Antediluvian
1
The Universe, as those few fortunate to live within the scant amount of habitable planets are aware, is full of many remarkable things. To some who had yet to venture forth out from the confines of their cosmic neighbourhood, it was somewhat a mystery. A source of never-ending myth, lore and superstition. And to those who had conquered the void above with their superior technology, mapped out every last speck of light in their skies and settled on alien worlds, light-years from where they set forth; well... it would always keep secrets. For it was these secrets that drove both the most advanced and primitive civilisations, to study the Universe and to claim these undiscovered treasures of knowledge for their own.
However, there remain many who have yet to discover all about their own home.
In the far reaches of the cosmos, within a barred spiral galaxy, there is a small planet. Now this world - upon a brief inspection - may seem fairly ordinary compared to other habitable planets. Rolling oceans, land masses wrapped around the globe and thick blankets of clouds obscuring parts of the surface. But it was certainly not as common as though it may seem. As this world had a populace of sentient creatures which were wholly remarkable and certainly more unique than they could possibly ever imagine.
Their story of discovery begins in a small town known colloquially as "Ponyville".
The birds sang happily in the trees as the sun shone down upon the vibrant green grass on the outskirts of town. Many of Ponyville's residents chose this beautiful day to go on a picnic with their family, tend to their gardens or complete errands around town. One particular pegasus with a coat blue as the sky above, and a bright rainbow mane was content just to enjoy the weather, seeing no need to waste excess energy.
"Rainbow! Rainbow!" Twilight Sparkle hollered excitedly towards the only possible location of her friend in an otherwise cloudless sky.
"Rainbow Dash! Are you even up there?" she continued.
Rainbow Dash was in fact upon the cloud, attempting - rather unsuccessfully - to have a mid-day nap. She gave a noisy groan of exasperation when she realised her unicorn friend would not relent with her pestering. She rolled onto her stomach and stuck her head over her invitingly plush cloud to see the lavender unicorn practically bouncing up and down with excitement. Clearly there was some sort of book sale on in the market.
"Twilight, how many times do I have to tell you not to bother me when I'm trying to sleep?" she stated, irritation obvious in her tone.
The bothersome unicorn didn't seem fazed at all at this and her giddiness only seemed to increase when she saw her friend.
"I know," Twilight said rolling her eyes, remembering Rainbow's past lecture. "but this is really important. I need to talk to you!"
Rainbow sighed as she stood up from her cloud, bidding any hopes of rest farewell. She jumped from the comfortable surface and spread her wings as she swooped down to a graceful landing on the soft grass in front of her friend; who - by the looks of things - was about to explode.
"Right, I'm up. What's so important?" Rainbow said, already regretting leaving her cloud. Her plan consisted of three parts: 1. 'Find out Twilight wants.' 2. 'Find someone else to help to get out of any work.' and 3. 'Retreat.'
Twilight was now visibly calmer. "I need your help with something." Phase one complete...
The pegasus couldn't keep her displeasure out of her voice."Is that all? Can't you get Spike or somepony else to help you?" Phase two...
"I can't! Spike's helping Rarity because she's got that big order at the boutique, Applejack's working, Fluttershy's visiting her parents and you know I can't ask Pinkie because-"
"...because she's Pinkie," Rainbow finished for her. There goes the third phase... she thought. "yeah, I remember that magic experiment she helped you with..." She shuddered just thinking about it. Though Pinkie didn't seem bothered at all walking around with no mane for a while.
"You see? C'mon Rainbow!" Twilight pleaded growing slightly frantic.
Rainbow knew how relentless Twilight got when she had her mind set on something, and she also knew when she was clearly defeated. "Ugh! Fine then! I'll help, alright?" Rainbow said giving in to Twilight's demands.
"Yes!" Twilight shouted gleefully. "Right, to the library!" She said, turning tail and trotting happily towards town.
With her plan in tatters, Rainbow Dash followed begrudgingly, "Where else..." she muttered under her breath.
Even with it's status as a library, the Golden Oaks - home to the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle - was fairly quieter than usual. With such a lovely day outside, nopony wanted to stay inside reading their favourite novel. It's shelves filled with knowledge were not currently put to any use, as the books remained fit snugly into their respective sections of the silent library... That silence was promptly cut short, as a very enthusiastic unicorn and an equally unenthusiastic pegasus arrived.
