//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 - Questions // Story: Sweetie Belle and the Tablet of Knowledge // by CheshireTwilight //------------------------------// Celestia sat in one of the many balconies overlooking Canterlot from the royal castle. She sat at a small table, carefully levitating a cup of tea in her magic. She looked at the noon-day sun, revelling briefly in her work. Raising the sun had become a trivial task, but over the two thousand years Celestia had been alive, she made sure to spend time each morning reflecting on that power. She did so, not to motivate herself, but rather to remind herself of the burden that much power had; she could never relax, lest the corruption that took her sister take her as well. She couldn’t be sure whether the nightmare that changed Luna was just: from being drunk on illusions of grandeur, from an external force, or something else. She hoped it was something external and her sister was innocent; if that was true though, could it target her in the future? Regardless, she felt that she couldn’t let raising the sun bore her. If she did, what would that mean for her other—arguably less meaningful—duties; all of which had far reaching consequences? Once she was satisfied that she could remain uncorrupted by her power for another day, she sipped at her tea while moving her gaze to Ponyville. She was then reminded of another of her duties she had neglected and sighed. ‘I really should forgive Twilight for that ‘Raspberry Truffle Incident’...’ she thought. ‘Maybe the whole ‘Friendship Rainbow Kingdom Castle’-scheme was going a bit too far. Her last letter had none of her carefully written prose; it was all business. I would hate for such trivialities getting in the way of our friendship.’ She took final sip and placed the empty teacup down. ‘No, I shouldn’t think of such things. Verily, if Twilight wishes to speak, she should ask me herself. It may not be necessary that she demand my forgiveness, but if something is bothering her, I would wish she at least make such desires known.’ “Oh well, there is only so much a monarch can do without it causing a scene. When Twilight is ready I’ll-” Then, suddenly, Celestia felt a strong magical presence coming from the south-west. It was probably the strongest magic she had ever felt. She stood up, causing the table to shake and spilling her tea and saucer on the ground. Not a minute later, Luna—who only been to bed for no more than a few hours—rushed into the room, meeting her sister’s expression of shock with a tired and shocked expression of her own. “What was that!” Luna demanded. “Never in all our days have we felt such a presence.” “Normally, I would disagree with your use of the Royal plural, but in this case it is true that I, also, have never felt such a thing. Even Tirek at his most powerful was only on par. What could cause-” “Do we really have time to talk?” Luna interrupted. “We should investigate the cause immediately!” “No … no this is too much, even for us. You’re too tired for-” Luna was about to give a retort, but Celestia raised a hoof to her sister. “No, don’t argue, I won’t have any of it. You stay here and keep the peace for now, I’ll take a quick leave of absence and fly to Twilight’s immediately. I need to confirm that her investigations and this presence aren’t related.” Luna was hesitant, but reluctantly agreed. As much as she hated to admit it, there must always be a presence on the throne and Celestia was not only more powerful of the two after she had just performed all her duties for the night, but she also seemed to be more up-to-date on the matter. ‘Even flying at full speed,’ Celestia thought as she made her way down to the throne room. ‘I still won’t make it until evening … please, don’t make me too late.’ Rarity and Rainbow Dash arrived back in Ponyville from Los Pegasus. Their search for Sweetie Belle had been in vain and—as much as Rarity protested—she realized that there was no reason to continue the search when her sister could have been anywhere. It was better if they just left it to other ponies and the guard. They didn’t find it strange at the time, but there was nopony on the platform to greet them. It was evening now, and they assumed that Twilight would have kept a careful eye on her tracking gem and would have seen them coming back. They shrugged it off; after all, she must have been busy with her research. They decided to head back to the castle alone. As they walked, they began to grow worried; nopony seemed to be out and about the town. When they arrived at the castle, they realized why. There was a commotion at the entrance of the crystal tree. At least forty ponies were huddled around the front entrance of the castle, but they were eerily silent. They made their way through the crowd and knocked on the door. A muffled voice came from inside. “Look, I’m sure you are all anxious to know what’s going on, but I’m afraid that our guests just aren’t up to it right now. I’ll be sure to address everypony about the situation at town hall tomorrow.” The rest of the ponies—which until now were worried to ask about the situation—decided that standing around wasn’t doing them any good and so they left. Rarity, however, was not satisfied. She decided, instead, to barge inside. “Twilight, is that you?!” Rarity yelled, almost breaking down the heavy metal doors. “Rarity?!” The voice cried out in surprise, but it came from further down the hall and its owner couldn’t be seen. She and Rainbow Dash trotted to the main chamber where seven crystal thrones were arranged around a golden circular disk