Lost and Forgotten-
The sun begins to set, as darkness begins to shroud the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, into the castle a dimly lit corridor with torn tapestries blowing gently from the wind blowing through the broken walls, light fixtures line the halls that once held lanterns, that could have been used
as a trip lever for a secret passage entrance, the walls are lined with panels that can be easily swung open to reveal hidden passages.
Muffled sounds are heard in the hallway, thuds and grunts as Twilight and Starlight are tumbling through a secret passage. Suddenly a panel on the wall flies open and Twilight and Starlight tumble out and across the hall, landing in a pile against the opposite wall, dust flying
everywhere.
Starlight Glimmer groans as she gets up, “Um, Twilight, when you asked me to explore the Castle of the Two Sisters with you, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
Twilight Sparkle gets to her hooves, shaking off the dust, “I’m sorry. We knew there were a lot of trap doors, but I didn’t expect there to be one all the way up in that tower.”
“Where are we anyway?” Starlight asks.
Twilight lights her horn, taking a look around, “I’m not sure. This
doesn’t look like any part of the castle I’ve been in before.”
Also lighting her horn Starlight looks towards one end of the hall where there’s a pile of rubble, “Well, that makes sense. This area must be cut off from the rest of the castle.”
Twilight looking the other direction, “ There’s a light over this way. Let’s go take a look.”
Both start walking towards the doorway at the far end of the long hallway. Twilight and Starlight come to the open doorway slowly entering the room, through the doorway behind them a room lay across the hallway, the room decorated in dark colors, with a ceiling of black and gleaming stars, on the wall a glass mosaic of a white ornate flower, with a stem of light blue, along with other treasures of her belonging scattered, and a bookshelf sit next to the glass artwork.
The lights from the two ponies' horns fade off, their eyes grow wide, and mouths hanging open as they gaze upon the room before them.
“Could...could this be...?!” Starlight exclaims.
Twilight’s expression changes from shocked to overjoyed. “It...it is! This is Princess Celestia’s old bedchamber!”
Looking from one side to the other of the large bedchamber, a large, ornate bed sat atop a island in the back center of the room, to the right a couch and chair off to the side for lounging, to the left of the island a dresser with a large mirror on it and some other items, and regal adornments.
Starlight, still looking around in awe, her ears suddenly drop, “Twilight this is amazing. But I’m, she hesitates for a moment, I’m not sure we should be in here though. It feels like we’re invading her privacy.”
Looking slightly worried and disappointed, Twilight's ears droop a bit, “ Oh, uh...you’re probably right.” Her eyes suddenly lock in on the bookshelves of Celestia’s personal library and ears perk back up. “However, Princess Celestia DID grant us permission to explore the entire castle. I’m just going to take a quick look at some of these books. These MUST have been some of her favorites…. “ Twilight trails off trotting off towards the bookcases.
Starlight rolling eyes, giggling slightly, “Okay, but make it quick. We should be heading back to Ponyville soon. It will be night very soon, and I don’t want to be trekking through the Everfree forest at night.”
As Twilight nerds out by the bookshelves, Starlight takes a look around the rest of the large room. Some additional bookshelves with books, some portraits hanging on the walls, the decoration on the curtains, furniture, has a sun theme. Dime daylight is coming in through a couple of windows, which are dressed with very fancy curtains. A visible layer of dust
is covering everything.
Starlight’s focus shifts to the portraits on the walls. Her eyes scan of the portraits, Celestia and Luna’s coronation, Luna and Celestia as fillies wearing gala dresses, Luna and Celestia gathered with many other ponies, with a Manticore gathered around the newly finished castle they are presently in, Star Swirl and associates with the sisters in the center. Then she gets to the picture of an old castle, Starlight pauses, looking confused.
“Hey, Twilight. Twilight!” Starlight shouts across the room to Twilight with about two dozen books floating in air via her magic, rapidly scanning through their pages.
Looking up, Twilight nearly drops the books as Starlight calls at her “Huh? What?”
“Come and take a look at this. I don’t recognize the castle in this portrait, I think you should see it!”
Twilight sighs, carefully sets down the books, trots over to Starlight, looking at the picture.
