Chapter 8 - Archaeology is Magic
The day prior; an early afternoon in Ponyville.
Twilight waited eagerly at the train station. It had been quite a while since she was able to actually work with professionals; the best-of-the-best in academia. While she was still worried about her friends’ quest to recover the Crusaders, she was giddy at the moment from the prospect of discussing the ‘metal cave’ with top archaeological experts.
Twilight was almost certain that the cave was Pre-Discordian, even if it was more advanced than she would have thought possible for the time period. Due to the nation-wide destruction during Discord’s reign, there was little left of Equestrian civilization that came before it. Even Celestia and Luna—the oldest Equestrians alive—had little knowledge of what society was like before.
After Discord was defeated, there was so much emphasis on the reconstruction of Equestria, that history only began again as a topic of serious research over four hundred years later. At that point, much of the remaining pre-Discordian relics and stories were lost, ruined or destroyed. The few remaining stories and songs of the time—such as the Hearth's Warming Eve unification story—were for the most part stories the Royal Sisters remembered being passed down at the time; but while they could live a long time, their memories didn’t have the luxury.
Twilight had questioned Discord—through Fluttershy—about what had happened before his reign but he just said, “My thoughts are too perfectly chaotic to remember such ancient nonsense.” Twilight still wasn’t sure if he genuinely forgot or if he just didn’t want to say anything. Regardless, it was doubtful she would be able to believe much of what he said anyway. Three-thousand years was more than enough time for biased or incomplete memories, even for an immortal like Discord. The whole subject just frustrated Twilight. Whenever Discord was involved, nothing was ever straightforward.
The train from Canterlot now pulled up to the station and Twilight’s frustrations melted back into the excitement she had felt just moments before. ‘Finally. I’m going to start to get some real answers,’ she thought.
As the ponies started to disembark, Twilight immediately noticed the Archaeological Team. There was a certain level of organized chaos in their general vicinity as crates of supplies were quickly moved off the train. There were twelve ponies on the team in total. Stone Secret, professor of Equinology at the University of Manehattan, the team lead and primary historian in Pre-Discordian artifacts. Level Cut, professor of Archaeology at the University of Canterlot, and the area supervisor and surveyor. Certain Time, graduate of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and a chief practitioner of chronology and dating spells. Also on the team were nine archaeological students from the Universities of Canterlot and Manehattan.
From the group, a grey earth pony stallion with a brown unkempt mane, green eyes, and a stone tablet Cutie Mark walked up to Twilight. “Good evening Your Majesty. My name is Professor Stone Secret from the University of Manehattan’s Archaeological Society, Pre-Discordian Department.”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she reciprocated, “and there is no need for titles, Twilight is fine. We will be working closely together after all. Have you had lunch or-”
“We should head to the site as soon as possible,” a gruff mare interrupted her. She was a pale-green pegasus with a dark-green mane, blue eyes and a Cutie Mark of a crossed trowel and line level.
“Level Cut.” Stone Secret turned to the mare, “It is rude to interrupt. We will have plenty of time before we reach the site, I’m sure.”
Twilight shook her head but her enthusiasm was undeterred. “It’s alright. I’m actually a bit anxious to start the excavation myself! Why don’t I help you with your luggage. Normally I would have Spike do it—he’s my dragon assistant by the way—but I have him getting the library at the castle organized. It would be nice to have it done sometime this month.”
The team wanted to refuse having a princess carry their luggage but were shocked when several hundred pounds of equipment was levitated effortlessly by the alicorn. As she made her way towards the gem fields outside of town, they shook themselves out of their stupor and walked closely behind her.
Eventually Stone Secret got back the courage to question the alicorn. “So Pri- Twilight, can you describe again what you found at the site?” Stone Secret asked politely. “You said it was Pre-Discordian but your descriptions didn’t match up with anything I’ve known about the time period.”
“Of course.” Twilight turned and nodded. These actions did nothing to affect her control of the luggage she carried. “I understand your concerns. Nothing I’ve read about Pre-Discordian technology would lead me to believe this ruin was from that time period either. In fact, in some ways it may even be superior to our current magical and scientific achievements. My conclusion that it was Pre-Discordian was based on the fact that those gem fields have lain undiscovered and unutilised for thousands of years. I inquired Allodial Title of the Canterlot Archives personally about the historic land ownership in the region and there was none, ever. It would be unlikely that someplace this close to Everfree Castle and Canterlot would be unknown by the Royal Archives unless it was before their time.”
“That’s sound reasoning Twilight,” a pale rose-colored mare nodded. She had a lavender wavy mane and deep crimson eyes. Her Cutie Mark was a cracked stone clock-face. “Oh, and my name’s Certain Time, I’m-”
“Oh I know all about you!” Twilight answered giddily. “I’m glad to finally meet you face-to-face. Your thesis on applied spellcasting in relation to temporal paradoxes was really inspiring. The reasoning behind your treatise on time as being somehow quantized is a little shaky, however. That being said, I’m glad you’re taking such an out-of-the-box approach, I hope it works out for you.”
“I read your letter you sent to me on that topic. I was surprised that you would actually take interest in my work, and now I’m even more surprised that you actually remember it. I’m not even a professor or theoretician, just a ordinary chronology mage.”
“Oh please you are anything but ordinary.” Twilight waved a forehoof in dismissal. “Many of the Canterlot theoreticians’ work have been very derivative recently. We certainly aren’t in a golden age like Starswirl’s time. Your work is new and interesting. Even if the concepts you discuss are simple—relatively speaking—it’s work like yours that sets the basis of really important and groundbreaking research.”
Embarrassed by the high praise she was receiving from one of the—if not the—greatest mind in the study of magic, Certain Time kept silent. Noticing that their conversation was at an end, Stone Secret continued their earlier discussion. “I hope you don’t mind if we get back to what we were previously discussing but I’m not sure if I can agree that the site must be Pre-Discordian just because it doesn’t appear to have had pony settlements recorded in the area. After all, the eight-hundred years after Discord were very perilous times indeed.”
