The Frame of War

The Frame of War
B_25 & Drunken Soviet

Celestia couldn't remember the last time she fell soundly asleep. It must have been months or maybe years ago. Problems rose but never went away, set to always linger in the back of her mind. Dread as it was called. It'd become the bane of her existence.

Hope appeared in the form of Twilight Sparkle, a filly powerful, too powerful for her own good, though given time—no more than a decade, give or take—would be able to confront her sister. And not only that. But to perform the act in a way that would benefit them both.

They both had a lesson to learn from the exchange, and the solution to that, despite the years required, would be to lay the proper path. Whether it would work or not only the future could then tell. And for now, dread will nestle itself within her heart.

That was until the catacombs beneath the castle had been found, quite by mistake, by a squad of guards prepared for Nightmare Moon. Everything needed to be right before the youngest sister made her return. Hope of revenge caused the moon to grow brighter.

Hope.

Even evil had hope.

Princess Celestia walked through the tunnel, one dim and in the middle of a cave, something great lodged deep within the depths of the mountain. Its strange structure had drawn her here, so many years ago. A decision made on a sensation. One that seemed ready to now bite her on the flank.

“This isn't good,” Celestia whispered to herself as the tone beneath her hooves transitioned into something new. Cold and almost made of metal. The rock of the cave gave way to something else. A material akin to steel—but radiating to the inner-pulsation of a foreign power. “After all these years... now this place begins to fester?”

She shook her head. Not once had she dared to enter the place. The power of the mountain, one distant but raw, severed to deter others from approaching. Maybe even attacking. Celestia liked to think that the sleeping threat of the place was what deterred so many from malicious intent.

But she hoped whatever power that resided here, a path now paved to the heart of it, didn't have malicious intent. It was strong. Strong enough to be felt without magic—nor it bearing any of that quality at all.

Something that could be felt by its presence alone, although it slumbered, obscured by mile after dense rock and layer? To have a whole mountain set around it to contain it. To be so strong, so feared, its aroma palpable to those who drew near.

Celestia didn't want to dare think about what such a creature, so power despite being so nothing, would be upon awakening. In anticipation of everything that was to come, she had already sent her student away on her lesson. Hopefully, Twilight was having better luck than Celestia currently was.

Now she entered the deepest confines of the mountain.

It amazed her of the new world within this place. That tight tunnel expanding into the vast chamber of something not of this world. Technology. Ancient and dormant. There was a power to it, not magical but something close, a different aura ruminating from it all. The ground was some kind of gold, a translucent glow below the floor. It fluctuated. Slowly but consistently.

More than anything else, it had felt like a heartbeat.

Everything felt that way. All connected, expressing something. This open chamber was not of this world, either left here from a time before, or brought here a different way beyond pony comprehension. It didn't matter so much to Celestia. Not when the present was currently in more danger than the past.

Finally. It revealed itself ahead. A group of ponies had ascended a small set of steps, each angled toward a center, a small flooring connecting to more steps, a set removed each time as it went up, continuing and raising, leading to the purpose of this chamber, of this mountain... maybe of this world.

“Princess Celestia! Thank goodness you are here! Being in such a place without your light... well, it certainly rids the heart of hope—does it not?” The leader turned to the others dressed in gold. Although they'd been trained to rid themselves of expression... dread had pulled their faces rather taut. “We've never seen such a place before. In no other kingdom and within no books upon history.”

Princess Celestia upon keeping on the level below them, allowing her gaze to wander around, the light pulsating through the chamber reminding her of the power of the sun—and then some. Something so powerful yet passively contained. It drew shudders. It evoked dread.

“That, unfortunately, was my suspicion as well.” Princess Celestia cast her gaze back to the crew, who gave salute after appearing to have forgotten. It warmed the icicles that had encrusted around her heart. But it didn't quite do the trick. “I have lived longer than I remember and seen beyond the celestial. And yet, everything here poses a most sinister mystery.”

“So even you are bearing such a feeling, princess?”

“Fear is known to all with emotions.” Princess Celestia knew that now was the time to pretend to be something more, the mask of a princess set tightly to her face to bring hope to those beneath her, to give power back to those who so easily lost it... but even here, in such a terrible place, she could not bear herself to be dishonest just this once. How ironic. “Restless dreams have caused my mind to ponder about here. To leave such a place unattended... at least keeping here kept me aware of all that occurred here.”

“And the quakes threatening the castle lately?”

“I'd much rather have the castle be safe and go on blissfully unaware something so awfully abnormal such as here did not exist... but the harm that would bring, the potential harm, all of that coming to suddenly upon my kingdom?” Celestia shook her head. Every exhale taking parts of her should with it. “Being a princess means taking the care for them all upon your shoulders. The purpose of bearing the crown is to endure many sleepless nights. Maybe that's what all this comes to.”

“Um, princess?”

“One mare gives up her will to sleep peacefully so the rest may can.”

None decided to make any mention of the princess's strange behaviour. That's the way how this place made them all feel. Like the world had been poised in a dream-like state, an otherworldly feeling to it all. Such a time made all feel ethereal, but also vulnerable. It was now that nightmares so easily struck.

And their nightmare was the one currently dreaming.

“Princess Celestia, if you may, we would like to show you our findings of this place?” The leader waited for a response and, when a short nod was his return, he decided to go on. Turning around, he gestured to the chamber. “The markings are here are not of any language. If you gaze upon the walls, there is a power to them, one fulled by an unknown source.”

Celestia sighed. “Like the surface of the sun contained within veins.”

“Certainly a way of putting it, princess.” The leader let his shoulders drop, though they kept slightly up due to the general sense of unease. “Perhaps there is something here we can find that will aid you? The... return of your sister soon approaches, c-correct?”

Princess Celestia smiled upon casting her one eye upon the stallion. “So you are apt to reading fables as well?”

“Everyone has heard the stories,” the leader continued, “just not everyone believes them.”