Brony Recon: Eyes of Chronos

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Skyblaze’s POV

“OOF!” I grunted as I hit the surface of the balcony outside Luna’s tower. As a flier, I was one of the best in my garrison; there was no flight course in boot camp I hadn’t dominated, no aerial challenge I couldn’t rise to. However, the scores on my files are far less than what my skill suggested. Why? I could never stick a landing. Ever.

Looking up, I saw the two Lunar Royal Guards staring at me, trying to hide the fanged grins and snickers. With a sigh, I picked myself up off the ground. “Hey, guys.”

“Morning, Corporal,” chuckled the female guard. “What is it this time? Too hot, or too steep?”

“I actually saw him listing to one side, coming in at an undesirable angle of approach,” the pegasus stallion opposite the mare stated helpfully. “Instead of adjusting, the impact was too centered on one direction, causing him to topple over.”

I gave the stallion a thankful smile. “See, I’d be much better at landing if ponies could stop laughing long enough to help a bro out,” I said, standing. “Now, as to the business side of things...”

“She’s waiting for you,” the mare informed. “Our Princess is in a distressed mood right now, and... I’m sure you know what that can be like.”

“More than most,” I grumbled, trotting past them to enter the office. “Have a good night, you two.”

“Happy landings, Corporal Freescript,” the mare snickered.

<<

Luna’s study was a drastic change from the rest of the palace. Everything was colored a deep midnight blue or dusky purple, creating a dark, yet soothing atmosphere. But the ceiling was truly the most impressive part; the domed top of the study arched up to a disk of white light at the top, simulating a moon. Below that, Luna was able to suspend several tiny points of light in midair to imitate stars and complete the portrait. Luna took the night sky and planted it on her ceiling.

At the moment, the Lunar Alicorn was slumped over her desk, rubbing her forehead at the base of her horn. To her right on the desk was a glass of bubbling seltzer water and a coffee-filled mug that had ‘I Own The Night’ printed on the side. Wow... I grimaced as I observed her state. They weren’t kidding when they said she was stressed. She would HAVE to be to use that horrific mug.

“Luna?” I called out.

The Princess of the Night startled, jumping in her seat. “Oh, it’s just you,” she sighed.

“You did send for me,” I pointed out as I walked across the room to stand in front of her desk. Eyeing the mug, I chuckled. “So, you own the night, huh?”

A frown appeared on Luna’s face. “Evidently so,” she mumbled, telekinetically lifting the offending mug up to take a sip of the strong-smelling brew. “Kind Greetings found you, then. Good... I apologize if I interrupted something.”

“What could you possibly be interrupting more worthwhile than my duty to Princess and Country?” I asked.

“...point taken.” Rising from her seat, Luna magicked open a drawer in her desk and removed... well, to say it was a book would be an insult to books. Whatever she pulled out of the drawer was bound and wrapped in some kind of thick linen material that was fraying at the edges. Both hardcovers were half-inch thick rectangular slabs of shale, etched with Archaic runes. Embedded on the side I thought may be the front was a gemstone disc of lime-green peridot, cut perfectly smooth to fit into the circular groove in the shale. What the pages were made out of was a mystery to me.

“What the schist is that?” I asked as she set it down on the floor between us.

“This is draconian shale; not--” Luna looked at me for a moment. “Never mind.” By her whim and magic, the cover spun itself to face me.

I stared down at the ancient tome. In my mind’s eye, the Archaic symbols on the shale arranged themselves into comprehension, spelling out the title. “Edition the Second, Royal Compendium for Mortal Posterity: Gifts of the...” I struggled with the last symbol. Usually, as a Bard, Archaic was almost like reading or writing regular Equestrian, but that’s not to say I wasn’t completely fluent with the dead language.

“No, I did not expect you to recognize that particular word,” stated Luna. “It has many meanings and synonym runes, developed by multitudes of perspectives on what it may mean. These may include ‘deity,’ ‘aspect,’ ‘angel,’ ‘royal,’ or more commonly, ‘High Immortal.’”

“It means ‘alicorn?’” I concluded in realization, then read the title again. “Gifts of the Alicorns.”

Luna nodded. “If you prefer.”

For a little while, I stared at the stone-cover book in wonder at its antiquity. But, as with many things regarding history, I became bored of it immediately. “So what is it?”

With a roll of her eyes, the Lunar Alicorn opened the book with her magic and flipped through the pages. Each page, written in near-perfect Archaic lettering, also included the occasional rough sketch of a strange object. “This is the only reference remaining after Discord’s reign to the High Immortals of the Second Age, or at least what they left behind. I was searching through it earlier to find others who have power over dreams as I do.”

“Any luck?” I asked hopefully.

“A little,” she replied, turning to a specific page, titled. On it was an illustration of something akin to Native American dreamcatchers back on Earth. “This is the Net of Dreams, an artifact constructed by several alicorns that could walk through dreams, for the purpose of giving certain mortals the same power to help those with extreme mental ailments.” Luna indicated a certain passage with her hoof. “The names of those involved are here.”

“Mystia the Arcane, High Spirits the Inspiring, Nocturna of the Night, Somnus the Dreamwalker...” I paused on that name. “That seems legit.”

“Somnus was the alicorn of dreams, specifically,” Luna clarified.

Nodding, I continued. “Mechanus the Inventor, Avandura the Adventurous...” The final two names seemed a little unembellished, which was confusing, given that the previous few preceded titles. “...Epoch, and Chronos.”

Pursing her lips, Luna glanced between the book and myself. “The Lords of Time,” she explained. “Epoch was the true alicorn of time during the Second Age. Chronos, however, is the only survivor of the First Age. Legend has it that he used his command over time to escape whatever disaster occurred to the first High Immortals.” She took another sip of coffee.

“...yeah, about that,” I began, my curiosity piqued. “What DID happen to all these alicorns you mentioned?”

“Nopony knows,” Luna said with a shrug. “Almost every text from that age was destroyed in Discord’s reign from one of his large-scale ‘pranks.’” A glint of distaste bled into her eyes. “...I find nothing funny about a plague of bookworms.”

“Bummer,” I commented, then returned to the topic. “So if all these alicorns are gone, how can one be messing with my head?”

“I can’t be sure,” admitted the Princess. “Perhaps the veil between this world and wherever they disappeared to is thin enough that a more powerful alicorn could influence dreams across it. Or, on an extremely thin possibility, there is another alicorn on Terra that we do not know of.”

“But what about this thing?” I turned the book, still open to the page on the Net of Dreams. “Maybe somepony’s using this thing on me.”

Luna frowned. “A sound theory, but impossible.”

“Why’s that?”

“I destroyed the Net of Dreams myself,” she answered. “Command over dreams is a power to be reckoned with. Through a pony’s dream, you can influence their decisions, make them do things against their nature, and even change who they are. The reason I am so adamant to help you, Skyblaze, is that if there is indeed a pony putting dreams in your mind, it means they have you under their thumb.”

I gulped down a snag in my throat. “You mean...?”

“With your position in the Guard, they could attack Canterlot, with you as their unwilling accomplice.”