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.