Twilight barged through the door of the library into the foyer, dragging a still grumbling Rainbow behind her. Stepping over the many books and scrolls scattered on the floor, she ran towards and stopped in front of an easel positioned in the far end of the room. Rainbow noted that the library was certainly a lot messier than usual, and recognised when the unicorn had gone on one of her 'study frenzies'.
She turned around, brightly smiling at Rainbow Dash as she tapped her hoof a few times onto the map pinned to the easel.
"See?" she said beaming, oblivious to the cyan mare's bewilderment.
Rainbow took a few steps towards the easel, eyeing it carefully. It appeared to be a map of... "The Everfree Forest?" she asked.
Twilight nodded. The pegasus glanced at it again, noticing a red 'X' marked near the middle.
"So... you've found something in the Everfree?" Rainbow said cautiously.
Twilight beamed. "Exactly! Kind of..."
A confused "Huh?" is all Rainbow could return.
"Well this morning," Twilight began "I was practicing some slightly longer range teleportation, when I realised I wasn't appearing at the correct location."
Rainbow Dash cut in "What by like a mile or something?" she offered.
Twilight gave her a humourless look.
"What?"
"I was off by a few millimeters." Twilight corrected her.
The pegasus merely rolled her eyes. Only Twilight could be that specific...
The unicorn continued her lecture. "Anyway, I checked my calculations and it just didn't add up. So, I thought the only thing that could have caused the discrepancy would be some form of magical disruption."
"I ran some tests," Twilight stated, as she glanced down at some paper covered with her scribbles, completely unintelligible to all but Twilight herself. "and I found the source of the interference!" Again, she put her hoof onto the 'X', happy that Rainbow had utterly and completely understood everything that was said.
After 80% of the conversation soaring over Rainbow's head and 20% spent not listening, Rainbow knew that she had utterly and completely understood nothing that was said. Still, she gave Twilight was a confused nod, "So... what do you want me for?" she asked.
"Well," Twilight started, "We're going to go into the Everfree and find the source of the magical disturbance!" she announced happily and trotted across the room to start packing some rather odd looking equipment into her saddlebags.
Rainbow wasn't suprised at all at her friends eagerness to learn someth- "Wait, we? I'm going too?!" She knew there was a catch, Twilight wouldn't just drag her from napping to just tell Rainbow about about her latest egghead endeavour.
Twilight stopped her packing and turned around towards Rainbow with a slightly confused, yet ever eager, smile plastered on her face. "Well of course your coming! With everyone else occupied, I need someone to help me carry all this equipment." She gestured towards the two sets of saddlebags, stuffed to the brim with small contraptions.
Rainbow Dash was not pleased with this news, "So I'm coming along just to carry your luggage?" she asked, irritated.
Twilight sighed. Rainbow obviously misunderstood her, or maybe she completely understood and was upset with her role in Twilight's operation...
She clearly misunderstood and Twilight decided to show Rainbow exactly what she could be taking part in. "Oh come on, Rainbow. Who know's what we could find, only something extremely powerful could cause this much magical disturbance. It could be the scientific discovery of the century!"
The pegasus was about to voice her displeasure, but she held her tongue when Twilight took on a more wistful tone.
"Then there would be scientific journals written about our discovery and lectures given to thousands of attentive, eager-to-learn students, as our names would go down in the history books..." Twilight sighed dreamily. She shook her head dispersing the fantasy and continued her pleas. "Please Rainbow, I'm sure it'll be a great expedition!"
Wait, what did Twilight say 'expedition'? Rainbow Dash thought to herself. "You mean like a Daring Do expedition?" She asked tentatively.
The unicorn beamed again. "Of course, it should be an amazing adventure! We are going quite deep into the Everfree... And I will need someone awesome to back me up in case we get into any danger." Twilight smiled, she was sure she had Rainbow's attention now.
Now that Twilight put it like that, and not in a scientific mumbo-jumbo way, it seemed like a good idea! It had been a while since she had went on an adventure and she couldn't just let Twilight go into the Everfree alone... And also the cyan mare knew she was pretty awesome. Rainbow had made her mind up.
