It was a silent night. Except for the soft sound of hoofs, walking on the white floor. But then, this mysterious pony, hidden by the shadow, arrived at his destination, a huge room with an open roof as big as an amphitheater, with only the shining stars as spectators. This room was full of strange machinery and the biggest was a small tower structure right at the center. The pony at the balcony overlooking all, raised a hoof and a small translucent and numerical display appeared before it. And then… this hoof simply presses it. The entire room was soon filled with noise as all the machines were coming back to life, like they were yawing from several millennia of sleep. A vivid white light was emanating from the tower, becoming brighter and brighter. And when the light attains its paroxysm, the tower expelled it in a giant beam, piercing the sky like a spear, with the clouds running away from it like in fear. And from the beam, a huge shockwave of pure energy dispersed itself across all Equestria.

His deed accomplished, the mysterious pony simply went away at the same rhythm as he had entered. The shadow was covering his face and the only thing shining was his eyes. Ironically showing that his iris didn’t have any spark in them.

‘’It’s done. Now it is only a question of time before it happens. And when it will, all of Equestria will see that its way of life is… nothing more than foolish, childish make believe. They will see. Soon. Very soon.’’

Chapter 1: another simple assignment

One month later

Canterlot castle: the throne room

Sweet light was shining through the stained glass, illuminating the blue walls of the room and also the floating rainbow and starry manes of the princess. Celestia was looking through her left, more precisely to a little wooden stool with a small object on it, covered by a cloth. The princess had a smile of excitement that she could barely contain.

‘’I just cannot wait to show this discovery to Twilight. Knowing her, I am sure she will barely stay on her feet over this wonder. The face she will make. Oooh it will be such a surprise.’’

Celestia was clapping her hooves like an excited little filly while Luna was rolling her eyes for this lack of decorum. The way the princess of the sun was acting in private was very different from how she appears in public. Luna was sometimes finding it hard to believe how... lax she has become since her banishment. Though let us admit that this carefree attitude was starting to rub off on her. Although if it was a bad influence or not, she was still questioning that. But she found that her big sister was especially enthusiastic today and... knowing the reason she could hardly blame her.

‘’Do not exaggerate sister, she is impressed by everything you do and say.’’

‘’This time it will be different. When I will reveal all I have in store for her she will hallucinate.’’

‘’Well, knowing her, that's actually what worries me. By the way dear sister, it should be soon. What time it is?’’

‘’Guard, could you please tell us the time?’’

She was speaking to the lone white earth pony guard with golden armor, stationed at the front of the door. At this demand, he grabs a pocket watch from a pocket in his and opened it.

‘’It is exactly 2:03 your majesty.’’

‘’Wait, Twilight is three minutes late! Usually she is always so obsessed with punctuality… oh! Oh dear… This could be bad. Guard, you really should stay away from the door.’’

The guard was making a face showing all his incomprehension.

‘’Huhhh! Why is that?’’

‘’Because I hope//

She could not finish because the double door burst itself open with great force, slamming the doors on the wall and taking the unfortunate guard with the right one. All he could do was scream a simple *gyah*. And the culprit was of course Twilight, jumping through the opening and then sliding on the floor and braking with style. And a very dignified face.

The light from the stained glass was bathing the princess of friendship and giving its gleam on her beautiful purple coat. As she was flapping wide open her wings and making her hair fly, it was like all the spectrums of light were dancing around her. And as she opened her eyes filled with a sense of duty, she announced:

‘’Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle ready for duty.’’

Annnd she ruined everything the next second by letting her panic go free and went into a nervous rant.

‘’Sorry sorry princess Celestia for being tardy, I saw on the way here some decorations that were not perfectly symmetrical so I did some arrangement but then some of yours staff complained that I was running their 'supposed' hard work so I had to made a lecture about the fool-proof method established by Harmonious Assemblage and the benefits that symmetry has on the psyche which in-turn had lead to a raging debate *inhaleeeeeee* and I was so caught up that I did not see the time passing but you know how it is. Actually no you probably don't. Please forgive me, forgive me.’’

‘’… … hoped that this tragedy didn’t happen.’’

‘’Ghaaaaaaaah!!!’’

The eyes of Twilight become the most apologetic in the world and her jaw nearly drops to the floor for how ashamed she was.

‘’Huh! Oh no no no no I am not talking about you Twilight but about this, huum…’’

Celestia simply pointed her hoof to behind Twilight. The young alicorn turned around and saw the right door moving slowly by itself, revealing the poor guard flattened to the wall, with an irritated face and bloodshot eyes. Realizing immediately what she had done, she screamed of shame and she quickly went running to his help.

‘’GYAAAAA! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were there, believe me it is not in my habits to slam doors on pony.’’

‘’Well I am very happy that your first time was so successful.’’

She was trying to take him off the wall with her magic. But since he didn’t move, she then tried to give more oomph to her spell. Which was too much, and the guard fell right on his face on the floor.

‘’Ow! *sigh* Take a job as a royal guard my wife was saying. Equestria is so peaceful, there no job easier than that, she was saying.’’

After that, this, hum, little incident was resolved, everything was back to normal. Although the guard was looking intensely at Twilight and seemed to want to be the farthest possible from her. Which gives her a little shade of pink to her cheeks. But she takes hold of herself and did a little reverence to the princess.

‘’Greeting princess Celestia, princess Luna. It is good to see you.’’

‘’The same is for us. It is always a pleasure to see my most prized student and dear friend.’’

‘’So what is the reason for my visit? When Spike gave me your letter asking me to come, I immediately thought it was another of your assignments. So what is it this time? An internal political problem? A diplomatic mission to another country? Or simply another of your friendship lesson?’’

‘’I do have an assignment for you, but this time it has nothing to do with friendship.’’

‘’Oh? I am intrigued.’’

‘’It is not as a princess of friendship that I ask you to come, but because I need your expertise in magic.’’

‘’Wait what! You Celestia need help with magic!’’

