Steel and satin swing forth, cresting the gate to the Grand Archivist’s lab. Canterlot lit aflame by the setting sun in the distance, a reminder of her once splendid glory trapped in this quiet moment. All these miles a unicorn mare traveled to stand here, staring up at an old friend’s door. Her hand raises clad in purple robes and cobalt gauntlets, hovering inches from the door. She stands there in the setting sun, sunlight glowing off her helmet, the diamonds worked into the metal glistening with an inner fire. A mask of silver and steel catches what light passes the lip of her helm, split between Tragedy and Comedy. Before her nerve returns the door creaks open, dust falling from its frame onto her.
An orange stallion in flowing robes fixes worn glasses, a smile rising at what meets his eyes. “Grand matriarch! Welcome, welcome, come on in.” He steps back, waving his hoof in welcome. The mare stands outside, staring at him behind her mask. “Oh, uh… Hello Starlight. Oh my, is it evening already?” The Grand Matriarch of Equestria, Loremaster of Light, facepalms with a clank before entering.
“You got all wrapped up in your work again, didn’t you? Or did you wander off on a studying tangent?” Wry words accompany a gentle hand, fingers tracing his chin and scraggly beard. “Thank you. Being the Empire’s archivist can’t be easy, Canterlot alone must have had thousands of books, but its for a good cause. Without you we’d never learn from our mistakes.” An unseen smile ends in a heavy sigh, the mare’s hand falling away under the weight of years.
“Oh yes, yes. Of course. Why with some of the things I’ve been looking into, we’re certain to work things out. Maybe.” Even the sunburst stallion can’t keep his cheer up, mind wandering back. “We won’t fail this empire.”
Starlight raises her hand again, tipping his head down to lock eyes with her. “The Crystal Empire wasn’t your fault Sunburst. Nopony knew what he’d do when he returned.”
A deep, long suffering sigh. “Its okay Starlight. I’m at peace with it, and ponies stronger than me are still fighting for our home. I wish I could still help Flurry, but…” He shakes his head, knocking her hand away. “Anyway, enough of the past for now. Speaking of, you know you don’t need to wear that around me.” Its his turn to touch her, fingers tracing the smile and frown etched into her mask.
“I know, I know. Its been years, and I still feel naked without it.” She closes the gap, hugging him. Even through the robes and armor below the contact brightens her tone. “Are those bags under your eyes, and a grumbling stomach I hear? Sunburst, how long have you been studying?”
“Only a day. Err… How many times does the sun set in a day?” He returns the hug, smiling at his own joke and the mare in his arms. “Okay, so maybe I got a little caught up in my studies. Stardust has been taking care of me as always. She’ll be back in a few hours if you-” He trails off, Starlight pulling herself from his grasp. She steps back a few feet, all traces of affection gone from her tone, face as unreadable as always under that mask.
“No time. Let’s get down to business Sunburst. How goes your special project?” Clipped and rigid, voice and words detached from who she was mere seconds ago.
“Right Starlight…” A moment of quiet before he turns, leading her deep into the villa. They enter his grand library, an unholy mess of books and scrolls from all over the Empire waiting their turn to be copied and consolidated. “I’ve finished compiling everything we’ve got on the Days of Darkness, from our own records and what you’ve gathered from our allies. Unaltered of course, no revisionism here. All put into this here, the Unseen History of Equestria… Shouldn’t we make this public? We’re trying to teach ponies to not make our mistakes, right?”
Starlight steps up to a bookstand, gripping the edges of a great metal bound tome. The emblem of Old Equestria stands out on the cover, grand enough to be mistaken for a holy sigil. “In a utopia, maybe. But this isn’t our old Equestria anymore Sunburst. Our cities turned on each other without hesitation, even with the Tuskers kicking down our borders. Undead and worse live just across the river, Dragons running rampant wherever they want, Diamond Dogs waiting for the chance to turn on us… The only thing keeping the public from giving up and running off to join Chaos is faith in the Gods and their chosen Empress. Show them this, that even the most dependable of ponies are just ponies at heart… Maybe someday, but not today.”
Sunburst leads her to a chair nearby, coated with promptly ignored dust. “If we live long enough to see that day, it’d be a miracle. Until then though…” He steps up behind the massive book, looking over it at her. “I think it’s storytime.”
Starlight gets as comfortable as she can, staring at the floor. “One last time… Maybe I’ll finally see where we all went wrong?”
Sunburst opens the great tome, clearing his throat with a cough. “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria…”