What Came Before

by Lynwood

I

PART ONE

Twilight Sparkle loved this time of year. Spring had just begun, and all the ponies were excitedly doing the activities that had been held back by the cold weather and snow that had only just been pushed away weeks before. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping in their newly made nests. All in all, it was a beautiful day in Equestria. Twilight Sparkle was on a train.

Her friends had all declined the trip to Canterlot with Twilight, with Rainbow Dash busy training for the big Wonderbolt show, hoping to show them her "radical moves", and Applejack busy working the farm. Rarity had a large order to take care of. Fluttershy needed to care for all her little animals, and even Pinkie Pie was preparing individual parties for the family of nine that had just moved in. It appeared it would be a solitary trip.

However, Twilight was not deterred by this. She took advantage of the quiet train time, catching up on her studies and reading her newest novel "An Equestrian Tragedy". she was already about three-quarters through when the train hissed to a stop.

Twilight stepped out onto the platform, and squinted her eyes at the almost-noonday sun. She looked around, taking in the familiar bustle of ponies and elegantly carved and constructed buildings she had grown up with. She took a deep breath of the city air. It was good to be back.

"Hey! Keep moving! your holding everypony up!" said the very annoyed stallion behind her.

"Whoops. Sorry." Twilight blushed and made for the edge of the station. suddenly she hear her name.

"Twily! Over here!" She turned, and standing right there, were Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, waving at her from the street.

"Oh! Cadance! BBBFF! I thought you would be in the Crystal Empire!" Said Twilight.

"Yeah," said Shining. "We did too. but turns out, Luna had royal business in the Empire, and said she would handle it while she was there. Cadance suggested we come to Canterlot, and it turned out we came in time for your arrival. We got here not two hours ago!"

"Its so good to see you!" twilight exclaimed. She ran over to her brother and gave him a hug.

"Yeah, you too, Twily."

But Twilight was too busy reciting a rhyme and dance with Cadance.

"Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

"I can see how much fun you two are having, but we should get going." said Shining Armor.

"Uhh, where are we staying, Shining?" Queried Twilight.

"Your parents house," said Cadance. "They are out of town, and didn't mind us using it for the weekend." She giggled. It's much less expensive than a hotel, here in Canterlot!

~-~

Shining offered to order a carriage to the house, but Cadance declined, saying some walking would do them good. They started on their way, but soon were distracted by the many colorful shops and stands. They got to the place around sundown.

Twilight and Cadance walked through the door, giggling and conversing about the sights they had seen that day. Shining struggled through the doorway, his face hidden by the huge amount of shopping bags he was carrying.

"Uh, girls, as much as I'd like to stand and talk, my magic is going to give out any second!" Twilight and Princess Cadance giggled, but helped Shining Armor unload his large stack of bags and boxes. As soon as they had finished, they all went to eat at the dining room table. Shining extricated the Zebra-food-takeout they had, and put it on the table.

"Alright girls, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Lets eat!" They were all hungry, and sat down at the small table to dig in.

~-~

Eight empty takeout boxes and three very sleepy, but satisfied ponies later, It was decided to go to bed. Twilight had a meeting with the princess tomorrow, and Cadance wanted to visit some old Canterlot friends. They wished each other goodnight, and went upstairs to their rooms.

~-~

Twilight eagerly trotted up the steps of the Canterlot palace, right up to the guards stationed at the gate. They immediately recognized the Princesses' protegee, and opened the gates. Twilight thanked them and continued down the road. She was right on time, as usual, and the Princess was ready to see her. She walked through the large wooden doors, and into the throne room, to greet the waiting Celestia.

"My student! Greetings. On time, I see. Nothing out of the ordinary there." Said the ruler. Twilight rushed forward to the throne that Celestia was sitting on.

"Oh princess, I missed you! how have you been doing?" Twlight said.

"I am well, thank you Twilight. I know how you like to get right to the point, so I shall do so. You still enjoy Equestrian History, correct?"

