//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Legend of Brave Rick // by Exelion //------------------------------// The fire brought warmth to the ponies and colts around them, while they were eating marshmallows and telling short stories about life itself. Their grandfather’s cottage was the perfect place to do it. Twice a year they went on holidays for a whole week there, filling the place with love. An old man was coming, carrying a cane with him, anxious about listening his grandchildren laugh and the experiences of his kids, being an adult, they treat him with all the love and respect that this carries. He sat in one of the logs, and silence filled the green highlighted area. The little colts were looking their grandfather with anxiety, like wanting something from him. Otherwise, the parents just looked and nodded happily.- “What’s wrong guys?” The old man asked. “Don’t you remember grandpa?” One colt asked. “Last time you promised you were going to tell us a story about our Great-grandfather,” replied the littlest of the fillies, with big puppy eyes. “Oh, sorry, You’ve got to be patient kids, my memory is not what it was. I thank your parents for letting me tell you this story, I know they also wanted to do it.” The old man turned, looking into his granddaughter’s eyes. “There’s nothing to worry about dad, we all agreed that.” “Well, surely you’ll study this in the school. There are written lots of books about it, but the fact of telling the story through word of mouth has something special. You probably you won’t understand it now, but in the future you’ll remember it and relate easily the concept of-” “Grandpa!” exclaimed all the children. “Sorry, sorry, let’s see…” The old man trailed off, taking out a book with a leather cover, with old, yellow pages. “Where do I start from?” Great news went all over Ponyville, the project “Everfree Energy” was about to become true. Everypony ran crazed, entering the forest with courage, searching for clues of the above-mentioned project. Applejack was the first to come, and the scene was not so far from the forest’s reality. Twilight and Zecora were giving the last touches of what would be a big event in the life of Ponyville, maybe even in all Equestria. “Do you believe it will run, Zecora?” Twilight looked to Zecora, a little nervous. “Fret not my little pony, the threat is in your mind only,” answered Zecora “What sends your voices dulcet? You had no quarry finding the connections of dawn and sunset.” “I believe it’s just a sensation made by the situation, that’s all,” said Twilight with a little of self-distrust. It didn’t took long until the place was filled with anxious spectators, more slowly filling in. The project was known by everypony of Ponyville, but most of the information was kept in secret just so as to not distress all the ponies. This was likely due to the fact Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were involved, giving the feeling of something big. Suddenly, some voices were heard and Twilight could recognise them, with a smile in her face she said, “Finally, you came!” “Of course sugarcube, don’t ya think that we were going to leave ya in a moment like this” replied Applejack. “And this could be an opportunity to impress everypony with my new hat, and learn something from this too. Er-Without mentioning that this could be an opportunity for everyone of course.” Rarity faked a smile, looking to her friends. “But how do we know of it’s utility? We don’t know what it is or what’s made for. I don’t believe that a bunch of roots tied like a circle raised from earth could be of any use for anything ever.” Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, overlooking that tied up roots masterpiece. Curiosity was too much for her, so she started to put her hoof closer, but Twilight pulled it away. “Don’t touch it!” shouted Twilight, “It’s extremely fragile. Being built by magical connections from the same forest, a hoof could ruin all the magical flow, and the proj-” Twilight couldn’t end her speech, ending agaped while seeing Pinkie Pie jumping over the construction as if it was a circus ring. “Come on Rainbow, let’s see it the fun way. Twilight, will it be funnier when you add magic?” Pinkie Pie jumped from one side to the other, but her entertainment didn’t last long because a force field covered it in one swift moment. “I’m sorry Pinkie, but it took lots of time making it just to let you ruin it. Wait, where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight looked around, a little confused. Not so far away, a shaking bush was seen, and slowly Fluttershy rose up, peeping through her pink mane so then showing her head “Come on Fluttershy, don’t miss this spectacle,” said Rarity. “No!” Fluttershy one more hid in the bush. Twilight teleported quickly to her side, “there’s nothing to be afraid of, come, join us.” “No,” shouted Fluttershy again. “What if... if... if out of that thing, comes a giant fire-breathing dragon, with sharp claws, big teeth and a terrifying roar that wants to eats us?” “Fluttershy, I promise you that nothing wrong will happen.” Twilight raised her voice, frustration entering it. “And how are you so sure about what you say?” A random pony from the crowd raised his voice. “Because...because… ehmm…” And before she could even think of a reply, a blaze blinded all of the ponies. “Because we will be part of this project, and the same time we will supervise.” Princess Celestia was covered in a glow as she stood next to her beloved sister. Everypony bowed down. “DO NOT BE AFRAID MY SUBJECTS, THERE’S NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF!” Princess Luna spoke using her “royal voice”, scaring everyone. “Remember what we talked about princess, be a little soft,” said Twilight in a whisp. “I’m sorry, it escapes me sometimes,” replied Luna, flushed. “So Twilight, is everything ready to begin?” Princess Celestia asked. Zecora agreed with a grin and Twilight nodded. “Of course princess, everything is ready.” “I beg to all the present people to take a step back, this could be a little dangerous.” Princess Celestia looked to the crowd as she spoke, her warning reaching their ears. “Are you ready princesses? Prepare your horns,” said Twilight. “Upon my behest, unleash magical hell upon the tempest,” ordered Zecora. And then, she