‘’It is a job that I am sure you will be overjoyed to do. When I sent you the letter, I didn’t write any details because I wanted to make it a surprise. But first, I need to explain to you all the situation. Are you ready Luna?’’

‘’Ready when you are.’’

The two princesses charged their horns with magic and combined their might into one big spell. All the room went darker and then, bleu and translucent light formed on the roof like a beautiful aurora. Then the light dived on the floor, to concentrate on itself to form a precise image. It was a map of all Equestria. And Twilight could not breathe before this sight of beauty.

‘’Amazing. Simply amazing. A magical virtual projection. And of all Equestria no less. I can even see that it is even more precise and detail that the Cutie Map.’’

‘’This will help us to better explain the… strange phenomenon that had happened recently.’’

From the projection appears a pillar of light, flying straight to the sky for then changing itself in a shockwave which went flying above all the map.

‘’It was exactly one month ago that a mysterious pillar made of pure magical energy appeared out of nowhere. It sight surprised a lot of ponies. This pillar then disperses itself in a magical shockwave who then went across all Equestria.’’

‘’Oh yeah, I heard of that. This pillar was, well is still, the big talk of all Equestria. So many theories were built around this light. Some very crackpots. Like this a sign of the end of the world or that it was an alien attack. The media dub this phenomenon 'the very strange light who is bright and mysterious' ’’.

‘’Se... seriously! Who newspapers came with this mouthful title?’’

‘’Hummm, the Foal Free Press.’’

‘’Ha, I see. Wait! You read a school newspaper?’’

‘’Hey don't judge me! Even if it is made by kids it is actually quite good. All the town read it. Which in retrospect, make it... pretty impressive when you think about it!’’

Princess Luna had made a light cough to get everypony back to attention and decided to cut the chase and to go back to the topic at hoof.

‘’Anyway, as for this magical shockwave, it seems its effect was similar to the rainboom of Rainbow Dash. The difference is that its reach was far greater but paradoxically, the magical energy in it was too dispersed to make any noticeable effects. Only highly attuned magical beings such as us alicorn could have felt it and again, it was only for one little second. And it was only because I was awake during the night, my time. My sister, sound asleep, didn’t feel anything. Afterwards, we searched high and low to see if it made consequences across the kingdom but no, absolutely nothing, except giving a scare to some. I guess you could say it was nothing more than a beautiful light show.’’

‘’Twilight, didn’t you notice this pillar of light? After all, that thing was certainly not inconspicuous, it could have to be seen from nearly all the kingdom.’’

‘’Huuummm…

FLASHBACK: a month ago; Twilight bedroom

Twilight was sound asleep in her bed, making light snoring and smiling due to the peaceful and beautiful dream she was having. But then a noise came and the room was illuminated by a bright light. Through her window, you could see in the distance a pillar of light flying through the sky. This awoke Twilight… who immediately threw a cushion at the closed window.

‘’Shut up! Who are the idiots who make a party at this hour, I need my eight hours of sleep?’’

And then she buried herself in her drapes and didn’t come out until the morning.

**|**

‘’… … No. No I have seen nothing.’’

And she punctuated that statement with a big embarrassed smile. None of the two sisters could understand it. Celestia decided it was probably better to not know.

‘’Let us come back at the subject at hoof, my dear student.’’

With a flick of her horn, she rewinds the scene of the pillar to when it emerges, and she makes it stop. Then she makes a zoom of the place from where it emerges, a mountain.

‘’Naturally the next order was to find where the pillar came from. This was very easy. We could pinpoint the origin of this pillar of magic there. Mount Heaven. An ancient volcano who had gone extinct from even before our birth. There is a small town at the outskirts of this mount called Happy Town. A town very similar to Ponyville. We then, of course, send a squad to investigate… but then… that's when the story becomes crazy. You see, there were old tunnels that lead to the inside of the mountain. And what they find… ... have you any idea of what they find?’’

‘’No princess, I am completely at blank. Please stop with the suspense and tell me.’’

‘’Ruins, Twilight. Ruins of an ancient civilization far older that all we could imagine.’’

‘’... ... What… WHAAAAAAT!’’

‘’Yes. They find structures made of material as white as ivory in a unique architecture unlike anything see before, even on the standard of other archeological sites. When the squad report this to me, I knew that it could be a major discovery in history and that I must send specialists. So, I ask the service of a team of archeologists and I give them for leader the best of the best. Daring Do.’’

‘’Wait Celestia, you know Daring Do?! The Daring Do? The adventurer. The one that we meet several times.’’

‘’You could say that she is sort of a little employee of mine. The history of Equestria has a bad tendency to leave dangerous relics. So I give her a little financial help, and she makes sure they don’t fall into the wrong hooves. It is sad to say… but you see, it’s not exactly with her novels that she finds the money for her expeditions.’’

‘’Wait sister, she writes novels! I thought she was in the biography business.’’

‘’Shhh, not so loud, if word goes out, her sales could plummet. She must already give so much to her editors. Anyway, she immediately accept to lead the expedition and the story she told me was amazing.’’

FLASHBACK: a month ago; the inside of mount Heaven

The adventurous pegasus was walking carefully with her eyes darting in every way. Behind her, she was followed by three other ponies wearing glasses and beards. The tunnels they were exploring seem to be an old mine since the formations of the walls were clearly ponymade and they could see some old and rust abandoned equipment. Then, Daring Do had stopped advancing and raised her hoof to tell the others to do the same. Before them was a precipice and a stone formation that acted like a bridge.

‘’Of course, a precarious bridge. There is always one. Stay here, I go first.’’

And so, she does. Slowly, so, so slowly, she walked on the bridge nearly on her tip-hoof, on the greatest alert for the slightest noise or loss of footing. All her muscle was tense and her senses were to the max for when she will have to use her legendary cat reflexes. No matter what would happen, she was ready, until… … until she found out that she had already crossed the bridge in all safety. And then… she got the feeling that something was terribly wrong. She went back to it, more frantically, walked on it with more force, taped her hoof on the stone, and when there was no reaction, she jumped many times on the bridge to force it to fall.

