//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Forest, Archeology and Alicorns // Story: The Side Character is a Deer // by Deergenerate //------------------------------// While trudging through the forest, Johan couldn't help but periodically look over his shoulder every couple of minutes. Early on during their forest hike, he had seen something out of the corner of his vision. Two glowing, all green, eyes. When he turned his head to get a better look and called it out to Derek, it disappeared, but ever since then, the two had been on high alert. They felt like they were being watched. "I... don't like this man, we don't even know where we are going..." Johan said scooting closer to his friend. "Nonsense! Haven't you ever watched Man vs Wild? All we have to do is find a river or something. Then we just have to follow it to civilization." Derek said, his voice oozing confidence. Throughout the entire ordeal, he held his head up high, despite the darkness of the underbrush. "Man vs Wild? You know that entire show is staged right? I guarantee none of the advice will actually help us." Johan replied, nervously looking over his shoulder. "Oh really? Thank god." Derek chuckled. "I was not looking forwards to drinking my own-" He was interrupted when the two heard a twig snap behind them. They both quickly reeled around, looking in the direction of a rustling bush. "Wh-who's there?" Johan cried as he stepped closer to his friend. The two grit their teeth and lowered into an aggressive stance, their eyes narrowing as they readied to either fight or run the heck away as fast as they could. The bush stopped rustling, and the two prepared themselves for whatever came next. Just then, a small rabbit hopped out. It was white, with a pink nose and two large sparkling eyes. Johan's face went slightly red as he stepped away from Derek. "Oh, hey little guy... or gal." Derek said with a laugh, kneeling down. "You scared us, pal." Johan muttered to himself for a couple of seconds. "I was not scared." Just then, a wolf, made out of wood and leaves with glowing green eyes, leaped from the foliage. With a single bite, it snapped up the rabbit, swallowing it in seconds. A deafening silence filled the air as time seemed to stop for a couple of seconds. Derek and Johan leaped into each other's arms (or forelegs) with a totally not girlish scream as the wolf turned its gaze towards them with narrowed eyes. The two instantly spun around and began booking it through the woods, the wooden wolf hot on their tails. Twilight Sparkle let out a content sigh as she stepped out of the front door of her Crystal Castle. On her back were two saddlebacks that covered her cutie mark. They were filled with archeological equipment. Shovels, brushes, ancient texts used for translations, and more. It was a nice, warm Saturday morning. She thankfully didn't have any 'royal duties' to take care of today. "Starlight, I'm going to the dig site, make sure Spike doesn't burn down the kitchen again... or something." She called back into the house. Starlight herself approached Twilight from inside the house and cleared her throat. "Are you sure you don't want me to come this time? Maybe a second set of eyes will help you out?" Twilight chuckled. "I'm sure I got it Starlight. Don't worry." "Well, if you change your mind, you know where I'll be." Starlight said with a bored sigh as Twilight closed the door behind her and took off in the direction of the Everfree. Just last week, during an ill-fated nature hike through the Everfree forest to visit Zecora, Fluttershy and Applejack got separated from the trail and lost for a little. They did manage to get out, of course, but while wondering they ran into a collapsed stone building, the location of which they quickly relaid to Twilight. When Twilight visited the next day, she was shocked to find that the architecture was similar in design to collapsed buildings that had been found all over the globe by different archeologists. It was covered in a strange written language that no pony, gryphon, yak, or other creature had ever translated, though, thanks to her magical powers and tendency to go through books about ancient cultures and languages, she was certain she would be able to make a breakthrough of some kind, no matter how minor. She had already made one, of sorts. The building was five hundred years older than Equestria! That was certainly something. Upon arriving at the edge of the Everfree after a short flight, she came to a stop and landed with a content sigh. She was about to enter the underbrush of the woods but came to a stop when she heard something. It was... screaming? "Oh my god, it's right behind us!" One voice called. "Just keep running!" Another, slightly deeper voice replied. Next, she heard the sound of trudging hooves, as two shapes quickly sped past her. She turned around to get a good glimpse at them but quickly turned back when she heard something approaching from the forest. A timber wolf lept forth from the foliage, landing in front of her with a growl. Twilight frowned at the creature, spreading out her wings and charging her horn. The creature must have known not to mess with a princess of Equestria, at least not alone, and quickly turned around and retreated back into the woods. "What was that thing?" the slightly higher-pitched voice said, prompting Twilight to turn back to them with a sigh, wiping sweat from her brow. "They're called Timberwolves. They are easy to deal with alone. It'll be back soon though, and with greater numbers. You guys had better go into town..." She trailed off as she finally got a good view of them. A green and yellow pony and a deer. She had never seen them before, in Ponyvile at least, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she recognized them. It wasn't until the pony, who she thought was a unicorn, spread his wings that she knew where she had seen them before. Almost instantly her jaw dropped. "Sweet Celestia. You're an Alicorn!?!" "What? No, I'm not. I'm a