Chapter 1

October 6, 967 A.F.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

8:12 A.M

Ahhh, Celestia's Summer Sun. Normally I would be happy to see the sun rising high above the clouds in the afternoon, though certainly not today, not when we were out in the middle of nowhere in the baking heat of the day. When we arrived a few hours ago by train, it was about 5:00am. With that, we arrived at our destination around 7:25am. On our arrival, I was at a loss for words. The place was anything but what I had imagined. Massive chunks of marble pillars, walls, and bricks littered the ground for hundreds of acres, many reaching heights of buildings found in Manehattan, all of which were surrounding a rather large lake, which most likely had not been there when this ancient city was first built who-knows-how-many eons ago.

Even with all that, it was certainly not what had caught our undivided attention. No, what had was a large statue sunk in the deep crater of the cold, crystal clear water. The statue itself was of a strange alicorn mare, one of which I had no knowledge of. Yet what shocked me was that I could not shake the feeling of familiarity with the mare, as if I had known her for as long as I could remember. The statue was resting upon a large, carved stone with The Two Sisters. This immediately caused my train of thought to derail. That made no sense. How did this statue have a carving of Celestia and Luna if they we not even alive at the time? I had suspected they were withholding information from me but what would be the point, to simply let me discover all of this on my own? Perhaps it was a test of some sort. I push the thoughts aside; there would be time to dwell on it later. I continued to observe the statue of the odd mare and took note of her cutie mark.

"Ink and a quill. I wonder what that means. Writing, perhaps?" I say breaking the silence.

"I don't see what else it could mean. Oh, and Twilight, you don't happen to have a strange feeling that you know her, do you?" Interesting... Spike had that same feeling. Though, yes, I did, in fact, have that thought earlier, I didn't say anything in response, just a nod of acknowledgment. "It's all cracked and broken. I almost feel sad for her, even part of her wing is busted off."

After Spike was finished speaking I rubbed my eye. Was I... crying? Why would I be? Well, perhaps it was in fact a heartbreaking scene to see such a phenomenal piece of art be washed away in the currents of time, but I don't think it was that sad, though it certainly was a shame that nopony else would see it. Wait, I almost forgot! I brought a camera for the trip. I'm supposed to document my findings during the exhibition, and what better time to do it than the present? I could even show this to the princesses whenever we get back. Hopefully, they have some answers if I don't find many here.

Poke, poke

"Equestria to Twilight, Equestria to Twilight, come in."

"Ow, Spike watch those claws, what is it?"

"Sorry Twilight, it's just that I was talking to you but you stayed silent."

"Oh, sorry, what was it you were saying?"

"That we should probably start setting up the tent. It's going to get pretty windy soon and I'd rather not have my legs chafed by it."

"Yeah, you're right, I just got lost in thought again."

"You've been saying that for the past few days now. Is there something wrong? Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's nothing Spike. It's just that I feel like we're trotting in blind, and that Celestia gave us almost no information about all this. The statue even has a carving of them on the front. I would imagine that must mean they are connected to all this somehow. Come on Spike, even you must know that there is something off about all this and you even said earlier that you felt like you knew her, and so did I, there are way too many questions for this to be a simple study." The closest thing I can come up with for an explanation would be that maybe Celestia and Luna were a part of some prophecy, but even then, that sounds very far fetched.

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"Non-perishable food items, check, excavation tools generously donated by Celestia, check, clothes, blankets, and tent, check, quills, ink, parchment, and camera rolls, check. Is that everything, Spike?"

"Well, I mean yeah, that's all we brought so, yes?"

"Great, we can start looking for a good spot to dig tomorrow and if we're lucky we may end up finding an entrance to the palace if some of it was buried. Who knows, maybe most of the inside is preserved and intact?"

"Where do you think an entrance would be? It literally could be anywhere and the place is huge!"

