With open mouths, everyone stared at the last pictures that Index showed them. Applejack quickly covered Auralia’s eyes with a hoof as Nightmare Moon rushed again towards the stricken Blue Light. “Hey! I want to see that too,” the filly protested, objections that were ignored by everyone. Twilight winced as she saw his wing striking the ground violently and had the strong urge to curl herself up in a ball and hold her own wings tightly to her body. With all the fine nerves that connected the wing to the rest of the body, it must have been an unbearable agony that her brother had felt in that moment.

And now she had to witness the last moments of a pony, her brother that she never met. Nightmare Moon stood over the heavily injured young prince. She licked the blood off her lips, and both her swords went down on her opponent again. Just as the blades made contact with his neck, the recording ended and the screen turned black.

“Wow!” Lyra exclaimed.

“Wow,” Night Hawk murmured, nodding faintly.

The room was silent; only the quiet buzzing of the machines around them could be heard. Nobody could say anything to counter Lyra’s statements or add to it. She had found just the right words and sentiments to describe what they had seen.

“This is the history of the Children of the Night.” They all jumped as the hologram of Index reappeared and talked to them. “Seventeen years after the last recording, the connection to Amissa Heaven was terminated. One thousand, one hundred and twenty eight years after the last recording, the connection to the archives of Canterlot was terminated.”

Thiemo saw that no one else was going to do anything so he picked up the control unit off the floor that Lyra had dropped from her mouth. He wiped it clean on his coat and held it tight. Nobody had to see the trembling that racked his hands. He had seen many strange creatures, even some which could be described as monsters, but that thing that was called Nightmare Moon was a whole new level. Monster would be a very charming description for her. He had seen what he considered to be the most powerful being he had ever met lying dead, in a pool of his own blood, at her hooves.

“Index, set language to Equis.” The AI made no sound but nodded. Thiemo opened his mouth, but no question left his lips. Honestly, he didn’t even know where to start. Blue Light was the voice that had appeared to him and gave him his cutie mark. It was clearly the same voice. Had his soul remained here, waiting for a shaman to fulfil a task he was no longer able to? What was the meaning of their meeting? Then there were the connections between them that he couldn’t overlook. Their affinity to technology, their fear of heights, they both had a certain intelligence, and learned only through a cutting event to take matters into their own hands. Or hooves. For Thiemo, it was the arrival in Equestria, for Blue Light the assassination attempt on Luna. No, that wasn’t right. “Index, was the first assassination plot on Luna really directed towards her?” She was an AI, able to think of her own. If she had stored the recordings to all those events, she surely had analysed them at one point too.

The screen again showed the picture from the day that Antheon, Luna, and Blue Light had been under fire on the stage. It showed the exact moment that the men in uniform had pulled the triggers. “Based on the available parameters, and given relations to the time of the attack, the target was the General Field Marshal. Princess Luna only reacted in time and fell victim to the bullets that were meant for him. The others probably were only attacked to cover it up.” Just as he expected. This really had been the first try. The target had never been the peace — it had been Luna. The peace was just something that was near and dear to her.

“Thiemo,” a voice next to him said and pulled him at his sleeve. It was Estoc. “Is that really necessary?” He nodded over to Twilight. The alicorn had tears in her eyes as she saw the terror in her brother’s face as the soldiers opened fire.

Thiemo stared at Estoc for a few seconds before he realized what the Captain wanted from him. At least he still held the control unit. “Sorry. Index, turn off the visuals. Please only show them on demand.”

“Acknowledged.” The terminal went dark again, and the room dimmed, perfectly matching the mood of the group.

“Dad? May I ask a question too?” The human looked over to the little filly that had freed herself from Applejack’s grip and now stood at his feet. “Please?”

“Sure.” He nodded. “What do you want to know?”

“What happened to the humans? Where have they all gone?” He internally flinched. For this question, there was only one answer, and for that he wouldn’t need Index. Equestria stood in all its glory. He knew about the Twenty Five Years’ War. They had lost, and the descendants of the survivors lived in the shadow, restricted in their movements and forced to eke out an existence in the squalor of their once magnificent home. Nightmare Moon had declared herself the leader of Amissa Heaven and led them to war against Equestria. It led him to another thought.

