Just a Teacher

For the first time since they met, there was a smile on Written Fidgment's face.

"I knew you were a good pony from the moment I laid eyes upon you. Right this way!"

Written trotted past Velvet, and disappeared in a back room. She followed her, and asked.

"So, do you have a plan?"

"Of course. Look."

With that, she kicked away the carpet, revealing a trap door. With some effort, she lifted it up, and Twilight stepped closer.
When she looked inside, she saw some very steep stairs, leading down into darkness.

"Whoah. It seems you didn't joke when you said rabbit hole."

"This leads to the cave system underneath the village, which leads into the catacombs. Which ties into what I suppose is the cultist base."

Hearing that, Twilight instinctively stepped back a little.

"You said the cultists are very dangerous. And now you'd want to go right unto their turf?"

"How would we get back that tome otherwise? Besides, they aren't at home right now. Trust me."

Twilight just rolled her eyes. Written tried to give her best reassuring smile in return, and added:

"Trust me. Okay, I go first. Now, could you light the way down for me? I'll give you a torch, I knew it's here somewhere..."

"No need! I have a pretty good torch right with me..." Twilight said, and activated her horn.

Using a simple lighting spell, she illuminated the stairs, and Written, with careful steps, began descending. Velvet followed suit, hear rear facing downwards, to avoid tumbling down. When they both touched the ground, they found themselves in a cave with a low ceiling, lined by stalactites and stalagmites. Twilight looked all around, with her cone of light providing enough visibility for both of them. Written even had to cover her eyes when Twilight was facing her.

"That's what I call an effective torch!" she remarked "Okay, this way."

The two ponies began walking, with Twilight lighting the path. The ground surface was relatively smooth, so they made good progress. A faint light source was not so far ahead, and Written was moving towards that spot.

For a while, only their echoing hoofsteps were talking to each other. And the droplets of water falling from the ceiling, striking the puddles of water lying about. But Twilight had lots of questions, and she couldn't stand not to ask:

"You mentioned you're part of some sort of society. What's up with that?"

"Ah, yes. The Gladius Arcanus. A secret society of earth ponies, founded hundreds of years ago. Its founding members realized that during history, magical artifacts were usually found and hoarded by those who wanted to misuse them, and no offense" Written shook her head "but those ponies were most often unicorns. So they took it upon themselves to find as many powerful trinkets and gizmos as they could, and lock them away. As to protect Equestria from their illicit use."

"So that's why your father bought that tome all those years ago?" Twilight answered after some pondering "To prevent it from falling into the wrong hooves?"

"Oh no. He was never a part of this society. He was simply an avid book collector, may Gaia bless his soul. Sadly, Gladius somehow overlooked the importance of this book, and it remained here in Hollow Shades. A good friend of my father's looked over the collection after he passed, but he and the remainder of the villagers all disappeared between now and about a year ago. Otherwise, I would have picked up the collection, and moved it elsewhere."

"And when you came back, it was already too late, and the cultists had it." Twilight finished the thought.

"Yes. I only hope" Written responded, with her voice pitching lower "that I can do good by my father, and these sickos won't turn a part of his collection against Equestria."

"I can feel you." answered Twilight with consideration.

Meanwhile, they reached the edge of what turned out to be a small plateau. Looking into the part of the cave lying underneath them, Twilight could see lit torches. So, the cave was indeed occupied recently. She could only hope no one occupied it right now.

"I've hidden a rope here." said Written stepping next to a stalagmite "We can use it to rappel down."

She picked up the coil of rope with her mouth, only to notice Twilight waving at her, and smiling sheepishly. Written cocked her head, and raised an eyebrow.

"You know, I think I know a faster way to get down there..."

Half a minute later, both ponies were walking away from the plateau. Written clicked her tongue with approval.

"Now that's what I call a fast descent! Ironically, it seems I've made the right choice to work with a unicorn."

"Yes, well..." Twilight answered, trying to stay humble "I discovered I can levitate myself when I accidentally fell down a flight of stairs many years ago. But sans that occasion, I never found a practical use for this spell. Until now."

"Seeing your skill, I bet you could do a thing or two about those cultists too, if confronted. Am I right?"

"Let's not get carried away, now." the unicorn said softly.

Written led Twilight through a narrow passage of the cave, which lacked the vertical rock formations of the previous parts. Eventually, the cave's walls smoothed out, and the ground also felt made for walking. Before Twilight could ask anything, Written began:

"These are the abandoned old catacombs of Hollow Shades. The earth ponies of the village buried their dead down here, as the ground around these parts are simply too rocky for digging proper graves. Even the most gifted earth ponies couldn't handle it."