‘’Hum… hum miss Daring Do, I... I am pretty sure that this bridge is safe and solid.’’

‘’Heh! Oh hum, hummm yes... yes I presume it is. It's, it's just that… no, nothing. (Wow, a bridge that doesn’t collapse! That's the very first time it happens.) Anyway let’s proceed.’’

At the end of the tunnel, they had found a huge white double door as big as a house, on a wall made of the same material and it did not seem to be carved on the rock but instead buried in it. The adventurous pegasus put her two hooves on the door and had managed to open it with minimal effort. But instead of entering, she took a step back.

‘’This is the entrance they had mentioned. There must surely be a lot of traps. Leave that to the expert.’’

She took a rock, had made it jump a little in her hoof, then she approached the open door carefully and threw the rock at the gantry and quickly turned back, went flat on the ground and put her hoofs over her head.

‘’EVERYPONY, GET DOWN!’’

… … But the only thing that came was silence. Just silence. All the archeologists were looking at each other with dumbstruck looks. And the look of Daring Do was that of confusion.

‘’Nothing! I don’t understand! Usually the ruins I explore were built with so much security you could call that paranoid.’’

Once past the door, the group was in a corridor where the walls, floor and roof were covered in vertical and horizontal lines, as if the whole structure was made of blocks of different shape and size. Daring Do stick herself to the wall and carefully advance with her back firmly pressed against the white structure.

‘’Alright everypony, follow my lead and do the same thing as me. It is important for not falling in the pitfalls HEYYYY!!!’’

But she saw everypony was walking past her, trotting normally on the floor, without a single problem or deathtrap falling on them. And Daring Do was left here, her back still on the wall, and the only thing she could do was blinking her eyes at how dumbfounded she was.

‘’You know… I will begin to think that my life as an archeologist is not the norm of the profession.’’

Finally, all the group has arrived into a huge room, all made of white. Several columns were there and some of them were broken. There was some furniture still standing but they were not sure what they were exactly. And at the end of the room, there was a strange window of glass that was completely opaque. Daring Do, amazed by all she saw, could not resist and fly on the room, spinning on herself with her hoofs extended over this magnificence.

‘’Amazing. This is simply amazing. In all my life I never see something like that.’’

‘’Daring Do, could you please come, I want to show you something.’’

She flew to the archeologist and he showed her that the wall was covered in strange symbols unlike anything seen before. It was easy to see that it was letters for a certain language. But which one?

‘’It… it is a language that I don’t recognize! I studied a lot of pony dead tongues but even though they were all different, they were all sharing some sort of common root. I can see that it is definitely not the case here. And it also doesn’t look at all like dragon, yak or other creatures language, past or present. Wait! Are we even in ancient ruins?’’

Since she had entered, something has bothered her in the back of her head. She scrubbed her hoof on the wall, and her suspicion was confirmed.

‘’No dust! Everything here is in pristine condition! How could everything have been conserved to such a perfect state? Unless this building is recent.’’

She saw a white debris, grabbed it, took a magnifying glass from her bag and used it to observe the erosion of the white material to determine its age.

‘’… … You know what, forget what I said, it is definitely old, even older than the birth of Equestria. … … Oh! It is actually even older than all the ruins I have explored. … … … What the! It… I… I actually have no idea how old it is! Just that its age is… ridiculous. Just what is this place?’’

**|**

‘’What an amazing story, princess. Although I wonder why it was necessary to include all those embarrassing moments. So, how old it is really?’’

‘’They had sent us many artifacts and our scientists didn’t lose time to study them. Though they were incapable to determine how exactly old they were, they theorize that they at least exceed twenty millennia.’’

At this declaration, the brain of Twilight just broke and her mouth stayed open for quite some time.

‘’Twen, twen, twen, ttttt twenty. Pr… princess, this could be the greatest history discovery of the century. What I am saying, simply ‘’the’’ greatest.’’

‘’Oh it doesn’t stop there, I still haven't revealed the good part. You see, even though this ancient civilization precedes us, all show that they were surpassing us in terms of science and magic. Surpass us from far. The artifacts that we found although ancients were paradoxically… futuristic. I simply have no other word for it.’’

‘’What! Okay now you are pulling my leg.’’

‘’Then wait that I show you this.’’

The wooden stool was covered in the yellow magical aura of Celestia and then she levitated it to bring it before Twilight. With her teeth, she takes the cloth revealing a glass bell. And whiting it… was a white cube, floating.

‘’A… white block? I don’t understand… wait… I don’t see any magical aura. So how it is floating?’’

‘’It float by itself.’’

‘’Is it then an object infused with magic? Like staff and amulets.’’

‘’You are half right, half wrong. The truth is that this is a machine. Working with magic.’’

‘’… … You are serious! I find it difficult to believe. There exist machines that can be activated with magic, but to use magic as a fuel! I only see that in science-fiction.’’

‘’Well it seems that science-fiction has come to our doors. Come closer, I will explain to you.’’

Celestia traced a circle with her horn, forming a yellow magical circle, acting like magnifying glass, showing with more details the structure of the white block.

‘’First, our scientist tried to find out what material those blocks were made of. But the only thing they discovered was that it definitely is not natural but ponymade instead. They are scratching their heads on how this civilization built them. Now if we look closer.’’

She makes several zooms of her magnifying spell, nearly going to the microscopic details, and the circle shown on the ivory surfaces several lines going in all the directions, and in these lines, a rainbow light was circulated.

‘’Princess, what it is?’’

‘’Magic, Twilight. Circuits where magic flow.’’

‘’Circuits! You mean… like electrical circuits?’’

