Lights began to flood the walls of the tombs. Endymion had seen something similar to this once, inside of Flintheart’s own lab, and that was taking Professor Flintheart working at full steam. There had to be a massive magical battery in this tomb to produce this much power. And that was when he felt the first tingle of something trying to touch his mind. He’d never felt his mother invade his dreams, but other ponies had said that when she entered there was a little tingle that reminded them of a tickle.

This felt almost the same. He looked in various directions when he felt the tingle again.

“Heir.”

His eyes widened, nopony else was reacting to the sound of the voice.

“Heir to house of Endymion.”

“That’s my name,” Endymion stated, “it’s what my mother calls me.”

“Heir to the House of Endymion, Archmage of The Terran Empire.”

“Who or what,” Endymion inquires, “is an ‘archmage?’”

“Endymion?” Fluttershy asks.

“Ferget ‘bout him,” AJ says, “what about us?”

Rainbow Dash rejoinders, “Yeah! Can somepony turn off all the bills and whistles, damn it?!”

The various glowing and reacting lights began to gain in intensity, until finally part of a wall began to crumble. Rainbow Dash prepared to make a run for it, to get her friends, and even that idiot magi out of there when the wall finished doing whatever it was doing. The rock wall had been something that seemed to have actually formed there.

Years of dust, dirt, and even lime water had formed the large wall itself, and behind it was something that made her eyes widen. Sense seemed to take a back seat to getting more than enough treasure to make up for all of their past adventures. There, in the wall, was no less than a hundred magically filled crystals. All connected together to form a huge battery that was currently activating the entire lab. She neared it, and the amount of magic was making her fur stand on end. She reached out to touch one, to feel the deep purple gem when a rumble erupted from below them.

They had already dealt with orcs, vampire bats, and spectres, so anything else that could, or would be left, would be beyond surprising. Instead she felt something, grab her ankle right above her hoof, and she tried to fly up only for whatever it was that was holding her to keep her in place. She watched as the being formed, from the very limestone rock that had been on the wall.

The rock seemed to melt into one being, and it easily grew to the size of Endymion. It was holding her upside down, seemingly immune to any swearing, punching, or dagger strikes she was giving it. The Golem itself didn’t have many features. Its face was almost blank, except for the simplest of smiles that seemed to be little more than two finger with and deep grooves where the eyes were, and a single finger width and deep half circle for the mouth.

It made no noise, said no words, but instead it held her there.

“Let go of ma friend!”

AJ swung her sword, and it caught it. The golem caught her sword, pulled her toward it, and like Dash she found herself being held in the air, by her ankle, with a very pissed off look on her face. Fluttershy cleared her throat, causing the Golem to turn to her.

“Please, put them down.”

It cocked its head to the side, not dropping them, but not hurting either of the ponies. Fluttershy walked toward it, holding out her hands, giving a soft and warm smile, “Please, they mean you no harm.”

She looked at Endymion, who was finally no longer talking to himself. Instead he faced the Golem. “Release them.”

It didn’t drop them gently, instead it simply let go letting both of them fall straight to the floor.

“How’d ya’ll go and do that?”

“It was waiting for me,” Endymion stated, “it’s been waiting for a very long time.”

“The golem?” Fluttershy asked.

Endymion shook his head, and answered, “The Blade.”

“Uh, am I missing something here?” Dash asked.

“Ah dunno,” AJ replied, “Ah feel like we’re only getting half o’ the conversation.”

Dash looked at the Golem. It seemed content to simply stand in place, not move, not flinch, just remain stationary. She looked toward the jewels, deep purple jewels that were perfectly cut. There was no denying that a single crystal that had been turned into a magical battery was worth at least a hundred bits, and that was if it was a hack job made by an Unicorn that was just learning how to do it.

These were obviously better than the hack job magical batteries. She stretched her hand out toward the wall, and the Golem turned, its large stone hand reaching for her. She stopped, and it stopped. She moved slightly toward the wall, and it moved with her. Realizing that the Golem was here to protect the magical batteries, and realizing that one of their team seemed to have some power over it, she looked at Endymion.

