Salt and Iron

"... And that, my Princess, is why you should devote funds to my project."

Celestia screamed internally, trying to forget the past hour that Blueblood Sr. had been talking to her. While his ideas poised some merit, did he really have to be so arrogant about them? It's like he thinks his project is the only one that matters!

With any luck, his son will be better when it becomes his time to succeed his father.

"Thank you for your... Interesting proposal. I shall take it under advisement, and get back to you."

"Excellent, Princess Celestia. I look forward to your decision."

And with that, the pompous stallion walked out of the throne room.

With a sigh, Celestia closed her eyes and took a sip of the tea that had been set next to her just before Blueblood had begun speaking. Even cold, camomile tea still was her go-to remedy for dealing with the Blueblood clan. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of the stuff she had been drinking as of late has started to cause some debate in the Canterlot Rumormill.

"Your Majesty?"

Celestia quickly looked in the direction that the voice had originated from. Finding its source, she noted one of the guards by the door looking at her with some worry.

"Yes?" Celestia asked after a moment of silent staring, much to the discomfort of the guard.

"Should I bring the next petitioner in, or do you want to stop for the day?"

Another sigh passed the solar monarch's lips.

"It's fine, send them in. At this point, anypony would be better than Blueblood."

The guard flinched for some reason, as though he were hit, before saying, "as you wish, your Majesty..."

A quick moment of throat clearing on behalf of the court announcer later, and the tedious process began anew.

"Announcing Reneigh Belloq, director of the Historical Department at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!"

Celestia was silent for a few moments, before slumping her head in defeat.

"I take it back. I wish Blueblood had been in here for another hour or two..."

As Celestia was bemoaning her fate, a blue unicorn loaded down with saddlebags all but dashed into the room.

"Princess, I will not--"

"Reneigh," Celestia interrupted with a 'no nonsense' tone. "Stop. Just... Just stop."

Reneigh panted for a few moments from his mad dash up to the throne, subconsciously adjusting the white jacket and fedora he wore. After a moment of silence, during which Celestia set her cold tea back down -- all the while wishing she had something stronger -- she looked to the archeological pony and spoke.

"I am not sending you out there."

"But Prince--"

"I said no, Belloq! I am not sending you out there, and that is final!"

The two glared at each other for a few moments. Celestia looked away first, not wanting to get into the inevitable argument with the unicorn after the exhausting experience that was Blueblood. One or the other she could deal with, but one after the other was a different matter entirely.

"... Reneigh, you are far too important to send out there. The Crystal Mountains are no place for an aging stallion with so much to live for."

Belloq flinched at the subtle mention of his family, but continued to stand resolute against the Princess's argument.

"Princess, I have referenced every source in the Canterlot archives. There is evidence of not only several important historical events occurring in the area you plan on building the Northwest Arctic Railway Tunnel, but there has also been rumour of several unidentified mythical creatures residing in that area! To send those laborers without any warning would result in the potential loss of our history at best, and at worst, the loss of lives from some heretofore unclassified creature, and don’t you DARE say otherwise!”

The celestial monarch moaned, exhaustion from the long day having long ago taken hold of her.

“Reneigh--”

“And!” Reneigh practically shouted at Celestia, pointing an accusing hoof at her while simultaneously interrupting her defence. “And, that’s all disregarding the ongoing rumor that the area is cursed! Even if they have a registered thaumaturgist on their team, they can’t be everywhere at once, especially with such a large operation. To add to it, they don’t even teach how to counter some of the more exotic curses I know of at that university of yours, let alone how to detect their presence!”

“Re--”

“If it’s a matter of my position at the school, I’ve already found several substitutes to take over for me while I’m away. I don’t really even teach any classes anymore, other than the occasional lecture, so all they would really have to do is keep the paperwork sorted. Heck, Top Marks is already mistaken as being me more often than not by the students, might as well make him act the part, too.”

“R--”

“And I already asked Quest, she said as long as I come back to her and Daring within a reasonable amount of time, that she doesn’t have a problem with it.”

At that last outburst, Celestia just stared at him for a few moments. After what seemed like an eternity to Reneigh, she tiredly shook her head.

“Reneigh, why are you so insistent on this course of action?”

Taken aback by the odd question, Reneigh nervously played with the rim of his hat. Celestia could almost see the internal war going on in his head. Fortunately, it lasted only about a minute before he started speaking again.

“... Your Majesty, when I was a colt, I ran across an old diary while in the Canterlot Royal Library. At the time, I thought it was nothing more than an adventure tale; something to fulfill a foal’s desire for adventure.”