deer." Johan said with a raised eyebrow. Derek chuckled. "I think she was talking to me, Johan," he replied, giving the deer a pat on the back, who rolled his eyes. "You two have to come with me!" Twilight cried out to them desperately, quickly doing a heel turn and rushing into the forest. The two former humans looked at each other confusedly. They merely silently agreed to shrug and follow after her. It was a little difficult to keep up with the purple alicorn, as she sped through the forests rather quickly, stopping every now and then to look back and make sure the two were following after her. "So uh," Derek suddenly cried out, trying to break the ice and awkward silence. "I don't think we introduced ourselves... or vice versa." "I'm Twilight Sparkle." The purple alicorn said while waiting on a small boulder for the two to catch up to her. "Twilight Sparkle?" Johan said with a raised eyebrow. "That's a pretty weird name..." "Well, technically it's princess Twilight Sparkle, but eh..." Twilight replied with a shrug. The two humans looked at each other for a couple of seconds. "Princess?" Johan asked with a raised eyebrow. "So your parents are the rulers of wherever we are?" "What?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow as the two caught up to her. She started walking again, though this time much slower, evidently tired of having to stop every couple minutes to allow them time to catch up. "No, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the rulers. My parents live in Cantlerlot. My mom's a writer and my dad... does things." "So... what, are you an elective principality?" Johan asked as he pulled up alongside her. "No. We are a theocratic monarchist magocracy lead by immortal rulers." Twilight replied without a second beat. The awkward silence returned. "M... Magocracy?" Johan asked, blinking confusedly. "Well, I'm Derek." Derek replied. "And this is Johan." "And you said my name was weird." Twilight chuckled with a sly smile. Eventually, they arrived at a small clearing in the forest, and standing in the middle of it was a collapsed, overgrown structure. Though it was mostly covered in moss, dust, and vines, the three could see that it was marble white in color, covered in deep blue hieroglyphs. One massive carving covered a wall of the building, and despite being presumably hundreds of years ago, the paint that gave color to the painting somehow wasn't chipped or damaged. As the three approached, Johan and Derek felt some kind of weird pull, that demanded they lock their attention on the carving. Unfortunately, it was dominated by a gap that destroyed more than half of the carving. What they could see, however, was foreboding the say the least. A green and black alicorn in golden armor stood atop a mound of dirt and stone, holding a spear which he pointed at a 45-degree angle upwards towards... something. A deer laid at his hooves, bleeding from dozens of wounds, an antler shattered and his eyes closed. What the alicorn was pointing his weapon at was, sadly, part of the gap in the carving. All they could tell was that it was massive, as evidenced by the fact that all that could be seen of the creature were its hooves. They were large and metallic, most likely armor. They were cyan in color. "Oh my god," Johan said, pointing up at the carving. "Derek, that's... us!" "W-what is this?" Derek asked, reaching out a hoove and rubbing it along the carving, feeling the grooves and lines of its elaborate, yet cold and dusty, stonework. Johan was less interested in the carving itself, and more in the message it seemingly carried. That being a wounded deer at the foot of a spear-wielding alicorn. "Oh my god... you don't think this thing is prophetic, do you? Why else would a ruined building know about us? I'm gonna die here! Oh god I'm gonna die here!" He cried out to himself, his hooves coming to the side of his head. "Yo, calm down man," Derek said with a frown, putting a hoof on his friend's shoulder. "It's probably just a coincidence. Besides, you aren't dead in the carving, your... probably still alive." "That's not much better!" Johan cried, Derek silencing him with a sly chuckle. "Don't worry man! I would never let anything happen to you man." Derek said with a smile. Johan let out a sigh after that. "Ok..." Johan replied, but a frown soon came to his face. "But if I do end up dying here, I am going to haunt your ass." Derek laughed, turning over to Twilight. "Anyway, let's let Twilight tell us more about this place. The stage is yours." "Ok then..." Twilight replied with a smile, turning back to the collapsed structure. "This is an old ruin. One thousand five hundred years old, to be specific. There are similar ruins like this dotted all over Equestria. Nopony can read the hieroglyphics, thus we have no idea who built them. As far as everypony knows, these things have just always existed." Twilight said with a shrug. "You said your rulers are immortal, right?" Derek asked, turning to look at her. "Were they around when these things were built?" "No. They are only a thousand years old. These things predate both them, and the foundation of our nation, by a rather wide margin." Twilight responded, approaching a section of the wall covered in hieroglyphs. One particular marking attracting their attention. It was a head with two jagged crescent-shaped antlers, then something that vaguely resembled an elegantly carved hyphen, then another head with jagged antlers. "This marking appears pretty often, on every single ruin all over the world. I really wish I knew what it means. Maybe then I could use it to translate the rest." Twilight said with a frown. "Then again, Hieroglyphs don't really work with ciphers." "Kes'kel'Kes." Johan suddenly said, causing Twilight to quickly turn around and stare at him in shock. "It means God of Gods." "You can read this?" Twilight asked, her jaw dropped and her voice ripe with surprise. "What?" Johan said, his brows furrowing. "No I just... knew what that said somehow. Wh... what's going on?"