//------------------------------//
// The Ancient Truth Uncovered/The Crisis Deepens 
// Story: Uncovering A Time Before 
// by Fyrebird 
//------------------------------//

	"Just get a load of this place!" Lyra exclaimed giddily. "All the humans that were here, all the bustle, all this place once was! I can't believe they just, disappeared."
"Yeah, I can't imagine what this place was like when it was alive," Carrot Top added, looking at the tree curiously growing out of the concrete bridge above them. They had to walk to the center, the place was far to much of a mess to navigate by carriage.
"What I can't get over is the fact that I've seen Marexican and Equestrian writing everywhere. They spoke the same languages! What else did they do like us?" Colgate wondered.
"Rather, what else do we do that they did first," Moondancer corrected.
"Oh yeah..."
Progress was slow, as they would stop every once in a while to admire a tall or large building. The landscape had taken over some of the city, leaving plants growing out of such artificial things, like a flower in the bumper of a carriage, or a tree in the center of the street. Weeds grew out of every crack. And it was also eerily quiet, so quiet, the rush of the sea could be heard even from where they were.
"This is creepy," Bon-Bon said.
"Yeah, it is. What are we looking for, anyway?" Colgate asked
"A media database of sorts. A library, or a newsstation," Moondancer replied
"How bout that?" Lyra asked, pointing to a crumbling superstructure. It once had a glass roof in places, and had multiple areas seemingly blown out by explosions."
"Sure!" Carrot Top said, as they walked to the edge of the highway. They walked down the inclined road that went down to the lesser streets and walked to the structure. It was close to the highway, and they reached it quickly.
As Lyra approached, she could read the faded name of the place. Los Angeles Mall. "It's a mall," she said.
"Oh well, not what we expected, but nonetheless, a good opportunity to investigate this, rather remarkably intact, civilization."
"You call this intact?" Carrot Top asked, incredulous.
"Considering that from what I've judged from the condition of paint and rubber,and other materials, three thousand years, I would daresay this city bore weathering better than any city today ever will, or could."
"Let us go," Lyra said, pushing aside the futuristic glass door. It still moved with ease, and she held it open for everypony to walk in. She then turned around and gasped. 
The similarities between here and an Equestrian mall were uncanny. Televisions, except they were flat and mounted on wall everywhere. Stores selling everything imaginable, mostly clothes. But what they sold was exactly the same. Appliances, gadgets, jewelry, everything the same. Except for clothing. They were designed for different beings altogether. Despite all the collapsed architecture, most everything was there. Including, the pictures.
Lyra would never forget the first time she saw a true picture of a human being. A female, a young one, laughing, carrying shopping bags in hands. She stood on two legs, and was fully clothed. She was frozen, in picture, on an advertisement. Then they looked around. Then another, only with different clothes and skin color. And another, with a different style of fashion altogether.
"Whoa."
"You were right Lyra."
"They were real."
"Let's get to a library and get out of here," Carrot Top said.
"Why?" Lyra asked, staring at her friend like she was crazy.
"What we're doing isn't, strictly speaking, legal."
"She has a point Lyra. We should find a database that contains all their information. We can learn more from that than from here. It would be even better," Moondancer informed.
"Well, I guess, sure."

The blips on the Marexican radar held off, not getting any closer. The TOFC dissappeared, however. Despite that, they stayed calm, and were contemplating returning to normal alert, when a massive blip  appeared, rocketing in at supersonic speed. That was all they needed to know to let loose a barrage of warheads, to defend their country from imminent attack. Or so they thought.

"Sir! The Marexican artillery is opening fire!"
"What do they think it is, their country?" the admiral said.
"It isn't actually Equestria, sir, it's listed as an international restricted zone, and we've violated it."
"Shit. Anyhting else I need to know?"
"The TOFC has disappeared, probably switched off, and a large magic signature appeared minute ago on our far east radar zone and is about to pass over Las Haygas in and around five minutes."
"What the hell? The only pony who can do that is-" he cut himself off. "Oh my stars, it's Princess Celestia. We are so fucked when this is over." He grabbed the radio control at his desk and spoke. "Marauder Seven, break holding pattern, get those rogues before your mother fuckin' princess gets them first and sends all our asses to the moon you hear me? I don't give a shit if the Marexicans are unloading their shit on us, get there before the princess does. Go! Go! GOOO!"
The pegasus replied, "Yes sir!"