started doing a strange dance around the roots, dropping rare powder every so often and pronouncing unknown words. Five minutes later, she took out a strange green-colored powder from a bag, she threw it to the air and it went over all the Everfree forest, absorbing more of this green stuff from the earth, the plants and every organism from the forest. Suddenly, the sky was covered in that material. Zecora took from the same bag a cross shaped amulet and tied it so it’ll hang in the middle of the roots, that made the powder to transform into a tornado, and in a matter of second the vortex of it was directed to the cross that was hanging in the circle. “Now ponies, DO IT,” shouted Zecora. “Direct your magic to the amulet!” Twilight, Celestia and Luna pointed at the amulet with their horns, and with extreme coordination they formed a whirlwind with the colors of their respective magic. The magic hit the amulet and the tornado’s vortex, causing a green flash “Focus you magic upon the twister until it fades, else these are only wasted days” said Zecora. The flash was growing and shining more every second, all princesses began to build a sweat. This couldn’t wait, it was not easy to maintain a magic flow constantly for long time, not to mention about coordinating 3 different magics. Suddenly, the tornado was decreasing it’s size, and when it was nearly to disappear, the amulet showed a crack, followed by an explosion. When Twilight woke up, she knew all their efforts were in vain. The amulet couldn’t contain lots of magic as it was believed. And now the floor was broken into thousands of pieces. However, when she looked up, the root’s circle turned into an oval figure, with the color of the tornado. Twilight was surprised, she hadn’t expected this result. For her, this abrupt result represented an amazing anomaly. The princesses were waking up, along with every single inhabitant of Ponyville that had witnessed the spectacle. All gaped at the magic manifestation which they have never seen. Zecora was the last one awaken, and without much fuss, she examined the failed experiment. “Know something about this Zecora?” Twilight asked, under the strict look of Celestia, which seem not to be happy with the results. “Dear friends, grave news I must tell,” said Zecora while she returned to a standing position. “Our experiment did not go so well,” The spectators were surprised and Twilight quickly closed her eyes in a sad expression. “But we have not entirely fallen from grace, this magical manifestation precludes a connection to a strange place” Twilight didn’t take long to comprehend what happened. “So, we created a portal?” “Exactly,” answered Zecora. “Princess Celestia, you…?” “No Twilight, in all the years I have as the ruler, I haven’t seen such thing like this.” “There’s nothing in all my books.” “Before making conclusions, we must know what is on the other side of it,” anticipated Luna. “Here I go!” Said Rainbow Dash who was launching from the sky to enter quickly into the portal, but she stopped all suddenly, noticing that a rope tied her and held her. “What?” Rainbow Dash looked back. “Don’t you want to know what is on the other side of this?” “We can’t rush,” said Applejack, “we must make a plan.” “Don’t worry, I’ll go,” said Twilight. “What? Just like that?” Spike looked to Twilight, worried. “You don’t know what is on the other side, please don’t do it, don’t go!” Spike watched Twilight, a tear coming out of his green eyes and falling to the floor. “Oh, Spike, don’t worry, nothing will happen to me.” Twilight cleaned Spike’s face of the wet trail that his tears have made. Twilight sighed and stood up in front of the portal, looked at it curiously for a moment, letting her imagination to do the rest. “By Celestia, I wonder what things are on the other side. Could it be a portal to the Changelings? They might have found out about the project, and made a plan to take Ponyville. Or maybe it’ll drive me to a trip to the Earth’s center where the overwhelming heat of the Earth’s core is waiting me for my death. Or death by the absence of air in the middle of the space, or the deep sea. NO! Focus Twilight! It’s not the moment to be negative, probably this benefits us, although I can’t think of something right now, I know it’s going to be useful, I hope, if just… I don’t fail at this…” “Take this sugarcube,” said Applejack while tying up a rope in her waist. “Pull it if you have problems.” “Thanks, I’m ready.” Slowly, Twilight was doing weak steps to the portal. When she approached enough, could feel the air next to her be sucked into the portal, swallowed a little of saliva and stepped into the unknown. The trip was not so different to the portal that Celestia could have created. Suddenly and without any advice, appeared in a kind of hill, looked to the sides to verify that there is no one there, so she climbed it without wasting time. The air felt different, like the time when a dragon was taking a nap and his snores pulled out smoke that covered the city. Those moments where you can’t breath well without letting the smoke inside your lungs, and then trying to exhale it coughing desperately. This air was practically the same one, but a little less intense, and so, breathable, although she was uncomfortable for that. Twilight stayed with open eyes, without believing on what she saw. Not so far away from there, a city a little different from what Twilight was accustomed to seeing. Dozens of tall buildings covered the landscape. Vehicles like the Flim Flam Brother’s were touring the streets, as if every single creature from this planet had one and used it always. A kind of strange smoke was out from the back of all of those cars, which could explain the reason of Twilight’s discomfort. Far away some creatures from this world could be seen, playing basketball in a fenced field, they looked happy, and it was easy for them, they had limbs that they used to throw the ball into the ring. The fact that they were bipeds, which made them taller than the ponies, even more than Celestia! Immediately, Twilight wrote a report and kept it in her bag. Took a last glance and ran downhill, sprinting fast into the portal. In that transition millisecond between the strange world and the Everfree Forest, a thought went through her head. “This is a amazing discovery.”