Those Who Came Before

by Biker_Dash


Discoveries

“Well, look who is fashionably late, once again. It’s the fillies and colts from Manehatten! Yay!” cheered Lyra sarcastically as a large contingent of ponies walked into the makeshift cafeteria set up inside the cavern. The exploration team had settled down for a meal after they had gone through a debriefing with Princess Celestia about what they had discovered inside the structure.

Bastion looked up to see just whom it was that Lyra was referring to. “Please Lyra, let us be nice to those who are so underprivileged as to have to teach at a second rate school,” he chimed in, fueled by the rivalry that has existed between Canterlot University and Manehattan College of Higher Learning ever since the two schools were established.

Being close enough to hear this insult issued from his primary rival, Bright Skies, Headmaster of Manehattan College, strode over to the table to issue a retort. “Ah, yes, it is my good friend, Bastion. Are you still jealous of the continuously higher enrollment at my college?”

“When was I ever jealous of your Kindergarten level establishment? I actually take great pleasure in knowing that the standards for Canterlot University are some of the highest in Equestria, and that our students and faculty consistently rank in the highest positions. Oh, and let us not forget the School for Gifted Unicorns, which has produced some of the greatest minds throughout the whole world.” Pausing to take a sip of apple cider, he continued, “And what accolades can you provide for your school, Bright Skies?”

“Just the team that will be taking over the exploration and study of this structure. I should thank you for getting the place breathable for us. I imagine that those environmental suits would be a hinderance to anypony who wished to do an indepth examination. Then again, looking at the lot of you, I suspect that there was not much to hinder,” he adds, as a final jab. Finding the food line, he headed to it, with his entourage following.

“Such arrogance! Who do those ponies think they are, acting like they own the place? I know there is no way that the Princesses would consider replacing us with them,” Earthy Stables fumed. He took great pride in his Alma Mater, and that pride was only amplified that with the exception of Silver Star, all on the initial team either graduated from there, or were attending courses.

“The only real reason for a team to be here from Manehattan is that they have certain departments which would be fitting in the study of this. Ancient History, Palio-archeology, and an Engineering Department which would rival our own,” Apple Polish informed the team.

“That does not give him the right to act as if they can lord over us. If he pulls that act in front of the Princesses, he’ll find out just how little they appreciate such attitudes.” Twilight dug into her salad, suddenly believing that she will have need of the extra energy dealing with the new arrivals. She had hoped that the two teams would be able to work together in harmony, but with the pomposity that she saw just now, she had her doubts. And it was not only Bright Skies, but Bastion Yorsets as well. She sensed that it would take Royal intervention to keep those two from eventually going at each other’s throats.

When the Sergeant and two and two Corporals suddenly jumped to their hooves, rendering smart salutes, Twilight looked up to see Princess Luna standing there with a bemused look upon her face.

“Gentleman, no need to salute here, My sister and I have decided that such levels of formality here would not be needed. Please, take your seats. And do you mind if I join you?” she asked. After listening in on the debriefing, she was curious to learn more on what it was like down there and of the things that they saw.

Making room for the princess to sit, they quickly filled her in on all the details she desired. It fascinated her, especially the part where Blune told her about the hanging skeleton. “I’m gonna guess it was a model. it didn’t look like real bone to me. Still, it was quite detailed. I wonder what else we will find down there?” he pondered. Sadly for him, he will probably not get to make any more discoveries, whereas duties will have him fulfilling other roles. They had a lot to set up, and Lieutenant Snowy Peak was placed in charge of that task. The officer had already guaranteed the NCO’s that they would remain as much a part of this event as possible, so at least he was not being cast aside. For that, all three were thankful.

“I think I would love to go in and see what there is to see. It sounds like such a grand adventure. It would definitely be more interesting than the sessions of Night Court I preside over.”

“How will you find the time to balance your duties as a princess, and join us on our explorations?” asked Twilight. “I have seen just how much your duties encompass, And it seem that you have a full schedule already.”