‘’That's right. Electrical circuits are a recent invention in Equestria and we think that the machines of the ancient civilization work with a similar concept. But instead of electricity is magic that circulates. And what more, they manage to build those circuits to a size so little that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. But what’s more baffling is that it never seems to exhaust its reserves of energy, as if this cube could produce infinite magic out of nowhere. I have lived a long life and I have perfected my knowledge of magic but this… this is something I have never seen. It defies many laws that I thought unbreakable and how this machine work is really beyond me.’’

Celestia looked down and saw Twilight, her face pressed against the glass bell, her eyes shining even more than the stars, and panting so much from excitement that the glass was covered in moisture. Luna simply used her magic to move Twilight and Celestia used the cloth to wash the glass with a no-perturbed face.

‘’*pant**pant* This this this, this is the greatest discovery ever. It’s baffling, it’s wonderful, it’s it’s… MIND BLOWING! I have studied a lot in magic and technology but I never even dream that it was possible to combine the two and form a, a… magitechnology!! For lack of a better term. Imagine all the possibilities, the new theories, the things we could build, the practicalities, they are endless, ENDLESS I said! Heheh hahaha I am so excited there is a storm in my brain MWHAHAHAHA.’’

‘’*sigh* There it is big sis. That was exactly what I feared..’’

But Twilight was so engrossed that she had heard nothing.

‘’Ooooooh I must try this machine.’’

Twilight took away the glass bell and lighted her horn when Luna interrupted her.

‘’Wait Twilight. What my sister forgot to mention is that you don’t even have to use your horn. This block is made in a way that nearly anyone can use it by reading the magic that flows naturally in us. We had tested it. Pegasus, earth ponies, unicorns without using their horns. Every creature in the world with nothing more than a little hint of magic in them can use it with ease.’’

‘’Nearly anyone can use it! This is going better to better. So, what should I do?’’

‘’Simply touch the cube and think in which direction you want it to fly.’’

Twilight put her hoof on the white surface and the cube instantly stayed the standstill possible... for then went flying in all the directions with speed and vigor in an uncontrollable manner.

‘’Ho ho, maybe I should not have done that with so much enthusiast.’’

‘’EVERYPONY, GET BEHIND COVER!’’

Unfortunately, there was so little cover in the throne room. The cube was now going in circles, faster and faster, and then went flying in the direction… of the poor guard who could only watch with powerless while muttering:

‘’Oh no.’’

And the cube hit him right on the face, making him fall on his back, and the cube finally stopped flying to bounce off the ground like a dice. The poor guard was now immobile. Except for one of his legs that were twitching.

‘’… … You know big sis… I think you really should give this poor soldier a risk premium on his next salary.’’

‘’Agree.’’

Once all, huuum, the problems were solved, again, Celestia, Luna and Twilight resume their conversation. Even if the thing Twilight wanted the most was to cast a spell of invisibility.

‘’Don’t blame yourself Twilight. It just shows us that there are so many things that we don’t know about their magitechnology like you call it. In fact, after all we have found, we still nearly know nothing of this ancient civilization. That the precise reason I brought you.’’

‘’Oh right, you had said you need my expertise.’’

‘’Yes, normally we gladly go ourselves to these ruins to study them but we are too occupied by our royal duties. Buuut, it turns out there is a so-called alicorn with a knowledge in magic that is unrivaled in the world and who have an impressive scientific and analytical mind.’’

‘’You... you talking about me?’’

‘’Of course it is you, my faithful student. We are dealing with a futuristic vestige using magic in incomprehensible ways. I think you’re the perfect choice to study those ruins. So, do you accept?’’

‘’You want me to study the history of a civilization recently discovered that we know nothing about, see inventions only found in imagination and learn about magic in ways that change everything I know. What do you think? Of course the answer is YEEEEEES.’’

‘’Hahaha, there was no doubt in my mind. And I also would like that you investigate on what cause this pillar of light and if there is any dangers to fear.’’

‘’You can count on me princess.’’

‘’Perfect. I already contacted the mayor of Happy Town. Now I can confirm to him that you will come and he will gladly shelter you for a few days. Also, mehe… I suggest that you bring your friends with you.’’

At these words, the wings of Twilight flip open and a spark was shining in her eyes.

‘’Really? I can? Even on this important mission?’’

‘’I don’t see why not. This could be a fun and bonding experience. Beside…’’

‘’What is it princess?’’

‘’… … No… no you will know soon enough. Then I suppose that the only thing left to say is to wish you a good trip to you and your friends.’’

‘’Thank you so much princess Celestia. And also to you princess Luna. I will not lose time and go to prepare immediately. Goodbye and have a nice day.’’

She flipped her wing and took the aerial way with joy and drive. And her smile was the most radiant, because she was sure that this adventure would bring so much fun.

Silence. And darkness.

In a dark corner of a restricted room, there was a pony sitting on a chair before a working desk. The only source of light was the flame of a dim candle. But the weak light it was giving only served to accentuate even more how dark it was.

That pony, after staying immobile for a bit, decided to open a drawer and from it, took with his mouth a photo and put it on the wood of the desk. The photo was that of a smiling purple alicorn on the day of her coronation. The princess of friendship, Twilight Sparkle.

The pony then grabbed with its teeth a pencil from a pencil holder. He pointed the tip toward the image of the mare and... he scribbled on it. Scribbled scribbled scribbled. Scribbled scribbled and scribbled. Wildly. But at a relaxing pace. Once he was done, he looked at his work. The image of Twilight was now covered entirely under a smoke of pencils lines denying her. Yet, no feelings, not even a ripple, was forming on the heart of the pony responsible for that vandalism.

‘’... Somehow... I can tell. The day to come... would not be a ordinary one.’’

It was simply a perfect day in Ponyville. The weather was a clear sky thanks to the pegasus and the streets were buzzing with activities. All the ponies were going to their daily lives, shopping at the stands and saying hello to each passerby. And this idyllic view was seen by Twilight, flying right above them, musing how great and peaceful this town can be. And yet, we also never get the time to get bored. Not only is there always something interesting happening, this town also has the gift to attract the most colorful ponies in the world. It is no wonder that Celestia chose this place to send Twilight to learn friendship. It was already something special before she came to live there.