Taking a sigh of his own, Reneigh pulled a book out of his saddlebags. He looked fondly at it for a moment, before passing it over to the large white mare. Celestia took the book, mirroring his reverence, if only to continue to placate him.

“...It was while I was reading it, that I came to realized that I wanted to find out more about the owner of that diary. I wanted to know who she was, how she lived, and why she did the things that she did…”

Carefully opening up the Diary, Celestia peered at the first page. She almost dropped it at the name she saw written there.

Property of General Pansy

If somepony reads this before I’m dead, they will be...

"H-how? This has been missing for years!"

Reneigh smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry about that. I checked it out without asking."

To say that Celestia was baffled would an understatement.

"But it was supposed to be in the restricted historical section!“

“Foals will be foals," Reneigh said with a meek shrug. The glare Celestia directed at him did little to dampen his enthusiasm, even if it did produce a slight flinch from the subject of her ire.

"T-the point is,” Reneigh forced out while under the glare rivaling the sun, “it started me on a quest which eventually got me my mark."

“...That does not explain why you want to go..."

"Open it to the second to last bookmark."

A quick turning of pages revealed an entry made almost a thousand years ago. Glancing at Reneigh, who motioned for her to read, she carefully removed the bookmark and began to read.

October 21, 027 A.D (002 A.N.M.)

I tried to tell them. I tried so hard but they wouldn’t believe me. Not a single one of them!

Though, I guess it is to be expected from a group of ponies who but a few short decades ago would have been at each other’s throats. The infantile, bigoted lot of slugs barely acknowledged my presence as I tried to warn them. They were content with congratulating themselves for ‘defeating’ the ‘corrupt and evil’ moon goddess. Oh, if only they realised their hubris…

I was there, when the darkness first truly showed itself in her heart; when both the moon and earth goddesses met in that place under the crystal sierra. I was there when Sombra’s forces pushed us back from the catacombs made of sealt and ferrum, and tried to plunder it for their own gain. I saw with my own eyes as the walls, and the very ground they stood upon came alive and attacked their forces. I survived while others perished when the air became poisoned, and the water began burning flesh from bone, all while the very light we used to see by seared and scorched any who got too close…

I especially remember the anger of the tomb’s queen as she raged against those that had dealt her what must surely have been a mortal wound, vowing to return and get revenge upon they that had betrayed her while placing a curse upon those that aided them...

At the time, I thought nothing of it. We had to subdue the Princess when we retreated. She refused to leave, saying that we needed to save the enraged spirit, ranting like a madmare while we fulfilled her sister’s orders of keeping her safe at all costs.

It was only later, when most of the survivors from the catacombs started to get sick, that I started to take the curse seriously. They fell ill so quickly, yet our medics said it was just a common cold. They soon changed their minds, when the ill’s hair started falling out, and they bled from the inside…

We only lost twenty out of the hundred that I commanded by attacks from Sombra’s army. Another three were lost to the poisoned air, and four more to the water and light. All considered, these were rather light casualties, knowing Sombra’s battle prowess. The sickness that came later, however, changed everything.

We lost sixty three to the plague. Over half of our original forces, and they died for reasons that none of us could grasp. The Princess had her own guess however, and said it was the curse placed upon us by the Queen of the tomb, punishing us for forsaking her.

And yet now, two years after Nightmare Moon went mad and was exiled to her object of power, that do I start to understand how very grave the earth queen’s vow was.

I fear not for Princess Luna’s return. If when she returns she returns sane, then we should rejoice her homecoming and praise her name to the very stars that released her. She would be paraded through the streets with roses and cheers of joy following in her wake, and the peasantry would bask in her eternal glory. No, Luna’s return will be quite the site to behold, even if she does not return with her mind intact, for even then the sky will be eternally twilight; her moon obscuring the sun.

I do fear what will happen if the goddess of the earth rises from her tomb, and strikes down those she perceives as her enemies. If her prediction is correct and she rises once more, and if the queen of the tomb is capable of turning even a fraction of the power she unleashed upon Sombra’s forces against those who wronged her…

Then the world will come to an end at her hooves.

As Celestia read the passage, Reneigh stared at her. Once he was sure she had gotten most of the way through it, he spoke up.

“Your Majesty… You don’t really need me here, they do.”

Celestia sighed, and after a moment of thought, stated a suspicion she had been harboring for the past five minutes.

“If I said no, you would go anyways by signing on as a digger, wouldn’t you?”