"Fine then Twilight, I'll go. But you've gotta promise me that if we find any ancient idols in a temple, I get to keep them." Rainbow Dash stated seriously, pointing a hoof towards the unicorn.
Twilight just giggled at her friends love of that particular book series. "Okay Dash, I Pinkie promise." Twilight said mimicking the actions. "I'm sure we'll find lots of ancient temples." She added jovially.
Shortly after their discussion, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were both outside of the library, each adorned with saddlebags. The hustle and bustle of early-afternoon Ponyville passed by as they made the final preparations for their expedition into the Everfree.
Well, Twilight was making the final preparations as a restless Dash muttered 'check' every few seconds, as Twilight read out aloud a seemingly endless checklist. She happily ticked each of the items off of the list.
"...and the managraph. Right, that's everything!" Twilight said finally, after what seemed to be centuries to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow let out a giant relieved sigh. "Finally!" She adjusted her replica Daring Do hat as it fell over her brow. "We can get going..."
Twilight simply looked pleased as everything was accounted for. "Yep! We can get going now. Are all the provisions secured in your saddlebag?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, yes..." Rainbow assured her friend, as she glanced back at the only saddlebag not filled with scientific instruments. "But Twi, I gotta ask," The pegasus began, with a slightly confused expression. "what's with all the food? There must be enough here to last the both of us a week! I thought we were just going to the forest today."
The lavender mare gave a short nod. "The provisions should last four days, actually," She corrected Rainbow. "They're only for emergency use, though." Twilight explained.
"Is that why we've got a full survival kit?" Rainbow deadpanned.
The unicorn turned to her friend. "Of course." She answered. "You never know what could happen! The survival guide was very clear on what we had to take."
Rainbow Dash wasn't convinced. "But a space blanket? It's the middle of summer!"
"You never know!" Twilight retorted.
"I'm a weather pegasus, I do know! Even if the Everfree has messed up weather, we aren't expecting any sudden season changes!" Rainbow exclaimed.
Twilight Sparkle continued to look adamant.
"Ugh fine, whatever..." Rainbow relented. "Let's just get going..."
"Wait," Twilight cut in as Rainbow was about to set off. "I have to drop by Rarity's to tell Spike where I'm going, I can't just get up and leave."
"Oh right..." Said Dash, slightly embarrassed, rubbing a forehoof behind her head.
"I'll go over to Rarity's and you go ahead. We'll meet up at Fluttershy's cottage okay?" Twilight told Rainbow as she locked up the library. Before the pegasus could jump eagerly into the sky, she hastily added. "And be careful with the equipment."
Rainbow Dash hovered into the air above Twilight, gave a short salute, and set off barely under her usual breakneck speeds in the direction of the Everfree Forest.
Antediluvian
2
Rainbow Dash, self-proclaimed fastest flier in all of Equestria, was bored. Exceptionally bored, as one might put it. In fact at this horrible, uneventful point in time she was fairly certain no other pony in Equestria (or the Universe for that matter) had suffered through such a tedious and mundane occurrence as this one she had the great misfortune of experiencing currently.
She was waiting for Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow was sitting on the grass in a field near Fluttershy's cottage, with the Everfree Forest looming behind her, just as foreboding as the day they had first stepped foot into it to reclaim the Elements of Harmony and to defeat the dreaded Nightmare Moon; and right now the cyan pegasus was actually contemplating on which would be a fairer trial for her to tackle if she had the choice.
In her mind, the thought of battling single-hoofedly against Nightmare Moon was currently her preferred option. Unfortunately however, Rainbow Dash had no choice.
She groaned loudly in frustration and leaned backwards, flopping onto her back on the soft grass next to the recently placed saddlebags. She covered her face with her hooves as she willed time to speed up and put her out of her misery. How long would Twilight be gone? Months? Years? Centuries?! She was only informing Spike of her planned expedition for Celestia's sake!
A horrible thought struck Rainbow, causing her to rapidly sit herself upright. What if Twilight never came back? What if she decided to read the dictionary and then learn it in every language?! It would be months or even years before she would return! Rainbow couldn't just get up and go looking for her, she was the element of loyalty and she was not moving!
