After our short talk we kept quiet for the duration of the trip. I guess I could have sent him back home, but it didn't feel right. I want to send him back on a more positive note. So I decided to take him with me to study up on Equestrian history. I doubt that would cheer him up, as he's not Twilight, but it will give me a chance to talk to him some more. Hopefully by the end of our continued discussion we can leave off in higher hopes.

We land not too long after and make our way to my personal study. It's located just under my bedchambers so it was a bit of a walk, so I asked a passing servant to bring us something to drink. I also made sure to whisper into his ear to inform Luna that Miles is here. Maybe the two of them seeing each other will brighten both of their moods. Not that Luna is unpleasant, so to say. She's just been... flustered? Distracted? I'm not entirely sure what to pin it on, but she hasn't been her normal self. Not entirely at least. Normally I'd know exactly what's going on with her, but ever since their marriage there have been times where I don't know what to make of her. She'll be on edge and flustered. She'll say she's fine, but I can very plainly see that she is far from fine. She also mutters things like 'Miles better hurry', and 'where is he now?'. She thinks I can't hear her, but I let it slide because it's none of my outward business.

"I've never been in this part of the castle before," Miles mentions, breaking my train of thought.

"Well, I've never really had a reason to bring you to my private study, now have I?" I ask him as I walk in. It's just a library the size of my room. The walls are lined with ancient books and tomes save for the space for the large fireplace. A few large cushions take up the center of the room, leaving a decent portion to walk around.

I walk to the nearest cushion and drop down onto it, letting out a loud sigh of relief. I sink in about halfway before the cushion finally supports me. I wiggle around and get comfortable before I start to levitate books over to myself. Miles has started to walk around the room, eyeing different books as he goes.

"Have you learned to read Equestrian yet?" I ask as I start to pile relevant books besides myself.

"Yeah. Not proficiently, but enough to get by," he tells me before stopping at a specific section.

"Starswirl the Bearded... are you familiar with his works?" I ask as he pulls out a book and flips it open.

"Not entirely... I've avoided his works." His statement catches me off guard and I have to stop what I'm doing to stare at him. "Starswirl the Bearded is Dolums son... Dolum was my best friend from Topaz Falls."

"Right... you've told me this before... you don't have to read it if you don't want to." I forgot about that. His people changing themselves into ponies to save themselves... his relationship to them. It's a bit to digest, that's for sure.

"No... no, I think it's time I did." He tells me as he takes the book and sits on a cushion besides me. He flips it back to the beginning and starts to read, so I do the same. Everything stays silent for about two seconds before he asks the question I didn't want him to ask. "Did you know him?"

"Yes. We were... acquainted," I tell him, trying to leave it at that. But, of course, he continues.

"What was he like? And did you know his mother at all?" I sigh from that and try to think of the best way to answer that.

"Yes I knew his mother, not as well as I knew him though. She was... not very trusting. I don't know for sure, but I feel as if she didn't trust me." I tell him as I roll over to look at the empty fireplace. I haven't thought about her for a long time. Him, on the other hoof...

"Starswirl the Bearded was an amazing pony. He was brave, smart, handsome, albeit a bit full of himself. He always felt that he wasn't using his full potential and that magic could be expanded beyond its limits. Knowing what I know now, that makes more sense. But back then, he was a radical... they both were."

"Both?" Miles asks, but I ignore.

"He wasn't satisfied, ever. He'd make one discovery that could change the land, but it wouldn't be enough. There was always something he was pushing himself towards. Something... I don't know. There was a goal for him, but I could never tell what it was. I couldn't give it to him, nopony could. After a while he just... gave up. Settled down. The fire was doused and he... he didn't know what to do with himself. It was then that he started writing too. He stopped exploring. He stopped asking questions. Every time I tried to talk to him he was just... uninterested. I guess he realized that he'd never be satisfied, so he gave up."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Do you need a minute?" Miles asks, breaking me from my thoughts.

"No, sorry. He was a good friend of mine, one of my first friends really. I was... hard, to see him give up like that," I tell him, trying to hide my face in my book. I can see him stare at me for a moment before going back to the book. I relax, thinking he let it go, but nearly have a heart attack at his next comment.

"He liked you, that's for sure."

"What!?" I yell, dropping my book.

"Well, at least in this book he did," he continues nonchalantly.

"That book is about his adventures in Tartarus, not a love confession!" I yell at him, knowing the book by its cover. I can't help but lose my temper a bit when he tells me this. It's a... touchy subject for me.

"And my thoughts go to the sun, I long for truth, May I chase the sunset, never to reach it. You've had this book for how long and you couldn't find these?" I stare at Miles for a moment before I yank the book from his grasp and read it myself. I flip through a few pages before I toss it back at him.

"And where exactly are you reading all of these love notes?" I ask bitterly, glaring at him.

