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The Celestia Code

by iisaw

Chapter 2: 2 My Trusty Side-Kick

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Chapter Two
My Trusty Side-Kick

The more I studied Sharphoof's journal, the more I wondered if there was some magical spell I hadn't heard of that enhanced a pony's drawing ability or ensured its accuracy. Modern photography made such a spell unnecessary for general use, but I couldn't help thinking that even photographs wouldn't be able to do such a good job of recording clear images in cases where the lighting was bad or uneven. I hunted down a pottery shard at Crinet College's museum that had been collected by the expedition and compared it to the drawing in the book. The illustration was perfect, down to the little scratches and cracks in the surface, which meant that the ghastly depiction of Celestia was that much more likely to be accurate.

I found out several other interesting things that evening. The Crinet manuscript collection had three copies of the first volume of the expedition journal, but none of the second. There wasn't even any indication that a second volume existed. The rolls of the College listed the dates related to Professor Sharphoof's tenure, but there seemed to be no other information or records about her. Holding a department chair almost mandated a portrait, to be hung somewhere along the dim hallways of the college, but there was none to be found.

Then I had a minor brainstorm. I asked Jigsaw (the undergraduate that had been assigned to me as a guide) if any of the available faculty of the Archaeology Department could cast an age-evaluation spell. The sky-blue mare tossed her yellow mane nervously and toed the floor with one hoof. "Well, ma'am... I can do it. My accuracy is only within ninety five percent, though, so if you'd like one of the senior faculty..."

"No, that's not necessary. I'm sure you can help me." I hated being called "ma'am" but it was the best I could argue her down to from "Your Serene Highness." Pointing out that she was at least a couple of years older than I was didn't help a bit.

"What would you like me to evaluate for you, ma'am?"

"Where is the Office of the Chair of Archaeology?"

"Ma'am?"

Jigsaw was understandably puzzled, but I didn't want to have to explain my half-formed plan. Fortunately for me, being a princess also meant that most ponies would gladly respond to any request, no matter how odd. She led me to the office, which was unoccupied at that late hour. "Can you scan a wide area with your spell?" I asked when we had entered the room.

"Mm... not very wide, ma'am. About this size," she indicated a roughly pony-sized area with her hoof.

I nodded. "I would like you to scan the room, beginning with the desk. Look for items that are about two centuries old. Stop and point them out to me when you detect any."

She was a fairly bright mare and realized pretty quickly that we were on some sort of treasure hunt. I would have bet my crown that she had read the Daring Do novels and secretly wished that real archaeology was more like what was depicted in the books. She couldn't suppress a grin as she happily chirped, "Yes, ma'am!"

Unsurprisingly, in an office belonging to the head of the Archaeology Department, there were several two-hundred-year-old knick-knacks lying around, but nothing I was interested in at first. Then we hit the jackpot.

"There's something on that shelf," Jigsaw announced, pointing.

"One of the books?"

"Mm... no. Perhaps there's something behind them." She had gotten so enthralled with the search that she had been forgetting to add "ma'am" to every sentence. Thankfully.

I levitated the books off the shelf and set the stack down on the desk.

"Nothing. I'm sorry, but I thought—" she began.

"No, you were right!" I almost stomped my hooves in glee. "You see that horseshoe mark on the back of the shelf? Push it, and it'll open a secret compartment."

"Really?"

I nodded. "It seems like almost every library I've been in has at least one of them." I gestured to the shelf with my horn. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Her grin went so wide it nearly met at the back of her neck. "Yes, ma'am!" Her horn lit briefly, there was a click from the shelf, and the panel rose up to reveal a large wooden scroll tube, heavy with dust.

We exchanged looks of victory and anticipation as I cleared the dust off of the tube and floated it over to the desk. My assistant closed the secret panel and returned the books to the shelf to make room.

The tube was unmarked, except for a small carving on one end, a torch crossed with a quill. "Yes!" I actually did do a little stomp of joy then. "That's Sharphoof's cutie-mark."

"You're kidding me! Oh... I mean... forgive me Your Highness... but how do you know all this?"

I was just about to give her a brief explanation when something else popped into my mind, one of my favorite lines from Daring Do and the Griffin's Goblet. I flashed her what I hoped was a dashing grin and said, "I'm just that good!"

Wow! I certainly hadn't expected such a reaction from her. She gaped at me, speechless, while a rather pretty blush blossomed on her cheeks. Definitely a fan-filly! I was going to have to get her an autographed copy of the new book as a thank-you gift when it came out.

I lifted the tube and slowly twisted off the cap. Inside was a large roll of paper. I gently probed it to determine how fragile it was. It seemed in good condition. I used a trick that one of my first teachers at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns had taught me for handling possibly delicate scrolls, holding the paper still while pulling on the tube with a very slight twisting motion. The scroll came free and I put it down on the desk, setting the tube aside. "Now, I just need to do a little conservation spell to make sure it doesn't crack when we unroll it..." I caught my tongue in my teeth at the corner of my mouth as I concentrated on convincing the fibers of the paper that they were just as supple as they had been when they were put into the tube a couple of centuries ago.

The heavy paper settled and began to unroll of its own accord. I helped it along and it revealed a detailed map of a quality to rival the illustrations in Sharphoof's journal. "Gotcha!" I whispered in triumph. Yes, that's another of Daring Do's catch-phrases, usually reserved for when she acquires whatever rare doo-dad is the culmination of her adventure. That's another good thing about being a princess: nobody but close friends will call you a geek for stuff like that.