“Delegation of authority, my friend. There are ponies who work underneath me who will be able to cover things while I partake in this adventure. Fear not. My duties will not suffer,” Luna informed her sister’s student.

Facing them all, she picked this moment to deliver the news. “Before my sister left to take care of her own duties, she has decided whom it is that will be in charge of the site. This pony will report directly to her, or me, if she is unavailable or otherwise indisposed. The site leader will have, for the most part, free leeway in decisions on how the explorations will proceed, and how the teams will be set up.

“Bastion Yorsets, you are the pony that my sister has chosen to be in charge of this excavation and the exploration.”

“This is a travesty! I will not stand for this!” they heard from behind Luna. Bright Skies and his team had just gotten their meals, and were about to sit down to eat when they overheard Luna’s announcement. “It is clear that my team is the better suited team to lead this expedition. We have a much better Ancient History Department, and my fellow instructors are better trained for this task. I shall be filing a formal complaint immediately,” he declared.

“Please, calm yourself, Bright Skies, and listen-”

“I will NOT calm myself! By what authority do you have to tell me that I will be displaced from my rightful position?” he demanded, rather impolitely.

“I suggest you do as you have been instructed by the Princess, Mr. Bright Skies. If you do not settle down, I can promise you that we WILL calm you down.”

Looking suddenly two his left, then right, the pegasus found that he was suddenly flanked by two very irate Night Guards. With grey fur, manes and tail that was almost all black, and their polished dark armor, they looked like they would own the night. On top of that, with their wings looking more like they would belong on a bat, or a dragon, and their green, reptilian eyes, they had this aura about them that spoke, ‘do not mess with me’. And when they focused their ire on a pony, the pony in question would normally feel very afraid. This is just what happened with Bright Skies at that moment.

The guard on his left side asked, “Would you care to take a seat, Sir? I am certain it would be much preferable to you than the alternative.”

He chose to take that seat, knowing that if he did not, he would most likely be forced to do so in a manner that would be rather unpleasant.

“Now that you have decided to calm yourself enough to listen, I shall inform you of what your position here will be, Bright Skies. It has been decided that you will be second in command here, directly under Bastion Yorsets. You will have a lot of leeway, and you will be instrumental in the decision making progress. It will be very important that you and Bastion learn to set aside your differences, and work together to lead this expedition, and make the most of what is discovered here,” she informed the pegasus who moments ago, protested a little more than he should. “If you do not like this arrangement, I am certain that a more suitable second in command can be found. Do you agree, Bright Skies?” she asked with a hint of a challenge in her voice.

There was not much that Bright Skies could do, other than accept the terms stated to him. To do otherwise would be suicidal for his career, and would cut his school out of the discoveries that would be made here. He was not happy with not being in charge, but it would have to be acceptable. He replied in the affirmative, agreeing to the terms.

“Bastion, the need to settle differences and to work together applies to you as well. I witnessed the exchange earlier, and I also know of the rivalry between the two schools. That rivalry must be set aside for the greater good. Can you do so?” asked the princess. When she received the answer she wished for, a warm smile lit her face. “Excellent! Now, let us partake in this meal, and talk about how we shall go about this task before us.”

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Twilight Sparkle was one very happy unicorn. She basically had a completely free hoof in what she choose to study, and how she did so. This would help keep her distant from any underlying tensions that remain between the two headmasters, she hoped, as well as allow her to set a pace much suited to her. Nopony had been surprised when she decided that she wanted Spike to come to Canterlot. After all, he was her number one assistant. It was with little surprise that she also requested that Lyra join her. It did make sense though, whereas the two of them seem to work well together. Hopefully, Twilight would be able to keep the rambunctious mare from causing too many issues. Some would prefer that she be removed from the site, claiming that she served no real purpose. Considering that it was her that had discovered how to enter the ancient artifact, Luna had readily agreed with Twilight that she belonged here.

