Surge

by Zvn

Games People Play

I woke to a silent room with little light. My dream still lingered, its presence bleeding out of reality; and what a peculiar dream it was.

I rolled onto my side, and stared at the small picture atop my desk, unable to escape its grasp. After lying in bed for several minutes, and failing to fall once again into a peaceful slumber, I drifted to the doorway. Upon opening it, a pegasus guard turned his attention to me.

“Your majesty?”

“Evening, Slate—or good morning, rather. I think I’d like to see Princess Luna.”

The doors to Luna’s Chamber were already open when I arrived. Nearly transparent bed curtains flowed softly in the breeze, their reach drawing my attention to their owner. The Princess herself was in the room’s center, observing the night sky through a Refracting Telescope. I knocked my right hoof on the dark wood of the door arch.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle! How pleasant it is to see you; have you come to discuss the stars? Hopefully it’s at least not politics.”

I gave Luna a warm smile.

“No, I actually came here to discuss a dream; one I just had, actually.”

At this, Princess Luna began to the collapse the viewing appendages on the telescope, and rotated the device to the side.

“Ah! I know a thing or two about those. Please, take a seat, and tell me of this dream.”

And I did. I recalled the events of the dream in vivid detail; I described the creature as if I were describing it to a painter, who would turn a blank canvas into its bizarre image. I could see it; and if her expression was any indicator, Luna could see it as well.

Before a word was said between the two of us, a second Princess Luna stepped in through the doorway.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but I had to know.”

I glanced back at the original Princess, noting the shock in her eyes. After making an inference, I addressed the time travelling doppelganger.

“You walked my dream.”

The second Luna furrowed her brow.

“Twilight, this was a vision.”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle. Let me know how much of this is true. You dreamt of a farmland…”

The Aging Earth Pony looked down at me from the podium, waiting for permission to continue. I nodded.

“...In it, there was a bipedal creature who was fully dressed, and held, in his hand, a pitchfork…”

Bipedal—to constantly have access to two open hands... such a creature could create; and without the use of magic.

I again gave the pony a nod.

“...with him, were several equine-like creatures, all with a brownish coat…”

Yes, equine, not pony. These creatures looked sturdy, resilient—inanimate—why did they look so inanimate?

Once more, I nodded.

“...and close to the group, was some sort of… locomotive?”

I took a moment to recall the bizarre engine.

“Yes, it appeared so.”

The earth pony turned to the Luna who had breached my dream. She gave him a silent nod. An aging unicorn mare stepped forward, her eyes alighted with concern.

“Was the locomotive on tracks?”

A rather specific question…

“No… no it wasn’t.”

Many of the Council members began exchanging grave looks—save Celestia—who stared lifelessly at the stained glass mural of my alicorination.

“Were you recently using any sort of chemical, substance, or drug?”

“No.”

“You’re not on any prescription medication?”

“No.”

“Were you recently performing any sort of magic you wouldn’t perform on an average day?”

“Not that I can recall.”

The doctor’s silence drew my attention from the small window in the room to his visage. He was staring behind me.

“Thank you doctor. Now, if you would, please give Princess Twilight and me some time alone.”

A short verbal acceptance, and the small white unicorn scurried past Celestia’s flowing tail. There was a lingering moment after, where the two of us simply stared, and the only sound in the room was that of the rain, colliding softly against the window.

“I know you have questions; I’m here to answer them.”

Where do I even begin?

“Who were they?”

Celestia stepped past me, facing the wall at the back of the room.

“It’s a lot to take in…”

I turned towards the Princess, my curiosity piqued.

“Tell me everything.”

“...They were a powerful, and brilliant race. The first to claim this planet as their own. They built vast cities and incredible architectural wonders—and they destroyed many as well. The collective sum of all hatred shared by living sentient life today would not compare to the division the single race of humanity faced. This was not realized by the humans until their hatred, and affinity for war had already consumed them, and their fate was determined.”

I had only realized my mouth was agape after Celestia had paused.

“How… how are we involved?”

Celestia turned to face me, her muzzle basked in the light from the window. Silhouette rain ran down her face.

“As I said, the humans were a race of intellect, and stopped at nothing to expand their legacy. Several centuries before their demise, they began to toy with mortality itself—”

On impulse, I predicted the epilogue.

“...You’re saying they created us.”

There was a moment of silence between the two of us. That was enough.

“Who knows?”

“Luna. The High Council. And if we’ve done our job correctly, no one else.”

I stepped back from Celestia, placing a hoof behind my head. It was a struggle to even pick my questions.

“Why bury this? We’ve had wars before.”

“This information has been kept secret since before the founding of Equestria, retained only by the Council and its precursors. We know what the humans were capable of—what we’re capable of as well—the decision to keep man’s legacy a secret was one made to protect future generations.”

“Seems like a lot of work for just concealing a memory. There’s something more tangible you’ve kept hidden, isn’t there?”

