Northern Lights

Twilight Sparkle watched as the excavation groups of guards, geologists, and architects scattered over the metal tomb. Their tasks were simple: determine the age of the building by the metal and gather bone and amber specimens for study. The latter was proving the more difficult of the two, as most of the skeletons were so damaged that they cracked at the slightest movement. The amber like substance was also proving a challenge, as it refused to be chipped or cut by the tools available to the ponies.

Magic would speed things up. Twilight thought, but both she and Princess Celestia has insisted that no magic was to be used in the cavern. Instead, charged sunstones usually used to light mining shafts had been brought to provide light. Sure, it was cumbersome, but if just a simple levitation spell had activated the machine and brought that strange pony through, then who knows what another stray spell would cause. Perhaps a collapsing of the cavern, the destruction of Canterlot, or maybe a massive explosion of pure magical energies all over Equestria? With the amount of magic this thing could produce no possibility seemed impossible! What if these serpents were killed by this machine?

“This is... disturbing,” Princess Celestia said, bringing Twilight from her thoughts. The Alicorn of the Sun was scanning the room, her eyes becoming transfixed with the nearest heap of serpent skeletons.

“So, I take it you don’t know what these serpents were?” Twilight said, a little disheartened. She was sure her mentor would have been able to shed some light onto the identity of these creatures.

Celestia shook her head. “No, I have never seen anything of their likes,” She leaned closer to one of the skeletons - a bird winged serpent whose helmet had caved so deep into its skull that bits of the metal peeked through the other side. “How long do you suspect this place has remained undiscovered?”

“I can’t say for sure, Princess,” Twilight replied. “The bodies were flash fossilized without being covered or protected from the elements. And if you don’t know what these things are, then they’re obviously older than a thousand years, at least.”

“I suspect they were even older than the three tribes, or at least before they came to Equestria” Celestia said somberly. It was clear to Twilight that her mentor was affected by the sight before her, not that she could blame her. While at first the discovery was fascinating to the Alicorn of Magic, seeing it now was exposing her to the full situation before her. These creatures had obviously been sentient, and they had died - brutally from the evidence before them. And it had not just been soldiers down here, guards had found chambers filled with smaller skeletons - the longest only reached the length of an average sized dining table.

Children had died down here to, Twilight thought sadly, but she put those images aside and spoke to her mentor. “Princess, the machine.”

Celestia looked at her pupil and managed a smile. “Of course. Forgive me, Twilight.”

The two Alicorns walked through the tomb, and Twilight soon found herself once again in the room of the machine. As they neared, Twilight noticed that the tug of magic had all but left the room. There was still the unmistakable presence of magic, but it was smaller - much smaller, along the lines one would find in residue after a magical duel.

It’s drained, Twilight pondered this fact carefully. The machine had used its magic to bring the mare through, so did this mark its primary purpose? And if so, then what was on the other side? The pony had said that she had gone through several changes, and showed clear signs of instability if simple reassurances had resulted in near violent outbursts. But what would cause that, and how did she even come to discover the device in the first place? All these facts and possibilities swam around in Twilight’s head and put speed in her flight. I’ll need to ask her more when she’s more cooperative.

Two of the castle's head architects were already there; one - a grey pegasus - was examining the archway with a helmet consisting of many magnifying lenses positioned in front of one another. The other - a brown earth pony - was looking over the two pillars. Both turned their heads at the sound of the Alicorn’s wings as they flew through the opening and landed before them.

“Princesses,” The earth pony said, giving a quick bow.

“Hello Marble Measure, I trust you have some information for us?” said Celestia.

“Limited information, sadly, but yes, we have something.” said the pegasus, flipping back the magnifying lenses on his helmet. “This metal is completely foreign to Equestria, that much is certain.”

Twilight’s eyes widened with curiosity. “Really?”

The pegasus nodded. “I’ve never seen any metal mined by pony, griffon, zebra, or even minotaur that bears the physical characteristics of this. But there’s more, look at the surface of the metal under times sixty magnification.”

He removed his helmet and presented it to Twilight. The Alicorn of Magic slipped it over her head and walked towards the archway. Despite the fact that the helmet was customly made, she was able to keep it steadily around her horn so that she could look through the magnifying lenses well enough. As she flipped each lense down there was no visible change at first, but once she reached the sixty magnification she let out a soft gasp of surprise.