“Index, you said seventeen years after… Nightmare Moon was here, the connection to Amissa Heaven broke. What exactly happened?”

The hologram remained silent for a few seconds. Maybe it was looking for an answer in its storage, but Thiemo couldn’t tell with the screen turned off. “My last data relating to measurements from that day led me to the conclusion that there had to be a malfunction in the reactor. Source unknown.”

From what he knew from the recordings, this reactor was basically just a machine that gathered magical energy and transformed it into usable energy. A bit like the way he charged his gems. A malfunction of that scale could wipe out an entire conti—

“The Broken Leylands.” To everyone’s surprise, it was Twilight who spoke up. She sniffed and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, only partially succeeding. “When a magical converter of this size explodes, it leaves a mark. It would fit with the time this region was created. Old scripts say that it was once a productive land. But the magical outburst turned it into the desert that it is today.” Twilight looked at him with a pleading look and eyed the control unit in his hand. He loosened his grip a bit, and Twilight took it into her magical grip. “Index, please, what happened to Blue Light? What happened to my brother?”

The head of the AI swung around to her. “Princess Luna took what was left of him and confronted her sister, Princess Celestia, with it. According to my data, this was the day that the war between Amissa Heaven and Equestria began.” What was left of him? Did she take his severed head and threw it in front of his mother’s hooves? An ineffable sound escaped from Rarity, who had been standing quietly behind him until now. She dashed out of the room into the chamber, where she emptied her stomach. Estoc followed her immediately to help her. Aura luckily didn’t seem to understand what was meant by that. She just kept looking up at him, waiting for her question to be answered.

“Come here, sugarcube.” AJ took her again and pressed her against her warm body. It was probably also for her own good; she was looking a bit green around the muzzle.

“Index, we are not the first who came here in all this time, right?” Twilight continued her questions. And this one was valid. Thiemo thought that Luna had been here. And maybe not just here.

“The first access after sealing was one hundred and thirty years, two months, and twenty four days ago. Access granted to Cerberus Echidna.” Amaryllis woke from her trance next to Thiemo and stared at the hologram. “She deposited some items in the safe of this facility and finished some constructions of this chamber.”

“The robots and the tablets,” Lyra mumbled and Twilight nodded.

“A second access from Princess Luna was thirteen years, eight months, and fifteen days ago. She demanded access to the same records of Blue Light.” So Luna had seen all that they had seen too: why the Children of the Night had been founded, what Blue Light’s real goals had been, and how she had just been the toy of someone else.

“Twilight, can you ask her if she knows why Luna wanted to show us this?” She looked at him in confusion. “This is not a coincidence. Luna told me a part of the oath in a dream. She sent Hawk, who knew the rest, with us and had her hooves in our escape just as much as Celestia did. The question is why? I can understand it if she wanted to show it to you, but me? What do I have to do with all this?”

The eyes of the young alicorn widened. Without paying further attention to the human’s words, she pulled up his still slightly wet sleeves with a bit of magic and looked at the cutie mark on his shoulder. “They are almost identical,” she mumbled before turning towards Index again. “Show us a picture of Blue Light’s cutie mark, please.” The terminal sprung to life again and showed a crop of the flank of the light blue alicorn: the moons that formed a circle, traversed by a magical bolt. Two moons he had on his shoulder as well.

“What does that mean?” Applejack asked, slightly surprised. “Ah thought that cutie marks were unique.”

“They should be. But whatever the reason, it has something to do with all this. And my aunt knew that. Somehow.”

Thiemo sighed. “It probably won’t help to tell you that Blue Light spoke to me.” Questioning looks were immediately directed over to him. “It was the moment I got this mark. One of the robots had slammed me against the wall. I could tell that my spine had been shattered upon impact from the sheer momentum.” He paused and grimaced as he recalled the overwhelming pain that had consumed him at that moment. “Then, somehow, I found myself in some blue mist in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t the first time that I had seen a soul, but it was the first time outside the real world. It was Blue Light who spoke to me. He said something about it being too early and that I would need his help. As I opened my eyes again, I was back on my legs, no injuries, and magic flowed through my body.” He shrugged helplessly at the shocked expressions adorning the faces surrounding him. “You have seen the result.”