Twilight nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, Princess! Very much!"

Celestia giggled. "Well, it seems I have remembered a large vault full of just that. It is a different type of history, however, as it is made up of Memory Orbs."

Twilight's eyes widened. "But princess, those are dangerous! They were outlawed in Equestria ages ago!" The princess smiled.

"I am aware of that, student of mine. I trust you will be very careful, and responsible with the Orbs."

"Oh yes, princess!" said a very exited Twilight. "Good." Celestia said. She turned to leave. "Come, Twilight. They are deep inside the mountain."

~-~

The pair stood before a very old looking door. Celestia levitated out her key, and unlocked it with a grinding click. The door swung open, revealing a dark passageway. "Do not fear, Twilight" Celestia reassured, and lit the passageway with her horn. torches became lit in the hall, revealing it to be well sized. The pair continued

Eventually they cane to another door, which Celestia also unlocked. This room did not need to be lit, as it was a crystal room. there were many shelves in the room, almost like a library. Only, instead of books, there were hundreds of hoof-sized colorful, glowing, swirling orbs. "Memory Orbs" Twilight whispered, in complete awe.

Celestia grinned, amused at seeing her student overwhelmed at the vast amount of personal history within the vault. "Enjoy yourself Twilight. I will be back at suppertime, when it is time to depart."

Twilight just mumbled "Okay"

After Celestia had left, Twilight regained her bearings, and ran over to the nearest rack of Orbs. She took a minute to remember the spell used to read said Orbs, and cast it on the first one she saw. Suddenly, the whole world shifted in a swirl of colors, and sounds. When her senses settled, she saw she was no longer in the crystal room, but out in a field. She could smell the grass, fell the breeze, and hear another pony yelling, "Oi! Carrot Hoof! It's time for lunch!" Suddenly, Twilight heard herself yell "One minute, Carrot Stalk! I'm coming! Her body started to run across the fields to a small shack. Twilight nearly panicked, because she couldn't control herself. Then she remembered that she was in a memory, and cast the spell to pull herself out. In another sensual "swirl" she was back in the crystal room. She looked at the orb she had just traveled inside.

"Carrot Family: Daily life, 2014 ACB. Donated by Carrot Hoof Carrot."

Twilight was amazed. That was nearly 1200 years old! Se eagerly ran over to another orb, with a label that said:

"Equestrian Army: The First Zebra War, 1823 ACB. Donated by Swift Wind Coudhanger"

Twilight wasted no time in eagerly casting the spell.

~-~

About fifty Orbs later, Twilight was laying on the ground, panting. She had just finished traveling inside "Royal Family: The Element Discoveries, 2135 ACB. Donated by Princess Celestia." Twilight was amazed. Celestia was only about 2000 years old, in this memory! It was right before Luna became nightmare moon, and it showed the discovery on the elements in a rural town. They seemed familiar, but Celestia couldn't put a hoof on it. Or wouldn't, Twilight couldn't tell. She sat up slowly, and crawled over to lay against the smooth, crystal wall. She was quite exhausted from casting the same spell over fifty times, but was immensely satisfied. She had witnessed wars with death tolls in the hundreds, witnessed the discovery of changelings in the badlands, and had even entered a memory donated by Starswirl the Bearded himself. Twilight set her head back against the wall.

click

A perfectly hidden button had been pressed, triggering a door to slide open behind her. Twilight squeaked, amost like Fluttershy, as she fell in through the doorway into another room. This room was covered in a generous layer of dust, and Twilight sneezed as she started to get up. Then, the room's contents caught her eye. More Orbs! She squealed in excitement and rushed over to one, the blew off the dust on the plating that identified the Orb.

"The Unicorn Tribe: The Windigo Cave, 136 BCB. Donated by Clover the Clever"

This blew Twilight away. This was a memory from thousands of years ago! BCB? Before Celestia's Birth! and it was from the legendary Clover the Clever! Twilight had to see more Orbs, but promised herself she would come back. She ran over to another Orb.

