Relics of an Ancient Past

“Twilight? What’s all this stuff about the Princesses coming to Ponyville? Is it a special occasion? Anything important happening? I mean… Considering that Princess Luna only came to our town just once before, might it be something really important? Really, really important?”

The lavender mare was darting about the lower level of her home, her horn glowing continuously as she righted books on shelves and fixed the smallest of misplaced things. She barely registered her Number One Helper’s question as he stumbled down the stairs towards her, hardly able to keep his balance.

“I don’t know, Spike. Princess Celestia simply told me that she would be here in the next five minutes. And she didn’t even give me any prior notice! So I’ve got to clean everything up before she gets here!” she continued to gallop back and forth, barely dodging the drowsy dragon as she ran to and fro.

Spike shrugged softly and rubbed his eyes. His jaws were parted in a very large yawn. “Yeah… and we were just about to get some sleep, too…”

After a few more seconds of running back and forth, Twilight Sparkle finally hit the brakes, her hooves sliding across the smooth wooden surface until she came to a halt. She stood in front of Spike and heaved a deep breath of satisfaction. “Now, I think that’s all,” she mumbled, half to herself. Her mane was already frayed and messy, but the already organised library didn’t seem to improve with Twilight’s frantic “cleaning”.

Without warning, a knock sounded at the front door. Twilight flinched and held back a shiver from running up her spine, and she forced herself to straighten up so she could make her way over to answer it. She glanced out the tiny peephole for a moment, and her heart began to beat faster and faster. The rush of adrenaline ran through her arteries when she pulled away and opened the door.

Before her were four Royal unicorn guards. All four of them had coats that were the colour of dark charcoal, silhouetting them and camouflaging them in the darkness of the night. They seemed highly trained in the physical and magickal arts, judging by the muscles underneath their coats and their focused, intelligent gazes. Their faces were stoic and their bodies were unflinching. As for their weaponry, each had their own sword, their sharp, pitch-black blades customised to their liking. Each looked extremely dangerous. And each unicorn was attired with dull chrome black steel armour and helmets of the same finish.

They all gazed sternly at her for a moment before the first pony in the line suddenly bowed curtly to her. “Twilight Sparkle,” he said, his voice deep and stern as he brought his head back up. “We are but four members of the Bats, the Royal Elite Security Force. Your teacher has chosen us to guard your home while you discuss these extremely important matters.”

Twilight’s body froze completely, and she found herself having difficulty gathering her thoughts to speak a coherent sentence. Nevertheless, she forced herself to say noises. “E-Extremely important? Royal Elite Security Force?” she mumbled aloud. All she could think of now was that she completely understood why the Princess had alerted her on such short notice. To have had something that important to occur that warranted an immediate company of four Elite guards must have been in response to an extremely dire situation.

But her thoughts were cut short when she saw her guests. On a golden chariot headed by two dark-coated pegasi, not too far away behind the Guards, were the two Royal Princesses. They regally stepped out from their chariot and made their way towards her until they were a small distance behind the four unicorns, who were, by now, standing tall.

Now that Twilight’s mind had completely cleared, she realised she had never seen a Royal security force this well-armed before.

She bowed her head down to the ground in response to the two alicorns’ arrival. She kept her head and body low and closed her eyes, as was the custom for any personal Royal meeting.

“Twilight Sparkle. My faithful student,” Princess Celestia stepped forward and gestured up with her hoof. Twilight straightened up, looking intently up at the tall, white alicorn as she spoke. “You must be wondering why I have asked for your company at this late hour.”

Spike scampered out from the library and stood close beside Twilight. He gave the two Princess quick, curt bows, which they acknowledged by nodding back to him, before they turned their attention back towards Celestia’s prodigious student.

“Naturally, yes. It must be quite important…” the lavender mare responded, her gaze flicking to Luna, then back again to her beloved mentor. “Spike and I were just about ready to go to bed when we got your message. He was climbing into bed,” she continued, chuckling, then she paused. She felt her eyes linger once again on the armed unicorns who carefully surrounded the two Royal arrivals.

They were standing right in front of the entrance to the Ponyville Library, and the only light available to them all was the cool silver of the full moon up high in the sky and the warm yellow glow of the light behind them.

The tall, white alicorn seemed to notice her student’s gaze on the four ponies. “I know you’re wondering about them. Don’t worry. I’ll explain it all to you in a bit. May we… Come inside?”

