//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Antediluvian // by Fetlock Holmes //------------------------------// Antediluvian 1 The Universe, as those few fortunate to live within the scant amount of habitable planets are aware, is full of many remarkable things. To some who had yet to venture forth out from the confines of their cosmic neighbourhood, it was somewhat a mystery. A source of never-ending myth, lore and superstition. And to those who had conquered the void above with their superior technology, mapped out every last speck of light in their skies and settled on alien worlds, light-years from where they set forth; well... it would always keep secrets. For it was these secrets that drove both the most advanced and primitive civilisations, to study the Universe and to claim these undiscovered treasures of knowledge for their own. However, there remain many who have yet to discover all about their own home. In the far reaches of the cosmos, within a barred spiral galaxy, there is a small planet. Now this world - upon a brief inspection - may seem fairly ordinary compared to other habitable planets. Rolling oceans, land masses wrapped around the globe and thick blankets of clouds obscuring parts of the surface. But it was certainly not as common as though it may seem. As this world had a populace of sentient creatures which were wholly remarkable and certainly more unique than they could possibly ever imagine. Their story of discovery begins in a small town known colloquially as "Ponyville". The birds sang happily in the trees as the sun shone down upon the vibrant green grass on the outskirts of town. Many of Ponyville's residents chose this beautiful day to go on a picnic with their family, tend to their gardens or complete errands around town. One particular pegasus with a coat blue as the sky above, and a bright rainbow mane was content just to enjoy the weather, seeing no need to waste excess energy. "Rainbow! Rainbow!" Twilight Sparkle hollered excitedly towards the only possible location of her friend in an otherwise cloudless sky. "Rainbow Dash! Are you even up there?" she continued. Rainbow Dash was in fact upon the cloud, attempting - rather unsuccessfully - to have a mid-day nap. She gave a noisy groan of exasperation when she realised her unicorn friend would not relent with her pestering. She rolled onto her stomach and stuck her head over her invitingly plush cloud to see the lavender unicorn practically bouncing up and down with excitement. Clearly there was some sort of book sale on in the market. "Twilight, how many times do I have to tell you not to bother me when I'm trying to sleep?" she stated, irritation obvious in her tone. The bothersome unicorn didn't seem fazed at all at this and her giddiness only seemed to increase when she saw her friend. "I know," Twilight said rolling her eyes, remembering Rainbow's past lecture. "but this is really important. I need to talk to you!" Rainbow sighed as she stood up from her cloud, bidding any hopes of rest farewell. She jumped from the comfortable surface and spread her wings as she swooped down to a graceful landing on the soft grass in front of her friend; who - by the looks of things - was about to explode. "Right, I'm up. What's so important?" Rainbow said, already regretting leaving her cloud. Her plan consisted of three parts: 1. 'Find out Twilight wants.' 2. 'Find someone else to help to get out of any work.' and 3. 'Retreat.' Twilight was now visibly calmer. "I need your help with something." Phase one complete... The pegasus couldn't keep her displeasure out of her voice."Is that all? Can't you get Spike or somepony else to help you?" Phase two... "I can't! Spike's helping Rarity because she's got that big order at the boutique, Applejack's working, Fluttershy's visiting her parents and you know I can't ask Pinkie because-" "...because she's Pinkie," Rainbow finished for her. There goes the third phase... she thought. "yeah, I remember that magic experiment she helped you with..." She shuddered just thinking about it. Though Pinkie didn't seem bothered at all walking around with no mane for a while. "You see? C'mon Rainbow!" Twilight pleaded growing slightly frantic. Rainbow knew how relentless Twilight got when she had her mind set on something, and she also knew when she was clearly defeated. "Ugh! Fine then! I'll help, alright?" Rainbow said giving in to Twilight's demands. "Yes!" Twilight shouted gleefully. "Right, to the library!" She said, turning tail and trotting happily towards town. With her plan in tatters, Rainbow Dash followed begrudgingly, "Where else..." she muttered under her breath. Even with it's status as a library, the Golden Oaks - home to the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle - was fairly quieter than usual. With such a lovely day outside, nopony wanted to stay inside reading their favourite novel. It's shelves filled with knowledge were not currently put to any use, as the books remained fit snugly into their respective sections of the silent library... That silence was promptly cut short, as a very enthusiastic unicorn and an equally unenthusiastic pegasus arrived. Twilight barged through the door of the library into the foyer, dragging a still grumbling Rainbow behind her. Stepping over the many books and scrolls scattered on the floor, she ran towards and stopped in front of an easel positioned in the far end of the room. Rainbow noted that the library was certainly a lot messier than usual, and recognised when the unicorn had gone on one of her 'study frenzies'. She turned around, brightly smiling at Rainbow Dash as she tapped her hoof a few times onto the map pinned to the easel. "See?" she said beaming, oblivious to the cyan mare's bewilderment. Rainbow took a few steps towards the easel, eyeing it carefully. It appeared to be a map of... "The Everfree Forest?" she asked. Twilight nodded. The pegasus glanced at it again, noticing a red 'X' marked near the middle. "So... you've found something in the Everfree?" Rainbow said cautiously. Twilight beamed. "Exactly! Kind of..." A confused "Huh?" is all Rainbow could return. "Well this morning," Twilight began "I was practicing some slightly longer range teleportation, when I realised I wasn't appearing at the correct location." Rainbow Dash cut in "What by like a mile or something?" she offered. Twilight gave her a humourless look. "What?" "I was off by a few millimeters." Twilight corrected