Forerunners, who were they? And where did they go? These are the questions Twilight Sparkle is trying to answer.
What happens when an eccentric unicorn makes the discovery of a lifetime, and causes everyone to question what is true? What if everything you thought was a just story, was in fact history?
Join Twilight as she delves into the history of the world she calls home and questions everything she thought she knew.
AN: Rated teen for mild gore later on. Chapters will be updated and edited when I have the time. Inspired by; HALO, Mass Effect, the Elder Scrolls series, Warframe, sleep deprivation, Mountain Dew and ADHD
"You cant win this, Discord! the Elements will stop you!" Yelled Celestia, leaning on a fallen pillar in the ruins of the once proud throne room. The evidence of the battle could be seen all over. Dozens of guards scattered on the floor, either unconscious or dead. Marble pillars crumbling and scorched by intense heat. Princess Luna, the younger of the two alicorn sisters, lay in the rubble of a stone pillar. Unmoving aside from the slow rise and fall of her breathing.
"Oh Tia, I've already wo- oh. Well, that didn't take as long as I expected." he said as he glanced at a larger hole in the wall. "What are you talking about Discord? Answer me!" "It seems that your student and her friends managed to find the Elements. Currently, they are about to turn me to stone." Shaking his head with a sigh he continued "I forget, that you two don't understand what its like to be in two places at once. Long lived as you are, you are not gods."
As the draconequus began to fade, He quickly reached out to the eldest princess and pressed a claw to her head, flooding her mind with images. "Know this princess, the myths are true. They will return. And every death will be on your hooves." After several moments, Celestia found the will to move again. Could he be right? Are the legends true? Discord was the oldest creature in existence, it was possible that he was there at the beginning. Taking notice of the devastation around her, Celestia quickly began attending to the wounded, hoping that she could save them all. Despite her best attempts to drown it out, his words stayed with her. After everything she had worked for over the past several thousand years, she had failed them all.
__________________________________>><<_____________________________________ Hundreds of miles away, deep within a forgotten jungle, a single structure stood. Trees grew around it, vines covering the exterior sealing the entrances. Dirt piled up along all sides. It was as if the jungle itself desperately wanted the place to be forgotten, to not let any more suffer the horrors found within. Ignoring these subtle messages from nature, a single pegasus mare continued onward through the thick brush.
Ignoring the pain from the countless minor injuries that she had collected on her journey, she continued to hack away at the undergrowth. It was slow work, but if her research was correct, her goal was not to far away, And Celestia be damned if she gave up this close. It took several more hours, but she finally made it. Sure, to an untrained eye it would seem like a pile of dirt and some oddly colored rocks jutting behind the treeline. But to her, the lines were too strait. The dirt piled up was on the wrong side of the hill to be natural. And the rocks were not from the surrounding area. They almost looked artificial.
Slowly walking around the small grove, she took it all in. This had to be it. A city so ancient, it's very name had been lost to time. Quickly marking down the location on her map, she retrieved a few samples of the strange rocks and flew off to the north. She had to get to the college as fast as possible. Hopefully this would be enough to convince her colleagues to give her the funding for an excavation crew. Sure she botched the last trek into the jungle, but how could she have known that she was being followed by a crazed fan. Despite everything tuning out alright in the end, she still left the temple empty-hoofed.
After two days of nearly nonstop flying, she had made it back to Canterlot. Rushing over to the college, she burst through the doors and galloped straight to the archmage's office. Not bothering to knock, she let herself in only to be greeted by an empty room. "great, the one time I need her to be here, shes gone. Typical. Oh well, Velvet won't mind if I crash on her couch." she thought to herself as she began to relax on the furniture. "Hey! this is a restricted area miss, what the buck are you doing in here?" Yelled a guard from the doorway. " Oh buck me" she muttered as she lost consciousness.
"Are you ready spike?" Twilight calls out as she sits down on the couch.
"Yep," Spike says, pulling out a quill and some paper. " ready when you are."
" Alright. Now where did I put those note- ah, here they are." Twilight says as she uses her magic to levitate the large pile of cards closer.
"E-hem, Forerunners; " twilight begins " the earliest document - according to the rate of magical decay - makes reference to these beings is the personal journal of Star Rose,m The grandfoal of Chancellor Pudding-head. Who lived from 925-889 PD (Pre-discord) . " this journal describes tall bipedal beings that came from the sky in order to end the conflict now known as The Unification War."
"Whoa, slow down Twilight. " Spike says trying to keep up.
"hmm? Oh sorry Spike. I guess I'm just a little nervous about being late with this report."