As they were walking along, Twilight noticed smudged murals on the walls. And as they were making progress, more and more popped up. Eventually, Twilight saw some that could be recognized.

"Wait, is that... Nightmare Moon?" she pointed a hoof "Didn't you say this cult wasn't about her?"

Written sighed, and shook her head. She slowed down somewhat.

"Hollow Shades has a strange and troubled history. Many times it got completely abandoned, then repopulated. And somehow, this village always attracted cultists, crazy wizards, religious fanatics... You know, the weird ones. I dunno, maybe there's some dark magic lingering about this place that makes it so desirable?"

Twilight looked at the ground, and began thinking. Maybe she could reach out, and test what Written just mentioned? After all, she knew she was more sensitive to magical presences deviating from the standard.

Twilight stopped, and closed her eyes. She charged up her magic, and sent out a barely visible purple wave, expanding outwards. She concentrated for a few more seconds, then opened her eyes. Written was facing her, with her mouth wide open.

"Whoah. What did you just do?"

"Scanned for magical anomalies. And although I didn't detect any dark magic usage recently, I did notice how easy it was to use my levitation spell previously. Really easy. I think we might be very close to a magic focal point."

"And that means...?" Written asked, turning her head sideways, as if she wanted to hear the answer better.

"That means the barrier between Caelum, and the living world is somewhat thinner here than in the rest of Equestria." responded Twilight, now being in full lecture mode. "Thus making it easier for unicorns to connect with the magical netherworld. That is, Caelum."

"Not sure if I understand, but thanks for the answer anyway. But circling back to the original topic, this place was probably home to not just one Nightmare cult during history. Hence the murals."

Twilight looked upon one of the murals in a better shape again. It depicted a stylized Nightmare Moon, and a group of ponies frolicking under a full moon. Another was many robed figures bowing to the majestic mare, while she was looking down upon them. Twilight gulped. How could ponies actually worship a bringer of doom?

"We should get a move on." Written urged, seeing the slightly mesmerized Twilight "The hideout of our cultists is just up ahead."

The duo of ponies passed through the main corridor of the old catacombs to eventually reach a huge slab of stone blocking the way.

"This is the furthest I could go on my previous journey here." said Written, poking at the thick stone door "I found no way to open this, neither a mechanism, nor runic markings, so maybe this is indeed just a trial of brute force."

Twilight Velvet looked upon the massive door, and reached out to it with her mind. Her scanning spell poked at every square inch of it, but no hidden glyphs, or any enchantments could be detected. It indeed seemed it was just several tons of stone, like Written said. And that meant the only spell that could open it was... telekinesis.

"I, uh... What's behind it?" Twilight stammered before she would commit to anything extreme.

"I'm pretty sure this is the entrance to the cultist base. I don't see a point to this heavy door otherwise."

"Right. Just because if I manage to open it, I don't want to release some ancient evil, or similar." answered Twilight, more joking than not.

"Relax." Written smiled "The only evils around aren't at home."

"Then stand back. I think I can lift this, but it will require some effort."

Written stepped aside. and extended a front leg.

"All yours, miss."

Twilight's horn lit up, and she focused all her magic around the giant stone door. Wrapping a telekinetic spell around it was turning out to be hard, as the door was almost airtight. She had to carefully prod around the edges to find some nooks and crannies on the inside to find a grip, and from there, she could make her magic flow around the door more easily. Of course, to a unicorn more skilled in this kind of spell, or just one more powerful in general, this would've been a trivial problem, and would've grabbed the stone piece in their magic no matter the grip. Luckily, Twilight wasn't too shabby either, and although with incredible effort, she started to lift up the door.

The gentle hum of a basic telekinetic spell has turned into a high-pitched wail, and Twilight's horn was enveloped in a very bright, monochrome purple aura. She threw her head back, clenched her teeth, grunted, and concentrated extra hard not to let go of the spell.

But all her efforts were paying off, and inch by inch, the door was showing more of what was on the other side. When the crack was large enough, Written slipped through, and Twilight also started to approach, carefully, step by step, as she also had to keep up the spell all the while.

When she was close enough, she jumped, and stopped casting. The stone slab crashed back to the ground right behind her with such a blast, that it could have surely grabbed the attention of anyone in the catacombs.

Twilight looked up. Her head hurt a bit, and all she could see was a hoof. It was Written's, offering her help getting up. She accepted, and grabbed unto it.

