//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Digging a hole // Story: Shield and Shadow Part 1: Rise and Fall // by LucidReverie //------------------------------// Work. Spring Mist looked at the strange sight before him: A large indentation in the earth, a crater. Though this crater was odd, for there was no broken earth, and scorching or burning, no heat, and despite being in the middle of a forest, the trees were undamaged, appearing to have moved of their own volition, making way for the landing of whatever celestial body fell that morning. Why haven’t the trees been broken or burned? Mist thought to himself. What happened here? What is that odd tingling? The investigation party had moved into the crater and was beginning to break off into smaller groups, but Mist barely noticed their comings and goings, lost in his own world of questions? Mist’s wonderings were interrupted by Honey Sweetroll yelling orders to the team of scholars and assistants. “Move ponies! Get those tents set up over there! Guardboy, quit daydreaming and help Bloom! Start setting up the instruments! Hey, careful with that… …” Mist broke free from his own mind and trotted over to Brilliant Bloom. The pony smiled, saying, “Well, I guess we’ll be working together. Now, it’s our job to briefly survey the area and find the point of impact, then see if we can find and recover or uncover the meteorite. You up for it?” Mist took a while to respond, still finding his mind wandering along some strange paths of thought. “Uh, yeah. Sure.” Why does it feel so odd here? Bloom moved closer to Mist, a concerned look painted on his face, “Are you alright, Mist? You seem a little out of it.” Mist focused more, “Yes, I’m fine, Bloom. Just lost in thought. Wondering about this place.” “Yes, it is rather interesting. Most unusual in fact. Have you ever seen a crater before?” “No never, but the descriptions and illustrations in my books suggested something far more… devastating. This place looks almost peaceful. Are you sure we are in the right area?” “Oh, no doubt. We walked about the projected distance, and we’ve had one of our pegasi fly up and scout the area. He reported nothing else nearby, and any further is out of our calculated zone. And you are correct, this site seems relatively unharmed, despite the rather large hole in the ground suggesting a significant impact.” “Any theories, Brilliant?” Mist smirked. “Oh, funny. Let’s just go find that rock, or whatever it may be.” Mist nodded, and the two walked further into the crater, towards what seemed to be the middle. The earth was unblemished, though the grass had disappeared along with any other plant or animal life. “Is it possible that everything was just… disintegrated by the blast?” Mist inquired. “Under normal circumstances, yes. But you have surely noticed the lack of burn damage, ash, scorch marks, or really anything to suggest that the local plant life was hit.” Bloom responded. “But what happened then?” “I have no idea. The trees and bushes, even the grass, all appeared to make way for the approach.” “Is that even possible? Plants moving around?” “Mist, there are more things in this world that we don’t understand than those we do, and this forest is rich with natural magical energy. Honestly, anything could be possible.” “Well, that doesn’t help us, does it?” “Not especially. It’s hard enough trying to find things like this meteorite without them possibly following a completely different set of rules than we do, and in an area that could follow its very own unique set of rules. Now there are of course magical items and artifacts that we don’t know much about that follow laws we don’t understand, but that theory extending into living things? Imagine the absurdity. Think of a bird or a dog or even a pony that seemed to only follow rules it understood. There has only been one such creature, and it was the only one of its kind. But it was also a spirit, so maybe it’s exempt from the idea.” “Ah, Discord, right? I can see how a living thing with its own rules could become a complication for the common world. But do you think that we have something like that here?” “Glad to see you know your history too. Again, anything is possible. We’ll see when we get to the bottom of it.” With that, the two ponies kept their muzzles to the ground, searching for any sign of the offending object. It wasn't until Bloom decided to use a gem-finding spell that they made headway in the search. They were directed to the absolute middle of the crater, its deepest spot. Still, nothing was immediately visible, so they began to remove earth with their magic. Maybe a colt’s height down, the two found an orb around the