"They're in Terradisian ciphers. Page number equal to paragraph. Usually they also take the page number for the word in the paragraph as well, followed by the lettering. It makes sense too. He was raised by Terradisians, and they probably didn't trust anyone out there. They needed to write down their thoughts, this would be the best way to do it. Try treading it again, but this time follow the cipher." I give him a skeptical look before taking the book and following his instructions.

At first I assume it's merely coincidence. A few words here and there, a phrase after that. But after a few sentences I start to lose my skepticism and read more and more. Have these been here the entire time? Has anypony ever seen this before? Somepony had too! It's too easy of a key for anypony not to have! Then again, I didn't. Twilight didn't... or did she? These seem rather personal... and pointed towards me. Was she trying to protect me? Or did she already know about them and assumed that I did too?

After a few longer sentences come up I summon a quill and parchment to start taking notes. There are what appear to be answers to questions I never thought I'd get to ask. His feelings, why he traveled with us, who knows what else is in here. Miles has kept quiet, having taken another book to read. A knock catches my attention eventually, about three pages into my notes. How long have we been here?

"Come in," I answer, never looking away from the book in front of me.

"Hello you two," Luna greets as she walks in.

"Hi," I mutter, more transfixed on the notes than anything else.

"Luna," Miles greets, standing up to speak with her. "Sorry, I probably should have told you we were going to be here. Though, I didn't think we were going to be here as long as we were to be honest."

"It's alright. I'm... glad you did," she says coyly.

"Yeah?" he asks, sounding a bit more confident.

"Yeah," she replies simply.

"Either grab a book and read or be on your way," I tell then dryly. I'm too focused on the task at hand to care about whatever it is they have to say. They share a small laugh at take a seat next to me, grabbing their own books.

I lose sight of the rest of the world as I get back into deciphering this book. How many other messages did he write? Is this why he was so focused on writing towards the end of his life? It must have been the only way he could let his personal thoughts out, I imagine. What other resource would he have had? He couldn't talk to me, if his feelings were really this way. His mother had passed by this point too. There were the other founders, but by this point they were either too busy with their own dealings. He certainly couldn't talk to her. She... just wasn't the type of pony you talked to.

In the midst of my own thoughts I happen to glance at Luna and Miles. Luna is curled up on her side with Miles laying against her shoulders. She has a wing draped over him lightly while he has an arm entangled with her foreleg. They're each reading their own books, but I can tell they're more focused on each other.

Every now and again Luna would shift around to snuggle closer to Miles. He, in return, would either plant a small kiss on the top of her wing or hold her hoof a little tighter. He's also lightly rubbing his cheek against her wing. I can't help but feel conflicted as I watch them.

I want them to be happy. And seeing them happy makes happy as well. But I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy at the moment. I don't have somepony to share this joy with. I know this is only surfacing because of the messages I've been reading, but there is a truth to my emotions. This is why I need to protect them. Because if I lost them, who would I turn to? I know there are those that would be there to support me, but who would understand losing somepony that you've known for so long? Miles may not have been there always, but the history we share is still more than most can say.

"Is everything alright Celestia?" Luna asks, making me blink.

"What? Oh, no! No! Sorry, I was just deep in thought." I tell her, blushing a bit.

"What were you thinking about?" she asks innocently. I stutter a few times as I try to think of an answer. What do I tell her? I was thinking of a previous love of mine that you didn't allow me to have, and now I'm jealous of you and Miles. That would be the worst possible thing to say! I could just say it was nothing, hope she doesn't press the issue.

"Oh... it's nothing, really," I tell her, hiding my face in the book again.

"Are you sure-"

"What the fuck," Miles mutters as he sits up.

"What is it?" Luna asks, dropping the subject.

"Miles?" I ask, glad that he changed the subject.

RIIIIIIIIP

Luna and I both let out a loud gasp when he rips a page out of the book in his hands. One of the original Starswirl the Bearded books...

"What in the hell do you think you are doing!?" I yell as I stand up. He ignores me and starts to rip more and more of the pages out, setting them on the floor in a specific order.

"Miles!" Luna yells, standing up and poofing the book from his grasp.

"What is this?" he asks himself and he fans the teared pages out and starts to move them around. Luna and I look to each other in abject horror. He just ruined a national treasure. A hoof written book by the son of his best friend! A nearly four thousand year old book! Has he gone mad!? "I need that book!"

"You are not ruining another page-"

"Please!" he yells, stunning us both. "There's something here, I'm sure of it! I don't know what it is yet, but if it's what I think it is... I need to see that book." Luna and I share an uneasy look before I nod to her. I don't know what he sees, but if he saw those messages then there might be something else there too.

Luna summons the book back and levitates it over to Miles. He takes it and wastes no time flipping through the pages and ripping them out one by one. Each tear makes me cringe and I have to look away to stop myself from taking the book back. After a few more tears he starts to mess with the loose pages on the floor, setting them in a specific order. At first I don't understand what he's trying to do, but page by page it becomes more and more clear what he's doing.

