//------------------------------//
// Prologue 1* 
// Story: Part I: Precursors 
// by Auryx Saturnius 
//------------------------------//

One Year Previous…
A pony stands in a room. It is a big room, shaped like an amphitheater, with ponies his age sitting behind desks, quills scribbling down what he has to say. He speaks with conviction and confidence—the signs of a speech well-rehearsed— as these ponies look on to him with a mixture of boredom, fascination, and indifference. With a firm nod, he concludes his talk and the hooves shoot up, picked without thought by the professor next to him.
The first student, a maroon unicorn mare, stands up with a gentle smile as she addresses the speaker. “Mr. Star, I’m slightly confused on the main focus of your lecture. Were you trying to say that the War of Madness or the Lunar Schism was the primary watershed to the shaping of modern Equestrian understanding on Harmony?”
“Ah, yes. The point of the lecture was to teach that both events were absolutely necessary to our modern understanding of Harmony. Discord and Nightmare Moon alike, while two very different individuals with very different styles, perspectives and reasons, both contributed majorly to the current philosophical context of Harmony. With that said, it’s also important to remember that we wouldn’t even have known the concept of Harmony without the history of the Eternal Heart and the unification of tribes. It is important to take a look at all of the factors in historical research and study, so it prevents subjective ideas. Even taking in consideration of events completely irrelevant to the topic your studying can help you keep an objective look to the events. Neither were primary, but both were necessary.”
The mare nodded with satisfaction, slowly sitting back down into her seat as the professor picked a second hoof. The stallion pegasus stood up, notepad and quill in feathered grasp.
“Mr. Star, as anyone in the room can say, ponykind history is only a small fraction of the history of our glorious and ancient planet. Considering that, as ponies, we have been recorded to be one of the first sentient race to populate the planet—before any of the elk, bison, gryphons, zebras, canines or changelings—do you think it could ever have been possible for a different species to have come before us on this world; maybe like the mystical Precursors?”
The speaker frowned, the stubble of a week old facial hair shadowing his face with perfect clarity. There was always that one student that asked him a question like this, or a derivative therefore: Do the Precursors exist? Luckily, that meant for quite the experience in proper and unexpected answers.
“The ‘mystical’ Precursors is just an old-mare’s tale that mothers tell their foals at night, filling them with tales of magic and adventure. I refuse to believe that there isn’t one archaeologist or historian alive who hadn’t, at one point in their lives, been inspired by those stories to join the science if only to try and find proof of their existence. But an archaeologist must weigh and look for the facts, not their dreams, and the facts state that, currently, there is no proof of a pre-equine civilization to have ever existed, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility.”
He paused to look at the clock hanging on the wall, checking the time and letting the student jot down any and all notes he had wished.
“One must also consider the willing expeditions and research of the great pre-classical minds, such as Charmcaster the Wise, or her student Starswirl the Bearded, or even his student, Clover the Clever. Three generations worth of the greatest minds had a peculiar interest in the place ponies have in the world, its relationship with Harmony, and the idea of what each of them called the Mantle of Responsibility. If you look into that, I’m sure you’ll get new perspective on the question you asked. Secondly,” he said with slight satisfaction, “it’s important to remember that both the Dragons and the Gorgons were here before our earliest records of pony-kind.”
The student blinked several times, before sitting down, clearly admitting defeat. The professor nodded happily, shaking the speaker’s hoof with a firm and jovial shake. “Thank you very much Mr. Crescent Star; your talk was very informative.”
He turned back to the class. “This reminded me to tell you all: I hope you all are almost finished with your papers on the comparison between Starswirl’s concept of active magic, Clover’s passive magic, and how the two of them helped influence modern magical practice and study…”
As if on cue, the bell mounted on the wall rang with a clear sound, wrapped in a magical glow.
“I want them on my desk, here in the classroom, at the beginning of next week’s class and no later!”