From where she was flying, she could see some foals playing together, but one of them got clumsy and trip on a stepladder, dropping the bucket of water at the top, on his head, spilling all its watery content on him. But instead to felt sorry for himself, he simply laughed to his heart content and all his friends followed soon.

The next thing she saw was a mother giving a toy to her child which he answered with a hug. It sure gave a wave of warmth to the alicorn.

Then, from the window of a living room, Twilight saw Lyra Heartstring, sitting on a couch, playing her lyre. At first, she stirred the lyre strings at a calm pace but out of nowhere, she decided to become more daring and shredded wildly at her string instrument, changing the melodious song into a rock show that was making the wall shaking. After a bit of wild choreographies, she made a big finish by sliding on the carpet and did a final and bombastic strike on her lyre like if it was a guitar.

‘’Yeaaaah. Now that's what I call an awesome solo. Hummm. You know... maybe I should change my style. For some reason, I can see myself as a rocker. Hey Bon-Bon, what do you whoaaah!!!’’

She barely avoided a thrown potted plant that was aiming at her. Potted plant thrown by her exasperated roommate Bon-Bon.

‘’Lyra, will you stop that fuss! Neighbors will complain. Again.’’

‘’Sorry, sorry. I just thought to heat-up things a little. Don't you want to have a day full of strong sensations sometime?’’

‘’Hell no. I left that all behind. I rather that this day be the quietest possible. Unless you want an 'awesome solo' time on the couch tonight.’’

‘’No no no, I will calm down.’’

At that scene, typical from those two, Twilight could not suppress a giggle.

‘’(Yes, the citizens of Ponyville are true champions for enjoying life and seeing its brighter side. I constantly learn from them to do the same. Speaking of it, I can't wait to tell my friends that a fun adventure is waiting for us. Then let's not waste time. Full speed to the town hall.)’’

The pegasus Rainbow Dash was flying high in the town hall to put a banner. Her mood however was not that high.

‘’Pinkie, can you tell me how the hay we are stuck preparing a play for all the town? Not only has it come out of nowhere but in addition we have to come out with everything about what it will be. Seriously! How come we are always stuck helping doing the town main events when we are not even official town representatives? Sometime I wonder if I am not secretly a character of some kind of sitcom.’’

‘’Super duper sorry about that Dashie. You see, Mayor Mare wanted to do a play for all the town to bring joy to everyone in what she tells me ‘’a very spontaneous idea that I did on a whim, that I had brag with everyone and now I am stuck to deal with it’’. So she hired the society of artists but they are big fans of the cakes of Sugarcube Corner and so they came to my shop but when they saw me, it awakened, hummm, some bad blood, and you know me, I can’t support causing troubles to anyone. I tried to apologize so many times and tell them that I will do anything for them and that when they say to do their job for them. I am not sure if they were serious but I immediately jumped to the occasion. Nowww I admit I should have thought more about that. So Dashie, you get it now? ’’

‘’Hum no. No, I actually get it even less than before. What is this history of bad blood anyway?’’

Feeling intrigued by that discussion, Rarity decided to come out of the curtains.

‘’Wait Pinkie, how do you know the society of artists in the first place? They are known for being a very tight and exclusive group.’’

‘’Well you see, during a trip to Manehattan, I have taken a wrong turn, go to their room of repetition by accident and then it led to a story with a messy love triangle, a misunderstand about a false extortion of money and at the end, everypony who throw the food of the buffet at everypony. It would be a little too long to explain.’’

And Rainbow made a face-hoof.

‘’Ugh, I’m not sure I want to hear it in the first place. Wait!’’

Suddenly excited, she dashed toward the pink pony, pressing her nose to her.

‘’If we are doing their job, does that mean we get paid? That would be sweet.’’

‘’Hummm, no... no we do not get paid. I am kinda sure that it was a clause mentioned in the contract I signed hastily.’’

The flying blue pegasus let herself fall on the ground and didn’t have any energy to get up. Applejack, who was on a stepladder painting a wooden wall, could not resist chuckling a little.

‘’Aww don’t make that face. Sure that task came off nowhere but we all used to have sudden community service thrown to our laps. Thinking about it, it could be fun.’’

‘’I agree. As long as I take time with you, any time is the time of my life.’’

Saying Fluttershy, flying next to Applejack, a paint brush in her mouth and covering the wooden wall with pink paint.

‘’Well say sugarcube. Say, ah was wondering, why ya were panting with this color? Ah though we were using red?’’

‘’Oh! Well, I was not even sure what we were doing in the first place so I, I took we were choosing the colors as we see fit. There is no more relaxing color than pink don’t you agree. Or not, if it is not all right with you I... I can take another one, if you prefer.’’

Spike was coming, carrying a tea chariot to Rarity who was drawing with a floating pen.

‘’So if I understand, basically everyone does what goes through their heads without plan or coordination. Okay, we are doomed. Well unless someone is interested to listen to my ideas but nooo, nopony wants to give them a chance. *sigh* One day.’’

He took a steamy cup from the chariot and one look at his favorite pony was all it took to lift his spirit.

‘’There Rarity, the special tea made with nine different blends, heat to the perfection with my dragon breathe.’’

‘’Oh thank Spike, you're such a darling.’’

The white unicorn took the cup delicately and with the elegance of a lady, took a small sip without making any noise.

‘’Aahh, I was dreadfully in need of this. It is simply perfect. You really are a number one assistant my Spikey-Wikey.’’

‘’Oh shush, it is always a pleasure to help you. Besides, your tasks are easy compared to Twilight. Oh but don’t ever tell her I say that please.’’

‘’My lips are seal.’’

Pinkie Pie was now taking out of nowhere a helium tank, which she used to inflate several balloons, simply because she was thinking that balloons go with everything. But then, without any advertisement, the doors of the town hall burst themselves open by Twilight who came running and then pointed her hoof dramatically to the group.