"I'm not sure, I have a good feeling it would be behind, if not, around the statue. It looks like it would be a good spot for an entrance to the main hall of the castle or a place that connects to the indoor gardens. Besides, most of the tallest pillars are right next to it, so I would take a guess that we are standing right on top of the castle, if not right next to it."

"Ehh, well your guess is about as good as mi-."

Crash

"What in the world was that?"

"I don't know Spike, but we should go check it out."

"Are you crazy? We don't know what's out there."

"It didn't sound like an animal or monster Spike. It sounded like falling stone now that I think about it."

"Well, that's umm... reassuring."

"Come on, let's check it out!"

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Cough Cough

"Uhh, I can't see a thing with all this dirt, dust, and sand in the way."

"Oh, well that's an easy fix," I say just before lighting my horn. A few seconds later I conjure a small tornado that sucks up or blows away any dust, dirt, and sand. Pretty much any small particles within the area.

"Woah, what did you do?"

"Oh, nothing special, just a little spell that creates some artificial wind is all. Simple really, but that's out of the question. I still can't tell what happened. Do you see anything that changed?"

"I heard the sound come from over there but, actually yeah, that wall looks shorter," Spike said, motioning with his claw to where he said the wall collapsed.

Trotting over to the location, I realized that the wall had fallen through the... ground? "Spike, look, the wall made a hole through the ceiling of the castle." Which through the looks of it, seems like a kitchen of sorts? How convenient. We might not need to do so much digging after all. I light my horn and walk closer to the destruction. The wall that had fallen created a natural walkway to the second floor of the kitchen. A two story kitchen? There must have been thousands of ponies living here if you needed that big of a place to cook meals.

Using the newly installed walkway, it was made clear that it didn't take a genius to know that this place had been abandoned for over a millennia. It was full of cobwebs that filled the shelves and corners of the place, with fungi filling the trays and sinks that were rusted long ago. The musky scent of rotting wood and other unidentifiable creatures made me cover my muzzle from the horrid stench.

"Hey Twilight, we should head back up and get some masks and other supplies before we go down any further, and some real lights as well would be nice."

"I was thinking the same thing. We can check all this out later. Till then, we should get plenty of rest; we've got a lot of work to do."

Neither one of us could sleep.

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"Come look at this Spike, it's a Phalloides Mushroom, said to have gone extinct 200 years ago, specifically the "Death Cap." This is amazing! There might be other long-gone species of plants down here."

"Only you would get excited about a mushroom, Twi."

"Spike, this is serious! We have to document it. We should take some samples as well."

"Is that really a good idea, Twilight? I'm sure it's called Death Cap for a reason."

"Your assumption would be correct. It's very poisonous, but we are wearing masks and gloves for a reason. Even then, it's only bad when you eat it, so don't, okay?"

"Don't have to tell me twice," Spike answered.

"Anyway, I think that's the last of the things to document around here so we should move on to the next room soon. Hoof over that plastic bag over there if you could please, Spike?"

"Umm, oh okay, yeah sure. Man, we've been in here for hours. We'll be here for a really long time if we're doing everything at this rate."

"Agreed, but lucky for you, when looking down the halls it seems that there are no new plants to collect."

"That's a relief."

"Spike, that doesn't mean there won't be anymore. We've only looked in one room, you know, out of possible thousands."

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

I rolled my eyes. Funny how a few days ago, Spike seemed so eager to leave town. Regardless, we had made a lot of progress and we were starting to get a bit hungry. It was already about noon, so a quick break wouldn't hurt, and once we finish with that, we could move further down the castle. With that, we moved back outside to the tent and begin our lunch. In the midst of eating, I had, once again, lost myself in thought. Here we were making history with many questions and not enough answers. I'm starting to think that I should look for a library. If we could find that, most likely we would already find many of the plants here already documented, along with other new items that may not be within the castle or are simply too eroded and weathered to recognize. Speaking of the library, we could look for books pertaining to the mare statue we saw outside. With a plan in mind, I decide to tell Spike about it, and as I knew he would, he agreed for the sake of most likely being able to skip documenting everything on our own.