He still looked like he was kind of out of it. She walked toward him, and the Golem simply stayed where it was. She got near him, and she felt something. She could see it in Fluttershy’s face. It was something she didn’t understand, something different, and a deep part of her wanted her to turn around, and head out of this room as fast as her wings could carry her.

What stopped her was money, an entire flank load of money, and it was just waiting for her to take it. She pushed the need to nope it right the tartarus away from that feeling that she was getting from that sword, and touched Endymion. His eyes focused, he looked at the sword itself, and finally placed it against the wall.

“Okay, that was weird.”

“Endymion, you talked, about things with somepony that wasn’t there.” Fluttershy said.

He shook his head and pointed to the sword, “Mom talked about this kind of magic before, an imprint item. They’re left behind by a dying pony. His, or her, hope is that somepony in her family will come along and find the item. It’ll tell them all about their history, tell them about their family line, at least up until that pony died, and maybe even reveal a couple new spells to the family member.”

“Y’all figure that’s what this was?”

He nodded. It meant that he found something that belonged to a distant member of his family. Dash’s eyes brightened and she did something that surprised the living Tartarus out of him. She hugged him tightly.

“YES! You own this place! That means you own those jewels! Hahahaha! We’ve made it! Finally! A good treasure!”

“I can’t tell the Golem to let us take them.”

She stopped and looked at him, “What?”

He shook his head, “It was given two commands. One was to protect the magical batteries and make sure that are never removed, and the second was to obey the commands of the pony that could remove the sword.”

“So, command it to stand down.”

“It doesn’t work like that. If I command it to stand down and you try to remove the jewel it will disregard my command because its first, and primary command, is to protect that wall,” he grinned, “Until those batteries run out of power he’s going to protect them.”

Disbelief covered her face. Rainbow Dash looked at the Golem, back at Endymion, and then back to the stone golem before she began cursing up a storm. The cerulean Pegasus kicked up a storm for a few minutes, often falling into unintelligible babble. It took a slapp by Applejack to fallen calm Dash down, and even then, she was just barely in control.

“Great, just great,” she grumbled, “a lifetime of wealth, just sitting there and we can’t even touch it.”

“We can’t touch it now,” Endymion said, picking up the stone sword again, “but we might after a bit.”

“Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout, Wizard?” AJ asked.

“That is a good question, Endymion,” Fluttershy said, “what are you talking about?”

“Ms. Shywing, Ms. Apple, Rainbow Dash-” “HEY!” “I think there’s something that I need to do here. Something important… If you can keep away from the jewels for just a few more minutes, I should be able to get everything explained and we might be able to take some loot home. Agreed?”

The priestess and the warrior agreed readily enough, but the thief grumbled about wasting time and time being money. Endymion ignored Rainbow’s missive and stepped towards the desk like object once more. Unlike before, the whole thing was now alive, the upright surface displaying a dizzying amount of information. It was like one of Twilight’s scrolls, but set in fast forward. As soon as Endymion stepped in front of it, an image emerged. It looked remarkably like Endymion, but the mane on this stallion was grayed with time and he sported a most impressive heard. Hidden behind a pair of half moon spectacles were blue-gray eyes that scrutinized the object of focus; they seemed now to be examining Endymion.

A conservation was had between the being on the wall and Endymion, but they could only hear Endymion’s side. Eventually the conversation ended and Endymion returned to the party; he looked seriously aggrieved. He then said something to the golem. The construct then shrank in size until it was no larger than a filly’s fashion doll. Endymion picked up the now pint sized golem just as Dash noticed the fading light coming from the crystals.

“Hey, what gives?!” Dash shouted, “they’re going out!”

“They’re not dead, Rainbow,” Endymion stated even if he still looked horror struck, “they’ve gone into dormancy. They can be recharged easily enough. Kokoro won’t even attempt to block you if you manage to wedge them out of their housing; they aren’t needed anymore.”

“Endymion,” Fluttershy started, “is something wrong?”

“Thank you for your concern, Fluttershy,” Endymion said, “and yes, something is wrong.”

“What is it?” Applejack asked, “is there anything we can do to help?”