her. The pegasus merely rolled her eyes. Only Twilight could be that specific... The unicorn continued her lecture. "Anyway, I checked my calculations and it just didn't add up. So, I thought the only thing that could have caused the discrepancy would be some form of magical disruption." "I ran some tests," Twilight stated, as she glanced down at some paper covered with her scribbles, completely unintelligible to all but Twilight herself. "and I found the source of the interference!" Again, she put her hoof onto the 'X', happy that Rainbow had utterly and completely understood everything that was said. After 80% of the conversation soaring over Rainbow's head and 20% spent not listening, Rainbow knew that she had utterly and completely understood nothing that was said. Still, she gave Twilight was a confused nod, "So... what do you want me for?" she asked. "Well," Twilight started, "We're going to go into the Everfree and find the source of the magical disturbance!" she announced happily and trotted across the room to start packing some rather odd looking equipment into her saddlebags. Rainbow wasn't suprised at all at her friends eagerness to learn someth- "Wait, we? I'm going too?!" She knew there was a catch, Twilight wouldn't just drag her from napping to just tell Rainbow about about her latest egghead endeavour. Twilight stopped her packing and turned around towards Rainbow with a slightly confused, yet ever eager, smile plastered on her face. "Well of course your coming! With everyone else occupied, I need someone to help me carry all this equipment." She gestured towards the two sets of saddlebags, stuffed to the brim with small contraptions. Rainbow Dash was not pleased with this news, "So I'm coming along just to carry your luggage?" she asked, irritated. Twilight sighed. Rainbow obviously misunderstood her, or maybe she completely understood and was upset with her role in Twilight's operation... She clearly misunderstood and Twilight decided to show Rainbow exactly what she could be taking part in. "Oh come on, Rainbow. Who know's what we could find, only something extremely powerful could cause this much magical disturbance. It could be the scientific discovery of the century!" The pegasus was about to voice her displeasure, but she held her tongue when Twilight took on a more wistful tone. "Then there would be scientific journals written about our discovery and lectures given to thousands of attentive, eager-to-learn students, as our names would go down in the history books..." Twilight sighed dreamily. She shook her head dispersing the fantasy and continued her pleas. "Please Rainbow, I'm sure it'll be a great expedition!" Wait, what did Twilight say 'expedition'? Rainbow Dash thought to herself. "You mean like a Daring Do expedition?" She asked tentatively. The unicorn beamed again. "Of course, it should be an amazing adventure! We are going quite deep into the Everfree... And I will need someone awesome to back me up in case we get into any danger." Twilight smiled, she was sure she had Rainbow's attention now. Now that Twilight put it like that, and not in a scientific mumbo-jumbo way, it seemed like a good idea! It had been a while since she had went on an adventure and she couldn't just let Twilight go into the Everfree alone... And also the cyan mare knew she was pretty awesome. Rainbow had made her mind up. "Fine then Twilight, I'll go. But you've gotta promise me that if we find any ancient idols in a temple, I get to keep them." Rainbow Dash stated seriously, pointing a hoof towards the unicorn. Twilight just giggled at her friends love of that particular book series. "Okay Dash, I Pinkie promise." Twilight said mimicking the actions. "I'm sure we'll find lots of ancient temples." She added jovially. Shortly after their discussion, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were both outside of the library, each adorned with saddlebags. The hustle and bustle of early-afternoon Ponyville passed by as they made the final preparations for their expedition into the Everfree. Well, Twilight was making the final preparations as a restless Dash muttered 'check' every few seconds, as Twilight read out aloud a seemingly endless checklist. She happily ticked each of the items off of the list. "...and the managraph. Right, that's everything!" Twilight said finally, after what seemed to be centuries to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow let out a giant relieved sigh. "Finally!" She adjusted her replica Daring Do hat as it fell over her brow. "We can get going..." Twilight simply looked pleased as everything was accounted for. "Yep! We can get going now. Are all the provisions secured in your saddlebag?" Twilight asked. "Yes, yes..." Rainbow assured her friend, as she glanced back at the only saddlebag not filled with scientific instruments. "But Twi, I gotta ask," The pegasus began, with a slightly confused expression. "what's with all the food? There must be enough here to last the both of us a week! I thought we were just going to the forest today." The lavender mare gave a short nod. "The provisions should last four days, actually," She corrected Rainbow. "They're only for emergency use, though." Twilight explained. "Is that why we've got a full survival kit?" Rainbow deadpanned. The unicorn turned to her friend. "Of course." She answered. "You never know what could happen! The survival guide was very clear on what we had to take." Rainbow Dash wasn't convinced. "But a space blanket? It's the middle of summer!" "You never know!" Twilight retorted. "I'm a weather pegasus, I do know! Even if the Everfree has messed up weather, we aren't expecting any sudden season changes!" Rainbow exclaimed. Twilight Sparkle continued to look adamant. "Ugh fine, whatever..." Rainbow relented. "Let's just get going..." "Wait," Twilight cut in as Rainbow was about to set off. "I have to drop by Rarity's to tell Spike where I'm going, I can't just get up and leave." "Oh right..." Said Dash, slightly embarrassed, rubbing a forehoof behind her head. "I'll go over to Rarity's and you go ahead. We'll meet up at Fluttershy's cottage okay?" Twilight told Rainbow as she locked up the library. Before the pegasus could jump eagerly into the sky, she hastily added. "And be careful with the equipment." Rainbow Dash hovered into the air above Twilight, gave a short salute, and set off barely under her usual breakneck speeds in the direction of the Everfree Forest.