‘’STOP THE PRESS EVERYPONY.’’

That was… shocking. Rarity spit all her tea, Rainbow Dash was like lightning has struck her then went flying in all the directions in panic, Pinkie Pie had lost grip of the tank and it went straight into her mouth, pumping her with helium, and Applejack loses her balance and fell on the paint pots in a big colorful splash with Fluttershy looking at her, her hoofs on her mouth.

As for Spike, the shock put him into full-panic mode.

‘’Heh, the what, what the hay, what have we done wrong, what press, I thought we were making theatre, we are making journals now, how can we stop what we never did, I mean WHAT GOING ON HERE!!! ... Oh! False alarm, it's just Twilight.’’

At the sight of this pandemonium, Twilight could only just stare blankly, her hoof still risen in a stupid way.

‘’… … Heheh. S, s, sorry everypony, it’s… it’s was just something I had always dream of saying.’’

While Twilight was living the embarrassment of her life, for the second time in the day, Pinkie threw away the helium tank but she opened her mouth, it was... quite special.

‘’Woooo way to make an entry Twilight. Wait, that's my voice! That really my voice? Hahaha that so fun, it looks like a robot.’’

She burst out laughter in that weird voice, which made her laugh even more. Everypony rolled their eyes at her antics. Fluttershy decided to speak up and asked:

‘’But Twilight, why all this commotion? Is it something dreadful?’’

‘’Oh right, I nearly forgot! Come all closer girls, I have something that you will all like to hear.’’

And so, everypony gathers around the princess of friendship to hear all about her day and the trip that she and her friends will eventually do. All except Pinkie Pie who went bouncing around the hall, saying thing like ‘’bip-bop bip-bop I’m a robot, bib-bop I will steal all your jobs.’’

‘’And that the resume of all Celestia had told me. And although it is a serious travel of research, I don't see why it couldn't also be a nice vacation for all of you. So what do you thinks, would you all like to go on this trip to Happy Town?’’

Rainbow Dash didn't lose time and pumped her fist.

‘’Oh yeah, a trip for all the gang. Count me in. (And a good excuse to ditch that mess we were stuck.)’’

Pinkie jumped among the group.

‘’Woohoo that sound like *cough**cough* I mean that sounds like a lot of fun. Hey don’t look at me like that, I did listen. Count me two.’’

Fluttershy raised her hoof.

‘’Then count me three. But what are we going to do about the play? We can just not abandon it.’’

Applejack lowered her hat in embarrassment.

‘’Bah, if ya want mahn honest opinion, this was going nowhere anyway. Ah guess we have no choice to give this task to another. Ah don’t think it should be a problem. But who?’’

‘’Oh oh, I vote for Spike.’’

Say Rarity, using her magic to levitate Spike before all mares. Say Dragon was pointing his finger at himself in incredulity.

‘’What! Me!’’

Spike was so surprised that his wing opened wide. Rarity grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him closer.

‘’You see, it happens that Spike got a ton of if I must say, excellent ideas for the play and I am sure that if we give him the chance, he will impress us all. He is after all the number one assistant who has learned from the best in dealing with organization and schedule. You can trust me, you know I have the eye for this.’’

‘’Rarity!’’

‘’Oh silly you. You really think nopony was listening to you.’’

And the white unicorn gave subtly to Spike a little wink of the eye.

Twilight silently nodded her head in approval, knowing well her first assistant was a reliable dragon. She felt a little disappointed Spike could not come but understood it could not be helped.

‘’I see that all is settled. Then it's official girls, the next day we are all going to Happy Town. We will meet tomorrow morning at the train station. I propose we all go to our homes to prepare. The only train to Happy Town is at 8 a:m, so we will have to wake up early.’’

All ponies were so enthusiastic at the prospect of that fun trip they could hardly stay on their hooves. They even gathered around in a circle and each one put their hoof atop each other in a pact of camaraderie.

The light of the day was coursing through a window, shining it's benign rays on the circle of friendship like a makeshift projector. Particles of dust were sparkling around our six mares.

‘’Alright everypony, then to a trip that will bring us many good memories//

But a dark cloud came and snuffed out the light. Though it did nothing to darken their mood.

‘’That I am sure we will never forget.’’

And all hoofs went jumping in the air in a unanimous ‘’YAY’’. Then without losing time, went running to the exit to quickly prepare for tomorrow. Spike was the only one left. And when he was sure that no one was around, he too went flying in the sky in a burst of joy.

‘’ALRIGHT, RESPONSIBILITY. How long did I wait for something like that? No time to lose, I have so many ideas to try. First, I must go search for a black jacket and a pompadour.’’

As he has said, Spike was now in the costume he wanted, standing on a chariot, surrounded by ponies dressed in platinum mechanic suits.

‘’Everypony is ready? Alright don’t forget, as we sing we also raise our hands, hum, hooves for you, in front of us and then we move it from right to left and after, left to right. Okay now bring the music.’’

Go, Polished lightning, you burning up the carter mile

Polished lightning, go, Polished Lightning

Go, Polished Lightning, you coasting through the heat lap trial

Polished lightning, go, Polished Lightning

The next day came and it was a nice morning at the train station. The smoke of the chimney was dancing on the blue sky, showing that the engine was full of life and ready to go. What was also full of life was the passenger deck, with our heroines and their baggage.

Nearly everypony was at the station. There were just three missing. Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. Speaking of her, she came flying from above and went to do a supersonic dive to meet them. She had slid with panache on the wooden floor to stop right before her friends. Then the air left behind came to catch on her and made her feathers and hair fluttered with style. She was making such a cocky smile. Applejack however was rolling her eyes.

‘’Show off.’’

‘’What can I say, I live to impress. By the way, where is Pinkie Pie? Twilight, I understand she can be late, she always want to make sure to be prepared, but Pinkie, she usually wants to be the first to be in the festivities.’’