"The Pegasus Tribe: The Birth of Commander Hurricane, 172 BCB. Donated by Storm -Unknown-"

The birth of Commander hurricane!? That was insane! This room, the secret one, must have been created before Celestia was even born! Twilight suddenly, and very badly, wanted to know how far back these mysterious Orbs went. She ran down to the farthest edge of the farthest rack. she picked up a very old looking Orb, on a carved wooden stand. No ornate crystal stand and metal label for this one. It felt strange, like it was emanating wisdom.

Twilight wiped off the wooden label, getting a generous amount of dust on her hoof. now she could, just barely read the words on the old piece of likely preserved wood. She squinted.

"The Eldest: Beginings, -Unknown- BCB. Donated by CeeThirteen"

What? that label made no sense to Twilight. An unknown date? What kind of name was Ceethirteen? it sounded like a label, or number, not a name. Twilight knew this orb was the oldest, and likely unstable, but she prepared herself, built up the courage, and cast the spell.

The world collapsed into a swirl of colors and sounds.

Author's Note:

Hey everypony! This is my first story on Fimfiction, so feel free to provide corrections, and constructive criticism. Thanks so much! Also, in my story, the date is about 3250 years after Celestia's birth, so to speak.

Jiggy

Comments

[jamesofearth2]

This is .... interesting. Favoriting, I want to see where it's going

[Mills]

Sounds like things are about to take an interesting turn. There were a few errors here and there, but nothing that made it unreadable.

Just one suggestion,

"It was a beautiful day in Equestria."

While it isn't exactly wrong to start off a story this way, it feels like I've seen it done a hundred times before. I'm sure you could come up with a better sentence that still sets the tone...but then again that is my personally biased opinion.

[TheHoleyCheese]

Not to be a downer or anything, but I'm 99.4% sure that it's the crystal empire not the crystal kingdom. If this comes into play as part of the stories plot later then, oops my bad!

[Awesomebronypony]

Helped Shining unload his pile

sigh. Me perv.

Really nice story. I'm loving the plotline!! Good work.

[Dragonfeith]

So, I must say there are quite a few grammar mistakes. Like, quite a lot.

HOWEVER.

The plot line is intriguing, the characterization is nearly spot on, and the story is entertaining. I for one am looking forward to seeing a TON more.

Also, I am going to guess that ponies were created in a laboratory by humans. Ceethirteen probably means C-13, which is a classification. Could be wrong, but its what I would do.

Keep it up! Can't wait for the next chapter!

-Dragonfeith

[Lynwood]

So, I must say there are quite a few grammar mistakes. Like, quite a lot.

Sorry, like I said, this is my first Fimfic. I'll try to correct them and not write them in chapter II

Not to be a downer or anything, but I'm 99.4% sure that it's the crystal empire not the crystal kingdom.

Sorry, had a blank there. fixing!

While it isn't exactly wrong to start off a story this way, it feels like I've seen it done a hundred times before.

I'll try to think of a new one.

thanks everypony!

[Rainbow87dash]

Her friends had all declined the trip to Canterlot with Twilight, with Rainbow Dash busy training for the big Wonderbolt show, hoping to show them her "radical moves", and Applejack busy working the farm. Fluttershy needed to care for all her little animals, and even Pinkie Pie was preparing individual parties for the family of nine that had just moved in. It appeared it would be a solitary trip.

I have to agree with you, no one gives a crap about what Rarity is doing huh?

[Tome Turner]

"it is made up of Memory Orbs."
Twilight's eyes widened. "But princess, those are dangerous! They were outlawed in Equestria ages ago!" The princess smiled.
"BITCH, I AM THE LAW!"

[Sparklespy]

Pacing needs a bit of work in this chapter, it seems rushed. Try to slow down, but I know it is hard for new writers to do (since I have trouble myself).

Other than that, bravo! An intriguing start to a fic, I shall now read chapter 2.

[The Chronicler]

Too much telling. Not enough showing.