Twilight felt her body freeze up for a moment before she instinctively blurted out a reply. “W-Why, yes! Of course!” she dipped her head down low for a moment before stepping back to stand beside the door, motioning them inside. Spike stayed with her, still clinging to her left forehoof. “Please make yourself at home, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” she said, feeling her heart beating more quickly. She hadn’t expected her guests to actually have the intention of coming inside to discuss the situation at hoof; instead, she believed they would be journeying somewhere else – the Everfree Forest to examine or discuss a new, potentially dangerous development, or elsewhere – but never did she expect that the Princesses actually meant to stay in her library. Was the subject matter so important and confidential that it needed four highly trained guards to stand watch in front of the meeting place, which happened to be her very own library?

Oh, dear. Imagine if they see the mess… her train of thought switched to another worry completely. She swallowed hard, but bowed to each visitor as she stepped in – first Celestia, then Luna. When she saw that the Bats had taken up their guard posts by the entrance and would not be staying in the library with the Princesses, she made her way inside with Spike following close behind her.

The inside of the Ponyville Central Library was very well-lit despite Celestia’s late notice and Luna’s late hour. Yellow-white light radiated from the many lit candles and other lights, accenting the many wooden surfaces with its warm glow. The air inside was comfortably cool, a fine retreat from the rather hot outside air during this time of year.

“You can catch up on your rest, Spike. I’m afraid this is serious business,” Twilight whispered to her baby dragon, who responded by yawning again before climbing slowly up the steps. She then turned her gaze to the two Princesses, who, to her surprise, were examining her books, slowly pacing alongside the shelves and looking at all the tomes she had on hoof. Celestia was keenly going through the modern nonfiction books while Luna was browsing the historical fiction section.

“So, ah… hehe, um, welcome to the Ponyville Library. I’m so, so, so sorry I wasn’t able to clean up; I barely had enough time to respond to your notice and I don’t mean to make an excuse but there was a whole herd of ponies here earlier today who–”

Celestia shushed the blabbering unicorn in amusement. Classic Twilight. She shook her head, chuckling a bit. “I understand that you barely had time to clean up, but really, Twilight, there’s no reason to believe that your library is a complete mess. You’re making it seem like books are scattered all over the place! Truly, it is fine as it is.”

By now the lavender pony’s cheeks were red with embarrassment for letting her mouth run on like that in the company of two Princesses. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “Would you, umm… would you like anything to drink? Or maybe a snack?” she asked, having recomposed herself by now. She stood closer in front of them beside the large centre wooden table, her eyes flicking to each Princess.

“Thank you, Twilight, but no thank you,” Celestia’s face hardened as she turned her gaze away from the books and towards her student. “We actually have… Important things to discuss, as you know…” she paused and glanced back at her sister Luna for a moment to check on her before she continued to speak. “We need you to do some research for us to help us understand the meaning of a certain message that was delivered to us. Being the detective you are, we would greatly appreciate your efforts.”

Twilight felt her hooves numb slightly at her teacher’s proposition. Asking me for help? Oh, this is definitely going to be fun, she gulped. Indeed they would be examining a new, potentially threatening development, in this case a cryptic message, but they would be doing it in her very own home, and not in the Everfree Forest as she had expected they would have.

She opened her mouth, her dry lips sticking together for a moment before she spoke. “I’d like to know about the issue at hoof first. The nature of the message,” she spoke, her voice tinged with a bit of authority. She wanted to let the Princesses know that she knew what she was doing. She needed some background information on whatever the issue was, and it seemed that they were the only ones who knew anything about it at all.

Celestia nodded. Luna returned to continue browsing the historical fiction sections of the library, her horn glowing so she could check the titles of each book, while her sister stood over in the middle of the room beside Twilight at the wooden table.

“We received it in a most unusual way no more than fifteen minutes ago. Luna and I decided to contact you because of the contents of the message itself as well as the manner the message was delivered.”

The smaller lavender mare nodded at her words and sat her flank down on the ground, her attention still focused on her teacher. “Unusual? How so? Was the message transmitted through some odd spell? Was the sender of the message mysterious? Strange at all?” she asked, her mouth speaking rapidly.

Instead of replying, Celestia’s horn glowed a bright golden colour, and with a flash of bright light the small black cube appeared. The white circle on the top, as well as the glowing edges, no longer blinked or showed. Whatever the thing was, it had served its purpose.

Twilight took it in her magickal hold and carefully examined it.

