The War of the Equestrian First Reign

Chapters

Chapter 1: A Historical Field Trip - Part 1/3
Chapter 1: A Historical Field Trip - Part 2/3
Chapter 1: A Historical Field Trip - Part 3/3
Chapter 2: Trekking Through the Towers - 1/2
Chapter 3: Something Not in the History Books - 1/3
Chapter 3: Something Not in the History Books - 2/3
Chapter 3: Something Not in the History Books - 3/3
Chapter 4: A Revealing Past
Chapter 5: Strange Uncoverings - 1/3
Chapter 5: Strange Uncoverings - 2/3
Chapter 5: Strange Uncoverings - 3/3
Chapter 6: The Calm Before the Battle 1/2
Chapter 2: Trekking Through the Towers - 2/2

Chapter 1: A Historical Field Trip - Part 1/3

The whistle blew as the train rolled speedily along the tracks, puffing smoke from its smokestack as it rode through the vast wasteland that was the San Palomino Desert. Being a desert, not much was to be seen in this arid region of Equestria, with nothing but sand and rocks in all directions. However, it was not the desert that one excited purple unicorn was so eager to see, but rather what it was that resided near the end of the desert; an old Equestrian landmark that she at long last found the time to travel to so she may gaze upon it with her very own eyes, and, not wanting to let such an experience go to waste, brought along Spike and her pony friends so they could too marvel at the magnificence of this historical milestone. Unfortunately, not all of Twilight’s friends shared in her enthusiasm, seeing this outing as more of a field trip than an adventure.

Rainbow Dash blankly stared out the window at the passing scenery, feeling even more bored from the lack of seeing anything even the least bit interesting. Rarity was adjusting her hair with the mirror she had brought along, so as to look her best for where they were going. Applejack was snoring away as she slept whilst lying on her back on her train seat. Pinkie Pie rocked her body and legs back and forth to the merry tune she was humming, whereas Fluttershy sat next to her, quiet and calm as normal.

“So, how much longer is this going to take?” Rainbow Dash asked peevishly.

“Why? Are you as excited for this as I am??” Twilight asked eagerly.

“Uhh, yeah,” Rainbow replied sarcastically.

“Well, we shouldn’t be much longer now. The landmark ought to be coming into view soon.”

“What exactly is this place we’re traveling to, anyway?”

“Oh, I can’t say. It’s much too good of a surprise to ruin,” Twilight replied with a hint of avidness.

“Orrrrr did you want to keep it such a surprise that you even kept it a secret from yourself??” Pinkie speculated, with most everyone staring at her with blank faces in response.

“You can do that?” Fluttershy asked with modest surprise.

“Well, I don’t think I can do that, because I enjoy surprises too much to want to keep them a secret from myself! Also, I wouldn’t be able to surprise anypony if I didn’t know what the surprise was! And what fun would that be? Not a lot of fun, I’m sure!” Pinkie then paused for a few moments “…what were we talking about?

“…oh, look!” Spike shouted as a diversion as he stuck his head out the window, looking towards the front of the train. “I think I see the landmark, Twilight!”

Twilight speedily stuck her head out the window, accidentally bumping Spike and causing him to almost plummet from the window. Twilight didn’t notice her fortuitous mistake, as her eyes became locked onto that which she had been waiting to gaze upon for so long, and she looked absolutely exhilarated by this spectacle, and expressed it quite clearly to her friends.

“There they are! The ancient Equestrian Sentry Towers!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes instantly perked up upon hearing those words.

“Did you say sentry towers?” she asked before dashing over to the window to see for herself, and instantly became amazed by what she beheld.

There was a long line of towers going through the desert, all of them connected by bridges. They were placed in a horizontal line, with the train facing the towers as a vertical line. The towers had large housings on tops of thin but large wooden poles.

“It’s so amazing to finally see them with my own eyes,” Twilight stated with wonderment.

“I have to admit, that is pretty awesome!” Rainbow agreed, sounding just as astonished as ever.

“I knew you would like it!” Twilight was quite pleased with Rainbow’s sudden enthusiasm, which made herself even more excited than already was.

Just then, Twilight looked ahead and spotted the train stop, which lie between two of the mightily tall defensive structures. “We’re just about to pull into the train stop!” she removed herself from the window and faced her other friends. “Is everypony raring to go?”

“If that means excited, then I’m the raring-est pony here!” Pinkie exclaimed as she eagerly hopped out of her seat.

Rarity had just finished fine-tuning her hair. “I believe I am quite ready. I just need to add the finishing touches—“ she used her magic to draw a sunhat from her saddlebag and place it upon her head. "There we are!"

Applejack yawned and turned her head around at Rarity while still lying on her back.

"Whattya need that fer? We're not goin' to anyplace fancy or nothin'."

"One does not just don proper attire for regal events, Applejack. One must know when to dress for appropriate weather."

"Well yeah, I know tha—"

"I chose this hat," Rarity continued, ignoring Applejack's statement. "for this outing as we will be in a desert, and it is important to protect my fair skin from this dreadfully damaging sunlight."

"But it's only coverin' yer head. It's not like it's protectin' yer whole body."

"Oh, Applejack," Rarity replied haughtily. "You simply just don't understand the workings of functional fashion."

"Ah can't imagine why," she replied sarcastically.

"Well, you'll get it one day. Now, let us be off!"

Applejack sighed as she followed behind, knowing it wasn't worth it to make a big deal over what Rarity said.

The ponies and Spike disembarked the train, gazing in awe at the many towers towering over their heads. They rose from the grounds like great pillars of the land, higher than any tree. They stood side-to-side, forming an extensive wall of protection in both directions: as far as the eye could see. Not a single space was left unfilled, creating an impassable force that no group of creatures could get by unnoticed. The soaring height of the spires made for a perfect lookout across the most of the landscape beyond the San Palomino Desert, preventing any means of an enemy sneak attack, as the land past the towers was a continuous stretch of desert and wasteland, devoid of any method of concealment by any individual. Clearly this astounding piece of workponyship was one of the greatest feat of engineering ever to be accomplished in the land of Equestria–if not the most.

However, while most everybody had their eyes on the towers, Rarity's eyes were drawn downwards to the train stop, that, much like the towers, was in much decay and ruin.

"Just look at this dreadful excuse for a train stop," she stated in disgust. "You'd think it would be more elutriated for our arrival."

"Ah'm assumin' that means 'cleaned'," Applejack said. "And ah don't see why they would. Ah mean, us comin' to these towers wasn't some big ol' event that everypony knew about."

"Well, I still feel that it could be better."

"Why do you always have tuh complain about every little thing that doesn't go your way??" she stated as she walked up to Rarity.

Rarity stuck her face right up in Applejack's face. "Why do you always have to put up with such filthy accommodations??"

"Why do you always have to use them fancy words??"

"Girls, please!" Twilight shouted, cutting in between her friends to stop their bickering. "There's no reason to quarrel over this!" she turned towards Rarity. "Now Rarity, the reason the train stop is in this condition is because nopony comes out here anymore, so the princess has had no reason to maintain it."

"Well..I presume I can understand that. I mean, it's not as if this is a place that is worth the effort of maintaining."

“Well, that is something I hope to change," Twilight said with fortitude.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"I mean that I didn't create this field trip just for us: for the longest time I have felt great anguish in knowing that so many ponies in Equestria are so uninformed about Equestria's history and its landmarks. And I'm sorry to say that that includes all of you," her friends were surprised by such a claim.

"I'm not uninformed! I know plenty of historical stuff!" Rainbow Dash affirmed.

"Really? Like what?"

"Well...uhh...umm..." Rainbow certainly had her hoof in her mouth now for making such a rash assertion, and felt a bit embarrassed by it.

"You see what I mean? I don't like to see ponies that are oblivious to the grand pieces of Equestria history that lie throughout our nation! They must be educated, and I am the singular pony to do it!"

"Well, we'll be here to help you every step of the way!"

"Yeah!"

"Absolutely!"

"We'll be the helping-est helpers who've ever helped!"

Twilight was glad to see her friends so encouraging in her aspiration to make Equestria a much more learned country. "Well then, now that I have all the help I'll need, I think now is the best time for us to begin."

Chapter 1: A Historical Field Trip - Part 2/3

The ponies and Spike traversed around the tower grounds, marveling at everything they saw, from the towers themselves, down to the scattered pieces of debris that lie upon the desert sand. Time had certainly not done justice to these structures, with the rotted away ropes from the bridges, the splintered wood of the bridges baking in the blazing sun, and the stone columns covered with cracks like cobwebs scattered within an abandoned building. The rooms inside the dwellings at the top of each tower were filled to the brim with dust and decay: furniture and weapons strewn upon the floor, and many holes broken right straight through to the roof, with the rays of the sun seeping past through the gaps and onto the very floors.

Though many towers were badly damaged, much greater destruction had befallen numerous other towers. Most of the bridges connecting each tower to the next had either collapsed onto the ground, or snapped in half, leaving a piece of a bridge dangling between the tower gaps. Greater devastation still was that of the very few number of the fortified monoliths that had toppled onto into the desert floor, partly burying their bodies within the sandy dunes below, though some had accumulated greater quantities of the yellowy grit from the shifting winds of the desert over the centuries. However, even when comparing a still standing tower to a fallen one, the one that appeared to continually stand strong also looked as if it would tumble down at any moment, joining its fellow subsided obelisks in their self-made graveyard.

Twilight and the others beheld these spectacles in sheer silence, gazing upon them all with great awe. "Hey, Twilight," Applejack said, breaking the silence. "I've been wonderin' somethin'."

"What's that, Applejack?"

"What exactly are these towers doin' here in the first place?"

"Oh, well, I'd be more than happy to explain it to you. You see—"

"'Cause ah don't see why either of the princesses would do somethin' like this," Applejack interrupted.

"Well, see, what actually happened is—"

"Yeah, I doubt they would go through all the trouble to make these things, even though I still think they're cool."

"Well, see—"

"And when you take in the consideration of how they don't seem that likely to be needed, one can understand—"

"Enough!!" Twilight shouted vociferously, forcing everypony to halt their speech. "Look, you've all got it wrong. Neither of the princesses had anything to do with the construction of these towers. This happened long before their time."

"Really?"

"How long ago was that, Twilight?"

"Quite long ago," Twilight took a calm breath, contented that everyone was now listening to her, and began her explanation. "According to my history books, the Equestrian Sentry Towers were commissioned several years after Equestria's founding, by none other than the pegasus leader Commander Hurricane. For you see, in her adoration for this great new land the ponies had obtained, and her loyalty to Equestria and everything it stood for, she wanted to make certain that it would never be lost to any manner of malevolent force, as it almost did before with the Windigos."

"Wow.." Rainbow Dash said in awe. "I find myself liking Commander Hurricane more and more with this story."

"What happened next, Twilight?"

"Well, because the ponies came from the north, and because there was already a mountain range all across the northern border of Equestria, Commander Hurricane's focus for protection was on the mostly exposed southern border. I say mostly because the Macintosh Hills were already covering half of the southern border, which is also the reason why that was the area where Equestria's territory was chosen to end, as it was the most defensible. Anyways, with the hills to the right, the only exposed path across land into Equestria was the San Palomino Desert."