He's setting them in a circle. I don't understand why, but that's what he's doing. I look to Luna to ask her a question, but she's too intrigued by the sight to notice me. I try looking again and try to see what's different this time. He has them laying over each other so there isn't any empty space between any of them. It seems that only odd pages are facing up as well. Other than that, I don't know what's going on.

"Miles, what is this?" I ask, getting him to stand up slowly.

"A Terradisian enchantment," he tells me slowly, reading a passage in the book. "I noticed there were random points in his writings that had extra spacing. At first I didn't realize what it was, but then I noticed the consistency of the spacing. I started drawing the shape in my head and it came to a circle with a slightly smaller circle within it. In the final chapters he writes about a creature called a Praetorian, do you know of it?"

"They are the guardians of Tartarus, or were the guardians. But they're just myths, legends. They were made up to keep ponies out of-"

"What did they do according to the legends?" Miles asks, to which Luna answers.

"They were creatures of immense magical power. It was said that they could even rival that of my sister and I. Faceless and without emotion, they eventually turned to dust as they kept their guard, waiting for any foalish enough to enter their domain." Miles hums to that and skims a few more pages before ripping a few more out. He tears these one further until he has several paragraphs isolated.

"Have I ever told you about spoken magic?" he asks as he sets them in the center of the circle, trying to put them in a certain order.

"Never," I mutter.

"What is it?" Luna asks, stepping closer.

"Terradisian magic requires movement to activate, this much you know. But, there are certain spells that require more from you. When I first was trying to forge the Elements, I tried this myself. But it never worked out. I've read a few legends that told of casters that would speak in ancient archaic words, casting spells that could reshape reality itself. I've seen proof of this as well."

"So spoken magic is more powerful?" Luna asks. Miles doesn't respond. He just stands up and looks down at the papers beneath him. Luna and I step up beside him and see what has come from all this.

In the center of the two rings is a pile of passages that have formed what looks to be an old figure for alicorns... wait. I know this figure! It's the same as the Alicorn Amulet! But, then that means...

"Is this the enchantment to make the Alicorn Amulet?" I ask.

"Possibly. What is that?" Miles asks, pulling out his phone to take a few pictures.

"Remember when Trixie went power crazy? When you first met her? That." Luna tells him, getting him to nod.

"Well... only one way to find out." Before Luna and I could do or say anything, Miles ignites his hands and slams them onto the papers below.

Luna and I are thrown back as a massive wave of energy ignites from the ground. Powerful winds whip around the room and send books and papers all over. Arcs of electricity snap from a bright fire in the front of the room. I try to call out to Luna, but the roar of energy silences me. I see her call back to me and crawl towards me, so I do the same. When we are within each other’s reach I pull her in and try to shelter her as best I can. A few books slam into me, so I try to put up a shield. All of the energy I tried to put into the spell becomes sapped into whatever Miles is doing. I try to call out to him, but there's no way he can hear me. I can't even see him, there's too much light. With nothing else to do, I close my eyes and huddle over Luna, waiting for it to end.

BOOM

My ears begin to ring after a loud explosion deafens the room. A small amount of smoke attempts to choke me, but its quickly dissipating. I look down to Luna and cheek to see if she's okay. I can hear myself asking her, but it sounds too muffled and distant to make out properly. She looks up to me in a daze and tries to ask me something, but I can't understand her. I look out to the room and see Miles laying on his back before a massive scorch mark. He's coughing and attempting to get up, but shows no other signs of injury.

The doors fall open and several of my guards start to rush in. One of them runs into the scorch mark and causes a massive light to go off, blinding me momentarily. I rub my eyes and blink widely as I wait for my vision to come back. While waiting for that I slowly start to get my hearing back. The sound of muffled screaming is the first thing I hear, followed by the groans of everypony else. As my vision fades back in, I look back to the entrance and gasp from the sight.

One of my guards is writhing on the floor, trying to remove a mask from his face. It looks to be made of wood and covers every inch of his face, ending just before his horn. Strange markings glow an eerie green over the wood. They remind me of the markings Miles has over his body when he uses his magic, but... different. His eyes are gone, now replaced with orbs of glowing green energy. Small arcs of energy crackle from the mask and his horn as he continues to struggle.

One of the other guards tries to help him, but it doesn't seem to help. The masked guard starts to flare his magic and a sense of power I've never seen in a guard erupts from him. Layers of magic envelope his horn as he sets off a spell. Something goes wrong though, and a section of the tower is forced out into the side of the mountain, causing massive craters. I feel a cold chill run down my spine as I get a sense of utter power from the formerly average guard.

"What have you done?" I ask Miles as he stares at the guard.

"I don't know... but I intend to find out."

Man of War Writing Contest.

Brony on!