“What are you gonna do about the Library, Twi?” Lyra asked her. Lyra knew that by bringing in Spike, it would leave nopony to run the town’s library. Granted, there have been times when it had been closed up to a week or so, due to the pair of them being away on official business, but this could prove to be a much longer absence.

“Spike has instructions to find someone suitable to run the place while we’re here studying this archeological relic. It should take him no more than two days to find the right pony for the job, and make certain that pony knows what to do for certain ponies,” she told her friend, thinking in particular of Rainbow Dash, and the Daring Do books that she loved so much. She really looked forward to Spike being here. She felt certain he would be thrilled to be part of the research they would be doing.

The two of them walked together down the long tunnel inside the main entrance to the artifact. Now that the air inside was the same as the outside air, they no longer needed the environmental suits which they wore on their previous exploration. Now, they wore only hardhats, which had been fitted with flashlights. These were magically powered and controlled ones, unlike the ones which pegasi and earth ponies wore, which were battery operated, and controlled with switches. They were not needed now, as the path was now lighted. They also had their saddlebags with them, and inside the bags they carried notebooks and quills, to take down notes on whatever they may discover.

When they get to the lobby at the end of the tunnel, they find that it had changed considerably. A heavy duty power cable had been hauled down the entire length of the passage, and inside the room sat a power distribution module. Hooked up to this were four bright lights set in the corners along the ceiling. Down the three hallways that had been explored so far, smaller power cables ran along the ceiling, and from what Twilight and Lyra could see, lights had been set up every fifty feet or so, illuminating what had been dark several hours ago. The ponies from the Engineering Battalion have been busy, Twilight thought to herself.

“Well, which hallway shall we chose, Twilight?” asked Lyra. “We have three that have yet to be explored. How about that one?” she suggested, pointing to the left-most unexplored one, still dark whereas the engineers have yet to set up the lighting there. When Twilight did not reply after a moment, she looked to find the purple mare gazing around with a puzzled look on her face. “You okay, Twilight?”

There was something not quite right to Twilight about this place. Something just felt off to her. It was not something that she noticed before, but she noticed it now. She could just feel it within her horn. It was a feeling that a unicorn does not forget. It felt like there was a magic field around her. Not a natural one like the one that encompasses the world she knew, but, more akin to being around a whole herd of unicorns all using magic. “Lyra, do you feel it? It feels like there is magic throughout this place,” she said to her explorer companion. She reached out with her magical sense, and felt it more strongly now that she focused on it.

“I feel it too, Twilight,” Lyra let her know, as she too, focused her senses around her. How is it possible that they missed this before, she wondered to herself? Maybe the suits dulled their magical senses, or maybe they had just been too focused on what the other senses were telling them. Either way, the fact that they both could sense much higher levels of ambient magical energies indicates that whomever it was that built this place had been able to use magic in some form.

The two of them walked around the lobby, attempting to feel if there was any particular direction that the magic felt stronger. As Twilight suspected, it seemed to feel stronger towards the back wall, indicating that the source was not external to the artifact that they were exploring. When she got to the desk, she noticed that there seemed to be some focused magic there. It seemed to be centered around the computer within the desk.

Lyra sensed it too. The computer seemed to have magic with it somehow. Either in use, or some other function which she had no clue of. “What is this magic field doing around this, Twilight? Can you sense what it’s purpose is?” she asked in awe. The implications were astounding, and could conceivably rewrite Ancient Equestrian history.

