Chapter One: The Beginning of a Mystery
Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Mystery
Twilight gazed upon the fortress standing mighty before her, so beautifully crafted. It’s branches curved and twisted to make way for what appeared to be a cottage built in the center the abnormally large and disfigured Magnolia tree. It was so perfectly grown to suit the needs of a building, as if nature demanded that a home was meant to be made within it. It’s trunk swerved and drooped at the base into a hill-like shape as if it weren’t a tree but a wooden extension of the ground, forming the most magnificently perfect foundation. The tree itself was soft and curved throughout its branches, crevesses and hallows made it pleasing to the eye along with the millions of large pink blossoms of the spring that will soon be replaced with the deep green of summer leaves. The surrounding trees accent the warm pink colors with their regular, year-round, light green, foliage. The large flowers smelled like happiness, the combination of them all seemed to make anypony forget about the dark Everfree forest surrounding this open patch of light and feel at home. They were soft to the touch and thin, allowing the warm sunlight of midday to leave pink tints of light through their petals, a setting most comfortable and welcoming to Twilight. A long path of stair-like indents ran up the side of the oddly grown tree all the way to the entrance of the building, the sides of the path were well decorated with other various plants that were healthy as could be, she could tell the owner cared for them greatly. As Twilight approached into closer vision she realizes that the cottage itself is a part of the tree, grown out of the main trunk into the form of a magnificent castle of vines and branches and she is awestruck, completely baffled by how this could ever be accomplished. She continues walking, up the carved out stairs to the deep green door at the base of the large cottage. Her hoof trembled as she lifted it to knock against its smooth, neatly painted, wood. She had come so far, searched so long, and now she was finally in the place that could supposedly give her all the answers that she had been searching for. Who were these powerful and magnificent beings that seemed to be such an important but lost part of history? The door of the tree fortress creaked opened slowly, as though the pony behind it was prepared for nothing else but an enemy. A few bunny rabbits and some other strange animals unrecognizable to Twilight scurried out of the dark opening. Twilight felt a tingle of confusion as a the darkness revealed the face of a young, beautiful, brown pegasus mare with a long, dark forest-green mane, an appearance she was not expecting. The mare looked drained, as though she hadn’t slept in years and appearing almost lifeless in the dimness of the buildings internal lighting. Yet, she stood before Twilight, looking into her eyes like she was attempting to read her mind with a mysterious and concerned expression.
“Who are you? How did you find me?” Her voice was soft and kind but not without a tone of authority, she sounded motherly. This comforted Twilight as the kind-looking mare was not what she expected to find on her hunt for answers but as she spoke further Twilight realized how her tone really sounded, like a mother who had lost her child, alone and heartbroken, sick of the world but still unwilling to give up. The pegasus opened the door wider until she and Twilight could see each other clearly. She was a quite a bit larger than Twilight, about Luna’s size, with tall pointy ears, a characteristic Twilight took no attention to, but looked relatively normal, except for her eyes. Twilight knew those eyes; she had seen them on both Luna and Celestia. They were eyes that looked older than the face they were on, the eyes of somepony who carried the weight of all they had seen and covered them with a smile in hopes that no pony may see their deeper despair. She had seen them on Discord too, believe it or not and others as well. The mare noticed Twilight’s wings and sparkling crown, then asked once again, “Who are you?”
“I am Twilight Sparkle-... I mean Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
The mare mumbled under her breath too softly for Twilight to understand.
“Princess Celestia sent me.”
At the word, the mare’s sharp ears perked up. Twilight knew she recognized the name; who wouldn’t? Princess Celestia is the leader of all of Equestria, of course she knew the name...but that look...the look on this mysterious mare’s face was one of surprise. It was a look of fragile history.
“Come in,” the mare made a welcoming gesture. “ Have a seat in the living room. I’ll get some snacks.” she said.
Twilight walked in and looked around the inside of the magnificent tree fortress. The interior did not look quite how the outside forced her mind to imagine, it was more of a mix between forest cottage and farm house. A very interesting combination; but beautiful and homey all the same. It seemed bigger on the inside and smelled like vanilla. It was well furnished with antique end tables and couches, along with other nick nacks with walls that were decorated thoroughly with various hanging plants and paintings. Twilight, being so interested in the history of things, found herself looking at one particular painting in a spacious living room that the mare had led her to. It hung just above a fireplace. It was of two alicorns lying side by side, lovingly staring into each others eyes. One of them, a stallion, had a pitch black coat that seemed to be darker than the blackest night. His short mane and sparkling eyes were fiery blue like the soul of a flame. The other alicorn, a mare, looked very similar to the mare she had come to speak to. Her mane and coat were similar in color, but, of course, this mare was an alicorn. One of the few differences was that the alicorn’s hair had many orange roses woven through it and flowed in a different fashion, more similarly to how Celestia’s flows. The alicorn also looked bright and loving while the pegasus looked drained and weakened by the strains of her life. The pegasus came into the room with a tray of snacks that she placed on the coffee table at the center of the room. She paused as she noticed Twilight staring at the painting and then sat on an arm chair that stood amongst a circle of two other comfy chairs and a sofa while Twilight continued to gaze upon the intriguing alicorns.
