"This is strange," Spritelight mused as she stopped once more in front of the mural. "This shows an uprising."
I looked on over and saw a number of unicorns, pegasi, and even some earthponies now split off the group of humans and bound ponies.
Spritelight moved to the next wall, looking it over closely. "Led by the unicorns, they left with as many ponies as they could free from the humans' grasp but there were losses on both sides."
I watched her move from one mural to the next, now fully drawn into this odd writeup of our history.
"They... moved to a new land, carried by the pegasi they freed," Spritelight pointed out, then moved to the next picture.
I walked up to the one she was looking at, noticing how the pegasi were shown carrying single ponies, unicorns and earthponies both, from right to left across a body of water.
"It took them months to travel the cold wastelands they encountered, running from the humans as they did," Spritelight continued to transcribe what was said in the odd hieroglyphs.
I followed behind her and Turkey, who was grabbed by the story almost as much as I was. Rhonda/Patty Cannon just walked along with me in silence.
"They passed by a land of ice and volcanos, then into lands with a better climate," Spritelight pointed out, again showing the ponies going across a body of water. Smaller now than before, but still wider than a river.
"That sounds like they travelled across Greenland to arrive in America," Patty Cannon breathed out in awe. "That is a long, long, loooong way to travel."
"Months turning into years, if I translated this correctly," Spritelight agreed with my Rhonda. "There they found other humans as well, look here; these are outlined red."
"Sounds like the native Americans," I realised.
"They were welcomed," Spritelight pointed out. "Revered as beings of great power and intelligence."
"They went further inland, staying together, not mingling too much with the humans because of past experiences," the unicorn continued as she moved ever further from one painting to the next.
"They were smart to do so," Turkey brought up. "No matter where we're from, humans have a tendency to want to control that which is different from them. If I remember correctly the tribes were also fighting among themselves even before Columbus set foot here."
"They did, yes," Rhonda knew. "I read up about that because I might be one-fifteenth native, if that genealogy site has to be believed."
"Oh now? One whole fifteenth?" Discord scoffed. "I'm more a mixed race than you'll ever be."
I glanced back to note the uncomfortable expression on the Draconequus' face. "Something bothering you?"
"Oh, no, not at all," he obviously lied. "We have gone so deep underground that I'm having trouble feeling the natural energies I'm usually surrounded by. This is a bothersome dead zone for magic in case you hadn't noticed?"
I peered up at the light still shining from the tip of my horn but then realised I had a wellspring of energy stored within myself. "Spritelight, you're better with feeling out the energies around us, is Discord right on that?"
"Yeah," the unicorn agreed. "These walls seem to absorb the mana and redirect it down to where we're going. I can sense it going down hidden pipes or something, but there's none of it in the hallway with us."
"Curious. Not only is this a record of our planets' history, but it's expressly drawing magic out of the world?" I realised. "That might be why the amount of magic on Earth has remained as low as it has been."
Spritelight coughed uneasily. "That means that those who drew on these walls..."
"They would have had to have been your ancestors; the unicorns, pegasi, and even earthponies which escaped their human captors and traversed all the way over here to Yellowstone," I finished.
"My ancestors? No, not unless they made it back to Equestria somehow," Spritelight decided quickly.
"Perhaps they did," Turkey suggested, having walked up a little further while still remaining in the light coming from Spritelight and my horns. "Look at this mural."
The unicorn and me both wandered up to have a look at what the pegasus was pointing at.
The image clearly showed the ponies whose story we had been following so far, with a pair of rectangular windows set up amidst them spaced a little distance away from one another.
One of them was drawn going into one of these windows and coming out the other; their head and forelegs on one side while their hind legs and tail were on the other side.
"These look like the mirrors described in the scrolls I've read," Spritelight realised. "Not proper magic portals like the ones we made to cross worlds recently, but physical objects used to channel the energy between them and only them.
I shook my head at the thought. "The worlds split, humans trying to control ponies, the ponies rebelled, fled, ended up in Yellowstone, and started making magic mirrors?"
"There's more," Spritelight realised as she wandered further. "This shows they used all the power of the remaining unicorns to force a portal to Equestria and sent a few of their own through with one of the mirrors."
I followed behind as she went on again, considering the ramifications of all of this. Once a single planet, torn apart by something the humans did.
The ponies stuck on this side of the rift must have felt absolutely horrible; their peers trapped in bondage, used as little more than tools by their human captors.
And then their attempted escape back to their former home. To return to their brethren with what little magic power they had left.
I looked at the next mural and it showed a horrible picture. Most of the unicorns responsible for the portal had clearly fallen ill.
Soon enough the number of remaining magic users dwindled to the single digits leaving just the pegasi and earthponies to keep up the effort.
While they were shown gathered around the mirror left on Earth, it was clear their attempt at making a bridge between worlds had failed.
Everything about the scenes showed the mirrors were clearly used to converse but not to traverse; even if they had been designed them to.
"It didn't work, did it?" I pointed out.
Spritelight shook her head, the light on the tip of her horn swaying through the space as she did. "The walls between worlds were probably too dense. The mirrors only worked as communication devices. They couldn't pass through them."
"And with the unicorns dying out on this side of the divide, there was no way for them to make something new," I sighed. "That must have been a horrible realisation."
