An ancient monastery, hidden under a spell, reveals itself. Lyra and Bon Bon go to explore it and end up being trapped inside by a pony of shadows.
There used to be a monastery that served as the home for the bat ponies, Luna's personal servants. But then Nightmare Moon happened and the bat ponies were forced to hide away from the world and live in secrecy, hidden under a spell. But now that Nightmare Moon has been vanquished, Princess Luna decides to take the spell off and reveal the monastery, along with the bat ponies. The abbot is reluctant and afraid of the outside world and only reveals the monastery for a short amount of time each night.
One night, when Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon decide to explore it, something strange happens. A monster, the pony of shadows appears and closes the gates of the monastery. The abbot is even more scared, Luna is furious and our two ponies are trapped.
But what really is the true nature of the pony of shadows? Could it be just a distraction? A work of deceit, to keep the monastery hidden?
Lyra has many questions and she's going to find an answer to all of them.
Bon Bon was out of town today. Some sort of important rendezvous with an old colleague; I didn’t ask questions and she wouldn’t have answered. This secret agent thing seems fun from the outside, but when your closest friend is involved and you’re not allowed to... satiate your naturally immense curiosity, it gets a bit frustrating.
Anyway, she was out of town and I had the whole night to myself. I’ve been hearing rumours of a monastery deep in the Everfree forest. It only appears at night and ponies have ventured in, but couldn’t go further than a few corridors. Apparently, this monastery has been appearing earlier and earlier and ponies even met some of its denizens. Bat ponies! Exciting, huh? Created by inserting some sort of bat gene into a pony... I don’t know either. You don’t get to see them very often. I personally only saw two, when Luna came to Ponyville on Nightmare Night and scared the shoes off everypony. That was fun. Scary, but fun, as somepony I know would say.
With that said, I think you have a very good idea of what I was planning for the evening.
I decided that sunset is the perfect time to set out to explore this rumoured monastery. Close enough for the monastery to reveal itself, but there is still enough light to see. I should have brought somepony with me, because you know, it is the Everfree forest and all. May not be infested with the plunderseed anymore, but it’s still a deep dark forest. But everypony was at a party I totally forgot about and I’m not the sort of pony who can contain her curiosity. So I foolishly decided to venture alone.
I brushed up on my defences. A simple light spell to see in the dark, a mirror in case of cockatrice attack, some matchsticks against timberwolves and faith in Luna and Celestia in case of a manticore attack. I followed the main path and looked for the small overgrown path I’ve been told about. There were many paths that looked like that, but when I found the one overgrown path where the grass was flattened by all the curious hooves trampling all over it, I knew I was at the right place.
I followed the path. It was getting kinda dark at that point; dark enough to not be sure about what exactly you’re looking at. Is that just a bush or a horrible monster ready to leap on you? I fired up my light spell, because the sunlight was no longer helpful. That was when I realized, I strayed off the path. The light spell wasn’t too helpful either; I could see for a meter or two, but everything beyond that was just blackness, with faint hints of orange.
I found a small clearing which the fading sunlight was still lighting up. I turned off the light spell, hoping my eyes could adapt to dark again, so I could see further. Nope. Nothing but trees. I looked up at the sky, hoping to navigate with the help of the stars. Nope, they weren’t out yet. The sounds of the night animals were getting louder, things moving around and making rustling noises, were getting more frequent. I distinctly heard one coming towards me, reaching into a nearby bush. That is when I saw the sunlight suddenly disappear. I looked behind and there was the monastery towering above me. I did not waste any time and ran towards it.
When I got there, the entrance gate was wide open. I ran through and I found myself in the yard, right in front of the main building. Yes, I was inside the walls of the monastery. I was relieved, even though I knew I still wasn’t completely safe. Nopony was around to hear my heavy breathing. It wasn’t even lit properly; the torches on the walls barely made any light, so I still needed my light spell.
I walked around for a bit, hoping to find somepony. The silence was getting slightly unnerving. I made a full circle around the main building and that’s when I heard voices coming from inside. The church’s doors were slightly open, so I peeked inside. There I saw Princess Luna talking to an elder pony, who I assume was the abbot.
“That is because there is a big party in the nearest settlement.” Said Luna.
“But is there no other place we could get visitors from?” Said the abbot.
“There are, but the news of the monastery’s opening haven’t reached them yet. Besides, visitors from Ponyville have been getting lost in the forest, which really worries me.”
“I just don’t want to take it too quickly. The monastery hasn’t seen a single visitor since... You know.”
“I understand, but the baby steps you’re attempting aren’t quick enough...”
“Lyra?” That didn’t come from either Luna or the abbot. That came from Bon Bon, who was standing behind me scaring the soul out of me.
“Bon Bon?” I said after recovering from the scare.
“What are you doing here?” She asked.
“What am I doing here? You’re the one who’s supposed to be on the other side of Equestria.”
“I’m here to explore, to see if there’s anything I need to worry about. Will you answer my question now?”
“I was just curious about some rumours.”
“Right. I should have expected that.”
“You know, you could have just cut the sheets and bring me here. Did you not think I’m gonna investigate a mystery?”
“I thought you were gonna be at the party.”
“We need to have a serious talk about your secrets at some point, because this is getting ridiculous!”
Suddenly the door opened behind me. Luna and the abbot were standing there. Luna had a displeased, but surprised expression, while the abbot seemed to be really happy.
“See? Somepony did find their way here.” Said the abbot.
“Right.” Luna turned to him. “I’m still going to spread the news tomorrow morning. Mere two ponies aren’t enough, even if they tell everypony they know.”
“I suppose that’s fair.”
“I’d just like to point out,” I butted into a conversation that I barely even had an idea what it was about, “I got lost and almost got mauled by an animal, before I got here.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have set out all alone!” Bon Bon scolded me. “What were you thinking?!”
“Curiosity trumps reason when it comes to me, you should know that.”
Luna took what I said and gave a very stern look to the abbot. “You heard her! Your reluctance to leave your secrecy got somepony in danger. The path should be clearly laid out by the monastery’s next emergence tomorrow night.”
The abbot nodded reluctantly.
“I shall go now,” Luna said now in a much calmer tone, “I must attend to my nightly duties. But tomorrow night, I want to see this monastery full of visitors.” She then left the building and flew away.
The abbot stepped up to us. “I apologize for that. This monastery has been hidden from the public, since Nightmare Moon’s first appearance.”
“Understandable,” said Bon Bon, “bat ponies didn’t have a very favourable reputation at the time.”
That is when I realized, that the abbot, was indeed a bat pony. He had the slit pupils and the tufted ears and the leathery wings and everything. He was pretty large for a flyer too. The years have not been kind to him either; his mane and beard were almost as grey as his coat.
“Please, let me introduce myself.” He said. “My name is Magma and I am the abbot here.”
“I am Bon Bon.”
“And I am Lyra Heartstrings, the cat that curiosity killed.”
Magma welcomed us warmly (no pun intended) and he showed us around. By that I mean, he showed us a map of the place; The diner, the scriptorium, the forbidden library. Yes, forbidden library. Because no ancient mysterious place is complete with an even more mysterious corner. He then left us on our own.
Since Magma didn’t seem to know how to show visitors around, Bon Bon and I decided to show ourselves around. We visited the scriptorium first. I was going to vote for the forbidden library, but Bon Bon thought it wasn’t a good idea to break the rules on our first visit. Fair enough, I guess.
So we entered the scriptorium. There was only a single pony sitting there, writing something by a lantern’s light. I guess not even bat ponies can read in the dark. He barely took a glance at us, with his orangeish eyes, before getting back to his writing. The scriptorium had its own small library, filled with hoofwritten codices. I guess that’s what that brown bat pony was doing. I wondered why he was all alone.
