As a law enforcement officer, Hitch was absolutely used to being up at the crack of dawn, and alert thirty minutes later with a cup of coffee.
Though there was that one morning where he had gotten to the precinct and Sprout had eaten all the donuts...
But out here was far, far more silent than a city like Maretime Bay. There was always the ambient noise of CanterLogic's night shift, and any longtime city resident was long used to it.
But out here... Out here it was silent, save for the crickets and occasional scurrying critter. So he almost didn't hear his phone's alarm. With a stretch, he crawled out of his sleeping bag, and unzipped the entrance to his tent, stepping out into the misty, foggy morning.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Zipp greeted. Hitch noticed that there was already a pot of coffee heating up over the campfire, and the scent of the roasting beans woke him up a little. He glanced over to the tent that Izzy shared with Sunny, and saw his friend's sleeping bag neatly folded and undisturbed.
"Say, did Sunny ever come out last night?" He asked.
Izzy glanced over at her sleeping bag.
"Hm. I don't think so. Think she fell asleep in there?"
"I'll go check on her, looking forward to that coffee." Hitch said, unplugging his fully charged phone and electric lantern from one of Pipp's battery packs. He switched on his lantern and headed inside. Once you were in here, there really was no telling what time of day it was.
He quickly trotted up the stairs and retraced last night's steps to the throne room. Sure enough, just as he was worried about, he entered through the doors, and found it pitch black, along with snoring echoing off of the walls.
Sure enough, when his lantern light reached the table, there was Sunny in the six-star throne, hunched over the table, sound asleep. He stepped up to the throne, and placed his right hoof on her shoulder, and gently roused her.
"Hm?" She asked, her eyes fluttering open, letting out a yawn. "Oh no, what time is it?" She asked.
"7:30... AM." Hitch said, softly tapping on the LED headband on her head, which didn't turn on. "Yep, that was what I was afraid of. Sunny, it's pitch black in here without lights. That would have been a real problem."
"Sorry, Hitch, really. But some of these gems are tantalizing. These two have creatures I've never even heard of before." Sunny said, turning her friend's attention to the two gems in front of her. He turned to look, moving his lantern closer as she got them angled correctly.
The first gem was taken in front of a very similar-looking building. It was a set of bleachers out front, looking like a class photo. There were three rows. Front and center were the six guardians of harmony, plus another heliotrope unicorn that had been in a few more memories so far. The top row was also ponies, and in the middle, were a dragon, and four creatures that she was completely unfamiliar with.
The second gem was even more perplexing. It was a group of... Bipedal creatures. They seemed to resemble the guardians of harmony, save for the one in the middle, who had brilliant red and yellow hair. Even more odd, they seemed to have what looked like equine ears on their heads.
"This is what's so exciting... And frustrating, about archaeology. Every answer you get frequently brings along five more questions along with it." Sunny admitted.
"That's all well and good, but the point is that it's pitch black in here no matter what time of day it is, so we either need to stop coming in here alone, or making sure we always have an emergency light source ready. So, let's go get some breakfast."
Sunny grabbed her phone, dropped it into her saddlebag, got up, and followed Hitch back out front, where coffee and hash browns were being prepared on the fire, getting their lights and phones plugged in to recharge while they ate.
Zipp knew that for as long as she could remember, it had been continually debated as to whether or not exploration was a science, but she had to admit, this was some of the most fun she had had in weeks. While Sunny was continuing to catalogue gems in the throne room until lunch, Pipp took the second floor, and Hitch took the first floor, so here she was, in the basement, which she was sort of amazed wasn't flooded or made impassable with tree roots.
The hallways down here were cobblestone, which made the pegasus a tad bit nervous; she was guessing that was a tad less stable and long-lasting than the crystal walls and pillars up above. She also dabbled in a bit of science, was also trying to figure out several things about this structure. From one of the memories in the gems Sunny had gone through, the entire exterior of this place used to be crystal, with enough windows to let natural light in from almost all angles. So did it change to a wooden exterior to blend in with the forest, blocking out all the windows, or had the forest flora merely grown around it when it had been abandoned?
The first room on the right had been open, no door to speak of, and on the floor she found a rusty set of chest armor. It looked strikingly similar to the royal guard armor that the Zephyr Heights guards wore. Seeing how this was a castle, it stood to reason that they likely had ponies to guard it.
The next room down had two bunk bed frames, but no mattresses or pillows to speak of; likely long gone. The passageway then began to gradually curve much like the second floor hallway did around the throne room, and she wondered if she was coming to an equally large room. Sure enough, after making a left at the gradual curve, she came to a set of double doors. Taking hold of the handle, she pushed, hard. The door gave way with a shrill creaking sound, and the pegasus stepped forward, and saw she had stepped into another crystal room, just a little smaller than the throne room above.
The shelves, which encompassed the entire length of the walls around the room, were bare. It didn't really surprise her; if this place had been abandoned, ponies likely took what they could. But then why leave the gems? Were they considered so meaningful or sacred to be untouchable? Or had this place simply been moved out of before whatever calamity caused Equestrians to lose their magic?
Zipp didn't dwell on it for long, because against the very back wall, reflecting the light across the room back at her, was a oval full length mirror, but it wasn't like any mirror she'd ever seen before.
