//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Guardian // Story: From Eternia to Equestria // by deathtap //------------------------------// "Right here's good," Twilight Sparkle announced as the Equestrian guards brought the last of the items and placed them along the edge of a particularly huge cavern. The ceiling here was so high that even the light of her horn failed to illuminate any part of it. What was even more amazing was the fact that there were no bats around. Twilight quickly surmised that the lack of prey might've contributed to that factor. No prey, no predators. "What ya need all this stuff for, Twi?" Applejack asked, bringing the unicorn's attention back to the task at hand. "Aren't we jus' gonna help the Princesses by drawin' a map of these here tunnels?" "Well, these caves are really big, so we might need to camp underground for a night or two before we're done. I mean, we've been walking down all morning and I bet we're really deep down. I'd say at the bottom of the mountain..." "How are there so many tunnels so deep down here without anypony knowing about it?" Rainbow squeaked as she landed next to Twilight , folding her wings over her back. She let her gaze wander upwards, "How can something as big as this exist under Canterlot in the first place? I mean, look at it! It's huge! You could put the whole Canterlot Palace in here. Just how big is this thing anyway?" "That's what we're here to find out," Twilight said looking around herself making sure she had everything she'd need. "We've got to find out everything we can." Rarity walked through the tunnel, the guards making room for her as she sat gently on a small stone, "Seriously, Twilight, why do we have to do this. Can't the guards do it themselves." "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both asked us to do it. While my brother and Cadence are on their honeymoon, they can't spare any more of the guard then they already have. I have my duty to the Princess, and you're my best friends..." Rarity smiled gently and placed her hoof over her friend's shoulder, "I got it, Twilight. I was just thinking out loud. Anything for you... and the Princesses." "I have such wonderful friends," Twilight thought to herself. "Wow! Hey, Twilight, c'mere and look at this!" Pinkie Pie beckoned to Twilight with her hoof, "Check this out..." Taking a stone, she held it in front of her then let go. Nothing. Not a sound. "What, Pinkie? I don't have time to-" "Shush! Listen!" Pinkie cut her off. Then, after what seemed like ages, Twilight heard the faint clatter of the stone hitting something far, far below. "Oh... my..." Fluttershy backed off from the edge instinctively, despite the fact that being a pegasus meant she was relatively immune to falling great distances to her death. "That's a long way down..." Applejack commented, staring uneasily at the darkness right next to Pinkie, "Why don't ya just take a step back from the ledge there, Pinkie." "Good idea!" Pinkie giggled and took an overly exaggerated step back, much to the relief of her friends. Rainbow, on the other hand, zipped over to the edge and peered into the abyss, "I'm going to see what's down there!" "Rainbow, wait!" Twilight shouted forcing the cyan pegasus to freeze mid-flight, "We can't just start go barging into the unknown like that. It could be really dangerous. First, we need light..." As if on cue, the guards used their magic on a light-crystal. It absorbed their magic and instantly there was a bright, steady glow. The newly recharged crystal was then placed into a box full of mirrors that helped amplify the magical glow several fold. The boxed crystal was then placed on a pole and placed upright. This was how Equestria created their street lamps. While the guards started on several more of these devices, Twilight picked up a smaller light-crystal and used her magic on it. As it began to glow she put this particular one into the end of a cylinder that opened wider on the side where the crystal faced. This allowed for the light to be focused in a single direction. She held it in her hoof and pointed it towards the darkness beyond. The light wasn't strong enough to penetrate it. "Gimme that," Rainbow demanded, snatching the light out of Twilight's hoof and she zipped over the edge and down into the chasm. "Rainbow!" Applejack gasped and peered over the edge. She could make out the pegasus zipping lower and lower and lower. Finally, the light stopped, and below her was the ground. It looked like a marbled floor. "It's ice!" Rainbow's voice yelled back up to them. Several of the pegasi guards flew over the edge, catching up with Rainbow. With them they brought a few of those street lamps and started setting them up, their glow illuminated the base of the cliff. Rainbow, being Rainbow, could not sit in one place and began to zip around, but no matter how far she got there was no sign of any obstacles apart from the ledge where she had come from. Seemingly satisfied, she flew upwards and landed next to the girls, "There's a staircase that leads down there..." "A staircase? Where?" Twilight asked. Rainbow hovered to the ledge and along it until she found the staircase. She then flew back over the edge and landed on a particular spot. "It's under here." She stomped the ground with her hoof, "Right here." "Okay, let me try something." Twilight focused her magic on the ground, and three large stone slabs started to move. Rarity helped her friend and the two of them began to haul the stones themselves, but it was too heavy. They were about to give up when some of the unicorn guards that were with them helped and together they moved all three slabs, placing them neatly to one side. "Darling," Rarity panted, "why didn't we move one slab at a time?" "I was going to before you and everyone else helped." Twilight looked at each of the unicorns and blushed, "Thanks for the help, everyone." Rarity smiled while the guards nodded (their expressions never changed) and went back to their work. "Let's go!" Rainbow squealed, "Wait till you see the ice. It's