“Both the sender and the message itself were odd. The message’s delivery and… everything about the sender were more peculiar and thought-provoking than I could have possibly imagined,” the white alicorn replied. “The message seemed to be transmitted through the object to us magickally, though neither my sister nor I could detect any sort of magick in the room. And the sender of the message… His words were mysterious, his identity was never disclosed, and the circumstances regarding the delivery of the message were… difficult to understand and decipher, to say the least,” she said, her voice low.

Twilight continued to examine the cube closely. There didn’t seem to be any breaks or flaws in the design of the cube at all; it was just a single contiguous black object. Perhaps it was an ancient, misunderstood magickal artefact?

“How was the message sent? It probably wasn’t a letter, because I don’t think this… Whatever it is… can deliver a written message. Was there some other way?”

“It made its presence known to me the night before I received the message. A few minutes earlier, it seemed to come alive with lights and strange humming noises… A coat of arms was displayed to Luna and me in the form of a moving picture, and the message was voice-recorded. It was delivered very clearly, even more clearly than any message-delivering spell that even I know of,” Celestia replied, finding her gaze drawn back towards the black cube her pupil was holding in her magickal grip.

Twilight nodded and set the cube back down, heaving a sigh as the gears in her head turned. Perhaps there had been another spell in place to prevent the intricate magicks operating the cube from being discovered? After all, it looked like quite a simple yet complex object, and to be able to unlock its secrets would mean the unearthing of lots of magical knowledge, knowledge perhaps more ancient than they could have ever dreamed.

“Have you considered that there could have possibly been a spell to conceal other spells on that cube?” she asked her.

Princess Celestia simply shook her head at this suggestion. “There couldn’t have been. Luna and I would have sensed it,” she simply replied.

This prompted Twilight to completely change her train of thought. So, there is no detectable magick. I’ll have to assume that magick has nothing to do with whatever this is… she thought to herself as she tapped her hoof on the table. A sudden, completely new wave of ideas hit her as she pondered the practical alternatives to unicorn magick spells. She then clenched her jaw and looked up at the white alicorn, swallowing hard. She wanted to tell her the theory she had formulated in her mind, but something told her that her teacher wouldn’t like what she had to say.

“Princess, I would like to suggest an alternative theory,” she mumbled. “I have been… Umm, I’ve been – embarrassingly – reading up on a lot of works of science fiction lately, and one of the most discussed aspects of many books I’ve read is the notion that there is much more to the development of ponykind than the casual, arcane, and occult forms of magick…”

Princess Celestia glanced thoughtfully over at her sister, who was now idly yet eagerly delving into the science fiction section. She then glanced back at Twilight. “Go on,” she nodded.

Twilight sighed deeply. “In many of the works I’ve read, theoretical machines have entirely replaced the use of magick in daily life. Countless factories as big as Canterlot mass-produce all sorts of goods for the large empire, powered by cogs and gears and conveyor belts. Motorised carriages carrying ponies of all kinds, with the capacity to travel in excess of the average Pegasus’s airspeed, race through speedways to get to their destinations quickly. And airships as big as cities powered by coal-furnace and steam engines float through the sky, carrying thousands of ponies for the sake of enjoyment.”

The Princess raised her eyebrow.

“What I’m saying is…” her student tried to get to the point. “What if… What if what’s within this cube is some sort of complicated network of cogs and gears like those inside the factories? And what if the message was conveyed to its listeners through some very complex way of translating those gears into sounds…?” she mumbled, hoping her teacher wouldn’t completely denounce her wild theory. Vague descriptions of science fiction occurrences were not much to go on, after all. But she hoped her teacher would at least consider it…

Instead of instantly rejecting her bizarre theory as Twilight originally thought she would, the Princess stayed quiet. She seemed to be pondering Twilight’s case regarding technology displacing magick, and, just about when she seemed to consider this a possibility, she returned her serious gaze to her student and shook her head firmly and solemnly.

“Twilight, there has never been a situation where new … inventions … replace the applicability and efficiency of pure, practiced magick. We have never had a need to invent new things to completely replace the everyday things that can be done by pony hooves. Everyday situations do not require much else other than an amateur practitioner of magick, a bit of raw strength, or the beating power of a pair of wings. New inventions simply aren’t worth the amount of effort taken to produce them,” she replied. “But I do understand where you’re coming from. However, as for this thing… it may just be a case of magick we have not yet encountered,” she added, immediately returning to her previous train of thought regarding the immensity of the magical power of the cube.