The entire surface of the metal was no longer a completely single surface, but millions of small blocks all compacted together. What really drew her attention, however, were the strange blue spherical objects in the center of every block. They seemed to give off a faint glow of some kind, and even sent occasional flares to one another. It would go that the sphere is one block would flash, and then all those around it would give off a similar flash - yet no other block would continue the chain.

Twilight removed the helmet and turned to her mentor. So strong was her curiosity and amazement that it practically shined off her face. “This metal is structured along the lines of a collection of cells - like a living organism!”

“Princess, while the metal has some unique properties to it, I don’t know if I would go that far,” The pegasus spoke.

“I’m not saying that the metal is alive, Geode,” Twilight said with a chuckle. “Besides, looking at it will only get us so far. We’ll need some samples to test on.”

“That has already been taken care of, Princess,” Geode said. He bent behind the archway and held up a small container with several slivers of the blue metal inside. “This stuff is rather strong. I lost my best tools collecting those bits.”

“You will be compensated for your loss,” Celestia reassured. “Now, Marble, have you any news about these pillars?”

“Sadly no, they just seem to be made of basic copper - except for the ends, of course,” He turned one of the pillars over carefully.

“Stop,” Twilight said, causing the architect to freeze. Twilight leaned towards the pillar and discovered the source of her outburst; a small vertical crack about a third of the way towards the southern pole. “Where did this fracture come from?”

“I gathered a few samples of the copper. Thought maybe there might be a hidden secret.” Marble said matter of factly. “I guess I was a little too rough.”

Celestia smiled. “It is alright, I believe this to be sufficient work for today.”

“What?” Twilight spun to look at her mentor. “But Princess, we’ve only just begun!”

“Yes, but the hour grows late, and no doubt my sister has already brought about the night. I understand your excitement Twilight, but without rest none of us will understand anything about this device, or its makers.”

Twilight knew she was right, but she couldn’t leave, not now. She needed to figure these questions out, and to solve the mysteries of the metal. If such a substance could be utilized by ponies, just think of what could be accomplished. A new breed of self perpetuating magical generators that could power machines that before needed constant replenishing of magical charges. It would change the face of Equestria... but Princess Celestia was right. Without sleep they could overlook a crucial piece of information without even knowing it.

Celesita gave her orders to Geode and Marble Measure; they were to signal the rest of their team to return to the castle. Herself and Twilight were returning first, along with a small contingent of pegasus guards - as was standard for a royal escort. As they prepared to depart, the Alicorn of the Sun gave a final look around the main room, a growing look of unease appearing on her face.

“Is everything OK, Princess?” Twilight asked.

Her mentor nodded. “Yes Twilight, it is just that, after all this time, I am surprised that neither Luna nor myself ever discovered this place.”

“It was probably your royal duties that distracted you from it,” Twilight said. “I mean, I found this place on a curious expedition.”

“True, and at any rate it matters not,” Celestia said. “Come Twilight, let us retire.”

The two Alicorns made their way back to the surface. To Twilight, the trip seemed much shorter than when she had brought the mare not a few hours before - most likely because she spent the return trip deep in thought of eventual questions for this mystery mare. Curiously, Celestia hadn't asked about the pony at all during their excavation, not even in passing.

She probably placed this discovery as a higher priority, Twilight thought. Still, the thoughts lingered at the back of her mind, and by this point their entourage had reached the entrance to the surface. One by one they flew towards the opening in the ceiling and reappeared in the Castle Grounds.

Instantly Twilight was bombarded by a blast of magical energies - so strong that it physically shook her and nearly made the Alicorn stumble over. Groaning from the strain in her horn, she looked around for the source of the disturbance. Across the night sky was a flurry of lights, flickering and dancing in ribbons of blue, purple, and green. At first Twilight thought they were the auroras that appeared in the arctic hemisphere, but they were too far south for such an occurrence. What’s more, these lights didn’t spread out as much as the auroras were reported to. The lights were also closer to the earth, and it looked like one could fly up and touch them.

“Are you alright, Twilight?” Celestia asked. Looking at her, Twilight could see beads of sweat beginning to form on her brow though all around she was faring better.

“I don’t know, there’s just so much magic present...”