so awesome!" It took them the better half of an hour to reach the end of the stairs. At once Pinkie launched herself onto the ice, and even without her skates, began to do some pretty spectacular tricks. "This isn't ice, Rainbow. It's crystal," Rarity pointed out, her eyes sparkling. "Such wonderful hues... oh, I simply must take a piece for a brooch..." Spike tried to use his tail to cut a piece out, but the surface was too strong. He picked up his now sore tail and whimpered as he noticed that the tip of it was bent slightly out of shape. It would take hours for it to recover. Picking up a pickaxe with her magic, Rarity struck the ground with full force. Not even a scratch. She harrumphed in annoyance and, using a lot more force, slammed the digging tool down as hard as she could onto the crystal flooring. As soon as the tip touched the ground, lightning bolts extended outwards and downwards throughout under the crystal 'ice' lighting up the immediate area in a bright blue glow. The lights slowly started to fade away, dimming gradually before eventually shutting off. Everything returned to darkness, only the lights from the light-crystals remained. "What did you do?" Rainbow shouted flying up to Rarity and taking the pickaxe away from her. "l-I-I don't know. I just... hit the ground and-" "I've never seen a reaction like that before. It was pure magic. A lot older and stronger than the kind of magic I'm familiar with. Something is definitely really strange about this place," Twilight said while furrowing her brow deep in thought. "Let's try that again. I mean, nothing happened to us and the magic seemed to go down..." "Are you crazy? Did you see those lightning bolts? They were easily ten times thicker than what we pegasi can make with our own storm clouds!" Rainbow flew to her purple friend and placed her hooves on her shoulders, "You can't be serious!" "Well, we could... oh, let me just do something. Everypony, head on back up. I've got an idea." About half an hour later, everyone was safely behind the ledge of the cliff. Twilight held a drilling-spike over the ledge with her magic and looked back at everyone, who were hiding behind some large boulders. "Ready?" "Ready!" The all replied. Twilight released the spike and ran for cover. She hid behind the nearest rock and... Thud. "Nothing happened! You missed!" Rainbow shouted. "No, that isn't it," Twilight replied patiently, "I think that it might have something to do with magic. Let me try again, this time with magic as it hits." Picking up another spike from the ground, Twilight walked over to the edge once more and wrapped the drill-spike with her magic. Then she hovered it over the edge and dropped it before running for cover. Thud. "Nothing hap-" Before Rainbow could finish, a loud roar echoed through the chasm as magical bolts of light surged through the floor. This time instead of fading away, it continued and got brighter and brighter, the entire crystal flooring lit up in a that bluish light. It continued until the entire floor looked like a glowing lake of water. Twilight had never seen anything like it before and peered over the edge. Whatever it was, it looked strange. It looked like water, yet it didn't look fluid. Descending back down the staircase, Twilight paused at the edge of the 'lake' and cautiously put a hoof in. Solid. She took a few steps out and turned back to her friends who had all watched cautiously and worriedly. Except Pinkie, who was just annoyed that a guard was holding her back from jumping onto the glowing crystal. "Sweet Celestia, would ya look at that." Applejack gaped at the far end of the cavern. Twilight followed her gaze and took a step back instinctively. She had never seen anything like it. She had never come across this in any of the books she had read. It looked like a gigantic skull and it loomed over the distance surrounded by the blue light that emanated from the floor. "What is it?" Fluttershy asked fearfully, "I-I don't like this." "It kinda looks like a skull, but I've never seen an animal with that shape for a head..." "Well, we need to map this cavern, so let's get to it. It could be just a rock formation," Twilight suggested, but she knew that it couldn't be one. This wasn't naturally formed. Or was it? It took them the better part of an hour to cross the distance. All the while the guards kept setting up light-crystals along the way, just in case the floor's light stopped. Planning ahead was one thing Twilight was good at, and her friends were grateful of that trait. "Well, now we know for sure it wasn't a natural formation," Twilight stated as she gazed up at the face. "It's got a drawbridge and look at those chains! They're huge!" "What do we do now, Twi? Do we... knock?" "Ooh! Let's try that!" Pinkie bolted over to the drawbridge, which was more or less useless as there was no moat between them, and knocked on the door. "There's not going to be anypony home, Pinkie. This place has been abandoned for years! Maybe even decades or centuries!" "No. It's been abandoned for a lot longer than that," a voice said from behind them. All girls swirled around, but all they saw were the guards equally as confused. "It has been a long time since I've seen another living being," the voice continued. "A very long time, indeed." "Who are you?" Rainbow shouted, "Show yourself." "I mean you no harm. Just... curious. You all look like unicorns, except a lot smaller..." Rainbow growled, "I'm not a unicorn! I'm a pegasus! Not a nerdy magical snob!" "Rainbow! That's uncalled for! At least I'm not a rough, unladylike, uncouth-" "Enough!" Twilight shouted. The girls silenced themselves instantly. "I apologize for my friends. They're easily excitable." "That's quite okay," the voice replied. "Please can you show yourself? You have my world that none of us here will harm you." "I'm right here. Above you." Everypony looked up to see a strange creature hovering above them. He was dressed in a red shirt, with a large hat that covered most of his face and a scarf that covered his mouth. Large eye holes had been cut through the hat and through them shone two very large, very bright yellow eyes. He had blue hands and blue fingers. The being slowly lowered himself until he was level with Twilight and folded his arms, "You are unicorns?" "Well, some of us are. Unicorns have horns, see?" Twilight showed her horn off to the stranger, "Pegasi have wings..." Rainbow spread them open and flapped them as hard she she could. "And my friends Applejack and Pinkie are earth ponies." "Amazing," the creature said hovering closer to each of the ponies and looking for over, "Your magic is focused instead of singular like before." "Like before?" Rarity asked, "What do you mean?" "Where are my manners. Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Orko. I come from a different place. I was asked many years ago to watch over the castle until it was time for me to leave. So, here I am." "Castle?" Twilight turned back to the building behind her. She studied it carefully before bring her attention back to the creature, "Orko? If you don't mind me asking, what are you?" "I'm a Trolla, from a world called Trollan. It's in a different dimension from here." "A different dimension?" Twilight asked, "What do you mean?" "What do you mean what do I mean? It's in a different dimension. You've got to teleport across several different dimensional space rifts before you can get to my world. Well, you could've if you were in the relative same position is the string of cosmic influences. We're nowhere near where we should be in terms of dimensional placement, and as a result... we're lost, or should I say I'm lost. Have been since... forever. Too long." "I don't understand," Twilight replied, "I don't know what you're saying." Orko rubbed the back of his head and looked up with his bright yellow eyes. "Okay, let's start from the very beginning. My name is Orko." "Hello, Orko. My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and the shy one hiding behind the guards over there is Fluttershy." Orko snapped his fingers and the guards jumped back in surprise as the yellow mare was suddenly teleported right in front of the others. She squeaked and ducked behind Rainbow. He studied them all again for a moment. "I still can't get over the fact that you guys don't have both wings and a horn. I mean, your people always did, since the beginning. Unicorns always had wings and horns. It was common knowledge." "Well that must have been a very long time ago. It's not like that anymore." Rarity looked at the short Trollan with a sad eye. His clothing was old and tattered. "That attire. You simply must let me stitch you a new one." "This? Nah, I got it." Orko snapped his fingers. A light swirled around him and in the next moment, his clothes were clean as a whistle, the holes in his clothing had gone and looked brand new. "H-how did you do that?" "Do what?" "Clean your clothes like that? Even I can't do that." Orko scratched himself behind his left ear, "You can't, or you don't know how?" "I mean, I've never tried it..." The way the Trollan closed his eyes and leaned his head back made Twilight realize that he was laughing. What was so amusing about what she said? "Nothing. Just... it's something that we Trollans can do. We're magical beings, more than you unicorns. As you can plainly see, levitation is one of our most basic spells and we learn it to the point it feels a lot more natural to float around rather than walk. I've hardly ever used my legs for walking. They're probably useless now. I'd probably break them if I tried. Sad, really." "You said that, from what you can remember, the unicorns all had wings?" "Oh yes. All of them did. I can't remember all the details, it has been so, so long, but from what I do remember is that unicorns had wings." "Our Princess has a horn and wings. She's an alicorn," Rainbow blurted. Orko nodded, "Now that sounds more like a unicorn. An alicorn you say? Never heard of that before. Then again, I've been stuck down here for ages. What year is it, by the way?" "It's one year after Luna's return," Pinkie informed him. She had appeared behind him and was looking him over. "Amazing. You have spatial distortion magic." Twilight looked at Orko, "What? What is that? How could you know that about her..." "Hm? Oh, it's simple. I can do it too," Orko began. "It's not that hard once you know how." He was now right behind Applejack, who jumped a foot in the air with a yelp. "I beg your pardon. I didn't think you would scare very easily." "Aw, that's okay... just... ya just caught me off guard." "You six are especially powerful. There is something very familiar about each of you, but I can't put my finger on it." Orko hovered over to one of the pegasi guards and began to poke him. "Interesting, very interesting." "What is it now?" "Hm? Oh, it's such a pleasure to see another living creature." "Orko, what can you tell us about this place. What is that thing behind you? Why is it down here, under these crystal caverns and mines?" "The thing behind me? Wow, I must have been gone for longer than I thought. That's Castle Grayskull. The secrets to the universe are hidden it is labyrinths and vaults. If ever should this knowledge fall into the wrong hands, the entire universe will once again plunge into war." "Why is it down here?" "To keep it hidden, obviously. At least, that's what I think it was. Not that it really matters." "Why is that?" "It's a very long story. Are you sure you want to hear about it? I'm not very good at storytelling." He met Twilight's eyes for a moment, then smacked his head. "Of course! I completely forgot!" "What'd you forget?" Applejack asked. Orko folded one arm across his chest and waved his finger around with the other, "I can show you what happened instead." "Show us?" Twilight asked. "Uh-huh. If you want to see." Twilight didn't need to think about that. She nodded, "Of course." "Well then. Let's show you a little bit of your history." Orko snapped his fingers and the blue crystal lake changed color to a deep red and the drawbridge lowered itself, "After you."