“Who are they?” Twilight said as she looked at each detail of the painting, as always, she was curious.
The mare replied in a low, gloomy, voice that Twilight could tell was sadness. “were...” she said.
“What?’
“Who were they?” the mare corrected.
Twilight looked embarrassed and turned to look at the painting again.
“The mare looks so similar to you...are you related?”
"You could say that..." the mare replied mysteriously, sending a shiver down Twilight’s back.
Twilight, not seeming to sense the awkward tension, continued to ask questions.
“Hm, I know all of the rulers of Equestria, how come I’ve never seen them?”
“Because they’re dead, okay. Do you always ask so many questions?” The mare was clearly irritated. Twilight, feeling bad for hitting a sensitive topic immediately attempted to change the subject.
“You never did tell me your name.”
“...Willow. You may call me Willow” Her voice sounded as though she had forgotten her own name, as though she had to dig through the dusty archives of her old memories. “Why are you here? I don’t presume Celestia sent you to me just for biscuits and tea.”
“I want to know about The Keepers.”
Willow stood up, a look of devastation flooded out the blank expression that was previously on her face.. “How did you manage to even stumble upon the knowledge of their existence? And why would anypony want to hear such a sad tale?”
“I just want answers. I found an entry in the journal of the Sister Princesses...it looked old, ancient even...and when I read it, there were things that didn’t make any sense, flaws in historical information and seemingly important ponies that I have never heard of. What was even weirder was where I found it. I stumbled upon it in a secret pocket in the back of the book. I went to Celestia with every question I had, but she only sent me here with tears in her eyes. I’ve never seen her cry before so I knew it had to be something important.”
Twilight pulled out a rustic, old book with the emblem of the sun and moon. Out of it, she took a wrinkled and worn sheet of parchment with beautifully written words lined neatly against its pale, tear stained, surface.
Willow gestured for the parchment and Twilight gave it to her with great care and gentleness. She watched intently as Willow’s eyes followed along the lines of finely printed words. The entry read:
My dearest friend, Fauna,
Our efforts have been costly and we have not gone without sacrifice, but I assure you the enemy has been defeated and will face his well overdue justice. Sombra has been doomed to become the very thing he claims to have power over and has left us to bear the grief he has cursed us with. This letter is kept in record of our efforts to return the Keepers and the rightful rulers of the kingdoms of Equestria and our assurance that Sombra will pay the price for what he has done. We fear that one day Sombra will return and make an attempt on our lives to finish what he started. However, though he will go to great lengths to do so, Luna and I will be waiting to avenge the warriors that fought beside us and the close friends that suffered for us. I vow that our loved ones...our family members, and our closest friends will be rescued. The Keepers will return and your beloved Hades will be reunited with you.
My sincerest love,
Celestia
Tears began to stream steadily down Willow’s face half way through the letter, Twilight considered comforting her but she thought it best to wait until she was done reading. It was an important letter, and obviously the mare knew something about it. When Willow had finished she looked up with watery eyes and the paper clenched to her chest. She sat down on the chair closest to her, sinking into its void of comfort. The emotionally drained pegasus took a deep breath and waited for Twilight to say something.“Are you ok?” she asked sincerely.“I do believe I will be fine. I assume you have many questions - now that I’ve read this letter - that you are desperate to have answered.”“Yes, but one comes to mind that sums them all up; what is this entry about?”Willow took a couple of seconds to respond, inhaling and exhaling a couple of times to relax her sobs. “The Keepers were powerful mares and stallions that were guardians of Equestria long ago when Celestia and Luna were young in their reign. Extremely few ponies in this world know of their existence because Celestia cast out any known history of them for reasons she is rarely or never willing to share… In short, their end was a traumatic part of her past and is best unheard of.”
“But who is Fauna and what does Sombra have to do with it all and who were the close friends that suffered? I just don’t understand the context of this letter. Please, can’t you tell me more?” Willow could see the hopeful and curious look on Twilights face.
“I’d rather not. The more you know the more curious you will get and there are ponies in this world that have tried hard to forget the past and others who would kill to know the truth.”
Twilight's face grew to an expression of pleading, “This information will go no further than my ears. Please, I just want to know.”
Willow sighed and then spoke. “You must be absolutely fascinated by history to go through this much work to find me.”
“I am” Twilight replied quickly.
“It is a sorrowful tale and you would be here for hours.”
Twilight laid down on the sofa across from Willow, situating herself on it’s cushy surface so that she was perfectly comfortable, knowing she would be there for quite some time.
“I have one rule when I tell a story Ms. Twilight. No interrupting. Not for anything.” like Twilight, Willow situated herself in her chair for a long story.
