Golden Dawn: Dusk of an Empire

A new day had dawned, sunlight slowly crawling across Rael'ia's face as she slept at her bedroom desk. The light burned her eyes open, she stretched and yawned uncomfortably. She looked down at the paperwork used as a pillow, frowning as her hand glowed blue; the old drool on one of the sheets gently rising into the air before evaporating away. An image of Zina flashed and steadied to her left, greeting her and asking if there was anything she could do. Rael'ia quickly looked over the paperwork; though all personnel she wished to accompany her on the trip to the White Wastes were accounted for, some reagents needed for the journey were in low supply. She asked Zina to procure the missing materials, to which she nodded and sent out her Arcane notes. Zina then informed her that breakfast was ready, and the Void-Seers had finished their ritual on the poor soul that had powered the fallen Angel, and funerary rites could now begin. As her image dissipated, Rael'ia stood up and made her way to the royal bath. Today would be a great day to introduce Twilight and her friends to Elven culture and society.

Two hours later, Rael'ia lead the ponies and dragon to a nearby building. Crafted of dark marble and glittering with carefully-applied Magicite dust, they stood before the Temple of the Void. All outside light seemed to vanish into nonexistence as they crossed the threshold, the only light coming from small Magicite torches and ethereal, silvery wisps softly floating in the air. Within the large, domed chamber of the temple, a collection of black-robed Elves, Fairies and the odd Harpy or two sat on stone benches surrounding another Elf that stood before a raised pool. The Elf wore hooded robes of deepest black, mirroring the substance in the pool: an incredible, unknowable blackness that seemed like it was liquid, solid and gaseous all at once. He slipped the hood off his head, revealing short black hair and sunken eyes that seeped with the same silvery wisps throughout the chamber.

"Ah, Princess," he smiled warmly, though his pallor cut through the warmth like a bucket of ice water. "It is good to see you again. Our last prophecy seems to have served you well."

"I suppose it has," Rael'ia nodded rather emotionlessly. "Though if I'm going to end up banished to another universe for near half a year, I'd like to know about it first." The Elf laughed.

"Such is the way of the Void, dear Princess... our ancestors often speak of ideas beyond our wildest dreams."

"'A battle made long, yet short, to pave the way to the future' seemed pretty straightforward to me. Anyway, I am here to return the body to his family. If you would, Void-Master?"

"Of course," the Elf nodded, leading the way with a pointed arm. As Rael'ia accompanied him to a nearby room, Twilight and her friends leaned their heads toward the pool of blackness in curiosity.

"Is this... the Void?" the Alicorn asked tentatively.

"It is but merely a thread in the great fabric of the Void," one of the robed figures answered. Not satisfied with that answer, Rainbow Dash stuck out a hoof and neared the pool.

"NO!" another figure shouted, startling the pegasus and causing her to retract her hoof. "To touch the Void is to know all that was, all that will ever be, and all that which should not be! Such knowledge would drive any mere mortal to madness!"

"So... you just stare at it, then?" Spike cocked his head to one side.

"Yes. Stare into the Void, and should it choose, the Void stares back... deep into your very being," a third figure nodded slowly.

"No, stare into the Void, and it says 'hi'!" Pinkie Pie giggled, muffled slightly. All heads turned to the pink pony, and all eyes widened in shock as they found her head completely submerged in the blackness. After a few seconds she threw her head back, darkness splashing and dripping from her mane like water and evaporating into nothing. "He's actually really nice, and it smells like mint frosting in there!"

Silence permeated the air until the first robed figure cried out. "She... she has seen the Void! The Void allowed her to see its true form!"

"Wait a minute," the second figure spoke apprehensively. "...Its a 'he'?"

"Yep! At least for the rest of this era, he feels like switching things up in the next few centuries or so," Pinkie Pie replied matter-of-factly. It was only then she realized that her friends and the Void-Seers were staring at her as if she had just unleashed her party cannon inside the sacred chamber. "...What?"

"No one has ever found favor with the Void so quickly!" the Void-Master stared incredulously. "Young Pony-kin, if you would, you must remain with us and teach us your ways! We could learn much from you!"

"I... uh... I guess I could hang out with you guys for a while," Pinkie replied nervously, tapping her hooves together. She looked to Rael'ia, who shrugged and sighed with a smile.