The frame was an elongated horseshoe, and it was atop a pedestal, patterned with upside down horseshoes. There were bolts, and rivets, and all manner of metallic parts scattered around it, and it made her wonder if it was part of a greater contraption. She stepped up to it, and set the lantern down, taking in the details of what was left. The reflection staring back at her was faded and dull, and even the best polish in the world wouldn't bring it back to it's former glory. The pegasus let her hoof fall away from the reflective glass, got the lantern better positioned, then snapped a picture with her phone to show Sunny, then picked up the lantern again.
As she turned to leave the room, she continued to wonder what it could have possibly been like back then.
A lot of questions....but without written language to explain things, no answers.
Awww the young six oh man I mess them so much ðŸ˜
It's good to see multiple points of view in a chapter like this. You're gonna have multiple people exploring, and even if one character does go through the entirety of the structure, you want to know the other characters' internal thoughts about it, too.
By the way, I think you made an oopsie:
Shouldn't that be Zipp?
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True. But things such as pictures can be valuable clues that could eventually lead to answers. After all, Sunny has already found at least one answer by examining those crystals.
So it looks like sunny and the others are still continuing on their Journey around the castle of friendship to see if there's any other items or informations they can find and it looks like Zipp found something and it looks like it's the mirror I wonder could it be that mirror that the portal travels to hear and the human world and I wonder if sunset it's still out there because the time is very different from Equestria and the human world well whatever it is I'm sure I can find something and it's also nice to see the pictures of the young six well we'll find out what else they're going to find
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Nope. Zipp and Pipp shared a tent, and so did Izzy and Sunny. Hitch had his own smaller one.
It would be interesting if Sunny would find Sunset's diary and could get in touch with her, since maybe she will still be alive after all the time in equestria girls is different
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Oh, were all of them awake? I read it like only Zipp was...
Okay wow so that means Twilight in the others did take a picture and putting more new Crystal pictures on the tree Chandelier it's very awesome to see the young six but also sad they're not there as well and I wonder if that mirror is the portal to the human world now that would be a big huge Discovery their man
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Poggers hopefully they find more artefacts
Imagine aged Ember, long disillusioned, grumbling about how quickly even ponies forgot the whole "friendship" thing they used to talk about all the time...
That is, if any other races are merely out of reach, and not extinct.
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Yeah. Have to admit, them finding one of Sunset and Twilight's journals might be pretty intriguing, especially if only a few decades have passed in the human world and Sunset is still alive (possibly even taken over for the Human Celestia as Principal of Canterlot High).
Hey there. Again, wonderful work on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Certainly respected Hitch's reflection on waking up in the morning and then checking up on Sunny. And, speaking of Sunny, she also found a few more rather interesting pictures, these of the Young Six (of which only Smolder and MAYBE Ocellus are likely to be still alive) and the human counterparts to Twilight and her friends (who MIGHT be still alive if time has passed slowly enough in the human universe, even if it will be quite a while before Sunny and her friends are able to verify that).
At any rate, certainly looking forward to more of this.
Oh hello
She found the portal to the human world. With magic now back, does it still work?
Wait till they find the library.
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Yeah. I could see that. Of course, it might also be more amusingly ironic to see the other species still united (ESPECIALLY the dragons and the Changelings, with Ember and Thorax happily married) and older and wiser versions of Spike, Smolder and Ocellus acting as teachers (and several other teachers among the various species) to try to make sure it STAYS that way. Of course, once they find out that the ponies are finally starting to re-learn friendship again, Spike would probably want to know who was responsible for the ponies wising up again and show his appreciation that there is somebody among the ponies that hasn't forgotten the things his big sister tried to teach.
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they might wait awhile if it does start working, it only opens every 2 and a half years after all.
You know, I'm gonna laugh if it turns out the Changelings have a huge bustling metropolis out in the badlands and are the source of all the modern electronics ala Silicon Valley.
Just doing what Changelings have always done; hide and misdirect.
They've long been cured of their vampirism and they're still bugs, even without their magic, at the end of the day. Bugs are nothing if not industrious.
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She only found images of humans, not the portal itself. Maybe the portal lies somewhere in a dusty basement of what was once Canterlot.
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On the contrary
Awesome job so far! Can't wait to see more!
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Humm does the human. World still have magic I wonder? If so now the portal will open every 30 Moons once more won't it? Wonder if the same amount of time has passed on the other side?
Missing a 'he' there.
Also, pretty sure it's a reference to this:
https://www.deviantart.com/bobthedalek/art/Donut-Do-That-892952863
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Igiari! Your honor this evidence shows the contradiction in this witness statement! Take That!
.
I wonder what other creatures have been doing after all these years…
the mirror..... christ, if Equestria looks like this now, how does the EQG world look like? o.o
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war war never changes vault dweller
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"the mirror..... christ, if Equestria looks like this now, how does the EQG world look like? o.o"
Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Hmmm...
They misspelled "civilizations".
Smoulder: "So after all this time, when ponies forget their own princesses, they still remember dragons but none of your lots? Hah, winner!"
Gallus: (under his breath) "Probably only cause you're way too big to miss..."
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They actually did spell civilisations right, it's just a different spelling than what we're used to.
He should be banished and locked up in the place he is banished to.
Yep, she fell asleep alright.
Ah ha, must be a photo taken for the Friendship school.
Huh, didn't know Twilight had one of her CHS friends.
I'm leaning more towards the second theory, but the other one is good to I guess.
Well I'll be, the portal/mirror to earth is still here and intact! What a shocking surprise!
SUNNY!! Wait s*** I mean Sunset... Does anybody else still slip up and refer to Sunset as Sunny?
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That comes up in a couple stories, hehe.