Lunar Treasure
Prolouge
As long as she had been a friend of Applebloom, Scootaloo had to admit she had never been at her friend’s house. Their many sleepovers had always been with Sweetie Belle and their many adventures always had their locations decided by the three fillies’ older sisters or by the need for insane space. The day before had changed all of that.
According to Sweetie Belle, Rarity had had a sudden appointment come up out of town and in the fuss of the whole thing, had completely forgotten about the sleepover. This had, in Scootaloo’s eyes, resulted in only more frustration and anxiety for Sweetie’s older sister. Although hesitant at first, Applejack and Scootaloo’s friend had agreed to hold the sleepover at the farmhouse of Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo had the vague sense that the farming family would be embarrassed by the less that stately appearance of the home, and the moment she had stepped inside, she could not figure out why exactly they—or at least AJ and Applebloom—had felt this way.
The house had been just as fun to run around on the inside as the apple orchards outside. As a house built only a few hundred years after the War of Sun and Moon, that bloody conflict having reignited pony inter-racial tension, it was filled with interconnecting hidden passages that made for excellent games of Hide-and-Go-Seek. Its two story construction only intensified the fun. It was the first time Scootaloo had fully enjoyed playing inside instead of out, though she would never tell Rainbow Dash that. Or would she? She would need to think on it. The game, after all, was rather athletic when if full swing.
Dinner had been amazing, prepared by Granny Smith and AJ, and with the elder mare sharing delighting tales of the past, including how the secret passages they had enjoyed only moments before, had originally been used to smuggle Earth pony refugees away from the farms still controlled by the Lunarchists. Bed had interrupted Granny Smith’s stories, and despite all three complaining and begging Applejack to let them stay up to listen to more, she was a far more strict and forceful pony than Fluttershy. There was no arguing with her.
But Scootaloo had not been satisfied. When her other two friends had been soundly asleep, she snuck out of the bedroom to the attic Applebloom mentioned held so many of Granny’s relics. By this time, the local weather team had kicked up a violent midnight thunderstorm, which while Scootaloo was grateful at first for it dampening her light hoofsteps, she became gradually more frightened of it. A single window allowed light into the attic overstuffed with cardboard boxes and other random pieces of the past, and with each stroke of lightning and following crash of thunder, objects were lit and darkened in convoluted and dangerous ways. The flashlight she had managed to sneak from the kitchen helped somewhat, but its bulb was old, and only cast a dull, immediate yellow light that was only good for seeing right in front of one’s hooves.
Still, there was plenty to see and even more to explore. Old farm equipment blocked Scootaloo’s view of anything deeper in the attic, but upon finding several flower pots filled with trowels and other small tools, she was able to penetrate deep into the back. The further she went, the more enthralled she became. There were countless old knick-knacks and pieces of furniture Scootaloo was sure would be valuable to antiques collectors. Even the smell was amazing. The combined scents of cedar and layers and layers of dust only heightened her sense of adventure and mystery.
Scootaloo was about to return downstairs and let her tired mind rest for lack of finding anything extraordinary when a brilliant flash of lightning, lasting longer than all the others before, caused something to glint atop a cupboard shoved roughly into the far back of the attic. Scootaloo’s mind began to race: for even in the brief burst of light that had been lightning she had no doubt that she had seen gold. The massive explosion of thunder sealed her decision, and she crept delicately to the cupboard.
A few clay pots stacked upside down later, Scootaloo slid the object into her hooves and before her eyes. It was a book, but a book of the kind she had only ever seen once before. That particular tome was one of Twilight Sparkle’s favorites, being a definitive history of Equestria up until the end of the War of the Sun and Moon and Nightmare Moon’s first defeat. But even that rare book could not compare to the richly adorned cover of the text now held in her hooves. It had been made mostly of some type of rich navy hide (most likely dragon) and its edges were clasped in white gold with the traditional yellow kind embossed over the cover in vining designs. The leaves of these vines were made of dark onyx and the center seal of the book was formed of pearls inlaid within a beautiful and large opal. The pearls themselves were in the shape of Princess Luna’s cutie mark.
Disregarding whatever the book happened to record, Scootaloo could barely bring herself to believe that something with such intrinsic value had been hiding in the Apple house for so long without them ever discovering it. Now more excited than when she had come up searching for lost items of the past, Scootaloo pressed the book close to her chest and climbed down the pots, intent upon reading the book in proper light.
She turned around, preparing to make her way through the masses of Granny Smith’s old things when a bolt of lightning struck remarkably close and illuminated a stalwart stallion’s red face. Scootaloo’s flashlight clattered to the floorboards as she gasped involuntarily, but she managed to keep her hold on the book. Big Mac’s face remained unchanged as they watched each other, both waiting for a reaction. “I’m… I’m sorry,” Scootaloo began to stutter an apology, but Mac calmly held up a hoof to stop her. He closed his eyes contemplatively and sighed as if making a great, world altering decision. Such was Big Mac’s way, and Scootaloo was not about to interrupt him or try to sneak away.
“Yer not supposed to be up here ya know,” he finally said, his eyes opening onto Scootaloo again.
“I… I… just… Granny Smith’s stories,” Scootaloo muttered incomprehensively, all the while kicking herself for having been so stupid. She knew better than most ponies that it was not a good idea to go snooping into other ponies’ private lives.
