the forgotten one

The jungle was dark and humid, its sweltering conditions quite alien for the princess of friendship, her body not yet acclimatised, in the few short days she had been exposed to it. The journey had been both tiring and lonely, but her end goal was in sight, the citadel city of Naroc its obsidian towers emerging through the trees on the horizon like dark skeletal fingers reaching for the sky.

Pausing for a moment to wipe the pooling sweat from her forehead, Twilight took a moment to catch her breath, the end goal was in sight there was no need for her to overexert herself. In this small moment of respite Twilight thought of her friends, and why they couldn't accompany her on this expedition, there was only one amulet after all.

As she pondered this thought, her hoof rose to touch the cold hunk of metal that hang from her neck on a length of multicoloured twine, the strange alloy taking the shape of a lion's head its fangs bared in anger. All in all, it was a pretty grotesque item, reminding Twilight of the gargoyles that festooned the temple of the sun in Canterlot, their leering faces looking over the citizens of Equestria from their precarious perch as silent vigils.

Though the item was visually unappealing its value was immeasurable, the crude item projected an aurora that induces the effect of kinship to all animals upon the wearer. This projection was the only way she had made it this far, as this particular jungle was well known for its viscous predators, so much in fact, that its official name is the slaughter forest. Without this arcane magic she would surely have been torn apart, or tucked away in the stomach of some unspeakable horror lurking in the under-story.

Giving the amulet one more firm tap to make sure it was still there Twilight set off on the last leg of her journey, the road miraculously clear for not being maintained for at least a millennia, some far reaching defoliant spell holding true as lasting testament to a long dead civic worker. The cobbled road acting more like a tunnel as the thick trees of the Forrest attempt to engulf it from all sides, their immense branches blocking most of the light making it feel like late evening even though it was just before midday.

As she walked her mind wandered onto the lost city as she daydreamed about what she might find there. She had read the numerous stories of what happened here, all the myths, and conjecture of authors writing about something that happened centuries before their births. Supposedly it had been a grand city of unicorns, their magic allowing them to progress faster than other equine civilisations, but in their hubris, they unleashed something evil, the exact specifics were not clear some say monster’s, others a weapon of unimaginable power. It didn't matter what it was, as now the city was nothing but dust and echoes, a jewel of civilisation lost to the sands of time to be relegated to the tomes of history.

It was in one of these old tomes that Sunburst had found a map to the lost city, this knowledge had been thought lost for over a thousand years, and mention of an object of immense magical power was rife throughout the leather-bound book, the old pages written on the skins of flayed criminals giving the dregs of society some purpose for their miserable existence, a remnant of a darker time in Equestrian history, when it was believed that pony hide contained magical property's.

Upon hearing about this magical item princess Celestia was quick to approve a royal expedition, giving twilight access to any equipment she might need to acquire the weapon in the armoury of the royal princesses, her knowledge of old Ponish, and previous experience in high magic made her the obvious choice, especially as starburst the only other candidate was required at the crystal empires court to keep Flurryheart in check. Twilight just wished her friends could be here to see this major discovery come to fruition, even though she knew that only Starlight would really appreciate what was possibly going to be uncovered.

With her mind lost in these thoughts, Twilight ended up walking straight into a stone pillar, in her daydreamed state the large mass of stone had snuck up on her, and she had ploughed straight into it, the sudden impact leaving her sprawled out on the ground, and snapping her back to reality. Rising to her feet, and rubbing her suddenly sore muzzle, she found herself staring at a work of ancient art. The crysti-glass structure must have been two hundred feet all, its entire surface engraved with images telling the story of some significant military victory, the name of which like the rest of the city long since lost.

Glancing around the girth of the monolith, Twilight saw an immense gateway built into the outer city wall, this obelisk was clearly a show of either affluence, or power designed to induce awe in pony's when they first near the city, and she was sure there would be many more such architectural feats as she went further into the city.

At this point the anticipation was too much for the mare, and she broke out into a steady gallop to reach the gatehouse, the large entrance like the dark maw of a massive beast. The tongue a sturdy stone staircase, and the teeth in the form of marble pillars, each one a clean white in stark contrast to the night like blackness of the obsidian that composed the rest of the structure.

Reaching the steps, she began the climb to the top, the incline was shallow, so though there were a good thousand steps it was not tiring to climb them. With her pace, in short order Twilight reached the entrance, upon which she found the interior was pitch black, the obsidian absorbing any sunlight that hit it preventing twilight from seeing more than a few feet into the darkness.

Concentrating for a moment twilight illuminated her little glow stick, her horn casting a purple sheen, deep into the cavernous interior of the gatehouse. The room was larger than any stadium she had ever seen, and her light failed to reach either side of the room. The glass like nature of the stone making the floor look as if it was made of water, the light refracting across it almost like the moon over the sea.