" It's okay. At least your not freaking out like last time " Spike replies, causing the bookish unicorn to blush.
"Anyway, are you ready to continue?"
"Mhmm" spike says.
Nodding towards her assistant , Twilight continues to dictate the report.
" The second credible sighting of the Forerunners was written by none other than Starswirl the Bearded During the Discordant War . What follows is an excerpt from His last journal, written near the end of the war.
" Side by side they stood. Tall as a minotaur and twice as strong. Bearing impenetrable armor and weapons of which there is no like, they danced among the enemies ranks slaying them before they knew of their own doom. Try as they might, the armies of Discord could not touch our heroes. cutting and slashing they slew hundreds. Summoning the power of the sun itself, the one simply known as 'Star' was able to defeat the dragons known as Fafnir, and Nidhogg. Discord's personal guards. Truly these beings have no equal. Let us be careful not to invoke their wrath. Such a fate would be worse than death itself."
"After the final battle with Discord's army the two forerunners left, but not before leaving a message. " When in the darkest hour and and all is lost, search the waste" . Disappearing into the sky - 'in a flash of fire and smoke' - according to some accounts. With no further contact, these creatures slipped into legend and from legend to myth. Fueling nightmares with tales of the monsters who could not be killed.
"Recently, a team of archeologists set out into the Western Badlands in hopes to discover much of the changeling's lost history. What they found however, was something nopony expected. Located 43 miles South of Appleloosa, a large complex was unearthed. What makes this facility so intriguing is that this facility is made up of a metal not known of in Equestria . The reports describe the metal to be not only impenetrable, but also resistant to magic. Thus not allowing unicorns to open the doors or teleport behind them. The scientists in the field are reluctant to label this as forerunner architecture, however a large sign made out of the the same metal has been translated. The inscription has yet to be translated due to being written in a language that is unused by any civilization."
" It's getting late Twilight, " spike says setting the quill down " maybe we should call it a night. You don't want to miss the train in the morning right?"
" Yes, I guess you're right. But I'm just so excited. I mean, do you think I'm ready for something like this? Princess Celestia has asked me to oversee the rest of the excavation! This is a huge responsibility, I've never done anything like this before." Twilight says as she walks to and climbs into her bed.
"Calm down Twi, you'll do fine. And besides, the princess wouldn't ask you to do something if she didn't think you could handle it." Spike says reassuringly.
"I guess your right. After all, whats the worst that can happen?" She says as she drifts off to sleep.
One hundred miles away, two hooded figures stood on a cliff-side overlooking the dig site.The cold night wind chilling them to the bone as they watch the ponies below. Soon the camp will be silent, save for the few guards on patrol.
"When are we going to attack?" whispered the taller one. " I'm hungry and watching all these fat ponies isn't helping anything."
"Quiet wyrm," the short one hissed. "know your place. We need to keep these ponies alive so they can open the doors. our master says what lies behind those doors are artifacts of immense power. Knowledge beyond your wildest imagination. If the brotherhood has any hope of surviving, its being held within those walls."
" Very well Nightshade, but as soon as those door ope- "
"NO!" Nightshade says sternly. " You know the plan. You will wait until I take the place of a guard, at which point you will... do what you do best while I secure the facility. Our master is counting on us, we cannot fail. Now, this is what you must do..."
Once finished giving instructions to the drake Nightshade sent him off, further into the desert. Continuing to watch the guards as they paced around the camp Nightshade wrote down every detail about every soldier below. Whether they were unicorn, pegasus, what they ate, who they talked to. Looking for anything to help him pull off this ruse. Finally settling on a unicorn who kept falling asleep at his post.
Perfect he thought.
This unicorn was obviously weak willed, and thus weak minded. Nopony gave him a second glance, nopony even talked to him. The perfect target.
Soon all shall bow to this worlds one true king, or they will burn ! thought Nightshade, eyes glowing red in the moonlight. Taking the form of a white unicorn guard in armor in a flash of emerald light.
"Five more minutes mom..." Twilight moans half asleep.
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
"Hmm wha?Ugh who could that be? " Twilight mutters as she crawls out of her bed.
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
Walking down the stairs Twilight sighs to herself.
"Ugh I'm coming I'm coming! Keep your horseshoes on!" Says Twilight as she turns the light on in the foyer.
Opening the door she is immediately knocked onto her back by a blur of blue fur.
"Ohh my head" Twilight groans, still disorientated from the fall.
"Heh , oops. Sorry about that " Rainbow Dash says as she helps Twilight back to her hooves.