"I have to say, that was some impressive display of raw, unbridled power!" said Written once Twilight was standing again "And heh, now I'm sure glad you're on our side."

"I just hope I'll be glad, too." answered Twilight, rubbing her temple.

After a few minutes of rest, Twilight joined Written in looking around. They were indeed inside the cultist base, or at least it very much looked like it. The room where the door lead to, was some sort of big looby, with torches lining the stone walls. It would've been pretty unremarkable, if not for one detail. One, on which Written's gaze was fixated upon.

It was a huge banner, hanging from the wall opposite the door. An alicorn looked back from it, with glowing eyes, and a flowing, silvery mane. With flared wings, it was piercing through the heavens, and sported a golden-colored headdress. Underneath, many smaller figures could be seen, presumably ponies.

Twilight stepped next to her companion, whose mouth was left open a little.

"So these cultists... Worship Celestia then?" started Twilight, with some confusion in her voice "That doesn't seem so bad to me, even if the location of the hideout is a bit unorthodox."

"What do you mean?" answered Written, without looking away from the banner "This being looks NOTHING like Celestia. This... this is... This changes EVERYTHING."

"I know you mean the silvery mane, but take note there have been many erroneous depictions of Celestia during history. Our flag has her with a green mane on it. And the existence of a third alicorn is dubious, to say the least."

"This ISN'T Celestia." said Written, now actually looking at Twilight, with a scowl "Ponies who actually worship Celestia form sun cults, and they definitely don't hide underground. Believe me, I'd know, those folks are mostly earth ponies, and actually know how Celestia looks like."

"Then who is this, according to you?" Velvet shot back, gesturing towards the banner.

"I don't know yet. But let's look around. We might get the answers we seek."

"You mean what YOU seek." Twilight thought, rolling her eyes.

Written and Twilight discovered most of the base in the next hour or so. They visited a library, an alchemy lab, what looked like a kitchen, a huge bedroom, and a large circular room with seemingly no purpose. And they went through several storerooms too, but found none of what Written has spoken about. That is, a scroll containing means to gain unimaginable power.

They were in the library again, and Written was sifting through the contents of a drawer when Twilight spoke, not hiding the disappointment in her voice:

"You know what I'm thinking? That we're basically trespassers here, and there's no "dangerous artifacts" to be found. This is a mages' hideout, and while they must be weird for sure, that should be no basis for prejudice."

Written looked back at Twilight, and whacked the drawer close. She began in a huffy tone:

"So you're accusing me of lying? I'm telling you, the Gladius Arcanus have been unto them for years. They're surely up to no good. But you believed me before, so why start doubting me now?"

"Because I saw no sign of the evil wrongdoings you claimed they were partaking in, and I saw no cultists either."

Written sighed. She walked closer to Twilight, and her voice took on an apologetic tone.

"Look, I know you had to give me some serious benefit of doubt, and I'm sorry I roped you into this, but you have to believe me! That scroll must be here somewhere. And the tome, too. We just need to search a little harder."

"Okay, but where? We've looked through everything. I'm already starting to feel like some burglar."

"Well, I didn't finish with these drawers. And as for you... Could you use that magic scan of yours again? Who knows, maybe you'd find something."

Twilight frowned for a second, and looked up at the ceiling, as if she was begging it for patience. But then looked back at Written, and said:

"Okay, I guess there is no harm in trying."

The unicorn ran multiple waves of magic through the library, and looked for any fluctuations in the wavelength, but nothing was out of the ordinary. That meant no serious magical events occured there in the close past.

"Nothing." she shook her head.

Meanwhile, Written finished her search, and ended up with a note in her hoof. She trotted up to Twilight, and showed her the piece of paper.

"A-ha! I told you we would find something! Read it."

Twilight tried to do so, but upon looking at the paper, she realized it was written in unni'lad, the language of the first unicorns, from far before the Unification. She furrowed her brows:

"You realize this is written in...

"Yes, yes, unni'lad. I didn't think these cultists would be so archaic! It says: Wait for us in the usual location with the gems. Signed: The Disciples of Arcana."

Twilight was surprised for a moment that this earth pony understood unni'lad. It's not that it was a hard language, but aside from linguists, not many had a grasp of it. But after her momentary surprise, she squinted her eyes:

"The "Disciples of Arcana?" That's what these cultists call themselves?"

"Would make sense. And if I had to wager a guess, Arcana is the name of the silvery-maned alicorn we saw on the banner."