“You liked those did you?” Big Mac asked, sounding more intrigued than angry.
“Yes…” Scootaloo ventured, leery of what might be coming.
“Well then, I suppose it’s about time I told somepony, and Applejack don’t want Applebloom involved… Sit down here,” he said cryptically, clearing a space amongst the farming junk for them both. “Ya know all about the Lunarchists, right?”
“Yeah, Miss Cheerilee talks about them in school a lot,” Scootaloo replied, more at ease now that she was sure Big Mac was not angry with her for sneaking about.
“Well, somethin’ they won’ tell ya in school is that the Lunarchists continued to exist even after Nightmare Moon was defeated by Princess Celestia and that even during the war, they populated the princess’s court,” Mac said. “Twenty years after the war had officially ended, a trusted adviser of Princess Celestia’s became deathly sick, beyond the point of his physicians’ help. This adviser, a unicorn named Evening Carol, after realizing he would not live much longer, startled his carriage driver one midnight with an urgent request. He was to be taken to Princess Celestia immediately and he had to see her without exception. Now, Evening Carol was the last of the high ranking Lunarchists who had been entrusted with one of seven Lunar Diamonds. I’m sure ya’ve heard of those.”
“Woah! Those are the magic gems in that Canterlot Archives place that helped Nightmare Moon keep the moon up and the sun down! Wow, one of the princess’s advisers guarded one?!”
“Yes, he had, before abandoning it to save himself from being discovered,” Big Mac replied. “Ya do know yer history better than most fillies yer age.”
“Thanks,” Scootaloo said, “but what about Carol? Was he going to try to assassinate the princess?”
“No,” Mac smiled knowingly. “He wanted to share a secret with her.”
“What was it?” Scootaloo asked eagerly.
“A treasure,” Big Mac said simply. “A treasure beyond all imagining. It was a treasure that every known race had fought over for millennia. Dragons, griffons, ponies, zebras: they had all declared wars in the name of finding the treasure, and every time it was taken by another kingdom, it grew even larger. Until one day… nothing. It was gone without a trace. Only several thousand years later was it rediscovered, this time by Lunarchist knights on a mission to overthrow the zebra kingdom which was sympathetic to Princess Celestia. Instead, they secretly purged the zebra kingdom of the treasure, smuggling it back into Lunarchist controlled areas of Equestria. To protect the treasure in the growin’ war between herself and Princess Celestia, Nightmare Moon choose a select few Lunarchists whose sole duty was to protect the treasure from Princess Celestia. And protect it they did, in the most clever way too.”
“How? And why don’t we know about the treasure if Evening Carol wanted to tell Princess Celestia about it?” Scootaloo asked.
“Well, see, Princess Celestia was away that night, and Carol died before he was ever able to tell her. See, even though he had been a powerful Lunarchist, he had only small amounts of knowledge about the treasure. But he knew that he had to tell somepony about it or it would never be found again. So, that night, he confided in the only pony he trusted: my ancient ancestor, Rolling Apple.”
“What did he say that was so special?” Scootaloo asked again, now fully enraptured by the story.
“ ‘The secret sits in song’,” Big Mac breathed, as if unloading a large burden. “Ya see, it’s a clue. That’s how the Lunarchists kept the treasure hidden but still within their reach. They devised a set of clues that would lead anypony smart enough to figure ‘em out to its location. The clues are buried deep in Lunarchist history and artifacts, but if ya look close you can see ‘em. Things like the Eye of Harmony and the Lunar Diamonds are parts of the puzzle. The Lunarchists tell us through symbols like those.”
“Big Macintosh! How dare ya go off makin’ Scootaloo there think tha’ hoo-ha’s real! There’ve been enough Apples that lost themselves to chasin’ that stupid dream and now yer gonna try ropin’ Scootaloo inta it too? I can’t believe you!” Applejack exploded from the entrance to the attic. Scootaloo cringed at her reprimanding tone, but Big Mac only stood to face his sister with the most serious grim-set scowl Scootaloo had ever seen on anypony.
“Don’t bring our parents’ deaths into this AJ,” he said rather coldly.
“Come on Scootaloo, ya need ta get back in bed,” Applejack flatly ignored her older brother before stomping off back downstairs. She cast a final glare at Mac before vanishing completely.
“Why was AJ so upset?” Scootaloo asked, though deep-inside she had already pieced together the reason.
“Our parents died searching for the treasure,” Big Mac said stoically. “She wants nothing to do with it because of that.”
“Why did you want to tell me?” Scootaloo wondered aloud, jumping when Big Mac actually replied.
“Because you wanted to know,” he said. “Ya found the book after all.”
“Do you believe somepony can find the treasure?” she queried.
“I wouldn’t’ve told ya about it if I didn’t,” Mac answered.
“I’ll prove you right Big Macintosh,” Scootaloo said confidently. “Even if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll find the treasure.”
“That there’s quite a commitment,” Mac replied, sensibly cautious for her. “Are you sure you want to swear to something like that?”
“Never been surer,” Scootaloo declared. “I swear by Princess Luna herself.”
And Scootaloo would never forget that next flash of white light. It came not from the clashing thunderheads and their wicked bolts of lightning, but from her own flank: a cutie mark of a diamond laid over a crescent moon.