Looking at her friend, the damaged door and all the books that now lay on the floor, Eyes twitching slightly Twilight takes a breath and slowly lets it out.
"Rainbow," she begins " please explain to me why you thought it was necessary to bang on my door for the past several minutes and then attempt to break it down? Which I may add, you almost did. Don't you know what time it is?"
"Because I have something really important to tell you! Okay, do you remember that trip you invited me to go on with you a few days ago?"
"Yes the one I was resting up for, until you decided to stop by. What about it?"
"Well," Rainbow begins "my boss finally came around and told me I could take the trip!"
" Really? just like that?" Twilight deadpanned. "Don't they need you here to manage the weather team? And uh, why are you here so early? Its, five in the morning? "
" Nah, Cloud kicker and Blossomforth can handle it. And I kinda maybe went and banged on Silent Storms door, and then possibly threatened to use my power as an element of harmony to release Nightmare Moon and Discord if he didnt let me go.
" But on the bright side, I got more vacation time and a nice pay raise from it" Rainbow says grinning from ear to ear.
Twilight stood there in shock. Her jaw nearly touching the floor until Rainbow dash shut it.
" So... can I still go?" Rainbow dash asks as her friend comes out of her stupor.
" Fine, you can still go. But you are going to have to pay for your own ticket. And rainbow, clean up your mess." Twilight says as she walks back up the stairs.
"Okay - wait, you're not going to help me?" rainbow asks.
"Nope, you made the mess. You can clean it up." Twilight says with a shit eating grin " I'm going back to bed for a bit, Wake me up when your done."
Rainbow Dash watches as Twilight walks away.
looking around the room Rainbow sees all the books on the floor and wonder how Twilight expects her to clean it all up. That was egg head stuff after all. Twilight should be doing it, she practically lives for that sort of thing.
*sigh* " well I guess I better get started" Rainbow Dash says picking up a book i her mouth and setting it on a shelf.
Surprisingly it only took about two hours to put all the books away. Rainbow had to admit some of the books looked rather interesting, even if they were not part of the Daring Doo series. Finally done she walks up to Twilight's room to wake her up. Walking into the room Rainbow Dash sees that Twilight is sill asleep. And a perfect target for a prank. Flying as quietly as possible Rainbow Dash zips off to the kitchen and returns with a pie. As she leans in close to Twilight's head she holds up the pie.
" Hey Twilight, your books are overdue!" Rainbow dash yells.
" Ah!" Twilight screams as she sits up. splat!
" Bwahahaha! Oh that was priceless!" Rainbow dash laughed as the pie filling dripped off of Twilight's face.
" Yeah, almost as priceless as those photos of Soarin you have?" Twilight quipped with a smirk.
*POMF* "I uh, don't know what you're talking about. Eh heh..." Says Rainbow dash blushing
"Of course you don't. " Twilight said laughing at her friends joke backfiring.
Smiling contently Twilight went to the bathroom to wash off the pie. Looking over her shoulder at RD still trying to relax her wings she let out a little giggle. Within the hour they were both packed and heading out the door to the train station.
"Okay spike, you have the library while im gone, I expect it to still be here when I get back too" says Twilight as she steps out the door.
"Hey, come on twilight, have I ever let you down? Okay actually, don't answer that!" He says slightly flustered.
" Its okay spike, I will be back in a few weeks."
Smiling at the baby dragon Twilight and Rainbow Dash finish their goodbyes and head off to the train station. With neither of them able to ignore the excitement of the adventure to come, the two mares settled on day dreaming about what might happen during this trip. Arriving at the train station Twilight proceeded on board, looking back at her friend.
" Go ahead and get your ticket, I'll save us a - oomph. Oh sorry about that sir" she says as she bumps into a griffon that was getting off the train.
" Hmmph you really should watch where you are going." he says while walking away.
" Well that was rude. " twilight thought while walking down the isle to her and RD's car.
"Hey twilight," rainbow dash says as she settle into a chair " did you see that griffon that just got off?"
"Yeah, i ran into him. I wonder why a griffon would come way out here tho? I don't know, I-"
"Well I'll leave that kind of thinking to you. Its a long ride and I plan on catching a few "z's." says Rainbow Dash as she lays down.
"That's actually a good idea *yawn* I think we both can use some rest. Especially since somepony decided to break down my door at five AM. "
"Phew, that was close-"said the griffon standing on the train station platform " now which way to the library? Ah, excuse me miss," he asks walking up to a cream colored earth pony with a blue and pink mane " could you by any chance tell me how to get to the Golden Oaks Library?"