“Well, I’m not sure you can help me,” Endymion began to explain, “you see, this place- It isn’t a tomb.”

“Wait a minute,” Dash declared, “it looks like tomb, it smells like a tomb, and it even sounds like a tomb. So why isn’t a tomb?”

“Because this place is a shrine,” Endymion answered, “a shrine- to my ancestors.”

The three mares looked to each other than back to Endymion.

“Your- ancestors, Endymion?” Fluttershy asked, “I thought you didn’t have ancestors.”

“I didn’t think I had any, either,” Endymion said, “but Merlin- the guy that was on the screen- he told me that- I am an heir to The House Endymion.”

“Wait, you have a house on your own?” Dash asked excitedly.

“Not like that,” Endymion countered, “Merlin said that, I am a member of a select group of beings, one filled with magic-”

“Right, filled with magic,” AJ scoffed.

“Applejack,” Fluttershy warned sternly, “please, Endymion, what else?”

“He said- to know more about myself, about my people, about everything I am ‘destined’ to do, I need to travel west, into the area called The Unknown Regions and traverse the Mountains of Gloom.”

“Woah, wait just a gald durn, minute. Ya gotta go past Mount Gloom?”

He nodded, and AJ said, “Dash, that’s where Princess Luna fought and banished that Grogar feller. Could be a lot of treasure left in his cave.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, “No kidding, not to mention everypony would want something from there,” she grinned at Endymion, “Seeing that we’re a group, and you’re the least experienced one of us, you don’t get the call on if we’re going or not. Like AJ said, we could stand to make a tidy profit.”

Endymion looked at them, then at Fluttershy who studied him intently, “Sol has commanded that I follow you, I am to serve you on your various quests. It is my duty as a priestess of Sol.”

It wasn’t so much them that bothered him. He had seen that both Rainbow Dash and AJ could take care of themselves, and Fluttershy didn’t seem to be a slouch when it came to her abilities as a priestess. What worried him, bothered him, was knowing that his mother was going to find out. There was no doubt in his mind that his mother wouldn’t try to stop him, but he wasn’t sure what kind of conditions she might put on his travel.

“You said we can take this now, right?”

He nodded.

“Good, ‘cause to get to where you’re suggesting we go we’re going to need an airship. Booking passage on one isn’t cheap, and we need one that has the ability to go past the Equestrian Border,” Dash said as she began grabbing the jewels, “That means either we hire a merchant ship with trade papers for the Badlands, Minos, Germanenay, Zebrafrica, and possibly the Shetlands, or we try to get a noble or royal airship.”

“Are you sure?”

AJ nodded, “Can’t get there by hoof. It’s a two month trek by hoof to Mount Gloom, and ain’t nopony other than the Princess has been past that point without an airship. Mainly ‘cause the other side of it starts the Dragonlands. Only a durned fool would try to walk ‘cross the dragon’s land without some help. Nope, Airship is gonna be the best bet, and like Dash said, it’s gonna take some serious bits.”

He stopped and considered it. His mom did have Lunar Light, her airship that she used for diplomatic missions. He’d been on it, once, when she had to take him with her to Minos. There had been some kind of argument between her and the head of the Smiths’ Guild of Minos. Something about not being able to settle the arrangement for a dowery. He didn’t even begin to know what they were talking about. His Mom wasn’t getting married… And then it dawned on him. He’d been brought because it was going to be him. He felt a shiver run down his spine, but he remembered the way his mother chewed out the nobles on the airship. It occurred to him that his mother had kept him from being married off.

He was thankful, more than thankful to be honest, that his mother saved him from that fate. It wasn’t that he had anything against the Smiths’ Guild Leader in Minos, but he’d been so young when they visited, and the thought of being married to somepony he didn’t know, let alone love, was nothing short of insanity. Still, they needed an airship, and as he recalled the Lunar Light was huge. It was an older design, his mother had told him that. She said that unlike many of the newer airships the Lunar Light was designed for air and sea. The ship held by the Cloud stuffed sail was actually a good size, and he knew that it took a small crew to run it.

“Endymion, are you okay?”