"That's where we are now!" Pinkie excitedly exclaimed.

"Thank you, Pinkie..."

"So, what happened next??" Spike asked with great eagerness.

"Let's see...oh, right. Commander Hurricane looked over the empty desert, and after comparing the border line to the Macintosh Hills, she knew exactly where the defenses should be placed so as to create the perfect wall of protection. Following that assessment, the next decision for her to make would be exactly what type of defense should be used."

"So that's when she said to build the towers?"

"No, actually. A few other ideas were tossed around first. For instance, a colossal wall was considered, but rejected as it would take much too long to build. A series of forts was also thought up, but discarded for the same reason as the wall: construction would take too long. Commander Hurricane needed a fortification that would tall enough to keep a perfect lookout for enemies, but not so big as to take a great amount of time to finish. Time was needed for her to mull over this idea. And then, while staring at one of the tall stone spires in the desert, Commander Hurricane finally came up with the perfect idea."

"Ooh! Ooh! I know!" Pinkie hollered with zeal. "It was the towers!"

"...yes, Pinkie. It was the towers. Now, will you please let me finish without interrupting again, please?"

"Sure! All you needed to do was ask and say please, since it's better to have both because it sounds nicer! Although, it could work with one or the other, but having two nice words doubles the niceness! And being even more nice is—mmph!!" Pinkie suddenly felt her mouth become covered by a hoof, which belonged to Rainbow Dash, who looked quite agitated with Pinkie's constant blabbering.

Rainbow turned her head towards Twilight. "Go ahead, Twilight."

"Uhh, thanks, Rainbow Dash. Anyways, after deeming a line of towers to be the perfect defense to utilize, construction on the towers was immediately ordered by Hurricane, and so Equestria's first defensive structure had begun."

"The development of the towers was a very lengthy and arduous amount of labor for the ponies of Equestria, but Commander Hurricane encouraged them every day to keep up their work, as it would all be worth it to keep their new home safe from invaders. And so, after several years of strenuous toil, the extensive line of these colossal sentry posts was at last completed, and as Commander Hurricane set her eyes upon these grand structures, she knew she could feel no satisfaction greater than the pride that swelled up within her. And even though it may have taken a lengthy amount of time to complete such an undertaking, Commander Hurricane was still adamant in her notion that all the work was wholly worth the effort taken, and that one day the ponies of Equestria may see this to be true for themselves," Twilight took a breath, having at last finished her story, and looked around at her friends' faces of awe.

Chapter 1: A Historical Field Trip - Part 3/3

"Wow, that was quite a story."

"It sure was."

"I never could have guessed such enormous tasks had been accomplished in Equestria's past."

"It really makes you proud to be an Equestrian when you know—"

"Hold on a second!" Rainbow Dash interjected. "There's something wrong with that story!"

"Wrong?" Twilight asked in puzzlement. "What's wrong? I know I explained everything, since I read the history books multiple times to make sure I would remember all the information correctly for when I would be asked to explain the history of the sentry posts to you all."

"You were waiting for someone to ask you about the sentry posts?"

"Well, yeah. Who wouldn't want to learn more about Equestria's history?" most everyone stood where they were, not saying a word, but then Applejack spoke.

"Well, ah know ah fancy learnin' a bit more about the past, since ah know how interestin' it can be to learn more about—"

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted, having interrupted once more. "I'm trying to ask a question here!"

"Oh, right," Twilight responded. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash. Go right ahead."

"That's better. Now then, what I want to know is: if Commander Hurricane and the ponies were so excited about these towers, why aren't they used anymore?"

"Yah know, I was sorta wonderin' that mahself."

"So was I."

"Me, too."

"I wasn't!"

"Well, it's a very good question, Rainbow Dash—which I was also waiting for someone to ask." Twilight said under her breath. "And there is an explanation for why it is so. You see, even though Equestria was equipped with the proper defenses for a probable attack, this did not mean that an attack would ensue. And that is the plain and simple overview of the history of the sentry posts thereafter: Equestria was never assailed or taken under siege by any type of maleficent force or evil legion. It was quite peaceful and uneventful in the ways of militarism during this time. Then, after a very long time without any conflicts, it was decided amongst the leaders of Equestria that the ponies stationed at the sentry posts were to be called back home, leaving the posts abandoned. Over time, the towers fell into disrepair from the lack of usage, and mostly faded away from the memories of the Equestrians," Twilight sighed with discontent. "It is a very sad end to what was thought to be a great legacy."

"You got that right," Rainbow Dash concurred. "It really stinks that ponies could just forget about something as cool as this."

"Yes, it is a shame indeed," Twilight hung her head low in lament.

"I almost wish someone did try and attack Equestria through here! Then nopony would have left these towers to fall apart!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity responded, sounding aghast. "That's a dreadful thought to declare you would want!"

"Relax, Rarity. I said 'almost'."

"Oh!" Rarity scoffed, turning her head away from Rainbow Dash.

"Anyways, I still think it would have been cool if these sentry posts were still used today, even if nobody ever did try to invade Equestria! I can only imagine how awesome that would be," Rainbow Dash looked up at one of the towers with a longing in her eyes.

"That certainly sounds amazing," Fluttershy added.

"Yes," Twilight agreed. "That would have been a sight to behold. I can just imagine all of the different ponies donned in their military attire: patrolling along the towers, making sure no trespassers elude their detection—doing what was needed to be done to protect their homeland. What an awe-inspiring display that would be to present to the ponies of Equestria," Twilight spoke with sincerity.

"Awww, don't say stuff like that!" Rainbow Dash whined as she clasped the sides of her head in anguish. "You're making me wanna see that happen even more!"

"Oh, sorry," Twilight replied, sounding slightly mortified.

"Well, I wouldn't count on seeing any of that anytime soon," said Spike as he looked around at the towers. "Since I doubt there are any plans to put these towers back into use."

"Yah got that right," Applejack appended as she also scanned the towers "Bein' abandoned fer so long sure 'as put them in some pretty rough shape. They could certainly use some of the ol’ Apple Family spit-and-polish.”

"I think it would take a lot of spit and polish to fix these towers," said Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah! It would probably take buckets and buckets of both to fix them all!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Ewww..." Rarity responded in disgust to Pinkie's comment. "Please don't say things like that. It's not something I want to even think about happening," she said as she shook her head to try and get the idea out of her noggin.

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that, Rarity," Twilight said as she walked over to Rarity's side. "As much as some of us would want it, it is highly doubtful that the princesses would enact any preparations to restore the sentry posts to their original usage and condition."

"I agree," Applejack concurred. "'Cause ah don't think either of the princesses would see it all necessary to fix the sentry posts, since it's not very likely that anybody would attack Equestria through here."

"Especially since some could just fly over," Rainbow Dash whispered to Fluttershy.

"Well, we can't concern ourselves with Equestria not having defenses put up here anymore, since Equestria is already well-defended from any invaders."

"Thanks to us!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Yes, Pinkie," Twilight responded. "And it's because of ponies like us and, the Equestria soldiers, and even the princesses that Equestria is the safe and superb society it is today," Twilight was beaming with the pride she was feeling, as were all of her friends from hearing her speech—until a thought entered Spike's head.

"...wait, weren't we talking about something else?"

Twilight's eyes widened from this insight. "Oh!" she said, surprised. "Right...sorry for going off on that tangent," she stated with embarrassment. "I guess I got too caught up in the pride I was feeling," she chuckled nervously, and then looked at her friends staring blankly at her. She then sat back upright and cleared her throat. "Anyways, as I was going to say before: even though there's nothing we can do about changing the past, or even changing the present back to how it was in the past, the fact is that we are all here now, so we must take full advantage of our time here and learn as much as we can!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie cheered; not because she liked learning so much, but because she liked to cheer and pump others up, although everyone except Twilight just looked at her blankly.

"So, with those thoughts planted firmly in your minds, let us go exploring!" and on that note, Twilight teleported herself away in an instant, much to the surprise of her friends. Everyone looked around to see where she had went, until they heard shouting from above them, on the top of one of the still standing towers. "I said to start exploring! Now go on!" she finished before ducking her head back away from the ledge, continuing with her own bit if exploration.

Down on the ground, everyone exchanged looks with each other, most of them showing their un-enthusiasm for Twilight's method of how they learn. But, seeing as they were there, they might as well explore the ruins to try and learn something as Twilight wanted. As nobody wanted to trek these ruins alone, everyone went grouped into pairs: Rarity with Fluttershy, Spike with Pinkie Pie, and Applejack with Rainbow Dash. They all proceeded to move off in different directions, now feeling ready to see what they would learn on this expedition. However, what this group of friends did not realize is that they were all indeed going to learn something, but it was going to be much more than anyone could have anticipated, and would be quite astonishing for all—especially Twilight.

Chapter 2: Trekking Through the Towers - 1/2

Everyone marched around the ruins of the Equestrian sentry posts, searching around for anything they could "learn" from.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were probing the area around one of the fallen posts, and not finding much of anything.

"So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Rainbow asked out loud.

"Anything that looks like something to learn from, I guess" Applejack responded.

Rainbow dash let out a heft sigh. This whole trip was not feeling so "cool" anymore, as to Rainbow Dash: digging through a bunch of debris did not have as nearly as high "cool" levels as talking about the military history of the sentry posts. She wanted to see the posts being used as they were in the past, but it was obvious that nopony was going to find that here anymore.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had now moved from outside the fallen tower to underneath it, as the housing part of the tower had fallen on a nearby rock formation, wedging itself between a higher and lower boulder, and now both of the boulders were propping up the building and keeping it from touching the actual ground. As they explored further, Applejack noticed a large chunk of wood buried within the sand, and she promptly began digging it out.

Because of her disinterest with this excavation, Rainbow did not want to take part in the actual excavating part. She was more in favor of taking it easy, and decided to just sit back and relax. "Well, let me know if you find something," Rainbow landed on a mound of sand several feet behind Applejack. "I'll be waiting right here for you," she said as she laid herself down on her back and shut her eyes.

Applejack ceased her digging and looked back at Rainbow Dash, bothered by her exclusion of herself from doing any actual work. She wanted a way to teach the pegasus a lesson about slacking off, and it was then that she noticed a trickle of sound coming out of a crack in the tower, and this spot was located right over Rainbow Dash. From this Applejack got a good, but kind of sinister, idea. Applejack first found a small rock, and placed it on the ground in the right spot. She then turned around so her back was facing Rainbow Dash, and with a single, sturdy buck, Applejack punted the rock straight at the crack in the tower, which, upon being struck, the weakened wood immediately gave away and an hefty downpour of sand poured out of the hole and right onto Rainbow Dash, completely covering her. Not long afterwards, Rainbow Dash's head burst out of the top of the pile of sand she was now surrounded by, and she let out a few coughs.