“Where are the other scribes?” I asked him.
“Hiding.” He mumbled.
“Hiding from what?”
“Hiding from the visitors.”
“Why are they hiding from the visitors?”
The bat pony sighed and span around on his stool. He had a small dark blue beard on his chin, but an otherwise very young looking face. Possibly younger than me. “Look, most of us here still aren’t sure about the monastery opening up, so they hid away. But somepony still has to write the codices. Got it? Now if you’ll excuse me,” he span back around, “I’ve got more important things to do than talking to you.”
A bit rude, but I didn’t mind. I walked up to him and took a look at what he was writing. He wasn’t writing, he was drawing elaborate pictures next to the text. Lots of vines with flowers, dogs with bird heads, alicorns fighting snails. It was weird, but in an impressive artistic kind of weird. I guess I was staring a bit intensely, because the scribe hissed at me.
“Do you mind?!”
“Sorry.” I backed away. “Gee, not the most hospitable place, is it?” I whispered to Bon Bon.
We heard a loud gasp coming from the scriptorium’s entrance. It was a young bat pony mare. She had a light greyish purple coat, bright yellow eyes and blue mane with a light red headband in it. And she had a very excited look on her face.
“I have never seen a unicorn before!” She pranced up to us and started firing questions at me. “What is it like to have a horn? Can you levitate stuff? Can you do magic? What spells do you know?” She then looked at Bon Bon. “I haven’t seen an earth pony either. Ooh, I love your mane! How did you get the two different colours? Are these curls natural?”
“Woah, woah, slow down!” Said Bon Bon.
“I’m sorry, I got carried away.”
“Sounds like somepony I know.” Bon Bon glanced at me.
“A kindred spirit.” I said. “I like her already.”
“Oh, how rude of me,” said the bat pony, “my name is Zao.”
We introduced ourselves as well.
“Who’s the guy over there?” I glanced at the scribe facing away from us.
“That’s just Itah. Hey Itah!” She waved. Itah waved back in a bored manner, still facing away from us. “Why don’t I show you around? I could learn so much about non-bat ponies in the process.” Zao continued.
We agreed and she took us directly to the places Magma showed us on the map. She even took us to the forbidden library. She greatly emphasized how forbidden it is. Apparently great horrors lurk in there and if you go in, you never come out. She then admitted, that she was just repeating things she’s heard.
“How are you supposed to get books from the library, if you’re not allowed to go in?” I asked.
“That’s what librarians are for.” Zao replied. “You say the title of the book you’re looking for and he gets it for you.”
“But how are you supposed to know what books to get?”
“There’s a list silly, it’s right behind you.”
We looked behind and there was indeed a long extensive list, engraved on a sheet of gold next to the library door. On both sides as well, and there were a lot of titles.
“It’s a bit difficult to navigate, but it gets easier once you know what to look for.”
“Not all books are listed there.” A voice came from the corridor. There was another bat pony approaching us, with a stack of books on his back. He was tall and skinny and had a dark pale blue coat, red disapproving eyes and a black manestyle that looked elaborate, but it was probably very easy to get down in the morning. Or evening. And his face looked a lot more like a lizard than a bat. “Some of the tomes stored in the forbidden library are forbidden as well.” He continued in his own pompous voice.
“And that there is the librarian, Zeuhl.” Said Zao.
“You did tell our curious visitors that they’re not allowed to go into the library, did you?”
“Yep. I told them it’s dangerous.”
“Good.”
“Excuse me, if you don’t mind me asking,“ Bon Bon stepped towards Zeuhl, “but how can a library be dangerous?”
“Because it’s been designed to be a confusing maze.” He talked like we were the idiots for not knowing that.
Bon Bon and I looked at each other, bewildered by the absurdity of that otherwise simple answer. “But why?” She asked.
“This whole monastery was designed by an architect who was very hard of hearing. And apparently to him, library sounded like labyrinth and by the time he realized his mistake, the labyrinth was already mostly finished. As such, the forbidden library is a labyrinth first and library second.”
“And how does one curate a labyrinth-library?” I asked.
Zeuhl glanced at Zao. “Would you look at that Zao, they ask as many questions as you do.” He then directed his disapproving eyeballs back to us. “You can learn to navigate the forbidden library. But only select chosen ponies are taught to do so. Like how the previous librarian, Magma, taught me and how I’m currently teaching my successor, Itah. He’s starting to get it down, but I still don’t trust him enough to leave alone in the forbidden library.”
“That seems terribly inefficient,” I said, “couldn’t you just build another library and have this labyrinth locked up?”
“Look filly, I don’t have time to answer inane questions, I’ve got my own things to do. Why don’t you direct your excessive curiosity towards somepony just as excessively curious as you, like Zao over here?” He then opened the library door and went inside. Zao tried to take a peek, but he casted a very stern look towards her and she immediately backed away.
The door closed with a metallic creak and the librarian was gone. Zao sighed.
“I don’t get why the next librarian has to be Itah. He needed an entire week, just to understand how the list works, even though it took me less than a day.”
“He doesn’t seem to like you.” I said.
“Eh, Zeuhl doesn’t like anypony.” She replied.
We went back to the map at the entrance hall. Magma was there as well and seemed to be happy that Zao has showed us around. She insisted on showing some more things, maybe help us choose a room. But we were tired and wanted to go home and Zao agreed to walk us back to Ponyville. We did promise to come back tomorrow and answer some more non-bat pony related questions.
But when we tried to leave, the entrance door suddenly closed right in front of us. A black smoke emanated from it and formed together into a tall shadowy, vaguely equine figure. It roared so loud I could feel the floor shake under my hooves.
“This monastery shall remain closed!” It wailed. “It shall reveal itself one last time tomorrow and only to get these two out of this place!”
And with that, it disappeared and left the door closed.
Magma ran up to the door and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge. The monster closed it for good. There was no way out for us, until tomorrow’s dusk. We were all both scared and confused. You don’t get to have a big door slam shut right in front of your face by a monster every day. Zao ran to tell the others what happened.
“How could this happen?” Magma talked to himself.
“Excuse me,” I said, “do you know what that was all about?”
“No, unfortunately. That was completely unexpected. It seems the monastery has to go back to hiding after all.”
“What? But you have just barely opened?”
“I’m sorry, but with the pony of shadows around, we can’t afford to have any visitors.”
“Pony of shadows?” I wondered. “Isn’t he supposed to be vanquished? Or is there more?”
Magma hurried away, not giving me an answer.
“I think we should find out who’s behind it all.” I called out after him.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to risk anything to face down a monster like that. I’m going close the monastery again and that’s my final answer.” He then left us.
I stared down the corridor for a few seconds. Bon Bon stepped up to me. “What now?”
“This smells fishy to me.”
“Do you really think somepony is behind this as well?”
“Yes, and I’m going to find out who and prevent this monastery from being hidden forever.”
Bon Bon shrugged. “Eh, we might as well. We’re stuck here anyway for quite some time.”
I was sure there was something going on here. Somepony didn’t want the monastery to open up, so they made sure the abbot will make the decision for them. I knew they used some kind of spell and I was sure there were spellbooks in the forbidden library. I just had to find it. Bon Bon and I began searching around the place. We first went to the forbidden library, but nopony was there and it’s not like we were going to get in. We went back to the scriptorium; maybe some of the codices would hold something.
When we got there, Itah was still drawing his odd pictures. I began looking among the codices, hoping to find answers, but most of it was written in a language I don’t understand. Itah was visibly distracted by us.
“I heard about the monster back there.” He said. “I’m glad to know I’ll get rid of you tomorrow.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.” I glared at him.
“Itah!” A stern voice came from the doorway, as Zeuhl entered the scriptorium. “Is that a way to address our detectives?”