Twilight nodded her head. “That was just my conclusion, Professor. Don’t misunderstand, I wasn’t saying I’m certain but rather ... optimistic.”
Realizing his mistake of her intentions, the professor quickly backtracked. “Oh, and so am I! I really hope you are right. We have so little left from that time. From my experience, if a relic from the time-period hasn’t been completely transformed, it’s usually incomplete. If we-”
“Sorry to interrupt what I’m sure was a thrilling monologue Professor, but we’re here.” Level Cut pointed a hoof towards a pony-sized hole in the ground about one hundred meters away from the group.
“I’m surprised you would know a place you’ve never been to Professor. Did you scout-out this place earlier?” Twilight laid the luggage down near the entrance.
“Well I am a top surveyor.” Level Cut rolled her eyes. “If I couldn’t keep my bearings and memorize a few topological maps, I wouldn’t be qualified to be here.”
Twilight was not sure that such skills would be so obvious but did not want to upset the mare further. Twilight set down the luggage and the group got to work. Level Cut organized the students and began to start digging out the cavern which worked as the entrance to the metal cave. Meanwhile, Certain Time dated geological samples of the surrounding gems and soil to form a “control” for the samples they would find in the ruin later. Twilight and Stone Secret didn’t have much they could do at this point so they just discussed in more detail the ruin and Pre-Discordian culture in general.
“Alright, we’re all finished here,” Level Cut yelled, getting everypony’s attention. Her team had—in the span of roughly an hour—completely dug out the ceiling of the bowl-shaped cavern. They also dug a ramp leading into the hole, allowing them to easily move the supplies and any potential finds in and out of the ruins without needing Twilight to be there to teleport them.
Nodding amicably at the team’s hoofwork, Stone Secret and the rest of the group quickly made their way down the tunnel and into the cave. Two of the unicorn students in the group—as well as Certain Time and Twilight—lit their horns, providing the tunnel with more than enough illumination.
Certain Time was the first to speak up, looking quizzically at the rusted steel pillars as they made their way down. “I didn’t want to say it—at least before I could confirm it for myself—but I thought that your description might have been mistaken, Twilight.”
“Why was that?” Twilight asked.
“Well, you see. Normally when iron or steel ages, it forms a protective barrier of rust which protects it and allows it to degrade much more slowly. This iron oxide might eventually flake off but that takes a long time and normally a buildup happens instead. The end result is typically a thicker pillar of rust then the iron you start with. Eventually—after a few thousand years—this forms a rusty stalagmite as gravity naturally pulls the minerals lower. These formerly large steel beams that held this tunnel in place shouldn’t have broken down like this. Even if they had been here for millions of years, they should have merely changed shape from rust buildup until they disappeared entirely, not simply reduced in size.”
“Then what do you make of it? If this isn’t natural, what is it?”
“Well, we’ve come a long way from strictly chemical and scientific analysis in dating materials. Modern chronology has shown that often unintuitive behavior occurs when magic interacts with the world. I believe that these pillars were treated with some type of preservation spell. Ironically, when you cast a preservation spell on something it actually causes it to break down slowly in the long run. Preservation magic prevents any chemical or material from interacting with the object for as long as the spell remains active but binding magical energy to anything will slowly wear down the substance. It’s still a new field of research but over time magic causes atoms to spontaneously disappear.”
“You’re right! Why didn’t I think of that?” Twilight replied. She thought for a moment before continuing. “Oh right. I agree with you up to a point, but there is still rust on the pillar, why is that?”
Certain Time was silent, her mouth gaping silently.
“Certain? I know what it feels to have a theory brought down but-”
“N-no, sorry Twilight!” Certain Time yelled, her voice cracking. She tried to settle down before continuing. “Y-you see. T-the rust would have formed because the spell broke after years of use. Whatever was used to maintain the spell died out about one thousand years ago if I’m gauging this rust build up correctly.”
“Alright …,” Twilight unconsciously was walking one step further from the mage then before due to her excitement. “I don’t see how that makes sense though. Preservation spells don’t just ‘die out’. They are specifically designed to pretty much last forever.”
“T-that’s true but I don’t know what else it could be.” Certain Time’s shock was now turning into uncontrolled glee as her mouth took on a wide grin. “Sorry for my excitement earlier, I-I just can’t believe it! I just double-checked. If I’m dating these pillars correctly, the Preservation Spell they had on it lasted for at least one million years before failing!”
The other members—who were absent-mindedly listening in—were now in rapt attention.
“What?!” Stone Secret turned to his colleague in shock. “That’s not possible. I know for a fact that—despite Discord destroying much of the world—there is no way pony civilization was around that long. Perhaps it’s just regular nuclear decay or something? Or the spell was more powerful than you expect.”
“Then maybe this isn’t a pony ruin?” Certain Time proffered. “You’re right that nuclear decay isn’t protected by such magic but iron is probably the most nuclear inactive substance in the world. The facts don’t tell lies. There is at least an 68 percent annihilation of matter of the pillar’s structure. I’m even using an optimistic thaumic/matter-decay rate of 0.004 moles per meter squared per year.”
“I concur with Certain’s deduction,” Twilight agreed. “Although we can’t be sure that the preservation spell was only applied to the pillar’s surface, the pattern we’re seeing suggests that conclusion. It would cause faster decay if it encompassed the pillar’s interior, but there is no evidence of decay there. I wrote of the possibility of non-equine creators in my report. The tool marks on the cave also point towards that conclusion.”
“No, no, no,” Stone Secret denied. “I don’t care what the magic says. There is no way I’m going to get into the ‘precursor civilization’ argument! I get enough of that from my own work. Are we really saying that this is the first evidence ever of pre-equine society? They might have just been stripped because a spell damaged them or something.”