Taking a deep breath Twilight crossed the precipice, each of her steps echoing across the hall, the room designed to handle the foot traffic of hundreds of ponies at any given time deader than a crypt. There was just something naturally unnerving about a public building being devoid of people, and the silence was putting Twilight on edge as the darkness felt like it was ready to swallow the princess, almost as if its tendrils were waiting for her concentration to flounder so it could devour her.

About what Twilight felt was half way across the room, she came across a raised plinth, on close inspection it had raised lettering engraved on it, and a large green gem mounted centrally on a stand. Squinting her eyes, she could make out 2 words in old Ponish "meddyliwch ysgafn", as if by clockwork the simple fact of her reading it caused the entire room to illuminate.

All across the cavernous room lamps sprang to life, but instead of flames they were glowing geodes, the varied minerals in their compositions giving the room a myriad of colours, like rainbows in the dark. For a moment the sudden change in brightness blinded Twilight, but as her eyes adjusted she was met with the beauty of the interior, its whole majesty now visible.

All across the walls were fresco's and reliefs, the topics covered varying wildly from battles to scientific discovery, each moment captured in paint or stone by a long gone master. in addition to this the main path was flanked by two lines of bronze busts, each stood like soldiers' at attention ready to welcome visitors to the city, Twilight recognised a few of the individuals portrayed from old story's, but most were unknown to her.

The whole room took another level of ambience when Twilight looked up, the ceiling had a magic vale projecting a calm night-sky overhead, thinking of the sun the room suddenly shifted to daytime, the lamps dimming as a false sun rose in the sky. Like a child with a new toy Twilight cycled the day, night cycle a few times, giggling to herself as she imagined this was what it felt like when Celestia or Luna did it.

After giving the device a good once over, Twilight continued her journey across the gargantuan hall, its grand architecture dwarfing the tiny pony like a house might an ant. Now exposed to sunlight the true dimension of the hall was made apparent, it must have been a mile long, and about 200 meters high the entire length decked out with the previously mentioned art forms. The grandness of the room clearly showing the arrogance of its creators as no forms of defence could be seen almost as if they didn't believe anyone would be stupid enough to attack such a grand city.

The rest of the walk occurred as a diddling stroll as Twilight gawked at the scenery, fully taking in the sights of just the first room of this city, she could barely imagine what would follow suit once she actually entered it. Reaching the end of the room, she found a series of small gates interspersed with large one’s for what she assumed were carts and other commerce. Though different in size they were all uniform in their construction, using the same stone though Twilight could not identify. in the centre of each door was a large glyph, more than likely the seal of this city if it was anything like the city of Canterlot. The symbol was flanked by two roaring manticores well a dragon flew overhead, these beasts clearly chosen as herald bearers due to their ferocity.

Using her horn, she attempted to open the door nearest to her, but no matter how hard she concentrated it failed to budge. Taking a moment to collect herself, her eyes wandered, and caught the shining of glazed bronze. Mounted to the archway to the side of the door was a large bronze plaque, the raised lettering clearly in old Ponish, and was centred around a small hole no larger than a bit.

Running her hoof over the words, she attempted to read the hard-worn lump of metal, the aeons of exposure to the humid air causing it to corrode quite severely leaving just the faint outlines of words on its enamel surface.

"i agor drws mewnosod corn. bydd ysbïwyr yn cael eu gweithredu ar unwaith"

Upon reading this twilight realised that the door ahead acted as some form of automated customs, it must have some limited capacity to read minds to prevent those with evil intent from entering. Confident in the benevolence of her quest Twilight forcefully rammed her horn into the receptacle, to which she was rewarded with a loud click, as a metal ring locked around her horn.

"This is not so bad" she said aloud to herself, before immediately regretting her choice of words.

In moments a burning sensation travelled down her horn, the pain clearly psychic in nature and not physical. The discomfort travelled slowly across her horn before entering her head where it intensified, the spell scanning her mind for the seeds of corruption to mewling protest from the princess. For a moment the stinging pain peaked, and as fast as it had entered it stopped.

With a familiar click the restraint came free, and twilight fell to the floor panting, the strain of that psychic attack giving her a sharp headache. after a few moments lying on the floor with nothing but silence, twilight thought the door might have found her unworthy, then a loud positive sounding bing rang out, followed shortly thereafter by a green light flickering on over the door. this was heralded by a garbled voice beginning to emanate from the light, clearly some form of automated welcome that hadn't played in over a thousand years.

"croeso i'r ddinas, parchwch y gyfraith chael diwrnod braf"

Twilight had no idea what the voice had said, but the fact she wasn't dead as well as the door in-front of her slowly opening told her that she had passed the security check. Wiping some dust her collapse had gained her from her breast, she took a deep breath, and passed the thresh-hold finally entering the lost city.

What she found was unexpected, the main plaza was untouched by time, the streets well-kept and the hedges pruned. If she didn't know she had just entered a lost city it would have been just like any other city in Equestria, minus of course all the signage being in a dead language.

the open plaza was made entirely of white marble, all carved as intricately as the obsidian in the gate-room clearly showing the skills of the local craftsmen. In the centre bordered with hedges was a large reflection pool its surface covered by water lily's as dragonfly's danced over its surface, well in the distance the main citadel protruded from the centre of the city scraping the sky.

