Soul's Requiem

My Little Pony, My Little Pony,

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Error. Error.

Rebooting....

Restricted Airspace 165 miles north of Winterhoof 2256 hours

A Raptor E57 flew through the air. Its twin rotors slicing through the snow flurries and howling winds. Inside the cockpit were two ponies. The pilot stared at the navgrid before him. Its orange glow reflected off his helmet's face shield. His companion fiddled with his holopad. The teal earth pony set the sleek silver pad down beside him with a frustrated sigh.

"No bloody reception," Timeline grumbled.

"It's the cloud cover," the pilot said," It messes with the satellites."

Timeline looked out of his window with a bored expression. He had been called out form his cozy home in Ponopolis to be a consultant on an archeological sight that had been uncovered. So he got on the first plane to Winterhoof and had been picked up by his current ride. Timeline was a History Professor in the Argent University and one of the leading intellectuals in the field of Ancient Equestrian History. He had been excited when he got the call but the only thing that dampened his spirits was the cold. He hated the cold.

The Raptor began it's descent onto a makeshift landing pad when a massive crystal spire came into view. There was a basecamp already set up at its base and a lone pegasus mare in a light parka stood at the helopad's edge. The twin rotors leveled out and the aircraft landed. The pegasus shielded her eyes as it kicked up snow as it landed. Once the Raptor's engines were cut off the loading bay lowered. Timeline pulled his hood over his dark blue mane as he stepped out. The mare trotted up to greet him.

"Hello Mr.Timeline," she shouted over the howling winds," I'm Right Angle I was asked to greet you."

"Th-thank you," he shivered. His eyes widened when he saw how lightly she was dressed in the cold," Ho-how are you not freezing?"

She raised an eyebrow and extended a wing almost twice the length of her body in response.

"Right pegasus," Timeline grumbled, inwardly cursing the pegasi's natural resistance to the cold.

She giggled and started down the ramp into the camp," Come on lets get you out of the cold."

"Sounds like a plan," he said as he followed her into the camp. Ponies ran in between the hexatents, carrying various types of equipment. It was sheer chaos but there was an underlying system to it all. As well he always marveled at the hexatents. Made of three enchanted platinum plate these arcane structures could protect against the most extreme elements. It offered a comfortable experience as well allowing temperature control and light at but a command.

"So have they figured out how old this tower is?" Timeline asked as they weaved through the ponies that went about their errands.

"Ms. Ambrosia thinks it's Pre-Argent Age," Right said.

'That's well over nine hundred years old,' Timeline thought as he stepped aside to allow a land cruiser through. He then spotted a Genesis Tech logo on the side of one of the hexatents.

Genesis Tech was a biotech company that had started up some eighty years ago. They started out by developing a cure for the Zeta Plague, a horrible virus that dissolved a ponies brain in a matter of hours. Since then they had become one of the leading bioware companies in the world. They had made breakthroughs in medical fields since then that had greatly benefited races around the world. Ember Gem had started the company and still ran it to this day.

"What is Gen Tech doing here?" Timeline asked as he raised an eyebrow at Right Angle.

She shrugged," To be honest we don't know. All they would tell us is that its just incase of a biological threat."

"They do realize that we're over a hundred miles away from the nearest city right? Besides that its frozen out here. What could be so bad that we'd need them here?" Timeline said.

"That's what Ms. Ambrosia said too," Right said," But they just pulled out a form that had Prime Minister Legal Access's consent for them to be here. Then they just took over the site."

"Let me guess Ambrosia response was to start smoking like a freight train," Timeline said.

Right stopped in her tracks just outside their destination, shocked," Why yes. How did you-"

Timeline waved a hoof and chuckled," She and I go way back."

And indeed they did. They attended Northern Canterlot University together and became fast friends. They shared a love for ancient languages and history and they graduated top of their class. He became a teacher while she had chosen to be an archeologist. That didn't mean they had stopped seeing each other though. She called him out to digs very often as a second professional opinion. Besides Timeline enjoyed getting away from stuffy offices and stuck up students.

Timeline walked inside the hexatent and was instantly hit with the stench of cigarette smoke. Holopads, books and loose papers littered the tops of the various tables. In the rooms center was a holotable that showed a detailed schematic of the crystal tower but what caught his eye was Ambrosia staring down a smaller lime green earth pony mare with a red and blue swirled mane wearing a winter coat over a white lab coat. Timeline couldn't help but think she looked familiar. Ambrosia wore a dark purple wool sweater over her mottled grey fur. A lit cigarette hung loosely from the corner of her mouth.

