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In The Dark I Can Hear Your Heartbeat
Sep. 16th, 2016 11:46 pmThe first room was made to look like the dry cave in the San Palomino Desert where Dr Clarity Quest had discovered the All Mare's tomb. It was dark with fake rock walls and scattered here and there were archaeologist's tools. We were drawn to the far end of this "cave" to where light was entering the room through a small doorway. The first artifacts were in there.
That next room was made to look like a replica of a chamber in Epona's living area and tomb. The ceiling was adorned with gently glowing swirls that cast light on white walls bearing a repeating motif of three red roses. There were photographs taken at the site, and protected by glass, artifacts such as an ink well, a wash basin, bowls cracked with age and use, and storage jars from the kitchen. Near the jars were fresh examples of what they had held so long ago. Spices, flour seeds and rolled oats. There were also planks and core samples from the planks compared with core samples from trees and wooden items of known age. The patterns matched up with tree ring growth patterns from over a thousand years ago!
We walked through another doorway into a room featuring reproductions of the murals from the site. In here were displayed furniture and cloth. There were decayed samples of textiles, carefully preserved, and recreations of what scholars thought the clothing, blankets and coverings looked like when they were new. Then there was the scroll room.
In there, the walls were lined with large excerpts of text, written in modern script but spelled out phonetically, verbatem as it had been gleaned from the scrolls. The first display was of a writing desk, magnifying eyewear and an inkwell. And then there were dozens of scrolls on display, on loan from the archives of ancient literature in the Royal Canterlot Library.
Some were partly unrolled, floating in delicate magic fields and catching the light so ponies could glimpse the faded writing on the brown cracked paper. Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack were attracted to the shining gold scrolls, one in fragments, showing how time had caused cold welding of gold on gold. Signs in big glowing letters read "do not disturb! Haycartes only!" A haycartes spell has never been known to damage a book or scroll. I went over to the paper scrolls. I could see a few pony outlines wandering on the brown paper, looking faded and a bit lost. I concentrated on an unrolled scroll that looked less ravaged by time than the others and used the Haycartes' spell. It was like listening to rocks sliding in a strong wind! It was very hard to make out any words. I could only see a thick brown fog and a hoarse, jumble of words, like an old pony muttering under her breath. I took a few steps and the fog cleared slightly. I could see a small white mare nuzzling a newborn pegasus in a vast grassland. Her newborn pegasus. I heard a name whispered from behind my ear. Zephyr. Nopony was behind me. The pony coaxing the pegasus to her feet jingled as she moved. She had silver bells braided into her mane. Her flank was bare. Then the brown fog closed in on me and I felt that I could hardly breathe. It was like plowing through mud while somepony whispers in your ear but the accent is so thick you can't make out what they're saying. I had to get out. I left the scroll and trying not to choke on the dust that clung to me still, I went over to Rarity and the others to tell them what I had seen.
To move us along and make room for the next 50 ponies, doors were closing behind us. We followed the crowd though a doorway over which was painted stars and three white keys on a deep, midnight blue wall. This was the final chamber. There were just two exhibits on display here. The crystal light and Epona herself. The All Mother, resting as she had been found, on her bed of decayed cloth and straw, stretched out in repose. We barely glanced at the light, glittering brightly with hearts and minds of so many ponies focused here. We all headed to join the herd crowded around Epona's glass chamber. The museum had placed her display case in a low spot with a mini-amphitheater all around. It was as if she was going to wake up at any moment and give us a lecture on pony history. I sat down, most of us sat down in the raised seats. Some ponies lay down on the floor by the display case so they could look up at her on her bed. It was so quiet I could hear ponies catching small breaths. Some were trying to stifle coughs. We all stared until our eyes watered. Scattered in the straw there were quite a few colored beads and I counted at least fifty little silver bells shaped like rose buds. At the edge of the bed were four small gold slippers. Here and there, a strand of pure white hair. All too soon, the museum guards announced that our time was up. We had to leave.
That next room was made to look like a replica of a chamber in Epona's living area and tomb. The ceiling was adorned with gently glowing swirls that cast light on white walls bearing a repeating motif of three red roses. There were photographs taken at the site, and protected by glass, artifacts such as an ink well, a wash basin, bowls cracked with age and use, and storage jars from the kitchen. Near the jars were fresh examples of what they had held so long ago. Spices, flour seeds and rolled oats. There were also planks and core samples from the planks compared with core samples from trees and wooden items of known age. The patterns matched up with tree ring growth patterns from over a thousand years ago!
We walked through another doorway into a room featuring reproductions of the murals from the site. In here were displayed furniture and cloth. There were decayed samples of textiles, carefully preserved, and recreations of what scholars thought the clothing, blankets and coverings looked like when they were new. Then there was the scroll room.
In there, the walls were lined with large excerpts of text, written in modern script but spelled out phonetically, verbatem as it had been gleaned from the scrolls. The first display was of a writing desk, magnifying eyewear and an inkwell. And then there were dozens of scrolls on display, on loan from the archives of ancient literature in the Royal Canterlot Library.
Some were partly unrolled, floating in delicate magic fields and catching the light so ponies could glimpse the faded writing on the brown cracked paper. Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack were attracted to the shining gold scrolls, one in fragments, showing how time had caused cold welding of gold on gold. Signs in big glowing letters read "do not disturb! Haycartes only!" A haycartes spell has never been known to damage a book or scroll. I went over to the paper scrolls. I could see a few pony outlines wandering on the brown paper, looking faded and a bit lost. I concentrated on an unrolled scroll that looked less ravaged by time than the others and used the Haycartes' spell. It was like listening to rocks sliding in a strong wind! It was very hard to make out any words. I could only see a thick brown fog and a hoarse, jumble of words, like an old pony muttering under her breath. I took a few steps and the fog cleared slightly. I could see a small white mare nuzzling a newborn pegasus in a vast grassland. Her newborn pegasus. I heard a name whispered from behind my ear. Zephyr. Nopony was behind me. The pony coaxing the pegasus to her feet jingled as she moved. She had silver bells braided into her mane. Her flank was bare. Then the brown fog closed in on me and I felt that I could hardly breathe. It was like plowing through mud while somepony whispers in your ear but the accent is so thick you can't make out what they're saying. I had to get out. I left the scroll and trying not to choke on the dust that clung to me still, I went over to Rarity and the others to tell them what I had seen.
To move us along and make room for the next 50 ponies, doors were closing behind us. We followed the crowd though a doorway over which was painted stars and three white keys on a deep, midnight blue wall. This was the final chamber. There were just two exhibits on display here. The crystal light and Epona herself. The All Mother, resting as she had been found, on her bed of decayed cloth and straw, stretched out in repose. We barely glanced at the light, glittering brightly with hearts and minds of so many ponies focused here. We all headed to join the herd crowded around Epona's glass chamber. The museum had placed her display case in a low spot with a mini-amphitheater all around. It was as if she was going to wake up at any moment and give us a lecture on pony history. I sat down, most of us sat down in the raised seats. Some ponies lay down on the floor by the display case so they could look up at her on her bed. It was so quiet I could hear ponies catching small breaths. Some were trying to stifle coughs. We all stared until our eyes watered. Scattered in the straw there were quite a few colored beads and I counted at least fifty little silver bells shaped like rose buds. At the edge of the bed were four small gold slippers. Here and there, a strand of pure white hair. All too soon, the museum guards announced that our time was up. We had to leave.