"If you wish, Pinkie. You all don't have to remain with me all the time, go ahead and explore. There are many aspects of my world I would love to share with you all, but you'd be limited if you hung around me and my Princess duties all day long."

"Well, alrighty then!" Pinkie exclaimed as Spike and the other ponies left to accompany Rael'ia and the Void-Master. "So, um... how do you all feel about mint frosting?"

~

The desiccated corpse lying on the Magicite slab seemed as if he had found peace at last. Twisted and tortured before, he now lay as if sleeping, a white sheet gently draped over his body and leaving his head exposed. Records and DNA tests had revealed his identity: Runas, from the minor House of Leafwhisper, who had been missing for over eight years. Two female and two male Elves, dressed in black and dark blue and one of each younger than the other, stood a few feet away sobbing quietly; his close family that had finally found closure. The Void-Master gave a short eulogy, then Rael'ia posthumously honored the fallen Elf and swore that he and those like him that surely remained would be avenged. After the final goodbye, the Magicite slab gradually glowed to a brilliant red, and the corpse was suddenly awash with flames, totally consumed. Once the corpse was reduced to ash, the flames died down, and the younger of the female Elves carefully swept the ashes into a small, elaborately-carved wooden box.

"Thank you again, Princess, for finding my dear husband," her voice shivered as she bowed deeply. Rael'ia bowed in return, lowering her head.

"Of course. I only wish we could have found him alive."

"I'd always feared the worst. But now he's home, thanks to you. The House of Leafwhisper will always be grateful to you, Your Highness." After another deep bow the family slowly walked, almost floating like ghosts as they left the temple. The Void-Master left immediately after.

Rael'ia sighed. "Good, that's over with now."

"So, what happens now?" Rainbow Dash asked with as much delicacy as she could muster.

"They will take the ashes to the family copse in the Silent Forest, and bury them there beneath a sapling, as is our custom," the Elven Princess replied, her eyes remaining closed. "In that forest, the trees are our gravestones, and the spirits of our ancestors live on within them. Thankfully, Humans have great difficulty navigating that forest and finding their way here, but all Magikin can pass through with ease... the spirits whisper to them, guiding their way."

"...I mean, what else are you doing today?" the pegasus spoke after an uncomfortable silence.

"Oh," Rael'ia's eyes opened. "Well... other royal duties, I suppose. Signing papers, making appearances, try to improve the lives of those in my kingdom... pretty standard stuff, really. The only thing I really look forward to today is speaking with Master Gemcutter Ezri."

"Ooh, perhaps I could accompany you?" Rarity's face lit up. "After hearing you positively gush about her all this time, I'd quite like to meet her myself!"

"Sure, if you'd like. But the rest of you need not accompany me if you don't want to. Please, explore and do whatever you wish... in fact, Rainbow, Skrye and the other military leaders haven't left for their lands just yet if you'd like to talk more," she smirked, knowing that the ambitious blue pegasus had taken a liking to her.

"Oh, cool! I've been wondering just how fast she is," Rainbow's voice trailed off as she flew out of the room. Applejack chuckled.

"Ya know, ah have been wantin' to talk to those Orcs... ah'd like to know how they can 'parently grow plants underground," she said as she began to trot towards the exit.

"Um... mind if I come with you, Applejack?" asked Fluttershy, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Of course, sugarcube," she replied as the two ponies left the room together. Twilight, Spike and Rarity remained with Rael'ia as they left together, making their way across the temple's main chamber as Pinkie Pie explained to an enraptured audience the merits of all minty sweets.

"Golden dawn brings the dusk of an empire," the Void-Master whispered, barely loud enough for the Elven Princess to hear.

"Hm? What's that supposed to mean?" Rael'ia's eyes narrowed apprehensively.

"Just bringing you a message from the Void," the Void-Master answered. No trace of an emotion could be found on his face as he curtly nodded and walked away, leaving the Elven Princess to deeply ponder whatever meaning he could have had.

~

Her three companions always close behind, Rael'ia found her royal duties took mercifully less time than normal. Twilight had a truly incredible talent for quickly understanding bills and petitions and summarizing them in a few sentences, tiny fine print included. And the few noblemen and officials she met with seemed to not wish to bore her guests, although she sensed the lavender Alicorn wouldn't have minded at all. Finally a break between meetings presented itself, and she motioned for her friends to come close.