The students all filed out of the large, amphitheater of a classroom as the professor once again turned to the speaker, shaking his hoof a second time. “Once again, I appreciate you coming in and lecturing.”
“It is my honor to help a fellow of the trade,” Crescent Star replied. “If you don’t mind, however, it’s time for me to leave.”
The professor made no protest as Crescent Star walked out. He closed the door behind him, relishing in the cool morning air of the now silent hallway. The students had all long since bolted to their next class, leaving the sound of gentle chirping and rustling leaves outside on the great lawn of the university prominent in the silent, marble halls.
Lectures, universities, students, history; this was his life. He was Crescent Star, the Magical Adept and the unicorn with only one equal. He loved his job and its challenges. He gave up so much to become what he was now; to be raised in humble beginnings as the eldest son of two of Canterlot’s many non-prominent jewelry makers, to one of Equestria’s scientific elite…
…Life was excellent!
“Sir, are you alright?” Crescent Star calmly raised his head. He hadn’t noticed that a unicorn had walked up to him. He was tall and slender, lean built with an air of responsibility and strength that radiated from his gaze. Besides his unnatural height (Crescent Star thought he could be a bit taller than Princess Celestia herself), he didn’t notice anything strange. His coat was black—pure black, with little reflection—while his mane was a near translucent white in the morning sun. His cutie mark, much to his puzzlement, however, was a streaming swirl of whites, blues and reds around an empty circle, giving no hint to personality or profession.
Crescent Star had realized too late that he was staring impolitely as he examined who this unicorn was, the stranger raising a hoof to snap him out of his gaze. “Sir?”
He shook his head clear. “Sorry, I’m quite alright, just taking a breath from my previous lecture.”
The stranger tilted his head in thought. “Lecture. If I may pry, you wouldn’t happen to be Mr. Crescent Star himself, would you?”
Crescent Star smiled and bowed his head in affirmation. “That would be me.”
The stranger returned the smile, “You’re just the stallion I was looking for Mr. Star.” He extended his hoof out. “My name is Event Horizon.”
Crescent Star nodded, accepting the hoofshake. Event Horizon was direct to the point. “I was impressed when I heard about your doctorate thesis for archaeology: prehistoric civilization and culture. Recent events has inspired me to propose a business arrangement with you.”
“I’m flattered,” Crescent Star told him, “though I’m hardly a business-minded stallion. And, if you know of my doctorate thesis, then you must certainly know of the Ministry of Science’s opinion of it. Not only did they deny it, they had completely blacklisted me due to, and I quote, ‘outlandish papers and conclusions with no real scientific proof or meaning’.”
“Yes… yes indeed.” Event Horizon flexed his shoulders underneath a coat jacket that covered his entire back, eventually clearing his throat. “Regardless, I hope you’d at least be willing to hear my proposition out. Why don’t you join a colleague and me tomorrow for lunch and we’ll talk more about it.”
Event Horizon handed Crescent a card, the unicorn grabbing it in an aura of maroon magic. After long seconds, he nodded. “I can do that.”
The tall unicorn smiled, clearly pleased with Crescent’s response. “We will look forward to talking to you further tomorrow. Here is where we plan on dining.”
A scrap of paper hovered up from Event Horizon’s coat pocket, wrapped in an aura of white magic. When it reached a respectful distance close to him, Crescent Star took hold of it with his own, maroon-colored magic and pulled it to his face to look at it briefly before he stashed it away in his vest.
“I too look forward to it Mr. Horizon,” he nodded his head in acknowledgement, “I’ll see you then.”
Crescent Star bid his farewell and began to trot off, down the halls.




The restaurant that the address had lead him to wasn’t a fancy, high-class establishment. That said, it certainly wasn’t a simple grab-and-go place either. Onyx’s was one of the more respectful and profitable restaurants in the Merchant’s District of Canterlot. As Crescent Star asked around beforehand, most ponies in the area spoke highly of the property, its employees and of its protein-oriented food.
