//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: To Soften Stone // by Jmaster //------------------------------// Author's note: Well, I've had this story planned out in my head for months now. When I saw August was National Pony Writing Month, I finally got off my butt and got this thing started! I haven't written anything that isn't a paper for a class for years, so I'm sorry if this is terrible. Still, I'm gonna write it now, and it many not be 50,000 words for the NaPoWriMo, but I have to start somewhere! Anyways, I hope you enjoy my first fanfic ever, and I hope I can get it updated pretty quickly. On another note, I tagged it sad, but it shouldn't be anything too terribly depressing. There is no 'melancholy' tag, so we're going with this. Anyways, Enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finding the book she was looking for, Twilight trotted her way over to her favorite reading table. She glared at the front door for a moment, almost daring it to disturb her again. That door had been nothing but trouble this morning. First it was Ditzy Doo with part of her mail, then Rarity to steal Spike for some errand of some sort, then Ditzy again with a box clearly labeled “Fluttershy”, and then Pinkie Pie came over and did…something. She had come over, started singing something about a party and partway through her song gasped and ran away, mentioning something missing. When the offending door had nothing to say for itself, she grinned and sat down, eager to start taking notes without any more interruptions. Just as the quill barely graced the parchment, a loud knock broke her freshly-made concentration. It seemed the universe was determined for her not to get any work done today. She looked down at her paper, covered in one large ink stain and two halves of a now-snapped quill. She sighed as the sound came again; obviously somepony very impatient was waiting at her door. “Just a minute!” she called out, pausing to stretch her stiff neck before making her way to the door. It was a shame Spike wasn’t here, maybe he could deal with this and she could get something useful done. The handle on the door glowed softly for a moment then turned, revealing a waiting Rainbow Dash outside. “Hey Twilight, Ditzy gave me this pile of books to give to you. She said something about an order from Canterlot, and not wanting to deliver here a third time or something. Anyways, what’cha up to?” Twilight gladly took the stack her friend was carrying, and let her in before looking over the latest additions to her growing library. “Hey Dash, thanks for bringing these over! Yes, I ordered a few books from the Royal Library; they're finally here! The World in Motion: A guide to Earthquakes and Volcanoes and their Formation, Geology and You, and The Richter Scale: A Brief Reference Guide. The mountain to the north was started rumbling a few days ago, and I thought it would be good to brush up on my geology. I was going to head over and set up some instruments later today, want to come?” A large stack of books was well worth another interruption to her morning; it would take a few days to work through all these texts. “Huh. That sounds…really boring. No offence Twi, but looking a really big rock doesn’t sound like my idea of fun. What’s up with those other books? I was looking at them on the way over, and all it says for an author is R.F. What kinda name is that?” Just mentioning those two letters got a pair of purple ears perked up. “R.F.? Oh they finally came! I’ve been waiting for those for weeks now! I can’t wait to see what’s in those! They’re different treatises on magic theory that the university published recently. And the best part is nopony knows who wrote them! Somepony left all the manuscripts at one of my professor’s doors, and the only signature on them was those two letters!” Twilight picked up one of the books and started paging through eagerly. “Ooo, Practical Applications of Ley Lines: A Theory on more Efficient Transport of Goods though Magical Energy, this is great! I can’t wait to see what else is in here!” “Uh huh.” While reading may not be as much of an egghead pursuit as she used to think it was, this was way too much for Dash. “So whoever wrote these just dropped off a bunch of papers and left them there? Sounds kinda weird to me. Who takes the time to write all this and just leaves it at a door?” “That’s just it, nopony knows! There have been tons of stories about who it could be. A professor who wants to hide his name about theories he isn’t sure about, a griffon who wants her work in an Equestrian archive without revealing who she is, and somepony even suggested that R.F. is actually Princess Luna in disguise, and that these ideas were lost knowledge from hundreds of years ago! The first edition I read was fantastic, and there was this wonderful piece about drawing spell circles. You see, spell circles are great for casting larger more complicated spells, but they require careful planning and precision. There was a great theory on how multiple animate spells could be used to quickly create more complex circles as long as you make sure that…” Twilight kept going on, but Dash simply quit listening. She wandered her way past the window, but stopped for a moment. What was that weird noise she heard? “Hey Twilight, sorry to cut you short, but do you hear that? Sounds like something big is moving.” Both of them leaned over, ears cocked to better catch the rumbling off in the distance. As Twilight made her way toward the spyglass she had set up facing the peak, the now-stronger rumbling made its way towards them. Twilight frowned as she tried to get a clear view of what was happening, but the instrument refused to focus on one location for some reason, almost as if the whole thing was