“Hmm.” Twilight speaks, “This is…” her eyes narrow as she thinks, then suddenly go wide as she gasps, “Oh my goodness, I’ve read about this, but I haven’t been able to find any pictures of it! This is Canterlot Castle!”
Starlight looks back to the image of the castle thoroughly confused “Wait, that looks nothing like Canterlot! And according to my history lessons, Canterlot didn’t even exist yet when the princesses were living here.
“No no”, Twilight interrupts, “ you don’t understand. This is the ORIGINAL Canterlot, from the old kingdom! You remember the Hearth’s Warming Eve story, right?
Starlight looked annoyed at the elementary question, “Of course I do, you read an entire story on the subject, during the last one remember?”.
Twilight gives Starlight an annoyed look before continuing her lesson, “Well, according to Princess Celestia, before Equestria was founded, we ponies lived in another part of the world called Ponyland, and the royal city there was called Canterlot. The city of Canterlot here in Equestria was named after it.
Starlight’s eyes widened in realization, “Wow, I had no idea. I didn’t even know there were any historical records left from that time period.”
“Well, there aren’t any, I’m afraid.” Twilight explains, “Princess Celestia has mentioned it a couple of times, but for some reason she seems reluctant to share too much information about that time period.” As she speaks, an object catches her eye below the painting, a round shaped music box, placed in a spot of respect, and with care. Starlight lights her horn, as an aura surrounds the music box lifting it from the table. She opens the box, as a light, yet sad tone playing, the light of the fading day shines through catching the last of the paintings on the walls, coming to the final hanging just above where the music box sat, of Celestia, and her family, happy and smiling. Starlight looks to Twilight as both their ears drop one after the other, realizing the castle they enjoy exploring was once a happy home, full of life and joy, and now a hollow shell, all of Celestia’s past and happy memories of the past lay within, decaying, left to the ravages of time.
“I wonder why she left all this behind?” Starlight questions, looking at the smiling, and happy little filly Celestia once was.
Twilight walks off towards the large island, “I don’t know Starlight, but maybe some part of her wants us to know…” Seeing a gleam from under the large bed, she
looks down, and sees a small, wooden chest tucked under the bed with metal latches on the front, which had reflected the sunlight.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she used her magic to pull it out and set it on the bed. She carefully opens it, and finds several items arranged neatly inside, one of which is missing, the outline of an amulet left in the dust.
Starlight trots over to help Twilight examine the chest. At the very back of the chest a very worn looking book catches her eye, with a cutie mark on the cover. She pulls the book from the chest.
Um, Twilight, I think you’d better come take a look at this. I think I found somepony’s private journal.
Twilight’s ears perking up “ What!?”! Her eyes widen, “ I recognize this
cutie mark. It was in a book in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of
the library in Canterlot.”
Starlight uses her magic to open the cover, “ It’s
definitely a journal. But not Celestia’s?”
“Wait, these dates... *Twilight gasps* These dates are from the old calendar. This was written by somepony in Ponyland! Starlight, this is the discovery of a lifetime!
Starlight looks over Twilight’s shoulder, “Hey, there’s a name I recognize: Tall Tale. The town I grew up in is Tall Tale Town. You don’t suppose there’s any connection, do you?
Twilight looks Starlight, “I don’t know, but there’s one way to find out!
Twilight starts reading a journal entry from the opened page of the journal, "Today I entered Dream Valley, little did I know what wonders were in store…."
To be continued
Author's Note
First of what I hope will be many chapters to come. I have been developing this story for years, and finally decided to just try to get it out. This is the prologue to a much bigger story that will bridge the gap between the pre-equestria era and the coronation of the Two Sisters, told by a group of young friends who lived through this time, and recorded their adventures (the book found in this chapter).
Animatic of this chapter
I tried my best over the years to adjust this story to cannon, trying to keep it as correct as I could, while making some of my own creative roads to get to these places. This story is not a history lessen, there is a bit of every genera through out the story that will be told, and I plan to have a lot of fun with the Royal Family. Over the years there has been artwork, some storyboards, even music, and a completed full animatic of a song that I will post with the correct parts of the story as they come up (including this part). Stay tuned for links to those very shortly.
Thank you all, very much hope you enjoy this first small part of a much bigger adventure, if you have questions please ask, or thoughts on stories you might be interested in this time period.
