Chapter 1: The Distant Stars
Chapter One: The Distant Stars
The moons were high in their zenith, illuminating the night alongside the multitudes of stars. That was one good thing about this station, thought the guard. Out here in the desert you could see every star in the sky at night. It also didn't hurt that the eccentric scientist who hired him surrounded himself with beautiful young scientist. Though, he wish one of them were here to keep him company right now. Besides the simple entrance leading into the underground ruins he was guarding, there was nothing to look at but sand, sand, and more sand. There was hardly anything to guard against this far out in the desert, and the only ones who cared about ruins as old as these were scholarly types like the good Dr. D himself. Thinking about it thoughtfully he realized that there could be much worse places to guard.
“What's the point of having a guard if nothing ever happens?” he though aloud this time, just to break the silence.
Thump... thump... thump...
“What was that!” he exlaimed.
THUMP... THUMP... THUMP... It was getting closer
“I take it all back, I'm happy with nothing happening!”
But, it was too late for take backs, cresting the sand dune to his left came the culprit. As large as a building, and covered in metal armor, it resembled some sort of tiger... or perhaps a lion. It was hard to tell, even with the ample moon light. It continued forward until it stood in front of the now dwarfed guard, it's claws sinking into the sand mere meters away from him.
“Wh-who goes there!?” shouted the guard, after finally summoning the courage to confront the peculiar visitor.
The machine lowered it's head nearer the ground and the cockpit opened to reveal not a tough bandit like the guard expected, but a young boy and girl.
“Sorry we didn't mean to scare you there. Didn't Dr. D tell you we were coming?” asked the boy, waving his hands in a placating manner.
Sighing in both aggravation and relief, the guard called ahead for confirmation of the boys story over his radio. While waiting for a reply he took a quick scan of the visitors. The boy wore the clan markings of a village west of here called the Wind colony, a red vertical bar on his left cheek. He was pretty scrawny looking with brown hair. The girl's markings however, he didn't recognize, two soft turquoise drops above her brow. She had long blonde hair, but most striking where her vibrant red eyes. He wondered...
“Bzzztt-” the guard's radio crackled to life, “Haha this is what you get for falling asleep during briefings, Luke! Now, let them in right away.”
“Nobody ever tells me anything...” grumbled the guard as he motioned for the young zoid pilot forward into the ruins proper.
“Van, you shouldn't have scared that poor man.” scolded Fiona from the back seat.
“Hey, it's not my fault he wasn't expecting me!” Van replied, before turning back around to focus on piloting his Zoid, the Blade Liger, through the cramped corridors of the ruins. “Besides, don't you think it'll be worth it, once we get a look see at these ruins? We may even find out something about your past or whatever that 'Zoid Eve' thing is all about.”
“I'm not so sure Van, I'm feeling something from these ruins... but it's not like any of the past ruins we've been to that involved the Zoid Eve. It's strange.” Fiona remained silent after that, seemingly lost in thought.
“Don't worry Fiona, the day I found you and Zeke in those capsules, I vowed I would help you find your old memories, and I have no plans of stopping. Ain't that right, Zeke?”
A growl that could be interpreted as an affirmative came from the control console of his machine. That was Zeke, Van's Organoid companion and friend, currently fused with the Blad Liger's core.
“Thanks, Van... and you too Zeke.” Fiona replied, a soft smile briefly broke her otherwise tense expression.
It was hard to believe they'd been together for only a year now. Van actually did find Fiona and Zeke in a capsule, in a ruin much like this one about half a days journey north of here. Who would've thought that on that day he would meet not only his two best friends, but would also start him on a journey across the continent.
What originally started as a quest for Fiona's lost memories, turned hectic as they were swept into the conflict between the two main powers on Zi, the Helic Republic and the Guylos Empire. Not only did they thwart the assassination attempt on the Empires crown prince, prevent the destruction of the capital of the Helic Republic, but they also prevented the insane General Prozen from destroying both the Empire and the Republic using an ancient and evil zoid known only as the Death Saurer. Using the Blad Liger's unique blades and Zeke's Organoid abilities to fuse with the Liger's Zoid Core to increase it's power, they were able to defeat Prozen, who perished alongside the Death Saurer.
They had made quite a few enemies along the way, but made even more friends like Moonbay and Irvine. But, throughout all that, Van had not forgotten his original promise to Fiona. Which brought them to these ruins tonight. Dr. D, another friend they had made on their journey, was in charge of excavating these ruins and had allowed them to come investigate in the hopes that it might give them a clue to Fiona's past.
"Hey Van..." Fiona spoke up, bringing Van out of his stroll down memory lane.
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking about what Dr. D told me... about being an Ancient Zoidian..."
"What about it? It's hard to believe you were in that capsule that long! The rest of the Anciant Zoidians were long gone by the time humans showed up on Zi."
"That's the thing Van, I was wondering why you were helping me even though, you know... I'm not really a human..." Fiona's voice trailed off, as if she was nervous of Van's answer.
Van immediately stopped the Blade Liger. How could she think that? "Fiona, I don't care what you are!" Van exclaimed, looking back at Fiona, "Do you think I like Zeke less because he's an Organoid instead of a human? Or the Blade Liger?"
"Well... no."
"Fiona, you're my friend and that's all that matters to me!"
This time, Fiona returned Van's smile with a genuine smile of her own, and it stayed there. Until she looked past Van, and her eye's went wide. “Van, look at that!”
“Whoa!”