After Rainbow's mind was made up, she crossed her forelegs and sat back down patiently... For about five seconds, as she resumed her nervous fidgeting. The pegasus then quickly started to look for something, anything to take her mind off the soul-destroying mundanity of waiting on her unicorn friend.
Her eyes caught something definitely out of the ordinary, as she gazed at Fluttershy's unoccupied residence.
There were no animals. Not a single little critter was scampering around in her backyard, there was no delighted chirping of the birds as all their houses dotted in the trees were currently empty. Rainbow knew Zecora had kindly offered to feed the various animals during Fluttershy's absence, and she just assumed that it wasn't time for them to be fed.
Rainbow Dash was no detective but she clearly knew something strange was afoot. And now that she paid real attention to the forest behind her, craning her neck, with her ear tilted towards it...
Nothing. Apart from the quiet rustling of the gentle summer's breeze wafting through the green leaves, adorning the dark trees, there were no sounds whatsoever. The Everfree Forest was normally a commotion of different sounds from it's wide range of exotic inhabitants.
Rainbow Dash couldn't take it any more, the whole situation was getting a bit too eerie for her. With the Everfree so unnaturally still, it brought mind to a phrase she had heard once. Calm before the..? Storm? Yeah, that was it!
The restless pegasus had already waited hours for her friend, but she desperately needed Twilight here now.
Launching into the air and blasting towards the Carousel Boutique, Rainbow Dash could only hope that this wasn't the calm before the storm...
"So you'll look after the library when I'm gone?" Twilight catechised Spike. The interior of the Carousel Boutique was abuzz with the hum of Rarity's sewing machine as she sat hunched over it, surrounded by her own 'organised chaos', composed of several different colours of fabric levitated in the distinctive light-blue glow of her magic. She seemed completely engrossed in her work as the alabaster unicorn was in the process of creating her latest fashion masterpiece.
"It's alright Twilight," The diminutive dragon assured her, dismissively waving a claw. "Rarity seems like she got a lot on her plate and she needs all the help she can get. You should be back before we finish anyway."
"Spike, Dear? Could you please get me some more of that gold thread?" Rarity half-shouted from her position at the sewing machine, still focused intently on the piece of material currently being fed through the appliance.
"One sec," Spike offered Twilight before dashing towards a counter on the right side of the room, picking up a roll of metallic thread in his claw and then running towards the labouring fashionista in the centre of the room. He held it up towards Rarity, hopeful smile on his face.
Rarity took a moment away from her work, grasping the spool with her magic. "Thank you, dear." Offering Spike a smile, before returning to her work.
"No problem Rarity," Spike said dreamily, a lovesick smile plastered on his face. He shook his head forcefully, regaining his thoughts, before walking back towards Twilight.
"So Spike," Twilight began in a mock commanding tone, "I am entrusting you - my number one assistant - to look after the library in my absence." Offering the key to the library, in her magical grasp, to Spike.
Spike puffed out his chest, before giving a salute. "Yes, ma'am!" He acknowledged, before taking the key.
The lavender unicorn simply giggled at his enthusiasm, before patting him on his head, ruffling his green spines as he relaxed from his pose. "Bye Spike, don't get into any trouble while I'm gone." The small dragon just smiled in response. "And goodbye Rarity!" She added quickly, getting her friend's attention.
Rarity turned around completely from her work, giving Twilight a proper farewell. "Goodbye, Twilight." She said politely, "And darling, do be careful." She added as an afterthought.
Twilight smiled appreciatively at her friend's concern. "It's alright, I'll be back later on today. You won't even know I was gone." The unicorn gave her final farewells to her two friends before picking up her saddlebags, presenting them with a small wave and leaving the boutique.
As Rainbow Dash flew into central Ponyville at almost mach speeds, she didn't have much time to think. The majority of her mind was focused on accounting all variables encountered while partaking in high speed flight, such as adjusting her wings to counter potentially hazardous crosswinds and avoiding slower, less awesome pegasus ponies. Over her years of flight practice, she had received many complaints. Granted, most complaints were from one pony... And usually during her breaks, but most protests went something like, "Stop stealin' mah darn apples!" and "Can't you sleep somewhere else when Ah'm applebuckin'?!".
