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// Making The Venture 
// Story: "Harmony Is Key" 
// by Max Initial 
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Twilight would awake with a jolt, today she was to venture to the western end of Equestria to assess the situation at hand, the frozen pony. She had been awoken by one of the royal guards who had knocked at her door to wake her on time, had they not she would have certainly slept in. She would eagerly hop out of bed and dress herself quickly, the train would be arriving soon for her to make her journey, and as always she wanted to be early. Excitedly, she would nose her way out of her room, only to be greeted by some of the royal guards who had been ready to escort her when she was ready. With that, they began to make their way down the hall to reach the exit, and as they approached it, the doors would swing open abruptly to reveal an excited Pinkie who would circle them bouncing.

Twilight would give a giggle before speaking, “Pinkie, what are you doing here? And so early? I really don’t have time right now, I must catch the train in time before it leaves.” Pinkie would stop bouncing for a moment and would land in front of her. “The train? Where are you going? Is it somewhere fun?” She would giggle, looking up at Twilight. In turn Twilight would begin to walk forward again, “I really don’t have time to explain, I’m sorry. I’m scheduled to be there at a certain time, and I want to be there as soon as I can, you understand right..?” Pinkie would quickly jump in front of her again. “Can I tag along? I want to go! Do.. uh whatever it is you're doing.” Twilight would laugh again for a minute, before taking a moment to think. She didn’t want to make Pinkie sad, but she also didn’t want to risk her messing anything up while she was on this venture. “You know what? I suppose I wouldn't mind having a friend come with me as long as you listen to me.. though I mean it Pinkie! This is a very last-minute decision I’ve made here!”

She had thought of bringing along some of her friends but had decided that Ponyville and Canterlot would need them more today, as she could do this mission alone. Though she figured Pinkie would be a good moral support to have anyway, so the exception was made. “All right now, follow me..” Twilight would finally make her way out of the castle, now with a friend to tag along with. Pinkie was definitely excited, funny as Pinkie didn’t even know where she was going, Twilight guessed it must just be exciting to be with her.

They would eventually make it to the train station, and in perfect time too, not as early as she would have liked, but early enough. The train would pull into the station with a loud screech, before stopping fully as the conductor would open the passenger cars. Both Pinkie and Twilight would make their way into one of the cars, guards accompanying them. Pinkie would bounce in her seat as they all got seated, and the train could be heard starting up again after a short while.

“Sooo.. where are we going again?” Pinkie would ask, looking as excited as ever, a smile beaming on her face. Twilight would speak, “The western part of Equestria, I have been notified of a very important discovery, and I have been asked to oversee the research of it. It’s an ancient science laboratory, not sure how it was found, as it wasn’t mentioned to me, but it’s supposed to be extremely old. It contains a very old cry-” Pinkie would quickly interrupt her in classic Pinkie fashion, “Oooh! A dusty old lab! That sounds like lots of fun if you think it’s fun! I bet you they have dust monsters in there, lots of them..” Twilight would roll her eyes and give a smirk. “Pinkie, what are you talking about? Dust monsters don’t exist silly.” Pinkie would look at her with an over-exaggeratedly shocked expression. “Twilight! How could you say that? Dust monsters are very real! I knew some that lived in my basement..” Twilight would roll her eyes again once more as she allowed Pinkie to trail on.

Eventually, the train would stop, to Twilight’s relief, she had heard a good couple of hours of Pinkie’s ramblings of her supposed encounters with ‘Dust Monsters’ for what felt like way too long now. They would all get up and step out onto the station platform after exiting the train. Twilight had never been to the Western half of Equestria, at least not where they were at. She would take a breath of fresh air, and Pinkie would skip around again impatiently. Twilight would scan the area for a moment, she was supposed to be escorted again by some more of the guards and the lead researcher that had taken charge until her arrival. She would spot them on the far end of the station, and before making her way over, would wave to the pair that had escorted her already as they re-boarded the train and were sent back off to Canterlot.

“You must be the lead researcher for this discovery at the moment correct?” Twilight would say as she approached the group, and the mare in question would step forward. "Correct, I just want to thank you for taking the time to come see this.. it's... interesting to say the least. We have found a few things too you might be interested in looking at that we have placed out for you when we get to the site. They began to walk, and Twilight would speak again, "How do you know that this pony is as old as you say it is.." she would ask, and the mare would respond appropriately. "Papers left behind with written dates, it's amazing how pristine and clear the writing was for how long it's been down there. The English appears a little harsh but other than that we were able to understand the writings and documents pretty easily." Twilight would look over with deep intrigue as the researcher continued, "The pony's name.. Harmony. That's all we know, a full name was never mentioned. We don't really know who she was, but we do know that she must have been of the utmost importance based on the notes I mentioned.."

Twilight would think for a moment, taking in the information carefully. "What about the technology in there, have you any idea how it works yet?" The mare would shake her head slowly, "It's almost alien, we haven't a clue of how it functions, but it all appears to still be in proper working order from what we can gather. We decided not to try to activate or touch anything until we knew you were here.." Twilight would give a short nod, "Well thank you, wouldn't want anything sudden to happen before we really have a chance to dig into it." 

Pinkie would bounce forward, "Is that it that right over there? That big ol' tapped place?" The researcher would give a nod, nosing in the direction of a small hill, with an opening in the side that had a fitted metal door in place. As they would approach it finally, the researcher would guide them over to the door, before swinging it open carefully. Twilight would step inside, and both Pinkie's and her jaw would drop at the sight shown before them...