“Sister, Twilight Sparkle, I am glad you have returned,”

Twilight turned her eyes towards the voice and found a midnight blue Alicorn landing gracefully before herself and her mentor. This one, like Celestia, possessed a mane and tail that flew as if in constant wind - yet to look at them was to look at a piece of the night sky. And like them both, she showed visible signs of strain.

“Luna, what is going on?” Celestia asked.

“I am unsure,” The Alicorn of the Night spoke. “These auroras appeared the moment I began the night. As you have no doubt figured out by now, these are no natural occurrence, but a fabrication of magic.”

Oh no, Twilight tried to speak, but a throbbing pain from her horn cut her off and caused her to merely moan. The other Alicorns both looked at her with concern, but Twilight re-positioned herself and gave a nod of reassurance. I need to tell them.

“Princesses, I think,” Twilight paused, the pressure from her horn continued to hamper her. “I think this was caused from the device in the catacombs.”

“A device where?” Luna inquired.

“I’ll explain later,” Celestia said before turning back to Twilight. “Come, let us continue this conversation inside.”

The trio of Alicorns made their ways back to the palace, with Twilight falling slightly behind the sisters, who were side by side as they walked. No doubt Celestia is informing Luna of everything she missed, Twilight imagined. She turned her head towards the dancing lights and was filled with apprehension. The magic levels that flew from them were identical to the output the archway created when activated. Was this another part of the machine? Did its creators truly die of a massacre, or were they wiped out by their own invention? The same invention I reactivated.

The Alicorn of Magic didn't remember entering the palace, so wrapped in her thoughts as she was. It was only when her mentor called her by name did she snap back to reality in time to stop herself from colliding with a pair of dual lavender doors. After a moment of apology the Alicon of the Sun opened the doors, revealing a long hallway of stain glass windows depicting historical scenes when Equestria was saved from an impending threat. At the beginning it depicted such scenes as Princess Celestia and Luna’s defeat of the spirit of chaos, Discord, and the banishment of Luna when she became the wicked Nightmare Moon. As they walked along, however, the scenes chanced. Twilight saw the day she and her five friends had first used the Elements of Harmony to purify Nightmare Moon upon her return, and when Discord had freed himself to once again spread chaos across the land.

The sight caused Twilight to emit a sad smile. She missed her friends in Ponyville, having not seen them since the incident with her crown - the Element of Magic - being stolen. The Princess has requested that Twilight remain in Canterlot for a time to detail her time in the strange other world she had been forced to travel into to retrieve it. The report hadn't taken more than a fortnight to complete, but then her curiosity kicked in when she remembered the crystal catacombs. Surely she could sacrifice one afternoon without disrupting the meeting with her friends - or so she had thought. I hope they won't be mad at me.

Once again the voice of her mentor broke the lavender Alicorn from her thoughts. “Twilight, you may continue now.”

Twilight nodded slowly. Princess, do you remember that sky blue pony I was carrying this evening when you found me at the entrance?” Celestia nodded. “Well, she wasn't just in the catacombs for no reason, she actually came from the device when it activated.”

“There was a pony in the crystal catacombs?” Luna asked in shock.

“Yes, there was,” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “And I take it there is more to the story then that?”

“Yes, she seemed utterly confused of her surroundings and her own physiology. I was carrying her in my magic because she couldn’t walk. It was like I was watching a newborn struggling with her first steps. And that’s not all,” Twilight gestured to one of the windows, where the auroras were still visible through the stain glass. “Those light... If you look at them close enough, they look like her cutie mark.”

The princesses both looked at the lights and turned to each other. After a moment of silence, Celestia spoke. “In the morning we will ask this mare what she knows about the device. Until then, Luna and myself shall continue to observe these auroras and determine just what kind of threat they present. And Twilight...”

“ Yes Princess?” she replied, grimacing from another burst of pressure from her horn.

“Get some rest.”

Twilight wanted to protest that, being the Alicorn of magic, she should be assisting them with the magically based auroras, but the strain from her horn was causing her too much discomfort. So instead, she gave a stiff bow and departed to her chambers. It didn’t take long for her to reach the guest hallway, but she ended up stopping in front of the third set of doors. The same ones she’s escorted the mare into several hours ago. For a second Twilight was tempted to knock and see if she was still awake - maybe even fish for a few answers. But in the end she decided against it and found her own room.

Tomorrow, she told herself as she laid down onto the bed. Tomorrow we’ll get some answers.