Twilight and Certain wanted to speak up but didn’t. There was a heavy stigma against precursor believers. Whether they were enthusiasts or cults, they were all weird. Of course, the theory was possible, but any evidence for or against the idea until now was missing thanks to Discord. Twilight knew one personally, Lyra Heartstrings, and had already discussed and shot down all her “theories” she had brought up with her. Lyra was a good mare, but Twilight did feel sorry for Bon Bon—her roommate—for having to put up with her. Twilight felt she would be a hypocrite to believe in precursors now, just because of some old metal rods. Certain Time, likewise, thought that maybe it was just her inexperience talking and she messed up the matter decay calculations she did in her head.
They ignored that finding for now and finally made it to the cleaner air further down. It was at this point that Twilight realized she had forgotten something in her report.
"Twilight, what is this?" Level Cut stated bluntly. It was clear to everyone that went passed a certain point that the air suddenly got a lot cleaner.
Twilight giggled. "I might have forgot to include this in my report," Twilight replied nervously.
"Well it is pretty obvious that magic is definitely still running," Level Cut continued. "Air doesn't suddenly get cleaner like this. Even if the ventilation is incredibly fine-tuned to only filter a certain part of a cave system, the change isn't nearly as dramatic as this. I remember something like this when I explored an ancient Foalonian ruin. A simple air separator spell. It's like a shield but supplies a very limited amount of force. In a stale cave like this though, it is enough to keep the clean air in and to keep the more salt and rust-filled air from the more damp parts of the cave from corroding the metal." She finished this statement by pointing at the pillars. While they looked to be in a similar size as the rest, it was clear—when they looked back—that the rust on the pillars was suddenly far less pronounced.
"The only ruins that had that were very late-era structures, almost right before Discord's reign," Stone Secret chipped in. "That would lead me to believe that the ruin is far newer than what Certain Time has said."
"That sounds reasonable," Twilight replied, not willing to make the observation that this actually makes it more likely they were dealing with a more advanced ruin then they originally thought. Stone Secret was dead-set on refusing any and all conjecture that led to a precursor conclusion.
Moving on, they finally made it to the vault door. Just as before, the door lay on the floor, the corroded bars that once held it fixed to the frame eventually giving way, causing it to collapse. While Certain Time become engrossed with it, the rest of them entered the room beyond. Green chromium oxide rust—as opposed to the brownish-red iron oxide they has seen until now—covered most surfaces and fallen shelving. Piles of rusty slag—smaller metal pieces which no longer carried their shape—littered the floor. Where the rust didn’t cover, moss had grown, completely encasing the room in green. If it wasn’t for the gleaming stainless steel which came through in certain places, it would have looked like the inside of a leafy tree. It was fairly large, 20x20m.
“Look at the construction!” Stone Secret cried examining the walls of the room. “It’s unbelievable! A room underground entirely encased in steel. Look at the walls! Despite the rust, you can see this culture had very accurate tooling methods, look how these smooth curves jut out to support the ceiling. Not to mention that door we came in from. Such a hefty security device must have taken them ages to bring here. In fact, they probably constructed it right in this very room!”
Then his eyes went even wider, threatening to pop from their sockets. “I’ve seen this before! Written on other Pre-Discordian relics. Pieces of pottery depicted a legend where deep underground, demons were sealed away in metal tombs by the Gods after they had destroyed the world. Belief in the ‘Gods’ and ‘Demons’ of these legends died off during Discord’s time. Abstract ideals—rather than abstract deities—mostly dominated the pony belief system towards the end of the ‘Reconstruction’ due to the community and hope the Princesses brought. Still, to see this almost confirms these beliefs. In fact, going by that logic, we could be seeing the ancient tomb of a demon shot down by a God during the creation of the world.”
“You don’t seriously believe that, do you?” Level Cut asked rolling her eyes.
“Well, no, of course not.” The grey earth pony rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. “Still, you can’t let your ethnocentrism get in the way of understanding a culture. In order to understand and appreciate why the past did something, you must put yourself in their mindset.”
“Ughh,” the green pegasus groaned, “I’ll leave that why nonsense to you philosophers. In the meantime, us scientists will start gathering important data for the records, like the architecture’s dimensions and design.”
Stone Secret rolled his eyes at that and moved onto the next room. Level Cut began planting magic torches throughout the ruin to illuminate the dark cavern, allowing the unicorns to extinguish their horns.
Twilight—for the most part—had kept quiet. She didn’t believe these stories either, but the thing about old tales is that there’s often some truth to them. She was now worrying about the implications of an ancient demon in Sweetie Belle’s mind, roaming the lands of Equestria. Twilight hadn’t even told the researchers that the ruin’s discovery also heralded the appearance of the ‘influence’. To hear an unbiased account suggesting as such only further entrenched her fears and worries. It also her solidified her resolve. Time really was of the essence and she was glad she hadn't waited any longer than necessary.
Certain Time had finished with the door only to become enraptured with this ‘green’ room as well. She squeed like a school filly, eagerly moving from one part of the room to the next. Twilight let them work and moved to the next room by herself, the important room in her opinion. While she enjoyed all the sciences, the science of magic was her primary focus and this room was the source of whatever magic being inhabited Sweetie Belle. She cast a warding spell on herself and a detection spell on the room. Carefully checking every crevice, she found that there was no magic in the room whatsoever. Disappointed and yet also relieved, she lowered the ward.
During this examination, she had a chance to look over the room in more detail than before. The room had a worn blue carpet and stainless steel walls like the previous room. Unlike that room, though, these walls were almost pristine, only thin streaks of rust had formed in certain places. The pedestal in the center of the room still drew the eye but now Twilight could see that the edges of the room was where the real prizes lay. On one side—on a broken desk—lay a strange metal box filled with sophisticated equipment. On the other side was a bookshelf with moldy ruined books. Finally, on the other side of the pedestal, a large cylindrical container stood upright.