“Detectives?” Itah went wide eyed.
“Yes, this unicorn believes that the pony of shadows is a mere hoax concocted by one of us.”
“Really?”
“I didn’t say it was one of you...” I objected.
“But how? The only one who can do magic here is you.” Itah pointed his hoof at me.
“That is not true,” I explained, “there are many spells designed to be casted by non-unicorns.”
Itah put his hoof on his muzzle. “But isn’t it possible that maybe it’s just a monster that doesn’t want you guys here?” He talked to me dismissively. “Heck, I don’t want you here either, so that’s half the mystery solved.”
“This monastery has been hidden for over a thousand years,” Zeuhl continued, “who knows what sort of curses and monsters have befallen it.”
“If that was the case,” I argued, “if it really was just a powerful monster, then why would it be so terrible at casting spells?”
“What in Equestria do you mean?” Zeuhl asked in an almost offended tone.
“Why didn’t the monster prevent the monastery from opening? Why didn’t it throw us out entirely? I say, that this so called pony of shadows only has a very limited range of spells it knows. A unicorn at this level would know a lot more. And that’s why I believe it was done through a spell that was designed to be casted by a non-unicorn.”
Zeuhl shook his head. “This is all just conjecture. And frankly it’s utterly ridiculous!”
“Is it now?” I smirked. “Then what’s the point of closing the door? Why not kick us out and hide the monastery away? In fact, I’m not even sure if the monastery is actually hidden right now. I think there are only two spells in play here. The spell that summons the monster and a spell to close the door. I’m sure whoever is behind the pony of shadows just saw more visitors coming and hastily made the choice to keep us here for a day.”
“Well whatever makes you feel better. I’ll just remind you to not go into the forbidden library and your comical adventure will not intervene with my business.” He then walked towards the door.
“Actually,” I stopped him, “good that you mention that. I’ve been meaning to ask you about the spellbooks in the library.”
“There are only books for basic spells in there. Anything beyond that is not on the list for a reason.”
“What I’ve been meaning to ask,” I tried to not get distracted by his insufferable way of speaking, “have you noticed a spellbook or two missing from the library?”
“Do you really think I’d disclose the inner workings of the forbidden library with you?” He lowered his stiff eyebrows. “You know, having a labyrinth as a library is a very convenient way to keep things from ponies like you.”
“So you’re saying,” I made a smug grin, “that if there is indeed a spell like the one I mention, you’d know about it and possibly, you could cast it without anypony finding out?”
Zeuhl rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately, you don’t have a way of proving such things.” He then made an evil smirk at me. “And you’re certainly not going to find any proof on your friend’s cutie-mark.”
“What are you getting at?”
“What I mean is, you’d have an easier time finding anything, if you took your eyes off your friend’s behind and stopped washing away all the clues with your excessive drooling.”
“What? I’m not...!”
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have more important things to do, than interrupting your staring contest with the earth pony’s rear eye.” He then left. I tried to yell after him, but he paid no attention to me.
Itah was laughing his tail off behind us. “Stop laughing!” I snapped at him, but he did not stop.
That is when Zao appeared in the entrance and walked up to us, as if she was being watched. “Hey, I might have something you should see.” She whispered.
I glared at the laughing Itah one last time and prepared to leave with Zao.
“By the way Lyra,” Itah called out to me, “I must direct your attention away from your friend’s shapely behind, to the abbot. Did you know that he was extremely reluctant to open the monastery in the first place?”
I scowled at him, but my curiosity trumped my anger. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, the only reason he had the idea in the first place, is because Princess Luna told him about it. If anypony is behind all this, then it’s him.” He then turned back to his codex. “And rightfully so!” He said one last time.
We left the scriptorium and followed Zao down the hallway. Unfortunately, Bon Bon had some questions of her own.
Zao lead us into her room. It was a little messy, but it’s the kind of mess where the pony who lives here can find their way around the place. Everything is just thrown into a pile, but they’re thrown into their own piles where they belong. In other words, it’s organized chaos. Zao scrambled to her table and lifted a letter out of one of the drawers.
“I think you should look at this letter.” She opened it and laid it out in front of us. It was written in some strange alien language, the only thing we could read is the address. It was addressed to Itah.
“Why do you have a letter addressed to Itah?” Bon Bon asked.
“I found it in the hallway. When I asked Itah about it, he said it’s just gibberish, so he threw it away.”
“Why would anypony send a letter in gibberish? And why would they do it with a strange writing?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, but... Hold on a moment...” Zao took a few things off her table and put a big book in front of us. “This is a book of ancient writings. Itah used it in his attempt to crack the message. Apparently, the letter is written in pre-Equestrian unicorn script.”
“Oh yeah, I recognize it.” I said. “It’s the one with unnecessary complications and excessive agglutination.”
“You can read it?” Bon Bon asked in surprise.
“No, but I studied it in Celestia’s school... Well, they taught it and I was staring out the window half asleep.”
“I tried to translate the text letter by letter,” Zao continued, “but I came to the same conclusion as Itah. It’s complete gibberish.”
I looked through the text as if it was going to become legible by itself. I started translating it letter by letter as well, just to test it. Bon Bon was looking through the letters in the book. She bounced her eyes from the book onto the letter and then back to the book. The back and forth glances became more frequent, until she lifted the letter up and put it right next to the book’s pages.
“Did you find something?” I asked curiously.
“The ancient unicorn script has fifty letters. But the letter to Itah, doesn’t use any of them above the twenty-sixth letter.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, according to this book, the letters also serve as numbers.”
“Oh yeah, it’s as if we used the letter A for number one.”
“Exactly! We just need to count the letters of the alphabet, according to the numbers.”
So we did. Can’t say it wasn’t tedious, because that’s exactly what it was. But I felt like we were getting closer and closer to the truth. This is the message we got:
Do not sit idly, I can help. Go into the forbidden library, go to the sixth spellbook section, bay sixteen, row six. There you will find a series of books about the pony of shadows. Look for the fourth book in the series and go to page two hundred and fifty-eight.
Good luck!
That is what was written in the letter. It wasn’t even signed, unless you count a drawing of a chameleon a signature. But this is some major development here!
“So my hypothesis was correct,” I declared, “the monster was indeed made with a spell!”
“But this also means,” Zao was concerned, “that somepony ventured into the forbidden library and made it out. The sixth spellbook section is forbidden.”
“Right,” said Bon Bon, “so it was somepony who knew their way around it. Like, Zeuhl for example.”
“I don’t think he’d need to be told where to find a book.” Zao argued. “He knows where every book is.”
“And the letter does give you a very good idea on where to find the book.” I said. “Let’s not rule out any possibilities just yet.”
“In that case,” Bon Bon added, “we can’t rule out the pony of shadows being real either. We don’t know what this spellbook is about, after all.”
“That is true,” I replied, “we need to see this book for ourselves.”
Zao gasped and put both her hooves up to her mouth. She stayed like that for a moment, shifting her eyes between Bon Bon and me.
“Are you saying,” she whispered with wide eyes, “that we need to go inside the forbidden library?”
“Well, I mean...” I said. “If we find the spell, we can prove that the pony of shadows is indeed just a spell.”
“And it’s not like Zeuhl will be any help to us.” Bon Bon added.
Zao clapped her hooves together as her expression quickly turned into a beaming smile. She bounced off into another corner of the room and dug up a big rolled up paper from one of her chaotically organized piles.
“This is the map to the entire monastery, including the forbidden library.” She exclaimed and rolled it out in front of us.
“Awesome!” I shared her enthusiasm. “Look, I can even see the sixth spellbook section.”
“Right, we just gotta get inside.” Bon Bon added.