He looked at Fluttershy and nodded, “I was thinking about mom. She’s going to find out about this, but we might be able to save on bits.”

Dash looked at him and then her eyes widened, “The Royal Airship?! Seriously?!”

He nodded, “Maybe. I don’t for sure, but she might be willing to let us use it. We’ll still have to put together a crew. I doubt that she’s going to let us use the royal crew without it being a diplomatic mission.”

AJ grinned, “Well, that won’t be too hard. Should be able to put together a crew based on the promise of some treasure, and ‘fore ya go and say anything Dash ya know as well as Ah do that ain’t nopony gonna do it fer free. Nope, we offer a percentage of the treasure ta some of the ponies, with the understandin’ that they don’t get an equal share ‘less they willin’ ta help go in after it. Otherwise they get a smaller share.”

“I will need to check with the temple. If we are going to do this it isn’t that I won’t have other priestesses to cover my duties, but I will need to ensure that they understand that I will be gone for a short length of time, and I need to restock on the oils, herbs, and extracts needed for such a venture.”

“Yeah, and I need to make sure that we have plenty of supplies. Food, and the like, unless it’s going to be stocked.”

Endymion shrugged his shoulders, “I’m sure there are some basic supplies kept on it at all times, but I can’t promise that it will be perfectly stocked. What I worry about most is how Mother is going to take this. An ancient human shrine this deep in Equestria. And for what purpose? I have no clue.”

“What about your sword-” Fluttershy began but then, “That’s funny. The stone sword, it isn’t stone anymore.”’

Applejack and Rainbow Dash give FLuttershy a quizzical look. Then the turn to Endymion. The two adventurers gasp at the implement now in The Young Prince’s hand.

Dash shrieks, “How- how- how is that possible?!”

“What?” Endymion asks, nonplussed.

“That there stone sword,” AJ reports, “it ain’t stone no more. It’s like-”

“What would happen if Lightning and Lava mated then had a baby!” Dash finishes.

Endymion looks down at his hand and is marveled. Rainbow description is rather spot on. An electricity courses through the blade while molten rock oozes underneath, as hot as a volcano, but infinitely more compact. Holding up the Sword to his face, Endymion can feel raw magical might within. It speaks to him in a pigdin language just at the surface of his unconsciousness. The weapon is both beautiful and terrifying.

“Whoa,” Endymion says, “when did this happen.”

“I’m unsure,” Fluttershy says, “but it must be sign from Sol. He is urging you to take up that weapon and do great deeds with it, (Although, I’m not really certain if this is Sol’s Will.)”

“If you say so, Fluttershy,” Endymion says, giving a hesitant smile, “I’m hoping I can a champion of myself, for your sake, with this blade.”

“Don’t get yer hopes up,” AJ retorts, “yer still a greenhorn and it’s gonna take a lot more than some fancy lookin’ sword to make ya a champion.”

“Yeah, what she said,” Dash added, “now come on, help me pry of few of these babies out of the wall.”

Luna arched an eyebrow as her son admitted what had happened, where he had been, and what he felt he needed to do. Hoomans, for the most part, had largely been believed to be nothing more than myth. In truth, Endymion was the first being that actually fit the description of a hooman in her exceptionally long life.

“My son, you wish to travel beyond the Dragons’ Land, far beyond Mount Gloom, and further outside of Equestria’s borders than most ponies have ever been,” she stopped him when he began to speak by raising a hand, “And you have indicated that you wish to either borrow the royal airship, or you will hire an airship. Am I correct in what you’ve informed me?”

He nodded, “Yes mother.”

She knew the tone, he was prepared for her to say no, and he only used mother when he was truly determined to do something. Otherwise she was mom or mommy. She grinned at him, rose up and walked down to where he was, “Then you shall have access to the Royal Airship, on the condition that I travel with you.”

“Mom, what about Equestria?”

A mischievous grin crossed her lips, “Celestia has the ability to lead my son, and she needs to take on more of the practical side of things. I want her to continue her work at the temple, but she has neglected her duties when it comes to handling the nobility and dealing directly with them. Besides, I believe it would do her a world of good.”

