold chill of the alloy beneath her hooves. She listened intently, but she heard nothing outside of the beating of their hearts and their breathing. Despite nothing appearing wrong or anything seeming to be a danger, she still felt uneasy and cautious. There was a deep-seated feeling of wrongness in the pit of her stomach which she couldn't shake, and stepping into the hallway only intensified it.

"Alright, just get it inside and set it against the wall in the hallway. Out of the way," a voice called.

"The statue was cracking from the heat, so I'm having them move it back inside," Ancient acknowledged.

Twilight grimaced. "We should have realized that would happen..." she said timidly. "The heat would have caused the stone to expand..." she winced. "Although, now by bringing it back inside... that may be worse since the coolness will make it contract..." she trailed off.

"Well, it won't have to deal with the temperature changes of the day and night cycle. Or at least they won't be quite so bad," Ancient replied.

Twilight nodded. "That's true... That may have been the biggest problem for it..." she trailed off and pointed the flashlight over the walls, ceiling, and floor of the hallway. There was nothing of interest marking the walls, nor ceiling, save for the occasional crystal breaks towards the end of the hallway, but as she swept the light towards the right, illuminating the wall close to them, there were visible scorch marks. A few places even bulged or sagged slightly, like it had melted ever so slightly. "Does it bother anypony else that the hallway the door sealed has signs of damage?" she asked quizzically.

"Well, the crystals were definitely purposefully destroyed too, so there is that," Daring replied leisurely. She swept her flashlight to the left and along the floor, then froze as the beam of light swept over something reflective.

Not a second later, both Twilight and Ancient Knowledge's flashlights were focused on the same spot. Ancient Knowledge gawked at the sight. "T-that's..." she stuttered.

Twilight hesitantly stepped forward. She fluffed her wings and took a deep breath. The skeleton was remarkably well preserved and would have fit somepony as large as Princess Celestia. Not a single bone was broken or looked damaged, although the golden armor protecting the body hid a lot of the bones from sight. The armor was inlaid with the same glossy, grayish-blue crystals that the structure had, and they formed intricate, straight lines around the armor, almost resembling pathways. But perhaps the most interesting aspects of the skeleton and armor was that the skeleton had a horn, and the armor clearly had wing-slots. Adding on to that, was the fact that there were wing bones.

"That's an alicorn..." Twilight said quietly. She felt her heart beat a little quicker as she scrutinized the skeleton. She felt excited by the realization and more than a little mortified. Somepony had died in the structure, while wearing armor, in a sealed section of a ten-thousand-year-old ruin that showed signs of damage, and that pony had been an alicorn. She swallowed and then looked over the armor again. Closer examination revealed that the gold was coloring, and a few scratches seemed to reveal that it might have been made of the same material that the rest of the structure was made from. There was a large, six-pointed star-shaped crystal set in the breastplate. The crystal had a single large crack running through one of the points all the way to the center, then in between two points, splitting it in two. The crystal was the same inert glossy blue color as the rest of the crystals they had encountered. Twilight stared at the crystal and shivered, it looked familiar, but it was a twisted perversion because of the crack, like something from a bad dream or a nightmare.

Daring hesitantly strode over to the skeleton and looked it over. "This might not be an alicorn- the wings could be fake, or pegasus wings... It might be ceremonial," she added. She felt a shiver run down her spine, and she felt off. The place felt wrong, and looking at the skeleton of a possible alicorn left her with a deep-seated unease inside her.

Twilight shifted her weight uncomfortably. "That's possible, but given what we know, which albeit is very limited, this structure awoke from my presence," she stated. "It didn't react to unicorns or pegasi..." she added timidly. She hesitantly lifted a forehoof and stepped into the dark hallway.

As soon as her hoof touched the floor, the entire hallway came to life, lighting up. The crystals set in the walls all glowed to life, casting a magenta glow throughout the hallway.

Daring Do looked back at Twilight, then glanced down at her hoof. Twilight hesitantly lifted her forehoof and pulled it back out of the hallway. Daring looked back up at Twilight. "It's kind of hard to argue against that when you can prove it just by walking around," she commented, then turned back around.

Twilight bobbed her head and ruffled her wings. She hesitantly lifted her forehoof back up, then strode into the hallway. She came to a stop at the Skeleton. Her lips pulled into a flat line as she looked over the wing bones. "These are definitely alicorn wings..." she said quietly. "They're too large for pegasi, and they don't have the same structure as pegasi wings."

"Judging from how large the skeleton is, I think we can safely assume that this was an alicorn. It looks like it would have supported somepony as large as Princess Celestia," Ancient mused. She frowned a little. "How are alicorn's heights determined?" she asked. "Does age factor into it?"

Twilight glanced at Ancient. "Due to the small size of the current alicorn population, there's not enough of a sample to get accurate information. It's likely that age is one contributor. Something which supports that is that Princess Celestia is the oldest, and she's the tallest, while I'm significantly younger, and I don't even have the same stature as Cadance, who is older than I am."

"I'll have somepony come and try to determine the age of the skeleton and how old she was when she died," Ancient commented. She turned and headed back towards the intersection.

"Probably better get somepony to preserve her too. Wouldn't want a perfectly preserved alicorn skeleton to deteriorate from the conditions we've exposed her to," Daring said.

"I'll take care of that too," Ancient replied.

Daring took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. "Well, Princess. It looks like it's just us who're going to explore this part of the ruin."

Twilight nodded absently and hesitantly looked away from the skeleton. "Lead the way, Daring," she said calmly.

Daring turned and headed off at a leisurely pace along the hallway. She turned off her flashlight to preserve the charge. She didn't need it on anyway because the structure was well-lit now that Twilight had entered. The two of them gradually walked to the end of the hallway and then stopped. There were two doors at the end of the hallway. One lead straight ahead and the other went to the right. Both crystals were glowing and active. Daring fell into a short bow, then waved her wing forward, motioning Twilight ahead. "After you, Princess."

Twilight rolled her eyes, then walked around. "I should probably just open both doors so that more of the workers can start mapping the ruin," she commented. She frowned a little. "Although, if I did that, Ancient Knowledge could get lost."

"Well, which way?" Daring asked.

Twilight took a deep breath and then looked over both doors. Neither one of them showed signs of damage or wear. She turned to face the door going straight, then she waved her hoof in front of the crystal. The crystal chirped and blinked. The door immediately opened, revealing the hallway beyond it to already be well lit by the same magenta glow from the crystals lighting the rest of the structure.

Twilight took the lead without waiting for Daring. The pegasus hastily caught up to Twilight and then took the lead. Twilight glanced over at Daring. "I don't think this place has any traps," she commented.

Daring bobbed her head. "You might be right, but this place just feels wrong. I can't shake the feeling that something is off about this place, and coupled with some of what we've found..." she trailed off.

Twilight slowed and nodded. "I feel that way too. It's probably just our imaginations," she replied dismissively.

"Maybe, but then again the fact that more than one of us feels that way has me a little leery too," Daring replied. She took a deep breath and rustled her wings. "Another door up ahead," she commented.

Twilight nodded. They continued walking along quietly at a calm pace, not rushed, but not slow either. Both of them were excited but wary of the place- each door held something new and undiscovered behind it. "I feel like your next book is going to have a lot of suspense to it."

Darign snorted and shook her head. "At this rate, you'll probably be right, Twilight. Just hope it won't be broken by letdowns and finding the ruin is filled with ten-thousand-year-old tax records."

Twilight closed her eyes and giggled. After a few seconds, her giggles faded. She opened her eyes and smiled. "Isn't this normally about the time when the villain comes around in your stories?"

Daring shrugged. "Depends. Most of the time it's actually the villain showing up that starts off the story, but I've had my share of adventures when the villain hasn't shown up until what you think is gonna be the end, only to find out that it's just the middle of the adventure."

"Well, it might be a letdown this time since I'm here. Although I guess your readers might like reading about an alicorn fighting one of your villains," Twilight commented. She slowed as she approached the door, then she came to a stop.

"You don't really strike me as the fighter type, Twilight. I mean you and the rest of your little group helped me out that one time, but you didn't really use your magic to fight. You just teleported around," Daring replied.

Twilight grimaced and swiped her hoof in front of the crystal. "Well, I'm not a fighter, to be honest. I've saved Equestria several times, but the only battle I've really fought was with Lord Tirek..." she trailed off and glanced at her hooves. "I don't like fighting..." she said quietly. She licked her lips, then looked up and glanced around the area revealed behind the door.

The room was circular and looked similar in dimensions to the projection room. The center had a raised column which was as tall as Twilight, but the floor was depressed, so from where they were standing, both of them could see the crystal set in the center of the column.

"You know, this society is strange," Daring commented. "Most ancient ruins are cities or temples and hold some economic, ceremonial, or religious significance. This place doesn't really seem to fit that profile."

"Well, we know this society had at least one alicorn," Twilight replied. "Maybe she did something and everypony despised her for it, so they removed everything of value and then sealed her inside the ruin." She calmly walked into the room and made her way to the center. She stopped and then waved her hoof over the crystal on top of the pillar. There was a chirp which emanated from the crystal, and a pink orb shot up into the air, then hovered at what would have been eye height for Celestia. Twilight glanced back at Daring, then she looked back at the pink orb. She tapped it with her hoof, and the orb rapidly expanded outward into a large sphere which filled most of the room and hovered in the air. The projection flashed, and lines started running down around the sphere from the top, dividing the sphere into dozens of sections. A moment later, more lines crisscrossed the first set, dividing the sections into small squares.

Twilight watched on curiously as the projection's colors twisted until the pink had faded and had been replaced with blues, greens, whites, and yellows, which were transparent enough that they could see the wall through. Twilight stood still as she gazed at the projection. The colors melded together to create a breathtaking work of art. Despite the flat curved surface of the sphere, the colors added limitless depth to it, mountains, oceans, glaciers, plains, and deserts.

"Okay, that's Equis," Daring stated a little louder than normal.

The projection slowly turned around on its axis and the other side of the projection came into view. Twilight felt a shiver spread throughout her body. She hesitantly looked back at her pegasus companion. "Daring, why would a ten-thousand-year-old dead civilization be able to project a perfect projection of present-day Equis?" she asked slowly.

Daring hesitantly walked up beside Twilight. "Okay, so this structure not only has survived for ten thousand years but also has symbolism related to your cutie mark and a projection of modern Equis. Unless of course, the Discordian Era was less destructive than we believed, and this is what Equis looked like ten thousand years ago."

Twilight turned back to face the projection and continued to watch the projection rotate about, then when Equestria came back into view, she hesitantly lifted a forehoof up. She slowly brought her forehoof closer to the projection, then she paused, barely not touching the projection. She looked around, then spotted another projection, which looked like a rectangular button. She brought her forehoof over to it and tapped it. The projection stopped spinning, and three circular lines glowed to life, one on each of the three major axises. Twilight hesitantly tapped the axis closest to her, then dragged her hoof downward. The projection rotated until her hoof stopped and she was looking down at the northern pole.

She pulled her forehoof back and tapped the button again. The projection quickly spun back to normal and resumed rotating. Twilight hesitantly tilted her head to the right, then tore her gaze away from the projection. "Daring, go get the Professor," she said quietly. Daring nodded, then slowly turned and left the room.

Twilight watched Daring walk off for several seconds, then she took a deep breath and turned around to face the projection. "What's going on here?" she muttered to herself. Her eyes darted about, studying the projection and taking in the minor details. The only things that seemed to be missing were cities and farms, but the geography was unmistakably accurate. Even the Everfree forest was displayed in an accurate size and placement, leaving a dark blotch of a forest in the middle of Equestria. She felt a tingling sensation in the back of her mind and frowned. A cold chill raced down her spine, and she fluffed her wings at her sides. She studied the projection as it rotated about searching for any discrepancies she could spot, but none were forthcoming. As seconds passed on, the atmosphere of the room grew more ominous, and she found herself feeling like she was being watched. She shifted her weight, then looked to the right where the feeling seemed to be originating from. She studied the wall, then pushed the concern away after she assured herself that the wall was in fact, solid and inanimate.

A series of high-pitched chimes rang out, sounding akin to a warning. A few seconds passed, then a constant chime rang out. The projection stuttered for a moment, then flashed red for a split second. It swiftly recovered, but Twilight still took a step back in surprise. She bit her lower lip, then turned around. 'Maybe I should have kept Daring with me...' she mused.

Twilight took a few steps for the door, only for the crystal to flicker, then glow red. The door shut within seconds. Twilight came to a stop and looked over the door. She hesitated, then slowly walked over to the crystal beside the door and waved her hoof in front of it. A low tone rang out and nothing happened. Twilight grimaced. "Okay, maybe I did something I shouldn't have, or maybe Loose Translation or somepony found something..." she mused.

She waved her hoof in front of the crystal again, and a low tone rang out once more. She shifted her weight uncomfortably, then turned around. She surveyed the room, looking for another door or a way out.

Gifts to be Imparted

View Online

Daring casually glanced at the skeleton lying against the wall as she approached the doorway which had been sealed. She stared as she walked closer and she scrutinized the skeleton and the armor. 'How did you die?' she wondered. She frowned and turned her head to continue to watch the skeleton as she walked passed it. 'You were sealed in here... did you suffocate? Starve? Die from dehydration..? Or were you poisoned..? You could have been killed before you were sealed in here too...'

She grimaced and hesitantly looked away from the skeleton. Her steps grew slower and shorter the more she thought about it. As she stepped through the doorway, she pushed the thought aside. 'You probably died before the room was sealed. Twilight managed to get through the door without any problems.' She looked around the hallway, idly looking for the professor. The sides of the hallways were lined crates and various instruments, but only a few ponies were present, and most of them were heading straight through the main hallway. None of them was the unicorn she was looking for.

She continued walking around, then she reached the middle of where the hallways met and she turned to her right. She paused for a moment and looked at the statue of the alicorn. She tilted her head to the side and watched it for a moment, squinting at it, even as a chill ran down her spine. She slowly walked over to it and grimaced as she looked over the cracks in it. Despite their best efforts to preserve the statue, the cracks had expanded. The most noticeable cracks had grown significantly. One of the large cracks ran from the shoulder up the neck and then to the jaw. Several cracks covered the body and wings, and another major crack ran along the alicorn's left flank and split where a pony's cutie mark would have been in two, then ran down the leg until just above the joint.

"I guess the heat really did a number on you." Daring's lips pulled into a grimace. "That's a shame, you were in really good shape," she sighed. She shook her head and pulled away from the crouched down alicorn. As she walked away, she could almost hear the statue continuing to crack. She stopped and looked back at the statue but saw nothing out of the ordinary. 'I must be hearing things. Maybe all this paranoia is finally getting to me...' She pulled her hat down to cover her eyes, then she turned back towards the exit and leisurely strode out of the ruin. The heat of the day hit her almost like a brick wall. She took a deep breath and then exhaled calmly. Even with her hat blocking the sun's rays from her eyes, the bright lighting made her eyes water. She squinted as her eyes adjusted.

She looked around, then spread her wings out and flew up towards the top of the ravine where their main camp was. She flew around for a bit, surveying the camp for Ancient Knowledge. She looked around and then smiled and banked right and flew down toward the ground. A whitish gray unicorn with a soft, flowing yellow mane and tail walked alongside the professor. Her cutie mark was a skull with a black question mark beside it. 'How does a pony get a cutie mark for that anyway...' she wondered as she landed.

Ancient Knowledge stopped as she heard a pegasus land, and she turned to look who it was. "Oh, Daring," she greeted. "I thought you were with the princess?"

"She wanted me to come and get you," Daring replied. "We found something you'll be interested in."

Ancient's face lit up with an excited smile, and the mare practically pounced on Daring, swiftly galloping up to stand in front of her. "Oh! What did you find?" she asked.

"Another room with a projection," Daring answered. She looked at the professor cautiously and ruffled her wings, then glanced at the dull white unicorn, who squinted uneasily at the professor.

Ancient frowned and squinted. She looked down at the ground and licked her lips. She glanced back up at Daring. "Another room with a projection?" she asked. "What did it show?"

Daring's lips slowly drew into a smirk. "Oh, I think you'd rather see it for yourself..." she said in a light, warm voice. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you," she said teasingly.

Ancient snorted at Daring, then sighed. She pulled away from her then hastily trotted toward the path down to the bottom of the ravine. Daring smiled for a moment as she watched her leave, then she glanced at the other unicorn, who slowly leaned to her left and then took off at a brisk trot after the professor. Daring spread her wings out, then casually lifted her body from the ground and then flew around back to the bottom of the ravine. She turned around and watched the path that Ancient Knowledge trod. She followed the unicorn with her eyes and waited for her.

Eventually, the unicorn caught up with her. Daring leisurely turned around and took a step toward the ruin, then paused and looked back at Ancient. "Should we wait for your analyst?" she asked.

Ancient shook her head. "No, it's fine. I told her where the skeleton was. She should be able to find it herself," she answered.

Daring nodded casually and headed into the ruin. Ancient followed close behind her. The unicorn found herself staring and wincing at the statue. "I didn't realize it had gotten that bad... at this rate, I don't think it's getting out of here in one piece..." she sighed.

Daring grimaced. "I'd offer a suggestion on how to fix it, but unfortunately I can't think of anything. I'm not used to being where there's such a big temperature difference. I'm generally used to being where it's hot and humid all the time, rather than hot and dry during the day, and cold and dry at night."

Ancient's head dropped down and her muzzle pointed straight down at the floor. Her ears folded back and she sighed. "And that was about the only artifact of interest we could actually take back to study. Well, easily take back anyway. We still have the samples of the alloy and the crystals for analysis, but I don't think we can take the projection with us. I may have to ask for more resources for this expedition."

"Oh great, more ponies to work with..." Daring groaned.

Ancient squinted and lifted her head back up. She glared at Daring, even if the pegasus didn't look back at her. "Hey! You and I both know you couldn't have made it this far on this expedition without our help, Daring," she stated. "You may be an expert adventurer, but you don't have the resources of an entire expedition to help you along on your adventures."

"Yes, we both have skills in different areas, Ancient Knowledge,-" Daring smirked and continued to look straight ahead, "-but let's not forget who has more expeditions under her belt," she cooed.

Ancient opened her mouth to retort her but paused and pursed her lips. "And you wouldn't be here, were it not for me," she stated.

Daring shrugged and continued on. Ancient Knowledge followed on after her. "It feels like no matter what we do, we only end up finding more questions than answers here," the professor commented.

Daring nodded in agreement as she turned down the hallway with the door Twilight had cut through. "That's part of the adventure, isn't it?" she asked. "Not knowing, and then finding out. Every good story needs that," she affirmed.

"True," Ancient sighed. Her walk turned into a shuffle and she grimaced, staring down at the floor. "Knowing all the answers would take the fun out of life. You wouldn't be able to explore or experiment or learn new information since you'd already know anything. You probably wouldn't have opportunities to grow, either."

"Plus, without knowing all of the answers, you get to find the answers and maybe be the first pony to find them," Daring commented.

Ancient nodded as the two of them passed into the recently unsealed hallway. A few ponies, mostly earth ponies, had already filled the hallway and were setting up lights and boxes of equipment. For the most part, everything and everypony were towards the walls, leaving an open path for the two mares to walk down. Daring skillfully jumped over a couple of crates, while Ancient sidestepped them. "They really don't waste much time, do they?" Daring asked.

"Well, I did tell them to come and set up, but I did ask them not to disturb the skeleton," Ancient replied.

Darign nodded and slowed, turning her gaze to the skeleton on the floor. As she neared it, she slowed to a stop. A moment later, Ancient stopped beside her. "She probably died before this place was sealed," Daring commented. "It makes more sense than her dying after it was sealed since Twilight didn't have any trouble cutting through the door."

Ancient pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "That's a good point. But... what if she was alive and couldn't break through it like Twilight did?" she asked. She blinked, then looked at Daring. The pegasus turned her attention to Ancient. "We have no reason to believe that these alicorns were as strong as our princesses..." she offered.

Daring grimaced and bobbed her head. "I suppose that's true, but the myths still say that the ancient alicorns were pretty powerful. I guess she still might not have been able to cut through the door like Twilight. Maybe she had been weakened or something?"

Ancient nodded and frowned, then looked back at the alicorn skeleton. "I guess there could be damage we can't see, too," she commented. She sighed softly, then shook her head. "Once the preservation spells are in place, we'll be able to check. Although we still won't be able to tell if she was completely uninjured, since anything that hurt her could have missed her bones."

Daring nodded, her eyes still lingering on the alicorn's skeleton and armor, studying it. "Right." She turned away from the skeleton and headed back down the hallway. "Maybe we should go find our alicorn, now?" she suggested.

Ancient nodded and looked over at Daring. She lingered there for a moment, thinking as the pegasus wandered further away from her. She blinked, then quickly strode forward to catch up with Daring. Once she caught up with her, she walked beside her and fell in sync with her. "Still don't want to give me any clues about what you found?"

Daring smirked. "Oh, I already did give you a clue," she said playfully. "It's another projection," she stated.

"That doesn't help," Ancient replied.

"I know," Daring answered, still smirking.

"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you," Ancient asked, squinting at her pegasus companion.

Daring looked over at Ancient, not even trying to hide her playful smirk."Oh, what would be the fun of not doing it on purpose?" she asked. "Besides, you should know I don't give out spoilers until after they're not spoilers. You hired me, after all."

Ancient looked away from Daring and shook her head. "The door's closed," she commented.

"What?" Daring asked. She looked away from Ancient and came to a stop, blinking to make sure there wasn't something in her eye which looked like the now-closed door. "It was open when I left," she stated.

"Maybe Twilight closed it?" Ancient offered.

Daring glanced at her and shrugged, then headed over to the door. "The control crystal's light is red," she commented.

Ancient frowned and hurried over to the glowing crystal. Daring continued on at a casual pace and approached the door. Ancient waved her forehoof over the crystal. Nothing happened. She groaned and waved her forehoof over it several more times. "I really wish these crystals reacted to us too," she lamented. "Even if it was just a beep to let us know that we're not getting in. It just... ignores us."

Daring took a deep breath and stepped forward, stopping just in front of the door. She lifted her right forehoof and knocked on the door several times. Ancient looked straight ahead at the crystal and blinked, then looked over at Daring. Daring glanced at Ancient. "Twilight's inside, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. At the worst, maybe she'll have to cut the door open."

"Right," Ancient said with a nod. She pursed her lips and studied the crystal and sighed.

Daring waited a few seconds before knocking on the door again, harder than before.

"The door is pretty thick, it might also be soundproofed," Ancient commented. "It does seem kind of quiet in here, doesn't it?"

"Twilight!" Daring shouted at the door. She knocked again. Several more seconds passed without any response. Daring shook her head. "I don't think she can hear us. Any ideas?"

"You're the adventurer," Ancient replied. "I can go and see if I can get some earth ponies and unicorns to try to help get the door open," she stated.

Daring nodded. "That might be our only option unless Twilight eventually decides to cut the door open..." she trailed off. "I don't like this," she stated bluntly. "Twilight's in there all alone after I left her there. We're in an unexplored section of a perfectly preserved ruin, in a section that was sealed off and has an alicorn skeleton..."