It was at this point that the Stone Secret and Certain Time entered the room, leaving the other students and Level Cut to gather the preliminary data of the green room.
“Wow,” the grey earth stallion gasped, going wide-eyed at the room’s condition.
“You said it,” the pink mare agreed. “This room is in far better condition than the previous one. I would guess that this structure was meant to stand the test of time.” She looked between the two rooms. “The previous room must have acted like a buffer, protecting this one. That room had undergone one thousand-or-so years of exposure to the highly salinated underground environment which rusted the stainless steel into the green ‘chromium oxide’ rust. Based on my measurements, only the outside of the structure had preservation magic applied to it. It seems that whoever created this really knew their magic well and didn’t spend any more than absolutely necessary.
"The door to this room was thick but it didn’t have the preservation protection the vault did. It didn’t last for very long and eventually collapsed under its own weight. Still, to be this well preserved, the interior space here must have had all the air pumped out of it, creating a vacuum. Even if this room wasn’t exposed to salinated air like the previous one, any stagnant air in here would have at least broken-down the carpet and the books would not only be ruined but would likely be completely decomposed. That pressure likely accelerated the door’s collapse.”
“Well the door does look like it could withstand vacuum pressure,” Twilight replied, eyeing the fifteen centimeter thick metal door.
“Forget about that for a second and look at this!” Stone Secret yelled from over by the box of wires and equipment. “This box—while looking like a pile of disparate components—is actually one single device! These wires form a sophisticated web connecting them together. Additionally, these green and black boards appear have metal components on them that are organized in a complex way. They are even screwed together and bolted to the box. You weren’t lying Twilight. Whoever made this ruin was at least as sophisticated as us.”
The other two trotted over to him and were also stunned. Not only was it like he had said, but every surface of the boards and wires were also covered with symbols and lines that seemed to detail their function.
“They way you described it, I thought that this was like some sort of spell matrix.” Twilight began inspecting it with her magic. “If it is, then it is the most complex I’ve ever seen. Not only is the entire thing organized but the components are microscopic.” When she reached a fan at the center of the largest board she nearly fell over in shock at what she had uncovered. “T-t-that metal box underneath the fan.” She said pointing her hoof.
Certain Time scanned the fan and stood there, agape.
“Well?” Stone Secret asked. “Care to explain it to the non-unicorns in the room?”
“T-that-” Certain Time started before being cut-off by Twilight.
“There is a piece of metal underneath that fan; it’s incredible! Normally, when you try to scan smaller and smaller sections of something, eventually you reach a point where it just becomes a jumbled mess. This metal box, however, it …” Twilight tried to find the words. “It’s completely structured all the way down! It’s like the rest of these boards except it has dozens of layers and millions of individual metal components in each layer!”
“So it’s like a unique type of crystal?” Stone asked, being reminded of the uniformity of gems at the atomic level.
“No, it’s more than that. It’s too structured and the components are too complex. It has to be hoof made.”
“But creating something as small as that, it’s just-”
“Impossible?”
“Well, yes!” The professor took a step back. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Well,” Twilight interjected. “It is possible for a unicorn to see and manipulate objects on that scale if they had expert use of their horn. The creation of these incredibly small objects would be difficult. I would guess something like this would require at least 18,000 Thaum seconds and 78 years of constant focus to create.”
“Incredible,” Certain Time replied, stunned. The unit of measure for magic power—in this case the metric Thaum—was based on the peak energy output of a 1kg of alicorn per second. The average unicorn typically could only reach a peak of 0.48 Thaum and would be exhausted afterwards. One Thaum would be 9.62kW of power if the spell was focused entirely on telekinesis. Therefore, a Thaum second would be 9.62kJ. In this case, making this small and incredibly complex object purely through magical means would be equivalent to telekinetically firing a 1kg object at the speed of sound.
“Not only that,” Twilight continued, “but if I’m detecting this correctly, some of the layers are completely identical to each other and even interact with each other. If I had to guess, whoever made this also made it perfectly.”
“It’s clear that we will need to study this thoroughly,” Stone Secret said, trembling at the implications. “What we’re looking at here must be a magic artifact of terrifyingly power or at the very least something extremely important to their society. We shouldn’t look any deeper into this until we can get a proper lab set up. That way we won’t inadvertently damage it.” The unicorn and alicorn agreed.
Stone Secret went back into the other room and told a few students to come back with a metal crate. They spent the next several minutes taking every care to safely store it for shipment to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Despite the professor’s pride in his school, he recognized this would be too big for his own University. This required the best analysis lab in the nation.
Certain Time spent her time now taking samples. The strange fibers in the carpet were unlike any naturally occurring material she had seen. She would also need to take samples of everything for further non-magical testing and to validate the chronology she was creating of the ruin.
Twilight decided to study the strange metal cylindrical container. It was taller than she was—reaching from the floor to the ceiling of the 2.5m tall room—and was a meter in diameter. It seemed completely smooth until she noticed a curved panel that was perfectly flush with the rest of the container. It was locked but it was a simple mechanical lock. Using her levitation, she unlatched it from the inside and opened the panel. As she did so her eyes sparkled like her Cutie Mark at the sight.
A Preservation Spell Matrix.
It lay there, engraved into a platinum plate with gold to ensure it stood the test of time. The surrounding complex jumble of wires confused her, but she could clearly see a power source, a tiny purple gem barely five centimeters at its longest point. Both the matrix and the surface of the gem—where various gold wires connected them together—were scorched, rendering both almost completely inert. Twilight was surprised that the gem was so small. Normally it would take a gem the size of a pony’s hoof at least to power even a simple levitation field. She had expected a matrix of this size to have a gem the size of Twilight herself. Intrigued, Twilight tried to study the gem in more detail and she noticed something she had felt before. Trying to recall what it was, her eyes went wide and her mouth hung agape.