She teleported the group to another part of her mountain home, deeper into the earth. They reappeared within a massive cavern, the terraced floors and walls a damp brown and lit with countless glowing crystals that sprouted from the walls. Down below on lower levels, they could see Fairies and their flashes of Arcane magic as they harvested Magicite from veins in the walls. Crates full of crystals were then levitated up towards a row of other Fairies sitting at strange machines. Twilight watched as a Fairy gently lifted a crystal from one of the crates and set it into the center of the machine: it resembled a small round table at first, but as the Fairy pressed a button, four brass-colored rings dotted with white rose from within the borders of the table and surrounded the now-floating crystal. The Fairy deftly turned a few knobs and the rings surrounded the crystal as if it were a planet. Purple beams of light shot out from the white parts of the rings and shaped the crystal as they spun wildly around it. A few moments later and the final product - a perfectly faceted Magicite jewel - sparkled in the light. A female Fairy took hold of it; this one was very much not like the others who worked here. This Fairy wore a sleek red turtleneck dress that came down to her mid-thighs, decorated with a single Magicite diamond near the bottom right of the hem. She wore enchanted leather gloves like her subordinates, clashing with her black leggings and boots. Her blue-gray hair was combed into thick, blunt bangs and pinned into a tight bun on the left side of her head, decorated with a chopstick with red jewels dangling from it. Her eyes, a deep, blackish green, widened slightly at the sight of her royal company.

"Ah, Princess! Good to see you," she spoke warmly. "And these must be some of the Pony-kin I've been hearing about... and the young Dragon-kin, too."

"Yes, hello!" Rael'ia nodded. "Friends, this is Master Gemcutter Ezri. Ezri, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Spike."

"Charmed," Ezri smiled and bowed slightly.

"Rael'ia has told us all about you!" Rarity praised, pressing a hoof to her chest. "I've been dying to meet you ever since, she says your skill in gem faceting is unmatched!"

"Oh my, stop," Ezri giggled as her hand fanned downward. "Though I wouldn't be the Master if it weren't true, of course."

"Have you received my friends' armor and my instructions?" asked Rael'ia.

"Yes, and I must say, your faceting work is coming along nicely," Ezri flitted towards a long table with each of her friends' sets of armor lying on its surface, picking up Rainbow Dash's helmet. "You said you only had my Field Faceting spell to work with, but I daresay you've mastered the technique! Perhaps it is time to start thinking about your Craftsman rank test?"

Rael'ia's eyes lit up at the thought of advancement, but quickly regained composure. "I would love to! But I'm afraid there are more pressing matters to attend to first."

"Ah, yes, the excursion into the White Wastes... well, after that, then. I'm prepared to go whenever you're ready, Princess. As for the upgrades for your friends' armor, my other Guild members are already well on their way through the order. For your friend Fluttershy, I shall cut those myself from the finest Magicite in stock."

"Wonderful," Rael'ia clapped her hands together. "I have nothing but the utmost confidence in your abilities, Master."

"Of course, of course," Ezri nodded, then turned to the white Unicorn. "So, Rarity, correct? I really must commend you on these sets of Dragonscale armor. I'm not aware of many other Fairies that could match your quality."

"Oh, it was nothing," Rarity preened. "After all, what kind of high-end clothing designer would I be if they weren't of the finest quality?"

"Ah, you're a designer! I think I see why you're so interested in my work," Ezri smirked.

"Yes, well... I'm always looking to collaborate with equally-talented individuals such as yourself... perhaps I could give you a hoof with socketing these new jewels, and perhaps learn a thing or two from you?"

"I don't see why not," the Fairy agreed, holding back a chuckle from Rarity's wide grin. The white Unicorn giddily pranced over to the table with Ezri, eager to begin. "Well, if that is all, I suppose I have a new student to train," she called back to Rael'ia.

"Yes, that's all for now. I shall return later tonight, after being away from an Arcane Faceter for so long, I'll need the practice," the Princess bowed. The teacher and the student waved goodbye for a moment before Rael'ia teleported herself, Twilight and Spike away to continue their day.