Ancient turned to look at her and frowned. "You... think something's wrong..?" she asked cautiously.

Daring bobbed her head vigorously. "My instincts have been telling me that something is wrong here since we got inside the ruin, and it's only gotten worse as we've made progress. I feel like opening up this section was a mistake- it was sealed for a reason..."

Ancient offered a weak smile. "Daring, whatever reason this place was sealed for... well... ten thousand years have passed. Whatever it was, it's not going to be a problem anymore."

Daring groaned. "You probably just ended up jinxing us..." she muttered.

Ancient tilted her head to the side. "Jinxing?" she asked.

Daring looked at her flatly. "It's when saying that something bad isn't going to happen causes something bad to happen," she answered evenly.

Ancient snorted and shook her head. "We'll be fine," she stated.

Daring sighed relentingly, then looked at Ancient with a grimace. "Alright, fine. Why don't you go get some ponies to help try to get this door open?" she suggested.

Ancient nodded and turned around, then she started back down the hallway at a hasty trot. "Alright. If that doesn't work, there's always Plan E," she replied casually.

Daring watched Ancient leave and squinted at her upon her mention of 'Plan E.' After a few seconds, she groaned, then shivered as a chill raced down her spine. She looked around cautiously and fluffed her wings, attempting to generate warmth. "Well then..." she muttered to herself. She knocked on the door again. "Twilight? Can you hear me?" Once again, silence met her calls.

Daring grimaced, studying the ponies grunting and groaning as they strained themselves to try to part the door open. The five earth ponies' muscles were showing, but the door wasn't showing any signs of budging. The three unicorns adding their magic to the mix, aside from the professor, all stared at the door intently, as if it was challenging them, and they shook from exertion and concentration.

"I don't think this is working," Daring muttered. "This door's sealed worse than the door to the right hallway."

"Alright, take five..." Ancient sighed. Over a couple of seconds, the earth ponies and unicorns all stopped their efforts and took a few steps back or sat down on their haunches. "We've been at this for a solid half hour," she commented. She looked over at Daring warily, her eyes no longer filled with curiosity and excitement, but exhaustion, frustration, and disappointment. "Do you have any ideas?"

Daring walked around the ponies, then stood beside Ancient Knowledge. She took a deep breath, then surveyed the door and the control crystal. "Well, the door's active, so that probably isn't making our job any easier," she commented. "As for getting through, normally there's a secret passage, or a riddle or something that I'd have to solve, where the answer is fairly obvious. Or sometimes there's a key that you need," she stated.

Ancient winced. "And Twilight is our key..." she said at length in a low tone.

Daring nodded slowly. "And she's on the other side," Daring acknowledged. She pursed her lips. "You'd think she'd notice by now," she commented. She took a deep breath and winced. "Actually, nevermind. Knowing her, she's probably engrossed in studying the projection. And maybe the room. She probably doesn't even realize the door was sealed, or that so much time has passed."

Ancient lifted an eyebrow at Daring. "Really? I've heard she likes to read and study, but is she really that bad that she wouldn't notice that she got locked in?"

Daring remained silent.

Ancient's eyes darted back and forth, studying Daring to see if she was going to offer any more suggestions. Several seconds passed, then she took a deep breath and exhaled. She turned back towards the door and grimaced at it, almost as if hoping her display of disappointment would serve as a key to unlock the door and gain access to the mysteries beyond, along with Twilight. "Plan E?" she asked casually.

"I don't think using explosives would be a good idea. Twilight could get hurt," Daring retorted. She shook her head and cautiously approached the door. She hesitantly lifted a forehoof, then placed it flat against the metal alloy. The door was cold to the touch, and the coolness lingered and seeped into her hoof. She took a deep breath and let her hoof fall back to the floor. "Okay, so this door is sealed, and we know that it's active," she acknowledged. She turned and walked over to the control crystal and studied it. Every second that passed while she continued to study the crystal left her feeling more dread than the last. "I don't like this..." she said under her breath.

Ancient tilted her head. "What was that?"

Daring shot Ancient a look. "I said I don't like this," she repeated. She looked back at the crystal. "What would happen if we removed the crystal?" she asked.

Ancient blinked once, then stared at the door. A few seconds passed before she answered, "I'm not sure." She licked her lips and walked over beside Daring to scrutinize the crystal. She lit her horn and enveloped the crystal in her magic. 'Okay... this seems to be identical to the rest of the crystals. I can't make anything out.' She pursed her lips and cautiously tugged on the crystal, wary of any negative reactions it could produce. Her worries were unfounded, as the gentle tug changed nothing- the crystal was still in place, and glowing with an inner red light. She looked over at the unicorns. "Give me a hoof with this, will ya'?" she asked. The three resting unicorns stepped towards her, lighting their horns and enveloping the crystal in their magic. She looked back at the crystal and focused more of her magic on it.

The four unicorns grunted with strain as they pulled on the crystal. "It won't come out..." one of the unicorns muttered. The crystal remained firmly in place, as if their magic was nothing but a light summer's breeze, barely affecting it, almost seeming to not even touch it.

"It can't be that hard..." Daring muttered. She stepped over to the crystal and grabbed it with her hooves. She took a deep breath, then braced herself and gave the crystal a tug with all her might, throwing her weight away from it in an attempt to dislodge it. Her forelegs ached and she grunted from the strain, but the crystal didn't budge. She grimaced and pulled it more.

"Okay, so these crystals won't come out if they're active?" Ancient asked, dimming her horn. After a few seconds, the three other unicorns' horns dimmed.

Daring reluctantly stepped back from the crystal. "That could be the case, but it also makes sense that it could be a security measure. We managed to get inert crystals out... I don't think anypony has tried to get one of the crystals with the blue glow out."

"A security measure?" Ancient winced. "Well... that's... understandable..." she said reluctantly. She shifted her weight and scrutinized the door from top to bottom, along the nigh-invisible split where the two plates met. "So Twilight's locked on the other side..." she mused. After a few seconds, her brow creased into a frown. "Okay, if we're assuming that this... the red glow... is supposed to represent some kind of lockdown or something... a security measure... what triggered it? Would Twilight have accidentally triggered it without knowing?"

Daring grimaced. "I guess she could have, but I still really don't like this..." she trailed off, ruffling her wings.

"Any ideas?" Ancient asked.

"Any idea what would happen if you destroyed the crystal..?" Daring asked hesitantly. After a few seconds of silence, she looked over at Ancient, who had pursed her lips and was wearing a look of deep thought, her eyes staring at the crystal.

Ancient blinked every few seconds, then eventually nodded a slow, calculated nod. "Judging from what we've encountered so far, destroying the crystal shouldn't make it explode or cause anything bad to happen... but I have no idea if it would unseal the door. It shouldn't cause a catastrophic release of magic since the crystals don't have that much magic in them."

"It could cause more problems, though, Professor," one of the unicorns commented. "What if destroying the crystal forces the door to be permanently sealed?"

Ancient winced sharply at the prospect. "Right... that would be a problem..." she said under her breath. She looked around, then inhaled deeply. "Okay. We'll try to destroy the crystal. If that doesn't get us anywhere, then we'll resort to Plane E."

"How do you plan to destroy the crystal..?" Daring asked hesitantly, slowly averting her gaze from the door to look at Ancient.

The unicorn smiled. "Plan E," she stated casually.

Daring snorted and glared at her. "Right."

Ancient ignored her and turned to the unicorns accompanying her. "Alright, let's get the DET charges set up. We'll start with one charge, then work our way up," she ordered.

The three unicorns turned and briskly trotted back down the hallway. Ancient watched them for a few seconds, then glanced back at Daring. She watched the pegasus for a few seconds, then turned her attention to the door and the crystal. "So many mysteries..." she mused.

"Professor, what if we tried to use that alicorn's skeleton to open the door?" one of the earth ponies suggested.

Ancient pursed her lips and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"So far, the structure responds to alicorns, and that is an alicorn... just one who has been dead for... well, a while," he commented. "Perhaps the structure wouldn't recognize that the alicorn is dead, and maybe using her hoof would help us unlock the door?"

Ancient grimaced. "It's a possibility, but it's unlikely. I doubt this society would make an oversight like that. Doing that could also damage her, which would be bad."

"Sorry..." he trailed off.

Ancient shook her head. "No, it's fine. It was a good thought," she offered.

"Well." Daring shuffled over to the left wall, then sat down on her haunches to wait. "Problems at every turn..." she muttered. "The hard part is supposed to be getting out of these ruins. Well, relatively hard. The important rooms are supposed to be hard to get into. Most of the time, whenever I'm trying to get out of the ruins, I'm racing against time and whoever else is trying to get the artifacts."

Ancient casually walked over to Daring, then sat down on her haunches. "It's a nice change of pace, isn't it?"

Daring tilted her head and thought about it for several seconds. She blinked, then looked at Ancient. "No. Not really," she answered flatly. "I miss the adventure... instead of constantly feeling that something is wrong, just feeling the thrill of knowing what's wrong and racing against time to succeed."

"The adrenaline?" Ancient asked.

"Yeah," Daring replied.

Hasty hoofsteps echoed down the hallway. The pair stood back up and watched the three unicorns return, two wooden crates in tow. The unicorns paid them no mind, but slowed down as they neared their destination. "Alright, set them down away from where we're going to be using them," the lead unicorn ordered. "I do not want any chain reactions..." he muttered.

The two other unicorns obliged and set the two crates down against the left wall, a solid twenty feet away from the door, and out of range of the blast. The unicorn with the closest crate cracked it open, then carefully levitated out a small, rectangular brick covered in brown paper. All of the bricks inside the crate were facing up, and were marked DET Charge. He walked over to the crystal, then placed it against the wall and pressed it into place with his forehoof. He turned and hurried back to the crates.

The other unicorn cracked open his crate, then levitated out a smaller black square with two metal rods sticking out of one side. On top of the square, there was a silver-gray ring which could be turned, that had a notch pointing straight up. Around the ring, there were numbers listed in increments of five, going from zero to nine-hundred. In the center of the ring, and separate from it so it would not turn, was a small green crystal.

The unicorn casually walked over to the block placed against the gem and levitated the controller down closer to the brick. He carefully pierced the paper with the prongs, then slid the prongs all the way into the soft block until the square was flat against it.

The first unicorn cleared his throat to draw attention to himself. "Alright, everypony, clear the-"

The red glow of the crystal faded back to magenta, and there was a soft chime which broke the tense atmosphere. The door slid apart with ease as if it had never been sealed in the first place, drawing everypony's attention to the room beyond. The room was lit with a soft magenta glow, akin to Twilight's aura, and the projection in the center of the room, instead of being of Equis, was now a large projection of Twilight's cutie mark. The projection had an almost ethereal quality to it, looking almost as if it were real and three dimensional, while still maintaining a quality of being composed of magic and shimmering.

Twilight was lying on the floor at the base of the pillar jotting up from the center of the room.

"Twilight!" Daring called. She broke out into a gallop and darted into the room, then came to a stop beside Twilight and hastily surveyed her body. The alicorn appeared unharmed. Daring placed a hoof on Twilight's neck to feel her pulse.

Ancient and the rest of the ponies filled the room, and Ancient's gaze constantly shifted between Twilight and the projection. "This is what you found..?" she asked hesitantly. She blinked and turned her gaze to Twilight. "Is-"

"She's unconscious..." Daring muttered. She glanced up at Ancient, then looked at the projection. She grimaced and felt a cold shiver race down her spine, despite the projection's majesty. "That... wasn't like that before... it was a projection of Equis... it... was modern day Equis.".

"What?" Ancient asked. She looked at Daring and squinted. "But that's impossible. This structure is ten thousand years old, they wouldn't be able to know what Equis looks like today."

Daring nodded. "Yeah, yet somehow they did know," she replied. She squinted down at Twilight as something silvery-gray caught her eye. "What's this?" she asked. Ancient looked back at Twilight as Daring brushed Twilight's mane aside with her forehoof, revealing what appeared to be a regalia secured to her neck and gently resting on her chest. The metal was smooth and cool to the touch, and it gently sloped around Twilight's neck. "This looks like Princess Luna's regalia..." she muttered. She squinted, then ducked down to look at the center of the regalia. Instead of a polished white stone shaped like a crescent moon, there was a single six-pointed star set in the center, made out of a vibrant pink crystal.

Ancient frowned and walked around to the other side of Twilight to get a better look. "She didn't have that when she went inside," she stated. She scrutinized the smooth metal embracing Twilight's neck. "It looks like it's made out of the same material the rest of this structure is," she commented. "And the crystal... her cutie mark..."

Daring ignored her. "Twilight?" she asked softly. She shook the alicorn's shoulder with her forehoof. After a few seconds, Twilight's brow creased, and she groaned softly.

After a few more seconds, Twilight blinked open her eyes, then winced. "Oooooh... that hurts..." she groaned, closing her eyes shut again.

"Are you okay?" Daring asked quickly.

Twilight took a deep breath, then slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, groaning. "Yeah... I think so... Ugh... do either of you have any painkillers? This headache is worse than the time when I first met Pinkie Pie..." she groaned.

Ancient glanced at one of the unicorns. "Go get Princess Twilight some water and medicine," she ordered. The unicorn nodded, then took off at a brisk trot.

Twilight blinked open her eyes, then frowned as she looked around. "What... happened?" she asked.

Daring and Ancient shared a grimace. "We were hoping you could tell us," Daring stated. "I left to go get the Professor, then when we came back, the door was sealed shut, and the crystal was glowing red."

Twilight's frown deepened. "I... remember that after you left, the crystal glowed red... I think the lighting flashed red, too. And the projection..." she trailed off as her eyes turned to the projection. She studied her cutie mark. "That... I don't remember that happening..." she muttered. She slowly stood up and continued scrutinizing the projection.

"We tried to get the door open, but we couldn't. We tried to get the crystal out of the socket, thinking it'd unseal the door, but it wouldn't budge," Ancient stated. "We were about to use DET charges on the crystal when the light changed back to the same shade as your aura, and the door opened."

"Any idea what happened?" Daring asked.

Twilight slowly shook her head. "No... I don't remember." She blinked once, then looked down at her chest. "What..?" she asked, her eyes tracing the outline of the new regalia upon her chest. She lifted her right forehoof and touched it.

"We found you like that," Ancient acknowledged.

Twilight nodded slowly. "So... any idea what it is?"

"Well, it looks like a regalia," Daring stated.

Twilight nodded slowly again. "Yes, I can tell that much..." she trailed off. "Why is it on me? And where did it come from..?" Neither Daring nor Ancient answered her question. After a few seconds, she blinked, then looked back up at the projection of her cutie mark. She frowned.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Ancient asked.

Twilight glanced down at the floor, and her eyes darted back and forth, skipping across the metal as she thought about it. "The projection flashed red," she stated. "The projection was of modern-day Equis."

"That's what Daring said," Ancient mused. She grimaced. "I wish I could have seen that..." she sighed.

Twilight pursed her lips.

"Princess?" a unicorn asked. Twilight turned to him. "Water and medicine," he stated, levitating over two small white tablets and a canteen of water.

Twilight nodded once, then took both in her magic. She downed the pills and took a large drink before levitating the canteen back to the unicorn. "Thank you," she said. The unicorn nodded, then turned to leave. Twilight watched him for a moment, then went back to studying the projection. She took a deep breath, then squinted and tilted her head a little. "What now..?" she asked.

"Well... we should probably go get you checked out by a medic and make sure you're alright," Ancient replied. "And examine that regalia... I'll have someone keep an eye on the room and try to figure out what happened."

Twilight nodded slowly, then turned around and started towards the door. Ancient and Daring wait for a moment before joining her, leaving the rest of the ponies to get things taken care of.

They walked in silence towards where the hallways met. As they passed by the alicorn skeleton, Twilight's eyes lingered on it, along with the pony examining her remains. Twilight grimaced and looked at the floor a few seconds later, sighing softly.

"You okay?" Ancient asked.

Twilight nodded calmly. "Yeah, just... I'm not used to seeing that," she stated. She shook her head a little, then looked back ahead. They walked through the intersection, then headed towards the exit. Twilight eyed the cracking statue, and her grimace returned. She shivered as she looked at the alicorn statue's eyes, but she shrugged it off and continued along. She shielded her eyes from the sun as they exited the structure, and she exhaled sharply as the heat from outside sapped the coolness of her body.

Beginnings

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Daring and Ancient stood beside one of the beds inside of the tent which served as a medical facility. Most of the beds were empty, save for ponies recovering from predominantly heat-related injuries. The one major exception was the isolated bed separated from the rest by the tan curtain they stood by. Twilight stared up at the fabric which served as the ceiling of the tent, resting. Her expression was restless, nervous, and cautious. Every other second, she fidgeted beneath the covers.

"Well, I can't find anything wrong with you," a unicorn wearing a pair of glasses and a stethoscope stated. The doctor levitated a chart in front of him. "We don't have access to as many instruments as an actual hospital would have, but still. I would have expected something to have shown up in the tests we ran. Vitals are all normal for an alicorn, and nothing seems to be amiss."

Twilight took a deep breath, then looked over at him with her jaw clenched. "Are you sure about that? I did just..." she trailed off, squinting.

The doctor studied the chart for several seconds, then looked at Twilight and nodded. "Yes. There doesn't seem to be anything abnormal. Blood work and everything is normal. No foreign substances, no lingering traces of magic, and no detectable physical injuries or other signs of stress or trauma."

Twilight shifted her weight under the bed. "Ponies don't just fall unconscious for no reason..."

The doctor nodded hesitantly. "Yes, Princess... but you should be fine. We'll keep an eye on you to be sure... although we don't have as many instruments for this sort of thing as an actual hospital would. I suppose that you could return to Canterlot and make sure that we didn't miss anything."

Twilight paused and grimaced. "Well... that's a three-day trip there, and then a three-day trip back..." she trailed off, sighing. "If there's something wrong, it would be best to leave now, but then if there's nothing wrong, I'll be missing at least six days here. And what could happen during that time? And of course, without me... you kind of can't do too much..." she trailed off.

"Princess, if you think you should go back to Canterlot to make sure you're okay, that's probably for the best," Ancient cautioned. "We can get by without you, it would just be slower..." she trailed off.

Twilight looked over at her and bobbed her head. "I mean... I feel fine- nothing feels wrong. The headache is gone..." she trailed off.

"You don't even have to go all the way back to Canterlot," Daring commented. "There are a few cities between here and there that you could stop by."

Twilight bobbed her head. "That's true, I guess..." she trailed off, then shook her head. She hesitantly used a forehoof to pull the cover off of her body. Her hoof hesitated as she looked at her chest; she could still see the phantom outline of the regalia there, even if they had taken it to study. "I guess we'll play it by how I feel... I really don't feel like I can just leave," she said tentatively. She looked over at Daring and Ancient.

"Well, we'll be sure to keep a close eye on you, Princess," the doctor stated. "I'll want to do more bloodwork tomorrow morning to make sure nothing's change."

"Right," Twilight replied. She slid out of bed and ruffled her wings, then tilted her head around a few times, stretching. She took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled. She scrutinized Ancient. "Have you learned anything about the regalia?"

Ancient smiled wryly and shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Twilight. We're having as much trouble getting a sample of the material as we were with the rest of the structure, so it probably is made out of the same alloy. Last I heard, there weren't any detectable signs of magic or anything to give any hints to its purpose. They were just starting a scatter analysis on the crystal..." she trailed off.

Twilight squinted and nodded. "The crystal which is mysteriously shaped like the central star in my cutie mark," she surmised.

Daring shifted her weight and took a deep breath. "Okay, seriously. Is anypony else interested in that? Why have we seen that symbol so much in relation to this ruin? And then you, the pony who has that symbol on her flank, is the only pony we know who can interact with this structure? I can't be the only pony who thinks that's... something." She shook her head slowly.

Twilight nodded slowly. "It's... a bit off-putting. Although, my cutie mark is symbolic of magic, so perhaps their symbol is also symbolic of magic. It could make sense, although I'm not sure what context there is to support that proposal. It could just be a coincidence, or perhaps this was, in a sense, intended- I have a lot of magic at my disposal, so perhaps it only reacts to me based on this."

Daring squinted. "What about your theories on destiny?"

Twilight pursed her lips. "Are you suggesting that this was destined to happen? That the symbol in the structure is my cutie mark? That this structure was..." she trailed off, squinting. "Meant for me, or something?"

Ancient frowned. "What? What does destiny have to do with anything?"

Twilight and Daring both looked at Ancient. "When Daring showed up, I had just finished a lecture involving the Elements of Harmony, the Tree of Harmony, the connection me and my friends share with both each other and the Tree and Elements, and the possible role of destiny in directing this, possibly from the standpoint of a higher power being at work."

Ancient blinked and squinted. "Right... Higher power..." she trailed off and shook her head. "Maybe, but that doesn't explain how this society, even if they were alicorns, could see ten-thousand years into the future. That shouldn't be possible."

Twilight nodded in agreement. "It's just a theory," she noted.

Daring shook her head. She walked on towards the exit, leaving the alicorn and unicorn behind. "Well, I suppose we better get back to it and try to figure this mystery out."

Twilight nodded and casually walked over towards Daring, passing Ancient. Ancient turned and followed Twilight. "Although I suppose now that you mention it, I can see the link you were talking about. I'm not all that familiar with all of that, but I do see some connections there," Ancient commented.

Daring opened the tent flap with a forehoof only for Loose Translation to peek inside. Daring blinked as the unicorn looked around until she found Twilight. She smiled, then walked on inside, ignoring Daring Do and Ancient Knowledge. "Princess," she acknowledged.

Twilight smiled at the young unicorn. "Yes?" she asked.

"If you're feeling like it, could you come and change the screen for me?" Translation inquired. "I've copied everything on the display you left it on, but more text would help me figure out how to translate it quicker. Well... assuming their language is anything like ours. Notes can only go so far..." she trailed off.

Twilight nodded. "Sure. Are you making any progress?"

Loose Translation pursed her lips and squinted. "Well... the text follows the same general form as ours does, at least in terms of using characters to form... words," she stated. "Or at least it seems to. Their numbering system also seems similar to ours, but without more to work with, I can't figure out what each number is. Well... assuming that they were numbers that I found."

Twilight grimaced and nodded. "Can I see?" she asked.

Loose Translation leaned to the left and nodded. "Sure," she stated. he glanced back at her saddlebag, then levitated out a small, brown, leather book with a black stripe along the binding. She looked back at Twilight and flipped the book open to one of the pages towards the middle, then started towards the alicorn.

Twilight looked over the notebook, then as the unicorn approached, then took the book from her magic and levitated it over to herself and studied the page. All of the letters, words, and numbers were arrayed systematically, along with notes the unicorn had taken of them, written in pristine hornwriting. "What..?" she muttered. She blinked and frowned, then licked her lips. "This... this is what you've found so far..?" she asked.

Loose Translation nodded. "Yes... there are more pages of notes and copies of the text..." she trailed off, shifting her weight and staring at Twilight's creased brow. "Um...is something wrong?"

Twilight glanced up from the book. "Um... I... don't know..." she trailed off unsurely. She glanced at Ancient, then at Daring before finally looking back at the notebook. She pursed her lips and lowered the book down to chest level. "Well... um... I... let me just..." she shook her head and took a deep breath.