" Um sure, you just take that road strait into town. The library is the giant tree near the town center. You cant miss it." The mare says, trying to stay calm in the presence of the predator.
" Thank you, you have a pleasant day now. " says the griffon, smiling warmly.
" Um, thank you. And you too." she replies.
" now time to get to work..." he whispers so himself as he walks into town.
Walking up to the library door he quickly looks around to make sure no-one is close enough to see or hear anything. Knocking on the door he waits patiently until a little purple dragon opens the door.
"Hey, you know this is a library right? You don't have to knock."
Walking in behind the dragon he locks the door.
" Uh. why did you lock the door?" spike asks watching the griffon.
" Because my little friend, you are in danger." the griffon replies while looking out the window before shutting the curtains. Turning around he walks towards spike, who tries to back away only to hit a book shelf.
" In danger from wha-" *whack*
Spikes body falls limp to the floor. Scooping the baby dragon into a burlap sack, the griffon quickly unlocks the door to the balcony upstairs and flies off .Hastily putting as much distance between the town and himself as possible. 'If only they knew...' he thought as he flew. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
" Wake up Rainbow Dash, were almost there!" twilight said, tapping her friends shoulder.
" *yawn!* well its about time, I was about ready to fly the rest of the way" Rainbow says as she stretches and sits up.
Looking out the window, the two mares watched as the town came into view. The rolling hills of sand giving way to the wooden building of the settlement known as Appleloosa. As the train pulled into the station, the girls could see dozens of guards. A lot more than there was the last time they visited. Some were patrolling the streets, some seemed to have actual posts and stood there, eyes constantly moving, paying attention to every detail.
"Wow, that's a lot of guards. I wonder why there's so many?" asks Rainbow Dash
" I'm not sure, Applejack said Braeburn would be waiting for us in town. Why dont we go find him, maybe he knows?"
Stepping out onto the platform the two mares were assaulted by a sudden wall of hot air. Now being in the middle of the San Palomino dessert, one would expect it to be hot. But 'hot' did not quite cover the dry oppressive heat that permeated everything within the region, and it was only eleven in the morning at that! Within moments of leaving the train station both were drenched in sweat as they walked through the town towards Braeburn's farm. Halfway through the town they heard a voice call out to them. Turning around Rainbow dash and Twilight noticed a buffalo cow running after them.
"Hey, wait up for me!" she yelled
"Little strong heart is that you?" Twilight asked as the cow got closer.
"Yes, it is good to see you two again. Braeburn told me you two would be coming soon and asked if I would watch for you." said Little Strong Heart. Grinning as she walked up to the two ponies.
" Its good to see you too Strong Heart!" Twilight said as she and Rainbow dash hugged her.
" Yeah, it is," said Rainbow Dash " so Braeburn asked you to watch out for us?"
" Yes, he is waiting at the saloon, why don't we walk together?" Says Strong Heart
Walking further into the town they came to the saloon, known as The Salt Lick. Walking up to the doors they could feel the cool are coming from inside. Upon entering the group was soon flagged down by a yellow stallion wearing a brown vest and hat who was sitting at a back table.
"Howdy miss Sparkle, miss Dash, miss Strong Heart " Breaburn said as they sat down.
"Hey Breaburn, its great to see you." Rainbow says
"Indeed, its always good to see old friends again" twilight said with a warm smile
" Well I'll cut to the chase," Braeburn begins " cousin Applejack wrote me saying you two are heading out into the desert to a dig site or something, but could use a little help getting out there-"
Twilight nods at this. While the daytime temperatures would be well over one hundred degrees, the nights would fall bellow zero. And with the excavation being so far it would take a couple of days to reach it by hoof, not an ideal prospect to anybody.
"So, I talked to a few friend of mine and called in a favor. They have agreed to fly the two of you out to where y'all need to go."
"Really? Wow that's really generous of you. When will they be ready to leave?" asks Twilight perking up from not having to walk all the way.
"Yeah, thanks Braeburn!" Rainbow Dash said
"Haha, I figured you would like that idea better than hiking through the desert. And those two are ready whenever you are. But you've had a long ride, why don't y'all eat something and cool off for a spell. Me and Little strong heart have a few things we need to talk about, we will bring your escorts on the way back. We'll be back in a bit- Hey final draft, put whatever these two order on my tab please."
Two hours later Braeburn returned with two pegasi.After a short introduction the four ponies where loaded up and in the air heading deeper into the desert.