We were going to learn all of the kingdom's secrets, and whoever that beautiful mare was... in time.

October 7, 967 A.F.

8:23 A.M

Yawn

Ah yes, another day in the wretched wasteland. I've only just woken and I'm already sweating profusely. Nice, what a great start to the day. Well, time to get going and start the morning mare routines. I begrudgingly sit up on my haunches and wipe away the morning crust from my eyes and open them, looking around the large green tent. I soon realized Spike was already awake. Most likely making the sweet smelling pancakes that were filling my nostrils just outside the tent. Now having motivation for removing myself from the bed, I walk over to one of the purple duffel bags and remove my toothbrush, toothpaste, and of course, my hairbrush, that by some miracle survived the battle with Lord Tirek. It's definitely seen some things. Whilst holding my belongings in my magical grasp I head out the tent, but then I abruptly stop short of leaving the tent, quickly turning my head and pulling out a bar of soap. A quick bath in the lake wouldn't hurt, would it? I was already covered in sand and dirt in places I didn't even know I had. Opening the tent flaps, I look at my surroundings. Completely forgetting we were at the top of a mountain range, on one of the more flat regions of it, so it was quite windy, as to be expected.

"Morning Twilight, I just started making the food so you're gonna have to wait a bit, sorry about that."

"Not to worry Spike, I was going to head down to the lake and freshen up a bit anyway."

"Oh, alright, well be careful. You don't want to end up tripping on some slippery rocks."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

Huff "Yeah, I fell earlier, but I'm okay."

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Splash Ahhh this is the cleanest, freshest, tastiest water I think I've ever had. It was like water sent from heaven itself.  I would definitely have to remember to bring some mason jars full of this stuff before we leave. Good thing nopony else has come all the way over here and taken all of it already. Anyway, after a quick shower, pampering, and teeth brushing, I left the massive lake to return to Spike. Breakfast was most likely finished by now and I was famished.

I was so lost in the atmosphere that, somehow, I didn't notice a now smiling statue.

"Hey Spike, are the pancakes ready?"

"Yeah, they are actually. The plate on the left is blueberry the one on the right is regular; take your pick."

"Ah, thank you."

"You're welcome. So are we going back down there afterward?"

"Of course. If you remember from yesterday, I said that we should try to find a library."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. I was just making sure was all. I can't wait to go and see if there is any information on dragons when and if we find it."

"Why? We already get letters from Princess Ember and her father from the dragon lands."

"And you're right we do but, this place is older than both of them combined, same with the princesses. There might be new, or rather really old, information that they might have lost over time, or maybe just never knew about."

"Huh, I never actually thought about that. Interesting Spike, and well thought out, but remember we're here to record information so you're going to have to write all that stuff down and take notes, and also, see if you can scrap anything from the books, like pictures and scrolls."

"I know, but it's gonna be about me so I won't mind that much. Anyway, what are you going to look for, anything specific?"

"I'm going to see if I can find anything related to history, more specifically about that giant statue of the alicorn mare we saw when we first got here. Who knows? Maybe she's somehow related to Celestia and Luna. That would be an interesting find for sure."

It didn't take very long for us to finish our morning meals. We already found ourselves walking down ridiculously large and pitch black halls. They were probably big enough to fit three fully grown dragons; it was insane. We had brought a whole saddlebag worth of unlit torches and unused glow-sticks as well as two flashlights. The walls of the palace were filled with hundreds of oil paintings and wallpapers. That was the only comforting thing about this entire place. If the darkness wasn't enough to creep you out, the deathly silence would. We went from room to room, checking them out to see if any of them would lead to the library. Once we finished checking out the rooms, we would put tally marks just on the side of the big double doors, on a scale of 1 - 5 to be precise. The more tally marks, the more unstable and dangerous the room was. The highest number we currently marked was a four and that was because there was a giant whole in one of the floors that lead to blackness. In the end, we had checked every room, and because of the lack of stairs found leading up, I assumed that we were on the top floor. With that in mind, we turned back around and continued down a flight of stairs.