"You okay?" Daring asked. "You're acting..." she trailed off, bobbing her head. "Well, a bit loopy," she said bluntly.

Ancient shot Daring a glare. "This could be serious," she said in a firm, low voice. She turned and took a step away from Twilight, heading towards the curtain separating the room. "I'll get the doctor-"

"No," Twilight replied quickly. "It's... I'm just... not sure how to react to this," she replied.

Daring huffed. "Well, what is it, Princess? Or are you just gonna keep it to yourself?"

Twilight fidgeted on her hooves and glanced at the three ponies, biting her lip. "Well... um... I... can tell you what this says."

"What?" Ancient asked.

Twilight ruffled her wings and took a deep breath, then looked at Ancient. "I can read this," she stated.

Ancient frowned and strode over to Twilight. She grabbed the notebook out of Twilight's magic, then brought it close to her head and quickly looked over everything. "But this is-"

"Still untranslated, I know..." Twilight replied cautiously.

"So, wait. You're telling me that you can read that?" Loose Translation asked, cautiously taking a few steps closer to Twilight.

Twilight reluctantly nodded, then pried the notebook out of Ancient's magic and looked at it again. She flipped a few pages back. "Yes... although it's... confusing... without context," she admitted. She shifted her weight, then levitated the book a little ways further out. "See this word here?" she asked, lifting a hoof and pointing at the text at the top of the page. Ancient and Translation looked at the word and nodded. "Without context, I can't give you much, but it basically is telling you which one- it means 'the'," she stated.

Loose Translation blinked. "The?"

"The," Twilight affirmed. "Do you remember what was after it?" she asked.

"No," Translation replied glumly.

Twilight sighed. "Well... that's not very helpful, is it?" she muttered, then shook her head.

"Okay, am I the only one wondering how this happened?" Daring asked, drawing the three ponies' attention to herself. "It's great and all that you can read that, but, you know, I'm just wondering, how? Since you couldn't exactly do that before you got trapped in that room and rendered unconscious."

Ancient pursed her lips. "Well... maybe the medical tests didn't reveal everything. The brain scan came back normal..." she mused. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. You can read their language, apparently, but we have no idea why. So, something definitely happened while you were unconscious, but we have no idea what." She looked at Twilight intently, studying her to make sure she looked okay. "Are you sure you feel fine? We know that something did happen then if you can read their language."

Twilight shifted her weight and took a deep breath. "Well... I feel fine. I don't feel any different from before. I guess if I start feeling off, I'll say something." She paused and looked back at the notebook, then flipped a few pages and skimmed the text. "Well... besides, now I guess translating will be quicker..?" she offered, smiling nervously.

Ancient nodded cautiously. "If you're sure you're fine.

Twilight sighed. "Well, ideally I would find out what happened that made me able to understand their language, but since none of your medical instruments discovered anything, and leaving would mean being gone for a week, I really don't want to do that..." she trailed off.

"Yes, Twilight, we all know you love learning," Daring mused, "even at the risk of your own life."

"According to my own scans, I should be fine," Twilight stated. She squinted at Daring. "And what does that say about you?"

Darign shrugged. "I'm used to adventures and I know what I'm doing whenever I'm exploring some abandoned temple in search of the artifact."

Twilight's muzzle scrunched up at Daring.

"Right, well..." Ancient trailed off. She looked around at the three other ponies and smiled. "Shall we go see if she can translate the text directly from the projection?"

"I don't see why not," Twilight commented.

"Well, let's go then," Daring said, turning to leave.

Twilight levitated the notebook back over to Loose Translation, who took it in her magic and tucked it into her saddlebags. After a moment, Twilight enveloped everypony in her aura, then teleported them and herself to the ruin's entrance. As soon as they arrived, Twilight started trotting inside, ignoring the blinking and confusion of the other mares.

Ancient shook her head. "What..?" she asked. "Did you just-"

Twilight glanced back at Ancient. "Teleport us all?" she asked. "Yeah. I uh... I was actually aiming for the Projection Room, but I couldn't sense it, so I ended up teleporting us here instead."

Ancient nodded absently. "You still can't scan the structure with your magic?"

Twilight shifted her weight. "Well, I mean I can sort of scan it, but there's still the same interference as before. The structure is, as we have discovered, resistant to magic, after all."

"Not very many unicorns can teleport..." Ancient commented.

Twilight nodded. "I only know of a couple, and I was one of them before I ascended..." she trailed off and turned to look down the hallway.

"Somepony moved the statue?" Daring asked.

Twilight glanced at where the statue had been. "I guess so," she noted.

Ancient squinted. "They must have decided it was in the way. They better not have crated it up again..." she muttered. She turned around and trotted back towards their camp. "I'm going to go make sure nopony crated it up and brought it back outside."

"So, just us three then?" Loose Translation asked.

Daring shrugged, then took the lead and started down the hallway. "I guess she's more interested in the statue than the translation work... I guess that makes sense. That statue's the only real artifact we've found. The translation can last, but the statue might not last in these conditions."

Twilight grimaced and started down the hallway, catching up with Daring, though walking a few steps behind her. Loose Translation waited for a second before hastily catching up to her. Twilight looked over the general area of where the statue had been, studying it. She felt a shiver run down her spine, making her ruffle her wings. She took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled and shook her head.

"This place is a mess," Daring muttered, weaving in between the scattered boxes and crates of equipment. "You'd think they would have it organized better by now..."

Twilight grimaced and used her magic to slide the crates against the walls, leaving a less cluttered path for them to proceed down. "Well... we're still just getting started."

They walked on, undisturbed by anypony, until they reached the entrance to the projection room. Daring slowed and glanced around. "Where is everypony, anyway?" she asked.

"They're probably working on exploring and documenting the new section," Loose Translation replied. "For all we know, that could be an even larger area than the rest of this place combined."

Twilight tilted her head to the side in thought and walked on by Daring, taking the lead of the group as she headed through the hallway to the Projection Room. "That would kind of make sense, right? If that door was sealed, then maybe that is the main section of... this... facility."

Daring squinted at Twilight. "Facility..?" she inquired.

Twilight pursed her lips and her brow creased slightly. She walked on for a few steps, then tentatively nodded. "Yes."

Daring watched Twilight expectantly as they all walked into the large room. Eventually, she raised her eyebrows at the alicorn. "And..?"

Twilight blinked, stopped, and then looked back at her. "And..?" she asked unsurely.

"That's the first time you've referred to this place as a facility. We've called it a structure and a ruin, but not a facility," Daring noted.

Twilight frowned a little, then nodded idly. "So I did..." she mused. She blinked, then shook her head. "Well, this place served some purpose," she commented. She hesitated a second, then approached the projection.

"Yeah, but most of the time, ponies don't refer to ancient ruins or structures, even well-preserved ones, as facilities," Daring replied.

Twilight ignored her as her eyes went to work, studying the text, slowly crawling over each letter of every word. She took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Okay. So I can read this now."

"Well, that makes my job easier," Loose Translation noted. She walked over beside Twilight, then stood at her right side and watched her study the projection.

After a minute, Twilight tapped the button which brought it back to the first screen, displaying several more buttons. Her expression twisted into confusion as her eyes came to rest on the red text. She stared at it for several seconds, then blinked and shook her head. She looked back up and tapped the uppermost button with her hoof, then her eyes shot over the next screen's text. She licked her lips, then hesitantly turned her head towards Translation, though her eyes lingered on the projection for another second. "Do you have a spare notebook and a quill?"

Loose Translation nodded, then looked back at her saddlebag and levitated out a blank blue notebook, along with a purple pen. She levitated them around to Twilight, who quickly took them in her magic and then returned to staring at the text with an intense gaze, almost glaring at it.

Without looking at the book, Twilight opened it up to the first page, then clicked the pen and started scribbling out the text. As seconds passed, her eagerness faded into a frown. "Daring, can you get me a book on alicorn legends and mythology? There's a reference to a war, but I've never heard of any references to alicorns fighting a war outside of this text."

"I can go and look," Daring replied. She turned and headed towards the exit.

Twilight glanced back at the pegasus. "Thanks."

Loose Translation fidgeted on her hooves and licked her lips, then swallowed. "So um... does this mean that this society was an alicorn society?" she asked.

Twilight nodded. "Going by this? Yes," she stated. "This seems to be a personal journal of one of them. A lot of the text seems to be jibberish- it's like the data has been corrupted. Letters are here that shouldn't be in here, making the words indecipherable, or perhaps worse, changing the words entirely."

Loose Translation grimaced. "Think you can figure it out..?"

Twilight nodded slowly. "For the most part, I can still read it... it's like I can understand their language..." she replied in a quiet voice. Loose Translation frowned at her for a few seconds, then went back to studying the text. "She was... a scientist, of sorts. This was a research facility. They were studying two things here..." Twilight explained, trailing off and squinting at the text. "The needs of the future?" she asked. She blinked a few times. "There's a reference to something that they were monitoring... they were developing something, but then the war happened, and the 'needs of the future' became more important, whatever that means."

"Any ideas?" Translation asked.

Twilight pursed her lips. "Well... I'd need more time to study this. A lot more time. And I'd need to figure out a way to fix the data corruption, otherwise, it'll make understanding this a lot more difficult, since some of the words don't make sense in context. I suspect that they've been corrupted and letters have been replaced by different ones, changing their meaning."

Loose Translation looked at Twilight with a smile. "How can I help?"

Twilight tilted her head in thought and studied the text. "I'm not sure. Seeing as though I seem to be the only pony who can understand this language, and I seem to be the only pony capable of interacting with the projection..." she trailed off, pursing her lips. She waited a few seconds, then looked at Loose Translation. "I'd appreciate the company, and we could bounce ideas back and forth. And I can try to teach you the language."

Loose Translation smiled and nodded. "Well, since you know the language, teaching me the language shouldn't be too difficult. And then that should make this easy."

The sound of hoofsteps approaching from the hallway drew their attention. "Sorry, Princess, they don't have any book on alicorns with them. Which, you know, is kind of unbelievable all things considered," Daring commented dryly.

Twilight grimaced. "Well... I'll need one to refresh my memory on the legends, can you see about-"

"The professor said that the next resupply should have some books about alicorn mythology in them, but that might be a couple of days," Daring replied.

Twilight grimaced, then her expression returned to normal. "Well, I guess that might not be a bad thing, it'll give me more time to work on translating this-" she waved a forehoof at the projection.

"Ancient was curious about how that was going, and I went ahead and told her that you could read it. She seemed really excited, though frustrated cause apparently they misplaced the statue and she can't seem to find it," Daring stated.

Twilight looked at Daring quizzically and squinted at her in disbelief. "How exactly did they misplace a statue?" she asked in an accusatory voice.

Daring shrugged. "I guess-" the room's lighting flashed red, and an almost aggressive chime rang out through the air. The crystal beside the door emitted a rapid beeping, and the inner door started to close. Daring winced and grimaced. "Ah, not again..." she muttered, bobbing her head. She rushed over towards the door but stopped before leaving the room. She glanced back at the alicorn and unicorn. "Twilight!" she called.

"Get the professor!" Twilight ordered. She pressed her eyes closed and enveloped Daring in her magic. In a flash of light, the pegasus disappeared, only to reappear outside of the door, just before the door shut.

"Princess, what's going on?" Loose Translation asked. She fidgeted on her hooves, and her head swept around the room, her eyes darting about and scrutinizing every surface.

Twilight shifted her weight and grimaced at the red lighting. "I'll figure out what's going on and get the door opened, give me a minute..." She tapped the screen with her forehoof, and in just a few taps and swipes, a new display emerged. "It's an emergency lockdown," she stated. A second later, she frowned. "Containment?" she asked.

A chill crept down Twilight's spine, and a section of the wall towards the top of the room split into two pieces and pulled apart. No sooner had the doors stopped than a large figure shot out of the vent, lurching towards Twilight and the unicorn beside her. It landed with a heavy thud and crouched down in an instant, then jumped upward horn first, impaling the unicorn on its horn. Loose Translation let out a timid squeak before the figure violently jerked her head, throwing the injured unicorn aside. The attacker flared her wings out and stared at Twilight with a primal intensity, her eyes burning a brilliant shade of crimson, sharper than the sharpest of knives.

A dominating, low tone rang out throughout the facility.

A sharp, cold and calculated voice spoke to her, coming from the alicorn staring her down. She spoke quietly, but firmly. Her voice was powerful, filled with vast knowledge and seething with hatred. The language was ten-thousand years displaced, never spoken nor heard for thousands of years. The sound coming from the alicorn's mouth was as ancient as the facility itself, predating known history. There was no possible way for anypony to know what the alicorn said, yet without a doubt, Twilight knew what she said, and the coldness of her voice made her shiver.

"You..."

Caverns

View Online

Luna's face was contorted into a frown. Looking around, there was nothing out of the ordinary to distinguish the cave from any other cave. The gray stone walls looked weathered and rough, despite the protection they should have been offered. Beyond the reach of the sun, the cave was dark, and a coolness drifted through the air from further inside the cave. "Are you sure this is the place, sister?" Luna asked. She gradually pulled her gaze away from the darkness to look at Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia's brow was creased, and her lips were pulled slightly down. She nodded once as she studied what was visible of the cave. "This is the place," she affirmed.

"I do not sense anything amiss," Luna said calmly.

"There is something here," Celestia replied. "It is faint, but it is here..." she trailed off and squinted, trying to pierce the veil of darkness with her sight. It was to no avail. The darkness was thick, almost oily, covering and hiding what laid beyond. After a few seconds, she lit her horn and shined her aura into the cave.

Where the light of her horn struck, the darkness was banished and the cave was illuminated. It was vast, going further into the mountain, then expanding into an immense cavern. Tons of stone and rock had been displaced, but that wasn't what drew her attention. Beyond the weathered cave walls, inside the cavern, the walls looked smooth and almost metallic, vastly different from the erosion plaguing the mouth of the cave.

Luna pursed her lips at the sigh and lit her horn alongside her sister's, adding a little more light to the mix. The walls of the cavern were the same cold, rocky gray as the cave, but they seemed to reflect the light of their magic ever so slightly, causing the cavern to almost have a low, ambient glow.

"This was not like this before," Celestia acknowledged.

"An earthquake would not explain this formation," Luna noted. "Perhaps I simply do not sense it," she commented. She glanced back towards Canterlot. The city stood like a jewel set atop the Canter mountain, almost glistening in the late afternoon sunlight. "It is strange, however. If this was made recently and not by natural means, then we should have detected it, considering the proximity to Canterlot."

Celestia slowly nodded her head up and down. "Prior to yesterday, the last time there was a patrol near here was one week ago. Sometime between now and then is when this must have happened, unless the last patrol did not spot the cave."

Luna bowed her head once, then looked back towards the cave. How the mouth of the cave could look so weathered despite being so new, she couldn't say. "What could have caused this that we would not have detected it?"

Celestia hesitantly lifted a forehoof, then stepped into the cave. "I do not know." She glanced back at Luna and studied her expression. There was the slightest hint of curiosity in her eyes, and her brow was creased, but otherwise, she looked normal. She smiled at her. "Shall we investigate?"

Luna hesitantly nodded. "If there is something amiss here, then it would be best for us to investigate," she agreed.

Celestia turned back to face the cave, then calmly strode into the darkness. Luna followed behind her casually, eying the rough rock walls. Celestia continued deeper into the cave, careful of her steps. She constantly looked around, pointing her horn at the walls and casting her aura so she could examine the rock. She stopped, then lifted her right foreleg and placed her hoof against the rough wall. Even with the golden shoe on her hoof, she could still tell that the rock was rough and uneven, yet worn so it wasn't sharp and jagged. "If this cave is new, then the rock should not be so weathered."

"And the rock is weathered, despite the cave being a recent formation," Luna noted. She looked around curiously and walked on past her sister. "When did you first... sense something amiss?" she asked. A second passed in silence and she looked back at her sister.

Celestia had her head tilted slightly to the side, and there was a pensive look on her face, with her brow furrowed in thought. "I... can't say. There is some magic here that is foreign, yet it feels familiar."

Luna frowned and looked back into the cavern. Her blue aura shined into it, but unlike her sister's golden aura, it provided much less light. "I still do not sense any magic here, sister."

Celestia nodded slowly, then walked over to Luna's side. "It's faint, almost like it's part of the background like it's been here for a while."

"Could it have been here the whole time and we just did not sense it?" Luna inquired.

"I do not know," Celestia answered. She pursed her lips as she thought about it, then unsurely shook her head and took a few short steps into the cavern. She shivered from the cold. There was a sharp temperature difference between the cavern and the outside. Even the difference between the cave and the cavern was enough to make her glance around to check for ice. She could almost see her breath.

Luna calmly strode on past her. "'Tis only a slight chill, Tia."

Celestia grimaced and watched her sister. The younger alicorn walked on past her, carrying herself with a slight hint of pride or superiority. Celestia stared blankly from where she stood as Luna took the temperature difference so casually as if it was a cool breeze in the summer. She swallowed back a tightness in her throat.

It took Celestia a few seconds to recover. She shook her head hastily, then shifted her weight and quickly strode ahead. The cavern was easily large enough for two full grown dragons to fit inside, and that was plenty of space for both of them to fly around if it proved necessary.

The cavern looked like a dome had been carved out of the mountain. Both of them swept their heads around to examine the cavern more closely. The walls did reflect the light from their horn slightly, causing the whole cavern to have a sort of ominous glow to it from the light of their horns.

Celestia walked over to one side and placed her hoof on the wall. It sounded like rock, rather than metal, but it undoubtedly was more reflective than normal rock should have been. "Crystal?" she mused aloud.

Luna glanced over at her. "Perhaps the rocks are infused with it, but this mountain shouldn't have any rocks of that nature," she replied. She made her way over to Celestia and looked over the rock with her. "It doesn't look like crystal," she noted. "If it was a rock rich in crystal, it should be lighter in color and be glistening or glittering from the light of our horns."

Celestia nodded absently, then pulled away from the wall and swept her horn around. "I sent a patrol to investigate when I first sensed it, and they reported this, but I'm not sure that was actually when I first sensed the magic," she commented. "It feels like it has been here for a while and I just did not notice it or think of it."

"Could this simply be Discord's doing?" Luna asked. "It wouldn't be beyond him to pull a prank like this..." she muttered under her breath.

Celestia pursed her lips, then looked around, halfway expecting the draconequus to pop out of her ear or her sister's ear. "We would have sensed him using chaos magic to create this," she stated. She slowly walked back to the center of the cavern and looked around, searching for anything different from the rest of the unmarked cavern.

Almost directly across from the cave entrance, there was an area of the rock which was discolored. Celestia turned to face it, then tilted her head. The rock looked even smoother than the rest of the rock, and it was darker than the surrounding stone. She looked back at the cave entrance, then traced a line from it straight to the door, then she glanced up at the very top of the dome, then at the sides.

She looked around and used her magic, then found the center of the cavern. Walking straight from the cave to the discolored rock would have went through the exact center of the cavern.

She fluffed her wings at her sides, then cautiously approached the discolored rock.

"Sister?" Luna asked.

Celestia continued towards the rock. "This rock isn't right. The color is off, and it's a straight line from the cave. It goes through the center of the cavern," she replied.

After a few seconds of walking, she stopped and looked over the rock. Her sister's hoofsteps gradually grew in volume as she studied it. The discoloration seemed to perfectly meet the rest of the rock, but it was also more reflective. She placed her hoof on it. Instead of a dull thud, her shoe clicked against the material. "This is metal," she stated. She looked over the edge where the rock and metal met. "And this appears to be a perfect rectangle," she added.

Luna pursed her lips as she looked over the metal from top to bottom. There was a slight glint which caught her eye. She looked further right. A few feet away, lying against the stone wall was a bell of some kind. She blinked in surprise and then frowned. She broke away from her sister, then walked over to the bell and picked it up with her magic. It made a slight cheerful tingle from being moved, drawing her sister's attention over to her.

"What is that?" Celestia asked.

Luna studied the bell, then turned back to Celestia. "This seems... familiar?" she asked. She rotated the bell around and studied it. The bell was made out of gold and barely had any openings in it. Looking at it from the bottom, there was an X-shaped slit on it where the gold all came together. "How did this even get here?" she asked aloud.

Luna jostled the bell again and listened to the chime. It sounded sweet and gentle. Something about it was soothing and comforting. She couldn't shake the feeling that she knew the sound from somewhere. It was like a dream or an old memory. She levitated it around and looked at the top, hoping for something to help her identify it, but if it had ever been attached to anything, it had since been destroyed.

Celestia nodded slowly, frowning in apprehension. "It does seem familiar," she agreed.

Luna shifted her weight and glanced at her sister. "I would say this warrants further investigation," she stated. Celestia nodded in agreement. Luna looked back at the wall, then teleported the bell away in a flash of magic.

"Perhaps this cavern isn't new after all," Celestia commented. "Somepony has been in here before."

"Indeed," Luna agreed. "But how was it somepony was able to access this cavern?"

"Perhaps further investigation will yield results," Celestia replied calmly. She lifted her forehoof and touched the metal with her shoe. She looked back and forth across its smooth, unscathed surface, looking for any blemishes, only to find none. She slowly slid her hoof downward, dragging her golden shoe across the metal. It barely made any sound. Luna looked at her curiously but remained silent.

Celestia pulled her forehoof back, then pulled the shoe off and touched her bare hoof to the metal. It was cold to the touch, much cooler than the cavern. She slid her hoof to the left and touched the rock. "The metal is cooler than the surrounding stone," she noted.

Luna frowned. "They should be the same temperature." She looked at the metal, running her eyes across the surface, then shook her head. "I do not see anything which would reveal a way to get past this."

Celestia put the shoe back on her hoof, then took a few steps back and surveyed the wall for anything they could have missed earlier. "Perhaps we could cut through it, or the surrounding stone."

Luna looked at Celestia wearily. "You know even better than I that some things are sealed for a reason, Tia," she cautioned.

Celestia grimaced and looked at her, nodding solemnly. "I know, but I feel as if we are meant to open it," she said quietly. She studied Luna's expression for a few seconds. While her sister nodded at her, she looked wary. Celestia exhaled and looked back at the metal.

"I will defer to you, sister, but I suggest we err on the side of caution," Luna replied. "Perhaps the cavern has yet more clues for us to discover."

Celestia nodded. She turned around, then looked up at the uppermost point of the dome. She closed her eyes and channeled more magic into her horn. The glow of her aura illuminating the cave grew as her magic coalesced into a bright yellow orb at the tip of her horn. After a few seconds, the orb popped off of her horn. She opened her eyes to see the room flooded with light from the orb. She grasped it in her magic, then levitated it up to the top of the dome and hung it there with her magic.

With the added light, the two looked at the walls, searching for anything amiss. While the brighter light source banished the eerie glow, there still wasn't much to see. The room looked like a perfect dome had been excavated from the mountain. The rock was different from the rock making up the cave. Despite the added light, the rock was still darkened, yet the cave seemed to take on an otherworldly glow, as if the light flooding the room was slightly off-color, having a teal tint.

Luna frowned. "The rock is fuzed," she stated. "That's why it looks strange. There was magic at play with the creation of this..."