on the floor. At the center were her four friends: Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, but there were also two unexpected attendees, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. It took Rarity a moment to fully grasp what she was seeing. “Twilight … is … Apple Bloom, Scootaloo! If you’re here then … Sweetie Belle! Where is my sister?!” Twilight caught the white unicorn in her magic and kept her from running aimlessly. “Rarity,” Twilight said, “ you need to calm down-” “Calm down!” Rarity yelled furiously. “I’ll calm down when I have my sister back! Where is she, Sweetie Belle! I promise I’m not mad, just … just come out, please …” She was too tired to hold up any longer; the week of chasing and the train ride left her completely exhausted. She stopped struggling; curling into a ball, she began to cry. “Rarity, I’m sorry but …” Twilight walked up to her friend and nuzzled her mane gently. Everypony else in the room did too; all concerned for her mental state. Pinkie gave her a cupcake which she ate greedily … Rarity was never one to handle stress calmly. “Ah’m so sorry Rarity!” Apple Bloom cried. “We didn’t know what we were doin’, honest! Ah would have never went with Sweetie Belle if Ah knew what would happen.” “No,” Scootaloo said, her eyes empty. “It’s all our fault. None of this would have ever happened if … if we just did what we were supposed to!” She cried and yelled as she neared the end of her sentence. Rarity, seeing the faces of these crying fillies, got over her sadness. She was reminded of what Rainbow Dash had said, she would find her sister. One way or another. She needed to be strong … for her. “I’m … I’m not angry at you girls.” Rarity nuzzled the two upset fillies. She turned to Twilight. “Please … can you tell me what’s going on?!” Twilight looked at the fillies and sighed. “Well, they are the ones that really know what’s going on, but … I’ll tell you what I know.” The previous evening. Twilight lay in bed, thinking about the discoveries she and her former mentor had made about the Tree of Harmony. The tree was something that: had always been there, could output the same energy magical signature as a lifeless gem from some ancient civilization, was likely the sole member of its species, and could react and merge with biological organisms in a form of symbiosis. The first three postulates led her to believe that it was something made by that previous civilization thousands or even millions of year ago, but the last one seemed to completely contradict that. It wasn’t a magical attack and the tree didn’t have some type of agenda, rather, it just merged with anypony or anything in harmony. ‘But why?’ Twilight thought, rolling on her side in an attempt to get more comfortable. ‘Anything manufactured—especially something as complex and powerful as the Tree of Harmony—should be as simple to use like a hammer or as rigidly organized as possible like a lock or clock. The elements should either be made to be used by anypony or only the ponies that made it. Why would harmony be so important?’ It wasn’t that Twilight thought that harmony wasn’t a good thing, rather it is because she recognized how hard and rewarding it was that she debated its use. ‘The only conclusion is that harmony is necessary to the power output by the Elements.’ She looked at the gem on her bedside table. ‘It is clear that the gem which powered the shield is immensely powerful. To completely protect an entire cave from all damage for thousands of years, including earthquakes, it would have to be. Still, it isn’t as powerful as the Elements; which only makes it more clear that harmony must play a vital role. ‘So if everything about the Tree and the Elements was necessary for its creation, how did that civilization know how to construct an item around an abstract concept? It isn’t as though we’re talking about mathematics or science; friendship, harmony and love are things which occur on the individual and cultural level. The friendship Rainbow Dash gives is not the same as what Pinkie brings, and the harmony seen in Equestria is not the same as what occurs in the Griffon Empire. It is the reason why a Princess of Friendship is so important; one can’t just make laws for ponies to follow and then they are suddenly friends, it requires constant vigilance and care to maintain friendship. I wish there was an algorithm to make friends; I wouldn’t have had as much trouble getting them as filly if there were … ‘That leads to one final conclusion, the civilization—through either direct or indirect means—created a self-sustaining organism which adapted itself to the world around it. It is likely—since it is so well in-tune with pony harmony—that the tree gained the ability through adaptation ... unless our harmony and theirs are coincidentally very similar… Actually, following that logic, the Tree must therefore have the ability to communicate with us at a distance; it isn’t like ponies are constantly expressing harmony and friendship around it for it to gain its symbiotic nature. That will be something that I can test tomorrow!’ Twilight—now finally able to relax—started to drift off to sleep. ‘I guess the only thing I might never know is why. It comes down to cultural values and practical intent, I guess. What was the need for it? Did creatures like Discord always exist or was it to help sustain their empire. If that civilization knew of the power of harmony—which is likely given their likely vast industrial capabilities—then they may have designed it that way to maximize its output. It still doesn’t explain why they didn’t use it to save themselves from whatever destroyed them or—at the very least—preserve the building that housed it like the gem in the cave did. ‘Hmm, the only conclusion that makes sense is if the Tree now is not what it was originally. That many of its current features—like its the symbiotic nature, its tendency towards harmony—are adaptations it made.’ She finally succumbed to her drowsiness and her voice began to trail off. ‘I guess whether it’s a tree or a pony, not being able to interact with the world must get pretty lonely … it’s only a matter of time before friendship and harmony finds a way. I guess ... that’s why I could wield the Element of Magic … we have a lot … a lot in common ...’ That night was the first in a while that Twilight could sleep with a smile on her face. Twilight saw the archaeologists off at the train station the next day. During her absence, they had made a few more discoveries about the cave and packed as many artifacts away as they could to be sent back with them to Canterlot. Twilight spent a few hours making a final report—mostly agreeing with the assessments the others had made—and did a final analysis on the spell matrix before it would be examined by the equipment at the Canterlot Arcanum—where all magical artifacts were processed. She kept hold of the gem, however, citing vaguely that she needed it for continued research. As the train left over the horizon, Twilight turned, only to see the face of a very enthusiastic aquamarine unicorn. “Hi Twilight!” Lyra said, giggling. “I read the news! You found the ruins of an ancient non-pony civilization and never told me?! I’m not angry or anything, but you know how much I’m into that sort of thing, I could have helped!” Twilight was about to ignore her, but there was something wrong. ‘This was supposed to be a secret!’ “Lyra, where did you hear about that?” Lyra tilted her head, looking at Twilight strangely. “What do you mean? It’s in the paper.” She hovered a newspaper clipping over to Twilight. It underlined and circled in multiple colors disjointed sections. To Twilight, it reminded her of what she would expect a conspiracy theorist might do when constructing their “web of truth”. Twilight’s concern for Lyra’s mental health—like she was one to talk—was overshadowed by the contents: Has ponykind unearthed hard evidence of ‘precursor civilization’? Non-pony civilizations predating our own have often been touted by the academic community as fantasy, citing the absence of evidence to support it. That was enough to keep “precursor theorists” out of the spotlight. This discovery, though, seems to fly in the face of these allegations, bringing back to the table the discussion of a precursor to the three-tribes and Equestria. We sat down with a researcher on the archaeology team, to discuss the findings: What exactly was found? In the town of Ponyville, a small community outside our capital of Canterlot, a small ruin made of metal was discovered. The metal was “stainless steel”—that’s right, the “super-metal” developed by top Prench metallurgists only one hundred years ago, was discovered in a ruin several thousand years old. Inside, many artifacts clearly not of pony design were found, each more sophisticated and complex then the next. According to Certain, this baffled the archaeologists including our newest Princess, Twilight Sparkle. What were they expecting? The ruin was apparently in very decent shape. They had expected that it might have been from the Pre-Discordian era. To those who aren’t in the know, this was the time when the three-tribes ruled and Equestria was founded like in the Hearth’s Warming Eve story; before Discord took over and before Equestria was saved by our celestial diarchs. If that was the case, they would have found pictures or tools that ponies would typically have, even now. These were absent. Are they sure about all this? It was clear from our informant that there was and likely will be intense debate about this in the coming months so you can expect to hear about this very soon. We tried to get in touch with Princess Sparkle for a comment yesterday, but she was unavailable. What does this mean? Regardless of the outcome, this means that those “crazies” in the precursor community weren’t so crazy after all. It might not be “Ancient Aliens” but signs point to an industrial culture not too different from our own existing thousands if not millions of years ago. It seems that we still have much to learn and we will continue to petition the government for answers. “This … this is practically verbatim the discussion I had with Certain Time and Stone Secret!” She thought how this could happen. ‘Although it has a clear bias towards precursors, it was: clear, concise, well researched and—most importantly—this ‘informant’ knew what they were talking about. That picture as well … there can be no doubt that whoever the informant is was on the team. Celestia wanted to keep this under wraps … have I failed her again?’ Lyra’s eyes became like dots and her grin reached Pinkie-Pie levels. “Y-you mean this isn’t a joke … this is actual evidence … I-I- Yes!” Lyra jumped around Twilight in joy. “Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-” Twilight used the stress-relieving technique Cadence taught her and she settled down. She wouldn’t let failure blind her of her goal. ‘I really can’t deal with this right now,’ she thought. ‘I don’t know how they could get this kind of evidence compiled so quickly, but it’s somepony else’s problem right now.’ Before Lyra could respond, Twilight shoved the newspaper clipping into the unicorn’s hooves and teleported to the Everfree forest, leaving the stunned aquamarine mare behind. ‘I’ve got far too much research to do,’ Twilight thought. ‘I need to do my part to save Sweetie Belle. Until I’m satisfied I know what the Tree of Harmony actually is, I won’t be able to understand what the influence really is. That influence and the gem both use magic and were both created by the ancient civilization and the Tree has the same magical signature of the gem and can affect ponies somehow. I’m sure that once I find a connection, curing Sweetie Belle will be only a matter of time. Only after that can I deal with this whole other … mess.’ It was around three in the afternoon when Twilight made it to the Tree again. This time she had to fight a hydra on her way, which turned out to be great stress relief. She didn’t hurt it too much, but it would probably take it the rest of the day to untangle its necks from each other. As she walked up to the tree, the gem she held once again glowed. This time, however, she had testing to do. ‘I know that this tree must communicate or at least observe us from a distance. In order to do that, it must emit some kind of field that can be observed.’ Twilight set the glowing gem down and used a detection spell to observe any magic in the immediate area. Surprisingly, there was nothing, not even being emitted from the gem. ‘That’s strange, if the tree isn’t sending magic to the gem, where is it coming from?’ Twilight changed the parameters of the spell, looking at where the energy absorption in the gem was coming from. ‘So there’s definitely magical resonance … the star field doesn’t have any disturbance … oh! The Aether! … Wait that doesn’t make sense … but it is! How is that possible!’ Twilight pulled the energy out of the gem and found that as the energy was absorbed, just as much was being replaced. ‘So that is how it amplifies magic, it pulls energy out of the Aether just like our horns do! But for the tree to communicate with it ...’ “The Tree … it can communicate across the Aether …” Twilight said, her face and voice betraying clear shock. The reason for this shock was that trans-Aetherial energy-transference was one of the biggest challenges in magic, in a similar way that the Riemare Hypothesis is for math. Ever since the ability to teleport was first discovered, ponies had tried to find a way to teleport energy in the same way, but while it was possible to transmit matter reliably across the Aether, the transmission of energy was an entirely different case. It was not that sending energy could not be done, but rather that there was no reliable way of getting the energy back. All the energy sent into the Aether would just disappear. If the Tree could reliably transmit energy instantly to the gem across the Aether, what would stop ponies from developing instant telecommunications? Sending small packets of energy through gems across vast distances instantly? These applications were now suddenly rushing through Twilight’s head. ‘If we could transmit energy, it would have far less Thaum requirements than matter. Heck, I could probably tune a thaumic microphone and amplifier and transmit sound for days across the entirety of Equestria with same energy it requires to do one short-distance teleportation!’ Just then, the gem began to blink at a fast pace. Until now, it would only lazily glow brighter or softer. This change in frequency startled the purple mare. ‘Could it be trying to tell me something? The pace is fast but it’s not constant. It exponentially rises then suddenly drops down to a slow pace again. Almost like a warning siren or something that gets your attention and-’ Her attention was torn when suddenly a bright flash of light consumed the cave, causing Twilight to shield her eyes. When the light died down she looked back, seeing that nothing had changed about the tree. It took her an extra few seconds before she investigated further, finding two unconscious fillies lying prone at the base of the Tree. “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, is that you?!” “So they just teleported in front of you?” Rarity asked, realizing that the story was likely over at this point. “Yes, that pretty much sums it up. Everypony started to gather around me as I came into town including our friends. They only woke up now.” Twilight scratched her neck. “I mean, I talked about the other stuff because I thought you might be interested about my findings in-” “Twilight!” Rarity cried. “Y-y-ye-” “As much as I … appreciate the research that you’ve been doing to help Sweetie Belle, I really need to know where my sister is! The research won’t do her much good if we can’t find her! Why didn’t she come back with the fillies?” “Umm … well ... “ Twilight stuttered. “The truth,” Applejack said, cutting in, “Is that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo here were about ta get ta that before ya barged in here like ya did and spooked ‘em.” Rarity looked back at the fillies, still obviously shook up by the ordeal. Rarity decided the best course of action was a more calm  demeanor and recomposed herself. “Alright …,” she turned to the Crusaders. “Fillies, could you please tell me where she is? Why didn’t Sweetie Belle come back with you.” “Well,” Scootaloo started, “we’re not entirely sure how we came back, to be honest.” “Y-yeah …,” Apple Bloom agreed, stepping beside her friend. “Ah don’t really know how ta explain it … but Ah guess it might make more sense ta ya if we just talk about when we entered that ‘facility’ place and go from there.” “Please,” Rarity begged, “just make it quick.”