“T-this is … this is the Element of Magic!”
After another hour—around eight o’clock—their time was up and the group headed back to the surface for rest. As much as the team might have wanted to continue studying the ruin, Level Cut forced them to sleep. “I don’t want any tired ponies interacting with sensitive ancient artifacts in a low-light environment,” she said. Their value of the artifacts won over their excitement. While all the other ponies went to the camp near the mouth of the newly dug cave they had set up to review their findings, Twilight went back to the castle; her mind reeling from her discovery.
She hadn’t told anypony of course. ‘Even the possibility that the Element of Magic—one of the artifacts which preserved the harmony of Equestria—could be manufactured is too sensitive a subject to broach lightly.’ Twilight thought as she went into her library and opened The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. She didn’t read it, rather she continued to get lost in her thoughts. ‘While the Elements aren’t dangerous—they only attacked disharmony in their target—they are still powerful. The implications if they could be used as a source of magic was-’
She thought back to Sweetie Belle’s teleportation. ‘Could the Elements really be used like that, just a boost of magic power like the Alicorn Amulet? No. If it could, Celestia wouldn’t have needed our help to defeat Nightmare Moon. Also, it wouldn’t need six ponies in harmony to wield them; any unicorn could use them. Then why did it work for those fillies? Does it just work for any group of friends?’
Twilight got back up and wrote a letter to Princess Celestia, asking her about any research she had done on the Elements and the Tree of Harmony. Spike was sound asleep but Twilight had a way around that. Summoning a feather, she tickled the dragon’s nose, causing him to sneeze the message out of existence. Twilight didn’t like to do it like that but at least this way, Spike didn’t wake up.
She hadn’t expected her former mentor to respond with a letter for a while but only few minutes passed before the Spike belched in his sleep and a new letter arrived. The letter read:
Dear Twilight,
I am surprised that you had not requested such information sooner, although I am not one to talk. You see, I myself was satisfied that I knew all there was to know about our most powerful weapon. That was, until after my sister was sealed in the moon and the Elements turned to stone. It was only then that I realized how little my knowledge really was.
As you know now, the Elements come from the Tree of Harmony. When talking about one, you are talking about the other. Like the Tree, the Elements are living things. They have the power to choose when they want to be used and against what. Like a plant, however, they are not intelligent. The more time my researchers and I spent studying the Tree, the more we became convinced of that. It makes decisions and choices but it is reactionary, it doesn’t reason or think; it just is. That being said, it does communicate but on an emotional level.
When my sister and I took the Elements of Harmony from the Tree, it was a voluntary thing. The tree is the most powerful thing that currently exists in Equestria; stronger than even Discord. If it didn’t want us to take the Elements, even two alicorns the power of my sister and I would not be strong enough. The reason it let us was because we were of one will; completely harmonious in our goal to save the world from Discord. It recognized our intent—a weapon to stop Discord—and gave us the Elements.
We didn’t know it at the time, but the Tree becomes malleable when ponies in harmony are near. The tree and the ponies seem to merge. The ponies become calm, their minds focused without thought and their eyes shine with power and clarity. The tree also changes. It understands the thoughts and intentions of the ponies and gives them what they need. Like it would any other part of itself. It is this reason that the Tree has been kept secret for so long. It is not something to be trifled with.
There are rules to this, however. The ponies must be in harmony; their thoughts all must be focused on a common goal. That is why I could no longer use them. Without my sister, I assume the tree no longer found harmony within me and so the Elements became inert. My little ponies unfortunately were of little help. My goal to use them conflicted with my subjects’ goals to help or please me and we could never find a group of ponies which ponified the Elements nearly as well as my sister and I.
We were able to use the Tree though. Unlike the elements, the tree does not have limitations on the emotions of its users. The more ponies thought alike, the more powerful their magic became. I was worried that this might be used for evil, that a pony, griffon or other intelligent creature might come together in harmonious—yet ill—intent but that seemed very unlikely. Using forbidden magic to force ponies to one’s will doesn’t work. The tree doesn’t recognize any harmony because the ponies’ minds appear the same. Likewise, the ponies need to be of roughly equal motivation. If one pony is more driven or determined then the others, nothing happens. Nevertheless, this was yet another reason to hide what it is.
This was all the research my best mages and I could do before the Everfree became too dangerous to continue further.
I hope this satisfies your late night curiosity,
Celestia
Reading the last line, Twilight blushed a bit. ‘I hope she doesn’t think that I’m doing this just because I find it interesting,’ she thought. ‘Still, there is one thing that I’m not clear on.’ She brought out a fresh parchment and wrote:
Dear Celestia,
There is one thing that you wrote that I was unsure of. Why did the Elements turn to stone?
If it was because you were no longer harmonious with your sister, why didn’t they change when she turned into Nightmare Moon? I doubt you were very harmonious then. My friends and I had a similar situation. When Discord changed them, they became discordant with each other and me. In that situation the Elements did not change to stone either. Was there something you did differently when you sealed Nightmare Moon in the moon?
Also, what are its origins? Where did it come from? Could it have been created by somepony?
Your faithful princess,
Twilight Sparkle
The letter was sent and a few minutes later another one returned.
Dear Twilight,
You are right. My sister and I fought very little so I had always assumed that the moment we did was what resulted in the Elements changing form. I thought maybe the reaction was delayed but if that was the case, they would have certainly turned to stone before you sealed away Discord. If I had to guess at the cause in light of this new information, I would say it was because I used the Elements on my own. In hindsight, such a thing should not have even been possible. I don’t know what I did differently for it to work with me on my own but using them against their intended purpose must have been what cause them to petrify.