Applejack trotted over to Rainbow Dash. "So, did yah learn somethin'?" she asked smugly as Rainbow Dash looked back at her irritatingly.

~~~

Spike ambled his way through the ruins of the sentry posts, with Pinkie Pie hopping along with him in her usual, gleeful self. Spike appeared to be getting worn-out from the constant trekking in the hot desert fun, but Pinkie Pie was doing perfectly fine—as if she was immune to the harsh effects of nature: not getting hot or tired, and just staying with her usual appearance of jollity. Seeing her as happy as she usually was bugged Spike to the point where he had to know her method of beating the heat. "Pinkie, aren't you getting hot at all?" he asked her.

"Sure! But I'm thinking about too much other stuff to think about being hot!" she responded joyfully.

"And which stuff is that?"

"Oh, the usual stuff! Cakes, candy, Gummy, my friends, parties, hopping, clouds, fluffy stuff, trees, grass, sand, the sun, parties again..."

"You're thinking about the desert and that doesn't make you hot?" Spike asked in disbelief.

"Of course! Thinking about the desert doesn't make me feel hot! Only thinking about feeling hot would make me feel hot! Why would it work any other way?" she then trotted away smiling, as Spike followed her—trying in futility to understand the words that came out of Pinkie' Pie's mouth.

~~~

"Exactly how long must we be here?" Rarity complained to Fluttershy as she wiped some sweat from her brow. The two of them had been walking together for some time now, and neither of them had yet to discover anything capable of learning from.

"Well, Twilight didn't say we were supposed to be here any certain amount of time..."

"Well, I don't feel that I am accomplishing anything by just walking around and looking at these silly towers. I mean, what is the real importance of being here now that Twilight has already explained everything we needed to know earlier? Didn't that seem like enough to satisfy a normal pony?"

Fluttershy paused for a moment. "...yes, well—Twilight isn't a normal pony," a look of fear suddenly draped across Fluttershy's face. "Oh, please don't tell her I said that! She might take it the wrong way!"

"Oh, don't fret so much, Fluttershy. You know Twilight isn't the kind to lose her temper over that sort of thing."

"Yeah, she only loses her temper over anything having to do with tests and studying," Fluttershy then chuckled, and Rarity did a bit of tittering herself.

But then, Fluttershy felt yet another pang of panic strike through her very being.