“With your skills,” I replied, “it ought to be a breeze.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Zao interjected. “Zeuhl locks the door all the time and he’s got the only keys. The windows are all kept shut as well and they cannot be opened.” She then smiled slyly and leaned closer to us. “I know a way though.”
“Yes? Where?” I said with Bon Bon in unison.
“There is a secret passage.” She pointed at one specific point on a map. “This monastery is very old and is full of secret passages. One time, I did try to venture through but... you see...” She pointed at the map again. “You have to go through the ossuary.”
“Ugh, the ossuary?” I repeated.
“What’s wrong with the ossuary?” Bon Bon asked dismissively.
“Do you not know what an ossuary is?” I asked her back.
“Of course I know what it is! It is a place where the remains of dead ponies are kept, after the graveyard runs out of space. What, are you afraid of the skeletons coming to life?”
“Well, I tried to go down there one time and I did hear something.” Zao explained. “It was probably nothing, but I didn’t feel like finding out what made the noise. So I ran the fluff out.”
“Ugh, I know that feeling, I would have done the same.” I added.
“Seriously?” Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “Even if a skeleton comes back to life, it’s still just dried out bones. One well-placed kick and it falls into pieces.”
“You sound... experienced.” I nudged her.
Bon Bon realized what I was getting at and she tried to explain. “I just assume, because timberwolves fall apart easily as well.”
Zao gasped again. “I got it! I’ve got the map, Lyra has the light spell, so we don’t have to rely on our ears and Bon Bon will be the brave warrior to protect us. We’re going to make the best adventurer party ever!”
“I love it!” I grinned.
“Good,” Zao continued the train of thought, “then let’s meet here in the morning.”
“In the morning?”
“Oh, I forgot.” Zao laughed. “You two are day active. Sleeping at night is perfectly normal for you. Get yourself some sleep, while I try to get ready for ‘the night’.
“So forbidden library it is then?” Bon Bon asked.
“Forbidden library it is!” Zao and I exclaimed in unison.
We waited ’till the whole monastery went totally silent. By the time the sunlight reached the top of the church, all bat ponies were asleep. Well, all but one. We met up with Zao in front of her room, just like we planned, then she took us to the ossuary’s gate. It was in a far off corner of the graveyard, towering above the tombstones. It had a very unassuming look, except for the entrance, which had a metal barred door and several skulls adorning the gateway.
Zao had the necessary keys. Apparently she has permission to use them. The inside was very dark, due to the stained glass windows, not allowing much light in. What light we had was full of funky colours. We then went down into the depths of the ossuary and even that little light was gone. In fact it was pitch black.
When we stepped into the darkness, that’s when I lighted up my horn. And the light revealed that the walls were lined with hundreds and thousands of skulls.
“Well?” Bon Bon hurried me. “Aren’t you gonna move?”
I stood there, not wanting to move. I mean, it is a corridor lined with skulls, who’d want to go further? But I had the light, so I had to. Bon Bon was walking confidently and without fear, kind of pushing me forward. Meanwhile, Zao was saying the directions, in-between rapid clicking noises and frantically moving her ears around, which I guess was her doing her echolocation.
The dark tunnels were full of rats, which did give us a good scare from time to time. Their rustling among the bones and sudden movements really added to the atmosphere of the place. Tiny rays of light seeped through tiny windows, with the ancient dust floating across them.
Eventually, Zao lead us into a small chamber, with three piles of skulls behind barred metal doors, located on each wall.
“In there.” Zao pointed at one of the piles with a trembling hoof.
“Alright, how do we get in there?” Bon Bon asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been this far into the ossuary.”
Bon Bon looked at my scared face, then rolled her eyes. “Come on Lyra, give me light.”
Bon Bon approached the skull pile and I followed. Zao stood in the dark entrance for a few seconds, then she ran up to us, because she didn’t want to stand in the dark all alone. Bon Bon seemed to have found something, because she pulled my head really close to the bars, essentially sticking my horn through it. I had to stare down this one skull, while she reached through and the door opened with a high-pitched squeal.
“Now what?” Bon Bon turned to Zao.
“There should be a door on the ceiling.”
Bon Bon took a very hard look into the darkness. “Lyra, come closer a little bit.”
I went as close as I dared. But that wasn’t enough; Bon Bon called me even closer, while she climbed the pile of skulls. To her, close enough to her meant stepping into the pile along with her.
“I think I’ve found it.” She said and pushed at the ceiling, to no avail. “Something’s been put on top of the door. Come here help me push.”
Both Zao and I just stood there.
“Come on guys, do you want to get into the library or not?”
She had a point, so we climbed after her and onto the pile of skulls, to help her push open the door. We managed to push the door open slightly, but whatever was put on top of it was very heavy.
Suddenly Bon Bon slipped through the gap and we fell down, because we couldn’t hold the door any longer, leaving us among the skulls.
The few seconds spent in the darkness, on top of a pile of skulls, listening to Bon Bon moving furniture, felt like an hour long nightmare. Zao started clicking frantically and I wasn’t even sure if she was actually echolocating or just clicking for the heck of it, but that sound in combination with the face she made really freaked me out. I felt like she did see something in the dark, even though I knew she didn’t. Eventually Bon Bon opened up the door and we tried to jump through it at the same time, which got the both of us stuck for a second, before plunging through, right into the library. The door was apparently stuck under a heavily packed table.
“Wow, you really are scared, it’s almost like you thought we were in danger or something.” Bon Bon snarked at us.
“Alright, Ms Badflank, we don’t fight monsters for a living.” I said, while Bon Bon helped me up.
“Imagine when I tried to do this alone.” Zao said.
“You know what the best part is?” Bon Bon grinned. “We gotta go through all that all over again!”
“Let’s just get this library over with.” I glared at her cheeky smile.
“Lyra, could you do your light spell again, I can’t read in the dark.” Zao interjected.
I didn’t even realize my light spell turned off. I tried to fire it up, but I couldn’t. Something was preventing me from casting any spells.
“Hmm, there might be some sort of anti-magic field around the library.” Zao pondered.
“You could have warned me about that.” I said, nervously raising my voice.
“I didn’t know about it!” Zao excused.
“Hmm, how inconvenient.” Bon Bon grinned and handed me a candle, which I took from her with an annoyed swat.
The library itself was well-lit by the sunlight coming through the large windows. But we still needed candles to see. Because of the way the rooms were arranged, there were a lot of dark corners. It was very clear, that it was indeed built as a labyrinth first and the windows came as an afterthought.
We entered the library in the fourth spellbook section, conveniently close to our destination. The corridors were unnecessarily long and winding, making the way from spellbook section four to section six an entire journey.
“Guys, do you hear that?” Zao stopped and we stood there for a couple seconds. What we heard was clearly just the wind, but it was at the right pitch to make it sound like spooky ghosts wailing. I admit, even with that knowledge it was still pretty scary. We went forward a little bit, but we had to stop again.
“Guys, I think something brushed past me!” Zao stood there, her trembling legs barely keeping her weight up.
Bon Bon walked up to the window and put her hoof onto the bricks. “Relax, it’s just the ventilation. The windows cannot be opened, so air has to come through the bricks. The spooky noises and the strange brushes are nothing but wind. So much for horrible monsters.”
“You gotta admit, Bon Bon,” I said, “even with that explanation it’s still quite scary.”
“Well, it’s a good atmosphere, I give you that.” She joked.
We finally arrived at the sixth spellbook section. What was it again? Bay sixteen, row six, fourth book in the pony of shadows series. Right, there was only one problem. There was no fourth book in the series. At least, the place where it should be was only a gaping hole between the third and fifth book.
“Now what do we do?” Zao asked us.
“Nothing.” I said dryly. “We’ve got our answer.”
