The Discovery in the Ruins
Author's Note
Author's Note: Hello, everypony! I'm happy to inform you that I have released the first chapter of Twilight's Shadow, the story that preceeds this one. Have fun ready, and may the magic of friendship guide you!
The Discovery in the Ruins
Twilight Sparkle was alone.
None of her friends were with her; not even Spike, her trustworthy assistant.
For the very good reason that they were all asleep, seeing how it was the middle of the night.
Twilight had recently started suffering from occasional bouts of insomnia. Concerned, she had visited the local doctor, who diagnosed it as a leftover stress reaction from the "Dark Twilight Incident", as it had already been termed. Which did made sense. After all, it wasn't every day that one got their mind almost taken over by an alternate, evil personality.
She had not concealed the bouts of insomnia from her friends, as they were anticipated to fade with the passage of time. However, she refused to spend that time unproductively - if she could not sleep, she would instead study.
But four nights ago, she had uncovered a subtle hint in one of her books that a second, secret library was hidden inside the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. After wrestling with her curiousity for two days, she had finally given in and asked Princess Celestia about it.
Princess Celestia had confirmed the hint, which then inspired Twilight to ask permission to go browse it. After a moment's thought, Celestia had given her permisson, but-
"You must go alone", Celestia had declared.
"But why must I go alone?" Twilight had asked her.
"There are dangerous secrets in there - knowledge of ancient spells, long-forgotten relics, and rituals that could raze entire continents - and worse. You are my prize pupil - one who is honest as well as talented, and who learns from her mistakes. I trust you to do what you believe is right", Celestia told her in reply.
"But what about my friends? Can't I at least bring Spike with me?" Twiligh had said, with just a hint of pleading.
"None of them would even be able to enter the room, for it is heavily shielded, with magical spells that prevent any non-Alicorn from entering", was the answer that Celestia had given her.
Twilight had wrestled with herself whether or not she should even tell her friends about her trip, but she had eventually decided against it. They would insist on coming with her, and she didn't want any of them to get turned into fruitbats, icicles - or cupcakes. Especially not the cupcakes, since somepony might eat them!
So, she had waited for another "fit" of insomnia, and had quietly left her castle in the dead of night to further explore the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.
Twilight walked along, searching for a staircase headed down. Celestia had refused to tell her exactly where the secret library was, as "Some things a pony must find on her own." She had told Twilight that it was in the underground levels of the castle, but had not given her any tips beyond that.
Twilight walked along an old, musty hall, that had jet-black, menancing suits of pony armour standing guard next to a heavy iron door. As she opened the door, the hinges made an alarmingly loud screeching noise, which sounded like a dragon with strep throat trying to breath fire. (She knew the sound. Spike had come down with strep for a week at one point back when they lived in Canterlot, and whenever he "burped" a message, it made that noise - which she had devoutly hoped to NEVER hear again.)
Twilight grimaced at the sound, then peered through the door. A staircase, with carpeting that looked like it had been an elegent light blue originally, but was now covered in a thick layer of undisturbed gray-brown dust, led downwards, spiraling in a clockwise direction. There were magical torches, burning with an emerald fire, that illuminated the staircase - and allowed her to see that there were multiple doors along its length.
Twilight thought about this fact. She didn't have time to search every door - not when she needed to be back at her castle before morning. So, instead, she cast a spell.
She wasn't searching for the library directly - it could be confused with the library she knew about upstairs. Instead, she searched for magical wards and concealment spells. As she recalled, the library was sheilded with some serious magic power.
After she cast her spell, Twilight's eyes widened in surprise. There were multiple areas of heavy-duty enchantments - all very strong.
Frustrated, Twilight decided to search for the strongest area of magical protection - reasoning that she had to start somewhere.
She sensed the area of strongest protection, and followed the magical "trail" down the stairs.
About two hours later, Twilight finally stumbled down over the bottom of the stairs. She was going to take this up with Celestia when she next met, she silently promised. Making that long a set of stairs to protect a library - no matter how dangerous its content - was just ridiculous!!
She blearily opened the door at the base, and walked through - and proceeded to come to a dead stop.
Her weariness vanished instantly, replaced by acute wariness. The amount - and power - of spells protecting this place was simply incredible. Any non-Alicorn would have been completely and utterly destroyed by this much magic attacking at once.
Definitely a case of overkill, she decided. She trotted along the short passageway, opened the door - and stopped.
Beyond, there lay not a library, but a single granite statue of an Alicorn with a single plaque in front of it.
Twilight stepped into the room, which was lit by emerald torches, and had a wall-to-wall red plush carpet. She stared at the statue, thoroughly confused. Her initial impression that the statue was of Celestia was incorrect, for she could see that this Alicorn statue was even larger than Celestia - and that it had a different cutie mark, one of a twelve-pointed star.
She lowered her gaze to the plaque, and read:
In Memory of Estella
You shall never be forgotten.