Reneigh looked confused for a moment, before revelation sparked behind his eyes, and a smile lit up his face. The solar diarch then came to a sudden realisation at his reaction. Her inevitable facehoof did little to help her cope.

“...Aaand you didn’t even think about that, did you.”

“And I thank you for giving me the idea!” Reneigh’s declaration was simple, but his course was, for better or worse, now set in stone.

“... Fine,” Celestia said with a long suffering sigh. “You can go on one condition.”

“You have to but name it, my princess!”

“This,” she said while motioning to the book in her magic, “stays here.”

Reneigh smiled, and simply stated, “I was planning on doing so anyway. I’ve already memorised it, and the far north is no place for something so valuable.”

Chuckling slightly, Celestia motioned the stallion to leave.

“Go. Spend some time with your family. You likely won’t be seeing them for quite a while.”

The stallion smiled and trotted out of the throne room. As the doors slammed shut behind him, Celestia shook her head at the drive some of her little ponies possessed. She rarely saw anypony like that these days. If only more like them had been around when her sister had sucummbed to her depression, they might have disobeyed her long enough to save this so called ‘earth goddess’. It might have given her the friend she needed so desperately back then...

After a moment of silent reflection of champions past, she called out to the guard at the door.

“Send in the next petitioner!”

The guard simply nodded, and left the room for a moment to see who the next petitioner was. The great white mare looked back to her cold tea, and decided she could probably do away with it. The meeting with Reneigh had gone better than expected, and had left her in better spirits in comparison to after Blueblood’s earlier.

“In fact,” she mused to herself, “I think I could deal with just about anypony right now…”

"Announcing her royal highness, Duchess Unmistakable Gannet of Baltimare, spouse of his royal highness Prince Blueblood senior!"

“OH COME ON!”

“This way! Over here!”

Reneigh all but ran through the cramped tunnels to get to the worker. This was the first exciting thing to happen in months! Yes, there had been a time or two that he had to banish something to Blueblood’s basement, but with how little the workers actually allowed him to do for ‘safety reasons’ he almost wished he HAD signed up as a digger, if only to break up the boredom of being stuck in his tent. Yet, to his eternal thanks to every deity he could think of, a group of late night diggers had apparently found something in one of the drainage passages they were making.

More than once, the crews working on the main passage had tunneled into an underground lake, causing there to be a pressing need for somewhere to drain all the water to. This slowed down the whole operation to such an extent that the Overmares of the project had, utterly frustrated at the situation, stated that they would handsomely pay anypony who presented a solution to the problem, even if it required constructing a new tunnel.

Needless to say, there was quite a bit of competition between the individual groups that had formed.

The pegasus that had been leading him down the tunnel finally reached a small cavern that had been hollowed out of the rock. She was one of the few who actually enjoyed being underground, unlike her kin. The rest of her associated team stood inside the cavern, two unicorns and an earth pony. The pegasus was quick to join them as they stood near a large metal… Thing.

“There, that’s the thing I told you about!” The unicorn, whom Reneigh assumed to be the defacto leader, dodged out of the way as the pegasus gestured towards the metal artifact in the wall with her hoof, nearly hitting him in the process. “Any idea what it is?”

The metal detritus--if it could be called that--was occupying a large portion of the wall. The majority of it was shaped into two arcs with one end resting upon the ground, both resting parallel to each other, with metal cross bars between the two. The remainder of it was partially buried behind the arcs, seeming to support it in place.

Reneigh looked at the wall that the object was buried in, and noticed that it was a different color and texture from the rock that he had grown accustomed to everywhere else on the dig site.

“What type of stone is this? It’s different from the rest of the site.”

“Hmm?” The other unicorn, another mare, looked around as if noticing where she was for the first time. “Oh! This chamber is mostly sandstone and rock salt. A bit odd, to be honest. Probably was one of those underground lakes that happened to have a bit of a flow to it. The sediment just piled up until there was nowhere else to fill. Few thousand years and a mountain worth of rock pressing down on it, and you get what you see here.”

Reneigh remained silent for a moment, before returning his attention to the object with a mildly stated “Huh.”

The group remained silent for a few minutes as the archeologist worked his craft. The two unicorns waited calmly, but the earth pony and pegasus found themselves quickly becoming restless with the wait. Soon, the Earth pony couldn’t take the silence anymore, and asked the question that was on everypony’s mind.