Speaking of the wolf, humm pony, here came Pinkie but without her usual bouncing. She was followed by two other ponies. A unicorn mare and a pegasus stallion. And they were both having clipboards on them that Pinkie was signing with a pencil on her mouth.

These two were Sugar Lefty, the sugar supplier, and Righto Dough, the flour supplier. Although Ponnyville had a bakery shop that was known for its top quality, these two suppliers could rival the sheer quantity that they were producing themselves. Needless to say, Sugarcube Corner was their biggest customer. Another thing... those two were also known as bitter enemies, always trying to surpass the other and to sell more.

It is well known in the town that they hate each other. They are so engrossed in their bitter rivalry that they had always failed to understand that their two products nearly always go hand in hand. And the fact that they were neighbors didn't make things better.

Anyway, Pinkie did the final signature.

‘’There, all signed. As I had said earlier, I will be gone for an undetermined period of time. So just to make sure, I pay the two next week in advance.’’

Right Dough pushed away Sugar Lefty

‘’No problem Miss Pie, there is no way we will disappoint our main purveyor. In a way, we could say that our lives are in your hooves.’’

And Lefty was sure irritated that her rival was trying to steal the spotlight. Again.

‘’Oh you and your noisy dramatic speech. Why don't you lick her boots while you do, it will be the same?’’

‘’No one had asked you, witch. By the way, I was thinking of offering you a friend discount. What do you think if I give you these two weeks for only fifty percent.’’

‘’What! You fiend. Don't listen to him, I have a better offer. I give you those two weeks for the price of one. If you accept my and only my offer.’’

‘’Wait, it's the same thing as mine! Do your calculation right you she-devil.

‘’No one asks you, you con artist.’’

‘’Tooth decayer.’’

‘’Clogger of arteries.’’

After a bunch more of stupid insults, Pinkie Pie was feeling uncomfortable and was discretely going away while these two were growling at each other like wolfs. She went to rejoin her friend with embarrassed looks.

‘’Sorry you had to see that, girls. This trip was a little sudden so I had to quickly deal with the flour and sugar shipment. Usually, I deal with them one at a time. They are good ponies, but when they are together, wooooooh, they are such party poppers. Trust me, I tried to make a lot of parties to make the dark cloud over their heads go away. A, lot. But let us forget about that because it is time for FUN TRIP.’’

She threw a rain of confetti from her hooves. A lot of them went into the hairs of passersby who rubbed them with a grudge. But Pinkie didn't notice anything of that because she saw her friend Twilight coming. She was running to them and was having short breaths.

‘’Sorry, sorry to be so late. *inhale**exhale**inhale**exhale* I... I just wanted to make sure to be well prepared and I may have gone a little overboard. Alright, now that we are all here, let us make sure we are ready. You have everything you want? Good. Once we will arrive in town, mayor Paternal, the mayor of Happy Town, promised us he will have vacant chambers for all of us with a lot of space. And best of all, he will give them to us for free. So we will have no problem in comfort for the seven of us.’’

‘’Oh my, that so generous to offer.’’

Had say Fluttershy.

‘’Now I feel a little shy before so much kindness. … … Hum, Twilight… did you say, seven?’’

‘’Oh right, I forget to mention, I allow myself to bring another friend.’’

It was then that an irritated remark came from an unknown source.

‘’Precisely, speaking of this other friend, could you *huff* give her a little help? As always you bring way too much reference material.’’

They all saw a mountain of books, shining with a cyan aura, going forward to them. Though it was looking more like a bulldozer since all passerby ponies were getting out of its way in fright as the books were saying sorry each time. The pony transporting them made a false step and they had nearly tumbled on her if Twilight had not grabbed them with her magic.

‘’My babies!’’

‘’Oh sure, your babies are more important, don't worry about me.’’

‘’Don't be like that! We are going to do research like nopony has done before. What's wrong with taking only the strict minimum? Heheh.’’

Twi did an embarrassed laugh. But the one in that pile, only answered her with silence. Silence that means a thousand words. Twi had to admit defeat.

‘’Alright alright, I get it, it's overkill, geez.’’

The alicorn teleported the majority of the books back to the library. Revealing that the one behind them, at the surprise of all, was a unicorn with a pale hue of magenta. Starlight Glimmer herself.

‘’Hello. Surprised to see me everypony? Twilight already fills me with everything and insists that I come with you sooo here I am. But Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea? They must have only prepared to receive six, not seven.’’

‘’Of course you should come. Starlight, we are talking about ancient technology that uses magic in a way that goes above everything we know so far. There is no way I can find answers alone, I need my best student. Two heads are always better than one. I am sure the mayor can accommodate. Besides… even if there was none of these reasons, I will still insist that you came. You are one of us, so there is no way we can exclude you.’’

‘’I… gee thank Twilight. That… mean a lot for me.’’

Her cheeks suddenly got a little shade of pink.

‘’Well what that say about me?’’

Spike had said, descending from the sky, his arms crossed and a forlorn look on his face. For then bursting in laughter.

‘’Hahahaha heh relax, don’t make that face. I know that if this wasn’t for this job, you will have taken me too.’’

‘’Of course I would have brought you too. You are also one of us. But I also know that you have always wanted to show proof that you are a capable dragon. And I have no doubts that you will give us a show that will knock them all down.’’

She then comes closer to Spike to whisper at his hear.

‘’But just in case, I have prepared several lists of tips that I have put on your desk if you need some help. You know, just in case.’’

‘’Humm, thanks, Twilight. I suppose.’’

He was acting like it was slightly bothersome but deep down, he was very touched that she was taking the time to give him support when she already had her own job to do. These two then went to hug each other, showing all their familial love. Once this was over, Spike went saying his goodbye to everypony.

‘’See ya later everypony, and don’t forget to have a good time.’’

Rarity came trotting toward him.

‘’And you my dear Spikey-Wikey, you better impress the gallery. Thou I have no doubts your songs will ‘’couper le souffle’’ of everyone.’’