Celestia frowned and studied the rock walls, probing it with her magic. She blinked. "I... cannot make anything out of the material."

Luna glanced at her sister. A moment passed, and a look of bewilderment crossed her expression. "Nor can I, sister."

Celestia fluttered her wings, then looked around and walked in a short circle. "This cavern is definitely artificial... but the cave... that cannot be a coincidence."

"What of the magic you sense? Was that responsible for this cavern?"

Celestia shook her head. "No, it's... not." She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. "The magic... it's... rhythmic. It's... a constant, repeating pulse... There seem to be several seconds of... less emission between the pulses, but it's still there."

Luna frowned. "Can you determine anything specific about the magic or the pattern? Perhaps there is a message to it."

Celestia shook her head. "I can't tell."

Luna took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "And you are sure that it's coming from here?"

Celestia nodded once, then turned to face the metal wall. "Yes. I cannot pinpoint the source, but it is coming from around here."

Luna looked at her warily. "Are you certain that this cavern is involved?"

Celestia looked aside at Luna. "Do you really believe this could be a coincidence?"

Luna shifted her weight on her hooves. "I am simply attempting to rule out other possibilities."

Celestia inhaled deeply and walked back to the metal. "This is clearly artificial, but it doesn't seem to have a purpose. Why would somepony create a cavern such as this with one section of the walls made out of a metal neither of us have seen before?" she asked in a curious voice. Her eyes wondered over the smooth surface. "And the metal is so... perfect," she said tentatively. "Why would somepony put this here? Why go to the effort? And why are we unable to figure this out?" She turned her head to look at Luna.

Luna wore a cautious expression. "Perhaps... this is somehow related to that expedition Twilight went on?" she offered hesitantly.

Celestia frowned. "That ruin in the Badlands?" she asked. Luna nodded. Celestia grimaced. "I should have sent Spike with her, then we could ask her about her progress and inquire about this cavern. I haven't heard from her since she left, but I am not surprised."

"Are you worried about her?" Luna inquired.

Celestia shook her head. "No," she said simply. She parted her lips again but hesitated a few seconds. She closed her eyes and lips, then shook her head. She opened her eyes once more and then scrutinized the metal. "Although I do look forward to her return. I'm sure she will have a lot to tell, and I look forward to hearing all about it," she stated. She looked over at Luna. "Why would you think that this is somehow related to that ruin?"

Luna shifted her weight on her hooves. "The fact that the ruin was discovered so recently, and then we discovered this so soon afterward. It may be a stretch, but perhaps they are somehow connected."

Celestia frowned a little. "I suppose it is uncommon for ancient ruins to be discovered in a short period of time, however, the distance between the two is significant. We don't even know if this is from the same time period as the ruin Twilight is investigating."

Luna nodded. "Twas just a thought, sister," she relented.

Celestia nodded idly, then turned her head back towards the metal. After a few seconds, she turned to her right, then slowly walked to the far left side of the cavern. She closed her eyes and sent a pulse of magic from her horn, then she opened her eyes and calmly walked to the far right side of the cavern. She repeated the pulse of magic, then she walked back over to Luna and the metal. "The source of the magic is coming from somewhere behind that," she stated, inclining her head at the metal.

Luna frowned. "Why didn't you do that before?" she asked warily.

Celestia grimaced. "I did not think it would work. The cavern is heavily shielded from magic, and the metal seems to be even more shielded. Whatever the magic I am sensing is, it must be very powerful in order to seep out. It isn't simply from the background. Whatever lies behind that metal, it is sealed in, but still leaking through."

Luna walked over to the metal, then stopped. She levitated her right shoe off of her forehoof, then she gently pressed her forehoof against the cold metal. "If you intend to further investigate this, then we will need to determine how to get inside," she stated.

Celestia nodded slowly, then approached the metal and stopped before it. She looked over it with her eyes and slowly shook her head. "There's nothing here to point at how to open this. It doesn't even look like it is meant to open. It looks solid, like a single piece of metal."

"Perhaps it is a seal of some kind," Luna offered. "We still have many options at our disposal if you wish to break it. We could excavate the surrounding stone and attempt to learn more about it, or we could break through it."

Celestia nodded absently. "Perhaps we are still missing something. Maybe it is something obvious..." she trailed off. "That bell was familiar, but... I do not see how it could be tied into this, if it is a seal," she stated.

"The bell may not even be related to this," Luna acknowledged. "For all we know, it could have been somepony exploring who stumbled into here and discovered this. Perhaps they, like us, were unable to open it."

Celestia grimaced, then took her right shoe off of her hoof and touched her forehoof to the metal again. "I can't help but-" A dull thump rang through the air, and the mass of metal seemed to pop to the side. Celestia pulled her forehoof back and looked at the metal plate with bewilderment. "What?" she asked. She blinked, then looked over at Luna.

Luna looked over the plate of metal cautiously. She slowly pulled her bare hoof back from the metal and turned her head towards her sister. "It would seem... that both of us were required to unlock it..." she trailed off at length.

Celestia's brow creased in thought. "Then this was intended for us... the magic doesn't feel any stronger. It is still sealed inside somewhere, but there is more here..." she trailed off.

"Shall we investigate?" Luna inquired.

Celestia nodded. She lit her horn and looked over the metal. There was a slight crack on the left side, going from top to bottom. It was just barely noticeable, and it seemed like the rock hid more of the metal. She gripped the door with her magic, then slid it to the right. Despite expecting the screeching of metal on metal, the door made no sound as it easily slid open. A wave of icy coldness washed over her and Luna as the temperature difference stirred the formerly sealed air. Celestia could see her breath in the cold air, but it quickly faded as it mixed in with the warmer cavern air. Beyond the doorway was a long, dark hallway. The walls were made of a dark metal, the same kind that the door was made out of. Every few feet, the metal was broken by what appeared to be a single crystal which was embedded in the wall, going all the way up to the ceiling from the floor, across to the other side, and then down to the floor again.

Luna felt a tingle run down her spine. "This is... unfamiliar, sister. I... do not recall ever encountering anything quite like this..." she trailed off.

Celestia slowly nodded in agreement. She kept her horn lit, then slowly took a step forward. She stepped into the hallway and looked around. The walls were devoid of distinguishing features, save for the crystals. She shifted her weight, then slowly made her way deeper into the hallway. After a few seconds, she heard Luna's hoofsteps following behind her. Even with the light of their horns, the hallway still looked dark.

Celestia paused, then looked down at the floor and studied it. Where she had expected to find dust and debris, evidence of just how long the structure had been abandoned, she found a pristine, perfectly cleaned floor. She looked back up and peered down the hallway, which seemed to come to a complete stop about twenty feet away. Luna came to a stop beside her, and after sharing a brief glance, the two cautiously proceeded. As they neared the end of the hallway, they could make out what appeared to be two doors, one on each side of the hallway at the end.

But what drew more of their interest was the short pillar at the end of the hallway with a single, smooth, light blue crystal set into the metal. The crystal was circular in shape and rounded so it stuck up from the metal slightly. It looked so pure and perfect, and where it met the metal appeared seamless, almost as if the crystal and metal had grown together.

Celestia came to a stop and studied the crystal with her eyes. Despite the pure, perfect look, it somehow seemed dead and lifeless. She frowned a little, then touched her bare forehoof against it. The crystal was cold and felt as smooth as it looked, almost like glass. She slid her forehoof off of it, then looked back towards the entrance. In a flash of yellow light, she teleported her shoe back and slipped it back on. A moment later, Luna a flash of light blue light signaled Luna doing the same.

Celestia took a deep breath and looked around, studying the wall behind the pillar. What she saw made her shiver. On the top left of the wall, equally spaced from the top and the left, there was a yellow crystal shaped like a sun. A very familiar sun, while on the top right was an equally familiar crescent moon-shaped white crystal.

"Tia... what is this?" Luna asked cautiously.

Celestia remained silent as she looked at the two cutie marks in between theirs. One was old, far older than the largest one in the center of the wall. The old cutie mark was directly above the larger one and set in between theirs. It brought back fond memories to her mind, carefree summers, warm fires in winter, and an aged stallion who had devoted his life to studying magic. She swallowed and licked her lips, then looked at Luna.

Luna wore a weary expression. She looked hesitant and caught off-guard by the four cutie marks. She reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the wall and looked at Celestia. "The bell..."

Celestia nodded. "Starswirls," she stated. "I knew it was familiar, but... I couldn't place it."

Luna squinted. "Why would that be here?" she asked.

"I believe we've found something which Starswirl found... do you remember when he disappeared? The first time, when he went looking for something. Before that, he spoke of something his mentor had said... I... don't remember what it was... When he came back, he had lost the bell on his hat," she stated.

Luna nodded slowly. "Yes, I remember that." She tilted her head to the side. "It... was something about... prophecy, I believe?" she asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, but I was thinking of the other thing he mentioned. Something about..." She squinted. "An alicorn war?" she asked. She shook her head.

Luna frowned. "Sister?"

Celestia pursed her lips. "Come to think of it... that was thousands of years ago, and I have never since, nor before, heard anything of an alicorn war," she stated.

"Why do you bring this up, sister?" Luna asked.

"I'm... not sure. I just know that Starswirl was looking for something his mentor told him about before he disappeared. He never did speak of what he found when he returned, or if he found anything..."

"If he was here, then he found this, but then why wouldn't he mention this?" Luna asked. A grimace pulled at her lips. "We both know he would have eagerly spoken of this place if he had found it."

Celestia was silent. She inclined her head towards the large cutie mark in the center of the wall. "What I'm more curious about is why Twilight's cutie mark is here," she stated.

Luna's eyes trailed over the crystal representing Twilight's cutie mark. It looked like a perfect replica, the pink six-pointed star in the center with white crystals adding to the starburst, and five white, six-pointed stars surrounding it, in the same pattern as on Twilight's flank. As she looked at the outer stars, she saw a leather-bound book lying on the floor. She frowned, then lifted the book up in her magic.

Celestia's gaze drifted over to the book held in Luna's magic and she stared at it. "That's... one of his journals. It looks like the one he took with him..."

Luna grimaced and brought the book closer to her. "That would explain why we never found his journal of his search," she stated. She looked over at Celestia. "Do you wish to read it now, or shall we wait until we have identified the source of the magic you're sensing?"

"He will likely have written extensively on his findings here in his journal, so it would be beneficial to see what he has to say," she stated.

Luna nodded, then looked back at the book. She quickly scanned it over with her magic to make sure there weren't any spells in place which would damage or destroy the book if she opened it, then she opened it. She blinked and frowned in bewilderment. "The... pages are torn out."

"What?" Celestia asked. Luna levitated the book over to her. She looked over the binding, seeing that at least a dozen pages of the book had been unevenly torn out, leaving plenty of evidence of their existence. The rest of the paper in the book had yellowed and was fragile, but plainly blank. "Why would he do that?" she asked herself in disbelief.

Luna slowly levitated the book back over to her. "I... do not know. Perhaps he did not do it?" she offered. After a moment, she grimaced and teleported the book away. "I suppose that this means we will be going into this blindly," she stated. She looked over at Celestia to see her wearing a distressed look.

Celestia reluctantly nodded. She hesitantly looked at the left door, then at the right door. She nibbled on her lip and used her magic to try to identify the source of the magic she felt. After a few seconds, she turned to the right and walked behind Luna and made her way for the door on the right. Luna turned and watched her.

"This one," Celestia stated. She looked over the door, studying it for a way through. The door seemed to split into two in the center, seeming to indicate that the two metal plates would slide away from each other, retreating into the wall when activated. To the right of the door at her chest height, there was a tall, smooth oval-shaped crystal. It was set in the wall but raised above the surrounding metal. The light-blue crystal looked like it could be removed, but she didn't want to try. She studied the crystal with her magic. "The crystal is a control," she stated. "It's inert. I may be able to restore it," she added.

She focused her magic on the crystal, examining it more closely and studying the inert spells it held. After about a minute, she poured magic into the crystal, making it glow to life with a light blue light. She studied the crystal's spellwork to determine how to activate it, but the complex spell resisted her probing. She frowned and let her aura disperse, then cast a glance back at Luna. "Any ideas?"

"There is more than one way to open a door, sister," Luna offered. She lit her horn and grabbed the door in her magic, then gradually pried the twin plates of metal apart. The metal groaned under the strain as it resisted, but in the end, it was no match for the moon princess's powerful telekinesis. As soon as the doors started moving apart, they practically launched into the walls and jammed, making it unlikely the doors would ever be closed again. Luna smirked a little.

Celestia shivered as yet another wave of cold washed over her. Before she could take the lead, Luna strode on in before her. She watched her younger sister for a few seconds, then followed behind her. The younger alicorn swept her horn around, carefully scanning for any potential threats while Celestia followed behind her, examining the walls for any details which could provide clues. She paused for a moment, then created two smaller orbs of her magic. The magic burned brightly and lit the hallway for them, providing nearly as much light as the orb she left in the cavern. She took one of the orbs and teleported it above the pillar in the previous hallway, then she levitated the remaining up to the top of the middle of the hallway.

The light illuminated almost the entirety of the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a single door, and the walls were barren, save for the occasional crystal breaking it into sections.

Luna continued to cautiously lead the way into the cold until the pair arrived at the end of the hallway. With the same ease as before, Luna ripped open the doors at the end of the hallway.

A single small room greeted them. The room looked large enough for maybe eight alicorns of Celestia's size to occupy. The room was far from spacious, and it looked more like a storage closet than anything else. The room was square, yet the floor had a single large crystal set into it. The crystal was circular and flat, large enough that the sides touched the midpoints of the room's four walls.

Luna frowned. "This isn't what we are looking for?" she asked.

Celestia studied the walls. The center of each of the three walls had a single pink starburst crystal set in them. She could sense the magic coming from the room, yet it was no stronger than outside of the cavern. "It... is..." she said hesitantly. "But... I don't understand. The magic should be far stronger than this," she stated.

Luna stepped into the room and looked around. She noted the crystals, but aside from them, the room was empty.

Celestia reluctantly walked into the room and stood beside her. She looked along the edges of the walls where the met the floor, then she turned around and looked back down the hallway. A single piece of paper caught her attention near the base of the door. She frowned, then took it in her magic and studied it.

The paper had yellowed and looked fragile, but most importantly, the left side was unevenly torn. "Luna," she called.

Luna turned around and looked over the page. "That's one of the pages from his journal," she noted.

Celestia brought it closer, then looked over the ink. She smiled a little. "Definitely his hornwriting," she giggled. The writing was somewhat sloppy, written in a hurry, and in the language of Old Equish. She couldn't help but smile. She flipped the page over, expecting to see more writing, but the back was blank. She frowned a little and turned the page back around, then read it over. She slowly lifted her head up and stared back at the pillar in the first hallway. She levitated the page over to Luna for her to read.

After a few seconds, Luna looked over at Celestia. "He mentions finding an incomplete spell here, but doesn't say anything about it?" she asked. "No description and the actual spell isn't here... I do not remember him ever speaking of finding an incomplete spell and finishing it," she stated. "Perhaps he never completed it?"

Celestia nodded slowly. "There were dozens of spells Starswirl never completed, but he never said that he found any of them. He always tried to create new spells..." she trailed off.

"How are we supposed to figure out what spell he found if he never admitted that he found a spell?" Luna asked warily.

"Simple," Celestia replied. She teleported the page away and took a deep breath. "It would be a spell which he couldn't complete, not for lack of desire. A spell he wouldn't be able to understand. A spell that would make no sense for him to try to create," she stated. She looked over at Luna. "The same spell Twilight finished."

Luna squinted at Celestia and shifted her weight on her hooves. "How... would you know that?" she asked slowly.

"It never made sense to me why he would have created a spell which involved friendship. He wasn't exactly a pony who would have wanted to be an alicorn, either. So why would he try to make a spell which involved friendship for the explicit purpose of ascending to alicornhood? It never made sense... I never understood it..." she trailed off, her eyes darting back and forth.

Luna reluctantly nodded. "So... not only did Starswirl investigate this... ruin, but it contains our cutie marks, his, and Twilight's... And he found the spell which Twilight completed here... And it just so happens that we find this as Twilight is investigating a ruin in the Badlands which has her cutie mark in it..."

Celestia looked over at Luna.

Mentor

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Celestia calmly laid on a silken red rug in front of the stone fireplace. The rocks were uneven but smooth, having come from a nearby riverbed. Inside the fireplace, flames danced across the surface of the wood laying on the iron rack, charring the wood until it turned from a dull grayish brown to black, then glowing red and eventually burning into white ash which fell and built up below the fire.

The warmth of the fire fought back the cold night and the welcoming glow aided the soft moonlight in banishing the darkness. The only sound breaking the stillness was the steady crackle of flames and the distant rustling of dry autumn leaves. Celestia blinked as the flames continued dancing in the center of her vision, the gentle roaring threatening to lull her to sleep. She licked her lips, then hesitantly turned her head to the right.

Beside her, lying curled up under her enveloping white wing was her younger sister. A happy, loving smile pulled at her lips, and a mirthful joy filled her soft pink eyes at the sight. Luna was snuggled against her side, with her head tucked in against her chest and against Celestia's side. Her light blue ear twitched ever so slightly as she slept, and her pale blue mane loosely laid around her neck, protecting her from the chill.

Celestia slowly looked towards the door. The strong oak planks were bound together by several iron straps which were bolted to the wood. The door had been created with the utmost care and quality; it was thick and well insulated from the cold, but the stone walls didn't offer quite as much protection, leaving the room at the mercy of the elements, the only warmth coming from the fire.

She looked at the door longingly, hoping and wishing every second that it would open and the wait would finally end, but with every second, that hope faded and seemed to grow more and more distant. It was like the flame of a candle, where the wick was starting to go out. Eventually, the wick would cease to offer its radiant glow and would burn to an ember before finally burning out, leaving the room in total darkness.

She glanced down from the door and steeled her resolve. She let her eyes wander over the stone floor, looking over the smoothed stone. Despite the cracks where each individual stone met having been filled in with dirt and dust over time, she could still make out the individual stones composing the floor. She had often spent hours just studying the lines in the floor. There was no rhyme or reason to them, it had simply been a matter of the construction and how the stones laid together, but it still held her interest when she was younger.

The crackle of the flames continued unimpeded. Seconds faded into minutes and the glow of the fire, like her hope, started to burn low. She glanced over to the left side of the door. A neatly stacked pile of split wood laid between two desks. She lit her horn, adding a new glow to illuminate the room. Her aura was golden and as warm as the day, casting a bright and cheerful light throughout the room. She enveloped two sticks and a split log in her magic, then levitated them up from the stack with ease, transferring them over to the fireplace.

Seconds passed with no reaction, but gradually, gray smoke started to rise from the fire, and then the wood burst into flames. The light emitted from the fire intensified, and warmth washed over the room once more. The cheerful crackling of flames once more threatened to lull her to sleep, as it already had with her sister.

The gentle click of hooves softly striking wood drew her attention back to the door. There was a gentle clunk, then the door was enveloped in a whitish gray aura before it swung inward. A young, light gray stallion calmly stepped inside the doorway, then hastily shut the door behind him. "Tia, Luna," he acknowledged. A knowing smile crossed his lips. "They are ready."

Celestia smiled and pushed herself up into a sitting position. Luna grumbled in her sleep as her pillow moved. Celestia looked down at Luna. For a moment, she just looked at her and how her muzzle was scrunched up in discomfort. She leaned down and nuzzled her younger sister. "Lu... it's time to wake up," she said softly.

"Tia..." Luna groaned softly. She hesitantly opened her eyes and looked around. Almost immediately, she looked towards the doorway.

Celestia folded her wing back to her side and stood up. Luna calmly stretched out, then stood up beside her sister. Celestia was easily twice as tall as her, and while Starswirl had a solid decade on Celestia, Celestia stood just barely a hoof shorter than him. She calmly made her way over to the door, and Luna stayed by her side the entire time.

At their approach, Starswirl opened the door for them. Celestia braced herself, then calmly strode out into the early morning chill. The cold nipped at her coat as she left the comforting warmth of the fire. She fluffed her wings and held them close. She felt her sister's body brush against her foreleg. She glanced down as Luna ducked under her and tried to take shelter between her hooves, shivering slightly.

"Tia... it's cold..." Luna pouted.

Celestia smiled reassuringly. "It's alright, Lu," she said in a soft, silken voice. Her tender voice instantly reassured Luna, and the filly perked up, although she could still see the lingering effects of the cold biting at her coat. A cold wind blew past, bringing with it a harsh whistle.

Starswirl closed the door, then stepped over to them. A moment later, he draped his cloak over Celestia and coaxed the two alicorns closer to him so the three of them would be sheltered. As soon as they adjusted to the closeness, Starswirl took the lead, coaxing Celestia and thus Luna onward.

The trio navigated the dirt roads, lead on by Starswirl as he guided them through the village. The road was surrounded mostly by small wooden houses, although the occasional larger stone building offered a little more shelter from the chilly fall wind.

As Starswirl led on, he constantly swept his gaze from left to right, never once pausing for more than an instant as he took in the surroundings.

"You remember what I taught you, correct?" Starswirl asked without stopping.

"Of course," Celestia answered calmly.

"Yeah," Luna agreed.

"Good. According to my research, neither of you should have any problems with the task at hoof. Your magic is far superior to mine," Starswirl replied.

"Even mine?" Luna asked eagerly.

A slight chuckle escaped Starswirl's lips, and he nodded. "Yes, Luna. Even your magic is more powerful than mine..." Luna put a slight skip into her walk at the praise. "You two will grow up to become powerful alicorns... you already easily outpower the council..." he trailed off.

Eventually, the buildings faded to tall trees with branches filled with dry leaves and low shrubs guarding the path. Occasionally, a leaf or two fluttered down, carried on by the wind. The dirt road gradually turned into a stone path through the forest. Eventually, the darkness was broken by the light of fire from a clearing. Beyond the clearing, a vast plain stretched out below them, filled with forests and crisscrossed by rivers feeding the fertile, untamed expanse.

"I have returned," Starswirl acknowledged as the trio walked into the light. A dozen unicorns all wearing dull robes turned to acknowledge their arrival. Most of them were stallions, but two of them were mares. Starswirl casually lifted his cloak from Celestia and Luna, then took a step aside, letting the others examine them.

Celestia fluttered her wings as all of the unicorns sized her up, their gazes trailing from her vibrant pink mane and horn to her majestic wings at her sides, then to her barren white flank. Luna shyly slid back in between her forelegs. She glanced down at her sister, then swallowed and looked back up.

One of the unicorns, a light brown stallion with a grayed mane and tail smiled and nodded as he approached. He came to a stop a few hooves from them and scrutinized both alicorns. "They're just foals... are you certain that-"

"Of course I'm certain!" Starswirl shot back. "I wouldn't risk them if I wasn't completely sure. My research proves their capability."

"They don't even have their cutie marks..." he muttered, shaking his head. He sighed softly, then nodded. "I trust your judgment, Starswirl. You wouldn't risk your apprentices, especially them, if you weren't sure." After a few seconds, he backed away.

The rest of the unicorns followed his lead and they formed two lines, each one facing the other, forming a sort of aisle before Celestia and Luna. At the end of the path was a raised stone platform.

