Relics of an Ancient Past

“Sister?”

Princess Luna stood at the entrance to Princess Celestia’s large bedroom. The inside of the room was well-lit though it was just past the midnight hour. A large crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling, with its natural, yet unnatural sunlight emanating from within the crystals themselves. It lit up the room with a rich golden colour that starkly contrasted with the black sky visible outside through the wide window.

Princess Celestia was sitting in front of her large oak writing desk, seeming to be preoccupied with something important. When she heard her sister’s voice she brought her head up and looked over towards the doorway. The two made eye contact.

She gave her a gentle smile. “Come in, Luna – you shouldn’t be standing in the doorway. Didn’t Mother teach you better than to stay in uncertain places like that?”

Luna trotted slowly into the room, her horn glowing a deep turquoise blue for a moment to close the heavy marble door behind her with ease. A soft chuckle issued from her lips as she sat down beside the elder Sun Princess.

“Mother’s long gone, sister. You know that,” she replied.

“Just because that is the case doesn’t mean that we should simply stop following the teachings and lessons she taught us,” Celestia murmured rather solemnly. She gave her sister a look of slight trepidation before looking back at her desk to the small, pitch black cube she had been examining. Her thoughts of the past ended abruptly the moment she laid eyes on it.

The strange object’s corners seemed to be giving off a soft, rich blue glow that intensified and dimmed at a regular, unchanging tempo. A small, white, glowing circle on the flat top face blinked on and off at a slightly faster pace than did the glowing corners. In the middle of the circle was a strange-looking symbol that refreshed itself into a new, equally strange symbol every time the circle around it blinked twice.

“What is that?” Luna blinked over at the device when she noticed it. She looked at it, examining it from as many angles as she could, craning her neck over behind it, to its sides, above, and in front of it. Whatever it was, she had no idea, but she definitely wanted to find out. She hoped her sister had at least some of the answers she was looking for.

But, alas, her sister was as much in the dark as she was. “I don’t know, exactly. I found it buried in a shallow hole underneath the Canterlot Ruins in the Everfree Forest last night when I ventured out for an evening stroll. It was glowing the same way as it was now, and it certainly caught my attention. I never expected to find something like this to be hiding underneath my very own hooves.

“But what I do know is that it appears to be counting down. It might be opening soon. Whatever is contained within it, I don’t know. But I believe that many important things in our lives and in the lives of many will change the moment the knowledge within this cube is released,” Celestia murmured softly, a tinge of uncharacteristic trepidation colouring her voice. She looked back at her younger Midnight Sister, her lavender eyes glowing with fear and apprehension for the uncertain times that lay ahead of them and all of Equestria itself. The alien-ness of this cube, its sudden importance in the lives of the two Princesses, and the fact that nothing like this had ever been unearthed in the history of all Equestria, signalled that it was certainly the bearer of something that would change the world for good or bad.

“So this is the reason why you have called me upstairs,” Luna thought aloud as she stood up and began to pace slowly around the room. She carefully made her way around pieces of furniture in the living room-type area behind Celestia’s large oak desk, around the low mahogany table and the comfortable elevated cushions made for ponies to lounge on. Her long, flowing tail, which reflected the beautiful night sky in its ethereal lengths, nearly knocked over a couple vases on the table. But she was careful not to allow them to topple over completely. After all, there was barely enough open space in this large room of Celestia’s to allow her to work off her growing stress by pacing. But what else could she do?

“Who do you believe manufactured it?” Luna asked, continuing to pace slowly throughout the room and the other rooms adjacent to the one Celestia was occupying.

Celestia turned her head towards her sister and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could bring forth any articulate words, the black cube sitting on her desk suddenly glowed a bright, rich blue colour before emitting a soft humming noise that permeated throughout the room. The elder Princess found herself stumbling away from her desk in surprise to sit up shakily beside her sister a distance away from it.

The white outline of the circle on the top of the cube suddenly became a solid circle, and from it, a highly concentrated laser of white light shot out, shining on the ceiling. And from that white dot on the ceiling a hologram seemed to project itself out towards the two sisters, materialising not too far from them into a consistent image. A still picture of what looked like a coat of arms or a logo in the shape of an upside-down triangle with three arrows emerging from each corner was displayed.

The image seemed to calibrate itself for a moment as it flickered. But when the flickering ended, the soft humming noise that was emanating from the cube, which still sat on Celestia’s desk, stopped entirely. The entire room was silent for a moment, and it was during this time that the still coat of arms displayed on the hologram began to rotate upon a vertical axis. Its three-dimensional shape was apparent from this rotation.