size of a hoofball. The item was smooth and round, almost carved in appearance. “Shouldn’t it be more, I don’t know, ‘rock-y’-looking?” asked Mist. Bloom pried the sphere out of the hole in the ground, responding, “One would think so. But looking at it, I’d say that this fits the meteorite size to crater size ratio. This is our culprit.” “Well that’s interesting,” Mist stated as Bloom closely observed the orb floating in his magical grasp. “No. That is interesting,” Bloom said as he turned the part he was looking at to face Mist. Mist squinted at the floating ball, and could barely make out shapes etched into the stone. At first, Mist thought they were just scratches, but soon he realized what they were. “Is that writing?” “Looks like. But no writing I’ve seen before. We should clean it up and record everything. Then get the etchings to the linguists.” “I’m heading back to Everfree to be there before sunset. I could take the report.” “Alright then. But let’s get this back to the camp. Honey will want to see this.” Mist and Bloom headed back to the camp, only a brief walk away. Already, samples of the earth and surrounding trees were being tested and analyzed. Tents were up, ponies were recording anything and everything, small chemistry labs bubbled, and the heavy lifters had a little time to relax. “I thought you were all astronomers. You also learn chemistry and biology?” Mist inquired, slightly confused by the presence of non-astronomical implements as they approached the center of the camp. “Of course not, you nitwit,” said Sweetroll harshly from behind a table covered in scrolls and books, “We only do the tests on the meteorites and crater. We bring along geologists and biologist to consult and conduct the tests we can’t. Nopony works entirely alone.” “Oh, come now, Honey,” Bloom said, “Leave him alone. He’s never been at an excavation before. Can’t expect him to know everything we know.” “Fine. I take it you found the meteorite?” she said, nodding at the orb floating beside Bloom’s head, “It looks a little odd.” “And that’s not all. Look,” Bloom said as he passed the object to Sweetroll. She looked over it briefly before spotting the markings. “What are these? Pictographs? Some kind of language?” “No idea,” Bloom admitted. “Well, it would be handy to have a linguist on site to decipher the markings. But as fate may have it, we don’t. Still, let’s get this thing cleaned off so we can get samples and record the script.” “What can I do?” asked Mist, feeling left out of the talk. “Stand there and twiddle your hoofs while us real academics do the work,” Sweetroll responded. “Honey…” began Bloom, shooting a glare at the mare. “Oh, fine. You can watch I guess,” she relented, picking up the sphere with her magic. The three ponies walked into the main tent. A worktable was set up in the middle and various tools were scattered around on trays and tables of their own. Mist watched in interest as Sweetroll placed the meteorite on the table and began to slowly and carefully remove earth from the surface. Bloom handed her tools as she needed them, and in a few minutes, the meteorite was a matte black ball, definitely some kind of stone, with the markings decidedly more clear. Bloom copied down the writing on a scroll and sealed it. It then floated over to Mist, who grabbed it with his own green glow. “I’ll get that to the linguists when I head back,” he said. “Well, we have little more to do here. You may as well start heading back,” Said Sweetroll dismissively. Mist was about to argue, but Bloom reassured him, “She’s right. Not much here for us at this point. Especially not for your interests - No night sky here. You go have fun stargazing tonight. Come back tomorrow if you want.” Mist conceded, “Alright then. I guess I’ll get my things and head off.” He walked away from the tent and towards the spot where he had set his things down. When he reached his belongings, he just looked at them with a deadpan expression. Turns out it was pointless bringing his saddlebags, and Mist gave a wistful look. Well that wasn't quite what I had hoped, he thought to himself. Today’s events were fascinating and exciting, just… not what he had thought they would be. Mist fitted on his bags and secured them to his body. He began to head up and out of the crater. Glancing back at the camp, Mist turned to the forest, trotting towards the road. It was easy enough to find and soon Mist was on the way back to Everfree. Well that was interesting. Let’s see what the rest of the day brings, shall we? Author's Note: Sorry it's a bit late everypony. I just never got to it. Busy busy busy busy. Meh. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!