The smaller mare nodded, having no choice but to accept her teacher’s word. Deep inside she began to feel that there was something about the Princess she hadn’t seen or felt before; maybe it was a newly discovered side of obstinacy? Perhaps she was so rooted in the old ways that she wasn’t willing to let her conservative mind be “poisoned” by new ways of thinking? Was that why she ultimately rejected her student’s possible theory?

But she tossed her worries aside and focused once more on the topic at hand no matter how dejected she was feeling. They still needed to figure out what the message addressed. So she asked.

“Princess, would you mind… replaying the message from the object, if you could?”

“I’m afraid I don’t exactly know how,” Celestia sighed. She took the cube in her magickal hold and began to examine it closely, trying to see if there was any part of the cube that would allow a mode of playback. The lights did not flash, and it seemed almost lifeless. Indeed, there was no way to replay the message, and after a few minutes of careful analysis she gave up and put the cube back down once more.

“I remember most of the message,” Princess Luna suddenly spoke up. She approached the table and stood beside her sister, having come from the science fiction section where she had been for most of the discussion.

“Would you mind telling me what it said?” Twilight Sparkle asked, feeling her heart beginning to race in anticipation of what it said. For it to have been so important to warrant a visit from the two Princesses meant that the message must have been very profound indeed.

The younger Royal sister cleared her throat and began to speak. “It was a stallion speaking to us. A very war-hardened stallion. I could hear the roughness of his voice and the words he spoke more clearly than anything. He told us to beware the future of Equestria. That the Empire is in a state of civil war due to the Senate being unable to reach a compromise with the Emperor regarding the situation of the outlying colonies… whatever that may mean. And he ended his message by declaring that the Empire would return to reclaim everything it believes it owns, including all of the established colonies. I fear we do not have the knowledge to truly understand what he meant by all of that,” she finished.

Twilight listened carefully, and, when Luna had finished, she was forced, once again, to start thinking hard, this time in new modes of thinking she had never thought in before. “War-hardened… Future of Equestria… Empire… Colonies?” she mumbled aloud to herself. Another, rather outlandish theory of hers emerged from deep within, and this time, just like the last, she was eager to share it. She had quickly gotten over her fear that Celestia would disprove and disapprove of it, as Luna was actively participating in the situation now. Her opinion would surely balance out her elder sister’s.

“Princess, has there ever been a time in Equestria’s history where colonies were established, other than those new pony colonies founded in the age Hearth’s Warming Eve celebrates? Perhaps there was once an era of expansion that was left completely undocumented?” she suggested.

“Not in our books and records, no,” Celestia replied almost instantly. Her voice seemed to take on a very authoritative tone. “I have ruled over this kingdom for more than one thousand and two hundred years, and not a single instance of imperial colonies expansion has occurred under my watch. And Equestria is a kingdom, not an empire. It would be unfitting to call a Princess an Emperor as it was referred to in the message. In no part of Equestrian history has there been any record or evidence of colonial expansion in any way, shape, or form throughout all the centuries.

“Hmm… But perhaps… perhaps the events told in the recording are from a different area inhabited by our ponies, our kingdom? After all, the land of Equestria is large and vast, and it is quite possible that this relic has somehow managed to find its way to our lands from the outside,” she continued.

But Luna had something to say. Twilight would not be disappointed. Younger sister butted into older sister’s conversation, eyes narrowed at the cube, eager to discuss the opposing suggestion. “It is not possible that it came from another part of Equestria, sister. Look,” she motioned to it. “It knew who we were. It said our names. It called you ‘Solaria’ and it called me ‘Lunaria’. It is impossible that this did not originate from our kingdom. It must have come from ponies who knew us or had contact with us in the past.”

Suddenly her face hardened, having experienced a moment of realisation and epiphany. “Now I clearly remember. It spoke to us numbers,” she murmured, almost in wonder. “It told us that the message had been recorded in the year twelve thousand three hundred forty-seven, and that the year the message was played was fourteen thousand six hundred ninety-nine. That is a span of well over two thousand years, sister. This message – and cube – come from an age before even Discord’s reign. An age nopony has reliably documented.”

Celestia was about to reply, but before she could respond with a coherent sentence, she sighed suddenly and looked away from the two ponies at the table. Neither Luna nor Twilight could see her facial expression. “Well. Either way, I believe it would be best to continue scouring your resources for more information. I shall, however, give you unfettered access to the Canterlot Archives as well as the expertise of our finest scholars for the purpose of assisting you in solving this conundrum. Thank you. Thank you for your time, Twilight Sparkle.”