“Sister...?” Luna felt her body shiver a moment. She was trying to understand what exactly was happening, why that image was in front of them, and why and how it was being projected in an almost magickal fashion for them to witness.

Celestia did not respond to her nervous sister. She simply waited for something – anything to happen.

And suddenly as if in response, a voice sounded, clear as day. It was a smooth, yet artificial female voice, seeming to come from all around them, from every surface in the room. They were startled for a moment before they realised exactly where it was coming from. The cube seemed to have a level of magickal intricacy that was too immense for even these two alicorn Princesses to understand. How it could have projected sound so in this magickal way, neither of them knew.

“Sister! Listen,” Luna nudged the frozen alicorn mare beside her, snapping her out from what seemed like some sort of trance brought about due to her sheer amazement from this spectacle. When she had finished snapping out of it, she gazed up at the still-rotating coat of arms and listened intently.

This message was recorded on 4.11 in the year 12.347. The current date is 27.6 in the year 14.699.

Two presences authenticated. Solaria and Lunaria, daughters of Sir Redwing and Lady Whitehoof, members of the Executive Senate.

Begin message playback. A reminder to you that highly confidential information should not be divulged to members of the lower Populus.

And then, a pause. The logo continued to revolve in front of the two, who were frozen where they sat. The silence lingered around the room. Luna was able to barely look over at Celestia, in utter amazement and sheer, raw uneasiness, before another voice sounded. This time, it was very natural. It had a rough timbre which obviously came from a stallion, hardened from many days of battle in many wars. It sounded urgent and concerned. Scratchy background noise filtered through, yet the recording was as clear as if the stallion was standing and speaking directly in front of them. The two sisters continued to listen, their ears angled towards the general direction of the cube.

There’s not much time. Listen. Whoever will hear this message, beware of the future of Equestria. The Empire is in a state of civil war: the Senate has not yet reached a compromise with the Emperor regarding the state of the outlying colonies, and the ponies in the higher classes have refused to let their corporations be harnessed and controlled by the government for the sake of funding a “Final Solution”. Understand that I am sending this to you because a fair warning must be issued to all citizens of the Empire. In the near future to the date at which you are listening to this recording, the Empire may return to reclaim everything it believes it owns – and this includes all of the colonies established during the last Great Split. This is the only warning you will receive. Regard it with great caution and care. And to all who are listening: Godspeed.

The stallion’s voice ended as the recording was abruptly cut off. The two sisters sat beside each other, still frozen in their spots, trying to understand what had just happened. An image projected in front of their faces, moving smoothly, projected to them as if by magick, accompanied by the voice of a stallion having been recorded and played as if he had been speaking directly to them in their midst, to deliver a message that was eerie and cryptic.

As Celestia feared, this simply raised more questions than it solved problems. What would the Royal Family do now? Would it continue on living life as if nothing had happened?

Both sisters knew it was impossible to continue to live nonchalantly. And yet everything that had just occurred was too much to handle all at once. What would they do?

“Sister?” Luna interrupted the Sun Princess’s thoughts in order to ask her own question. “The first voice, the female one… It address our names differently. Why were you called ‘Solaria’, and why was I called ‘Lunaria’?” she breathed, getting up and moving closer to the mysterious black cube, which now appeared to be turned off. “And… What of ‘Sir Redwing’ and ‘Lady Whitehoof’…?” she licked her dry lips.

Celestia regained her nerves after a few moments, and Luna’s question finally registered in her mind. She stood up and made her way over to her desk as well, the thought of more secrets being poured out loudly to them haunting her in the back of her mind.

“I am not sure,” the elder sister finally spoke her mind before sighing. Literally hundreds of questions were buzzing in her mind, and as she glanced over at her sister she was sure that she was itching to find the answers to these questions as well.

Celestia turned her gaze back to the cube, which was still sitting on her oak desk, and tried to understand everything that had just happened. A seemingly magickal device which relayed a message to her sister and herself just happens to recognise them, but with different names? And it so happens to know their parents as well?

Never in her life had she ever been called “Solaria” before, and never ever in all of Equestrian history had there existed something as magickally advanced as the cube that stood before her eyes.

“Luna. We need to go somewhere,” the Sun Princess Celestia stood up, quickly stretching her limbs. She made her way to the marble door to exit, her horn glowing a rich golden yellow as the door slid open. The black cube floated over to hover in nearby her head.

“Where will be leaving to, sister?” Moon Princess Luna followed her, watching the black cube carefully as she stood flanking the older alicorn Princess.

“Ponyville,” Celesta murmured before exiting her room and into the hallway. “Ready my chariots and prepare a battle-ready squad of four Bats. Go now, Luna. I shall meet you at the departure base.”