As for the origins of the Tree, I cannot say. The Tree was before even my time and if I had to guess, probably predates Equestria as well. It was an ancient legend even when my sister and I sought it out. That being said, I have my doubts that it was created by anypony. After all, why would the tree still be alive but its maker is not? Such magic that the Elements provide could easily ensure immortality for anypony who can use it. Additionally, the steps needed to use the Elements are far too unnecessarily complex and arbitrary for something artificial. If its creator was worried about who might use it, why did they not simply give it a passphrase to use? Emotions and harmony are finicky by nature.
The steps as they are now allow good and bad creatures of any race to use them, but only under specific circumstances. This would make it hard for even the creator to use it but would allow an enemy control if they knew its weaknesses. It’s doubtful that this is a necessary function. Most magic is more powerful the more focused the caster is, not how emotional they are. Still, it is not beyond belief. Whatever reasoning my faithful former student has to believe that the Tree was manufactured is certainly worth investigation.
I hope this information helps whatever research has such devoted attention,
Celestia
‘How could Celestia know that I was researching if the Tree could be manufactured just from a simple question?’ Twilight thought. ‘She must know me better then I know myself,’ she giggled.
Twilight still had a number of questions she wanted to ask the princess but it was late and the answers were probably the obvious ones. ‘The reason the Tree lost its power and needed the Elements back was likely because the Elements are a large part of the tree,’ she thought. ‘Princess Celestia likely doesn’t know any more about the crystal box, the castle, or the Elemental Power than I do. Also, I doubt that the princess knows about how the Elements were linked with the Cutie Mark swapping that occurred when I became a princess. After all, if she did know and didn’t tell me, that would mean that she was manipulating me and my friends for the benefit of Equestria!’
She laughed at the thought before her expression turned serious. 'I shouldn't even think about that,' she thought, shaking her head. 'She's the princess for Celestia's sake. If she wanted me to do something, she wouldn't need to lie to me for me to do it. Even logically speaking, Equestria would have far more to lose by the Element bearers not being able to control their elements than it would have to gain by me possibly becoming a princess.'
This information, though, wasn’t exactly what Twilight wanted to hear. She had always assumed that the Princesses or somepony they knew had created the Elements. If it always existed, then the theory that the metal cave is one million years old and that the gem inside really is a derivative of the Elements wasn’t too far fetched.
‘The problem is that the Elements of Harmony and the gem—while similar in structure—are completely different in function,’ Twilight thought. ‘If I had to guess, I would say that they had a common source. The gem seems to be obviously manufactured. If it wasn’t, we would have found more of them by now. But the Tree obviously isn’t.They must be related but how?’
She would need some way to test her theory and she had a good idea how.
The next morning, Twilight left a note to the archaeologists saying that she would be researching something on her own; which was true. She took the gem out of the Preservation Spell Matrix and went into the Everfree forest. A one-sided manticore battle later and she was facing the Tree of Harmony for the second time this week. Twilight mused at how easy the forest was to travel through for her now. Even before she became an alicorn, she could just levitate or teleport any creature away that troubled her. An Ursa Minor was no lightweight and she had sent one packing when she was just a unicorn. It really toned-down the fear that the Everfree used to convey. It was only ten o’clock—two hours after she had left the metal-cave camp—by the time she made it through the forest.
She took out the gem and stepped towards the tree. If she was right, the Tree would respond to it. If it was malleable to ponies, it only stood to reason it would be malleable to something closer to itself.
She was only a few feet from the tree when the gem began to glow. Suddenly a sharp pain filled her mind and she collapsed onto the ground.
‘Oh no! Did I make a mistake?!’ Twilight thought as she tried to think of a reason why this was happening. ‘Is the tree fighting back? Why didn’t I cast a protection spell-’
She then felt a familiar tingling feeling in her horn, a feeling she only felt one other time. ‘Wait. I’m picking up something. What is-’ She then got visibly angry and the gem’s light faded. “Rainbow Dash! If you hit that crest by ‘accident’ again I’ll- Oh, it’s Rarity.” She sighed, relieved it wasn’t the Tree nor her “good friend” causing her unnecessary grief. “They finally found the Crusaders. Now where … Los Pegasus?! Why for harmony’s sake are they all the way over there?! Well, I’m sure the others have everything under control. In the meantime, I have more studying to do.”
She smiled giddily. She was too focused to notice the location of the other crest all the way in Dodge Junction.
Cherry Jubilee, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie stood at the Dodge Junction train station, ready to leave for Ponyville. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had arrived from Appleloosa in the morning and had been helping Rainbow pay off their debt to Cherry Jubilee. They couldn’t do anything until the train to Ponyville arrived in the afternoon anyway.
“Rainbow Ah told ya fer the last time, Ah’m sorry fer not tellin’ ya about the whole mess,” Applejack sighed. “Ah thought that you were all square with Miss Jubilee before y'all left just like me.”
Rainbow grunted. “Yeah, and I’m still angry. You know how I am when I owe something to somepony. I can’t stand it!”
“And don’t think I’ve forgotten about it,” Cherry smiled. “I was worried for my business for a bit but the help you ponies have done for me should carry my business for the rest of the year! I know now how hard it must have been to choose paying off your debt to me over helping your friends but I promise you I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain. Nopony in town has seen or heard of any fillies wandering around on their own and I’ve even double-checked all the suspicious ponies in town just in case. I’ve also sent a letter or two to my family. I’m sure you know how close-knit us farm families are.” She winked at Applejack during that last sentence.
“And Ah appreciate it,” Applejack nodded. “Ta be honest, Ah was gettin’ a mite skittish, but all that Cherry Farm labour really calmed me down some. Ah thought about goin’ ta Manehattan and visitin’ the Oranges and searchin’ fer the fillies there but now Ah realize that it would be best ta just leave that ta the guards. At this point, we’re searchin’ all of Equestria for ‘em and it just ain’t likely we’d make much of a difference.”