"Oh! Please don't tell her I said that, either!" she pleaded as she grasped Rarity, who just sighed in response.

~~~

Out of everyone on this expedition, the only one who seemed to be learning anything at all was Twilight, since she was not only making the most effort to gain knowledge about the sentry posts, but also she knew the right conduct in which to learn, which her friends did not.

Twilight had began her search on the sentry post she had teleported to the top of earlier. She walked inside the building that rested atop the tower, and commenced in her perusing of the many old and decaying objects that lay within the building's many rooms. She used the flashlight spell to aid in her search, shining a beam of light from her horn to gain a better view of everything around her. One factor that was clear to Twilight immediately was that there was not one corner of the building that was not a total mess. Chairs and desks were overturned, pieces of broken wood lie splintered amongst the floor, and weapons of all sorts were scattered all around—some broken, and some not. However, even as fascinating as this was for Twilight, she had yet to discover anything of personal interest to herself, she continued her search throughout the edifice.

After passing through to another room, Twilight's light had uncovered something that greatly pleased Twilight: scrolls. Dozens and dozens of aged scrolls were lying in various places inside this area. There were scrolls sitting on top of tables, sticking out of open drawers, and even lying unrolled upon the floor.

"Look at all these ancient scrolls," Twilight stated as she advanced further into the room. "I had no idea the military ponies kept such a full archive of information in these sentry posts—and I can't wait to read them all!" she hooted excitedly. There were many various assortments of these scrolls, and Twilight was so thrilled over this treasure trove of documents she did not know where to begin. Ultimately, Twilight chose to begin with a scroll that was located on a table adjacent to her, because she could not discern what was contained in each parchment, and decided it would be best to just start with the scroll closest to her vicinity.

Picking up the scrolls with her magic, Twilight floated the parchment nearer to her face to examine it. Upon her initial inspection, Twilight saw the scroll to be covered with dust, deeming it to be in unfit conditions for her to read. Knowing this diminutive dilemma was simple to resolve, Twilight moved the scroll closer to her mouth, took a breath, and blew off the dust coating the paper. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, though, after Twilight blew the dust off the scroll, the paper on the scroll disintegrated into dust itself, leaving only the roller on which it was attached. Twilight stood motionless in her astonishment over this new occurrence. "...well, I can't say I thought these would be in pristine condition," she admitted, not very discouraged with this predicament. Twilight then looked over at the other scrolls lying on the table, and pondered if their physical condition was equivalent to the scroll she had. Seeing this as something that required testing, Twilight moved over to the table, took a deep breath, and blew on all of the scrolls, and the paper bound to each scroll crumbled into powder just the same.

"Hmm..." Twilight thought. "This is a bit discouraging. I was really looking forward to studying these ancient scrolls. Oh, well," Twilight then placed the scroll handle on the table with the others. Afterwards, Twilight turned to leave, but halted momentarily, using her magic to align the scroll handles so they would look more organized, after which she left the room.

Having exited the building, Twilight looked around at her surroundings. "I don't feel that I had much to study in there," she gave a sigh of disappointment. "Maybe I should go see how the others are faring. Hopefully they're all having more fun than I am right now."

Chapter 3: Something Not in the History Books - 1/3

With all of her friends out discovering(or not) in their own way, Twilight's method of gaining knowledge proved to be the most fruitful, which anypony else would easily agree to be true. Exploring the towers above rather than the mostly desolate terrain below was clearly the right way to go, although Twilight's friends' lack of knowledge(and interest) in this field showed in their inability to discover the proper approach to gaining knowledge, whereas Twilight's ability in this field gleamed brightly, as she marched onward, just as eager as ever to seek out new insight on the history of these antique watch towers.

Twilight had exited yet another tower building, and even though not much of the towers' past was revealed, she didn't give up in her hopes that this expedition would unearth something extraordinary that would excite her friends, amaze Equestrian historians, and impress Princess Celestia more than ever before—or maybe at the least something she hadn't already learned herself, so at least she would be excited. Still in this mindset of knowledge-seeking, Twilight started to search every inch of the tower tops, rather than just the rooms inside each building. Her examination of the building perimeter she was currently at did not yield any results, unfortunately, so that meant it was time to do another thorough examination of the next tower.

Twilight made her way across the connecting bridge, trying to keep herself invigorated with small, self-motivating speeches, "Don't give up, Twilight. With so many sentry posts, I'm bound to find something sooner or later. I mean, for all I know, something could come up right under my nose," then, Twilight heard a sudden crunching sound come from beneath her hoof. She halted her movement and lifted up her hoof to inspect the material she had trodden upon.

The matter clinging to her hoof was of a dark green color, and even though it had a crusty, hardened exterior, the interior of the hardened shell revealed a softer, more pulpous center. Twilight sat herself down on the bridge, so as to have both hooves free to provide a more facile means of observing her hoof in an enhanced proximity.

As she surveyed the substance closer, she saw only several small bits of the green material still stuck to her hoof. When she scratched the toughened surface of the substance, several flakes fluttered down onto the bridge, or were swept away by the ethereal breezes of the passing wind. "This is strange," she told herself. "I don't believe I've ever been witness to an element such as this before—I should regroup everyone so they can see what I've unearthed! Hee hee!" Twilight instantly covered her mouth. She then cleared her throat and started over, "I do believe they will all be quite intrigued by this fascinating discovery," she then placed the material inside a cloth bag and made her way back to the train station through use of teleportation.

As old and musty as the train station was, Rarity did indeed find it to be more refreshing after being exposed to such horrid conditions(horrid for her, at least).

Fluttershy had been searching alone throughout the diminutive building, and didn't find anything better than what was seen outside in the desert. "Ohhh...this is not going as well as Rarity made it sound..." she walked over to a cracked window and placed her legs upon the windowsill as she rested her head atop her legs. "I'm beginning to think that Rarity only wanted to come here so she wouldn't have to do any work herself—or maybe I'm just not good at finding anything..." Fluttershy sank her face into her legs, feeling so down that her own quest for knowledge had fallen short, and she couldn't bear to tell Twilight that she failed.

Fluttershy glanced out the window for a moment, and was astonished to witness Rainbow Dash and Applejack coming towards the station. She decided to go outside to see if they had discovered anything, so at least somepony would have succeeded in this expedition.

As they were walking towards the station, it showed that Rainbow and Applejack's exploration did not go any better than Fluttershy's—particularly due to the sullen expression present on Rainbow Dash's face.

"Well, this whole day has been one big bust,' Rainbow complained with a fully surly demeanor.

"Ah know we didn't find anything, but there's no need to be so dang cantankerous about it."

"That's easy for you to say—you didn't have a bunch of old junk fall on top of you!"

"Hey, I told yah to be careful! But you just had to go and be so rough and push stuff outta the way while lookin' around. You shoulda known that that place was a wreck that could fall apart any second!"

"Well, next time you can be the one to go digging through busted-up buildings!"

"Ah'm sure ah would do a better job of it than you!"

"Oh yeah??"

"Yeah!"

Rainbow Dash and Applejack butted their faces together, both steaming mad as they glared at one another. However, there squabble was cut short by the interjection of a timid pegasus.

"Umm...excuse me?" Rainbow and Applejack both looked to see Fluttershy standing next to them. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but I was just wondering if you found anything?"

"Only if junk counts as something!" Rainbow scoffed.

Fluttershy thought this over for a bit. "Well, I'm not sure...we'll have to ask Twilight," Rainbow simply slapped her face with her hoof in response to Fluttershy.

"Ah'm afraid that ain't gonna be necessary, 'cause I'm sure Twilight's not gonna consider junk tuh be somethin' worth learnin' about."

"Well, if that's what you think."

"What about you?" Rainbow inquired. "Did you find anything?

"Well, me and Rarity found a broken pole in the sand—although, actually, she was the one who found it, and I haven't been able to find anything myself, unfortunately," Fluttershy hung her head down in disappointment. "I haven't even been able to find anything in this train station, even though Rarity said we might find something here."

"Oh, she did, did she?" Applejack responded, sounding rather skeptical of Rarity's assertion.

"Yes, and I know she meant well, but it doesn't look like she was right," Fluttershy sighed again. "I hope she won't be as disappointed about this as I am."

"Ah don't think she will," Applejack responded with indifference.

"Really? Oh, that's good to hear. Thank you, Applejack," she replied, having received solace from Applejack's statement. Applejack then gave a deprecatory look to Rainbow Dash, who returned the same look right back at her.

Chapter 3: Something Not in the History Books - 2/3

Suddenly, off in the distance, a still ecstatic as ever Pinkie Pie was bounding joyfully towards the train station. A fair distance behind her, Spike was struggling to keep up with the alacritous mare, needing to stop every so often to catch his breath before continuing after her.

"Hey, everypony!" she called out to her friends as she hopped right up to the trio of ponies. "What are you all a-doodily-doing?"

"We haven't been 'doodily-doing' anything all day," Rainbow irritably affirmed. "We didn't find anything cool, and I got a bunch of sand and old junk fall on top of me!"

"Welllll, I think that counts as something, but it's probably not what Twilight wants."

Rainbow clasped her face firmly, making a slight angry growl as she tried as hard as she could to hold back her increasing animus.

"Did you find anything?" Applejack asked Pinkie.

"Oh, yeah! We've really done a lot! Haven't we, Spike?" she looked to her right, but saw no one. "Spike?" she asked as she looked around. Just then, Spike came trudging up next to Pinkie Pie, grasping his chest and breathing heavily as he tried to keep himself from collapsing onto the ground. "Oh, there you are! I was just telling everypony about all the super amazing fun stuff we did while we were looking around the towers!" she exclaimed whilst bouncing up and down gleefully. Spike wanted to respond, but the fatigue overwhelming his form rendered him incapable of speech at the present moment.

The others watched with concern at the worn-out baby dragon before them.

"Spike looks rather tired, don't you think?"

Pinkie blew a raspberry in response to Fluttershy's statement. "He's not tired! He just can't decide on what fun thing to talk about first! Go ahead and tell 'em, Spike!" she said as she nudged Spike in the shoulder, which actually hurt a lot more than Pinkie meant to do, but she took no notice of this, as she remained in her own happy frame of mind during this whole happening.

Spike rubbed his arm a bit, and then lifted himself upright so as to look more apposite while speaking to everyone. But, prior to the beginning of his dialogue, he had to take a few more deep breaths, as he still very exhausted, but now had the energy to speak—albeit he had to take a breath every now and then.

"Well...we wandered around for a while...and we didn't really find anything...but then I tripped....on something in the sand...and I pulled it out...it was..." Spike then stopped for a bit while he took in a few more breaths. Regrettably, the others were not so patient in their anticipation for his response.

"What was it??" Rainbow implored.

"Was it something educational?"

"Some kind of weapon?"

"A skeleton??"

"Aww, c'mon, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack retorted in disgust.

"No, it wasn't any of those things...it was...a shield."

"A shield?" Rainbow responded, sounding both disappointed and irritated. "A shield?? That's it?!" she shouted heatedly.

"Oh, well, I'm sure that has something we can learn fro—"

"You made us wait all that time just to tell us it was a shield?? Rainbow interjected loudly.

"It was only 'bout 30 seconds, Rainbow Dash," said Applejack.

"That doesn't make it any less annoying!" Rainbow was growing more and more aggravated, pressing her hooves against the sides of her head in anger. "Errgh! I've been waiting and waiting since Twilight gave us that history lesson to find something cool, but nobody's found anything that's even the least bit cool!!" In a fit of rage and impatience. Rainbow flew over to the train station and started banging her head against the wall repeatedly. The others watched as Rainbow Dash carried out her frustration with her ceaseless butting against the wall.

"My, she really wanted to find something," said Fluttershy.

"Yeah—she's pretty darn impatient sometimes...sigh...it can sure get irritatin' havin' to put up with that so much."

"Oh, she just really wants to educate herself like Twilight wants us all to do."

"Yeah, sure," Applejack replies acerbically.

"Right!" Fluttershy agrees, not detecting Applejack's sarcasm. "Anyways, Twilight still hasn't come back, and I'm certain that somepony as dedicated as her will have found something by now."

"Yeah! Twilight's the number one best pony at knowledge-ing herself and others about knowledge-y things!" Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully. "She should be back here any second!" she promptly pulled her watch out of her mane and began staring at it intently.

As Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Spike were all looking at Pinkie's watch, Rarity had just walked out of the train station, sporting a flustered expression. "Excuse me?!" she called out, seizing the attention of everyone except Rainbow Dash. "But what is all this commotion? I was almost halfway to partially enjoying myself a bit when I started hearing all this yelling, and now this loud, obnoxious banging noise starts up!" She then turned her attention to the source of the banging(which she now heard after she finished yelling so loud), and saw the goaded Rainbow Dash still battering away. "Rainbow Dash! What do you think you are doing??"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she responded through the pounding. "I'm trying to knock all the frustration over how not awesome this whole trip is going!"

"Well, could you do so in a more quiet way? Some of us are—specifically me—are trying their hardest to make the most out of the terrible situation this outing is."

Rainbow instantly ceased the hammering of her head against the wall after hearing Rarity's grievance. "Wait...you mean you're not having a good time, either?"

"Of course not!" she retorted, to which Fluttershy gasped in shock. "I may find the idea of a day outside enjoyable, but today's little venture could not be further from enjoyable! The blistering heat, the endless walking, the digging through filthy sand and old, dreary buildings! I don't see how anypony could possibly enjoy all that!" Everyone was speechless after hearing Rarity's intensely heated rant—especially Fluttershy, who had her jaw dropped during the entirety of the fumed unicorn's tirade. "Additionally, I'm quite certain that not too many of us are so keen as when we started this endeavor," she stated as she looked around at her other friends.

While Fluttershy was clearly not in the same boat as Rarity and Rainbow Dash, Rarity's previous statement did ring a bit of truth in some of the other members of their group, as did clearly show on the contrite face of Applejack.

"Yah know, ah hate to say it, but I'm just not feelin' like this trip is goin' all that well," the mare stated, to which Fluttershy let out a gasp of shock.

"Yeah," Spike appended. "I mean, I was as eager as Twilight was when this trip started, but things haven't really been going that great for me, either," he said sorrowfully, causing Fluttershy to gasp at that as well.

"Well, I think things have been going great!" Pinkie cheerfully exclaimed, with Fluttershy gasping yet again, albeit afterwards realizing she had no reason to gasp this time.

Despite all the negativity given off by (some)of her friends, Fluttershy aimed to keep everyone in a positive frame of mind while awaiting Twilight Sparkle's return.