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"Okay Spike, since we are currently on a lower level. You're going to want to be even more careful than before. The lower we go, the more unstable this place is going to be with all the pressure, alright?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm not leaving your sight anytime soon, that's for sure."

"Alright, just letting you know."

"Do you think we're any closer to the library?"

"We have to be. We're already a few levels lower, though I think we're going to have to go back up and restock on our lights pretty soon- the bag is almost out. We'll check this last room and then resurface. It's also getting harder to breathe down here and my ears are starting to pop from the change of pressure."

"Okay, well you will hear no objections from me. This place is really starting to creep me out."

"Likewise... Anyway, do you thin-

Crack

AHHHHHHHHH

Slam, Crash

"Ow, man that hurt. Uh oh, SPIKE! SPIIIKE!"

"TWILIGHT? Twilight where are you?"

"One second, let me light my hor- OW, OW, OW! Okay, never mind. I think I hit my horn on something. Let me try and see if I can find the bag. Just hold on, okay Spike... Spike?"

Oh no, oh no, not now, not now! Ugh, my head! I can't see anything and my vision is starting to fade rapidly. "Spike? Spike, can you hear me?"

Cough, Cough, Cough

Spike...

Thump

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ow, my head. What's up with my head hurting so much lately? It's starting to get really annoying. Whatever, that's not important right now; right now I need to open my eyes and OW, okay, never mind, it's time to SLOWLY open my eyes, Spike is out there and we need to, to, tooooo... Where am I? This was not the place we fell into, that's for sure. It's all nice and clean, with lights and everything. Did Spike bring me here? I lift my head up slowly off the pillow and get an even better look of the room-- wait, pillow? I was resting in a queen size bed. Who in their right mind would get one of these? They were almost 3 times bigger than Celestia herself; who would buy such a thing? Whatever, once again that's not important. Right now I need to find Spi- or not, never mind, he's right next to me. Did he go back to sleep? That can't be, he's knocked out cold. So who brought us here? There has to be something here there's no other explanation. I begin to feel a sense of panic. We should have been the only ponies here. Who else was here? Whatever, I certainly wasn't sticking around to find out. I light my horn, ignoring the extreme amount of pain. We need to get out of here and fast. Only to hear...

CLOP, CLOP, CLOP, CLOP

Oh, come on! What's up with all the bad luck? Umm, come on, Twilight, think umm... Closet! No that's stupid; they will find me for sure in there. Uuhhh VENT! Yes, that will work. I quickly scramble off the bed and rip off the vent using even more of my magic. I put Spike in there first before going in myself, closing it behind me. In the nick of time too. I heard the doors creak open and somepony walking in. I've never been so scared in my life. I've fought things before but never when I'm wounded, even then I always have my friends with me, well except for Tirek but that was different. Anyway, I was far enough down the vent to pass several large guest rooms, all of which looked like the one we were just in- nicely lit, colorful wallpaper, and clean, polished furniture. Though soon after, the vent comes to an end and I bust it open with a blast of my magic. Crawling out, I place Spike on my back and set off to the closest set of stairs, running all the way up to the first level and through the kitchen. We resurface and land on the bed inside of the tent. I was exhausted and in a large amount of pain, but I pushed though, giving all my attention to Spike, but not before long, darkness claimed me once more.

----------Minutes Ago----------

Strange, I wonder where she ran off to? She is no condition to be running around, same with Spike. Maybe they needed to go to the little Mares & Colts Room? No, that's no excuse. They should have waited for me to return. If it was not for her being an alicorn and Spike being a dragon, they most definitely would have died from the fall. I should go look for them. They need to be in bed and resting.