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, “I have never sensed magic like this before. It feels so… alien. And yet, there is something recognizable about it. I wonder if Celestia or Luna could figure this out?” she asked herself. If anypony had the knowledge to understand this better, it would be either or both of the Princesses. They had been around a lot longer than any other pony around, save Cadance. Just from the sheer volume of experience, they would most likely know more than her. She would have to ask Princess Celestia the next time she saw her, Twilight concluded. Celestia seemed the most likely choice, where as she had a thousand years over her sister, due to the younger sibling’s banishment. Also, Princess Luna seemed more versed in different topics than science. Her knowledge of magic, though extensive, was of a different sort than the the ruler of the Sun. She seemed more knowledgeable about military matters, and topics of the night. As for her sister-in-law, Princess Cadance, her knowledge was more centered around the social sciences. Psychology, equine relations, the study of emotions, and whatnot.

“How about we shelve this discovery until we can talk to somepony about it, such as one of the princesses?” Lyra suggests to Twilight.

That made sense to Twilight, and she agreed. The two of them moved on in silence, heading towards the recently discovered power plant for the caverns. It appeared that the primary power supply for the whole place was geothermal in nature. The details were at a level beyond what the engineers who had found the plant could understand, and they had been busy cataloging every little detail they could find for further study. Twilight wish to see for herself, and maybe even offer some of her own ideas she might come up with.

Lyra was lost in her own thoughts, thinking of the model skeleton and the posters which they had found during their first exploration into the cavernous place. One particular detail was stuck in her mind. Instead of forelegs, they seemed to have arms like a dragon or minotaur. And hands or claws like that or a minotaur as well. Something about that just seemed to be deeply connected to something important, though she was unable to place her hoof on it.

Ideas started forming within her subconscious, making connections here and there. Eventually, it all came together in a paradigm shift, one which brought the mint unicorn to a halt.

“They were right all along!” Twilight paused to look to Lyra, wondering what it was she was referring to. “It all fits. It makes sense now,” she said, more to herself than to Twilight.

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked her.

“Quills and pencils, typewriters, shovel handles and doorknobs. So many objects in everyday life that we use on a regular basis that clearly were not designed around hooves. They seem to be designed around creatures that can grasp them or otherwise manipulate them with claws.” Lyra ignored the puzzled look on Twilight’s face as she continued with her thoughts. “Why is it that we, as ponies, who have hooves, always seem to design and make stuff that clearly would be better manipulated with claws.”

Twilight held up a hoof to stop Lyra for a moment. “You’re not referring to that small fringe group that thought we all came from some ancient race, are you?” she asked. “There has never been any scientific evidence to back up their ideas. Just a bunch of hokey ideas with no rational basis,” she concluded.

“And yet, what was it we found? Seriously, Twilight, with what we saw earlier, could it be that, just maybe, there might be some sort of validity to their claims?”

Twilight had no reply. As crazy as it all sounded, Lyra did have a point. All she could do is keep her mind open to new knowledge, no matter how much said knowledge changed everything ponykind held sacred and dear. “Lets just get down to the power plant. We’ll deal with things as they happen.”

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The power plant was an engineering marvel. Easily three times the power generating capacity of the Ponyville dam, and all of it running off of the internal heat of the planet itself. Unfortunately, the plant was only capable of producing a fraction of the power it should. “If it’s designed to produces so much power, how come it’s only producing so little?”

“Wear and tear. That is our guess,” said the chief engineer who had been inspecting everything. It appears that all the machinery has been running for years all on its own. Thousands of years, I would guess. It seems that a big part of the magic field is a stasis field that keeps wear to an absolute minimum.”

Leading them to another part of the plant, the engineer had more to show the two mares. “Here is something even more amazing! Whoever it was that built all this, they developed a means to artificially create magical energy, along with the means to transmit the energy like electricity. The implications of all of this could change everything we know!” he excitedly declared.

“I want to see all your notes on what you have found. Especially on the magic generation. Nothing in anypony’s studies has ever indicated that it could be possible to artificially create raw magical energy. The level of technology in this place would easily be an order of magnitude above anything we have currently.” Looking around, Twilight marveled at what she was seeing. “I don’t even know where to begin, this is so incredible.”