A hoof rested against Celestia's shoulders. She looked at the hoof, then followed the leg back to the source. Starswirl smiled a reassuring, yet distant smile. "Go on, Tia... Luna," he coaxed. "You can do this," he stated.

Celestia's expression wavered, then she nodded. She cast a quick glance at Luna, then picked her up with her magic. Starswirl slid his hoof from Celestia's shoulder and stepped back. Celestia levitated Luna up and placed her on her back, then calmly took a step forward, and then another.

With every step, she passed two of the unicorns, and their eyes fell on her and lingered. With every step, the ones she passed gave her a respectful nod. Until finally, she took the last step and stood up on the platform. She gazed out across the known world and took it in. She could hear Luna gasping from her back, and she could practically feel the excitement in the filly's body.

Her lips pulled into a smile. She looked back at her sister's wide-eyed expression. "Are you ready, Luna?" she asked softly.

Luan nodded, then sat up on Celestia's withers. She closed her eyes tight and stuck her tongue out of her mouth in intense concentration, despite the night's chill. Light blue sparks shot out of her horn, then a steady blue aura glowed to life. Her mane seemed to twinkle and shimmer ever so slightly. Celestia watched for a moment, then looked up at the moon. The majestic white orb seemed to shudder as Luna's magic reached out to it. Seconds passed. The moon gradually sunk lower from the pinnacle of the sky until it neared the horizon.

Luna giggled from her back. "I'm doing it, Tia!" she cheered.

Celestia nodded, her eyes sparkling in awe. Several seconds passed as she just watched as her sister moved the moon with the same ease that she would levitate a stick. Eventually, she closed her eyes and lit her horn. She could feel the sun and the moon. At just the right moment, she sent a flare of her magic into the spell Starswirl had meticulously taught them. With limitless ease, she embraced the warm sun and coaxed it up along its path for the day. Through her closed eyes, she could see the soft pinks and oranges coming from the edge of the horizon as the sun crept forward.

She opened her eyes and beheld the sunrise, the very first one she brought on. A shiver raced down her spine, and her heart beat faster.

A blinding flash of light erupted from behind her, turning the morning brighter than the day. She closed her eyes to protect them from the light, but as soon as it happened, it faded. A second passed, then a wave of gasps broke the silence.

"Tia! I got my cutie mark!" Luna cheered. She leaned forward and fell onto Celestia's neck, giggling giddily.

A quick glance back revealed a white crescent moon adorning Luna's flank, surrounded by an inky black. A quick glance at her own flank revealed the image of the sun sat in place, looking like it had always been there, like it had always meant to be there.

"Their cutie marks..." a stallion whispered. She turned around to face the wide-eyed unicorns and shifted her weight in apprehension. She hesitantly stepped down from the stone platform. Less than a second passed before every single unicorn who occupied the clearing, save for Starswirl, bowed to them.

Celestia fluttered her wings at her sides in apprehension, and her back muscles tensed up. She stood there rigidly.

"Tia, what are they doing?" Luna asked in the innocent curiosity of a filly.

"Bowing to us, Lu..." Celestia answered softly as she looked over the bowing unicorns. Starswirl smirked at her.

Luna nodded, although understanding escaped her grasp.

Celestia calmly lifted a small ceramic teacup to her lips, then tilted it upward. A warm liquid flowed into her mouth, but it didn't really have a taste to it. She swallowed the sip of liquid and closed her eyes, a smile pulling at her lips, as the liquid rolled down her throat, leaving a pleasant aftertaste of roses and raspberries in her mouth.

She opened her eyes and gently set the teacup back down on its plate, sending a short-lived, high-pitched clink to break the silence. She turned her attention back to the parchment in front of her. The hide was a dull yellow in color and sharply contrasted with the black ink writing adorning it. She diligently read over the report, and with every new sentence, her brow creased further, and the smile on her lips faded before eventually morphing into a frown.

She scooped the parchment up in her magic, then rolled it up so that the text was hidden from sight. She calmly stood up, then stretched out. She closed her eyes and let out a soft moan of enjoyment as a result of stretching. She let herself relax and go limp for a few seconds, then sighed and opened her eyes. She stood back up, then glanced out of the lone window in her chambers.

The moon calmly rose into the sky in the distance above the tall trees. Once more, she smiled. Several seconds passed, then she turned and calmly walked to the door and opened it with her magic.

Two guards, both unicorns, clad in dull gray armor bowed as she walked out of the room. "Princess," they acknowledged in unison, their voices rough yet respectful.

Celestia nodded in acknowledgment, then calmly started down the hallway to her right. Her hooves clicked against the cold stone floor as she walked, and the sound of armored hooves striking the stone closely followed her. The trip through the unremarkable castle's hallways passed by in a blur.

Eventually, she slowed to a stop at one of the reinforced oak doors. Marking the stone archway at the top was Starswirl's cutie mark. She calmly rapped on the door with her left forehoof. "Starswirl?" she called.

At the sound of her voice, the door opened, pulled inward by a grayish white aura. "Tia," an aged stallion greeted.

Celestia smiled, then calmly walked inside. She swept her gaze to the left and looked over the familiar bookshelves, taking in the tomes of knowledge the stallion possessed, then she looked to the right and looked over yet more tomes and artifacts of great power. After a moment, she closed the door behind her. "I wanted to talk to you about this report," she stated.

Starswirl looked back at her, his white beard on full display as it hung loosely from his chin. "What report?" he inquired.

Celestia fluffed her wings. "The one about the Ursa Major," she stated.

Starswirl snorted. "What of it?" he asked.

"Luna fought it on her own," Celestia answered. "And she beat it! She's not supposed to-"

"Tia," Starswirl interjected calmly. He turned around and stared up at the alicorn. "She may be your younger sister, but she has come into her own over the past decade. Surely you've seen that she posesses an aptitude for combat magic that you don't."

Celestia nibbled on her lip and nodded. "I do, but-"

"She can handle it herself. She took on the task of protecting ponies from monsters of her own will. She's good at it. It's her domain, Tia," Starswirl replied.

Celestia sighed and nodded. "I worry about her... I know she can, but... what if something happens to her?" she asked.

Starswirl's eyes seemed to gloss over, and his gaze turned distant. A few seconds passed, then he let out a tired, aged sigh. "You can handle it," he stated. He took a deep breath, then looked over at the bookshelf. He levitated out a small, leather-bound journal, then flipped through it.

Celestia frowned. "What's that?" she asked.

Starswirl glanced up at the tall alicorn. "One of my mentor's journals," he stated matter-of-factly. "She gave it to me the last time we spoke," he acknowledged, then turned and walked back to his desk. He set the journal down on the desk.

Celestia looked at the open journal curiously. Starswirl's large hat blocked most of it from sight. She tilted her head to the side, then took a few steps forward. "How... is she?" she asked calmly.

Starswirl paused and looked up. After a moment, he looked back at Celestia. "She's... getting up there in years..." he trailed off. "But then again, I suppose we all are..." he trailed off and looked over Celestia's pristine visage. "With two exceptions, of course," he noted.

Celestia stayed silent and watched him.

Starswirl's expression hardened and he snorted derisively again. "I kind of look forward to it. I won't have to deal with those young unicorn upstarts thinking they know everything there is to know about magic then."

Celestia's lips twitched up slightly. "They're not all that bad," she stated.

Starswirl let out a tired groan and shook his head. "And to think, they're the future..." he muttered. "Well, at least they have you and Luna to knock some sense into them..." he relented. He looked back at the journal on the desk, then took a step to the right.

Celestia stepped forward and stood beside him. "What is it?"

"A journal of one of her expeditions to the Everfree Forest. She says she felt something odd about the place and so she gave me this to look through, thinking that I'd be able to figure it out," he acknowledged.

"The Everfree Forest?" Celestia asked, a shiver racing down her spine. "That's... risky..." she said hesitantly.

Starswirl nodded. "I'm planning an expedition to investigate myself. Some of her notes don't make any sense. According to her, there's potent magic there that has no reason to be there."

Celestia grimaced. "The Everfree contains many mysteries... many of the monsters we have faced have originated from there... Starswirl-"

"I'll be fine, Celestia," he replied steadfastly.

"You're not as young as you used to be," Celestia cautioned.

"Age has its own advantages, Tia. My body and my magic may not be as strong or potent as yours or Luna's, but I have my fair share of experience," he replied. Celestia sighed, then nodded reluctantly. "I'll be leaving in two days' time. I will be sure to stay in touch. I shouldn't be gone longer than a month."

"I can't talk you out of this?" Celestia asked with a grimace.

Starswirl chuckled. "Since when were you ever able to talk me out of an adventure, Tia?" he asked with a playful smile. Despite her concern, Celestia smiled.

Luna winced as Celestia dabbed a damp white cloth over a nasty cut across the side of her neck, running over one of her arteries. She held her head to the side and avoided eye contact with her elder sister as Celestia tended to her wounds.

"Luna," Celestia said softly. "You need to be more careful, griffon bandits-"

Luna looked at Celestia and silence her by meeting her gaze. "We can't just leave the bandits to reign freely and harass and kill ponies, Tia."

Celestia grimaced and hesitantly nodded. "We have soldiers patrolling the roads to deal with them."

"It's not enough," Luna stated firmly.

Celestia paused and watched Luna for a moment. After a few seconds, she looked away and rinsed the blood out of the cloth in a small bowl. Once the cloth was cleaned, she brought it back over and resumed dabbing Luna's cuts. "How did this even happen?" she asked.

Luna shifted her weight uncomfortably. "They... caught me off guard. They had a unicorn with them. She was using dark magic, and..." she trailed off.

"Tia," Starswirl said calmly. "Luna."

Celestia turned away from Luna and looked back at the aged stallion. She frowned at his silent arrival. Luna shifted her weight as Starswirl looked over her injuries. Starswirl eventually looked back at Celestia. "I had a vision last night."

Celestia nodded slowly. "And this couldn't wait?"

Starswirl shook his head. "No," he stated. "I saw another alicorn. She was wearing a cloak of light, and she outshined you and Luna combined," he stated.

Celestia shared a glance with Luna before looking back at Starswirl. "Another alicorn?" she asked.

Starswirl nodded. "You were there with her. You called her a friend."

"Was there anything else to your vision, Starswirl?" Luna inquired.

"No," Starswirl replied casually. "But I found it significant that there was another alicorn. My mentor also mentioned having a vision of another alicorn... She was at a... structure of some kind. She said she knew it was important, but she didn't know how it was important. There wasn't enough information for her..."

Celestia calmly opened her eyes as the dream faded away. She stared up at the ceiling, looking at the marble, pondering the memories. Several minutes passed in silence as she laid there calmly, contemplating her dreams. She frowned, then sat up and climbed out of bed.

She casually glanced towards her balcony, then broke the darkness with the light of her horn. A few seconds passed, then the sky gradually started to lighten as the sun's rays shined from behind the horizon. She walked over to her mirror, then levitated on her shoes, regalia, and tiara. A quick spell cleaned her coat, mane, and tail from sleeping.

She stood there, frowning at her reflection in the mirror. "Starswirl... you could be so cryptic at times..." she sighed. "An alicorn wearing a cloak of light?" she asked herself. A grimace pulled at her lips.

She shook it off, then walked over to her desk. With a quick flash of light, a large tome teleported, then fell down onto the desk, making a loud thunk. She opened the book and looked over the table of contents. A list of Starswirl's prophecies laid written across the page. Many of them had already come to pass while others were clearly wrong, and yet none of them mentioned anything about an alicorn wearing a cloak of light.

Her eyes froze as the skimmed over one prophecy, the one which she had been so completely blind to. Her chest tightened up and she clenched her jaws. After several seconds, she forced her eyes to the prophecy below it and continued on. She flipped the page and read it over, then sighed in defeat and closed the book.

A knock on the door drew her attention away from the desk. The door calmly opened, and her sister walked in, carrying a tray with a teapot and two teacups. Celestia smiled as she watched the steam rise from the pot. "Luna," she greeted.

"Good morning, sister," Luna replied. "I figured some tea would help you, considering your dreams during the night."

Celestia nodded. "You were watching the dreams?"

Luna inclined her head, then came to a stop and sat down on her haunches. "Of course, sister," she stated. She levitated the teapot up and poured two cups of tea, then set it back down. She lifted one cup with her magic and levitated it over to Celestia, who took it with her magic and took a quick sip of it. "I... remembered something while watching your dreams," she said hesitantly. "The alicorn war you remember him speaking of?" she asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, what about it?"

"He didn't mention it until after coming back from his trip," Luna replied. "I remember us rushing over to his chambers when we heard he had returned. He wasn't alone in there when we arrived, there was another pony with him. I can't remember her voice, but it was a unicorn mare. She was wearing a dark, hooded cloak of some kind." Luna tilted her head to the side. "I remember thinking it was strange... her cloak looked thick and well-insulated around her body, despite the time of year..." She shook her head. "Starswirl was talking to her, but he didn't act like he knew her that well. I remember thinking something about her was off, but... I don't remember what. Starswirl mentioned the alicorn war as we walked inside. She was nodding."

Celestia frowned and nodded slowly. "I never saw her face, and I don't recall Starswirl ever mentioning her again. I don't think either of us saw her again after that."

Luna nodded in agreement. "I remember seeing that Starswirl was missing the bell on his hat."

"So... that's where he was, and that's when he was there... who was the mare?" Celestia asked.

Luna shook her head. "I do not know, and with as much time has passed, I do not believe we will be able to identify her unless there was something in his writings about her. Our best chance still seems like it would be the missing pages of his journal, or perhaps there are other journals of his which we do not know about."

Celestia levitated the teacup a little lower. "I feel as if we're on a wild goose chase," she said calmly. "We are missing something, and because of that, none of this makes sense..." she muttered. "Perhaps I should investigate our old castle in the Everfree Forest... I did not move all of Starswirl's journals from there when I moved to Canterlot... although I know that some of his journals were lost during the move from our first castle..." she trailed off and frowned. "Starswirl's mentor sensed the Tree of Harmony, and we know that is what he found on that expedition... but what if there is something more to that?" she asked.

Luna hesitated to say something, but after a second, she nodded. "If you are certain that the spell Starswirl found was the one which Twilight completed, then there is some link between the Elements of Harmony and the structure he uncovered since the spell required the Elements of Harmony to function..."

Celestia took another sip of her tea and looked to the right, her eyes darting around as she thought. "Perhaps we can find further clues in his writings about the Tree of Harmony, then..." she mused.

Ashes

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Celestia looked around cautiously. The decayed ruins of her former home were in rough shape as a result of centuries of disuse and the actions of her sister and herself. The castle's once-proud stone walls were crumbling- where they had once offered protection and stood as a testimony to their builders, they now seemed to cry out, as if in a warning of the futility of fighting time. Moss covered the courtyard, serving to further erase any signs that the castle had once been her home, and the broken windows tugged at her heart.

Her lips pulled into a flat line as a rush of memories cascaded through her mind. Some memories she treasured, some she kept close to her heart, others nearly brought her to tears, but she held her composure, despite the torrent of centuries-old memories.

She took a deep breath, then exhaled. She calmly walked forward, crossing the mossy courtyard as she approached the arched entrance to what remained of the castle's interior. Her hooves made no sound on the damp, moss-covered stone, and the world was still and quiet- the monsters, birds, and magic of the Everfree having been silenced by Celestia's powerful presence, as they had been for centuries before when she and her sister had inhabited the castle together.

She frowned as she ascended the short flight of stairs to the main doors. As she reached the top, she turned around and looked back at the unforgiving Everfree forest. The trees, bushes, and vines hid countless dangers- not only creatures which posed threats to ponies and each other but also plants that would punish anything that disturbed their rest in the darkness. Indeed, the very air of the forest held an ominous tingle to it that gave ponies a sense of foreboding when inside the forest. The lone path which ponies would have to walk to reach the castle was dark and gloomy, despite the protective light of the afternoon sun that fought to banish the danger and feeling of dread.

Like the last time she had visited her former home, the rope bridge was out. It was only after Twilight and her friends reached the chasm did they repair it, and in the short time that had since passed, the bridge had once more failed, perhaps as a result of nature or animals, but she did not know. With the bridge out, the only way to reach the castle was by flying or teleportation. It left the castle more protected, if only from the various animals and creatures, if only because it was less accessible.

In the back of her mind, the atmosphere of her home felt so horribly wrong. The bad memories far outweighed the good, and it blighted the nostalgia she felt from returning. Twice before, she had fought the perversion of her sister on the castle's grounds, and both times tainted every other fond memory she had of their time together in the castle, casting a shadow of pain on even the happiest of memories.

Her magic had been intricately woven into the castle, along with that of her sister's and countless unicorns who time had since forgotten, and yet all of that magic was simply gone, leaving the castle grounds feeling vacant. She could feel the twisted, tainted magic from Nightmare Moon still lingering, alongside the natural twisted magic of the Everfree Forest. Yet, in the background, there was a faint, radiant warmth- the magic of the Elements of Harmony and the Tree of Harmony. It felt faint and distant, despite the cave being so close by, directly under the castle, but it was there, welcoming her return.

In contrast to how weak the ambient harmonic magic felt, the power of the Elements was unmatched by her sister or herself. Not even Discord could stand against their might when he was at his height of power. The magic from the Elements permeated the forest, having a purifying effect on it now that they had been returned to their proper places in the Tree of Harmony, however, the forest was still dangerous. It seemed like so long ago, and only for such a short time, that the Everfree Forest had been peaceful, and that period was when her sister and herself reigned from the Everfree Castle- it was only their actions, along with their guards, that had kept the forest tame. The Everfree Forest had always been filled with dangerous magic and vile creatures since before Celestia had been born, despite the purifying effect of the Elements.

She turned her back to the forest, then calmly walked on inside the ruins of her castle. The roof had been badly damaged from her battles with her sister, but it still stood despite the damage, although in the back of her mind, she questioned for how much longer the overhead stones would remain, given how bad a shape the crumbling walls were. It had taken a thousand years and two battles between alicorns to put the castle into such a state, and yet it felt like it wouldn't take nearly as long for the forest to reclaim the land once the castle crumbled, turning into a simple archeological site for future generations to find and explore.

Celestia tilted her head to the right slightly and pursed her lips, her mind wandering over the implications.

She pushed the thought aside as she calmly strode through the castle's foyer. Her hooves clacked on the cool, broken stone. As she looked around, in her mind, she could see the beauty of how the castle once stood; elegant banners and tapestries depicting her sister and herself hanging on the walls and columns, and plush carpets lining the floors where ponies trotted about. It was so different from Canterlot Castle, but yet so much the same.

She slowed, then came to a stop. She slowly turned her head and looked around. Her eyes eventually settled on the door to the throne room. After a moment's hesitation, she slowly lifted her right forehoof, then slowly approached the doorway. While the door had long since rotted and decayed, but a few rusted pieces of iron laid in the doorway, the only evidence that anything had once blocked the archway. She easily stepped over the bits of rusted metal, then walked into the throne room.

Behind the two broken, stone thrones, there had been a beautiful window depicting her sister and herself. The window was long gone, destroyed when Luna fell to Nightmare Moon. The sight brought on even more painful memories from all those centuries ago. Celestia let out a soft sigh, then slowly walked across the room. She came to a stop at the raised dais that once held the Elements of Harmony and looked it over. The stone was weathered by the time that had since past- no longer was it polished to perfection, instead, it was pitted and rough. Moss covered small sections of the dais, further displaying the time that had past since it was tended to.

She turned away from the stand, then walked towards her right. She ignored the steps to the platform that the two destroyed thrones rested on and walked to the side. Another stone archway offered entrance to a hallway that once led to her private study. She strolled through the passageway, then slowly swept her head around, letting her eyes take in the room she hadn't seen for centuries.

Shelves dotted the stone walls, still preserved because of the protection offered by the room and because of her own lingering magic. The shelves held old trinkets she had long since forgotten about. A thin layer of dust dulled the sheen of the precious metals, but they were all well-preserved. A voluminous bookshelf covered the right wall. The books were intact but covered in dust- the magic once again preserving them for the duration of the past centuries. She turned to her right, then calmly walked over to the bookshelf. Her hoofsteps were dampened by a faded, damp rug on the floor.

She surveyed the titles of the books, only for the dust to obscure the words. A few of the books she could remember from memory, either associating the position with the book, or the shape of the book. She took a deep breath, and ignoring the musty smell, lit her horn. In a gentle golden burst of magic, the dust was whisked away from the room, revealing the titles of the books and tomes, and allowing the trinkets to once again reflect the warm glow of her aura.

She meandered back to her left and approached her desk. As she looked it over, her brow creased and her lips twitched downward. A few books remained on the desk, left there by her so long ago. She could vaguely remember what each book was about and the knowledge inside of them, but she knew that they weren't the only copies of the books. However, one of the books, in particular, was important. The book stood out- rather than being a thick tome detailing obscure, misunderstood magic, or the mostly wrong then-cutting-edge theories of magic, it was a small leather-bound journal.

The leather cover of the book had been seared and branded with an image of Starswirl's cutie mark. She looked over the emblem, then lifted a forehoof and gently touched the back of the desk's chair. The old wood felt so frail beneath her hoof, like the slightlest push would turn it into a pile of splinters. Her eyes glanced away from the book and studied the chair. A moment later, a short pulse of golden light emanated from her horn. The restored wood felt strong and firm under her hoof as if it could have supported the weight of the castle above it without giving.

She levitated the chair back, then calmly sat down on her haunches in the chair. She placed a forehoof on the cover of the journal, then opened it. Starswirl's hornwriting greeted her, and a slight smile pulled at her lips, though it was dulled from a pang of regret. While the journal wasn't the one she was looking for, it was one of Starswirl's journals, and as such, it wasn't solely valuable for being a lost work of Starswirl's, but also because it had belonged to her mentor, somepony close to her who was long since gone.

The journal before her was one of Starswirl's journals that held her interest following the days, weeks, and months after she had banished Nightmare Moon since it was about the prophecy of her return. In a way, the existence of the journal itself was a miracle- Starswirl died long before Luna became Nightmare Moon, let alone before her return. Prophecies being so accurate despite being so far into the future were incredibly rare, only a few were known to exist and have been accurate. It was almost like they were woven into the very fabric of history by an unknown force.

She levitated the journal up, then teleported it away for storage. She took a deep breath, then turned her gaze over to the bookshelf. Her eyes glanced over the books, looking for any other journals she had left in the room. She stood up and walked over to the bookshelf, then pulled out a couple of the smaller books and gave them a cursory glance before teleporting them into storage alongside the first journal.

Once she finished sorting through the books in her study, she meandered over to the shelf with her trinkets. She casually looked over them, giving them only the slightest thought before she turned aside and headed back for the throne room. She paused briefly and looked around, then resumed her slow, calm pace, walking around the dais and heading for the passageway on the other side of the throne room.

The stone passageway was darker than the hallway leading to her own study, which was fitting since the rocks led to Luna's former study. She slowed as she approached the archway that opened into her study, then she stopped in the doorway. There was a fine layer of dust covering everything, like her own study, but unlike her study, the dust wasn't quite as built up since Luna had visited the room shortly after her restoration.