He looked a little uncertain, “I will supply the basic crew we need, minus three areas. Those areas are your responsibility completely. We will need a cook, a navigator, and a tailor who has experience with creating wearable armor. Once you have gained your part of the crew we will depart.”

“O… Okay, I’ll get right on it,”he said before he hugged her, “Thanks Mom.”

She grinned, returning the hug, and watched as he left. When he was out the door, and out of earshot she summoned a messenger. The messenger came into the room, bowing deeply.

“Your Highness?”

“ I shall be writing a letter in a moment, when it is finished I wish for you to fly it to Ponyville as quickly as possible, and I insist that you give it directly to Lyra Heartstrings.”

The messenger gave her a confused look, “Not to question your Highness’ orders, but I was under the impression that Ms. Heartstrings was retired. She left the Guard sometime ago.”

Luna shook her head, “No, Ms. Heartstrings was moved to reservist upon her own request. Her desire to remain with her bride was her reasoning, but it is time for Ms. Heartstrings to be called back into active duty.”

“Of course your Highness.”

With that Luna began to write a letter to Lyra Heartstrings informing her of the mission she was going to be put into.

”Lyra Heartstrings,

It has been many moons since you’ve actively served with the guard. However, a current diplomatic mission has been set before me, and I am in need of your services. It is well known that you hold several degrees in anthropology, and mythology. The added fact that you are a Still Way master is another reason why we require your services.

You cannot speak of this, even to your bride, and you must arrive to the palace in no less than three days. Make what arrangements you need, Ensure your bride of your safe return, and be prepared for our journey. I trust to see you here, prepared, and refreshed after your very long vacation.

Princess Luna Selene, Daughter of Sol, Royal Diarch of Equestria.”

She handed the letter to the messenger, and watched as the young mare flew toward Ponyville. It would take a couple of days for Endymion to find the ponies needed for the areas she said. Of course she new he would ask Twilight to come alone. The two were great friends, and Twilight was knowledgeable on navigation. The tailor she wasn’t sure about, but she trusted his judgement, and lastly she trusted he would find a cook that would surpass her expectations.

Smiling she summoned Trixie Lulamoon. Twilight would need a replacement for the library, and in truth, she believed that Trixie needed a chance to truly make friends. Add in the fact that she felt Trixie’s feelings toward the small town needed to change. With any luck she’d find a stallion that could tolerate her.

‘Sol help the stallion or mare that does decide to be with her,’ Luna thought as she waited for the mare.

One of the guards stretched as he took his place, preparing for a normal, boring day when the loudest voice he’d heard, short of the Princess herself, echoed through the entire palace.

“YOU WANT TRIXIE TO GO WHERE?!!!!”

Twilight looked at Endymion, her deep purple eyes shining. For a moment Endymion wondered if she understood what he was asking.

“YES! YES OF COURSE I’LL GO!”

“Ummm, thanks…”

“It’ll be a great learning experience, and so romantic! What better, more romantic place to be than on the legendary Lunar Light?!”

“Romantic? Twily, you get that you’re going as a navigator right?”

She nodded, “I do, but oh, it’s so exciting! Plus there’s Princess Luna’s entire library of star charts, Equestrian history, and Alternative magical theory! Oh, thank you so much for thinking about me!”

Twilight looked around at the library for a moment, “Okay, I’ve got to get some supplies together, take the elements of course, and I’ve got to find somepony to take over for the library!”

Almost right after she said those words there was knocking at the door. Spike walked over to it, opened it and groaned, “What are you doing here?”

“Trixie does not like it either, but apparently Princess Luna wants Trixie to oversee this library while Twilight Sparkle goes on a diplomatic trip with Princess Luna. Trixie does not know why Princess Luna wants to punish the Great and Powerful Trixie, but Trixie shall do what she is commanded to do….”

She looked toward Endymion and her eyes brightened, “Perhaps it shall not be all bad, Trixie can attempt seduce Endymion…”

“Nope, going on the trip as well.”

“No! Trixie shall be stuck in this hick town with nopony to talk to, and only Trixie’s magic and fingers as company!”