Celestia shot over the desert faster than lightning, her wings not flapping, solely her all powerful magic speeding her along faster than anything, ever. Nothing had been witnessed moving as fast as she was. She began to slow down, her magic pulse still at full power. She was coming up on Las Haygas. She remembered the restricted area beyond there. It was one of those wretched ancient cities. The ones that would put her all powerful creation and rule to shame. The one that would most definitely prove she was a phony, a goddess who simply took over an empty world, and copied everything from a higher race.

"Wow. All those stories and legends..." Bon-Bon wondered aloud. "They were true. I can't believe this," she said taking in the city, trying to imagine the magnificence it held in its day. "You were right Lyra."
"Of course I was right silly filly."
"Oh, you arrogant little unicorn, you," Bon-Bon playfully replied.
"Yeesh, you two want us to leave or something?" Colgate asked, looking behind her.
"Excuse me?"
"HEY! SHADDUP! Moondancer, gimme those binoculars," Carrot Top said, snatching the optics out of Moondancer's magical grasp. She zoomed in, stared a bit, then handed them back. "Found a library," she said, pointing to a small glass tower. "Let's go."
They began to walk when they heard a titanic 'boom' in the distance. Followed by another. They were low pitched and far off, but put them at unease. "Quickly," Lyra said.

Marexicans were screaming battle cries as they fired of artillery towards the restricted zone. They weren't going to hit anypony, they knew that. They were just trying to get the Equestrian Military away from them. Their country did not need another military to snoop in and wreak havoc on their poor, downtrodden country. They would show them, they all thought.

In the EBC newsroom, something big was brewing. Ponies were milling about, gathering information about something happening in the western restricted zone. It became such a large story, the head secretary rushed into the head supervisor's office to tell him to air it now.
"Mr. Flash sir! We have a major development!"
"What is it now, more parasprites?"
"No sir, Princess Celestia left Canterlot to go to the western restricted zone because the Marexicans, at unease from Germaneians attempting to enter, took a rogue Equestrian military vehicle and the Equestrian Air Force pegasi attempting to capture it before it reached an ancient city, which, rumor has it, was made by the mythical humans."
"Whoa. Okay, prep the newsroom, I want this live in less than five minutes."
"Yes sir-" the secretary was interrupted by a young intern bursting into the office. 
Panting, she said, "Mr. Flash! ETN already got it on air."
"Dammit! Contact our Las Haygas chapter, tell them to get live coverage of this ASAP. Capiche?"
"Yes Mr. Flash."


"Come on, it's not much farther!" Lyra called out to the others trailing behind. She and Bon-Bon were leading the group towards to the ancient library.
"The sooner we get inside, the better," Carrot Top said, in regards to the booms of artillery in the distance.
"Wait, I hear something else, listen," Colgate interuppted. They all stopped and looked around. They then heard the whoosh of pegasus wings flying around the city.
"They're close. Let's move, quickly," Moondancer said. She picked up the pace, and the others followed suit. They were soon at the door of the library.
"See? Not far at all," Lyra said. 
"Not counting starting in Ponyville, right?" Colgate joked.
"Whatever. Let's go in and find what we need. They're library system is probably the same as ours, judging from everyhting else that's EXACTLY THE SAME. Come on," she said, pushing open the once sliding electric doors.