She took a deep breath, then walked into the room. She immediately shivered as a wave of coolness washed over her coat. The room felt cold and damp, despite being open to the outside air. There was a lingering, cold, creeping sensation in the room, and despite her knowing it was just her imagination, when combined with the very real coolness and dampness, it served to unnerve her slightly.

She pushed the thought aside and used her magic to cleanse the dust from the room. After the dust was purged, she created another small orb of magic to illuminate the darkened room. Her eyes traced along the domed ceiling, taking in the faded blacks and white specks meant to represent the stars. Their brilliance had long since faded, but she could still remember when the paint and enchantments were fresh.

She turned her gaze to the desk, then approached it. Unlike hers, the desk was smaller and there wasn't anything laying on it. She glanced to the left and looked over the lone shelf. Luna had far fewer trinkets left behind, not only because she had taken some of them with her back to Canterlot, but also because she simply had fewer than her sister. A faint sigh escaped her lips, and for a moment, her eyes looked down at the floor.

She lifted her head back up and swept her gaze to the right and surveyed the bookshelf. Once again, like her desk, it was so barren. While Celestia had many tomes and books in her study, Luna had far fewer, and most of them were ones that she really shouldn't have had. Celestia suppressed a groan and approached the bookshelf, glimpsing over the titles with disdain as she searched for any journals that had belonged to their mentor.

She teleported the lone journal to storage, then calmly left her sister's room. She paused in the passageway, then glanced back to give the room one last look, then snuffed out the orb of her magic, once again leaving the room to its preferred darkness. She turned back around and strode back to the throne room.

She took a deep breath, then headed for the castle's library.

Princess Luna frowned pensively at the sun overhead. The ever-present reminder of her sister was usually just as welcome to her as her night, but now instead, her brow was creased in thought. Her mind wondered, sorting through old memories spurred on by Celestia's dreams. A few memories brought a smile to her lips, while others only served to deepen her scowl, and yet the vast majority of the memories offered no help nor any clues to their predicament.

Starswirl had been a very accomplished wizard. During his life, he was unrivaled in his mastery of magic by any other unicorn, and until the last few years before he disappeared, even her sister and herself had been easily defeated by him in duels. He had always made it look so easy, even when their magic was far stronger than his. He simply applied his magic in ways that caught them off guard, and he always kept them on their hooves. He always seemed to have an answer for everything.

"An alicorn cloaked in light..." Luna muttered. Her lips pulled into a grimace. It was vague and yet straightforward, but the context was lacking.

She pushed the thought aside as her mind wandered back to her memory of them seeing Starswirl upon his return. Whoever the mare was who had been there with Starswirl, she was certain that they had never seen her again. When she pictured the way she stood and what she was wearing, something still felt off about her, although she also judged that the mare had no malicious intentions. The cowl hiding her body seemed to suggest she wanted to remain unknown for whatever reason, but the cloak itself bothered her. It had been so thick as it had been designed for cooler weather, and in contrast, between the time of year and where they were at, it wasn't exactly cold, so it was out of place and stuck out in her mind.

'Perhaps you came from somewhere cooler, although in that case I question why you were still wearing that cloak... could you not have acquired a different cloak?' she mused. 'Perhaps there was there something special about the cloak you wore?'

She looked out across Canterlot and mulled over her memories. Despite her attempts, she could not think of any cloaks of significance that resembled the one the mare wore. From her knowledge, there was no significance to it, yet it still ate at her mind. 'What are we missing?'

'There has never been anything to suggest anything about an alicorn war... where did you hear of such a thing, Starswirl?' she asked herself. "Was it the mare who told you?" she asked aloud. "Why would you trust her? How would she know something like that? Why would she tell you that?"

She looked down at the balcony railing, then looked down at the grassy garden below. Flowers adorned the castle's garden, along with statues and water fountains, providing a beautiful, well-kept scene before her. But, while the scene was pleasant to the eye and peaceful, it did little to offer any answers to her questions.

"Are we asking the wrong questions?" she wondered aloud.

Her eyes narrowed and she lifted her head up as frantic knocking sounded from her chamber's door. "Princess!" a stallion urgently called.

"Enter," she called back calmly. She turned and meandered away from the railing, walking back inside as the door was thrown open. Her brow pulled downward at the display, but she pushed it aside as the Royal Guard swept his head around until he settled on Princess Luna. He wasted no time in falling into a hasty, yet still respectful bow, then rising.

The stallion swallowed and shifted on his hooves. His body trembled, and Luna could hear his armor rattling. "P-Princess Luna, y-you're presence is... required. T-there's been an incident..." he stuttered.

Luna's lips pulled downward as she watched the fearful guard. "What kind of an incident?" she queried.

The stallion opened his mouth to answer but hesitated. He closed his mouth, then clenched his jaw shut. "We... don't have all of the details yet, Princess..." he replied. "B-but... there's been an attack. The coastal village of Neighton was... attacked."

Luna's expression twisted into a grimace as she thought. 'The last thing we need right now is something like this happening.' She forced the thought aside and refocused her attention on the guard. "How bad is it? Do we know who is responsible?"

The unicorn shifted his weight and then spoke in a tone so low, it barely carried to Luna's ears, "The... village was leveled, Princess. We're... just getting reports of it. Nearby villages are tending to the... survivors. Royal Guards have been dispatched as per protocol... The initial reports are coming in from pegasi who have flown from the villages, and a couple of them have said they saw what was left of Neighton, and that there wasn't much there. We gather the attack took place sometime yesterday..."

Luna squinted at him. "Why are we just now hearing of this?"

"Neighton is up north, closer to the Crystal Empire than Equestria..." the guard answered at length.

Luna grimaced, then shook her head. "I will... investigate this and make sure whoever is responsible will pay for this atrocity," she growled.

The guard nodded hastily. "O-of course, Princess," he answered.

Luna shot the guard a glare. "See to it that my sister is informed of this immediately... I will go talk with the pegasi reporting this incident. Once my sister has returned, I will go and investigate."

"Yes, Princess!" the guard acknowledged, falling into a bow, then quickly retreating from the room, closing the door as he left.

Luna growled, then turned around. She strode back out to the balcony, then spread her wings. Using her magic, she closed the door and locked it, then she took flight.

Luna watched the pegasus sitting at the end of the table away from her curiously. The young mare had a brown coat and a tan mane and tail. She wore an uneasy expression and stared down at the table, her eyes slowly jumping back and forth across its surface, studying the polished marble. She occasionally shifted her weight on her haunches and her wings bristled nervously, like all it would have taken was a bit hitting the ground for her to bolt from her spot.

After a few more seconds, she quietly stepped into the room. The mare's eyes lifted and settled on her. She swallowed, then sat up rigidly. For a moment, she seemed to panic and hastily bowed her head. "P-Princess Luna!" she acknowledged.

Luna hesitated midstep but then continued across the room. The mare gradually lifted her head back up and watched Luna approach. "I was hoping you could tell me more about what happened than the guards could," Luna said. She used her magic and pulled the other chair out, then calmly sat down in it.

The pegasus nodded hastily. "O-of course, Princess... I-I uh... I... don't know how much help I can be... I didn't see what happened or anything-"

"But you did tell the guards that you saw what was left of the village, did you not?" Luna interrupted.

The pegasus closed her mouth, then reluctantly nodded. She swallowed again, and the pupils of her eyes dilated, widening slightly.

Luna's lips pulled down as she regarded the young mare. "Perhaps you could enlighten me?" she suggested.

The mare opened her mouth, then closed it and shut her eyes, nodding quickly. "R-right, Princess," she answered. She opened her eyes and tensed up. "Um... I... well... just... there was um..." she trailed off. "There... really wasn't much left, Princess... and... it wasn't like it had just been... broken down or anything, but it was like it had been... burnt," she added. "Like... whatever happened was meant to... just... leave the whole place... dead..." she said quietly.

The mare looked away from Luna. "And... well, there weren't any plants alive from what I saw. Well, not in the village anyway, and... part of the surrounding forest had been destroyed too. The forest itself seemed... okay..." she said.

"Do you have any ideas about what could have caused this? Or who could be responsible? Did you see anything suspicious?" Luna queried.

The pegasus shifted her weight and fluffed her wings. "N-no, Princess... I'm sorry... I... I just... no..." she said quietly.

Luna waited a few seconds as her eyes glanced over the pegasus's crestfallen expression. "Art thou alright?" she asked softly.

The mare looked up from the table and watched Luna. "Yeah, it's just... what if... that had been where I lived?"

Luna's lips twisted into a grimace. She lifted her head up and tilted her head to the left. "It is... not something you should worry about," she replied calmly. "My sister and I will see to it that whatever, or whoever, is responsible will not commit such an atrocity again."

The mare nodded slowly. "But... what if... it had been?" she asked.

"It was not," Luna replied in a firm, yet gentle voice. A few seconds passed in silence. "I... am unaccustomed to... this," Luna admitted. "My sister is far better at comforting than I, but she is currently elsewhere..." she trailed off. "She should arrive soon, however..." she added.

The mare simply nodded again.

"Is there anything else you can think of that bears telling me? Or would you rather not speak of it?" Luna asked.

The mare's lips twitched downward. "It's... It's not that hard on me... I mean, not like... the ponies who were there, but... it's... I don't know..." she trailed off, her eyes darting back and forth as she searched for the right word. "It's surreal..." she finally replied.

Luna pursed her lips. "Last night... I neither sensed nor encountered any troubled dreams that seemed related to this..." she trailed off.

"I'd be surprised if any of them got any sleep last night..." she replied.

Luna nodded slowly. "My sister will likely wish to speak with you, along with the others, when she returns," she stated. The mare nodded. "I... shall leave you to it, then, if there is nothing else," she added.

A golden burst of magic signaled Celestia's arrival. Luna casually glanced back at her and looked over her pensive expression, then looked back out over Canterlot. "I was expecting your return sooner," Luna said calmly.

A few seconds passed in silence, then the sounds of Celestia's shoes clicking across the marble floor broke the silence as she approached Luna on the balcony. "It took the guards some time to locate me in the library," Celestia answered as she came to a stop beside Luna.

"I see," Luna replied.

"What do we know?" Celestia asked.

"Not a lot," Luna answered. She turned to face her elder sister and looked up at her. "I was planning to leave to investigate as soon as you had returned. I assumed you would wish to remain here to tend to the pegasi and coordinate the response. It would also be wise to inform Twilight and Cadance of this development," said Luna.

Celestia nodded in agreement. "I will send a message to Cadance as soon as I can. Reaching Twilight may be a bit more difficult, given her expedition, but I will send a pegasus to inform her."

Luna nodded. "Did you find any of Starswirl's journals?"

"Yes, I found the ones that I had taken when we moved there. Unfortunately, it's not all of his journals, but the rest are probably lost to time..." Celestia trailed off and grimaced.

"Perhaps they will yet show up, or maybe what we need will be in one of the journals you found. However, I suspect that the recent attack will be a more pressing matter than this mystery of ours," Luna confided.

"If I have time, I still plan to go through his journals," Celestia replied.

Luna took a deep breath, then turned away from her sister and looked out across Canterlot and Equestria. "If nothing else, then I shall take my leave and investigate."

"Stay safe, Lulu..." Celestia whispered.

Luna glanced back at her, her brow creased. "I... will be fine, Celestia," she replied. After a moment, she spread her wings, then took off.

Celestia watched her sister fly into the sky, then shook her head and teleported away.

A scowl of disgust crossed Luna's lips as she looked over the remains of the village. While she had no knowledge of what the village had looked like before the attack, the one thing she was certain of was that the village had been leveled. Ash covered the dirt paths that served as roads, gray and fluffy in some areas, while more black and thick in others. The smell of smoke lingered in the cool air, easily drowning out the scent of the nearby pine trees. Piles of charred wood were all that remained to designate that a building had once stood anywhere in the divide between the shore and the forest.

And yet, despite the fiery destruction of the village, it was all localized- the surrounding forest was, for the most part, untouched and undisturbed. Whatever attacked the village seemed to have focused on ensuring it- along with the inhabitants- weren't just destroyed, but erased from existence. It seemed as if it wanted no trace left behind to even serve as a memory of something having been there, but not for the sake of covering its tracks.

Luna suppressed a growl as she slowly swept her gaze around, taking in the destruction. The only signs of life amongst the ruins were the armor-clad Royal Guards, mostly pegasi with a few unicorns and earth ponies mixed in, who meticulously patrolled the ruins, searching for any clues. Their golden armor served as a sharp contrast with the gloomy evening and barren village, even with the ashes and soot starting to dull the metal's luster.

Luna closed her eyes, then took a deep breath. Her muzzle scrunched up at the scent of smoke, but she suppressed it, then opened her eyes. She lifted her right forehoof, then calmly strode forward, making her way down what seemed to be the village's main road. The few Royal Guards walking along the same path as her courteously parted to allow her passage. As she walked through the ashes, she cautiously looked around at the piles that remained of buildings. Whether the buildings had been houses or had served other purposes, she couldn't tell.

A few structures faired better than others, and more of their wood was left standing, although they looked as if they would collapse into a blackened pile of debris at the slightest touch.

"Princess," a stallion's voice called.

Luna's eyes darted towards the source of the sound. One of the Royal Guards, a captain, as shown by the insignia on his shoulder armor, approached her calmly, then bowed. She turned to face him. "Initial findings are... limited," he explained. "But we don't think that dragons were responsible for this, unlike our original thought."

"Dragons would not be responsible for this, Captain," Luna replied calmly. "We are in the West, and it is not the right time of the year for any dragons to be this far West. Besides, a dragon attack wouldn't be like this," she stated. She calmly swept her head around, surveying the damage. "It is too precise for a dragon attack," she affirmed.

The guard looked at her in confusion. "Princess?" he asked.

Luna looked back at him. "Were it a dragon, the forest likely would have been burnt, at least partially, and the debris isn't strewn about. If a dragon had attacked, there would be charred wood in the streets too, rather than just the piles were buildings were."

"Do you have any idea what could be responsible for this destruction, Princess?" he asked.

Luna remained silent, her brow furrowed in thought. "I am unsure what exactly has transpired here, Captain. That is why I am here, so that I may investigate."

"Right..." he muttered. He shifted his weight and looked around. "Should we be concerned about whatever it is coming back or attacking any nearby towns?"

"There is no reason to believe that this won't happen again, nor is there any reason to believe it will happen again. However, going by past experience, it would be wise to station at least a few Guards in the nearby towns and villages to ensure that they are not defenseless," Luna replied.

"Of course, Princess. I'll have a message sent back to Canterlot and we can have more guards deployed," he answered. He lingered for a second to see if Luna would say anything else, then hesitantly turned away from her and started off.

Luna took a breath, then tilted her head slightly. "Captain?" she asked.

The stallion paused, then turned back to look at her. "Yes, Princess?"

Luna's eyes narrowed as she squinted at the forest, and her lips pulled down into a slight scowl. "Does... anything feel... off? About... this?" she asked hesitantly.

The captain shifted his weight on his hooves. "I... don't know what you mean... Princess?"

A scowl crossed Luna's expression once more. "Something about this feels wrong," she stated. "I am unsure of exactly what, however," she acknowledged. A second passed, then she turned to look at the captain with a wry expression.

Release

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Daring Do winced as an aggressive chime rang out throughout the room. Immediately, she had a sinking feeling in her gut. She felt her trap sense tingling, but it wasn't quite the same. It was different from normal. Nor did it feel exactly like a trap. For one, the entire room wasn't shaking, it was just the tone of the sound that made it sound as if something bad was about to happen.

A rapid beeping emanated from the crystal beside the door, and with it, the light flashed repeatedly. The inner door started to close. Immediately, her thoughts shifted to it most definitely being a trap of some kind. "Ah, not again..." she groaned, wincing.

For a split second, she bobbed her head, debating her options. While she was certain somepony would eventually figure out that they were trapped, it would be faster if she got help, although she knew that Twilight might also be able to get the door unsealed on her own. After all, the structure seemed to like her. But that still didn't mean it would happen. And still, there was the potential that she might end up getting knocked out like they found her before. Perhaps all three of them would, but there was no way to know it would be safe for Loose Translation or herself.

Acting fast, she bolted towards the door, barely managing to skid to a stop, realizing that the door would close before she made it to the other side. And like with most crushing-based traps, she didn't want to risk getting caught in that doorway when it closed. She had an aversion to traps. Fire traps, water traps, spike traps, sand traps, snake traps, and crushing traps. She did her absolute best to avoid those kinds of traps, along with, in general, any traps she came across.

She glared at the door, then jerked her head back to look at the room's resident alicorn, who also happened to supposedly be an expert in this sort of thing. "Twilight!" she shouted.

The mare's head was bobbing side to side as her eyes jumped over the screen and the information that was displayed- which, like the room's lighting, was now red, as if in warning of some kind. At the sound of her name, Twilight looked back at Daring. "Get the professor!" she ordered. In short order, she closed her eyes, then enveloped Daring Do in her magenta aura.

An instant later, Daring found herself woozy as everything she saw and felt suddenly shifted. The sudden change in scenery was jarring, but she had been through enough smacks to the head to recover. From her past experience with Twilight, she realized that she had been teleported out of the room. Almost immediately, the door to the control room sealed shut.

As she glanced over the door, she found an uncomfortable unease welling up inside her. The rapid beeping of the door's crystal had gone silent. For a moment, she waited, listening, hoping to hear something more, but there was nothing else, just silence.

She shivered, then turned around and darted down the hallway, having no time to waste. While she had no idea of what was happening, she knew better than to waste time waiting around. She had a task: find Ancient Knowledge and then figure out how to unseal the door if Twilight hadn't already by the time she returned.

As she dashed into the first large, open room, she heard a commanding, low tone ring out throughout the facility. The very walls seemed to vibrate from the low tone. Her pace slowed as the tone rang on, dominating the entire facility and demanding attention. Certainly, nopony could have missed that sound- it seemed to come from everywhere all at once. Slowly, the tone dropped in pitch several more octaves, then suddenly stopped.

While the facility had her constantly on edge before, the sudden silence following the wake of the tone left her feeling even more anxious. The only sounds she could hear were those of her hooves clicking on the cold alloy floor. She wasn't used to the anxiety now filling her being. When she explored ruins, she knew what she was getting into for the most part. The traps were straightforward and predictable. Sure, they might catch her by surprise, but she at least knew what she was dealing with.

But that wasn't so with this structure. It was just so different. She didn't like it one bit. Normally, a ruin filled her with a sense of adventure, excitement even. This structure brought only a sense of foreboding and unease. There was still the excitement of lexploring something so unknown, but it paled in comparison to the warnings her senses shouted out at her.

'Focus...' she told herself. Ignoring the ominous red glow illuminating the structure, she forced herself on, navigating her way to the crossroads in the hallway near the entrance. But she still found nopony else around, nor did she hear any other ponies.

It set alarms off in her mind. Unless the entire structure was sealed up, which she doubted, given that she had gone through more than one door that wasn't sealed, ponies should have heard that sound and come to the entrance. But nopony was here. Looking around, she found the wooden planks of cargo boxes strewn about carelessly, shattered and broken. Only some of the boxes weren't damaged, although even those were carelessly tossed aside and crumpled against the walls.

It looked like the place had been hastily searched, or the supplies had been destroyed- whether on purpose or on accident, although she leaned towards the former. Memories of times when she had returned to her camp to find it ransacked by her adversaries popped through her mind. Ponies trying to get out in a hurry wouldn't have caused this kind of destruction. It had to be something else. Her wingtips bristled in agitation and questions raced through her mind. Why was the facility, as Twilight called it, acting in such a way? Why had their equipment been searched and destroyed? Where was everypony?

"What's going on here?" she muttered.

She turned back around and hastily looked left and right, searching for any signs of ponies- or any other creatures- hiding, just waiting for the right time to pounce on her. But instead, there wasn't anything she could see that stood ready to attack. She would have preferred a dozen griffons jump out at her to the lack of anything being there. At least then she'd know what she was dealing with and could deal with it. Instead, she was left with the continuous feeling of wrongness.

But even with no immediate signs of her opponents, she did have a goal in mind: Locate Ancient Knowledge and figure out what was happening. Clearly, the door locking and the lights turning red had to relate to this destruction somehow. How could it have been a coincidence? Given that the society had advanced magic and reacted to Twilight favorably, most likely, it was a security measure. But if it was a security measure, how did this place know to enact it? And what triggered it?

They were questions that would have to wait, so she heaped it onto the pile of questions she'd ask later.

Glancing at the two open hallways to her left and right, she found that her gaze drawn to the right lingered longer than it had when she looked left. The door had been sealed and Twilight had to cut through it. She didn't like it then, and now it felt worse. The air felt heavier, colder, and more foreboding. A chill raced down her spine as cold air slid over her body.

Cautiously, she stepped forward and turned down the hallway to her right. She came to a stop when she stared down the length of the hallway. The lighting, like the rest of the structure, was all an ominous red glow, leaving everything darkly lit. The crystal controls in the walls were all either glowing with the same inner red light or were completely inert. The skeleton of the alicorn was still there, looking untouched, although there were some scattered planks near her body as if a crate had been shattered.

She fluttered her wings, then strode towards the open door. The sound of her hooves clicking against the alloy floor accompanied her, and she hated how loud the steps sounded. At least in other ancient structures, a fine layer of dust would have helped dampen the sound, even if it did leave the air smelling old and stagnant. Although it was a smell that was familiar to her, and one that welcomed her with open hooves. It had always been a refreshing smell, promising of adventure, exciting mysteries, and long-forgotten history. This structure lacked it.

She sped up as she walked in past the door. Her hoof steps came quicker, and her eyes darted about, scanning for any signs of life. Her ears swiveled around atop her head, trying to discern any distant sounds that could be coming from other ponies or whoever was responsible for the mess.

The silence weighed heavily on her, but as she continued along, she found herself settling into a familiar routine. It reminded her of searching out old ruins. The sort of thing she actually liked. Spurred on by the feeling of adventure, the anxiety drifted away, though never truly faded.

Turning as she approached a corner, she stopped in her tracks as her eyes glanced down at a crumpled lump on the floor against the left wall. It was unmistakably an earth pony, but he didn't move. Her attention was almost immediately drawn to the pool of blood underneath his body, the red stain rolling down from the upward facing side of his chest, and the gash from which the blood came.

She grimaced. Hesitating for a moment, she listened as intently as she could. She didn't hear any signs of danger, and while the discovery made her cautious, she didn't feel any more immediate danger than what she had before. Still, somepony had been killed, and it wasn't a self-inflicted wound. Slowly, she approached the poor stallion and examined his wound more thoroughly.

While the red lighting was rather poor compared to the light of the midday sun, it was far from the worst lighting she had to examine a wound over. No, that distinction went to one of the inner rooms in a ziggurat. Her torch had burnt out by that time, and the only light was that which had been reflected inside by mirrors. Needless to say, it was worse than the lighting of a full moon.

His wound was deep, like a puncture or stab wound, but it didn't have the right proportions for it to be caused by a knife, and a sword would have left a different wound as well. Her next guess was a spear, but the wound still didn't seem to have a profile that fit it. The wound was almost circular in shape, which would have fit a spike more than a spear or bladed weapon, but he had not fallen into any such pit. The only thing that really came to mind that could have caused the wound would have been a unicorn's horn.