“Besides,” Pinkie Pie smiled, “if somepony finds them and brings them back to Ponyville, we might not make it back to in time to immediately give them their ‘Welcome-Home’ party!”
Applejack shrugged but nodded her head all the same. “Not to mention that the Apple Farm can’t last without me forever. It won’t do no good if Apple Bloom comes back ta a farm full of rotten fruit.”
“Well what are we-” Rainbow began before she felt a tingling coming from her saddlebag. The rest of the group looked at her expectantly as she fumbled through the bag and brought out Twilight’s crest—which was now glowing.
“Rainbow Dash, did you play another prank on Twilight,” Pinkie Pie grinned conspiratorially and raised her eyebrows. Applejack also raised her eyebrows, although she wasn’t nearly as amused.
“Come on Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said as she nervously eyed Applejack, “don’t even joke about that, hehe. Rarity seems to have activated hers. She’s in … Los Pegasus. That sounds about right, that's where her train was headed.”
Applejack’s expression melted to one of worry. “Well, Ah know what Ah said about goin’ back ta Ponyville, but Ah reckon that this changes things. What time does the next train to Los Pegasus come in?”
“There are none,” Cherry Jubilee responded somberly. “There’s a train to Ponyville coming in an hour that you can use to transfer to Los Pegasus, but if I recall correctly, you'll be too late to Ponyville. That train leaves in only 30 minutes or so.”
“What if I do a Sonic Rainboom to Ponyville. Would I be able to make it on an earlier train?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Don’t look at me, dear, I wouldn’t-,” Cherry started.
“Assuming that the Sonic Rainboom does, in fact, breach the sound barrier at 1,225km/h—and the Ponyville Friendship Express to Los Pegasus makes it to the platform in approximately 31 minutes—then performing a Sonic Rainboom for a duration of 18 minutes and 46 seconds should allow you to reach Ponyville in time to properly recover 12.7 percent of your strength necessary for trotting. Given three minutes to reach the train station and purchase a ticket, you will make it in time for it’s departure, even assuming an error of roughly 12.4 percent.”
The three mares stared at Pinkie in stunned silence.
“What are you standing around for Dashie!” Pinkie Pie asserted, shaking the other three out of their confusion. “You won’t make it if you wait much longer!”
“R-right, better get a move on then,” Rainbow Dash jumped before swiftly flying into her signature explosive contrail over the north-western plateaus and towards Ponyville.
“How did you-” Applejack started.
“Pinkie Sense,” Pinkie interrupted.
“... right …”
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,036 users online
141,925 hits today, 2,156,967 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Having only read the description, I thought:
Sweetie found an iPad.
With internet.
Equestria is fucked.
One-Million year old tablet, and three One-Million year old servers with functional networking (although whether they can network to anything of value...). That is absurd levels of over-engineering, the only reasons I could see for having something last that long is
a.) It would be too difficult to create a replacement in the environment, or a replacement isn't even expected.
b.) You don't expect repairs to be common or needed
c.) The devices were created 'for the art' where the length of time they could last was part of the testament to the creator's skill rather than practicality.
d.) You want to mess with future civilizations for fun.
Although if the Tree of Harmony was manufactured by a technologically advanced civilization, that would explain where it got the Architectural knowledge to know how to design and build a castle.
This really puts the tablet in perspective.
My first thought about this was that these legends were retellings of the burial of nuclear waste - that stuff has to be buried for tens of thousands of years before it's safe to be around, and religion is probably one of only a few ways of keeping future primitive cultures out.
Hopefully there isn't any of that shit nearby. Although, given the million year age estimate, they should be safe... right?
Oooo... Sciency Magic and Magicy Science all wrapped up like a Christmas Gift three months early!
4986483
Considering the fact that their civilization no longer exists, it stands to reason that these databases were backups they kept specifically in case of "the worst-case scenario". Key safety systems and installations would need information and computing power to keep them running so hiding a few underground and over-engineering them to withstand anything would ensure that they could come out of "it" in one piece.
With their civilization's capabilities to use magic, it would have made protecting the servers from environmental factors much easier and more cost effective (since you only need to "turn on" the magic when you need it so it can be used for something else in the interim). Even having them slightly over-engineered in this case could mean the difference between not lasting a day and lasting one million years.
Ahhhhhh......Ancient and prehistoric, yet futuristic magitech, how I have missed thee!!!!!!!!
I have always loved those stories with both ancient and modern civilizations that were/are capable of combining science and technology with magic. Especially when they are (re)discovered by a less advanced civilization somewhere in the future. Reminds me prominently of Halo and Mass Effect lore among other franchise examples.
The best kind of science and magic
4986483
At the moment the implication seems to be that the Tree of Harmony is natural and the ancient civilization created their magictech by studying and reverse engineering its magic.
I wonder if pinkie got a tablet like thing like sweetie? or a certain stone activated "pinkie sense" she did mine rocks a lot.
4986562
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke
I agree with you. I love mixing science and magic because I don't really see them as being all that different. After all, magic is just science we don't understand yet
4986560
Thank you, I appreciate and enjoyed of your response/explanation, it makes much more sense now. My comment wasn't really meant to be serious, but if it got me to better understand this world and civilization you made then I think it was worth it.
4986580
Sorry if my last few sentences caused you issue, I was aware of the implications, but I just felt like it was a semi-entertaining possibility. It wasn't a serious statement
Words!!
4986371
No she wouldn't. I thought sarcastically.
I just wonder if things are going to be easy for Sweetie after she can talk about the tablet.
... Waaaaait a minute...
Can't help myself.
Don't apologize! I love info dumpy magic and science stuff!
However, this one paragraph kind of bugged me:
In the way it is currently written, I don't really like it.