"Well, even though things haven't been going the best for most of us, I still think we need to let Twilight believe that we have been having as good a time as she wanted us to have when she first brought us all here. After all, she did this not just for her, but for all of us, because she wanted what any friend would want: for their friends to have a good time; and we owe it to Twilight to let her see that what she had hoped for went just how she wanted...that is, if you all think so..." Silence followed the pegasus' extensive oration, with those who had spoken so ill about this trip now beginning to feel remorse for their hastily rancorous declarations. Fluttershy saw clearly their downtrodden expressions, and felt a tingle of delight in herself for being such a good motivational speaker.

Chapter 3: Something Not in the History Books - 3/3

Suddenly, in a flash of light, Twilight Sparkle had instantly emerged in front of everyone through the use of her teleportation spell, which came as a surprise to all of her friends. Even though it was unexpected, Fluttershy reacted quickly at the first sight of her friend and swiftly sped over to the unicorn .

"Twilight! I'm so glad you're here! Things have been falling apart without you!" she exclaimed in a panic—no longer showing any of the fortitude and initiative she was before, with the seriousness the others were getting out of Fluttershy now gone from them all.

"Falling apart? I think you might be overreacting to whatever it is you're talking about, Fluttershy."

"But it is! Nopony's found anything good on this whole trip and we haven't learned anything and we've completely messed up this trip and didn't make it as good as you wanted it and—mmph!" went Fluttershy; having been cut short by Twilight, who promptly shoved her hoof over Fluttershy's mouth.

"Fluttershy! Calm down!" she shouted. "You shouldn't get so worked up over things like that!

"I shouldn't?" Fluttershy asked, ceasing her panicking for a moment.

"Of course not! I wouldn't expect you all to enjoy this to the extent that I am—and believe it or not, things hadn't been going so perfectly for me, either."

"Really? I thought out of anypony that you would have found something already."

"...well, I'm not saying I didn't...because I did, and it's certainly an item of great interest!"

"Really??"

"Yah don't say?"

"Is it better than the shield me and Spike found??"

"You'd better believe it!" Twilight responded boastfully.

"Well, let's see it!"

"This better be good..." Rainbow said unenthusiastically.

Twilight proceeded to use her magic to open her saddlebag and remove the cloth bag from within. She then opened the cloth bag and lifted out the green substance—using her magic to float it out so everyone could see it. The response from her friends was less than enthusiastic.

"Oh, how...interesting..."

"Yeah! It's pretty neat whatever it is!"

"That's the big discovery? Some mold??" Rainbow looked peeved, but then gave a hefty sigh of exasperation. "You know, Twilight, it's things like this that show me how much you don't know what's cool and what isn't."

"I agree with Rainbow Dash—for the most part," said Rarity. "It is simply revolting that you would bring such a vile material and actually show it in front of us all. Why would you do such a thing?"

"Calm down, Rarity. I know this appears to be mold, but it is most certainly not."

"Then what is it, Twilight?" asked Spike.

"Well, I examined it closely after I first discovered it on one of the still hanging bridges between two of the sentry posts. I felt its surface and scanned its texture, and this showed me that this matter is definitely not a mold of any sorts."

"Fantastic, so it's not mold. That still doesn't mean it's a great discovery!" Rainbow Dash shouted irately.

"It is to me, as I am also really interested in finding out exactly what type of material this really is," she said as she looked at the substance closely once more.

"Well, I'm not."

"Me neither."

"Well, I'm with you all the way, Twilight!"

"Ah guess ah agree."

"I do, too!"

"I do, too, as well!"

"That's great to hear—at least for most of you. Oh yeah! Another interesting discovery I almost forgot to mention was that this wasn't the only bit of that substance I found—there was a bunch of it scattered all along the bridge! Such a thing makes me speculate that there may be more of this stuff around here..."

"You mean like over there?" Pinkie Pie called out as she pointed towards a nearby collapsed bridged that lay half-buried in the sand. Upon Pinkie's indication of additional matter in close proximity, Twilight hurriedly ran over to the subsided bridge, and, sure enough, saw dozens of splotches of the unknown green matter strewn all across the bridge's remains.

"Yes!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly after inspecting the matter. "This is the same exact substance as I found before! Good eye, Pinkie!"

"Hee hee, thanks! I always thought my eyes were pretty good!" she said, stretching out her eyelid and poking her eye.

"This is going better than I expected! Maybe there's even more of this stuff on the other towers!"

"I think I see some up there, Twilight!" Spike shouted at he pointed up towards the top of one of the wooden posts holding a sentry post up, and everyone could see several varying sized blotches of the unknown material on one side of the post.

"You're right, Spike!" Twilight used her magic to float herself up to the spot Spike had pointed out. "You know, I really wish I had checked over here earlier."

Not long after Spike's discovery was examined by Twilight did Fluttershy unearth an additional amount of the mysterious glop on one of the sentry post bridges that was hanging so precariously from the tower it was attached to. Soon everyone was now doing their part in locating the whereabouts of additional sources of the inexplicable vestige—even Rainbow Dash felt herself unable to stand around doing nothing, and went to assist her friends with their search. Rarity, however, told herself how that she wouldn't be able to keep up with her friends in their scavenger hunt, and elected to withdraw to the interior of the train station and wait out the rest of the trip in comfort—at least, as close to comfort as she could get being in an abandoned building.

The sun drifted through the sky high above Equestria; the hot day had passed by into the peak of the much cooler evening, refreshing the land with calm breezes and the gentle radiance of the oncoming moonlit sky. Twilight and her friends were hard at work all the while, having collected an abundant accumulation of the unidentified matter. It wasn't until after the collection was completed that everyone realized they had no proper containers in which to carry all that they had amassed, unfortunately. This was especially hard on Twilight, who became very upset upon learning this fact.

"Hmph!" A flustered Twilight went as she slumped down on her bottom. "I can't believe I didn't plan for this! Now all of the work we put into collecting these specimens won't amount to anything!"

Rarity yawned as she emerged from the train station. "What's going on? Are we all finished here?"

"Yes, and thanks for your help, by the way," Applejack replied scornfully.

"Oh, come now. You can't expect somepony like me to do this type of manual labor. I'm much more suited to work that's not so...grubby."

"That is so like you," she replied in a nettled tone.

"Yes, yes it is," Rarity replied proudly.

"Just forget it, Applejack. We have something more important to deal with right now," said Rainbow as she pointed towards the irked Twilight.

"Don't feel too bad about this, Twilight," said Spike

"Yeah. Nopony expected to find this stuff when we came here. Especially not so much of it."

"Yes. We should consider ourselves lucky that we were even able to discover something as amazing as this. I mean, we did come out here to learn, after all."

Twilight sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right, Fluttershy. After all, knowledge is an important thing," she said, with the others agreeing wholeheartedly.

"And besides, you still have that bag with the stuff that you first found before!" Pinkie Pie stated.

"Oh! That's right, Pinkie! In all the excitement I almost forgot!" Twilight retrieved the bag from her saddlebag and checked on her sample which still remained within the small sack. "It's fortunate that we still have this. I mean, something's better than nothing, right?" her friends agreed with this as well. "Precisely. Now I have something to analyze and show to the princess when we get back home."

"Home? Do you mean we're leaving??" Rarity excitedly inquired.

"Yes. I was so excited earlier that I had already told Spike to send out the letter telling Princess Celestia that it was time for our return, so she would know to send the train out to pick us up. It should be along any minute now."

"Boy, you're really eager tuh show the princess what yah found, aren't yah?"

"Yes, I am. I can't wait to show the princess what I've unearthed. Who knows? It might be something never before found in Equestrian history," Twilight gasped. "Maybe I'll be placed in a book for my discovery! Or maybe I'll have my own book all about what I found!" As Twilight grew more and more excited, her ramblings became more aspiring for herself, as she really believed what she found was the finding of the century.

During Twilight's long-winded vocalizations, the train had just arrived at the station to take everyone back to Ponyville. Spike proceeded to push Twilight towards the train—while she was still going on about her great discovery.

"We'd better get her on the train before she bursts."

"Yeah! I don't want Twilight all over me! Yuck!"

After Spike pushed Twilight onboard and the other ponies entered the train as well, the conductor blew the steam whistle to signal their departure. The train rode down the circling tracks and began its journey back to hometown of this group of seven friends. As night befell the land of Equestria, the light from the moon gleamed upon the Equestrian sentry posts: the aged yer still mighty structures that stood the test of time, and will continue to do so for many generations of Equestrians to come.

Chapter 4: A Revealing Past

The sun had just cracked over the horizon of Equestria's borders when the train carrying the six ponies and Spike had arrived back in Ponyville. Having to ride on the train all night was incredibly tiring for the ponies and Spike, with not one of them having been able to stay awake for the trip back home—which was fortunate for the others that Twilight had also fallen asleep, so they would not have to listen to any more of her dreams of grandeur while trying to get some shuteye. Upon the train's arrival to Ponyville's train station, the conductor woke everyone up so they would all know they've arrived at their destination. Everyone proceeded to exit the train; except for Twilight, whom was still set on delivering her sample to Princess Celestia. After bidding their fond farewells, the train departed from Ponyville and set off for the Canterlot, with Twilight growing more and more eager the closer they got to the capital city of Equestria.

After arriving in Canterlot, Twilight made haste up through the corridors of the castle towards Princess Celestia's throne room, where the princess was busy managing the many stacks of paperwork dealing with issues in Equestria. After knocking on the door and being allowed to enter by Celestia, Twilight came forth into the throne room, much to the surprise of the princess. Upon greeting Twilight, Celestia dismissed her assistant, informing her that she would take care of the rest of the paperwork later, and walked over to greet Twilight. Twilight greeted Celestia in return, also bowing before her. Then, with the formalities out of the way, the ardent Twilight was at last able to present that which she had brought all this way.

Using her magic, Twilight opened her saddlebag and pulled out the cloth bag, moving it in front of Celestia to properly show the princess her discovery.

"Princess Celestia," she began. "I have come here to inform you of a unique discovery I made whilst my friends and I were exploring the Equestrian sentry posts in the San Palomino Desert."

"Oh? And is what you have here that very discovery?"

"Yes it is, princess. Behold: my discovery!" she exclaimed proudly as she lifted the green matter out of the pouch and presented it to the princess.

"...my, how...interesting..."

"I know, right?? I found this bizarre substance on top of one of the tower bridges, and my friends also found additional quantities scattered amongst the debris of the other sentry posts. I'm not totally sure what it is yet, but before you reply, let me tell you: this is absolutely not mold."

"Well, if that isn't what it is, then what do you believe it to be?"

"Like I've said, I'm still not sure exactly what this element is, but ever since I discovered it, I have formulated several likely facts as to the physical properties and history of this mysterious matter."

"Really? Well, I'm eager to hear what you've found out."

"He he, okay," Twilight responded, a smidge giddy. "Well, first: considering the placement of this and the other samples me and my friends had located, and the fact that the sentry posts have not been used in ages, it is my belief that this substance has been in that location since the posts had been in use. Second, I noticed how flimsy and yet still brittle the surface of this matter was upon my first contact with its surface. Conversely, the inner body beneath the frail shell was a bit more plush, and did not shatter when I forced my hoof upon it. I surmise that back when this first appeared on the bridge, the entire form was as soft as the inside is now, and over time, the outside hardened into a tougher crust, which then grew weaker after centuries of exposure to the elements."

"Yes, that is quite interesting, Twilight."

"I know, right??" she responded excitedly, but then quickly reverted to her more professional tone. "Yes; thank you, Princess. Additional information discerned by me is that, whatever this substance may be, I am absolutely certain that it did not appear there naturally."

"Really? Then how do you think it did appear at the sentry posts?"

"That's the question, your highness—one of many, in fact: What is this strange matter? Where did it come from? And why did it show up only at the sentry posts?" Twilight placed herself deep in thought—she greatly desired to unravel the unknown history behind the mystery substance. But how could she go about unearthing its secrets? She already had placed several questions pertaining to this enigma—but now she needed to ask herself the right question to get herself going on the right track. Such a task would be laborious for most anypony—but Twilight was not just anypony—she's shown her keen abilities to decipher riddles and provide further understanding of previous unknowns in the past, and it was these abilities that would grant her the power to do so once more.

Twilight paced back and forth inside the throne room, with full focus having been placed on her rumination. "What could it be?" she asked herself. "Where did it come from? I know I can think of a means to further my investigation," Twilight thought about all the facts again, attempting to discern something new that she had not taken notice of previously.

"Let's see...hmm...if...this substance...was found only around the sentry posts...then that means....that something had to have happened long ago at the sentry posts while they were still in use! Yes! I'm sure of it!" she exclaimed with exceeding optimism. "...but, none of the history books I've ever read about Equestria ever mentioned any kind of incident occurring at the sentry posts. Hmm..." what had just seemed like a breakthrough had once again become a quandary for our young unicorn, which forced her to begin her thought process all over again.

"Let's see...since this happened so long ago...princess, do you know anything about the history of the sentry posts that might uncover some of the mystery behind the peculiar material?"

"Me?" Princess Celestia responded rather quickly. "Why, of course not, Twilight. Don't be so...silly..." the princess stuttered as her eyes darted back and forth across the room.

"Princess, why are your eyes moving back and forth like that?" Twilight asked, bemused by the princess' odd behavior.

"Well...umm...” Celestia started to say, but halted, unable to speak any further. Beads of sweat formed on Celestia's visage, with her pupils having grown smaller in combination with the feelings of nervousness and fear rising within her.

Twilight was growing more and more bewildered by the strange actions of her mentor. Normally, she was perfectly collected and never so tense. She kept up the appearance and disposition of a ruler, but now those qualities seemed to be dissolving away, leaving only a mousy shell of her former self. Such a shift in character could not go ignored by Twilight for long.

"Princess, I can tell something is on your mind. You never act like this normally. ...is there something you want to tell me?"

Celestia sighed. "I'm afraid I can no longer keep this secret from you, Twilight."

"Secret??" Twilight responded in astonishment. "What secret??"

"Come. It will be easier to explain if I show you as well," Celestia left the throne room and out into the halls, with Twilight following after. The princess led Twilight to her bedroom, shutting the door behind them. She then asked Twilight not to mention what she was about to be shown to anypony else—and that included Spike. Twilight agreed, getting more rapt with whatever it was the princess was going to show her.

