Twists, Turns, Scars, and Steel

"So, you think that this 'Praetor' is Rainbow Dash?", Twilight asked.

"Well, from what I'd heard of her, I'd say that it was a 'better-safe-than-sorry' scenario", Quibble said.

Twilight nodded, looking back at the page with the description of the Praetor. She reread it several times, her thoughts running a thousand miles an hour. The description of a pegasus with a sky blue coat and multi-colored mane did sound like Rainbow, but everything else sounded completely different.

Shadowlock asked, "What do you think? Could it be her?"

"Maybe", Twilight said. "Hard to say off of the description of her. We'll have to see, but it is a possibility."

"Well, let's keep going", Shadowlock said, turning back to Quibble. "Is there anything else we could skip over? You know, so we can analyze the Praetor more?"

"Yeah", Quibble said, again taking and flipping through the transcript. "Here. Almost at the end, but she'll show up again soon."

"Thanks", Twilight said, turning back to the book.

++++~++++

"So, this appears to be it?", Caballeron asked, looking past the last of the trees blocking his view of the clearing.

Daring looked up from the map and said, "Yeah, this looks to be it."

In front of them, built into the side of a large hill in a clearing, stood a massive stone building. An archway and a pair of crumbled statues denoted the entrance, which led into darkness. A small stone path ran a little ways out from this entrance, connecting to a branching dirt road that disappeared back into the woods off to their left.

"See anypony?", Daring asked.

"Besides you", Caballeron said. "No."

Daring groused, "Hardy har har. Ok then. Let's go."

"Again, you need to relax more", Caballeron said, following her out of the woods.

A short walk later, the two reached the entrance. Daring, having grabbed a large tree branch from the woods, stopped to wrap some spare cloth around it to make a torch. After lighting it, she led the way into the entrance.

Past the main arch, the light of the torch reflected off of the interior. On either side of them stood two statues, both in a much better state than the ones they had seen outside. The rough cobblestone of the initial entrance was replaced with marble, save that it was smooth and coated in a fine layer of dust. Most notable, however, was the stone and iron door that blocked their entrance further inside. Looking up revealed nothing but a solid wall of stone around and above the door.

"Well, this is great", Daring said, lowering the torch held in her wing. "Look for a button or a lever or something."

"Wait. Raise the torch again", Caballeron said. Daring did so, and Caballeron pointed. "There! Above the door!"

Daring squinted. Sure enough, as he pointed out, two rows of faint silvery writing was printed just above the door.

Off to the side, Caballeron groaned. "Great, it's in Pryhan. Right, best look for a-"

"No, no. Caballeron, you might be a genius!", Daring said, her squint turning into a massive grin.

"Did you suddenly learn to read Pryhan from that map? These runes only translate spoken words, not written", Caballeron said.

"No, I didn't, but it doesn't matter." Noting his confused look, she pointed the torch back up to the in-laid writing. "Yes, the top line is written in Pryhan. But, the line below it isn't a continuation of the top line. It's Ancient Pegasi!"

"Ancient Pegasi?", Caballeron questioned.

"It's not all that common knowledge", Daring said. "But the ancient pegasi and unicorns, before the Unification of the Tribes, had their own languages. The Earth Ponies seemingly always spoke equish; just a different variation of it called Old Equish. Anyway, the unicorns and pegasi adopted equish after the unification, but they went onto inspire modern Prench and Germane-"

"Because those countries are majority unicorn and pegasi respectively", Caballeron said, catching on.

"Exactly!"

Caballeron asked, "Well, what does it say?"

"Let me check", Daring said, flying up to the words. They reflected off of the light from the torch, the glare revealing them to be inlaid metal. "I'm a bit rusty, but I think I can make it out. It says... it says: 'The Stormbreakers wrath, finally laid low. To the Empire, he was a cunning, honorable foe. Bring forth the marble weapon of his vengeance, and to his and his soldier's tomb may you be granted entrance.'"

"That begs the question", Caballeron said. "Who's the Stormbreaker?"