The moon was high in its zenith, illuminating the night alongside the multitudes of stars. A guardspony looked around nervously. There was nothing good about this station. The forest surrounding the ruins he guarded were dark, the bugs were large, and he had even heard rumors of timberwolves in the area. It didn't help that the friends of the eccentric scientist in charge of excavating the ruins were driving him up the proverbial wall. He was almost relieved when it was his shift so he could get away from them, almost. There were so many better places to be stationed right now. Why of why did he let the recruiter talk him into this...
“See the world they said! You'll make lots of friends they said! Bah!” exclaimed the pony in frustration. “I just hope nothing bad happens...”
Nearby a twig snapped.
“Who's there?” asked the guardspony, instantly regretting for daring to ask for nothing bad to happen out loud.
A bit closer he heard a bush rustle to his left.
“Show yourself at once!” demanded the guardspony in a voice much higher in pitch than he had intended, his wings now flared in anticipation.
“Boo.”
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
“hee hee hee, relax my good pony, tis but a prank.”
Peaking down from the tree he had jumped into, the guardspony saw none other than Princess Luna. So startled was he by this fact that he fell out of the tree and flat on his face in his attempt prostrate himself in front of one of the royal alicorn sisters.
“Rise, my little pony, there is no need for formalities this far from the capital. Now, did not Twilight Sparkle warn you of my imminent arrival?” asked the Princess, concerned she had given the poor guard a bit too strong a fright.
“No. No she did not, Your Highness...” sighed the pegasus.
“Ah, well, my apologies then. Now, lead me to Miss Sparkle. We have urgent business to attend to.”
Further in the ruins, in a large antechamber, sat a young lavender alicorn. The antechamber contained only a single large stone table in it's center, and a small stone stool. More notably were the entrance and exit to the room. Both intricately carved from stone and covered in an undecipherable sccript. The alicorn was focused intently on the piles of parchment surrounding her. Beside her slept a very small and very tired purple dragon. Twilight Sparkle had been sitting here for the better part of the day, trying to make heads of the transcription she had made of the ancient runes scattered throughout the ruins. She was no further along now than when she started.
“Ughhhhh... Twilight,” groaned Rainbow Dash from the stone table she had taken to laying on top of, drawing out Twilight's name in the way she knew she hated, “when you said we were going to excavating an anciant pony ruin, I thought it would be exciting, like from a Daring Do novel. This is just plain boring.”
“Don't be a silly filly Rainbow!” said Pinkie Pie, “these ruins are soooo cool! Look at all the funny pictures and squiggles on the doors! What do they mean? *GASP* what if it means we're gonna meet some new friends here? And we can throw them a welcome-and-ancient-ruins-exploring party!”
“Darling, I doubt we'd find anypony besides us and that handsome guardspony here. No one has even lived here for a very very long time.” replied Rarity from her corner, where she had been adjusting the position of the only stone chair in the antechamber in order to find the spot it looked best in. She had been doing so, unsuccessfully, for the past hour.
Fluttershy flinched back as Rarity pulled the stone chair between where she and Applejack had been playing cards. Applejack gave Rarity a dirty look, which Rarity subsequently ignored as she pulled the chair further along, apparently finding it's current position between Fluttershy and Applejack lacking.
Twilight, absorbed as she was in her diagrams, transcripts, and ancient drawings, paid Rainbow's original complaint no heed.
Resigning herself to boredom, Rainbow Dash glanced at the exit, as intricately carved as it was, she had grown bored of the runes she couldn't read and the sculptures she could make no heads nor tails of. Maybe she should go take a midnight flight, she thought. But, just as she was about to get up, a new visitor came through the door. “Princess Luna!” she said, to get the others attention.
Upon hearing the princess's name, Twilight finally pried her eyes away from her notes. “Ah I'm so glad you're finally here! I trust Wind Chaser let you in?”
“Why yes,” replied the Lunar Princess, “Though you really should tell him next time royalty is arriving, guardsponies get stressed enough even when they know we're coming.”
“That's what he get's for sleeping through my briefing.” retorted Twilight.
“Come on Twilight, can you blame him?” asked Rainbow Dash, “It was two hours long!”
“One hour and forty-five minutes, thank you.” Twilight explained.
“Whatever, you get my point.” said Rainbow.
“I suppose, next time I could cut down on the tool cleaning protocols...” said Twilight somewhat sheepishly. “But, more importantly; Luna, I'm so glad you're here, there's so much to show you!”
“All in do time, Twilight. First, show me that which you explained in your letter.” replied Luna.
“Certainly, though there's still a lot we don't know about it.”
“That is fine Twilight. But, it is vital that I examine this myself. My sister and I fear that it may have something to do with the strange shift in ley lines we have felt recently.”
“The thing in this ruins is affecting the ley lines! This changes everything! It explains so much, I've been looking at this all the wrong way.” Twilight began to mumble to herself as she returned to her notes. “If I use Clover the Clever's inverse postulate on fractal conjurations... and couple that with the Star Seed Theorem... carry the two...”
Luna and the rest stared blankly at Twilight as she worked. Luna herself was having trouble following Twilight at this speed. Realizing she wouldn't be able to stop until she had solved the entire ancient language, Luna stepped forward and gently placed her hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
“Ahem, mayhaps we can continue this endeavor, after you show me the next room?” Luna gently asked.
Looking up, Twilight only blushed and then nodded. She got up and led the group down the opposite hallway that Luna had entered from.
“Finally!” Exclaimed Rainbow as they walked down the large corridor, “This is the only place that's actually cool here!”
After a few bends, Luna finally saw the opening to a much larger room. Her heart pounding as she speculated what she might find there.
“Princess Luna, allow me to show you-” Twilight stopped mid-sentence, staring into the next room blankly.
“I don't remember that!”
“Whoa!”
“Eep!”
“Interesting...” said Luna, finally finding her voice.