Princess Celestia walked over to her fireplace, and used her magic to snuff out the fire that had been burning there. She then moved closer to the opening of the fireplace and stuck her head inside, feeling a bit of the emitting heat from the still smoldering wood beneath her. She then placed her horn against one of the bricks in the fireplace's back wall. Magic was generated from her horn and into the brick, with the brick glowing vibrantly afterward. Once Celestia had taken her horn away, the magical energy went from the body of the brick into the spaces around it. Quickly, the magic trailed through the spaces between the rest of the bricks, until that whole section of the wall was lit up, leaving Twilight stunned and eagerly awaiting the outcome of this rare occurrence. In an instant, the glowing had vanished, and all was quiet for a few moments. Then, a small rumbling was heard, and the wall separated in two along the spaces between the bricks, and both parts of the wall receded into the sides of the fireplace.

Twilight was still speechless in the wake of this event—though on the inside she was quite giddy to have been a witness to a secret of the princess, and also that she was worthy enough to have been allowed in on the secret as well.

"Come," said Celestia, and she walked through the secret entrance. Twilight followed, unsure of what lie beyond the dusky corridor.

This tunnel was not only lengthy, but also much more winding than Twilight expected. Though the passageway became more lit by the small torches lined up along the walls of the tunnel, it still proved difficult for Twilight to discern the shape and position of the passage. However, while her sight was impaired, she could still feel the direction in which she was moving. Sometimes she went right, sometimes she went left, and at one point she felt herself going straight up in a spiral staircase—though that would have been obvious for anypony to figure out. Suddenly, Twilight sensed that the brightness visible in her eyes had increased. She soon detected that the light was coming from ahead of her and Celestia—most likely indicating that they were nearing the destination of whatever it may be that Celestia was going to present the young unicorn. The closer the two ponies advanced towards the luminescence, the more eager Twilight was becoming. The brightness increased more and more, until both ponies were engulfed by the luminosity. Twilight attempted to adjust her eyes to the bright light, and after blinking several times, she was finally able to see clearly. Twilight looked upwards, and was instantly taken aback at what she beheld.

All around her, a wide array of books and scrolls were laid upon multiple shelves. It was as if she had stepped into a one-room library; the shelves reached the top of the ceiling! Though the room was not too great a height, but still reached an impressive size that was capable of containing such a vast collection of knowledge. Even behind Twilight by the doorway there were numerous shelves holding countless numbers of scrolls and tomes. Many were even scattered upon the floor, due to the lack of space for accommodating such an immense throng of information.

Twilight's immensely widened eyes displayed her unadulterated absorption into what she saw as her own personal paradise. She ambled into the center of the room, spinning herself around as she gazed upon the pillars of literary wonder that surrounded the euphoric mare. In the depths of Twilight's fantasizing mind, she imagined all that she could read and learn from the scrolls and books in the chamber. She was so full of happiness and joy that she never wanted to be brought out of it. Unfortunately, this blissful epoch was suddenly interrupted by Celestia, causing Twilight's rapturous daydream to melt away, bringing her back to the less than perfect realm of reality. Twilight turned towards Celestia, and suddenly felt intensely embarrassed for having made such a display in front of the princess. She then regained her more dignified status and readied herself for that which the princess had to say.

"Now, Twilight, you may be wondering why it is I have brought you here."

"Oh, yes I am, princess, although I assumed it has to do with my question about the sentry posts. Does it?"

Celestia nodded. "You see, long ago, though not long after Equestria was first founded, there came a catastrophic event that caused vast ruin to Equestria and its inhabitants. It was a great time of tragedy for all, and was indeed the darkest time in Equestrian history," Celestia showed a deeply anguished expression, which was furthered by the single tear trickling down her face. Twilight was more surprised than sad at this point, but could see exactly how bad Celestia felt about this.

"After that incident," she continued. "The leaders of Equestria deemed it best to hide all knowledge of what had happened from the future generations of Equestrians, so they would never have to know that their country had taken part in this great tragedy, and every proper ruler or rulers of Equestria since then were able to keep the secret—but now I see that you are fit to know the secret for yourself."

"Really??" Twilight said, getting ecstatic again. "I really feel honored, princess, but; what exactly is it that happened in the past, and why was it so horrible."

"That is what I am here to tell you," Celestia then used her magic to pull over the rostrum in the center of the room. She then moved over to one of the second level bookshelves and began scanning the documents to locate what it was she needed. "Twilight," she said as Twilight had just seated herself before the rostrum. "You may wonder why it is this even troubles me so, even though it is apparent that I was not around back in that time. Well, I have always cared deeply for this land and all the ponies who reside within it, and just the thought of this having happened to even a single pony of this country...it just...just..." Celestia looked as if she was about to cry. Her tears increased in flow, and she was summoning all the strength she had to keep herself under control. Soon, the tears went away, and Celestia was back to her normal self. It was not that she was afraid of crying, but she wanted to tell Twilight this story, and that was a task that could not be done unless all her emotions were at more controlled levels. Though she did not lose herself in her tears, she had shown enough for Twilight to be more than concerned about her mentor. Whatever it was that had happened, it must have been gravely horrendous to have caused such pain in Celestia, and it was because of that display that now Twilight truly had all her focus on Celestia's historical narrative.

Finally, Celestia found what she had been looking for: a very large book located in the back of the shelf she was at. She placed this sizable tome on the top of the rostrum and opened it up to the first page. Twilight leaned forward and listened intently as Princess Celestia began reading to Twilight the record of the "War of the Equestrian First Reign".

Chapter 5: Strange Uncoverings - 1/3

As was the story of Heart's Warming Eve, Equestria was founded many millennia ago by the three rulers of each of the pony races: Princess Platinum of the Unicorns, Commander Hurricane of the Pegasi, and Chancellor Puddinghead of the Earth ponies. At first these ponies were unable to properly work together, as they were all separated by their hatred and prejudice of one another, and it was these very feelings of abhorrence that almost brought the ends of these pony leaders at the hooves of the deadly frost spirits, the Windigos. All seemed lost once the freezing magic of the Windigos started to take hold; but, thanks to the actions of Clover the Clever(Unicorn), Private Pansy(Pegasus), and Smart Cookie(Earth pony), the fire born of their newfound friendship melted the icy hearts of the pony leaders and forced away the wicked Windigos, and the tundra their newly discovered land had just became reverted back to its beautiful, lush green state, and all was well once more—or, more correctly, all was well for the very first time, as the rulers of the pony races were able to see the importance of friendship, harmony, and togetherness, so they joined the three tribes into one unified nation, and named their new land "Equestria".

Over the years since Equestria's founding, the life of the Equestrians prospered wonderfully, thanks to the newfound fellowship between all of the pony tribes, and Equestria's civilization also grew at a rapid rate, with the expansion of colonies further outward from the Frozen North to all parts of the country. Even though this land was claimed by the ponies, there was still the decision that needed to be made concerning how far out Equestria would extend, as it was not currently known if there were any other races residing in or around Equestria at the present time. In order to remedy this state of affairs, Commander Hurricane organized several scouting teams of her pegasi and sent them to all the corners of their homeland in to seek out any possible settlements belonging to other creatures and to gauge how far their territory would extend if any or none were discovered. It had taken many days, but Hurricane's pegasi had done their duty, and each report was one and the same: nobody else was living in Equestria except for the indigenous animal life. This was the common account amongst the scouts, but some had gained additional intel concerning Equestria's geography, such as both the west and east sides of the country ended at oceans, which was quite beneficial for the ponies to know, for additional resources could be procured from the seas, and they made for very pleasant regions in which to live for the ponies who enjoyed simpler, more peaceful lifestyles.

While this recent intelligence certainly assisted in the knowledge of Equestria's geography and terrain, a single problem had come up: one of Hurricane's scouting parties had not yet returned, though it had already been more than a day since the other squads had come back from their missions. At first the pegasus leader was fraught with the notion that her troops had run into some kind of trouble, but she quickly cast aside these feelings of anxiety due to her conviction in the unwavering confidence she held that any member of the pegasi race could handle any mission—especially one as simple as a scouting assignment. And, sure enough, as the dawn had breached the horizon of Equestria, the silhouettes of the absent patrol were seen flying swiftly towards the founding colony of Equestria, with many a pony rejoicing the return of the brave band of pegasi, with each member present and accounted for. Commander Hurricane wasted no time in convening with her troops in order to assimilate their account of what events had taken place during their undertaking.

First and foremost, Commander Hurricane was informed that not one of her pegasi had any sign of harm done to their being, showing that her worriment of them being under attack was entirely unneeded, which was reassuring for her(though she didn't show it so as not to appear soft in front of her soldiers). What was relayed to her next was the delineation of that which had kept the team from reporting back on time. As part of their mission was to seek out the appropriate borders for Equestria, it had taken some time longer for the team to fly out until they found the said borders and return back home. This sounded reasonable enough, but Hurricane demanded to know what made the team decide on where Equestria's borders should be without the her or any of the other leaders' consent, which they explained without haste:

While traveling southward through Equestria, the scouts were surprised by the sudden transition of a lush, green environment into a dry, dull-colored desert. All around this barren land stood many rock spires, looming over the desert as their rocky precipices thrust up into the sky overhead. Amongst this seemingly never-ending sea of sand were numerous trees and various other plants, though whatever life they had once contained was now long gone: drained of their essence by the harsh, unforgiving rays of the sun and thusly transformed into the sere vegetation that was their present state.

In addition to the severe conditions visible to them, the pegasi also became aware of the intense rays of the sun beating down from overhead, which went unnoticed before because of the many clouds hovering over the greener areas of Equestria, and not a single one of these clouds was seen anywhere over the desert, which only added more to the punishing desert atmosphere. Venturing into this type of environment would be very risky and greatly taxing for most ponies, but the pegasi soldiers of Commander Hurricane were not just anypony: they were resilient and strong, and could handle much worse than a mere scalding hot desert. Plus, they had their orders, and they intended to carry them out to the end, and so, without a second thought, the pegasi scouts entered the blazing hot sands of the desert, determined to follow it to its end.

The desert proved to be quite expansive, with none of the pegasi able to spot the left, right, or front borders of the desert, even with their ability to fly to higher altitudes. They searched the desert for what felt like hours, as even being rugged ponies that they were, the blistering beams of the sun cooking their bodies and minds without end was starting to get to the pegasi, with several of the soldiers feelings bouts of loginess that were hindering their abilities to keep moving—but still they pressed onward, as resolute as ever to complete their mission.

Just as it had been since their scouting mission had begun, there were still no signs of life anywhere to be found, and the pegasi were making sure they searching thoroughly across this entire desert land, but, there was still yet to be anything or anyone found. Although, the face that no sign of life was sighted anywhere in this desert did not come as a surprise to the pegasi, as they could not fathom why anypony would live in such a ruthless environment. But, they continued their search regardless of these considerations, as there had yet to be an indication of where their exploration was to be halted.

Chapter 5: Strange Uncoverings - 2/3

Finally, as sunset approached, did the pegasi soldiers come across what seemed like the boundary they had been searching for. Lying directly next to the desert which the pegasi were currently in, was a vast, empty, and seemingly lifeless wasteland. Unlike the sandy, hot-as-Tartarus surroundings of the desert, this new terrain consisted entirely of rock, with the entire ground made purely out of solid stone, which was littered with strewn about boulders, rock formations, and mountains in the distance. The earth was quite craggy here, with many canyons and precipices of varying size embedded in the rocky floor—especially, the one enormous crevice separating the desert from the wasteland. In addition to the desolate nature of these badlands, a veil of billowing dark clouds occluded the sky from view completely, and in turn cast a somber shadow over the entirety of this no-pony's land. Sensations of apprehension were swept across each of the pegasi by the dismal ambience this land did produce . Even being the audacious soldiers that these ponies were, they could not shake off the uneasiness radiating from this strange land. It was at this time a joint decision was made: the scouting team would progress no further, and the split between the desert lands and the badlands would become the southern border to Equestria. Of course, such a decision was not in their hooves; it would be up to the leaders of Equestria to give their assent to the scouting team's adjudication—but, that would have to wait until the team returned to the homestead, which they did so with all deliberate speed, as the farther they all were from those sinister lands, the better.

With the explanation of their account now finalized, the scouts inquired as to what their commander's orders concerning the border issue. This was a matter that Commander Hurricane needed not the time to analyze. She dismissed her soldiers and swiftly flew off to gather the other Equestria rulers.

With the leaders now assembled, Hurricane repeated to Chancellor Puddinghead and Princess Platinum that which her scouts had detailed in their report. Commander Hurricane's stance on the matter was the same as her scouts: Equestria's borders should end at the wasteland, as clearly there was nothing of any value or use existing in that dismal area. Naturally, Princess Platinum was opposed to the idea of such a wretched piece of earth being part of what would become a glorious nation, so she was with Hurricane on this subject. Then came Chancellor Puddinghead, who was not so quick to choose a verdict as the others. However, she was the highly suggestible type, and seeing that both of the other leaders were in agreement over this affair, she agreed as well. And so, a unanimous decision was made: Equestria's southern borders would end at the badlands, which meant that now Equestria was now fully partitioned, and the real colonization of the new homeland of the pony races would at last get underway.

Almost immediately after the joint decision did Commander Hurricane proclaim her want for southern Equestria to properly outfitted for defensive requirements. This seemingly impetuous decision was due to the fact that the badlands had not been explored, so it was unknown if any beings of malevolent nature dwelled within those lands. The Equestrians required immediate defensive planning so as to be prepared for the probability of an attack on their homeland. The safety of Equestria's inhabitants was top priority for Commander Hurricane, and she would see to it that her people were protected from any perceivable threat, no matter how much time or resources would be utilized in doing so.