"I can't find that TOFC!" a mare's voice crackled over the radio.
"I can't either! It's probably mixed in with all these ancient carriages or in one of the buildings!"
"Keep looking!" the leader said, "Look for ponies, or movement!" He swung into a dive down to low altitude, heading south. Too far south. Then, a pony screamed through his headset.
"MISSILE!"
He whipped around, to see a SAM missile rocketing towards him from the Restricted Zone/Marexican border. He dived even further, but it was no use. The missile exploded, sending him spiraling to the ground, where he landed in an ancient oil field with a whump. He never got back up.
"Marauder Seven to base, we have pony down, repeat pony down."
"Roger, Marauder Seven, keep looking, rescue workers are on their way out. Pick up the pace ponies, we got Celestia coming up and the Marexicans about to go nuts. Be careful around that border."

In the Las Haygas EBC newsroom, their normal broadcast was interupted by a newsflash. 
The supervisor, shocked by the sudden change in her perfected, orderly television timetable, watched.
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. Earlier today, a rogue Equestrian TOFC was tracked entering the western restricted zone. It is being searched for by the Equestrian Air Force, but the Marexican Army has now lined up major forces on the border. The only assumption we can make is they are trying to avoid another incident like the Germaneian one a few weeks back. And now we have reports of Princess Celestia heading to the area for reasons unknown, leaving Princess Luna in full power, a move most will voice complaints about, given her short time being back as Luna, and not Nightmare Moon. This is all we have so far, we're trying to get more, we'll fill you in as we get more on this developing story."
Suddenly, the phone in the supervisor's office rang. She picked it up immediatley. "EBC Las Haygas, this is Rose, can I help you?"
"Rose, it's Flash. We need you to get some cameraponies out there and get this on live national TV, you hear me?"
"Yes, Mr. Flash, right away.

"Who leaked that?" The admiral said, "Who fucking leaked that?" he said, pointing at the television that had just relayed the three newsflash bulletins from all three Equestrian networks.
The control room was silent. Nopony spoke.
"Very well. See to it that no more information reaches the media. This is becoming a big enough mess already. No more leaking intel, am I clear?"
"Yes sir!" the control room replied.
"AM I CLEAR?"
"YES SIR!"

The mares were wandering about the first floor of the ancient library. Fortunately, as earlier predicted, the system was the same, although named the Dewey Decimal System, not Huey. Another similarity to add to the already massive list of things in common with Equestria today.
"Look what I found!" Colgate exclaimed, holding up an atlas.
"Let me see," Moondancer said, looking at the map. Her eyes widened. "No fucking way..."
"What? Let me see?" Lyra said, as she and Bon-Bon looked at the book.
It was a comprehensive atlas of the world. It bore resemblance to their map, only it was much more detailed and the western sea was an ocean that spanned all the way to the Far East territories. But the most amazing parts were the city names. Lyra pulled out the Equestrian map of the world and compared.
Where they were, it was Los Angeles.. Manehatten, was Manhatten, a sector of a super city named New York. Las Haygas, Las Vegas. Fillydelphia, Philadelphia. Mareiami, Miami. Detrot, Detroit. Trottingham, Birmingham. Stalliongrad, Stalingrad. Canterlot was gone, as was Everfree City, Maresburg, and others. In their place stood names of ancient cities, marked with populations ten times the size they were today. Tokyo, London, Sydney, Toronto, Phoenix, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Berlin, Moscow, Dubai, Hong Kong, Paris, and so on. They were all marked with populations of five million plus. The biggest cities in Equestria weren't even at the million mark. 
Then the country names. Marexico was Mexico, Germaney was simply Germany. The outline of the country was exactly the same, all of the countries were the same, with different names. Equestria though, it had the biggest name. Where Equestria stood on the map, on the ancient one, it read United States of America. It was the only ancient country that didn't have the same exact flag as its modern day counterpart. It was ranked as the greatest superpower, barely above a country named China.
"Let's take this with us," Lyra said, putting it in her saddlebags.
"Let's'" Moondancer added, dumbstruck.
"So..."
"Creation?"
"It was't by Celestia."
"Everything..."
"Was from the humans."
"From everything I've seen, I'd agree."
"That's why this area's illegal to enter."
"Ladies, we have found a deep dark truth I don't think the princesses didn't want us to see."
The ground then started shaking. In the distance, grinding noises began to be heard. Sirens began to sounding. These sounds were akin to that of an old generator winding up, or high electricity buzzing into the old power system.
They rushed outside. In the sky, a giant ball of light circled the city. Celestia. Her magic was re-animating the long dead city. Alarms from the carriages sounded. Electrical fires began. Air raid sirens wailed. It was as though the city was rising from the dead one last time to remind everypony watching of grim fate that befell it and the empire it once belonged to.