She shivered at that thought. Not a unicorn's magic, their actual horn. Impalement. She couldn't determine the wound's depth because of the lighting, but the fact still remained that it fit the profile for a horn-caused wound. Most unicorns would never do such a thing, even if they were back against a wall with no other options for defendign themselves. Their horns weren't meant to inflict such a wound, and they were naturally too blunt and rounded to be used for such an attack. The end result of trying something like that would have been bruising their opponent and hurting themselves, most likely their neck and head. For the most part, they didn't have the strength to use their horn as a physical weapon, either. If they had the strength of an earth pony, perhaps they would have been able to use their blunt horns as weapons.

Looking over him again, she found her gaze drawn to his expression. Shock, surprise, and confusion. Looking up the wall, she found a reddened wet smear. With closer inspection, she determined it to be blood. She exhaled sharply, then used her forehoof to nudge the stallion's head back towards his body.

Sure enough, his temple was bloodied and left a wet spot on the floor. He had been thrown into the wall before or after being stabbed. For a few seconds, she grimaced at him, then she carefully rolled his head back into place. She shook her head and turned her gaze away from the stallion to examine the rest of the hallway.

There had to be more clues as to what happened, but if there were any, she didn't spot them. She was sure the ominous red lighting didn't help her with that any. She took a deep breath and walked away from him, then cautiously continued down the hallway. This was a section she hadn't thoroughly explored before- Ancient's ponies had been investigating this section of the structure after Twilight had cut through the door.

But it still nagged at her mind who their adversary could be and what had happened. With every step, her mind pondered the possibilities, but nothing seemed to fit. From what she knew, this expedition had been kept fairly quiet, outside of individuals who had been provided outside help, such as analyzing the materials they had sent back. She guessed that there was still the possibility that one of the couriers had let something slip, or perhaps that somepony had found out about their supply trips, but then, they still wouldn't know where, exactly, they were. But there was still the chance that somepony had found out through some means she couldn't immediately think of.

'And why would anypony want this place?' she wandered, sweeping her head left and right as she came to another hallway. The passage to the right ended abruptly with an unopened door, while the passage to the left went on, broken by the red-glowing crystals and a few doors, along with accompanying control crystals.

She knew history quite well. Maybe not as well as Princess Celestia or Princess Luna- they had actually lived that history- but she expected to know more about obscure history that most ponies did. And she knew nothing about this place. So far as she knew, this was the first time that something like this had been discovered. There was no history supporting this place's existence, no known connections. Just nothing. It had been discovered out of the blue, and it was far older than anything else discovered before. It even predated the Discordian Era by several thousand years and had survived. That meant there were no immediately known artifacts of interest that held power that ponies would want for their own gain.

She continued forward and turned to her left. Once again, boards and shattered boxes lined the wall. She shivered, seeing two more ponies' corpses slumped against the wall. The farthest one's head was bent back towards his tail, while the closest one had a burned gash along her side. With but a quick glance, she knew that the wound was magical in nature.

'Oh, so some upstart unicorn thinks he can end this expedition? Not on my watch.' Snorting in disdain, she plowed forward, evading debris and sweeping her head left and right, looking for any more clues or hints of what she was dealing with.

'They were running towards the exit,' flashed through her mind. She paused at that and frowned. After a moment, she turned around and looked over both bodies again. Had somepony managed to get inside before they started killing ponies? That had to be it- nothing else explained it properly. But how? Ancient Knowledge would have known if somepony who wasn't supposed to be here showed up and came inside. Surely the other ponies would have noticed somepony who wasn't supposed to be there? They would have tried to stop whoever it was, and so they would have tried to flee deeper into the structure, not run out.

'Or something was already inside, and they let it out...'

She considered the idea for a few moments as she turned back around. Surely, it couldn't have been that. That was jumping to conclusions. This structure had been sealed away for- if what they knew was correct- about ten-thousand years. Nothing could have survived that long. Right?

Sure, there were all sorts of stasis spells, but the magic required to sustain a spell for that long wasn't exactly something the average unicorn could muster. But then again, this society did have at least one alicorn. An alicorn who died in this structure.

If she had been anypony else, she knew she would have shivered at that thought. Present day alicorns were powerful and long-lived, perhaps even biologically immortal. Alicorns of myth and legend were described as powerful protectors, the guardians of life, and regarded by ancient ponies as rulers. Many ancient cultures worshipped alicorns: after all, they were more powerful than dozens of unicorns and long-lived. For one to have died, or to have been killed, was unthinkable for myths and legends to tell of, unless it was at the hooves of another alicorn, though she couldn't recall any specific myths about alicorns fighting other alicorns. They were always portrayed as benevolent, even if the cultures that worshipped them were somewhat twisted.

If it was the case that something had been trapped in stasis by an alicorn for ten-thousand years, then she had no experience with this before. Sure, she had dealt with long-dead civilizations that had worshipped alicorns before- they were quite common- but it was never confirmed that they ever had an alicorn. This was the first time she'd encountered an alicorn's skeleton, which was proof that, at the very least, this society had one alicorn.

But the alicorn was dead. Something had to have killed her, even if it was just being trapped in here for such a long time. How hadn't she escaped? Maybe the alicorn hadn't been as powerful as Twilight, but there had still been sections of the wall that had been scorched from, most likely, magic. They had struggled to get samples of that same alloy, even using their magic, but alicorns were far more powerful.

More alarms rang out in her mind at that. Something wasn't right here.

But, what was the fun in just waiting for something bad to happen? She smirked, fluffed her wings, then trotted along, casting her gaze left and right, looking for any more hallways or open doors to explore.

Eventually, she came to a half-opened door. The right side was opened, but the left side was stuck in place. The crystal control looked like it had been melted, and the crystal had flowed downward and solidified, creating a smooth but lumpy addition to the wall and floor.

The walls showed more signs of warping, in addition to scorch marks dotting the wall, reminiscent of what they had seen in the other hallway. She could smell the distinct smell of heated metal. Either the damage was recent, or the room had been sealed and somehow the smell hadn't settled.

Cautiously, she ventured into the room beyond the door. It reminded her of the bedroom they had found on the other side of the hallway. It seemed nearly identical to it, complete with an add-on bathroom. The bed, likewise, had been shredded. The major difference that stood out between the two rooms was this room's lack of an alicorn stature crouched down, ready to pounce, along with the presence of smoldering crates and corpses of two unicorns and a pegasus. Blood pooled under their bodies from their wounds. The pegasus was closest to the door as if she had been trying to escape, but her neck had been struck by a bolt of magic. One unicorn had been thrown into the left wall and laid crumpled against it, with a burned gash in her chest. The other unicorn had multiple burned gashes racing across his body.

But this was all wrong. It didn't look like what happened when the villains came into a ruin, or a camp, to secure some artifact that held some value or power. The way the bodies laid, along with the positions of their wounds said that whoever- or whatever- had attacked them had come from inside the room. Either their attacker had come inside, then turned on them, or the attacker had already been in the room.

The first option made her grimace, the second made her concerned. The society was magically advanced, so it wasn't like she could completely rule out them being able to imprison something in stasis for ten thousand years, as unlikely as it was. After all, the society had, apparently, already violated several things it wasn't supposed to be able to. An actual alicorn, knowing what modern-day Equis looked like, knowing and responding to Twilight Sparkle, despite her being ten thousand years removed from the structure's existence.

But jumping to conclusions wasn't a good idea. There were still many possibilities, and the evidence was incomplete. For all she knew, there were a hundred more explanations for what was happening that she simply hadn't thought of.

But the possibility still remained, that she was out of her element. This structure was unique as far as her experiences went. And as far as she knew, it was the only one of its kind. What history did this place have, that had now been added on to by what was now transpiring?

She shook her head and backed out of the room, then turned to her right. Quickly, she trotted back down the hallway, retracing her steps. Normally, she at least knew what to expect. A treasure chamber, for instance. But this structure had no such chamber, at least from what they knew. In the place of a treasure chamber, there was a control room. The structure was so different from other ancient ruins, she couldn't expect to know what she was dealing with. It was simply unexplained.

She gave the dead stallion's body a passing glance as she trotted past him before returning to the crossroads at the entrance. 'Where is everypony?' She had only counted a hoof-full of ponies who were dead, which was a far cry from the few dozen she had seen on the expedition. Surely, there had to be more ponies inside the structure. Perhaps they were hiding or trapped inside locked rooms. Or perhaps they had been taken captive by whoever had attacked, or perhaps they were already dead, killed for being witnesses, or in the way.

Quick, unsure hoofsteps echoed out from the hallway that led to the control room. Turning her head hastily, she looked in that direction. Despite the dim red glow, she felt a wave of relief wash over her- Ancient Knowledge approached, although her stride was almost panicked. "Daring? What's going on?" she called.

"I'm not sure," she answered. She looked back to the right and once again surveyed the destroyed crates. Ancient's hoofsteps slowed as she neared.

"The door to the Control Room was sealed shut, and when I came back through here, I found this-" Ancient waved her hoof at the damage "-like this."

Daring bobbed her head to the right. "Well, I've heard that professors can be disorganized, but I think this is a new record."

Ancient huffed indignantly. "My ponies wouldn't be so careless," she stated. "Why don't you go ahead and tell me what happened. And why is the lighting all red? I'm assuming it's related to the door being sealed."

Daring looked back at her. "I would assume that too," she commented. "I mean, it's not like we have any experience with red lighting being associated with sealed doors or anything," she said snidely. She paused a moment, putting on a look of faux surprise. "Oh, wait... We do."

Ancient groaned, looked down, and raised a forehoof to her forehead.

Daring smirked at Ancient's frustration, then took a deep breath. "There was this low sound, then a rapid beeping. The lights all went red- including the text on the projection- and the door started to seal. Twilight told me to go get you, then teleported me out of the room. I was heading back this way and another low tone rang out. It was like it was supposed to be a warning of some kind. I found this place like it is now, and when I went to investigate, I found several ponies dead."

Ancient paled. "W-what? Dead? How?"

Daring took a deep breath. "Mostly magical wounds. One of them was stabbed- I think it was a unicorn's horn." A wave of disgust washed over Ancient, but she kept silent. "One's neck was broken."

"I-I don't... what? Where is everypony else?"

Daring tilted her head and looked at her seriously. "I don't know. If I did, believe me, I'd tell you."

Ancient winced and looked away. "R-right... sorry..." she replied. "Did Twilight say anything about-"

"Yes, she explained absolutely everything," Daring said flatly, "and I'm just avoiding telling you for the heck of it." She snorted and shook her head. "No, she didn't say anything. I think it caught her off guard too. She told me to go and get you, though."

"Did she cause it?"

"I don't think so," Daring answered. She fluttered her wings. "We should..." she trailed off. What was the best course of action? Try to free Twilight, if she wasn't already free? Undoubtedly, she would be a great deal of help if, or rather when, they ran into whoever was causing them trouble. Even if she wasn't a fighter. After all, she was an alicorn.

But there was also no guarantee they'd be able to free her if the door was still sealed, which meant they would be wasting time. But Twilight was also smart, so when she managed to unseal the door, she would be able to figure things out and catch back up with them.

"Let's get to the camp and figure this out. Maybe we'll see who's behind this," Daring ordered. She turned and trotted towards the exit.

After a moment, Ancient followed, catching up with her to walk beside her. "This is... part of the reason why you're here," she commented.

Daring glanced aside at her. "Oh, so you planned this, did you?"

Ancient frowned. "No, I just mean that this is sort of your area of expertise? In case something like this happened, you're experienced with problems..."

"Dealing with bad guys trying to steal artifacts so that they can take over the world?" Daring asked. A moment passed, then she shrugged. "Yeah, sounds about right."

Ancient's frown persisted. "Although I suppose there aren't really any artifacts here..." she mused.

"No, there aren't," Daring agreed. As she stepped out into the heat of the canyon, she lifted a forehoof to shield her eyes. The lighting outside was still so very bright, far brighter than she was used to. The dry air probably didn't help that any. She pulled the rim of her hat down further, casting her eyes in its shadow to protect them from the bright light.

She spread her wings out, then pumped them downward and lifted off the ground. Hovering there, she turned around to face Ancient. "Alright, stay close-"

"I can't fly, you know. Unicorn, remember?" Ancient deadpanned.

"Oh, no, I couldn't tell. It's not like there's a horn coming out of your head to give it away or anything like that," Daring huffed. "I don't like this, so let's try to avoid being separated, okay? Generally, that ends badly in my experience."

"Right, but-"

"You're walking, and I'll be flying right beside you," Daring preempted.

Ancient nodded. She glanced left, then right, then walked on out. Despite their exchange, the small camp set up at the structure's entrance was deserted: nopony ducked out to look or greet them, and it made her uncomfortable. But regardless, she pushed ahead. "How long were you investigating for?"

"Maybe five to ten minutes," Daring answered. "Why?"

"That isn't a lot of time," Ancient replied, "so where is everypony? And why didn't I see anything when I came through here?"

"Whoever it is must be ahead of us, then," Daring replied. "I'm guessing it's probably a small group, maybe just one pony, since this is happening so quickly," she added. She pursed her lips and looked down at the doctor. "I found something strange, too. I found another one of those bedrooms, but there were two dead unicorns and a dead pegasus. All killed with magic, and it looked like whatever killed them was deeper inside the room than they were- or it was already there."

"It was already there? Daring, please, this structure is ten thousand years old. Nothing could have survived that long sealed away like that!" Ancient scoffed.

"It's just what I saw," Daring replied. She paused for a moment and swept her gaze throughout the canyon, but it was eerily empty. "Besides, we know that they had advanced magic."

Daring could almost feel Ancient's hesitation at that. "Good point..." Ancient admitted. "But still... ten thousand years? That far predates the Discordian Era. I don't think it's possible."

"An alicorn might be able to live that long," Daring replied.

"Yes," Ancient admitted, "But you saw the skeleton. If there was somepony else in there- even an alicorn- they wouldn't have survived that long. No food or water."

"Discord was imprisoned in stone for a few thousand years," Daring replied.

A few seconds passed in silence. "Okay, are we seriously considering this? So what then, did they imprison somepony for ten thousand years? Why? How did they power that spell for so long? That would take a lot of magic." A moment passed. "Okay, well, maybe not that much. It would depend on how powerful the individual was, so maybe..." she trailed off. "Do you have any experience with this?"

"With what? Ancient evils being awakened in my adventures? No, I can't say that I have. That's more Twilight's area of expertise," Daring answered.

With a few more steps, Ancient reached the top of the ravine. The camp looked untouched at first glance- none of the tents were damaged, none of the crates were turned aside or destroyed. But it also looked still. Nothing moved, save for the fabric of the tents shaking with the push and pull of the wind.

"I don't like this..." Daring stated. She beat her wings and flew ahead, then landed. Approaching the tent closest to the path down into the canyon, she regarded it cautiously. The fabric could have hidden anything or nothing at all. Ancient walked closer to her, then stopped a safe distance back in case something was to jump out. Slowly, she stepped forward, then pulled open the tent's flap.

Inside was a single body, that of a young pegasus mare. Daring exhaled sharply, then looked back at Ancient. "Another body," she said gravely.

Ancient's ears folded back. "I don't... understand. This... this sort of thing isn't supposed to happen! This was supposed to be safe!" Hesitantly, she approached the tent flap. She glanced inside, then turned away, but not before the magic wounds were engraved in her mind. "And now ponies are dying on my expedition..."

Daring touched Ancient's shoulder. She worked alone, but Ancient was the expedition's leader. She hadn't experienced the same kind of loss as Ancient was now experiencing. She couldn't relate, but she could offer her support. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known this would happen. None of us could have," she stated firmly. Ancient turned back towards her. "All we knew was that there was some ruin out here that had been found recently. The entire thing was a mystery. We can always come back."

Ancient's eyes fell to the rocky, sandy ground. Her ears stayed pinned back, but she nodded. "That doesn't change the fact that I picked who came on this expedition. And now the university is going to have to deal with the fallout of this disaster..." Slowly, she shook her head and closed her eyes.

"Ancient. It's a tragedy, yes, but you can't blame yourself for this," Daring stated. "I know this is hard, but I need you to pull yourself together. I'll get us out of this mess and we can track down who's responsible and deal with them."

"I-I think I'll... leave that to you," Ancient replied. She swallowed and lifted her head up. "B-but I'll... try not to slow you down."

Daring offered a smile. It was brash, but not quite as brash as would usually be the case. It would have been inappropriate, given the circumstances. "Good... You stay here, I'm going to check the rest of the camp. We need to get everypony still alive together and then out of here. We also need to get Twilight out, too."

Ancient nodded. "Right... we can see about using explosives to breach the door, although it might be dangerous to do that- and it'll probably alert whoever is around to our presence. And there's also the chance it could hurt us- or Twilight- or damage the structure."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Daring breathed out. Beating her wings, she zipped away from the tent and slowly ascended into the air. It was a more exposed position, she knew, but that had its advantages. For one, it was a better vantage point- she could see the entirety of the camp, along with a good deal of the surrounding landscape.

But she didn't like what she saw. Scanning the camp, she found a mishmash of dead ponies- with wounds caused by magic- shredded tents, and busted crates. 'So much for the camp looking normal...' The chaos grew more intense further into the camp- as if whoever had attacked had come in and managed to start the killing without alerting others until getting closer to the center, where somepony managed to alert the others, which started what looked like a killing frenzy.

She shivered at the sight. It was such a waste of life. But, at the very least, it wasn't as horrific as it could have been. No, the killing was precise. Enraged, but precise. There were a method and reason to the murder, that much was clear. And yet, it still looked as if it hadn't been simple murder or an attack. It looked like methodical extermination.

Casting her gaze outward, she scanned the surrounding wasteland for anything- or anypony- out of place. Survivors, or perhaps perpetrators. But despite scanning the entire area, sweeping her gaze around in a full circle, there was nothing more than the sand and rocks that built the Badlands.

She gritted her teeth and growled in frustration. But, an idea occurred to her. She frowned. Going off on a hunch, she cast her gaze skyward and searched for any specs or shadows in the sky. After all, perhaps it hadn't been a unicorn was responsible. It could have been a changeling.

But in the back of her mind, she knew that didn't fit. The wound she had found that matched the profile of a horn didn't fit a changeling's jagged horn. It had to have been a unicorn's horn or a spike.

A primal screech tore through the air. In a brief moment, she froze up at that sound. Primal. Animalistic. Enraged. It was hatred incarnate, sounding inequine, yet still somehow retaining its undeniable equinity. The voice boomed out, demanding attention.

She flapped her right wing hard and turned around as she rolled. Shooting up into the sky from the ravine was a pegasus- a rather large one, at that. The wingspan easily put her own to shame, and her wings gracefully sloped back then forward, rather than bulging out and bending back. Her blue mane and tail rippled violently in the air as she rose up.

An instant later, there was a red flash emanating from her head, followed by a wave of red expanding outward, with an inner white light. The pony disappeared, and an instant later, the crack of magic reached her ears.

She swept her head about quickly and listened for the second retort of the teleportation spell- she knew that was what it was from her limited experience with Twilight- but it never came. Still, she kept vigilant as her body grew tenser and tenser. Seconds passed with nothing else transpiring.

Having seen what she just saw, flying out in the open, she knew, was a mistake. She quickly dived towards the ground, heading straight down to land as quickly as possible, then flaring her wings out and arcing her path so that she could immediately take off running. And when she landed, that was what she did- she raced to where she had left Ancient, avoiding debris and bodies.

And Ancient raced towards her. Both of them skidded to a stop, barely avoiding colliding. "Was that-!?"

"Yes," Daring answered. "It was."

"But-!"

"I know," Daring replied.

"Do you think-!?"

Daring squinted at her. "I don't know, but no, I don't think that scream sounded very friendly."

Ancient winced and stepped back. She bit her lip and looked around, though her gaze avoided the damage that had been brought to the camp. She turned back to face Daring, only to find the pegasus marching passed her. "Where are you-!?"

"We need to get Twilight," Daring called back. "We probably shouldn't jump to conclusions, but I don't like this."

Seeing that Daring didn't slow, Ancient hastily caught up with her. "I-I don't understand..." she whispered. "I... this... surely we're wrong?"

Daring glanced aside at her sharply. "It wouldn't be the first time there's been some alicorn bent on taking over the world," she quipped. "The fact that she's not dead suggests that she had to have been in stasis or something- possibly imprisoned. But maybe we're wrong! Who knows, maybe that screech wasn't actually a cry of anger. Maybe it was just a wail of despair at her realizing that everything is different and we should go try to talk to her and comfort her! To say nothing of the fact that we probably can't even understand her language." Flaring her wings, she jumped off the edge of the ravine to descend to the bottom.

Ancient turned and quickly hurried down the path. "Twilight would..." she muttered.

When the arrived at the bottom, they hurried to the entrance, rushing past the camp and racing inside. Daring took the lead, and Ancient was content to let the more athletic, adventurous pegasus have that lead.

"So, apparently a lot of ponies on your expedition are dead and we've uncovered not only a dead alicorn but a living one too," Daring muttered. "I have a sneaking suspicion that these events might somehow be related."

"Is now really the best time for sarcasm?" Ancient shot back.

"Of course it is, dear. It's always the perfect time for sarcasm," Daring replied sweetly. "Don't you know me?" She smiled in playful delight.

Ancient huffed as they continued deeper into the structure. The ominous red lighting continued to illuminate the hallways, and the sound of their hoofsteps broke the otherwise silent stillness.

Far from soon enough, they reached the door to the control room. The door was opened, the lighting was red, and the projection was gone. Twilight wasn't there, but the corpse of Loose Translation was.

Ancient whimpered as they raced into the room. She immediately went to the body, while Daring gritted her teeth and looked around. "She's not-"

There was a gentle chime emanating throughout the room, and the lighting immediately blinked to magenta.

For a moment, there was silence, then a gentle hum. The projection whisked back to life, but while the edges were magenta, all of the text was in red. Behind the text, a projection of Twilight's cutie mark slowly rotated.

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"You do have a plan, right?" Ancient whimpered.

Daring, still gritting her teeth, continued to stare at the magenta projection of Twilight's cutie mark for a few seconds longer, then she looked over at Ancient, who by now had tears in her eyes.

"Twilight's not here!" Ancient almost growled. Her legs and chest trembled as she inhaled. Daring turned to face her head on. After a few seconds, she relaxed slightly and her trembling calmed. "Twilight's not here..." she whimpered.

"Oh, really? I didn't notice," Daring replied. Ancient glared at her. "Look, Ancient, I need you to calm down. I know you're not used to this sort of thing, but panicking about it and getting worked up over this isn't going to make things any easier on either of us. Okay?"

Ancient's glare lingered for several seconds, then it faded. She turned back to look at Loose, who had bled out on the floor and was now lying in a pool of her own blood. A look of shock and surprise was still in her eyes, which almost seemed to be looking back at Daring. She barely managed to nod. "I-I'm sorry."

Daring took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled. "It's okay."

Ancient swept her head back around to look at Daring. "I-I just... what do we do!?"

"We need to find Twilight," Daring reaffirmed, stamping her hoof on the cold alloy floor. She stepped towards Ancient and motioned her forehoof at the projection. "It's magenta, and the lighting is too. I think it's safe to say that whatever is that happened is now over."

