//------------------------------// // Merger // Story: The Rise // by SirCiphered //------------------------------// It was autumn. The trees of Ponyville faded into a kaleidoscopic mixture of colours, as they all slowly shriveled, died, blew away, and fell back into the ground. I had just woke from a long rest following an unexpected "welcoming party" that Pinkie Pie had organized. The window to my room was open, letting in the outside air. Donning my cap, I made my way downstairs to speak shortly with the innkeeper. "Morning, miss Quilt," I greeted her. "Morning, Stormfront," she replied, "Did you enjoy the inn for today?" "Indeed I did," I assured, smiling. "Well, I've got to go now." "Goodbye!" She said as I departed out the door. "Stormfront!" I looked to my right. Twilight was coming down the road to me. "Morning," I told her. She smiled. "Say," I asked, "Do you have any books on astronomy?" Twilight blinked. "Oh, yes, I do. Want to come over?" "Sure," I said. --(%)-- Once again, I was perusing Twilight Sparkle's library. Tomes of knowledge, mythology, medicine, science, and much more surrounded me as I read a book about the constellations. Something was brought to my attention: magic. It didn't in any way seem logical. I decided to read a book about spells to see if it'd hint at how magic worked, but I didn't find any answers. Instead, I found, obviously, spells. Spells on aging, cloning, forcefields, levitation, psychological manipulation, enchanted crystal interaction, transformation, and materialization. None of this makes a bit of sense, I thought. At some point, my curiosity had overriden my desire to investigate what Applejack had seen. "Twilight." She looked up from a scroll. "Yes?" "How do spells work?" She winced. "Well, we don't exactly know for sure." "Any myths or legends, perhaps?" I was desperate to know. "There's the legend of how the alicorns came to be," she replied. "Tell me about it." Granted, she still hadn't told me what an alicorn was, there was mention of a "Princess Celestia" and a "Princess Luna" in the constellation guide, so I assumed I knew who she meant. "A long time ago, before Equestria, Discord ruled, and the world was in chaos." "Is that an allegory for constant political imbalance?" I wondered if it was literal. "No, it's literal. A dragonequus, Discord, caused chaos throughout Equestria. But he was stopped by two sisters who used the elements of harmony to end the terror, and unite Equestria as one." "Does it say how they got the... elements of harmony? Or perhaps how magic was developed?" Twilight shook her head. "No," she responded. "Perhaps there are some ruins or old records...?" I didn't care about the star anymore, I wanted to know. "They found something weird while digging the train tunnel to Canterlot," she said, "But I don't know if it was a ruin. Perhaps we could go see?" I hopped off the chair I was sitting on. "Let's," I eagerly declared, trotting to the door happily. "Okay, one moment. Spike! Send this letter to Celestia!" "Okay..." A voice mumbled from above. --(%)-- We followed the train tracks up to a tunnel in a mountain. Inside the tunnel, a secondary chamber broke off from the tracks, but there were no tracks down it. "Now," Twilight ordered, "I'll use a spell in order to illuminate the cave." Huh? I was about to see a spell in action. The two of us stepped inside the tunnel, and she stopped. Her horn glowed a light purple. She focused more, and a spark flashed from the tip of her horn. It was as if she'd fixed a light bulb to the end of it, for it filled the cave with light of a purple hue, enough for us to see and make our way through the cave. I observed the walls. It seemed as if it were carved out of the rock by some strange force. We followed the chamber into a turn, and that's when I noticed something: the section we had just exited was dug much more recently than what we had just entered. "Twilight, what's that?" Her light wasn't reaching far enough for me to see it well enough, but there was something there. Something odd. "I'll get closer to there," she said, and approached the object. It appeared to be... a thing. But it was familiar. Then, I had another flashback. This device was found in a submerged cave near the Jentae High Command structure. A similar object was located one mile from the mantle on Titan. It appears to emit electromagnetic radiation... I faded back into reality. Suddenly, I remembered something huge. I couldn't say anything about it though, but it was important. Twilight's illumination spell began to fizzle out. "Maybe we should get away from it," she said. I looked at the object. "Perhaps," I replied. It resembled a sort of pod, with a strange symbol on its side. "I've seen all I need to know," I assured Twilight. We turned to leave, but before seeing the exiting chamber, something caught my eye. A large inscription in the cave, in some sort of text I didn't know, and imagery painted on the walls, mainly a scene of two ponies defeating an odd figure using six crystal-like objects. Elements of Harmony, perhaps? "Hey," I asked, "What's that painting?" I looked off to the left, where a depiction was on the wall. Twilight's light spell wasn't allowing me to see it well enough. "Let's have a look." We went to the painting. Two winged ponies stood, one white, one dark blue. The white one had a horn, and had the sun above its body. The dark blue one had a horn as well, and had the moon above its body. "That's Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Twilight explained. "So, they control the moon and the sun?" "That's how the legend goes," said Twilight, "But I doubt it's true." "Okay, nothing else here." I was eager to leave and lay down. --(%)-- I stopped at the inn, and allowed Twilight to go home. Collapsing on my bed, I shuffled my thoughts. Jentae, Titan, Kranites, the Theory...I pondered over what I had rediscovered earlier that day. Suddenly, there came a tapping, as if someone was gently rapping, rapping at my inn room window. I looked