Celestia seemed to consider her answer.

“...Man’s greatest accolade was written in his own blood. I had no intentions of following in those footsteps.”

“You don’t want to take any chances; you fear we’re too much like them.”

“Twilight, I believe our natures are identical.”

 I stood rigidly, silently fighting the torrent of thought my mind faced. I couldn’t help but laugh, inducing a look of confusion on my mentor.

“I’m sorry, but this all seems a little too difficult to believe. You’re saying that we’ve been standing atop the burial ground of an ancient sentient race, one that actually created our very existence, then they… destroyed themselves?”

“...You were right. We’ve saved more than their memory. Perhaps you’d like to see it?”

The smile faded from my lips.

I was awestruck. We stood nearly a kilometer underneath Canterlot, in a tomb housing the thousands of pieces left from a shattered civilization. I walked down a titanic hall with my mentor, the surrounding pillars reaching more than thirty meters into the air, and arching into the deep blue ceiling. The ceiling itself was adorned with small white lights, star-like in appearance, and rimmed with a cyan hue. Celestia told me it was enchanted to accurately reflect the real time of day, as to alert wanderers of the great halls of their time spent down here. I could already imagine walking under it for several cycles.

Eventually, we reached the end of the hall, and stood before unlabeled double doors—the only ones unlabeled, I noticed. Princess Celestia addressed me before grabbing the doors with her magic.

“I’ve been speaking with the High Council. They think what you saw was a sign. It’s possible these halls will soon be known by most of Equestria. I wanted to show you first, however, considering you’re now as much of a Princess of this land as Luna or I am. Perhaps I should have showed you even sooner.”

I slid a hoof up against Celestia’s. The cold of her golden bracer shocked me.

“It’s okay; that couldn’t have been an easy decision to make.”

I treasured the small smile Celestia gave me in response; then prodded the door with the tip of my hoof.

“So, what’s in here?”

“I think it would be best if I just showed you.”

And with that, she pushed the doors open, and revealed the room’s content. Compared to the hall, the room was tiny, its ceiling sprawling out approximately three meters above the floor. In the center of the room, however, was a glass case, displaying a foreign skeletal structure. It stood vertically, reaching a height of about two meters. Its skull was incredibly flat, a gaping hole where the nose likely was. I could barely hear Celestia’s words as I stepped closer.

“It’s the only complete one we have.”

I gasped as a shock entered my horn, and quickly passed through my entire body.

“Sorry; the entire room is blanketed with a magic dampening field.”

“No harm done, just…”

I couldn’t stop scanning every inch of the remains.

“...just surprising is all...”

After several minutes of observing the minute details of the skeleton, I returned to walking the halls with Celestia. There were many doors I had the urge to enter, but Princess Celestia had us find one in particular. Next to the entrance was a label that read ‘Library’. My heart leapt in excitement.

“I imagine you’ll become incredibly comfortable with this room.”

The door opened into a void. Celestia stepped past me, her arcane light following. I could see several shelves worth of books, and the silhouettes of many more. Then Celestia’s horn glowed an intense white, and she shot the orb of illumination into the darkness. The room that formed before me took my breath away.

There were rows upon rows of book-filled shelves, relatively short ones near the center, and some stacked ten high near the edges of the room. Stone statues of individuals were placed throughout the library, and in the center of all of it, hanging just above Celestia’s light, was a large, intricate chandelier, adorned with many shapes and patterns too distant and small to be properly observed. Celestia began walking towards the right wall while speaking with me.

“You’ll have plenty of time to browse through these many tales, but for now I’d like to give you one in particular.”

I watched as she lifted a block of a white, unnatural looking material, and brought it with her up to one of the higher shelves. She then slipped a book out of its spot, and held it close to the odd material. There was a flash of light from her horn, and the white block had disappeared—in its place, a seemingly identical copy of the book she had pulled. Celestia re-approached me, and levitated the copy into my own field of magic.

“This was a famous title among the humans.”

I smiled, knowing I wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon.

“And you’re free to write in it, if you’d like. We have plenty of Mimic Bricks.”

I held the book tightly against my chest. It was still warm from the transformation.

“Thank you for showing me this, Princess Celestia. I believe I will become quite acquainted with our Homo Sapien friends.”

“I have no doubts that you will. Just don’t forget about our Equus friends.”

I smirked at the comment before Celestia’s horn again came to life with energy.

“Now, I imagine we’re going to have a busy morning. Perhaps it’s time to return to the surface.”

I hovered the fabricated book back into my telekinesis, then stepped to my mentor’s side.

“Of course.”

I closed my eyes as Celestia prepared the jump. When I opened them again, I was in my room, alone with my novel. I hurriedly brushed the other books out of the way on my desk, and gently placed the new one upon its surface. Struggling to contain my excitement, I opened the tome to the first page, and began my journey.