Rainbow's reflections were cut short when she had a split second to avoid a certain grey mailmare who had just recently departed from Sugarcube Corner with a fresh batch of muffins.
Twisting her body and wings, she gracefully swooped past the shocked grey pegasus. After righting herself again, she decided to congratulate herself. Heh, this is one time I won't be crashing into anypon- Oh, crud! The cyan mare didn't have time to finish her complementation as a flash of lavender flashed directly in front of her before impacting the ground and something else softer.
The pegasus - who was much more familiar with collisions - was the first to regain her senses as she shakily stood back on four hooves. After waiting for the stars in her vision to dissipate, she gazed down to the heap that was Twilight Sparkle.
The lavender unicorn gave a groan that was one part pain but mostly annoyance. With her face still buried in the dirt the irritated Twilight grumbled, "You know, I should be more suprised by this."
Rainbow gave a slightly nervous laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that Twi..." After some help from the pegasus, Twilight extracted herself from the ground.
After shaking her head to rid herself of the excess dizziness and brushing the dirt off of her coat, the irked unicorn turned to her friend. "Right, what are you in a rush for? I was at Rarity's for five minutes!" Twilight exclaimed.
The pegasus could only scoff, "Five minutes?! With me alone and nothing to do it seemed more like seven or eight minutes!" Rainbow proclaimed.
Twilight Sparkle could only sigh at Rainbow's legendary impatience. "Nevermind... Now what is it?"
"We have a big problem!" She paused a little, Rainbow herself wasn't quite sure whether it was for dramatic effect or if she was just collecting her thoughts. "The animals are gone!"
Twilight gave her a confused, yet slightly concerned look. "Wait, what animals?"
"All of them! I couldn't see or hear anything at the forest and all of Fluttershy's are gone too!" Rainbow blurted to her increasingly confused and concerned friend.
Twilight thought it over for a moment before speaking, "Let me see for myself." she decided before both of them took off hastily towards the Everfree. Twilight galloping as fast as she could and Rainbow slowing down partially to keep up with her friend. The pair of friends were both determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Despite Rainbow Dash's diminished speed, she was the first to arrive at the location. Twilight reached the edge of the Everfree Forest shortly afterwards, as she slowed from her gallop, panting and gasping for air. The tired unicorn's legs felt as though she had run a marathon. Twilight didn't know the exact distance from the town to this particular area next to the forest, but the notion seemed unlikely.
The cyan pegasus however seemed no worse for wear. She flew over towards Fluttershy's cottage and pointed out the said lack of animals. "See, none! And listen..." Rainbow went uncharacteristically quiet and her ears perked up.
After regaining her breath, the unicorn mimicked her friends actions...
"Oh, Celestia... You're right." Twilight said disbelievingly.
Rainbow put on a smug smile, "I told ya so!" her haughty attitude abated and her expression reverted back to her previous, worried one. "So... Is that the expedition called off?"
"No," Twilight said firmly, "this only means we have another mystery on her hooves, thus more to discover!" the unicorn announced tenaciously. "With the animals gone, we should actually be able to set up our instruments deeper in the forest." She added.
The cyan mare looked confused, "Wait, are you sure it's safe?" Rainbow asked. "What about the animals? Why are they gone?"
Twilight turned to her addled friend, "Well, what we're looking for is a large magical disruption and some animals are sensitive to large background magic levels. So they must have relocated to another part of the forest." Twilight finished.
"Right..." The pegasus was sure she got the gist of what Twilight was saying. "So are we going now? I don't wanna take all day."
Twilight realised how long they must have been standing in this location and they hadn't even ventured into the forest yet. "Yep, we're going now," She assured her friend, unfurling her map with the location of the disturbance already marked on it. "let's go."
The two mares took their first steps toward the foreboding Everfree Forest. One mind packed full of ideas of adventure on this expedition and the other hoping to Celestia she was correct about the disappearance...
Author's Note
Sorry for the hiatus between chapters. Also this chapter was intended to be longer but my internet is from the dark ages currently (i.e. non-existent). The next chapter will definitely be out next Saturday. And until then I can assure you of things going down shortly.