"That's a really wild take. There only ever were two alicorns, and none of them were called "Arcana"."

Written threw away the note, and looked into Twilight's eyes:

"I feel like our perception might change about a great many things, and we just need to dig in a bit deeper. Who are these cultists, and what do they want from an alicorn who apparently never even existed?"

"I don't know. And honestly, this is making less and less sense by the minute. Yes, I know earth pony folklore speak of "angels" in pre-historic ages, who used to visit them in times of crisis, and their description actually matches that of alicorns'. But aren't those just old mare's tales?"

"That, or we're making the biggest historic discovery ever." Written smiled. "Can you use your scan in the other parts of this base as well? There must be more clues here, and we just cannot see it."

Twilight pondered for a bit. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to help discovering something that in the end would probably end up being the ravings of lunatic unicorns. But also, she respected Written's curiosity in a way. It reminded her of herself when she was younger, before she had a family, when she actually wanted to become an archeologist. But she was convinced that with her magical talents, it would be a waste to become a "dig site mule".

The archeologist that she never became flared up in her a bit. She answered Written.

"Sure I can. Let's find out what's going on here."

Going back to the storerooms, one of Twilight's scans returned something. It was a weak signal, emanating from a wall. Twilight focused more, and in her mind's eye, she saw a glyph written on said wall. She pointed it out to Written:

"There's something here. It's marked by a glyph. and probably not without a purpose."

The other pony's excitement was almost palpable. She answered.

"Maybe it's a hidden entrance? Can you open it? Maybe the wall can be slid away. Try your telekinesis again, that worked last time."

Twilight would've wanted to curb the earth pony's enthusiasm, because she had a bad feeling about the immediate future. Something in the back of her mind told her... But that kind of feeling came back to her from time to time, and it usually didn't mark anything extraordinary or dramatic. So she followed the request, and began casting.

To her own biggest surprise, she barely reached out to the glyph with her most basic telekinetic spell, when it visibly lit up, and the wall slid away on its own. It was probably enchanted, and only needed a small amount of magicka to "jumpstart" the enchantment.

"Well, well, well! A hidden room in the hidden base!" said Written with satisfaction in her voice "Something tells me this is the place we've been searching for."

With that said, Written was already strolling inside the darkness that lay before her.

"Wait!!!" Twilight exclaimed "There might be traps inside! At least let me light the way!"

Written stopped, and turned back to answer, but she didn't look too concerned:

"Please do so. But you must understand my eagerness."

Twilight this time opted for an orb of lighting that she shot into the middle of the room near the ceiling. It remained lingering there, providing sufficient illumination of a purple color.

"Hm, funky." Written quipped "But look, it's actually another storage room."

She walked forward, and although Twilight was concerned her companion will step on an exploding rune, that luckily didn't happen. She cast another scanning spell to make sure the room indeed didn't have any traps, but the feedback she got was overwhelming. She picked up multiple strong magic signals in the room. It must have indeed been used for storing artifacts or the sort.

The room was strewn with crates. Each one must have contained something out of the ordinary. And Written didn't wait to open them, especially after Twilight told her the result of her scan.

"Told you!" she answered giddily "Boy, there could be multiple artifacts here Gladius has been searching for. What a find!"

"Look, let's just find that tome, and get out of here. I really don't like us lingering here any longer than necessary." Twilight said, looking around nervously.

"It's fine, don't worry." Written said, as she opened up another crate "I'll just pick some of this stuff up, and we can bolt."

Twilight rolled her eyes. She still wasn't fully okay with it, but she helped with the pseudo-burglary, and began opening up crates as well. Finally, she found a gilded scroll, with fine ornaments. She rolled it out, but didn't understand a word of it, although the arcane patterns drawn on it were somewhat familiar to her. It was definitely a spell, perhaps the one Written was seeking.

"I found something. Take a look."

Twilight levitated the scroll towards Written. The pony's head was deep within a crate, and when she emerged, exclaimed.

"A-ha! Yes, that must be the one! And look, I also found your tome!"

"Great!" Twilight answered, and opened it. After seeing it contained the same incomprehensible letters and symbols as the scroll, she was convinced enough she finally found what she was looking for. All she needed to do now was to get to the surface, and return to Canterlot.

She put away the tome into her saddlebag, and continued, not hiding her growing impatience:

"Can we go now?"

"Certainly." came the answer, but just a moment later, a clamor could be heard.

It sounded like a heavy stone gate being dropped.

Both ponies looked in the direction of the sound, then at each other.

"I think we've got company..." Written exclaimed quietly.