And with that abrupt conclusion, she hastily stood up, her regal mane flowing like tamed fire as she began to make her way towards the exit. She didn’t wait for her younger sister to catch up as she left the tree-house, the door closing gently after her.

This left Twilight Sparkle stunned. How could the conversation simply end this way? Was it possible that the discussion was making the Princess uncomfortable? After all, nopony had dared to accuse the goddess of lying in her entire life. Did Twilight offend her by suggesting that she was lying about a portion of Equestrian history? A case of censorship? Or maybe the possibility that an object evidencing a probable history before Celestia’s kingdom itself caused her to feel unimportant, insignificant?

Undeniable evidence, however, had never been found of a pony civilisation of equal or greater strength than the kingdom of Equestria before the time of the three Pony Tribes mentioned in the prologue to Hearth’s Warming Eve.

By now, Twilight Sparkle was alone with Luna on the bottom floor of the Ponyville Library. She no longer knew what to think. Mentally exhausted from the sheer amount of thinking she had been doing, she heaved a sigh and rested her chin on the table. Her gaze instinctively shifted to focus on the black cube that Celestia had left behind.

Luna kept her stoic, yet thoughtful expression despite the sudden turn of events. She spoke to her sister’s student, her friend who freed her from the Moon, trying to help her regain her confidence. “I know this is just so much to take in, Twilight Sparkle,” the Princess of the Night murmured. “But as my sister said, we are here to help you out in solving this mystery. If you need any assistance, I am also here for you.”

“Thanks, Princess Luna,” the unicorn replied, bringing her head up from the rough table. Her gaze continued to remain serious as she did. “Princess… You said something about the cube recognising your names. It called Princess Celestia ‘Solaria’ and it called you ‘Lunaria’. Why did it do that?”

“Dear Twilight, I do not know for certain,” Luna replied simply. “But, my gifted unicorn, remember this: for your information, I disagree with everything my sister said about this relic. I would not take her words to heart. I believe that the cube originated here in our very own kingdom of Equestria, though I am not sure at all from what time period it originated from. I know that even our Archives are missing a large chunk of this land’s history. And, Twilight… I do subscribe to your theory that there is something about this cube – not of a magickal nature – that we do not yet understand. I witnessed the way in which the message was relayed to us. An image appeared in front of our faces, and the sound came not from the cube itself, but from all around us, seeming to express itself through the walls surrounding us.

“Twilight Sparkle, I believe we may be dealing with something beyond our understanding. There was no magick in that room we witnessed the message, I am certain of that. And there certainly is nothing magickal about this cube that lies before us. Always remember the undeniable truth that there is always more to learn about everything. I request that you continue your research as per my sister’s orders.

“But keep in mind that you might find things you may wish you never had found.”

The lavender mare, having been staring at the younger Princess the entire time, felt chills run up her spine as a result from Luna’s straightforward wording of her opinion on the entire matter. In less than a minute she had definitely proven herself to be much more of an open-minded thinker than her own sister, and deep down, she knew that this mysterious Midnight Princess knew a lot more than she was letting on.

She would be a great help for Twilight’s quest for answers.

“I… I agree with you, Princess,” she mumbled, hating how unsure she sounded. She cleared her throat and straightened up. “And… Thank you for staying behind with me to tell me what you think,” she sighed. “I honestly believe that sometimes Princess Celestia needs to open her mind up to new ideas and new things rather than stay behind in the old ways…”

“Do not blame her. She is simply doing what she believes is best for her country. And for now, I believe you should conduct research the way she wants you to. If you can, search around and throughout Equestria and beyond for answers. If you are able, find these ‘colonies’ and learn more about them. It is imperative that we have at least a vague understanding of what this stallion was trying to warn us all about.”

The Midnight Princess stood up and stretched her limbs and wings for a moment before relaxing and nodding down to Twilight. “If you find anything at all – anything – do not hesitate to alert us. I shall do my best to help you out in as many ways as I can. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle,” she bowed her head low to the smaller mare. She straightened up and gave her a soft, reassuring smile, before making her way to the exit and leaving.

With a flutter of wings, the two Princesses and four highly trained Bats were gone.

Twilight was alone in the centre of the room. It seemed that her mane was even more frayed and frizzled than before. The immensity of what had just been put on her shoulders she had not yet been able to understand, but she was sure that the research she would be doing, whatever it uncovered, would yield world-changing results.

She glanced over at the cube once more and licked her dry lips, heaving a deep sigh. A single sentence, eerie and foreboding, kept on replaying in her mind.

Keep in mind that you might find things you may wish you never had found.