"Let me get this straight," Ambriosia said," You come in here start spouting some bull about this site being a biological threat. Then you start ordering my ponies around like you own the place and now your telling me I can't go down into the Spire. This is my bloody find you twit!"

The earth mare kept a neutral expression through Ambrosia's yelling which impressed Timeline considering how scary the unicorn could get when mad.

"Ms. Ambrosia I understand how annoying this can be," she said, her voice soft, refined," but this is for your own safety. I only wish to scope things out with a team of my ponies to see if the site is safe."

"Annoyed. You think I'm annoyed," Ambrosia scoffed as she took a puff from her cigarette," I was annoyed the second your crew showed up here. I was annoyed the second you started calling the bloody shots. I was annoyed the SECOND you entered my tent. No I'm not annoyed you little imp. I'm bloody furious!" she took another puff from her cigarette," This is the biggest archeological find of my career, hell of the bloody century. A bullet wound wouldn't stop me from going down there an if you think I'm going to let you and your lackeys go in first, quite possibly ruining the site in the process, then you have another thing coming Ms. Splice."  Ambrosia emphasized her point by snuffing out her cigarette on a nearby table.

"I am authorized in this form by the Prime Min-" the earth pony began as she pulled a folded sheet of paper from inside her coat but Ambrosia stopped her.

"You bring that blasted form out and I'll shove it right up your puckered plothole. Now if you'll excuse me I have a guest to brief," she said motioning to Timeline," and an expedition to plan. We will be going down tomorrow as planned and you are welcomed to join us."

The earth pony pursed her lips," Very well then I see that I will be unable to dissuade you from this. I will see you tomorrow then." She nodded in greeting to Timeline before exiting the hexatent.

"0800 and don't be late!" Ambrosia yelled after her," Ooooh I hate that mare."

"Who was that?" Timeline asked as he took his coat off.

"Gene Splice one of GenTech's higher ups," Ambrosia said as she pulled another cigarette from a table and a lighter from a nearby table with her telekinesis. Lighting the cigarette she took a drag from it. She ran a hoof through her cherry red mane and let out a plume of smoke from her nose.

Timeline then remembered where he had seen Gene Splice before. She had been on the cover of a Scientist's Journal that he had read on the plane trip to Winterhoof. She was one of the leading genetic researchers in the world and Genesis Tech's star scientist. Timeline was confused as to why such an important figure would be here in the middle of nowhere at an archeological and not holed up in a research lab somewhere.

"So how was the trip up here?" Ambrosia said as she grabbed a holopad.

"Quiet," Timeline chuckled," My pilot wasn't much for conversation." He walked up to the hologrid," So this is it huh?"

"Yep," she said pulling the tip up to full zoom," What's sticking out of the ice is only the tip," she pointed to a line that appeared right at the top," The rest is buried under the ice. From what the scans told us this thing is almost a mile in height. I think its a palace or temple of some kind."

Timeline whistled impressed by the sheer size of it," What kind of crystal is it made of?"

Ambrosia grinned," It's atomic structure is similar to Diamet. Not only that but it shows trace amounts of Arcanium."

"Arcanium!?" he looked at her in disbelief.

Arcanium was one of the rarest minerals in the world and was highly sought after. A gram of the stuff could power a city's mana reactor for a year.

"Yep," Ambrosia grinned," And that was only a small sample too. We won't know what the mana percentage inside is until we get it open though. I already have a team working on drilling a hole into the spire."

"How long have they been at it?" Timeline asked.

"They just started today," Ambrosia said," They should be through by early tomorrow morning."

Timeline nodded as he stared at the schematic of the tower. Whatever lay waiting inside he knew was going to shed some light on an otherwise forgotten age. Everything before The Civil War a thousand years ago had been destroyed. It was recorded as one of the bloodiest wars in Equestrian history but was the beginning of the Argent Stone Treaty. He had gathered the warring ponies together and they built agreed to end the war. After that they began rebuilding Equestria into the republic it was today.

"We go down tomorrow. You can get some rest on one of the cots," Ambrosia pointed to a pair of military cots in the corner, each with a set of blankets and a pillow.

"Sounds like a good idea," Timeline yawned and trotted over to the cots.