The next drawing just showed a single unicorn amidst the larger grouping of pegasi and earthponies, their peers having succumbed to whatever illness had befallen them.
And then there were no unicorns on the next image, just pegasi and earthponies.
I shuddered to think of what the next images would show us, but we had no other option but to press on.
As expected, the number of pegasi started to fall off as well.
The earthponies were shown putting brick upon brick, laying the foundations for a temple while the pegasi were shown falling ill next.
"I'm not liking any of this," Patty Cannon whimpered. "Nothing about this is very fun."
"No, no it's not. We're watching these ponies die out," I agreed as we passed on to the next drawing.
The earthponies were soon by themselves, finishing up this temple of theirs which looked a lot like the Aztec-influenced temples from the Daring Do books.
"Oh no," Spritelight gasped, and I rushed to her side, bowling over Turkey in the process.
"A volcanic eruption?" I asked, but the drawing was clear on this.
Yellowstone was known for having a supervolcano under it, but this showed the immediate results; the temple had collapsed down from such an eruption and the earthquakes accompanying it.
Without unicorn magic or pegasi to help them lift things, the earthponies made do with the new situation, building out a long hallway out to higher ground while the water started to submerge their temple.
They obviously succeeded, as we were now walking through this tunnel of theirs.
"There are less of them again, and less on the next," Spritelight considered. "There's only one way this ends; the last remaining few are going to be ahead of us."
"Most likely," I agreed, now walking side-by-side with Spritelight while Turkey and Patty Cannon followed directly behind us.
"There's very little moisture in the air," Spritelight considered.
"It has been closed off for countless years," I added.
"No bacterial or plant growth on the walls," Spritelight stated, and we glanced at one another.
"What are you two saying?" Turkey wondered, "Like are we going to find a mummy or something?"
"If there's a corpse of the last remaining member of this group of ponies," Spritelight started, "then they are most likely well-preserved."
"Not a mummy perhaps," Turkey mused, "but maybe still whole?"
"Do we even want to translate those last drawings?" I wondered, looking ahead into the darkness. "If that last one was any indication, we're not far from the entry into the temple."
"We owe it to them," Spritelight decided and turned to face the next one. "They might not be my ancestors, or yours, but we're the first to come upon their story, and potentially the only ones to ever do so."
I looked at what she was looking at and noticed the water had now submerged the temple completely, with the number of ponies dwindling even further.
"This is just going to be their last numbers going down..." I sighed. "What a horrible fate."
The next image showed a room inside the temple with the mirror placed on a podium so all six surviving ponies could look upon it.
A few more steps ahead and the image was that of four remaining ponies in the same room.
I steeled myself before joining Spritelight at the next image. One pony remaining, putting three of their compatriots to rest.
As we took another few steps forward to the next image our combined light shone upon a closed door up ahead.
"They broke the mirror," Spritelight pointed out.
I stared at the image of the pony throwing something at the mirror, shattering it in the process.
"The feeling of loneliness, maybe not receiving a reply from Equestria anymore. No place for them in this world, no escape back to Equestria. Just a horrible thing to think about..." I mumbled, tears welling up in my eyes.
"I can't imagine," Patty Cannon breathed out. "That's just the worst."
"I can, surprisingly," Turkey grumbled. "I've been alone for most of my life."
"Me too," Spritelight added, turning to face Turkey. "And I'm never letting you out of my sight. I told you I'm taking you to Equestria."
I looked between the pair of them while dabbing an ankle at my eyes to dry them. "I hope that's possible. Rho... Patty and me are going to be together forever as well. I wish you both the same."
"You're going to need a new name if you're going to stay a pony," Patty Cannon suggested. "Something which works well with mine."
"Do I have to?" I protested, but noticed both Patty Cannon and Turkey nodding their heads eagerly and Discord just standing behind them grinning.
"Oh come now, mon pouliche. You didn't think you could continue on with your old name, did you?" Discord chuckled. "If you are to come with us all to Equestria, you'll have to act like you were born as one of these precious pony folk."
I stared at the Draconequus for the longest time, then sighed and looked down at my precious Patty Cannon's orchid-colored eyes.
"Of course, if we're staying in Equestria, or staying ponies at all, I will gladly change my name to a more appropriate one," I agreed with a smile in her direction. "Just... we don't yet know what the result will be of me tapping into this mana well."
Rhonda stared up at me with a strange sort of smile, a strange flash of the light passing over her eyes. Or was it just Spritelight moving her head behind me?
"Anyway, we're at the temple door," I decided, turning around again to face it and Spritelight again.
"Finally," Rainbow Dash called out from behind Discord. "We've been walking for ever now!"
"Calm down Dashie," Pinkie's voice carried through the hallway. "You'll love this next part."
I flicked my left ear at her statement which clearly implied Pinkie Pie might know something more than the rest of us.
"Stage magic," I had to remind myself. "Do you think you can open this door without needing April's magic to blow another hole in something, Spritelight?"
"Yeah, it's closed from the inside but I think it's just a simple latch," Spritelight answered, feeling at the heavy stone door with her magic. "It should be an easy shift of... ah."
I heard the soft sound of something dropping to the floor on the other side of the double doors, and then Spritelight pushed them open with her right hoof.
"Let's see what this temple is all about," she said, taking the first step through...