Their exchange continued on for a significant time before Aura noticed that she was hungry. She wasn’t the only one. They decided to ponder on what they had seen and heard over a meal and left the archive. Index kept the door open for them while they sat around a small campfire and ate their last rations. The only one who wasn’t there with them was Amaryllis. She had gone back to the moss-covered part to watch the work of her grandmother. Thiemo knew from her tales about Echidna that Amaryllis practically worshipped her.

As Thiemo looked around again to see if his marefriend would come back this time, he saw in the corners of his eyes that Heart was pushing Hawk towards him. The thestral seemed to resist until she had finally reached his side. She looked at him, despondence clear in her eyes, for a few seconds and kicked up some dust with her hoof. “Sorry,” she finally mumbled, so quiet that Thiemo almost missed it. “I mean for yelling at you. Without you, I would have never seen that.”

“Was it because I solved the riddle or because you needed a human to open the door?” She stammered something incomprehensible, apparently surprised by Thiemo’s reaction. “Don’t worry; I know how sacred that vow is to you. And after all… this, I can understand it. The origin is tragic. I will honour it.” Hawk nodded and slumped back down next to her comrade. Thiemo had seen many sides of the thestral, but this one was new. Even Heart seemed to be a bit overwhelmed to see her friend like this.

A cough made him turn his attention back front where Twilight now stood, looking at the empty space next to him. He just nodded, and she quickly sat down. Looking over to her, he noticed that her wings were tightly pressed to her body and her ears folded back. “Can I ask you something? I would like to have a second opinion on this. An independent opinion.” Thiemo remained silent and nodded. “Why do you think my mother never told me about my brother?”

A sigh left his lips, and his hand wandered over to stroke over his chin as he thought of what he could say. It felt strange having to sit down with someone who had been intent on capturing him only recently, yet he did not want to rub salt into freshly made wounds. “I can only guess, Twilight. Remorse? She didn’t know that her son was the leader of the guild as she sent Luna north. And the Children of the Night appeared as relentless warmongers that manipulated both nations. She was scared of Luna, or what she had become. Shame would be my second guess. I can only imagine what she would have felt upon realizing what he had indirectly caused. Perhaps she even feared that you would turn away from her if you knew the truth. And the last one? Maybe it was to save you the pain, the pain of knowing that you had a brother who met his end the way he did.”

Twilight nodded after a while, her usually nimble mind slowly mulling over his words. “And what are you going to do now?” she eventually asked.

“Me? I don’t know. I always thought I was here due to some accident. Maybe it was because I was caught by some magical beam that teleported me to Albion, or I was riding on some cosmic cloud when some maniac blew the bombs. Or maybe I just died and…” Thiemo stopped, rubbed his eyes, and then passed a hand through his hair. “Damn, I thought it was just an accident that brought me here. Nothing more. I never asked for this!” He pointed at his shoulders. “But now I have the feeling that I am being pulled into something. That someone wanted me to come here. Could of course just be my paranoia, and every half-decent shaman would do the trick.”

“It’s interesting.” Thiemo blinked. “I mean your cutie mark. It is possible that two ponies share parts of their cutie mark. However, it’s usually only directly related ones. Twins like Aloe and Lotus. They have a spa in Ponyville and are identical twins. They both have the same flower as cutie mark but in a different colour.”

“Only that I can’t be related to a pony. I am a human, and maybe you have realized by now, but I’m not even from this planet.” Twilight nodded and stared at the blank rocky ground in front of her. “Now I have a question. This Captain Sparkle. Was he your father?”

She shook her head. “A descendant of my father. The house Sparkle has fielded the… associates of my mother for many generations. It is a great honour for them. Captain Solar Sparkle was the first who was entrusted with this duty. My father is Midnight Sparkle, astronomer at the University of Canterlot. He is also the father of my brother…” She stopped. “Shining Armor! Did he know about Blue Light?” With that, Twilight stood up and quickly disappeared into the archives again.

A look around showed that everyone was still in their thoughts. Rarity was snuggling again Estoc, who had laid a protective hoof around her back. Heart and Hawk just sat there and stared into the flames. Auralia had fallen asleep in Applejack’s hooves. The farmer had also pulled her hat over her face. Lyra stood at the tablets and began to copy as much over into her notebook as she could. “I’m going to look after Amy,” he finally said to no one in particular and went into direction of the pale green light that showed where the moss was to be found.