shaking. She peered over to inspect the dials on it, but found them shaking back and forth too. As she leaned in to observe them more carefully a huge shudder hit the treehouse, sending both telescope and unicorn crashing to the ground. “Rainbow! I think there’s an earthquake happening!” “You think there’s an earthquake?!?” was all Dash managed to spurt out while weaving between falling books and trying to make her way across the room. Scooping her friend across her back, she flew her way back and outside the shuddering tree house. Helping her disheveled friend down she glanced her way toward the offending rock pile that started all this, mouth agape. “Uh, Twi, I don’t think there’s just an earthquake; that looks like a volcano!” “What? That’s impossible! Dragon’s Rest isn’t active! The only smoke coming from it in the last hundred years was from an actual dragon! Resting! That’s why the mountain’s called Dragon’s Rest!” “ Oh yeah? Well then what the hay is that?” she barked, jabbing a hoof out towards the now-forming lava flows that could be seen near the top. “Well I’m sure it’s nothing. See? All that’s there is just a big…Oh my Celestia! It is a volcano! Okay, don’t panic. I’m going to find Mayor Mare and make sure everypony in town is safe. Rainbow, can you fly over there? Make sure there’s no lava headed towards the town. Don’t fly too close to it, just look from a distance. Be safe!” With a nod, Dash took off towards the mountain. She turned towards town center with a few rushed glances at the multicolored contrail blazing its way across the sky. Fast as she was, it still took a few minutes to get near the base of the mountain. By this point, over half the surface of it was covered in angry lava that threatened to consume anything that got too near. The few trees that dared grow on its slopes seemed to regret that decision as one touch from the lava set their branches aflame. An ominous cloud formed above the peak, forcing her to fly close the ground. She only had a few minutes before the ash would be raining down onto her. “Hey!” She paused. Was that really a pony’s voice she just heard? Who would be dumb enough to be out here? Well, other than her, but she was just checking it out for a little bit. “Down here! Help!” That was definitely a pony. Glancing about, she finally found where the noise was coming from. Stranded on a tall rock completely surrounded by lava stood a frantically waving unicorn. “Ha Ha, somepony came out here! As fun as it is being stranded out here then burned to death, can you get me out of here?” Dash smiled a bit. While she didn’t seek out trouble as much as before she would still help anypony who needed saving. “Never fear, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is here!” she exclaimed, taking time to pose. With a flap, she dove down under him and plopped him down onto her back in one fluid motion. With a big flap, she took off away from the mountain. “Lucky for you I came out here when I did! Where would you be if I wasn’t here to save your sorry flank?” “Whoa-Whaaaa!” was all the he managed. Most ponies aren’t used to being lifted off the ground and sped away. Shifting a bit, he managed to glance down at the rushing ground below him. “Okay…okay. And…we’re flying. Not on the ground. In the air. And not on the ground.” “Ow Ow OW, Not so tight! You’re squeezing my neck!” He managed to breathe a bit, and loosened his grip on his savior’s neck. Rainbow continued, “You’re fine now, and I’m gonna bring you back to town. Now what the hay were you doing out there?” “I thought that mountain might be active, but it shouldn’t have erupted today! All the measurements I took pointed to this not happening for a few weeks at the earliest! Hang on a sec, we’re going south! You said we were going to a city, and we’re going south!” “Uh, yeah Ponyville is this way. You’re not from around here, are you? Anyway, don’t worry; we’ll be there in a minute. You’re riding on Equestria’s fastest flyer, don’t you know?” “That’s bad! Really bad! The main lava flow is coming down the south side of the mountain. We have to get over there!” “The lava’s headed right for Ponyville? Hang on buddy. I don’t know who you are, but you’re in for a fast ride!” With a gulp he gripped on a little tighter (but not too tight, breathing is important for your savior) and Dash sped off full speed. It didn’t take long before they were just outside of town. “That’s gotta be the town! Alright Rainbow erm…” “Dash.” “Right. I need you to do two things for me. First fly into town and get everyone to safety. If there’s any unicorns good with magic, send em out to this side of the town.” “Easy. I know just the pony to get out here. What’s the other thing?” “Another easy one. Don’t try to catch me!” “Huh, what!?!” Dash stammered as her passenger let go of her back. She watched in horror as the silver pony streaked towards the ground, horn aglow. They were too close the ground when he jumped; she knew she’d never close the gap in time. “Why let me save you if you’re just gonna jump off like that?” She turned away and shut her eyes, not wanting to watch the inevitable crash she knew would happen. After a few seconds though, she still heard nothing. He’d have to have landed by now! She snuck a peek earthward, than stared in shock at what she saw. There, on the ground, was…nothing. No silver pony, no crash site, just a bare road that lead into Ponyville. Half dazed, she flew the rest of the way into the town where all ponies were already gathered. Spotting Twilight up on stage next to the mayor, she landed by her friend. “Rainbow Dash! Thank goodness you’re safe! You were gone a while, we got worried! What did you see over there?” “You’re not gonna believe this, Twilight, but you have got to come with me!”