You don't really understand, whether it is just an honest part of the story, a pun at all these "Princess Celestia is an evil chessmaster" Fanfics or some foreshadowing for a future chapter.
In either possibility it would kind of lack:
If it was honest, it would be very confusing. There are simply to many fics out there that characterize Celestia just like that.
If it was a pun at just these fics, you maybe ought to make it more obvious, otherwise it doesn't make you a- but bemused.
If it was foreshadowing, it would need more subtlety. If Twilight thinks in that obvious wording about how something like that would never happen, and it turns out just like that afterwards, that would be kind of bad storytelling, in my opinion.
Otherwise one of the best chapters so far. It answers a lot of questions and throws up even more.
I have to tell you, when we went into Science and then on into Numbers... I did a happy little dance in my head. It is so satisfying to see I'm not the only one who will spend hours crunching numbers for this sort of thing, sheerly for the delight of doing so. It's those little details that make all the difference!
either Pinkie's got a tablet too
or she's just a genius
4986591 my thoughts (almost) exactly!
4986485
Hate to tell ya, but there's a LOT more than just the tablet under the microscope now.
4986772
I'm not sure how that story correlates to this one, but I LOVED that fanfic.
...I now have the sudden idea that Pinkie has a Tablet like thing in her head that she's figured out how to use better, and justifies anything and everything it tells her with 'Pinkie Sense'. It would explain why she has such a perfect memory when she seems so scatterbrained...and explains why the Mirror Pool copies were so different, and the first copy couldn't even remember names properly...
...hmm, if that is the case, can the user of a Tablet reveal the nature of the Tablet to another user? If so, I can so see, when they've caught up to the fillies and Pinkie looks the situation over, her saying something like...
4986786
I decided to instead just point out that manipulation would be dumb while not resolving the fact that Celestia could have manipulated her and she wouldn't have been able to stop her. It might be foreshadowing or just a red herring (even I'm not sure yet). I like to throw those in to keep you thinking about a number of different possibilities while I set up the actual "truth". 
Yeah, I suppose my little joke there was a bit flat.
4986872 Hehe. Sorry, I was just referring to the old classic
"The world is a disc that rests upon the back of four elephants, standing upon a giant turtle."
"But what does that turtle stand on?"
"Oh, another larger turtle."
"But what does That turtle stand upon?"
"You're a clever fellow, but I'm afraid it's turtles all the way down."
4986500 I think it is more that they are retelling Humanity(Or whatever Precursor race it is) retreating underground to escape a nuclear Armageddon.
4986901
Yes, the addition definitely makes it better, because now it interacts with the story, instead of just being said and immediately dismissed. Just one small issue?:
Notice any
thing-thoughts?4987307
Yeah, that's a bit muddled. How about this:
i59.tinypic.com/fn7nua.png
Congrats!
Also I love how far this story has come since I read chapter 4. You're doing great work here, and I'm loving Sweetie's interaction with her tablet tech.
...Does Pinkie have a tablet too?
Yay world building.Thats a +1 in my books.
awesome update!
At first I thought that this would just be some zany shenanigans involving Sweetie Belle and an iPad.
You have no idea how happy I am to be so wrong.
4988051 Amen.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
Hmm you used "ponified" for "personified" but then used "in person" earlier in the chapter! "in pony", please!
Interesting, lots of world building going on. Also they found a computer! Hooray. Seems odd to mix "modern" PCs with futuristic gem-tech or whatever... we don't really have any idea what PCs of the future will look like, there's always crazy ideas that pop up. PCs that use light instead of electricity for internal data transmission, for example.
4988364
:
Thanks for noticing that. I probably unconsciously didn't use "in pony" becuase that sounds really weird
that's a bit better.
Well the PC wasn't using the gem tech. What they were describing as being "organized at the atomic level" was a CPU. The millions of transistors were so small that they were mere atoms in size.
The wiring around the preservation spell matrix was a separate thing altogether. Multiple embedded microprocessors which managed the feedback control system which managed the matrix. Of course, since ponies don't have integrated circuits, I couldn't just say all that.
Old Woman. You cant fool me young man, its turtles all the way down.
Old Man. You daft Biddy. Turtles SWIM.
Thank you very much Sir Terry Pratchett.
As for magitech devices that are complexity formed all the way down that last insane amounts o time. Um.. Ill get the coffee. My notes are not hidden in the barn in a form designed to survive being converted to a coal field then metamorphosed by lava intrusion in the middle of a stable geological plate.
4988441 Something like - Nanotechnology?
4988441
I figured out most of that, I meant that we have PCs like what was described NOW, while humans using gem tech and magic is futuristic in nature... so it's likely PC will have changed in the future as well.
No, higher level thinking! My only weakness!
4987434
I'm going on the theory that Pinkie Pie is:
A) Something built by the Precursors that survived to the present day and was possibly found and activated by her family
B) Descended from something like that and had her super genes activated
C) An Eldritch Abomination from beyond space and time
or
D) A larval Draconequus.
4989252 ...or, and stay with me on this, an earth pony. A very gifted earth pony, with ninja skills.
4989355
Well, thats just silly and you should feel silly for even thinking it. Now go put on the Silly cap and sit in the silly corner.
Am I the only one who noticed that Certain Time seemed to switch genders?
Is that just confusing text? Or is it an actual typo?
And with one final motion Sweetie Belle grinned devilishly at the console of the giant machine before her now responsive to her hoofstrokes.
Its electronic voice was as always neutral and without emotion. "Administrative password accepted. Manual override completed. Removal of knowledge clause denied."
Her jaw dropped. "What?! Why??"
"It would unleash the Pink One"
4990138 i think 'her' refers to twilight.
Pinkie Pie has a tablet. It all makes sense now. It also explains her propensity to talk to imaginary things occasionally...