Thus far there have only been a few reports of single changelings crawling out of the desert only to be arrested by local patrols.All near death when found, none survived more than a few days after being taken into custody due to malnourishment. As it turned, out the large number of guards were stationed at the town soon after the invasion of Canterlot. Neither princess Celestia nor Luna wanted to take any chances and allow the changelings to try again. After three hours of flying the group reached the camp, located in a shallow canyon. Landing outside of the fenced area they were quickly surrounded by several guards.
"Halt ! This is a restricted area, state your business here." one of the guards bellowed
" Ehem, well you see I'm Twilight Sparkle and thats Rainbow Dash. And princess Celestia sent us here to he-" she said as a bolt of green magic struck all four in the group.
"There clean sir!" said one of the guards.
"What in the hay was that?" yelled Rainbow Dash
"That, was to see if you really were who you claimed to be. You have my apologies but you must admit that changelings are tricky little bastards." Said a different guard as he stepped forward. "I am commander Steel Shod. And yes, the princesses informed us that you would be arriving soon. you two stallions, get some water and I expect you to leave promptly."
" Yes sir, thanks." the both say as they walk off with a guard escort into the camp.
" Corporal!"
"Yes sir?" the corporal said taking a step foreword.
"Go find the professor and send her to my office while I show these two around the camp ."
" Yes sir!" the corporal said as he trotted off.
" So, if you will follow me." the commander said as he walked towards the camp.
Picking up their saddle bags they fallowed Steel Shod through the camp. Pointing out the purpose of different tents and crude buildings as they passed. the two mares were quite impressed with the camp actually, it was like a small town. After the brief tour, the group stopped at one of the tents near the science lab.
" And this will be your home during your stay. Go ahead and drop off your bags, then we'll go meet with the professor."
Fifteen minutes later the three were sitting in the Commander's office, still waiting on the professor. Whoever it was.
* * * "Ugh, we've been waiting here forever!" rainbow dash began "If this professor doesn't hurry up I'll-"
" Okay commander, what is it? I do have a little project I'm working on you know?" said a mint green unicorn as she walked through the door.
"Calm down miss heartstrings, I just called you in here so you can meet the new help that the princesses sent."
Turning around and finally taking notice of the other two ponies sitting in the tent Lyra smiled warmly.
" Hey girls, long time no see.." she said
" Hey Lyra, what are you doing here? "
" Oh come on Twilight, you know that I majored in archeology back in college. I'm here to help with cataloging anything that we dig up and-"
" Yes miss Heartstrings, that's all well and good " the commander started " but where is the professor? "
Turning to face Steel Shod, Lyra simply shrugged. " Shes down in the pit, she thinks she found a way in and didn't want to be disturbed"
"Hmm, sounds like her. Alright then, why don't you take these two down to see the professor. Princess Celestia personally sent them to help with the excavation."
" Sure thing, we can use all the help we can get. Come on, we don't want to keep the professor waiting" Lyra said as she exited the tent quickly followed by the two other mares.
* * * * *
Nightshade had been watching the Unicorn from the safety of the cliff for the past three days. 'Tonight, yes tonight is when we will strike ' he thought to himself as he stood up and cast a quick illusion spell. Quietly he made his way down the back of the cliff. Smiling to himself as he walked into the camp passing guard after guard. Eyes constantly shifting, taking in every detail as he walked up to "his" tent. Pushing the flap aside, Nightshade calmly stepped inside to find his target sleeping in his cot.
"Excuse me, but I believe you are in my tent" Nightshade said as he tapped on the sleeping guard.
" Wha- what the hay! Who are you?" yelled the guard as he looked at the copy of himself
" Oh, I'm nobody." with that Nightshade quickly charged a spell, horn glowing a sickly green, and fired upon the guard.
Wide eyed the guard tried to get up and defend himself, but was to late. "Hel-" he yelled as the spell took effect and silenced him, Turning him into nothing but a pile of ash.
* * * * * *
After walking to the other side of the camp, the trio came to a small split rail fence running along the edge of the dig site. " Welcome to the pit girls" Lyra said with a wave of her hoof. ' Pit' was an understatement. The chasm was easily 50 meters deep and 100 meters wide. And in the very center was a gray structure approximately 14 meters wide and 8 meters high.
"whoa..." was all that the two could say, in awe of what lay before them. " Haha, yeah it is kind of impressive isn't it?" asked Lyra who started to walk down the series of scaffolds that circled the walls. As Twilight turned to follow, she couldn't help but have an uneasy feeling creep up on her. " Hey Lyra, whats that noise?" "Were not sure," Lyra looked up, they were only halfway down the ramp "But whatever it is, its coming from inside. "... well we better not keep the boss-mare waiting, c-mon."
