Canterlot Castle
Canterlot, EQ 46773
March 19, 2013
Muck Raker
Pony Express Press
Canterlot, EQ 46773
Dear Sir:
I have followed your other stories on corruption in the highest levels of government, and I have some information about a top-secret program. Word must get out to the ponies of Equestria. Please meet me in three days, 2:00 AM sharp inside the southern-most cave of Ghastly Gorge.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
Three days later I found myself in Ghastly Gorge, peering into the inky black mouth of the southernmost cave. Holding my firefly lantern up, I cautiously entered.
“That’s far enough.” I heard a voice say, I wasn’t more then 50 feet from the entrance.
“Many ponies have asked me, “What is so fascinating about rocks?” The answer to that is hard for many ponies to break through. In fact, they aren’t allowed to. Nopony knows what I really do. Instead they are fed a preconceived and approved line of boulderdash, and they invariably go away happy.”
I stood in the depths of the cave, looking in deeper. The voice continued, a flat, emotionless monotone.
“The truth is pretty rough, and has many facets; all pointing to the highest echelons of Equestrian government.
“I am the deputy director of a top secret project known as Research On Robust and Potentially Powerful Pebbles Protecting Ponies and Princesses from the Potential of Paranormal Powers Possibly Pulverizing the Peaceful Populace. Codenamed: Operation ROCK. We are a highly specialized wing of the Royal Guard; performing R&D to try and discover the next super-element. Since Princess Twilight relinquished control of the Elements of Harmony, Equestria has been surviving on borrowed time. It is only a matter of when the next supervillian attacks. Our goal is to find the next Element of Harmony or Crystal Heart before that happens.
“The story behind Operation ROCK predates the formation of Equestria. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were walking through the Everfree Forest one sunny day to get some respite from Discord’s antics when they came across a round rock that did not look like it belonged. It was a perfect disk, three feet thick and over 100 feet tall. On it was the inscription: ‘Qui transfert lapides, hoc habet in potestate movere magica, (whoever moves this stone holds the power to wield the magic within).’ This piqued their interest and they decided to give it a shot.
“Any ideas on how to start?” Celestia asked her sister.
Luna shook her head. “It looks far to heavy to levitate. Maybe we could roll it out of the way?”
Celestia looked at the rock. “How?”
Luna shrugged. “Do you want to see if a Come-To-Life spell will work?” she asked, unconvinced.
Celestia thought about it, and coming up with no better idea, agreed. “Do you want help?” she asked, but Luna already had her face screwed up in concentration. A light blue luminescent glow surrounded the rock and Luna’s horn.
Minutes passed. Nothing. The glow faded as Luna flopped down on the ground.
Celestia stood over her. “Do you want help?” she asked again.
“Yes,” Luna panted. She lay in a puddle of perspiration. A yellow glow enveloped Luna as her big sister picked her up and set her back on her feet. She stood, panting; sweat still dripping off her muzzle.
“You okay?”
“I’ll – I’ll be – I’ll be fine.”
Celestia pulled her sister close with a wing. “Let me know when you are ready.”
The stone shuddered imperceptibly.
“Okay, I’m ready.” Luna said after a minute. The two alicorns stood up and prepared to enchant the stone.
“Which spell are we using?” Celestia asked suddenly.
“A Come-To-Life spell.” Luna answered. She stared intently at the rock. Internally, every ounce of her energy was charging her horn like a super-capacitor. Nerve energy was redirected, causing everything behind her withers to go numb. The sensation was extremely unpleasant, but Luna ignored it, focusing on the task at hoof.
Celestia quickly observed her sister, and did the same. The air crackled with the magical potential of the two ponies.
“Ready?” Luna yelled.
“Ready!”
“On the count of three!
“One…
“Two…
“THREE!”
The air screamed as the stone was engulfed in a blinding flash of green light. A mushroom cloud rose high in the purple sky, as a terrific explosion rocked the canyon, leveling everything for a mile around. The stone remained unaffected. Not even a chip or crack.
Celestia regained consciousness to find herself buried stifle deep in rubble. She looked left and right.
“Luna?”
No response.
“Luna!”
…
She swung her head back and forth franticly, before she spied a dark blue ethereal mane peeking out from another pile of rubble.
“LUNA!” Celestia screamed.
She was trapped, but after about a minute of violent thrashing, was able to free herself with only several nasty cuts on her flank. She galloped, as best she could, over to where her sister was buried.
The stone started to quiver.
Magic arced out of Celesta’s horn as she flung rubble from the pile.
“Luna!” she cried, “Are you okay?”
No response.
The stone started to shake.
Celestia gently cradled her sister’s limp form in her forearms, and began to cry.
Time passed. The stone continued to shiver, unobserved.
“Darn Newponian physics,” Luna groaned quietly.
A smile burst across Celestia’s face, and her heart exploded with relief, joy, and love.
“Luna, you’re alive! Are you okay?”
“Just sore.”
Celestia pulled Luna into an embrace. “Luna! I was so worried I had lost you.”
“Nope,” Luna answered returning the hug. She looked down over her big sister’s shoulder. “Oh, Celestia! You are hurt!”
“Now that you are okay, I’ll be fine too.”
The two sisters sat for a moment locked in each other’s embrace until a terrifying rumbling caught their attention. They turned, looking for the source, until their gaze rested on the stone. The rock, which had just withstood the most violent magical attack in Equestrian history, suddenly pulverized. Behind the debris, a cave had appeared.
Celestia and Luna walked over the rubble, into a well-lit cave. There, at the back, stood the most radiant and beautiful tree they had ever seen.
Luna gasped. “The Tree of Harmony!”
“As you know, Celestia and Luna went on to use the Elements to defeat Discord, and restore harmony to Equestria.
“Although they knew how to use to Elements, they did not know why they worked. Thus, Operation ROCK was born. Some of the greatest minds were pulled from all over Equestria to discover what made the Elements of Harmony special. We never figured it out. We have discovered other rocks with strange physical properties, but none have the same response to pony emotions as these relics.”
“But you must know something about them?” I asked.
“Not really. We did learn that the Tree of Harmony draws nourishment from the elements, and that the element’s proximity to the Tree strengthens the Tree’s magic. That is why Celestia and Luna built their first castle in the Everfree Forest, almost directly on top of it.
“It is for the very same reason that it only took three years for the tree to start dying after the Elements were moved to Canterlot, and subsequently Ponyville…
“That is all I can say for now,” the voice said after a short pause
“Well, that should be enough to get me started,” I said, turning to go. “Thank you.”
“Oh, you are not going anywhere,” – the voice suddenly became sinister – “You know to much. I have to kill you now.”
“But you asked me to come here.”
“Celestia set this up as a sting operation.”
Shocked, I tried to run, but the pony was too quick. She lunged at me, knocking me down and roping my hooves together on one swift motion.
In the dim light of my lantern, I saw the familiar face of Maud Pie. She stood over me, looking at me with emotionless eyes.
“You will get to see some of my research,” – she took a rock out of her saddlebag and set it on the ground close to me – “This is a highly explosive rock I discovered on my trip to Ponyville. We are still testing it to discover it’s full potential, but we expect to add it to the arsenal of the Royal Guard by the end of this year.”
She closely inspected the cave ceiling, adjusted her rock, and bucked the cave wall three times.
“It was nice to meet you,” she said flatly as she headed for the mouth of the cave.
Ten minutes later, the cave ceiling began to collapse.