In opposition to the pegasus leader's extensive proposition, Princess Platinum showed herself to be not so eager to enact with Hurricane's hasty project. Such an enterprise was nothing more than trifling when placed into comparison with the more salient matter of establishing proper residences for their homeless people. After all, homes were necessity to shelter their ponies from the harsh elements of nature; plus, the notion of living outside was an unacceptable choice for the unicorns, as they required only the most luxurious and fitting accommodations for their kind.

Hurricane was rather nettled in her being forced to witness the side of unicorns to which she contained considerable abhorrence towards. She recollected on her past feelings towards the unicorns due to this display, reminding her of the causes that originally fostered her aversion of the unicorn race. Such pompous deportment was unfitting in this new society of equality and tolerance of each other's differences, so as not to bring about another downpour of chaos and destruction as what befell their previous homeland. But with these thoughts in mind, Hurricane soon came to the realization that she was doing just that in her critical judgment of Platinum's behavior. If anypony was going to start a fight, it(ironically) was not going to be her. So, the pegasus elected to disregard this pontifical comportment, and situated the subject of the current discussion back to that which it initially had commenced with.

Her retort explained that none of the ponies' efforts in that which Platinum had placed her ambitions would contain any sort of significance if Equestria came under attack during the period of time that would be taken up for the overlong construction of the various settlements formulated by the requisition of the unicorn princess. That's why a defensive strategy was of such importance to Hurricane; she desired this course of action not purely for herself, but for all of Equestria, for, as she put it: anypony with even a quarter of a brain would know that the wants of the people would have to wait until after the needs of the people.

As anypony could surmise, Princess Platinum was appreciably offended by Hurricane's disparaging remark about her intelligence. How dare she say such a thing about the ruler of the unicorns! She not only had considerable audacity to slander the princess's good, wonderful, and beautiful name, but also for her adjudication concerning the optimal direction in which their new nation should head in this era of uncertainty.

Chapter 5: Strange Uncoverings - 3/3

The two pony leaders were at each other's throats, which Chancellor Puddinghead was witness to during the entire altercation—at least, in appearance. Though her eyes were facing in their direction, the chancellor's mind was elsewhere. She was not contemplating the future of Equestria, her people, or anything pertaining to those matters. the only thing on her mind was the rumbling that emanated from her belly. Every hour or so(and also before and after every meal), Chancellor Puddinghead treats herself to a delightful chocolatey, candied, sweet, yummy, delicious, palatable pastry. Having come from a long line of sweet-toothed ponies(hence the name "Puddinghead"), her thoughts were focused on sweet-related subjects most of the time, unless a truly serious emergency had arisen—but now was not one of those times.

Because her musing was focalized on her own personal matter, Chancellor Puddinghead had not heard or retained a single word from either of the pony leaders, and as a result, she had not taken up a side with either of the quarreling mares.

It was at this time that Commander Hurricane shifted her attention to Puddinghead, having instantly formed an idea in her head. "Hey, I know!" she exclaimed, interrupting Princess Platinum, who had still been going on about why she was right and Hurricane was not. "We'll just let Puddinghead decide!"

Platinum looked at Puddinghead, then back at Hurricane. "...well, that is just fine with me!" she declared after a moment of cogitation.

The two ponies turned to face the chancellor.

"Puddinghead, what do you think?"

"Huh?"

"Yes, which decision do you believe to be the best?"

After exchanging glances with both ponies, Puddinghead began her own contemplation of the matter. Hurricane and Platinum waited anxiously for her answer.

"Hmmm...I think the best decision...would be to go get myself a snack!" she then skipped away gleefully to enjoy her collation, not having paid any sort of heed to the antecedent discourse. Both mares stood in stunned silence for several seconds. Princess Platinum was the first to break the quietude.

"Well, that was certainly a great help," she stated condescendingly whilst glancing over at Commander Hurricane.

"Oh, don't give me any of that, princess pain-in-my-flank!"

"How dare you!"

"Well, I dared—what are you going to do about it?"

Both ponies glared at one another, teeth bared and eyes encompassed by rage. It seemed that a tussle would follow, but Princess Platinum surprisingly refined her judgment in what actions should be taken in regards to this current dispute.

"You know what? I'm not going to besmirch the good name of the unicorns by scuffling with one as unruly as yourself," Platinum said as she stuck her snout up haughtily.

"I don't think you have to worry about the unicorns looking bad, because they always have!"

It was that comment that truly struck a nerve with the princess. She turned her face back to Hurricane, with nothing but seething anger manifested upon her countenance. She never before felt as exasperated as she was at this present time. Hurricane glared right back at the princess, more than ready for a fight to break out, as the insolent pegasus knew herself that she could take a unicorn this time or any time. They may have the power of magic, but that wouldn't be enough to match a pegasus—especially not this pegasus!

However, before the envisaged event could commence, ponies from all three of the tribes accumulated around the squabbling pony leaders. It was none too settling for the ponies to witness their leaders fighting with one another, considering it was they who unified the three tribes for the purpose of ending all of the fighting.

It took a bit of time to become aware, but Platinum soon took notice that her loyal subjects had massed together in a circle around both her and Hurricane. The intensity of her own fumed expression had lowered significantly as her eyes surveyed the crowd, discerning the same astonished expression spread across each and every one of the alarmed ponies. The sight of her subjects seeing their beloved and elegant princess behaving in this crude a manner had significantly lessened Platinum's burgeoning wrath into a more collected state of mind: one capable of more rational contemplation, and it was this very reflection that made the princess realize the image she had to uphold as a dignified leader, what with being one of the founders of the alliance between ponies, so she once again recalled her feelings of loathing and feigned her feelings of non-hostility with the pegasus leader. Platinum placed her leg around Hurricane's neck and pulled her closer, whispering into her ear the best course of action to take in order to keep the peace and protect their statures in the community; Hurricane was quick to agree. Though she didn't delight at the notion of making herself look soft in front of her own pegasi, she knew it was best to retain the harmony between the two of them for the time being, and the two pony leaders could sort out their problems at a later date.

So, very loudly, Hurricane and Platinum agreed that a compromise would be made. They both placed their front legs around each other's shoulders in a friendly manner and smiled to show their pseudo amity. The two explained together that because Platinum wanted to build homes for all the ponies, and Hurricane wants to make sure their homeland is properly defended, they would compromise and divide up the work amongst their ponies: the pegasi would do all the work pertaining to the defenses, and the unicorns and Earth ponies would focus their efforts on expanding Equestria's civilization to its other borders. This proposal seemed like the right way to go, as the other ponies agreed wholeheartedly. Following the discussed plan, everypony left the immediate area to begin working on the plans their leaders had set for them.

After everypony had departed, Hurricane and Platinum immediately stepped back from each other, resuming their bitter expressions and feelings of enmity towards one another.

"Well, it looks like the deal has been made," Hurricane spoke with animosity

"Indeed it has," Platinum responded with the same tone.

"So now you don't have to worry about your 'precious unicorns' dealing with such...such..."

"Frivolities?"

"Yeah, sure; anyways, everything's going to go both of our ways now, so I don't want to hear any whining from you about this, got it?"

"Oh, don't you worry; I wouldn't dream of being the one to carp regarding the faults of your race. I'm much better than that," after this insulting remark, Platinum walked away to begin overseeing the production of her expansion plan, whilst Hurricane held back her rage and decided that her incomparable hatred for Princess Platinum was a far less significant matter affair to deal with herself, now that she could finally go ahead with her own plans for Equestria. The pegasus took off to the air to locate her contingent of pegasi and inform them of the next move to be made for her defensive strategy.

Some time into the planning stage of the sentry towers(which Hurricane deemed the best idea), the prototype map of Equestria showed a series of hills located to the right of the desert. This discovery made things easier for Commander Hurricane, for this range of hills offered a bit of defense all on its own, so the focus of her team's efforts could be positioned purely in the desert, which would use up less time and resources, which Hurricane was all for, though she would still utilize all the time and supplies that could or would be required in perfecting this array of protection. Many months passed since Platinum and Hurricane chose their paths, and things had significantly improved for both ponies as well as Equestria, with both achieving what they had desired since the beginning: Platinum had expanded Equestria's settlements to numerous other locations in Equestria(though there were still more locations to be used), and Hurricane had perfected her meticulously planned defensive structures, which she believed to be the most viable means of defense for Equestria at the time. Given the number and size of each of the sentry posts, nobody would be able to pass by without her soldiers being alerted to their presence. Things looked very bright for Equestria, and each of the pony leaders felt to be in true harmony at long last—though, the true bonds of their alliance and friendship would be put to the test in the coming days, for a maelstrom of darkness was approaching the peaceful nation, and every last creature in this country would undergo a manner of darkness like no other in this world...

The confidence Commander Hurricane held to be true in her own abilities and those of her soldiers inflated her sense of arrogance in that no being in this world could match the power of her pegasi. This haughty attitude is what clouded Hurricane's proper judgment, which under normal circumstances meant she would not want merely Equestria's land to be investigated, but close-by neighboring lands as well: this meant the wasteland that her pegasi were too afraid to pass through—though they never informed her of their fears, for fear of what she would do if any of her soldiers presented themselves as cowardly.

Thusly, the wasteland was left unchecked, and nopony dared to venture into this seemingly lifeless terrain. However, it was rather unfortunate that the wasteland was not explored, as unbeknownst to the Equestrians, there did indeed lurk a species never before encountered by ponykind; a great evil that threatened the lives of every pony: little or big; young or old; earth pony, unicorn, or pegasus. From this new peril would arise a skirmish—one unlike any other known in recorded history, and it was ill-fated that Equestria was the place this threat would cross paths with.

A stirring of the presence existent in the badlands had begun, and though there was still time before this menace was at its full strength, not even the brave and battle-hardened pegasi could be prepared for that which they were about to face—nor would anypony...

Chapter 6: The Calm Before the Battle 1/2

It had been around three months since the completion of the Southern Equestrian Sentry Posts, and as luck would have it, there had not been a single intrusion into Equestrian territory during that entire stretch of time. This lack of activity did not lessen the vigilance of the pony soldiers. They were always on duty, as having even one pony slacking off could bring about disaster if a disturbance did indeed arise. Most soldiers were stationed up at the tops of the sentry posts, with routine marches up and down the connecting bridges of the towers all day and night. Nopony relented in keeping a watchful eye for any sign of movement in the barren lands that lie opposite of their glorious nation.

Though times had been peaceful and uneventful for the Equestrians hitherto, it would be on this very day that the might of the ponies(mostly Hurricane's pegasi) would face the first true test of their capabilities in warfare. The perils faced in days past were considered great threats to the existence of the ponies, such as goblins, Thunderbirds, and most of all, the Windigos. However, once this new foe made its appearance, the ponies would witness a threat much more deadly and much more real than they could ever expected to come against. Still, no matter how powerful or dangerous and adversary may appear, the military ponies of Equestria would not falter in keeping their home safe, or protecting the many innocent ponies that live within their nation. However, bravery alone does not guarantee a victory, and the Equestrians were about to learn that lesson in a way more difficult than any one of them could ever perceive...

The sun had descended from the upper atmosphere, completing its day-long duty and allowing the moon to take its place as the rightful illuminator of the nighttime sky. The sentry posts stood as monoliths in the dark, keeping their everlasting vigil at the egress of the desert. As dark as the night was, the collimated rays of the crescent moon lit up the rears of the towers that faced the motherland. From this side, the gleaming sentry posts resembled beacons—beacons which symbolized the bright future envisioned for Equestria by all ponies. Catching even a glimpse of this glistening light would be nothing short of inspirational to any and all inhabitants of the glorious Equestrian nation, for the faith held by the ponies in their own land and the people behind it could only push Equestria even further into the prosperous nation it was destined to become. The sentry guards maintained this belief adamantly, confident in their growing country and in their own abilities to defend it most definitely—even on days and nights of silence and inactivity, as it had been for the entirety of their duration stationed at the sentry posts. But, even though all appeared peaceful at this current place in time, it was not to last, as no later than the quarter-point of the moon's journey through the darkened sky would the harmony be utterly shattered by the unknown force making its way to the Equestrian border...

Though the many lights placed about the towers assisted in the observation maintained by the sentry guards, the fog that had recently drifted in hindered the vision of the guards to a great extent. Because of this, many pegasi had been ordered to move out into the fog, each holding a lantern, and produce a gust of enough strength to disperse the fog so as to return the proper rate of productivity to their nightly duty. Unfortunately, this simple task was not going as smoothly as would be expected: an air of uneasiness had settled amongst the ponies—feelings that something felt much ore "off" than was the norm for sentry post guard duty. Some took the sudden murkiness as a sign that a significant occurrence would take place this very night, and for those who holds the job of a guardspony, only trepidation would be their neighbor.

Chapter 2: Trekking Through the Towers - 2/2

Rainbow Dash flew up into the collapsed building that rested just above her and Applejack. After her little incident with the "sand-alanche" prior to this, she decided to actually take part in the learning expedition, and was now checking out the damaged building for something she and Applejack would be able to obtain a source of knowledge from.

"Do yah see anything?" Applejack called out, her voice being amplified through the rooms of the building, ensuring Rainbow Dash could perceive her sounds of shouting.

"It's kinda hard to see in here," Rainbow shouted back. "But the light coming in through the broken parts of the wall is showing me some stuff."

"Well, do yuh see anything worth learnin' about?"

"Well, I don't know what kind of stuff we're looking for, but all I'm seeing is a bunch of sand and broken stuff," she let out a hefty sigh."This isn't really what I had in mind when Twilight first told me the story about these towers. I wanted to find something actually cool to look at when I went inside one of these things," she stated grouchily.

"Well, what did ya expect us tuh find?" Applejack retorted.

"Considering that this post fell over, I was actually hoping to find some skeletons of ponies in here. Now that would be cool to learn from," she said with an unpleasant grin.

"Awww, c'mon, Rainbow Dash," Applejack responded in disgust. "That's just disgustin'."

"Disgusting but cool!" she ardently responded back, to which Applejack just slapped her hoof to her face in frustration.