After taking in the picturesque view Twilight concluded that the most logical location for the weapon to be held was the central building. with this in-mind she decided to follow the main street directly to her objective, and hopefully find out what had happened here so long ago.

The walk was long, but Twilight was like a child in a museum, every new sight surpassing the last keeping her in constant awe. there were many to be seen from main street in the distance, giant floating glass sphere holding unknown wonders, mushrooms as tall as skyscrapers windows clearly carved into them hinting at homes within.

taking a moment from her sightseeing Twilight stopped before a public water-fountain the red marble public amenity carved into the shape of a siren, its mouth spewing water forth like a sweet song into the peaceful trough below. Parched Twilight plunged her head into the cool water in the most uncouth manner, holding her head under water for a moment as she drank her fill, eyes closed to just feel the coolness of the water across her sensitive snout, the frigid water giving a clammy feeling that in the week of hot jungle was a sweet reprieve.

sticking her head in deeper to get more of the cool moisture on her face Twilight felt her nose press against a smooth ribbed object. Curiously opening her eyes Twilight found a morbid discovery, at the bottom of the fountain was a pony skeleton complete minus the head.

Seeing this Twilight let out a scream, the air in her lungs venting causing the water to bubble uncontrollably before she pulled her head from the no longer calm surface. Backing away from the fountain Twilight felt her pulse hammering in her ears, the magic of the city now gone with the realisation she might find more bodies.

Attempting to clear her mind she continued walking to the main citadel, her thoughts focusing only on getting there, and not thinking about how a body ended up in a fountain, and the morbid fact she had drank corpse water. This would prove to be difficult as the further into the city she walked the more skeletons she found, the macabre remains strewn across the road.

Each skeleton lay were they fell, as if the whole city had suddenly screamed out and dropped dead, shop keepers at their counters, guards at their posts, at one point Twilight even saw a foal carriage a mares skeleton collapsed at the handlebar, for a moment morbid curiosity took over but she reeled it back, and didn't look within the carriage continuing her journey past the sun bleached bones at a now slightly faster pace, eager to leave this bone-way behind.

As the amount of dead increase within this city turned mausoleum, Twilight could not help but observe that all the skeletons were missing their skulls, the craniums missing but the occasional tooth lay scattered amongst the corpses adding another edge to the mystery.

After a while the mental strain of so much death was beginning to weigh heavily on Twilight's mind, thankfully she wouldn't have to worry about it much longer as the entrance of the citadel was in sight. it lay on the other side of a large bridge, the imposing building clearly built on a lake island to improve its defensibility, the wide bridge offering the only way on or off the island.

Suddenly feeling very tired Twilight checked the clock in her saddle bag, she was alarmed to find it had been over 15 hours since she had entered the city, this came as a great surprise as the sun had not moved in the sky, and it had felt like it had only been an hour or two at most. Holding the instrument to her ear to check if it was ticking she was rewarded by the monotonous tone of a well-oiled machine, the instrument was working fine it was the city that was out of whack.

Looking around for some form of shelter to set up camp, twilight recognised the words on a sign, their presence signalling a covered garden. upon entering Twilight was met with the most beautiful rose garden she had ever seen, the striking colours combined with well-kept beds striking the perfect balance of beauty, style and maintenance, something rarity would have adored to see.

thinking of her friend twilight retrieved the camera from her saddle bag, she only had a few plates, but she felt this out be the best use for one of them, as if she had been liberal with her limited supply she would have used them all at the front gate.

As she focused the camera something shiny in her peripheral vision caught her eye, as she turned she saw a side door to her left. There was a golden sign over the door which was what had gotten her attention, it read "gwyrdd cyhoeddus", public green in a rough translation.

Quickly snapping her picture for rarity, twilight decided it would be worth checking out as it would help her wind down after the death march she had experienced getting here. entering the archway she was immediately proven wrong, the whole green was a grave yard.

The entire central green was lined with cairns, the stones well-kept covering the bodies below. At the head of each pile was a weapon standing erect as silent vigil for the dead, at a quick glance twilight recognised them as Equestrian made, mostly spears but a few swords, and axes mixed in amongst them. there must have been 40 or so graves each one laid out in the same militaristic manner.

This deeply surprised twilight, as the city was lost, so how in Celestia's name did members of the Equestrian militia end up out here, let alone die. As if to herald answers she heard crass yelling coming from the other end of the green, the words obscured by the distance but by their tone clearly enraged.

Staring at the source of the noise a feral looking earth pony emerged from a dark doorway in-front of her. the savage brandishing a spear of the same make as the ones marking the graves, albeit this one much cleaner and maintained.

"Peidiwch â symud fy mod i'n dod i ben", he yelled the words somewhat garbled as if not used to speaking.

As he drew near, he suddenly screamed in what twilight could only comprehend as anger, then lowering his spear charged.