“Did we?” Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at me. “I mean, we don’t know whether the book contains the spell we’re looking for or not.”
“That is true, but this could be a clue.”
“Uh, guys...” Zao interrupted us. “I’d love to discuss it further, but this place is really giving me the heebie-jeebies, can we go back now?”
So we followed the spellbook sections back where we came from. Meanwhile, Bon Bon and I discussed the importance of the book further.
“Since that section of the library is forbidden,” Bon Bon explained, “it is very likely, that Itah did manage to crack the message in the letter.”
“But why would he just discard the letter like that?” I questioned.
“I admit, that is strange.” She nodded.
“It could have been found by somepony else, before Zao did.”
“So it was discarded twice?”
“Whoever took it after Itah threw it away, might have just left it where they found it in the first place.”
“Or maybe,” she added, “the taker of the missing spellbook knew the library already.”
Zao stopped in her tracks. “I wish that pony was here.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “You’ve got the map, don’t you?”
She pointed at the sign, which signifies the different sections of the library. “Geography section eight.”
“How did we get here?” Bon Bon inquired.
“This place is supposed to be a labyrinth.” Zao explained. “Good thing I have brought a map.” She looked at her map and with a smile looked back at us. “I’ve got this, I can already see where we went wrong.”
We then turned around and carried on discussing.
“See just how confusing this place is?” Bon Bon said. “There’s no way Itah could navigate here.”
“That is true,” I argued, “but he is supposed to be the next librarian and he is being taught by Zeuhl himself.”
“Come on, he couldn’t navigate the list by the door.”
“True and Zeuhl did say he wouldn’t dare to leave him alone in the library.”
“See? It must have been taken by somepony who knows their way around the library.”
“But that only leaves Zeuhl... Oh wait, no, Magma as well. He was the previous librarian.”
“Itah could always be lying as well.”
“Right. But anypony could be lying here.”
Suddenly we stopped in front of a wall. “Uh, why did we stop?” Bon Bon asked.
Zao had a very worried expression. “There is supposed to be a doorway here.”
We all looked at the map. She was right. According to the map, there was supposed to be a way leading back to spellbook section five, but in the place of the doorway, was only a big solid wall. We decided we should go back to the previous section and see where we might have taken the wrong turn. Zao was sure we didn’t.
But when we got back, the sign had an entirely different section on it. We were supposed to be back at spellbook section six, but this was myths and legends section one. Zao started panicking, but we figured, we should just find myths and legends section one on the map and simply follow the way back to spellbook section four.
That is what we did. We went through many twists and turns and pointlessly long corridors. That is what the map said as well, we were on the right track. But somehow, we ended up at the entrance door, even though we were going in the opposite direction. We tried to open the door, but it was locked of course.
“Guys, I think we’re lost!” Zao was now in full-on panic mode.
“Okay, calm down,” Bon Bon tried to be reassuring, “we’ll figure something out.”
I stepped out of the entrance room and stared down one of the needlessly long corridors.
“Lyra, where are you going?” Bon Bon called after me.
“I’m just trying to figure something out.”
“Let’s not get separated. We have to stay together.”
“I can see spellbook section one!” I pointed at the other end of the corridor.
“Wait, don’t go there! Lyra!” She shouted fruitlessly after me.
I could still hear Bon Bon calling my name from that section, but I already ran into spellbook section one. I called back at them, but the only thing I could hear, is Bon Bon’s voice echoing my name. I went back and there was nopony in the room where I just came from. In fact, not even the entrance door was there. It was geography section eight again. But I could still hear Bon Bon’s voice echoing my name from the distance. I called out to Bon Bon, but then I could no longer hear her voice. I tried turning back to spellbook section one, but all I could find is geography section nine.
My mind was racing and my heart beat heavier. I was completely separated from the others, without a map. Although, I’m not sure the map would have helped me at all. The wind’s sound seemed to have gotten louder now that I was alone. I knew it was just the wind, but the way it howled sounded really scary. Especially now that I was alone.
In an attempt to navigate back to the right place, I followed the geography sections. Section eight, section seven, section six. In the meantime, I tried calling out to Bon Bon and Zao, at random intervals.
At some point I’ve finally heard a response. It was Bon Bon calling back at me. I ran towards the sound, through short winding corridors. Bon Bon’s voice was clearer and clearer, until I could hear it perfectly. I happily bounced into the room where it came from, but nopony was there and the voice suddenly stopped as well. It was the entrance room again, but completely empty. Then after like a second, I heard Bon Bon’s voice faintly calling out at me, echoing from the distance again. I turned towards it and the turn that I came from just a second ago, was now another needlessly long corridor.
At this point, I felt like I was losing my mind. I took a step towards the voice, but a sudden strong gust of wind made it feel just like something running past me. It also blew out my candle, so my main source of light was now gone. It became just dark enough for my mind to start playing tricks on me. Random shapes in the dark started merging into shapes of strange ponies. My entire body shook with every heartbeat, my breathing became uncontrollably heavy. The howling wind suddenly felt deafeningly loud and my frightened ears translated them into horrible ghostly wailing. Bon Bon’s voice got more and more distorted the more it echoed across the corridor. The logical part of my brain just shut down and I was reduced to a superstitious old mare, covering in fear at what she doesn’t understand.
Bon Bon’s voice was now distorted beyond comprehension. It barely sounded like a pony’s voice at all. But it got louder and louder, and my name emerged again, which certainly didn’t help my state of mind. Suddenly a very clear “LYRA” could be heard from right behind me and a hoof touched my back. I screamed harder than I ever did and fell on my back in my pathetic attempt to run away. Instead, I tried to scurry away on my back, whimpering loudly. But soon, my blurry vision pieced together the strange pony and I realized that it was Zao who scared me.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” She apologized profusely.
Once my mind cleared up, I ran up to her and I embraced her like a scared child and burst into tears. Poor Zao didn’t know what to do so suddenly. She tried to calm me down, but that was not happening.
But then Bon Bon appeared suddenly and made the both of us scream and fall on our backs. But as soon as I hit the ground, I got up and hugged her as well.
“It’s okay, Lyra.” She tried to calm me down. “We found you, you’re safe now.”
“I was so scared!” I clung onto her with both hooves.
“I know, it’s okay.” She hugged me and caressed the back of my head. She waved Zao over as well and she hugged me too.
“I want to get out of here.” I squealed like a scared child.
“We will, don’t worry.” She whispered.
“Well good news,” said Zao, “I think I’ve figured out how to navigate the library.”
“How?” Bon Bon asked.
“I-it’s complicated. Just follow me.”
We went through more corridors and winding tunnels again. The section titles went past at seemingly random. Bon Bon questioned Zao on where she was going, but Zao kept her confidence. And sure enough, we were back at spellbook section four again, right in front of the moved table with the door the used to be below it. We went back into the ossuary, this time Bon Bon was in front and I followed very closely next to her. She didn’t want to stress me any further. We were out in no time. Zao escorted us to a guest room, then she went back to her own dorm.
Finally we were safe, though I could still feel my body shaking with fear.
The sun was now quite high in the sky. Some few hours before noon, the monastery’s denizens were still sleeping. I was leaning out the window, staring into the distance, listening to the birds and wondering how the monastery can remain hidden at day. I wasn’t wondering for long, because I could see two ponies walking around, swearing that they were at the right place, walking through the monastery’s walls as if they didn’t exist.
I should have been sleeping, we were going to be up all night. I just wasn’t sure if that was such a good idea after what happened back in the library. Bon Bon wasn’t sleeping either.
“You want me to make some tea for you?” She was concerned about me. The previous snarky attitude she showed towards Zao and me was now gone completely.
I shook my head silently.