up. It was Rainbow Dash. "What do you want? To lose in a race?" I bragged. "Hey! I won the first time! What makes you think I'll lose this time?" She opened the window and slipped through, entering my room. "Because you'll push yourself too hard and fail," I boasted. Dash was furious. "Wanna fight, guy?" She feigned a stance and swung a hoof at me. "Relax, I was just joking," I reassured her. "So anyways, what did you want?" "I figured since you're new here, I should show you some things." An offer I couldn't pass: a trip around the local area. Perhaps it'll get my mind on a different track, I thought. "Sure!" I was eager to think about something that I had forgotten most of the details on. Dash and I slipped out the window, and I made sure to shut it, even if it seemed like it was never intended to be opened. "Down here is Ponyville, but you know that," she stated as we flew over the town. I didn't know that, but I didn't tell her. "Up here's Cloudsdale. I grew up here," she said. I gaped in awe. Before me stood (or floated) a mass of clouds shaped into an entire city. Rivers of liquid, which appeared to be liquified rainbows, flowed off from the edges and faded some distance below the clouds. An entire city! "Come on! I'll show you the stadium," she alerted me, while I was still in shock, observing Cloudsdale. "Coming!" I flew to her. --(%)-- "...and that's how I saved her AND the Wonderbolts from becoming pony pancakes! Wait, are you listening?" "Uh, yeah, sure..." There was a very faint black dot in the sky that I was watching. I must admit, I never was much of a listener, and would get distracted when being told a story. She let out a sigh. "Let's go check out the rainbow factory." "Sure," I chirped. I'd like to see how such an oddity is accomplished, I told myself. Dash and I entered a large industrial complex (if it could be called that) of clouds. Inside, pegasus workers in lab coats made, obviously, rainbows. In one section outside of the structure, a large vat of sorts containing the substance flowed out, creating a river, which dropped off of the cloud after a few meters. "Hey," Rainbow said, looking smug, "I dare you to taste it." I gave her a look. "Fine," I replied, and I dipped a hoof into it, then brought it to my mouth. It was like eating a pound of capsaicin. One drop alone was more spicy than anything I'd ever tasted. Rainbow laughed as I searched relentlessly for a source of water. The fact that the clouds didn't act as they should didn't stop me from trying to eat them. In fact, it somehow damaged my teeth. That's very odd, I thought as I continued to look for water. "Rainbows aren't known for their flavor," she told me. I shot her a glare. "They should be so noone falls for that sort of trick," I shouted. She laughed again, and from then on, I didn't trust her when she dared me, but unless it could kill me, I'd accept. --(%)-- After that, we parted for the time being, and I flew down to Ponyville to look around some. The town was small, with some construction in parts of the area. Shops of all sorts could be found in the main plaza, including a farmer's market, restaurant, and one that had me laughing for a bit: an installment that only sold quills and sofas. I suddenly realized that I hadn't eaten the past two days, and I had no clue what the typical diet for ponies was, so I entered the restaurant and asked for a menu. It listed things such as daffodils and grass. Makes sense, I told myself, Unlike everything else here. Of course, I didn't have bits either, so I resorted to something I'd learned a long time ago when I was a teenager: asking if anyone needed something delivered. After a quick self-analysis, I deduced that by having wings, I'd be able to make a decent living as a fast courier. A store selling cheese had a "Wanted" sign up front. "Hello," said a chipper voice as I entered. "Yes, hi," I responded, "I'm here about the job; I noticed you needed someone to deliver items." The shopkeeper was ecstatic. "Yes! We've needed somepony to do that for months. Thank you. In fact, I even have a satchel made; I can put your name on it, if you'd like. Tell me, dear, what's your name?" I smiled. "Stormfront." "Okay! I'll have it on here after tonight," she assured me, "But first, I need you to deliver something." "Sure!" I stretched my wings a bit. Probably just something simple, I thought. She placed three small wheels of swiss in each side bag, then gave me the satchel, and also gave me an address: 217 Rich Lane. "Sure thing, ma'am, but may I ask what the payment is?" I'd rather know how much I'd earn before I set off. "Seventy bits. This is a standard delivery," she explained, "and we sometimes handle deliveries for other ponies' shops as well. My courier recently moved away to Vanhoover, so I needed a new one. Thanks again for applying." "Glad to, ma'am, and I'll be back soon," I promised. --(%)-- Finding 217 Rich Lane wasn't too difficult. The large house stood out among the typical cottages that lined the streets. I landed just outside the door and knocked. No answer. I knocked a second time. "I'm coming, don't get your mane in a twist," snapped a voice from beyond the door. Suddenly, it opened, and there stood before me a stallion dressed all fancy, with a slicked-back mane. "I'm Filthy Rich," he said. "Yeah, I can tell," I remarked. "I have a delivery for you, sir: six wheels of swiss. The payment is two hundred bits." He scowled at me. "Here," he said, giving me the money and taking the cheese, "and next time you deliver here, don't make such snide remarks." "Thanks, and goodbye, sir," I droned as he retreated behind his door. You started it with the "mane" comment, I thought, but I didn't have time to argue. I arrived back at the shop fairly quickly, and when I got there, I was only asked for one hundred and twenty five bits. "The rest is payment," she told me. I thanked her, and asked if there were any other jobs. "No, sorry, but thanks! Have a nice day!" "I will!" I told her. I did have a nice day. I did.