‘’You can bet on it... HEH wait! How do you know that my play will be a musical?’’

‘’Oh let's just I may have taken an innocent little peek at your notes. It wasn’t a lie when I said that you have good ideas. And I never would have guessed you could write such good lyrics. ''You the one I want, you the one I want''. Why I think I may already have became a fan.’’

From this declaration, it was like the eyes of Spike were shining with the purest of light.

‘’Rarity. You can’t know how much it means. For me your praises are the most important in the world.’’

‘’You have no idea how well I know.’’

‘’… What... do you mean?’’

Realizing too late what she had said, the two were plunged in an embarrassing silence. In fact, it seems that not a single sound was coming from nowhere which didn’t help the situation. Until…

‘’Be careful, clear the passage everepony!’’

Something went flying between Spike and Rarity and went tumbling on the deck. They all look to see what the mysterious object was and see that it was a grey pegasus with golden hair and cross-eyes, dressed in a postman uniform. Rainbow just greeted her as if that occurrence was commonplace. Which it was.

‘’Hey, sup Derpy.’’

The pegasus named Derpy upright herself and rubbed the dust on her with a big smile as if nothing had happened.

‘’Well hello everypony. Sorry to bother, I am just here today because this train has an important delivery that we must take to Ponyville. A very huge one I heard.’’

A cough was heard in the distance. Followed by voice saying:

‘’Well? Introduce us.’’

‘’Oh right right. I meant me and... pause for dramatic effect... the Mail Squad.’’

Three shadows slipped on the floor, and one by one, three pegasus went to land in front of all the group. One was a pegasus with orange mane, red hair and a sun as a cutie mark. The second had blue mane with cyan hair and a rain-drop cloud. And the last one, purple with white hair and a white flower. The pegasy then did some acrobatics on the ground and the four reunited themselves to do a bombastic pose.

The whole group that saw that was speechless. Not in the good sense of the term. Everything was plunged in an embarrassing silence. Well, except for the cry of crickets. No, there literally were crickets crying. Rainbow, who could no longer bared the awkwardness, finally decided to break the ice.

‘’Sooo, you had practiced to do... whatever this is?’’

‘’Oh yes yes, the mail office is trying to create a new image. You know, to attract the younger generation. What do you think? Pretty amazing?’’

‘’Oh, hum, hum, yeah, yeah, it's hum, it's sure...’’

It was then that the whistle of the train made its noise, signaling that the train was ready to go. Twilight quickly grabbed her books.

‘’Ahhh we have no time to lose, we must quickly board the train. It was good to see you but we must go. Goodbye Spike, I know you will do an excellent job. See you soon.’’

‘’See you soon Twilight.’’

Our heroines went inside the train with all their baggage while the Mail Squad quickly took from the cargo car a huge crate. Then, the wheel started to go slowly for them to go faster and the train finally exited the station. Our heroines open the window to wave goodbye to Spike one last time, who also did the same. And the train bringing them to adventure, continues its travel until it disappears at the horizon. This... was the start of a moment in their life that not one of them

WILL EVER FORGET.

The four mailmares were flying in the sky, each grabbing a rope attached to other ones who were warping all around the humongous crate, so that the pegasy could fly with it.

‘’So Derpy, to whom we suppose to deliver this huge thing.’’

‘’Let me see. Notes, notes, ah, there they are. … … Oh! No one. We just supposed to bring it right at the center of the park.’’

They then went to the Grassy Pentagon, the local park of Ponyville, which was the number one relaxing destination for many ponies. When they had arrived at the right location, they deposited the crate, opened it and took off what was inside. Once their job finished, the pegasy took the empty crate and went flying once again in the sky.

‘’That was a very unusual delivery. I have never seen something like that. From whom it was in the first place.’’

‘’I will look at my notes. It comes from a certain pony named, A, no, ny, mous. Whoops! Sorry, I mean this is a sender who wants to stay anonymous. Bah, it's probably somepony who wants to make a generous donation to Ponyville. But what a strange sculpture it is. Oh well, I never understood anything about art.’’

Once they were out of sight, the park was deserted. Except for the white block they left. One just like princess Celestia has shown to Twilight. But this one was big and as high as a room. The wind was quietly blowing on the grass and on its white surface in a moment that was at the same time serene and ominous. But all that disappeared when a mechanical noise was made from the cube and from four of its faces appeared an opaque glass window showing nothing. Until they turned on and white and gray statics appeared on them with a buzzing noise. The ponies would certainly not understand what these things were, but we would have no problem recognizing them… as television screens. They seem to show nothing more than the statics… but for a split-second… a little split-second… the static and the buzz disappear and show an image for then disappear again onto static. It was too short to know what it was, but it reappears again and again at short intervals, which means that in the long run, you will have no problem understanding what the image is. It was white letters on a black font. And these letters were saying…

The game will begin in 20 hours

written by La Jester

Beautiful and magical stories of anguish

Author's Note

And here it goes. The very first chapter of my project. And also, my first attempt at writing a literally work. That's entirely correct, before that, I had tried to try my chance at writing an actual book. I was making good progress but in the end, I bite more than I could chew. It is not a good idea to start that big. Still, I consider it was good experience. That why I want to try my chance at fanfiction. It is less restrictive yet you can still make beautiful works. I thought hard about that story and I intend to work hard on it.

Anyway, from the title, I'm sure you could guess that this story is to be one with a serious tone. I think I must warm you that the firsts chapter would have a light-hearted tone compared to the rest so much that I call them the 'comedic chapters'. Hope you will enjoy them before the true meat of the story.

* Notes: That chapter had been reworked to improve its writing and quality. Consider it a version 2.0.

Also, here is a list of unique writting symbols that I will using for the rest of that story:
- ''//'' means that a dialogue had been interrupted and cut off by the dialogue of another one.
- ''|***|'' mean that a flashback is beggining.
- ''**|**'' mean that a flashback is ending.