"Y-you mean that the alicorn's gone," was Ancient's summary.

Daring hesitated, then inclined her head. "Yeah, sure, let's go with that. Maybe it's still jumping to conclusions, but I don't think it's a coincidence. And that alicorn definitely wasn't Twilight, so I think it's safe to say that the alicorn we saw did this." She licked her lips, then turned her head and looked out through the half-opened door. The lighting beyond was still the same magenta lighting as in the room. "And that she's gone now," she added. Turning to face Ancient, she said, "Based on the lighting."

"S-so we're going with red being related to danger and a security problem..?" Ancient asked.

Daring nodded. "Well, I mean, I highly doubt that, given what we've seen, red is the color they chose to mean sunshine and rainbows," she commented sarcastically. Ancient winced.

Looking around the room again, Daring confirmed that Loose Translation's body was the only one in the room. "Okay, so Twilight isn't in here-"

"That doesn't mean she's alive..." Ancient interrupted.

Daring narrowed her eyes at the unicorn. "No, it doesn't," she acknowledged, "but until I see her body, I won't believe that she's dead. I've seen her in action." She paused. "Now, granted, she's not a soldier, nor is she, I think the term she used was, 'combatively inclined,' but she can still fight. She fought Nightmare Moon when she was a unicorn, and she fought Lord Tirek! She's not known as Equestria's guardian alicorn for nothing."

"Right..." Ancient muttered, then clenched her jaw. "Where do we start?"

Daring puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. "Well, I'd say we start with the structure-"

"I'm not splitting up," Ancient stated.

Daring nodded. "That would probably be a bad idea," she agreed. "The way I see it, we should be able to search the structure- at least what we've unlocked- in half an hour or so. If that. She has to be in here somewhere if you didn't see her leave. If she's not hurt- and well, even if she is- she's probably looking for us. Or survivors. We should be able to find her."

"What if we don't?" Ancient asked quietly.

Daring paused. While she didn't want to admit it, there could have been a chance that Twilight slipped out of their reach. Or perhaps she was now sealed in some section of the facility, maybe even trapped in stasis that the alicorn had been. She looked over the door, searching for any signs that could lead them to Twilight as she thought more about the predicament. There were no signs that pointed to the door being cut open, although only one side of the door had retracted. She also didn't think that Twilight had been trapped in stasis based on the color of the lighting, but she wasn't certain.

"Then we head to the nearest city and go to Canterlot from there. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna need to know about this as soon as possible," she stated.

Ancient looked at her in shock. "W-what? But! You're Daring Do! You're not going to handle this-"

She sent the unicorn an irked glare. "I am," she retorted, "but we're talking about an alicorn being alive after ten thousand years! We have no idea what we're dealing with here!" she hissed.

"Right... I suppose you make a valid point," Ancient relented. It lasted for perhaps three seconds before subsiding, "But where is she if she's not here!?"

Daring, giving Ancient a flat look, replied, "Well, knowing her, she's probably at the nearest library waiting for us."

Ancient stared at her for a few seconds, then blinked.

After a few seconds, Daring walked towards the door. "Come on, we should get started."

"You didn't answer my question," Ancient said as she walked toward Daring.

"No, I didn't," Daring replied without stopping. "Because I don't know where she is. It's not like I can just magically locate her or anything!" She walked out of the room and made her way through the hallway while Ancient followed behind her. "If we can't find her then we head to Canterlot and let Princess Celestia and Princess Luna know what happened. They'll know what to do better than me. And then we can come back here."

Daring walked on out of the room and sighed, shaking her head. Ancient followed close behind her, then caught up with her and walked beside her. In a quiet voice, Ancient asked, "What about... um... everypony who..."

Daring grimaced as she continued to walk along. For a few seconds, she hesitated to answer. "We can't do anything about those who died. We can't take them with us- there's too many. We'll make sure that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna know so that they can send some ponies to take care of things, and we'll make sure that their families know," she stated forcefully.

Ancient bit her lip and nodded quickly. Of course, she knew there was nothing they could do for them now, except finding justice for them, but it didn't make it any easier. Given the harsh desert conditions, by the time their bodies could be recovered, the families wouldn't be able to hold proper funerals.

Walking past the two reared up, crystal alicorn statues, Daring slowed and looked over both of them. The crystal statues held a certain majesty to them, but for some reason, as she looked at them now, she felt a certain unease. "The cracked alicorn statue you lost," Daring started. She came to a stop and looked at Ancient, who paused and looked at her with a bit of a frown.

"I didn't lose it... somepony misplaced it," Ancient corrected succinctly.

Daring ignored the correction. "What if that wasn't actually a statue?"

Ancient's expression blanked for a few seconds, then her brow creased as bewilderment filled her features. "What?"

Daring looked back at the statue on her right, then motioned a hoof at it. "What if the statue you found was actually an alicorn that had been imprisoned in stone?" Daring shivered as she voiced the thought. "Discord was imprisoned in stone by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna using the Elements of Harmony," she added.

"Yes, but-"

"And you lost track of your statue-"

"I didn't lose track of it! Somepony misplaced it!" Ancient huffed indignantly.

"Sure," Daring replied sarcastically. She looked at Ancient and met her gaze, asking, "But did you ever manage to find that statue?"

Ancient fidgeted on her hooves and looked at the crystal statue behind Daring to avoid her gaze. "W-well, no, I didn't... But that doesn't mean anything!"

Slowly, Daring nodded, then looked at the crystal alicorn statue. She scrutinized it, searching for any cracks or imperfections, but found none. It looked perhaps as pristine as it had when it was created. She blew air out of her mouth and nodded again. "Right, I guess you probably just lose it-"

"I didn't lose it..." Ancient muttered.

Ignoring her, Daring continued, "-since it doesn't make sense. The statue wouldn't have been inside the room where it seems like this all originated from, so I'm probably jumping to conclusions again."

"Do you make a habit of that?" Ancient demanded.

Daring looked at her and shrugged. "Call it intuition," she stated. A playful smile grew on her lips. "It's why I'm here, isn't it?" she asked sweetly.

Ancient snorted and simply shook her head. "And what else, exactly, is your intuition telling you? Anything actually useful?"

Daring looked away from the statue, then resumed walking forward. "That we're wasting time. It's a day's walk back to Appleoosa, then two days by train to get to Canterlot."

Ancient sighed softly and nodded as she fell back in sync with Daring's pace. "Right..." she whispered. "Although, now that you bring that up, it's a bit odd that the statue wouldn't take any preservation spells..." she mused. "I don't know if that means anything or not, though..." she added.

"Would preservation spells be able to affect the statue if it actually was an alicorn who had been imprisoned?" Daring asked.

Ancient sighed. "I don't know. I don't know that sort of thing. Magic isn't my special talent, but I bet Twilight could answer that question for us."

A few seconds passed by with nothing else said, and in the silence, Ancient's heart grew heavy once again as her thoughts drifted back to knowing that everypony that she had seen, everypony who had been on her expedition- all of whom she knew- had been killed. She nibbled on her lips and her ears folded back against her head. "Why did she do it?" she asked.

Without stopping, Daring looked aside at her. "We don't know for certain-"

Ancient scowled at her. "Yes, but it's our assumption- which seems to be supported by evidence, even if circumstantial, that the alicorn we saw fly off-"

"Teleport off," Daring corrected.

"-is responsible for this!" Ancient finished. Her voice broke as she asked, "Why?"

Daring looked away from her, taking in a deep breath, then letting it go. "I don't know," she answered calmly. "If I did know, I'd tell you. All I can do is guess and think. She was probably trapped in stasis or something. I have no idea why, but that's the most logical conclusion I can really think of. Maybe she was evil or was corrupted and that's why she was locked in stasis. But I don't know! And then there's that alicorn's skeleton that we found. What happened to her? Why, and how, did she die? I wasn't here ten thousand years ago to see what happened. When you find somepony who was, ask them. Who knows, maybe Twilight'll be able to figure it out, then you can ask her."

"But... I don't understand!" Ancient retorted. "Every single myth and legend I know about alicorns says that they were and have always been essentially innately good! They were said to guide and protect pony civilizations! Ponies worshipped them! Some civilizations claimed to be lead by alicorns! Even if we've never found concrete evidence that these claims were true. And they probably weren't because some of those civilizations were quite violent, so it was probably just a normal pony making everypony else think they were an alicorn."

Daring frowned. "Twilight said that the text she read mentioned a war, and she seemed to imply it was a war the alicorns fought. I may not be fully versed in all alicorn mythology, but that's the first I heard of something like that. Twilight said she hadn't heard anything about that before, either, so I'd guess neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna has either."

"And I've never heard of such a thing anywhere before either," Ancient agreed. "No legend, no myth. Nothing. Everything I know says that is antithesis to them."

"Well, she did say that from what she read of the text that this was an alicorn society, so I guess maybe we really shouldn't be surprised that we saw a live alicorn," Daring added idly.

Ancient stopped in her tracks and starred at Daring. "What!? You're just telling me this now?" she demanded.

Daring shrugged and smiled. "Slipped my mind," she admitted. "Although I thought it was implied when I said an alicorn could have survived that long. Plus we already knew this society had one alicorn."

"Yes, but you didn't specify that Twilight said this whole society was an alicorn civilization!" Ancient complained.

"I'm sorry, it slipped my mind," Daring stated. "I had other things on my mind at the time. Besides, it sort of makes sense given what we've seen. Advanced magic, the skeleton of a deceased alicorn, and of course the living alicorn who seems to have murdered everypony else here."

Ancient closed her eyes, lifted a forehoof to her forehead, then groaned. "Right... fine. I'll ponder the ramifications of potentially having confirmation that an entire civilization of alicorns, rather than just a few ancient ones, existed later." She shook her head and put her forehoof back on the floor.

"If it's any consolation, I think we're two of only three ponies who know this right now," Daring offered. "So, it really is the sort of thing you like."

Ancient thought about it for a moment then nodded. "I suppose you're correct, Daring Do," she admitted. She actually managed to smile at that.

"Like I said, we already had our suspicions," Daring commented. She licked her lips, then lifted her forehoof up to adjust her hat. "Right, well, we're not making a lot of progress, so we should get back to it," she stated, then took off at a quick walk to search the rest of the hallway. Ancient quickened her pace to keep up with her.

"This is going to rewrite a lot of history books, isn't it?" Ancient asked curiously. "An entire alicorn society..."

Daring glanced aside at her as they continued towards the entrance. "I thought you said you were going to think about this later?"

"An entire civilization of alicorns that predates every known civilization. Can you really blame me?" Ancient asked with a sheepish smile.

Daring hesitated for a moment, then bobbed her head right and then left. "No. I suppose not."

"We've always thought alicorns were rare! But this could mean that there was an entire alicorn pony subspecies!" Ancient added. After a moment, she frowned. "Which is actually rather terrifying if you think about it..." she mused. Her frown deepened and her brow folded downward. "Considering what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can do... moving the sun and moon..." she mused at length. "For an entire civilization of ponies that powerful to have existed..? It's a good thing that..." she trailed off and winced. "If the legends and myths are true, then it's probably a good thing that they were so benevolent. That kind of power..."

"Well, maybe we now know how most ancient civilizations knew about alicorns," Daring commented idly.

Ancient slowly shook her head. "But this civilization predates them too much. Predating the Discordian Era by around seven thousand years! That's thousands of years older than the most ancient civilizations we know about! And even what we know about those civilizations is limited because of the Discordian Era! How did they know about alicorns when this society predated them by so long, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna hadn't been born yet? The myths and legends, where did they originate from!?"

Daring came to a stop, and so too did Ancient. Daring looked at Ancient, who looked back at her with a mixture of awe, wonder, curiosity, and confusion. "Left or right?" Daring asked.

Ancient blinked and confusion replaced the other emotions. "What?"

Daring lifted a hoof and motioned at the intersection before them.

Ancient looked ahead and saw the intersection before them. "Oh."

"Left or right?" Daring asked again.

"Um, left?" Ancient offered.

"Good enough for me," Daring replied. Turning left, she once again took the lead, avoiding all of the scattered debris left over from crates. Ancient followed her but lingered back so that she could hold the lead.

"There's just so much we don't know and could learn! This could rewrite the history books about myths and legends of alicorns! Maybe it could even explain how civilizations predating the Discordian Era knew about alicorns before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Ancient practically squealed with delight.

"Okay, you're starting to sound like a broken record," Daring commented. "Please, save the Twilighting for when we find Twilight. I know she would love to discuss this with you," she said.

Ancient fell silent for a few seconds as they made their way beyond the doorway. "Yeah..." she drawled. "I hope she's okay..."

"I'm sure she's fine," Daring comforted.

Ancient winced and slowed. "Um, Daring, we're not going to get in trouble with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna if, um, something bad has happened to Twilight, right..?" she asked.

Daring stopped and looked back at her.

"I-I mean, it... it would sort of be our fault, and well, she's one of Equestria's princesses, and um, she's the Bearer of the Element of Magic and Equestria's guardian alicorn, and um-"

"Stop," Daring sighed. "You're not going to get in trouble. I'm not going to get in trouble. We couldn't have known this would happen, alright? Alright!" she said. She took a deep breath, then shook her head and walked forward. "I miss how you acted before we got into this place," she muttered beneath her breath. She resumed her pace forward.

After a few seconds, Ancient followed after her. Walking into the hallway, they saw nothing too different from before, although Daring felt like the atmosphere was colder, perhaps more threatening than before, as if something bad had happened since she had last stepped hoof inside this hallway. Rounding the corner, she paused and stared at a gap in the wall.

The one doorway that they had passed by without any thought on the ride side of the hallway was now, unlike before, wide open. The crystal to the right of the doorway also glowed with the same inner pink light. The room beyond was flooded with magenta light, and she could make out what looked like a flat table with a massive slab of crystal on its top. The crystal glowed with a pink light.

Frowning, she walked through the hallway, then ducked into the room and looked around. From where she stood at the doorway, she couldn't see Twilight, but the room had an odd feeling to it that she couldn't place. It didn't feel as cold as the rest of the structure, nor did it seem to give off the same feeling of dread. Instead, it seemed to emanate warmth and almost welcomed her inside.

Slowly, she meandered inside and to the left, walking around the table, which rose up to what would have been Princess Celestia's chest. The table was rectangular in shape, with rounded corners. Likewise, the crystal's corners were rounded. The table was large enough that she felt it could have been used as an impromptu bed for Princess Celestia, or another alicorn of her size, although she suspected that was not the table's purpose. But what the table's true purpose was, she could not ascertain.

Walking around to the side hidden from view, she found a slanted outcropping at the center of the table that had another rectangular, pink-glowing crystal set in it.

"What is this?" Ancient finally voiced as she stepped into the room.

Daring looked up at her, then looked back down at the table. Her first thought was to make a sarcastic comment about what the room obviously wasn't, but nothing came to mind, so instead, she simply said, "I have no idea." She looked away from the table, then scrutinized the walls, which were plain and looked like they were made of the same alloy that the rest of the structure was made from. Out of curiosity, she swept her gaze around, looking for anything that looked out of place. Turning around to look behind her, only now did she notice what appeared to be a much, much smaller doorway than was normal in the structure- while most of the doors were double-sided, this door seemed to only have one side to it.

She walked over to it, then waved her forehoof in front of the pink glowing crystal, but as expected, nothing happened. She scowled at the lack of recognition, then turned around. "You know, it's a bit annoying that we can't actually do anything without Twilight," she commented.

Ancient nodded in agreement. "This room feels different," she stated.

Daring frowned and nodded. "Yeah, I felt that too," she agreed. "But I can't figure out why..." she trailed off, then looked above the door that they entered. Only now did she see the crystals representing Twilight's cutie mark. She looked at Ancient, then nodded, and extended her right forehoof towards the symbol. "Look."

Ancient turned and looked where Daring's hoof was pointing. Slowly, she shook her head in disappointment. "I wish Twilight was here."

"Yeah," Daring agreed. She blinked, then looked around the room again. If there was anything else, or anything to identify the purpose of the room, it was hidden, and as such, she couldn't determine anything. "We should probably keep moving," she said as she started walking to her left around the table in the center of the room. Ancient nodded casually and followed her out.

Taking the lead once again, Daring walked down the rest of the hallway, then came to a stop at the last door, which was of course, still open. Looking inside, the room was dark, unlit from any of the crystal lights. Just standing there, looking inside, it left her with a bad feeling. It was a foreboding feeling of dread, and in the back of her mind, she could still see the alicorn statue they had found in there. "I know we've already talked about this, but are we sure the statue we found in here actually was a statue?" she asked.

Turning back to face Ancient, she still received no answer.

"And you never found it?" Daring asked.

Ancient shook her head. "No..." she trailed off. "But I'm convinced it was a statue, not an alicorn. The timing doesn't make sense. Between when we- ahem, they- misplaced the statue and me looking for it and what happened, it doesn't seem to add up."

Daring frowned but nodded. "Maybe. I don't know, I'm not convinced. Nopony in their right mind would have a statue like that."

"Well, Daring, we both know that not all ancient societies were exactly in their right minds," Ancient stated succinctly.

"Fair point," Daring conceded, "But this was an alicorn society, according to Twilight. And let's not forget that all myths and legends say that the alicorns were, you know, rather benevolent. One of them having such a statue doesn't make a lot of sense, now does it? Plus, you know, we know that there are at least two alicorns connected to this society, and one of them is, you know, still alive."

"Okay, I'll admit those are good points, but still!" Ancient retorted. "You said Twilight mentioned something about a war, so... Maybe they weren't so benevolent?"

Daring shook her head. "It would be so useful if she was here to just explain all of this already..." she muttered.

"Well, okay, let's say for a moment that you're right and that the statue we found wasn't actually a statue. What, exactly, does that mean?" Ancient asked.

After a few seconds, Daring shrugged. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "Other than maybe it was an imprisoned alicorn," she stated. After a few more seconds, she turned around, then walked back along the length of the hallway. "I guess we'll search the other half of the structure, then if we don't find anything, we should try to salvage some things like food and water, maybe even a tent and some other supplies, from the camp and make our way back to Appleoosa."

"You... um, said that... there were some... ponies who..." Ancient trailed off.

Daring grimaced and nodded. "Yes," she stated. "Six of them from what I saw. Sorry, Ancient, but you're either going to have to wait behind- and you said it yourself, that splitting up is a bad idea- or come with me and see this."

"I'll... try not to break down," Ancient answered cautiously.

"Good," Daring stated as she rounded the corner.

"But don't hold it against me if I do!" Ancient quickly defended.

Daring hesitantly nodded. "You're not used to this sort of thing," she stated.

They turned around the corner in silence, then walked straight into the hallway across from them. Ancient's gaze lingered on the alicorn skeleton and the odd, golden armor inlaid with grayish-blue crystals that she wore. She grimaced, but at the same time, it drew her curiosity. "I... is it odd that the skeleton doesn't bother me, but... then-"

"No," Daring preempted. "It's not. You didn't know her, and she's been dead for ten thousand years. So no, it's not odd that it doesn't bother you."

Ancient sighed, "Right..."

"Hmm... In hindsight, I wonder if we should have realized something was up, considering that she has armor on," Daring mused.

"Well, it didn't help her any..." Ancient muttered.

Daring frowned as she nodded. "It's also kind of weird how the armor's so different from everything else we've seen so far, isn't it?" she asked. "The fact that it's golden and not, you know, their favorite color. Gray. Black. Whatever this is."

"Well, it is made of the same material-"

"Yeah, but it's colored gold. Why?" Daring asked.

"I don't know..." Ancient replied. "I would normally say it had some ceremonial significance, but... Well, maybe it still has some ceremonial significance. Maybe she was important?"

Daring took a deep breath, then calmly exhaled. "Maybe, but it'll probably be a while until we figure it out. Twilight could probably do enough translation work so we know for sure, but," she paused, winced, and tilted her head to the left, "Ah, you know, we have to find her and deal with this other alicorn first."

Daring slowed as they neared the corner to turn down the hallway where she found the first body. Her lips pulled up into a grimace. For a moment, she ignored the bend and focused on the rest of the length of the hallway they were in, which ended with the open room that knocked Twilight unconscious. She looked at Ancient, then motioned a forehoof ahead. "Let's check this first," she said. Ancient nodded. She looked back ahead, then proceeded down the rest of the hallway, glancing at the walls and surveying them for anything out of the ordinary.

Nothing about the walls stood out any more than before. Stepping into the room, she cast her gaze around, searching for any sign of Twilight or anything else useful. Projected from the crystal in the center of the room, was of course, still Twilight's cutie mark. Looking behind the projection, the owner of the cutie mark was still absent. She trotted around the depressed floor surrounding the column, then came around and headed straight for the door.

As Daring walked by, Ancient turned to follow her.

Daring fluffed her wings and sped up until she turned around the corner, where she slowed at the sight of the pony's body, then stopped. In a similar manner, almost as soon as she turned the corner, Ancient came to a complete stop. Daring hesitantly looked aside at Ancient and found her staring at the earth pony. After a few seconds, Ancient looked at her, then looked to her right and reluctantly proceeded. Assured that Ancient would be able to continue, Daring resumed her quick pace, although it wasn't nearly as fast as before.

Eventually, they reached the end of the hallway and walked into the next one. Daring sent a cautious glance to Ancient, whose eyes jumped between the two new corpses. She wasn't quite on the verge of tears, but she could see the shock in her expression, how blank and empty it was. Eventually, Ancient swallowed, then stared back at her. She looked away and led on. Ignoring the deceased ponies' bodies, she searched for signs of Twilight, but as with before, it had been futile. Perhaps Twilight had been hidden away in one of the rooms they past, but there was nothing for them to do about those rooms- the control crystal would not react to them, no matter what, it seemed, and as such, there was nothing they could do.

Daring walked into the last room she knew that had been searched, then stopped in the doorway. Likewise, Ancient stopped. Unlike her, however, Ancient backtracked, stepping back, then closing her eyes and whimpering. Daring looked at her, then lifted her forehoof to Ancient's shoulder. "Wait here," she stated.

Ancient nodded and swallowed.

Daring took a calm breath, then exhaled and proceeded inside. The three corpses were in the same position as before, and even with the pink lighting, it felt so incredibly wrong. It all pointed towards their killer having already been in the room as if they were about to crate her up when she struck them. "What if there's more than one alicorn here who was imprisoned in stone as a statue?" she asked.

"I-I don't know, I didn't hear anything about another statue being found..." Ancient replied. "I-I guess there could h-have been one, but... If-if there was, I didn't find o-out about it."

Daring grimaced and looked back at her, then looked ahead. She hesitantly made her way into the rest of the room, then turned to investigate the bathroom. With a sigh, she turned around and left the room behind, shaking her head. "Twilight's not here."

"S-so, we're h-heading back to Appleoosa then?" Ancient asked.

Daring nodded. "Yes, as soon as we salvage what we can. Then we'll get to Canterlot and Talk to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

The End War

by SC_Orion

Just Another Backyard Dig

Princess, Professor, Pathfinder

Open Door, Lock Door

Gifts to be Imparted

Beginnings

Caverns

Mentor

Ashes

Release

Search