"I don't know", Daring said, lowering back down to the floor. "The sources didn't list an exact name, and there's nothing here that could indicate who it is. The Pryhan said that this Stormbreaker was a 'he', but that doesn't narrow it down."

"Well, maybe there's another way we could narrow it down further", Caballeron mused. Taking the torch from Daring, he raised it up to the statues.

The light reflected off of the statue, revealing it's form. The form was equine, like the ones outside seemed to resemble. They were reared up, a spear held in their hooves as if to impale them. A round shield, covered with intricate carvings, was held in the other, covering partially the stone breastplate. A stone cloak flowed out from the top of the torso, part of it resting it over the figure's massive wings.

"Pegasi?", Daring asked.

"Apparently", Caballeron said. "So, how much would that narrow it down."

"Well, of ponies who are male, likely pegasi, and gotten involved in any way with the Pryhan Empire, that narrows it down to maybe... hmm... a few thousand, to none."

"A few thousand to none!?", Caballeron sputtered. "What does that even mean?"

"Well, a lot of them would be military officers. The ancient pegasi writing, the statues that resemble olden Hopilites... not to mention the fact that these guys seem to respect officers", Daring said. "The thing is, I don't know if any of those officers were ever involved with the Pryhans, and especially not enough to warrant them a tomb."

"Well, we'll figure it out later. We still need to find a way in. Now, what did it say? 'Bring forth the marble weapon of his vengeance'?", Caballeron said.

"Well, that might be rather simple", Daring said. "Give me the torch back."

She gripped the torch in her mouth and flew up to the statue, examining the statue's spear. She flew around it, looking at it from all angles. Finally, she gave up on it, before flapping down to its flank. Under the cloak, hidden from sight on the ground by the shield, was a sheathed sword. She flew close to the weapon, noticing a small crease in between the guard and the scabbard. She grabbed the pommel, yanking back with all her might, and after a bit, it gave.

Daring tumbled back a bit, nearly bumping into the shield. Avoiding it at the last second, she lowered herself back to the floor and looked at what she held in her hooves. While the handle, pommel, and guard were all made of stone, the handle was made of tarnished metal. The edge had serrations along the edge, and upon a second glance, Daring looked at the door.

"What is it?", Caballeron asked.

Daring tossed him the torch, hefting the thing up in both hooves. After a bit of effort, she pushed it forward, sliding it into a slot in the door. Turing it to the left, she heard a trio of loud clicks. She said, "A key."

Caballeron caught on, shoving his weight into the side of the door. Daring backed away from the key and did the same, feeling the door push in. Finally, it gave way, and the two entered into a massive room.

The torch was unnecessary, as the room was lit by a massive skylight that was likely hidden by the tree on the of the hill. What appeared to be chandeliers hung from the roof, pieces of twisted iron shaped vaguely like Demigryphs. All along the walls were alcoves, each sporting a bronze urn. Each of the alcoves had a small carving below it, along with a helmet coated with dust and adorned with a decayed feather crest. In the center of the room stone a large stone table, another Helmet resting on it.

"Look for traps", Daring said immediately.

"Yep", Caballeron agreed.

Daring took off, slowly scanning the floor for any pressure plates. Caballeron, meanwhile, moved slowly across the floor, watching the floor. However, both reached the table unharmed and without setting anything off. As they examined it, they realized that it was a sarcophagus, not a table.

"There's writing here too", Daring said. "'Commander... Hurricane.' Hurricane of Equestria, the Stormbreaker."

Caballeron looked at her in shock, asking, "Wait, you don't mean-?"

"The same one from the Hearths Warming story?", a voice interrupted. Turning back towards the entrance, the two were greeted with a force of Pryhans at the door. Most of them appeared to be lightly armored versions of the soldiers they saw at the brigand camp with neck gaiters pulled up over their faces, aiming crossbows in their direction. Hovering over them, a short sword in each hoof, was the Praetor, now full adorned in a helmet, neck-gaiter, and goggles. "Yes, it's him. And I told you this was serious. You're both under arrest."