"Sir! Celestia's here!" the second in command pegasus called out over the radio.
"Dammit! Gods fucking DAMMIT!"
"Sir, her magic, it's like her magic is turning this ancient city to life. I- I..."
He then was abruptly cut off. The admiral called out over the radio. "Marauder Seven! Marauder Seven do you read?"

"Are you getting this on camera?!" The reporter screamed to the camerapony, as they hovered a few miles out from Celestia and the city.
"Yea! Yea!" he yelled back as he switched the communicator on the camera to live.

"Hang on folks, this, just in, an update from the crisis out in the western restricted zone. We have live images of what appears to be Celestia, somehow turning on the city's ancient and dead power. Let's have a look," the anchor said, as the screen switched to the live image. There was indeed and age old city, flickering on, and a giant ball of light above it. "From what we have heard and seen, the Equestrian Military and royalty are now occupying this ancient city in search of that TOFC. Which begs the question, why is Celestia herself after this seemingly menial rogue? And why was this city, and countless others, roped off too everypony? Who made these places? Why haven't they been found, or researched. We can only hope answers will come in the investigation that will hopefully follow this incredible turn of events."

Back in Marexico City, the president recieved the news on the things happening just fifty miles north of their land. He was clearly enraged, and spat at his secretary.
"Prepara un discurso. Nosotros les decimos que si no detienen esta locura, no habrá malas consecuencias."
"Sí señor Presidente!" the secretary chanted.

Celestia was searching the city for the adventurous outlaws who dared defy her strict law and entering the restricted zone she set aside, outside of Equestria's safe borders. Suddenly, she realized her mistake. She had used far to much magic, and now the city was coming back to life. In front of the military. She then saw news network ponies too, sneakily trying to hide at low altitude and covering the story. Every eye and ear in Equestria would soon know what was going on.
She was too late. They would soon know the truth. She could stop them finding out all of it, but why? Her image as a ironhoofed ruler would become even more pronounced. She could only let it be, and let the truth inevitably come out.

"In regards to all the military and weird stuff going on, let's get out of here!" Colgate yelled as she led the charge through the city being reborn from Celestia's accidental magic misuse. 

Meanwhile, every pony watching television saw the live coverage of the events out west. A archaeologist on the phone with EBC then let loose the bombshell that would change the world.
"This is not just any old city. This is the craft of humans, three thousand years ago. What you see is the legacy they left behind. And I'm certain that there are more cities like this in these restricted zones, and maybe under your hooves in major cities today. But what every researcher I've called today told me, humans were real. They were real before our time, before Celestia's so called "creation."The question is now, how come we never could find this out legally? Why did the princess hide this? Maybe the answers lie with how the humans lived, and what they created. But we won't know for sure unless the princess allows more research, but bottom line, humans were real, and for some reason, the royals have lied about the humans all this time. Why they hid what the humans left is now the question."


Author's Note:
In the coming weeks I have school, more importantly, schoolwork. Updates will be few and far between. That's why I kind of rushed this one. Thank Celestia I'm far into this story that, surprisingly, you all met with good reception. I know, I'm sorry I got to take time off from this, believe me, I wish I didn't so I could make it EPIC. But, "I gotta do what I gotta do." Education is still hugely important. Bear with me here, I'm jumping around a bit in the storyline. The next chapter though, mostly the girls' escape. And after that, well, that's a secret, and I don't want to spoil anything. Sorry though, you will all have to wait longer for the next ones.
-Sincerely,
JBE3ST


P.S. You can wait a week or so, right?