She sat down next to me and put one hoof over my shoulder. “You were really scared back there,” she said, “I’ve never seen you so scared before.”
“It is so silly.” I said. “I know it was all just the wind and echoes and pareidolia, but somehow I convinced myself they were ghosts.”
“It’s not silly. Half of fear is imagination and you have loads of that.”
“Whatever, going into the forbidden library was utterly pointless.”
“Was it? Your suspicions were confirmed, that the pony of shadows is really just a trick.” She tried to comfort me with a benign lie.
“Not really. Until we know for sure that the book contains that one specific spell, nothing is confirmed.” I paused. “What’s the point of a forbidden library anyway? What’s the point of keeping books that you’re not allowed to read?”
“Well, there is information that is better off being hidden.”
“But why not just destroy the evidence? Why keep it documented?”
“Well somepony has to know about it, to prevent others from discovering it again.” She explained. “I guess, after the labyrinth library was built, they figured, they could use it to store such information.“
“I bet you could say a lot about the subject.” I remarked.
She did not dignify that with a response.
We sat there in silence for a while. We looked at the two ponies leaving the monastery, by walking right through the outside walls. A lot of time has passed since we were in the library, but I could still feel the fear inside me somewhere.
“I’m sorry for keeping you up, Bon Bon.” I said. “You can go to sleep.”
“No, it’s more important for me to make sure you’re okay.”
“I don’t know what you could do for me though.”
“Is staying here with you good enough?”
“Yeah, that should do.”
She rested her head against my shoulder and stared out the window with me. There was not much to look at, but we sure took a very hard look at it.
“You know,” I broke the silence, “I’ve been wondering something about you.”
“Whatever it is, I can’t tell you.” She dismissed any potential questions I could have.
But I asked away anyway. “When you were a secret agent, did you wear a suit?”
She was silent for a few seconds, but she answered eventually. “Yes.”
“What was it like?”
“It was comfortable, because it was specially designed to not hinder any movement.”
“Do you still have it?”
“You want to see it?”
“Heck yeah!”
“Sure, once we get home and make sure nopony’s looking.”
“Sweet!”
She lifted her head for a moment and looked at me. “I think you would look good in a suit as well.”
“You think so?”
“Of course! You’re not that feminine anyway, you could pull it off.”
“I was thinking about asking Rarity to make me one, but I wasn’t sure.”
“You should totally! When we get home, that’s the first thing we’ll do.”
“Nah, the first thing we should do is have some sleep.”
She brushed up against me again. “Feeling okay now?”
“Yeah, I think I just needed more of you.”
We sat there leaning against each other by the window. I took my lyre and improvised something calm and quiet, just to enhance the mood. Good thing I take my lyre everywhere. It’s like a portable sentimental atmosphere. That’s definitely what it did. It reminded me of the time she first heard me play. It was under the night sky, during the day, because that was the time of Nightmare Moon’s return. I like to play for the stars and those stars were ones I haven’t seen before, so I just had to play for them as well. At the time it was me who had to calm Bon Bon down.
She appreciated it now, just as much as she appreciated back then. It calmed me down as well. She sighed and was ready to fall asleep right there. I closed my eyes too and made an ending to my quick song.
But as soon as I put my lyre down, there was a knock on the door and Zao stepped in. Her face was visibly tired, but she had something to say, that couldn’t wait ‘till night.
“That was beautiful I’ve never heard somepony play the lyre so beautifully before.” She prefaced what she wanted to say then got straight to the point. “Anyway, I just want to say that I found something very important.”
“What is it?” I asked, while Bon Bon lifted her head off my shoulder, slowly blinking at Zao.
“Let’s meet in the scriptorium after breakfast,” Zao whispered, “or dinner for you, I guess. Nopony will be there at the time. I’ll tell you then.”
I nodded, while Bon Bon walked to her bed.
Zao was about to leave, but she had another thing to say. “I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?”
“No, we were just about to go to sleep.” I replied.
“Okay. By the way, the beds here support only one pony.” She then left and shut the door behind her.
A moment of silence passed, but what Zao just said, did eventually hit us.
“Wait, did she just...?” Bon Bon stood there, holding a pillow.
I laughed. “Come on, I make for a good pillow.”
“Oh shut up.” She threw the pillow in my face. “We’ve had enough romance for today. Separate beds!”
I giggled and laid my head down onto the pillow she threw at me.
“Oh and stop looking at my butt!” She shouted and made me laugh.
A few hours passed, we were woken up by the bat ponies’ wake up call, towards the sunset. They were willing to give us food, but we had to go into a separate diner. Magma explained that the bat ponies were still distrustful of outsiders, but they didn’t want to miss their morning duties. Well, dusk duties. They wanted to make sure we’re not in the way. After dinner, we were allowed to roam the monastery freely, until the pony of shadows opens the gates again.
So we were in the guest diner. Magma also mentioned, that Zeuhl has suspicions, that somepony broke into the forbidden library during the day. Apparently Zao just discarded the map, which turns out to be outdated, when she finally figured out how to navigate the library. How does a building’s map become outdated? Don’t ask me.
“Were there any books missing?” I continued my questions.
“Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to say,” Magma replied, “but I can tell you that everything was just as Zeuhl has left it.”
“Wait,” Bon Bon interrupted, “why are we being told about this? Isn’t this the monastery’s business, that doesn’t concern guests?”
“That is true,” said Magma, “the only reason I wanted to talk to you, is because Zeuhl is sure it was you.”
“Really?” I tried to cover our hoofsteps. “We don’t even know where the bathroom is, how are we supposed to find our way around a labyrinth?”
“I don’t know, but Zeuhl is convinced that it was you. He might be paranoid and considers curiosity a threat, but I still trust him enough to not disregard his opinions.”
“You don’t think it was us, do you?” Bon Bon asked.
Magma thought hard about how to phrase what he had on his mind. “I can’t say anything, but let’s just say, I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be the case.”
“We have our own suspicions though.” I said.
“Suspicions about what?”
“About who’s behind the pony of shadows.”
Magma sighed. “Look Lyra, you’re just going to have to let that go.”
“What? Why?”
“The doors will soon open back up and you will have to leave. You will have to accept not knowing something.”
“I’m sorry Magma, but doing such thing goes against my very being.”
“I understand that. But sometimes things are exactly as they seem and there’s no hidden knowledge to find. And when you try to uncover it, you may fall to dangers that do exist. Some monsters are real.”
“But the monastery! Are you fine with the monastery being hidden forever?”
“We could handle being hidden for a thousand years, we can handle more.” He stepped out the door and turned back to us. “Until then, I simply ask you to silence the questions inside of you. A curious mind is a dangerous mind.” He then left and closed the door behind him.
Oh how much I hate that logic. Curiosity isn’t something I can control, for one thing. But even if I could, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be one of the leading anthropologists, I wouldn’t have saved ponies by finding the answers behind mysterious problems. Heck, Equestria wouldn’t be where it is, if ponies could just tone down their curiosity. I hate it when somepony tries to turn close-mindedness into wisdom and I will simply not stand for such acceptance of evil deeds. I wasn’t going to leave that monastery, until the pony behind the monster was revealed. And I was going to reveal them, whether Magma liked it or not.
After breakfast, to us dinner, we went to the scriptorium, just like Zao asked. Everypony was tending to their morning duties, so the scriptorium was empty. Just like Zao told us it would be. The only thing that was different from what she said, was meeting her. She wasn’t there. Maybe she just got caught up with her duties, maybe she’s having a hard time getting away without looking suspicious. Maybe she was currently trying to come up with a good excuse.
Well, none of that was the case. After waiting for like half an hour, the scriptorium’s doors swung open, revealing a very displeased looking Zeuhl. Well, more displeased looking than usual. Downright angry. He was holding a book under one of his wings and there was Zao behind her, looking very distraught.