“Welcome to the new world, Twilight,” Lyra said, half jokingly. “It looks like it’s going to be a hell of a ride.”

After a few hours of exploration and study of the power plant, Twilight was only marginally closer to understanding the technology involved with the production of magic. She had a long way to go before she would come close to having a true understanding. The notes she had taken would make for many night’s worth of studying, so she did have that to look forward to.

Right now, her, Lyra, and the engineer, Tight Bolt, were inspecting another machine, one that none of them had any clue as to its purpose. It was toroidal in shape, or, as Lyra had stated, shaped like a donut. This donut, though, was one that even Pinkie Pie could not hope to eat. For one thing, it was huge, With a height of five meters, and a good fifteen meters across. The fact that it was made from metal and other similarly inedible materials made it so the risk of it ending up in an earth pony’s stomach was just about zero.

Whatever it was, it apparently used a tremendous amount of energy to run, if the size of the power leads going into it were any indication. From the size and amount of power feeds, Bolt figured that it would take in more energy than geothermal generators would be able to generate, had they been running at one hundred percent. This did not make much sense to either the engineer or Twilight.

“Does that mean that there are more generators within this complex?” Lyra asked.

“Not that we have seen so far. Then again, we have not fully explored the site. For all we know, this room could be just one of several plants,” replied Bolt.

“What if we’re mistaken, and what we’re seeing are power leads leading out? What if this is just another form of electrical generation?” she asked further.

“How would it generate power, then? If the power leads are any indication, then this would be able to produce easily twice the power than the steam turbines would be able to turn out. I see no turbines, or generators, for that matter,” Twilight answered.

“How do they generate magical energy? That’s the thing, Twilight. We just do not yet understand how it is done, but that does not mean it is impossible. Whoever it was that made all of this, it seems that they were gone before any recorded history on our part. Who is to say that they were limited to what we would understand? For all we know, they could have been technological gods.”

Twilight had to admit, Lyra did have a point. Before they could ponder this train of thought further, they were interrupted by a guardpony running up to them. “Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna requests your presence immediately. There has been a discovery that she believes that you and Miss Heartstring need to see. Follow me, and I will bring you to her,” he instructed the two of them. He did not wait for an acknowledgment before turning to briskly trot back the way he had come. All the two mares could do is hurry up to follow.

The guard led the pair back the way they had come, and then on to a different corridor, one which the two had not yet been down. They briskly traveled down numerous corridors, and even down a couple flights of stairs before they came to an open cavern.

The open space was huge. Lights evenly spaced every ten meters or so gave her a frame of reference, and the room appeared to be over three hundred meters wide by five hundred meters long. The room seemed filled with containers of some sort, evenly spaced in rows and columns. Twilight tried to get a count of the containers, but from her perspective, she was unable to make any accurate guess.

She found Luna by a console of some sort, talking with several of her guards. Once she dismissed the thestrals, she turned to the two mares. “Twilight, Lyra, thank you for promptly showing up. With what I have found, I thought that the two of you should be the first ones I share my discovery with.”

“What did you find, Princess Luna?” asked Lyra, curious as to what it could be that required their immediate attention.

Beckoning the two of them to follow her, Luna says, “I think it would be better that you see for yourselves.” Leading Twilight and Lyra to one of the containers. The container stood roughly a meter tall, and was about two and a half meters long by a little over a meter wide. On one side was a light faintly glowing green, with a row of lights below it glowing yellow. Twilight wondered what the purpose for the lights was. She figured that they must be indicators of some sort. Next to the lights appeared to be a panel of some sorts. What was behind the panel was unknown, but she felt that they would soon ascertain that knowledge. “Try looking at the top, Twilight.”

Twilight propped herself up to look at the top. It appeared to be smooth metal, until she saw that one end had what looked to be a glass window. Shuffling over to look through, she could only stare as her mind tried to process what it was that she was seeing. What she saw through the glass was a face, unlike any other that she had ever seen.