The pony who had drawn the map had been meticulous. It had a very detailed key and was clearly labeled. "Crook-Tail Canyon Ruins and Environs," Jigsaw read over my shoulder, "Third Badlands Expedition." She looked over at me in confusion. "But... the Badlands are one of my focused areas of study, and I know that there aren't any ruins there by that name."

"No recorded ruins," I corrected her. "I think somepony's trying to hide something." I took the copy of the first volume of the expedition's journal that I had borrowed from the college's library out of my saddlebag and flipped to the last page. "Although the expedition did not find any signs of ancient habitation," I read, "we did uncover some evidence of old trade routes which may be of some use in future explorations. —Professor Sharphoof, Expedition Leader."

I felt Jigsaws's magic take hold of the page and turn it to the previous entry. "No summation. That's very unusual. And..." She flipped the page back, squinting closely at the writing. "I think that's different quillwork."

I hadn't told her about the second volume. I was reluctant to let anypony know about its existence. But it seemed she might not need to be told.

She turned to me with a thoughtful expression. "Ma'am, this journal was used to the very last page. Combined with the other irregularities, it may mean—"

"Yes," I said, nodding, "There is a second volume. That last entry was obviously intended to hide that fact. Very impressive deduction, by the way." I fully intended to write a letter of commendation to the mare's superiors in the morning. But meanwhile...

Jigsaw's expression turned from glowing pleasure to dismay as I rolled up the map and began to put everything into my saddlebags. "Ma'am... shouldn't we—"

"You've been very helpful, Jigsaw," I said as I fastened the flaps of my bags. "I think I have enough information to continue my research."

She just gaped at me.

"Thank you very much," I said, with a little nod of my head indicating that she should open the office door so that we could leave.

"But... but..."

I could have just winked out and appeared back in my chambers, but that would have been pretty rude, and Celestia's "Graciousness is Never the Wrong Choice" lesson[1] prodded at me. "Would you be so kind as to escort me off the university grounds? We can chat as we walk."
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[1] Celestia's guidance after my ascension was never that structured, of course, but that is how I like to mentally organize things.
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Jigsaw gave me a full, formal bow and opened the door, without replying. It made me deeply uncomfortable. I could sympathize with her. Her name and cutie-mark (three mismatched puzzle pieces) meant that her special talent almost certainly was putting together disorganized information—solving puzzles, in other words. And I had just offered her a glimpse of a fantastic mystery. She had to be aching to get her hooves on it. But the drawing that had triggered my investigation—no, that was something I wasn't willing to share with anypony until I knew what it meant. (And, quite possibly, not even after that.)

I felt horrible for excluding her, but she was so respectful and deferential to me, the least of Equestria's royalty, that I could only imagine the mental melt-down she would undergo if she saw the vile depiction of Celestia.

= = =

My investigation into Sharphoof didn't go much of anywhere. The reference librarian from the archives had gotten me every bit of information available and it didn't even amount to a stack as high as my hoof. Sharphoof the Archaeologist had been a fairly ordinary pony in the field. She had made no major discoveries but still contributed substantially to the wealth of general knowledge about Equestria's past. Her major strength seemed to be that she got along well with just about everypony. Her elevation to the Chair of Archaeology seemed to be because she was less disliked than the other candidates, rather than any personal merit.

Sharphoof the Rebel was a different matter. Less than fifty years after her death, there was a strong faction among the chroniclers that claimed she was an entirely different pony than the academic, but the dates lined up just too well. I was certain that Sharphoof had gone into the desert a respectable researcher and teacher and had come back a wide-eyed fanatic, determined to overthrow Princess Celestia by any means. Details of the brief (very brief) rebellion were almost non-existent. Sharphoof's reasoning and grievances were recorded exactly nowhere—as was her fate.

That was all.

I sighed and closed the last book. The only clues I had left were the journal and a few cryptic notes on the map. The map was on too large a scale to give the location of the ruins in relation to the surrounding wasteland, but it did have a very detailed layout of the buildings themselves. Most intriguingly, it had a building near the center that was labeled Library- very well preserved, many masterful reliefs. And after that line, a tiny sun had been added in red ink.

I went back to the journal and re-examined the illustration of the Celestia bas-relief with a magnifying lens. As I'd noticed before, there was an incredible amount of detail. So much that, with the aid of the glass, I was able to see that what I had thought was a mere decorative ribbon actually carried lines of text.

Above her, partially entwined with her mane, it read: Celestia, Majestie of the Sun, doth guide her little ponies, step by step, that none shall falter, nor go astray. "Hmn... that doesn't seem very sinister."

"Huh? What was that, Twilight?"

I hadn't realized that I'd spoken aloud. "Sorry, Spike. I'm just doing a little..."

"Research?" he grumbled. "Gee, what a surprise!"

I whapped him with a pillow. He pulled it over his head (and ears) and went back to sleep.

The section of ribbon that wound around Celestia's legs read: Brightest lights oft cast deepest shadows, but the suns shall discover the truth. Now that was a bit more in keeping with the subtly twisted imagery. But the last bit—when ponies used the sun as a metaphor for Celestia, they usually capitalized it. And plural "suns?" That didn't make much sense.

I sighed again. I just wasn't well-versed enough in the time period or the culture of the Badlands ponies. I needed an expert. I needed Jigsaw.

= = =

=

Author's Notes:

Next Chapter: 3 The Suns Shall Discover the Truth Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 21 Minutes
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