“Not only were my suspicions correct, as they usually are,” Zeuhl talked with his usual pompous tone, but much louder, “but the already unclean image of one of the monastery’s denizens has been further filthied!” His voice echoed through the empty scriptorium.
He stepped closer to us, dragging Zao after himself, with the sheer force of his authority. “Zao told me everything you three have done in the morning!” He continued. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice anything?”
“I’m sorry Zeuhl,” I tried to be firm, “but we needed to find the spell that could be used to fake the pony of shadows.”
“There!” He opened the book and showed us the very spell the letter described. “Are you happy now?!” He put it back under his wing. “And might I point out, that it was Zao who delivered the book to me, revealing, that she somehow knew it was missing, in a moment of more absentmindedness than usual. She even had the brains to think I’d believe, that she just found it laying around the corridor.”
Zao was silent. She stared at the floor in complete shame.
“If I didn’t know you were leaving in a few minutes,” Zeuhl ranted, “then I’d rip you all in so many pieces, that not even my grandmother, who can solve a two thousand piece puzzle of the clear night sky, under an hour, would be able to pull you back together, even if she went back to a time where she could still see further than her own muzzle. And you Zao!” He shouted and turned to her. “You don’t have the privilege of leaving the monastery and will not be able to avoid whatever punishment I see fit for you!”
Zao slumped her entire body and she was on the verge of tears.
“Uhh, Zeuhl.” Magma stepped in quietly.
“What?!” He growled back.
“The gate is open, I’d like to escort our guests out.” Magma said quietly, as if he was scared of what Zeuhl could do to him as well.
“Good! Take these snivelling weasels out of my sight!”
We stepped out through the scriptorium’s doors. We briefly looked back. Zao was standing there, frozen in place. Zeuhl kicked both sides of the door and the scriptorium has closed with a loud bang.
“Is she going to be okay?” I felt so guilty about her.
Magma didn’t answer. He simply told us to follow him.
“I-it was us who convinced her to go into the library. It was our idea!” I tried to save her.
“Doesn’t matter,” Magma talked coldly, “peer pressure doesn’t absolve you of sin.”
“But we figured out who is behind the pony of shadows as well!”
He sighed. “Look Lyra, your search for answers betrayed the only pony here, who has fully trusted you. I don’t want to hear any more of this!” His voice was calm, but showed a sort of anger that’s even worse, when it comes from somepony like him, due to its rarity.
We arrived at the gate. Magma held one side of the door for us. Bon Bon stepped outside, but I refused to leave until I get to reveal the pony behind the monster. I stood there for a few seconds staring at the floor, thinking of what to say. Magma waited for me sympathetically, but impatiently.
“I’m sorry,” I lifted my gaze to him, “but I refuse to leave, until we can carry out Luna’s will.” I stood solidly, like the most stubborn child. “This monastery will be open!”
Magma didn’t have time to object, because the doors slammed open by themselves and the pony of shadows appeared again.
“LEAVE!” It roared.
But I knew it was just a pony with no real knowledge of magic, so I boldly stepped up to it. “Drop the facade, I’m not scared of you! I know who you are!”
That is when it did something I did not expect. It fired a magic beam at me. In a quick surge of energy, I could conjure a shield to block it, though the beam was still strong enough to knock me back. I was on the floor and it was about to shoot another one. Then out of nowhere, Princess Luna landed in front of me and effortlessly blocked the second beam.
“Cease this, monster! We shall have answers!” She yelled in her traditional Canterlot voice, followed by a clear echo.
The monster roared and then retreated into the shadows.
Bon Bon ran up to me. “Lyra, what were you thinking?! That thing could have killed you!”
“I didn’t expect it to do that.” She helped me up. “Wait, the shield, how did I do that?”
Luna stepped up to me and directed a very stern look at Magma. “Gather everypony involved with the incident. The unicorn shall give us answers!”
We were in the entrance hall, right in front of the blown open entrance gate. Magma was already there, while Itah has just arrived and started complaining about us still being there, but Princess Luna silenced him. Bon Bon oversaw all arriving ponies. And while we waited for everypony to arrive, I paced back and forth impatiently.
Zeuhl has just arrived as well. He saw Luna and didn’t say a word, though his face said everything.
Bon Bon stepped up to him. “Where’s Zao?” She demanded an answer.
“She’ll be here any moment.” Zeuhl gave the answer coldly.
“What did you do to her?”
“That is none of your business!” Zeuhl sneered.
“I’m here! I’m here...” Zao’s voice came at the right moment. She stepped into the hall, her face still filled with shame.
“Good, everypony’s here.” Itah groaned. “Get on with it!”
I slowly stepped towards the audience, who were now my suspects. But Princess Luna took my dramatic opening.
“It’s been brought to my knowledge, that a monster has been trying to sabotage my plans to open the monastery dedicated to me.” She talked sternly. “This monster shall be dealt with, whether it’s real or a trick.”
A way better dramatic opening, than I could have done. Everything’s got more weight, when it comes from a higher authority like her.
“Excuse me for questioning your highness,” Zeuhl still had the arrogance to interrupt, “but why exactly is it so important to open this monastery?”
“My name’s been associated with fear and cruelty for a thousand years,” Luna said, “my monastery being hidden from everypony certainly doesn’t help that image. I aim to rectify that and make sure ponies look at me with trust, instead of fear.”
Zeuhl had one more question. “And how do we know that this monster is indeed a trick?”
“I admit, I heard that just this evening. But perhaps Ms. Lyra Heartstrings could give us the answers.”
The way she addressed me so formally caught me off guard for a second. I cleared my throat and stated the evidence.
“We know the monster is fake, because we have found the spell that made it.”
“You’ve found it?” Zeuhl interjected. “I showed it to you when I berated you for entering the forbidden library.”
“You ventured into the forbidden library?” Luna looked at me, with a surprised expression.
“No sense in being coy about it, yes I did.”
“And you got out?”
“Yes... Well... I got lost, but if it wasn’t for Zao figuring out how to navigate, then I wouldn’t have.”
I tried cheering her up, but Zao seemed to have become even more shameful, when I mentioned her.
“Interesting...” That’s all Luna had to say about that.
“With all due respect your highness,” Zeuhl interjected again, “but are you really going to put your trust into somepony with such blatant disregard for the monastery’s rules?”
“We will discuss security issues later.” Luna replied.
“A security issue?” Zeuhl took offense. ”If a criminal finds their way into a heavily secured area, then is that really a security issue?” Zeuhl questioned further.
“Heavily secured my flank!” Bon Bon raised her voice slightly. “The most security you’ve done is locking the main entrance. But that place is ripe with secret passages and all you did about that is put a table over one of them.”
“That’s because it’s secret.” Zeuhl argued. “If somepony finds it, then they’re already doing something wrong.”
“When you call something a secret, or forbidden,” Bon Bon continued, “you’re pretty much asking to be found out by ponies like Lyra.”
“The earth pony does have a point.” Luna said. “I maintain, that there’s an issue with security, which we will discuss after the investigation.” Zeuhl definitely didn’t like what Luna said, but he knew he wasn’t in a position to object. “Now, shall we continue, Ms. Heartstrings?”
I cleared my throat again. “So we found the spell that allows the pony of shadows to be summoned and controlled and we also found many ponies who’d have the motive to commit such act. One of which does know the library well enough to find the spell.”
“You’re going to accuse me now, aren’t you?” Zeuhl groaned.