“So…” He stated with a conversational tone colored with a southern accent. “What is it, ya reckon?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Reneigh replied. “I’ve never seen anything quite like this, but the salt in the walls is throwing off my scans.” He paused for a moment, taking another look around the chamber. Then he asked, “actually, how do you mine through this? If this was a dig site I would use a brush, but that obviously wouldn’t work on this scale.”

The unicorn leader of the group snorted with his amusement, and then turned himself enough to show his mark; a fragmented rock with lines radiating away from it. A raised eyebrow from Reneigh caused the worker to clarify by saying “don’t have to move the salt, just everything around it.”

Reneigh responded with a raised eyebrow, commenting by saying “it’s a surprise, then, that the object wasn’t damaged.”

The earth pony of the group then took the opportunity to point out that the object was made of a type of iron that seemed excessively strong.

“Almost like its been enchanted. Landslide here reckons it ain’t though, so Ah have no idea what it is.”

The now named unicorn mare nodded her head in agreement. Reneigh noticed at that moment that they hadn’t been properly introduced. He quickly sought to correct that error.

“Apologies, but it just struck me that we haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Reneigh Belloq, the archeological consultant for this project of ours.”

The unicorn leader nodded his head, and simply said “BlackPowder, obstacle removal.”

“I’m Landslide,” the unicorn mare to his right stated. “My talent is moving the earth… Don’t say it, I’ve already heard it all before.”

From her position behind Reneigh, the Pegasus that had lead him down to the chamber said “I’m Aquifer! I’m the surveyer of this band of misfits!”

“And Ah’m Phosphorus,” came from the earth pony. “Ah’m good at workin’ with ores and the like.”

Reneigh nodded in greeting at each of them as they introduced themselves. “Very good,” He said when they had finished. “Now, perhaps we can clear off the rest of this… Object?”

“No good,” replied Black. “Walls are too unstable. Slide was going to reinforce the walls; thought it would be better if you had a look.”

“Did not!” Interrupted Aquifer. “She just wanted to go straight through it!”

Reneigh directed a quick glare at Aquifer before he attempted to interrupt the impending argument between the unicorn leader and the surveyer.

“Alright, so you can’t clear it off entirely. How about partially?”

“Maybe,” said Black while still glaring at Aqua, “if Slide helped with the walls.”

The mare in question nodded, saying “it shouldn’t be too hard, dear, if you keep the blast small.”

The pegasus once again made herself known. “No way! Look at that thing! If it goes in a circle, then it’s larger than the chamber!”

“She’s right, ya know.” Phosphorus tapped a hoof on the object in question while siding with the pegasus. “This here object might be able to take the blast, but Ah doubt Slide would be able to keep the ceiling from--”

It was at this point that Phosphorus just happened to hit the space between the two parallel arches, and had his hoof sink up to the fetlock. Quickly recovering it, he could only shake off the loose sand clinging to it before the sound of escaping gas caused the group to tense up.

Once the noise had stopped several minutes later, they took a collective sigh in relief.

“Well… That was certainly interesting.”

“You can say that again, Slide!” Aqua took flight and hovered over the object, poking it with a forehoof. “I doubt it will do anything else. Probably some sort of gas pocket. It should be ove--”

A harder than normal poke caused the arches to suddenly sink down into the metal backing. The sudden lack of support caused a small landslide that LandSlide was quick to halt. Once everything settled again, the entire group stood still for fear of causing another reaction from the object.

“Well… That was exciting!”

Black was quick to glare at Auqa, both for her involvement in causing a problem, and not recognizing it as a problem that could have potentially killed them.

“Perhaps,” Reneigh said, “It would be better if we left it alone until--”

A sudden clanging noise drew the group’s attention to the artifact. The ring, for thats what it was, had begun spinning, causing another landslide to form. Every few moments, another loud clang ominously echoed out from the device. The group quickly came to a collective agreement.

“Run!”

They only managed to get a few feet before the floor beneath them lurched. Then the world seemed to give way as the long forgotten door was forced open under the weight of the materials placed upon it…

Including the digger group.

There was yelling. Reneigh saw Aqua try to fly, but get hit by a large rock. He himself only managed to see a glimpse of a large object rushing up to meet him.

He had time to see a strange circular logo on the wall before he was met with a jarring impact, causing the world to go dark.

Somewhere in the dark, deep underground, a light started glowing on a small metal ball. The light spun around for a few moments, seemingly looking for something. Eventually, the light settled on a large pile of debris that had fallen when the vault door nearby had opened. Moments later, it fell upon one of the equines that had arrived with the displaced earth.

The light hovered over the pony for a moment, before an oddly distorted female voice broke the silence.

“...Huh.”