After a short time spent wandering through the thick, glowing forest, he found the small waterfall through which they entered the cave. She just stood there and looked at the water, or at what she saw inside it. “My grandmother was incredible,” she said without turning around as he came closer. Of course she could feel his presence. “Not by what she was, but by what she tried to achieve in this world. I have always hoped to follow her hoofsteps. To be like her. But who am I? The daughter of Chrysalis, the changeling who killed her. Nothing more.”

Thiemo could have used someone who would tell him that everything was alright now himself, but he tried to pull himself together. “We all wonder where we are coming from and where we are going. Of course our origins play a role, but we decide what to make with it. Right now, the world knows you as Princess Amaryllis, daughter of Chrysalis. If you don’t like that, change it. You are what you make out of yourself, and you have already made the first step. You have made your own way.

“Which I never had would have done without you.”

“So?” He stepped next to her and took her head gently into his hands, coaxing her to meet his eyes. “We don’t have to do everything on our own. Without Aura, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today. I was on the wrong path, but that little filly gave me a goal, something that I could reach for. Sometimes, all we can do is depend on others, and there is nothing wrong with that.” Amaryllis smiled and their lips met.

They spent a bit more time at the water, snuggling, talking, and exchanging their thoughts about what they had seen. Thiemo noted that Echidna had mentioned that she was angry at no one for being what she was, a phrasing that made sense to neither him nor Amy. Eventually they returned to the camp, only to see that they had gone back into the archive. Amy and Thiemo exchanged a quick glance and also ran through the entrance.

“Energy reserves at point zero three percent. Image number five completed. Image responds to the name Reena.”

“What’s going on here?” Thiemo asked, out of breath.

“Twilight wanted to take a copy of the data,” Lyra explained without taking an eye of the screen. “Index immediately began creating an image.” A hatch at the side of the terminal opened, and a little gemstone came out. “Then Twilight asked her why she even let anyone in here. Blue Light had sealed this place after all. She said that her energy was running low and an emergency protocol had activated. The knowledge had to be persevered.” Thiemo looked at the flickering image of the AI in the room.

“Thank you, Index. Is there anything else we can do for you?” As Twilight spoke with her, he realized what Lyra meant. She was dying. Blue Light had connected her to all the systems in this place. As the archive ran out of energy, she was also affected. It affected all of them.

“No, I have saved all my data in image number five ‘Reena’. My purpose is served.” The image went out.

“I know that it’s a bit tactless,” Thiemo began, “but I think I know what reanimated the skeletons.”

“The stone down in the safe,” Twilight said, certainty evident in her voice. “When Index activated the emergency protocols around fifty years ago, she tried to reach Echidna. Unfortunately, she was no longer alive at that point. So she broke the seal in hopes of passing on the knowledge. First Luna, now us. Unfortunately, she had to shut down more and more systems over time, including the magical barrier around the safe.” To give credence to her words, a hissing sound was heard, and a box in the wall opened. “I asked Index to show us the contents.”

Thiemo took a step closer to see what came out. There was a black stone about as large as his fist. An unnatural energy that caused convulsing pains in his stomach came out of it. Quickly, he took a step back again. “Aura, come over here real quick.” The filly stepped at his side and looked up at him expectantly. “Could you touch the stone with Protes?”

She nodded happily. “No problem.” Thiemo smiled and lifted her off the ground. She grimaced as well as they came closer to the stone, but reached out her right forehoof and touched the stone with her hoof band. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then the stone began to turn white. As it was completely turned white, the strange feeling in Thiemo’s stomach disappeared as well.

“Thanks, dear, very well done.” He put her on his shoulders and looked over the other items. The first thing he noticed was that there were two swords, a one and a half hander and a short sword. Next to it were two iron shoulders which had Celestia’s sun engraved them. Echidna must have placed them here as she built the rest of the archives. Thiemo took out both and held it up for the ponies to see.

Author's Notes:

A bit later then usual but I was busy getting world champion. Like the rest of Germany.
4 Stars for Germany! 54! 74! 90! 14!

Anyway. Hope this chapter clears the confusion a bit. There were some complains about the last act about why it was there and where our main character went missing to.

I'm sure there is more to say but I'm too tired right now. When I remember something I will write a blog entry tomorrow.

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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