Crescent walked in through the sizeable wooden doors casually, glancing around. The interior was like a Northern Equestrian lodge, only much larger. The lights were dimmed to add ambience; adorn on the walls were photographs of stallions and mares alike—frontier’s ponies—each with some respectable accomplishment being shown off to their unknown audience of diners.
There was a strong whistle that attracted Crescent Star’s attention. A smiling Event Horizon stood from his seat, waving a hoof for Crescent to come and join him and his other companion. “Mr. Star. I’m glad you could make it to meet my colleague and me today.”
Crescent sat down across from the two stallions as Event Horizon continued. “Mr. Crescent Star, I’d like you to meet Mr. Tough Runner.”
The mahogany earth pony sitting beside him stood up and shook Crescent Star’s hoof with a firm grip. He was clearly an outdoors pony, built for tough, real life situations. The cutie-mark he possessed was of a set of horseshoes and a whirling lasso.
He imagined the drawl long before he heard it. “Mighta’ pleased to meet ya, Mr. Star.”
“Likewise.”
Event Horizon cleared his throat. “Tough Runner is the prime reason why I approached you yesterday morning, Mr. Star. You see, we have an interesting predicament on our hooves.”
Tough Runner nodded. “Ya see, I rent an area a’ land from Mr. Horizon here, down in tha Gorgon Desert. Ma team n’ I primarily use tha land for heardin’, grazin’ and raisin’ cattle. A couple weeks ago, however, we stumbled ‘pon a mighta’ interestin’ artefact.”
“The first thing Mr. Tough Runner did,” Event Horizon continued the story, “was contact me. I, along with some other associates, traveled down to Runner’s stead in the desert and investigate.”
Horizon paused so Crescent Star could order the food he wished from the waiter that had approached, sipping at his coffee with little interest in its contents. When Crescent returned his attention, he reached his point. “It’s an underground city: one of the largest ruins ever discovered in pony-history.”
Crescent nodded. “I see, so you wish for me to examine and explore this ancient Gorgon ruin?”
Horizon smiled through his cup, “You’re right on the account that I wish for you to go, examine and explore those ruins, but the ruins aren’t Gorgon design.”
Crescent was unphased. “Dragon?”
Horizon shook his head. “Perhaps an abandoned Changeling colony?”
“The complexity and design alone is too dissimilar to Changeling architecture at any point in their known history, and to conclude your dragon point, the design is for beings much smaller in stature.”
Crescent Star leaned in closer to the unicorn sitting across from him. “You cannot be telling me that this ruin belongs to a completely different species entirely.”
Event Horizon mimicked his attentive stature. “Not only am I telling you, I will prove it to you in five seconds.”
As he finished speaking, an object wrapped in his white aura floated discretely from his side, unseen by any other pony in the establishment. It was small, roughly the size of Crescent’s hoof and, when it was set down clearly on the table, was shown to be made of a luminous silvery metal, but what attracted the full, gasping belief and attention of Crescent Star was what it was doing. Free from anypony’s magical touch and control, the shard floated gently off the table, barely reaching the middle height of his glass of water, but nonetheless floating before his very eyes.
“Celestia be praised,” Crescent Star let escape with a hushed voice.
Event Horizon huffed with amusement before stashing it back under the table and into his full care. “This technology is more advanced than anything Equestria or the Gryphon States could’ve ever dreamed of creating. We’re just unlocking the potential of steam-power, yet here stands the proof that we aren’t even the most technological species to have existed on this planet. That is why I picked you to take this journey, Mr. Crescent Star, because of that paper on the Precursors…”
Crescent lifted his eyes from the spot the shard had hovered and looked directly at Event Horizon.
“I believe we’ve found evidence on their existence,” the unicorn finished.
Crescent Star glanced a look at Tough Runner, who looked back at him with equal confidence. He wondered how much of the situation Tough Runner understood; how big the impact of what he discovered will create. By the gaze of his eyes, he didn’t doubt he did.
“When do I begin?”