“No, not at all.” I said. “The pony I mention, has advised me to not overthink everything and go with the obvious choice right in front of me. And to me it’s quite obvious, that there’s only one pony here who’s not only opposed to the idea of the monastery opening up, but also knows their way around the forbidden library and feels helpless enough to reach for extreme measures.” I paused, then with a large swing with my hoof pointed at Magma. “And that pony is none other than the abbot himself!”
Everypony gasped in disbelief and Magma looked at me thoroughly confused. I kept my glare at him for a second, just to let the moment sink in. Then I grinned.
“Fortunately for him, I didn’t take his advice and I searched for a less obvious solution.” Relief took over everypony’s faces, with varying degrees of offense. I then turned to Zao. “And with the help of our dear Zao, we found a letter written in ancient unicorn script, sent to none other than Itah.”
Everypony looked at him, but he was unfazed. “Oh yeah, that one. I tried translating it, but it was just a bunch of gibberish.”
“Oh, you’d say that, wouldn’t you? You see,” I continued, “we did actually manage to translate the text and it described the exact location of the spell and spellbook. Spellbook section six, bay sixteen, row six, fourth book in the series, page two hundred and fifty-eight. I memorized it. And sure enough, when we went and searched for it in the forbidden library, it was missing. Meaning, somepony knew where it was and took it.”
“Might I point out,” Zeuhl interrupted again, “that it was Zao who had the spellbook, not Itah.”
“Sure, but she had no way to know where the book was and no way to retrieve it, because she didn’t understand the script and didn’t know how to navigate the library.”
“Didn’t you just say yourself that you got out because she knew her way around?” Zeuhl argued.
“She figured it out while we were inside. If she knew it already, then she wouldn’t have brought an outdated map and we wouldn’t have gotten lost.”
“She figured out the way while she was inside?” Magma commented. “I must admit, that is remarkably quick.”
“She is indeed smarter than she lets on,” Zeuhl replied, “but she lacks wisdom. That’s why I think she’s more likely to be the pony behind the shadow.”
“That maybe so,” I argued, “but that would have required her to feign ignorance both on what the letter says, the map and her knowledge of the library, just so she could clear her name of a consistent misdeed that not only she has no incentive to commit, but also goes against her entire personality.”
“And is it more logical, that she just found both the letter and book, just wandering the monastery?” Zeuhl got visibly annoyed at me.
“Yes!” I declared. “We know that Itah has discarded the letter after he claimed it was untranslatable. It is very likely, that he’d carelessly discard another important clue like that.” I then turned to Itah. “Or perhaps he was trying to dupe Zao into it.”
“Wait, you’re accusing me?!” Itah said in an offended tone.
“Just think about it.” I turned to the rest of the audience. “Itah continuously demonstrated his distaste towards outsiders, which means he’s got the motive. He then gets a letter, in a language he definitely has no problem decoding, considering he’s a scribe and has seen many languages and secret writings. He finds, that said letter describes the exact location of a spell he could use, and the book containing it goes missing, with the described spell casted multiple times. He has the incentive, the tool and the clues describing both! The pony of shadows was created by none other than Itah!”
Everypony looked at Itah, while he turned his face towards the ground. He chuckled ominously, then turned to me with pitch black eyes.
“Guess you found me, Lyra.” His body got enveloped by black smoke and he turned into the pony of shadows. “There’s a lot more where this came from, you know!” He roared and attempted to stomp on me.
Thankfully, Luna was there again. She stood above me and casted a shield for protection. Itah’s shadowy hooves slid right off the dome of energy, which allowed Luna to blast him with a magic beam, slamming him against the wall and destroying his shadow form.
“For the crimes of violently opposing my will and the attempted murder of a pony, you shall be evicted from my personal royal staff! “ Luna’s voice boomed across the monastery. Even I was scared. She then tied him up in magical chains, rendering him completely immobile and silent.
Luna then stepped to me. “Thank you Ms. Heartstrings for exposing this criminal. Your reward will be great.”
“He was my student!” Zeuhl yelled. “He was supposed to be the next librarian! Now who’s going to take care of the library after me?!”
Luna glanced at him, then diverted her gaze onto Zao. “I think you’ve got the perfect successor, right there.”
Zeuhl directed a very disapproving look at Zao, who could only look back at him with a sheepish smile.
“Really? Her?” Zeuhl groaned.
“Not a bad idea,” Magma remarked, “she does already know how to navigate the library doesn’t she? I think her remarkably quick wit will save you a lot of time, Zeuhl. Plus, she’s going to leave a much more positive impression on visitors.”
“Deciding to open the monastery after all?” Luna said.
“Yes! All my life I thought that outsiders would only bring danger to the monastery, so I was reluctant to open up. But as it turns out, there’s more danger in being secretive.”
“I’m glad we could find a solution. And I’m sure Zao will make an excellent librarian.”
Zeuhl rolled his eyes. “We’ll see.”
What I would like to know, however, “Magma said, “is who wrote that letter to Itah.”
“I would like to know that as well.” Luna turned to me.
“I’m not sure.” I replied. “The signature was just a drawing of a chameleon.”
“A chameleon you say?” She shared a glance with Bon Bon. Then after a few seconds, Luna turned to Magma and said: “In any case, I will take Itah to court for his crimes. When I return, we shall discuss the monastery’s security.”
Magma nodded, and with that, Luna flew off, taking Itah with her. He then turned to us.
“Thank you for unveiling the pony of shadows.” He said. “You brought back my confidence with the monastery and my plans of opening up. Though I could have done without you accusing me.”
“Oh, that was just to show how wrong you were with your lecture about thinking too much.” I grinned.
“Oh well, I guess that’s on me.”
“Don’t worry about outsiders Magma,” said Bon Bon, “the ponies are very friendly and accepting. We even have a few dragons living among us.”
Zao ran up to us and hugged me as tightly as only I could. “Thank you Lyra! Thank you for saving me!”
“Saving you? What do you mean?”
“Zeuhl was ready to evict me from the whole monastery. I was so scared to find out what he had planned for me.”
“Don’t worry Zao,” Magma put a hoof on her shoulder, “no punishment will be dealt to you. And I think you’re going to make a fantastic librarian.”
“Thank you. I’m just not sure Zeuhl agrees with you.”
We then glanced back at the hall and we saw Zeuhl giving us the death glare before disappearing down a corridor.
“If he’s not going to teach you,” Magma declared, “then I will!”
Everypony went back to their places, we stepped outside the walls as well. We briefly saw Magma and Zao wave after us. The monastery was beaming with a new ray of light. I want to see where their newfound openness will lead them. Small ghostly lights appeared along the path and we followed them. Soon, it was only Bon Bon, me and the tiny sprites in the deep dark forest. But I still had a few questions in need of answers.
“So what is this chameleon about?” I whispered.
She was silent for a few seconds, but she pried a few words from her mouth. “You know the one who lighted the fireworks back at Las Pegasus?”
“The one you refused to say anything about?”
“Yeah, it’s him.”
“Hmm... Does that mean I’m not getting any answers again?”
“Lyra, you don’t want to get answers on this.” She turned serious. “The Chameleon is the vilest most evil pony that has ever set hoof on this world.”
“So his name is Chameleon, huh?”
“Lyra, please take this seriously!” She turned very serious. “I’m trying to keep quiet about him for a reason, not because I think it’s fun!”
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s not your fault. You’re just being curious as always. Just please promise me, you will forget I ever mentioned him.”
I promised, but I couldn’t keep it. Thoughts about The Chameleon bounced around in my head for quite a while after that. What could possibly be so horrible about a pony, that Bon Bon is just so concerned about even mentioning him?
Perhaps there’s more mystery to her than just secret agent stuff and a past I’ve been lied about. Wonder what else I don’t know. I have a feeling, that I won’t like the answer, but I will find it.
...
By the way, I did manage to see her in her secret agent suit. She looks amazing!
