The ground trembled again, shaking dirt loose and knocking things off of the nearby roofs. Pots in the windows clattered and a few food items fell from their stands. Ponies scrambled about, trying to avoid falling debris. Ironically, Pinkie appeared to be sitting still in space, while the rest of the world shook around her. We can only asume that she didn't think anything was wrong, as she is always bouncing anyways.
That's odd, Twilight thought to herself. That's the fifth tremor this week. I didn't think Ponyville was a geologically active area. Twilight shook her head, not understanding. In the few years she had lived in Ponyville, not once had the ground moved on its own accord. This whole tectonic shift was throwing ponies around, both figuratively and literally.
Something was definitely not right. The ground was shaking everywhere, causing mass amounts of destruction in some places. Some of the larger equestrian cities, like Canterlot and Manehatten, have already had buildings collapse, and numerous other cities were threatening to collapse. And that's not mentioning all the smaller towns, like Ponyville, which happened to be suffering some quite severe quakes recently.
And Equestria wasn't the only nation that had these strange tremors. Members of the Griffon kingdom and Zafrica had both sent out pleas for help, which was why all the princesses were away, providing a helping hoof to all the foreign nations. To quote princess Celestia, "We are all stricken by something we cannot control. This is why we must band together, so as to survive this point of global suffering."
It's like the world is ending. Twilight thought grimly. Her thoughts were interrupted by another tremor, followed by the sound of grinding stone and screaming ponies. Twilight heard a loud crack, followed shortly after by a louder boom. Worried that somepony might have been hurt, Twilight raced outside, to see that one of the nearby houses had collapsed. Rising from where the foundations used to be was a strange, ornately carved stone.
This stone hovered a few meters from the ground, and was easily a few meters wide. It was obviously carved, as all eight faces were exactly the same size and shape, fitting together like two pyramids, set base to base. The grayed stone betrayed its age, however, showing that it had to have been just as old, if not older, than the Everfree castle. In fact, doing a twice-over, Twilight concluded that it had to be centuries older than the ruined castle.
Along each face was a set of intricately carved patterns, primarily straight, geometric figures. But within those recesses radiated a strange, powerful magic. When Twilight probed it, she saw a vast expanse of untapped power, hiding just behind a locking spell. When Twilight checked the lock, it seemed so foreign, so utterly alien to her mind. It was as if a flower was trying to understand what it meant to be a pony. But how can this be? Twilight asked herself. No ponies from that era could complete such precision, let alone imbue it with such potent magical powers.
"Spike!" She called aloud. Sure enough, her faithful companion raced to her side, panting lightly. "Ah, Spike. Take a note, please. 'Dear Princess Celestia...'"
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Celestia sighed. Today had been a long day meeting with the griffon council. All they seemed to want to do was fight about every last point. How much food goes where, what part of the nation needed help the worst, nothing trully mattered to them. Only the sake of arguing. She took a long sip of her glass of orange juice.
Suddenly, she heard a loud pop, followed by a burning smell and a sizzling sound. She looked up to notice a letter, faithfully sealed and sent by dragonfire, which caused her to smile. She looked up at the sun, noticing that it was only midday, and a frown crossed her face. "Twilight sends her daily reports one hour before sunset. What could be so important to break her schedule?" Celestia wondered aloud. The frown still tainting her face, she carefullt opened the letter, and began to read.
"Dear Princess Celestia, I hate to bother you during your meetings, but this is urgent. While continuing my studies, one of the nearby houses collapsed, revealing an ancient artifact. It is a huge, ornately decorated stone, which floats in the air a few meters overhead. This shape radiates magical power, yet all of its immense power is contianed behind an ancient spell lock, which could have only been crafted by a non-unicorn mind, because the magic is completely unfamiliar to me. I wish to know what I should do now. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
Princess Celestia lowered the scroll and stared blankly into space, thinking back. During her impressive existance, she couldn't remember any being ever claiming to have made such an artifact. She turned back towards the meeting circle, and, upon seeing the group reassembling, she flew to join them.
Once they had all assembled, she cleared her throat and adressed the group. "Unfortunately, I have just beem called back to my nation for a matter of utmost importance." Some of the griffon chairmen created an uproar over this, but the griffon king shushed them.
"Now now, gentlegriffs. Celestia here is a ruler in her own right, and she has responsibilities. We appreciate your coming to help, and we wont forget these kind actions, but if you must leave, then you have to go." He bowed to her, and she bowed in return, as was customary. "Might I ask, what is this encounter?"
Celestia smiled. "It is an unusual floating stone, which demolished a building when it rose from the ground."
The griffon king nodded. "As I expected. For that is the very reason we met again so soon. Down in the valley below is such a stone. Tell me, did your messenger say anything about magical properties?" Celestia nodded, so he continued. "Same with ours. Which means we can reach a decision that we can all agree on. You can stay here, studying this 'Hedron,' as the locals have begun to call it. You can keep in touch with your messenger, thus spreading information. This way, we will all be aware of what these things are."
Celestia furrowed her brow, thinking hard as to what she should do. To refuse would make the griffons suspicious, and to accept could worry Twilight. But Twilight can manage herself, and this is internationally important, Celestia reminded herself. "I can," she began, before she was cut off by a shadow falling over her. All around looked up, to see the moon moving forward, blocking the sun and creating an eclipse.
A pulse of darkness later, the sunlight returned, to show her sister, Luna standing before her. "Tia! A most terrible happening hath occured!"
Celestia laughed, cutting off her sister. "Let me guess, Luna. A rock, with powerful magical properties, has risen from the ground." Luna cocked her head, and Celestia laughed again. "It happened in Ponyville and down in that valley." Her face hardened up, as a mental bell went off in her head. "Luna." She said in a scolding voice. "I thought we agreed only to use the eclipse during an emergency."
Luna could only lower her head in shame. "We are sorry, sister. We did not mean to cause panic, it is just that We ourselves were panicking, and we could think of no faster way to contact thou." Celestia smiled, and began to pat her sister on the back, when a fizzling sound was heard, and a scroll of light pink paper appeared beside her. Celestia raised an eyebrow, and carefully opened the scroll to read aloud.
"Dear Aunt Celestia, I have a question. have you ever seen, or heard of, a strange stone with massive magical properties. The reason I am suddenly so interested is because one just rose from the outskirts of The Crystal Kingdom. Sincerely, Cadence. P.S. What was Aunt Luna so worried about? I saw the eclipse and I feared the worst."
Celestia smiled again, and looked to Luna with an eyebrow raised. Luna looked down awkwardly. "Oh... I, uh... I didn't think of that."
Celestia turned back to the council. "As I was saying, my decision is made. My student can independantly study the one in Equestria, my sister in Zafrica, and my neice in The Crystal Kingdom. And I," she said, motioning to the valley, "Will stay here. That way, we can have some of the most powerful minds each working on their own hedron." The councilmen nodded contently, and the griffon king smiled contently.
"But I will need a small amount of time. I must visit each of them in turn, physically, for them to trully understand my plan." She said with a bow. "I shall return soon," She added, with a smile.