~~~

"Oof!" Spike went as he plummeted face-first into the ground. Pinkie Pie hurriedly rushed to his side the instant he fell.

"Spike! Are you okay??"

Spike lifted himself up off the ground. "Yeah, I'm okay," he replied as he brushed the sand off his face.

"Are you sure?" Pinkie asked, walking up to Spike and moving her face right up to his. She then lifted up her hoof and pointed it at his face "Does it hurt when I do this?" she poked him in the face "Or this?" she poked him again. "Or this? Or this ? Or this?" she said over and over as she repetitively poked him in various places of his face, much to his growing exasperation.

He finally grabbed Pinkie's hoof and pulled it down and away from his face, shouting, "It doesn't hurt!!" back at her.

There was a short pause from Pinkie Pie, "...okay, then!" she responded, happy knowing Spike was fine.

After dealing with Pinkie, Spike sat down on the ground, rubbing his partly aching foot. "I must have tripped on something," he stated. He then looked back at the spot where he had stumbled over, and saw only a single metal object protruding from the sand. He swiftly turned around and crawled over to the object, examining it more closely. "This must be the thing I tripped on," he proclaimed, and he promptly took hold of the object and began to pull. The object was not coming out so easily, as Spike was barely budging it, even with both hands. "Whatever this thing is, it must be pretty big," he said, clenching his teeth. Spike halted his lugging for a few moments to catch his breath. Realizing this way was not working, Spike decided to try a different method: instead of pulling steadily and continuously, Spike started doing several shorter, but stronger, tugs on the object, so that more strength would be placed within each pull. This proved to be quite effective, as with each passing pull, the object was lifted more and more out of the earth that grasped it so firmly. Then, with a final yank, the bulging object came bursting out of the ground, dispersing sand outwards in all directions. Because of the force used to haul the object from the ground, Spike sent himself flying backwards and impacting the ground with acute force.

Spike groaned as he clasped the back of his head, currently aching from the hard fall. He shook off the pain, and now turned his attention towards the object, which was still being gripped firmly in his other hand. Taking the object in both hands, Spike was now able to take a look at exactly what this previously unidentified item was.

"Hey, look," he said to Pinkie Pie.

"What is it?"

"It looks like a shield...a really old shield," Spike examined the exterior of the shield more thoroughly, and could see how much that time had affected this armament. "It's pretty beaten up—and it's completely rusted all over. There's no way this thing could ever be used to defend anybody again."

"Ooh! Let me see it!" Pinkie Pie appealed as she moved her head right next to Spike's. Pinkie then stared intently at the shield, not speaking a single word or moving a muscle. Spike, as one might expect, was mystified by exactly what Pinkie Pie was attempting to accomplish by merely staring at the shield.

"...okay, I'm done!" Pinkie stated as she trotted away, having finished as quickly as she began.

"Wait, what?" Spike inquired, bewildered as to what had just occurred.

"I'm done learning from the shield, silly!"

"Learning? What did you learn from it?"

"Duh! I learned that it was a big, rusty shield! What else is there to learn about it?"

Spike reflected on Pinkie's explanation very meticulously, and attempted to clarify for her, "Pinkie, I don't think that's what Twilight meant when she wanted us to lear—"

"Oh! look over there!" Pinkie cut in, pointing towards something a short distance away, and promptly sped off towards the site of her point of interest.

"Hey, wait!" Spike called out as he dropped the shield and ran after Pinkie, endeavoring to keep up with the energetic mare.

~~~

"I do believe I've done enough as is necessary on this little outing," Rarity asserted as she stopped in her tracks(though she had waited until she was in the shade of one of the sentry posts before stopping).

Fluttershy stopped shortly after Rarity had done so, stumbling a bit because of the sudden halt. "What do you mean, Rarity?" she asked.

"I mean that we have been out here for quite some time now already, tiring ourselves from all this walking, getting to the point of almost sweating, and burning our sensitive skin due to this constant dreaded sunlight. So, as you can see, we've both done more work outside than a pony should customarily perform."

Fluttershy was not mutual with Rarity on this thought. "Gee Rarity, I haven't been thinking any of those things while we've been out here."

"That's because you haven't been as educated as I have in these matters, dear" she replied as she patted Fluttershy's cheek.

"...yeah, I guess you're right."

"Indeed I am," Rarity continued "And besides, it's quite clear to anypony that there is absolutely nothing out here that is worth 'learning' about. It's just a dreary, barren landscape devoid of any means of enjoying oneself, and any pony who could actually find a way to have a pleasurable time in this wasteland has obviously been standing in the sun for too long."

Fluttershy was speechless in the wake of Rarity's rant. Such a harsh mindset was a bit bitter for this pegasus' tastes. Even so, she decided to hear Rarity out further, not wanting to appear rude by remaining silent. "Well, what do you think we should do instead?"

Rarity was quick to respond, "I elect that we return to that decrepit train station and wait for the return of the others there. At least then we will no longer be exposed to this dreadful weather conditions."

"Well...I know how much you care about being tired and hurting your skin out here, and I don't want that to happen to you, but I also don't want to tell Twilight that we didn't learn anything at all while we were out here. I know that would make her sad after all she did to take all of us on this trip."

Rarity sighed heftily. "Let's just find something quick to learn from," she quickly looked at the area around her, and found a broken spear in the ground—but it was only the bottom half, so it looked more like a broken pole to them. She pulled the broken from the ground with her magic and presented it to Fluttershy. "Here we go: the ponies in the past must have somehow broken this pole and dropped it on the ground right here—that's what we've just learned," she stated, sounding a bit haughty.

Fluttershy stared blankly at the spear fragment in front of her, and then she looked at Rarity. "...umm...I don't want to say you're not good at knowing what to learn, but I would be lying if I said you were... and I don't want to disappoint Twilight by telling her that...sorry..." Fluttershy sounded quite disappointed in herself for talking in such a way to Rarity.

Rarity became more testy upon hearing this, feeling like she was never going to get out of here and reach her safe haven at the train station. "Well, this was the best I could do!" she shouted, making Fluttershy cower in fear. "How much more are we even supposed to do??" she said crossly, making Fluttershy feel very fearful and nervous, as she didn't want to upset Rarity even more than she already did.

It was difficult for Fluttershy to build up the courage to form a response to Rarity's irate question, but she still managed to force the words from her mouth, "...well...umm...I don't think we're supposed to do a whole lot while we're out here...just enough so that Twilight will be happy we've learned something...I'm pretty sure that's it..." Fluttershy then reverted back to her submissive state, just in case Rarity became mad and loud again.

Rarity did not answer immediately. The only thoughts presently floating in her mind were of her growing more and more flustered by all this lingering about. She knew she needed a way to get to her safe haven and still allow Fluttershy to be pleased. What she needed was some crafty thinking, and it was that type of reasoning that formulated the plan that she believed to be quite shrewd.

"You know, Fluttershy: since everyone else is already searching about the sentry posts, there's most likely nobody searching the train station to see if it holds any valuable information."

Fluttershy halted her cowering and looked up towards Rarity, showing interest in her idea.

"I'm quite certain Twilight would be impressed if we found a unique source of knowledge within that very station. What say the two of us go and check it out?" she suggested very slyly as she leaned towards Fluttershy with a big grin.

Fluttershy stared back at Rarity, looking to be deep in thought. But, only after a few seconds, Fluttershy smiled and let out a big, "Okay! Let's go!" the merry pegasus happily flew up into the Rarity, and she and Rarity began their walk back to the train station from whence they started. Fluttershy was happy in knowing she would satisfy Twilight, and Rarity was happy in knowing she was so cunning–and that she was finally able to get out of the sun and into the more pleasurable shade.