Endymion decided to let Twilight get prepared, inform Trixie of her duties, and of course get out of the library before Trixie attempted to pull off one of her half hearted seduction schemes. He started thinking about cooks, who he knew that could cook, and he’d heard that Pinkie Pie baked. That was certainly a form of cooking. He began walking toward Lucky’s to see if she was there, when instead he saw her skipping toward a building that appeared to be a large cupcake.

Following her into it he saw her smile and wave at an off yellow stallion with an orange mane and a blue mare with a pink mane that surprisingly looked like the frosting to a cupcake.

“Hiya Mr. and Mrs. Cake! I’m going to be gone for while! Endymion over there is gonna ask me to go with him on a super secret mission.”

He stopped, not sure how in the world she even knew that he was going to ask her. The thought of chalking it up to Pinkie being Pinkie came to mind. So far, she had some abilities that conventional magic theory just didn’t seem to explain. In truth he wondered if she was secretly an unicorn and simply hid her horn well, but after seeing her pulling her hair up before he was certain she wasn’t.

Instead she was an earth pony that completely defied all logic and all magical theory. He was certain that Professor’s Flintheart’s head would explode if he attempted to study Pinkie.

“So, whatcha waiting for?”

He grinned, “Pinkie, we need a cook, terribly bad, and you said you have experience. Would you like to go? We can cut you in for some of the treasure.”

She moved toward him, her hips swaying in a way that promised all of the delights in the world. She stopped, kissed his cheek and grinned at him, “I’d love to go. I’m already ready, no need to prepare, so I’ll go hang out with Twilight and make sure that Trixie isn’t driving her up the wall.”

He watched her walk away, his eyes firmly watching her marvelous rump, and enjoying the sight exceptionally well. Once she was out of sight, he thanked the Cakes for being so agreeable, and he ended up buying a dozen lemon surprise muffins. Not that he was going to eat them personally, but he figured that Fluttershy, Rainbow, AJ, Pinkie, and Twilight might like them. He walked out, unsure of where to find his last needed crew member. Deciding to ask Fluttershy, or perhaps AJ, if one of them knew a good tailor that also knew how to make armor, he began walking toward Lucky’s again. On the way he stopped as he saw the white unicorn that had been at the tavern with them before.

He could see the quality of the clothes she was working with inside of her shop, and he could see that there was even a few articles that seemed to be made for guards. He walked inside and took a look at one of the shirts. It was constructed, beautifully, and it seemed to be made of intricately woven chainmail. Each strip of it perfectly fit together, working toward what had to be the most beautiful deep blue Lunar Guard top he’d ever seen.

“Beautiful no?”

He turned to look at her, seeing her smile softly at him, “I’ve been making it for some of the adventurers in the area. Functional, stylish, and able to withstand swords, daggers, and crossbow darts. I’ve even enchanted it so that it’s light weight. Please, feel for yourself.”

He lifted the shirt, and it was indeed lightweight. It was even lighter than the shirt he was wearing.

“I believe that if you’re going to be protected then you might as well be stylish about it.”

He nodded, “Of course, and might I ask, would you be interested in hearing a business proposal?”

She nodded, taking a seat and offering him the same. He took one across from her, “Before too long I will be going on a diplomatic mission. I’m in need of a tailor that is able to create armor. You will be well compensated, and I promise you a percentage of any treasure found along the way.”

“Well that is very tempting, but I don’t know. There is so much to do.”

“I understand, if you change your mind, please, let me know.”

She looked at him again for a moment, her eyes widening, “Oh! I’m so sorry, I’ve been working on my latest project so much that I didn’t realize who you were. Prince Endymion, it would be this mare’s honor to go as your tailor, “ she smiled an neared him, “I’ve always wanted to work with royalty. I see an entire line of Rarity’s Royal Armor Regalia! When do you plan on leaving?”

He thought for a moment, “How long do you need to prepare?”

She rubbed her chin, “Two days? Would that be too much?”

He shook his head no, “Very well, two days. I’ll see you in Canterlot at the Palace.”

When he left Rarity giggled like a school filly and danced around in her shop. She was going to be a personal tailor to the Prince!