//------------------------------// // ...and a Day // Story: The Forever Game // by Shakespearicles //------------------------------// In the Crystal Caves beneath Canterlot, the mine to collect gems had been reopened shortly after their re-discovery during the wedding of Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor. Progress was slow at first. Most of the initial work was restoring the original infrastructure that was already in place. Repairing the old mine cart rails, and replacing the rotting support beams. After a few months, the mine eventually turned a profit for the crown. But business really picked up when the Crystal Empire reappeared, ushering in a new flood of tourism. Ponies everywhere wanted crystals, but didn't want to pay top bit for authentic Crystal Empire crystals. Luckily, the Canterlot mine was able to provide some consumer-friendly competition in the crystal market, at competitive rates. 'Why travel all the way to the Frozen North? Get your crystals here!' The mine itself was a boon for the then-unemployed, offering steady work and good pay. The work was hard and the hours could be long. But if you were stallion enough for the job, you could take home a tidy sum. "Hustle up!" the foreman shouted out, "We gotta chew another thirty yards north in this corridor! Get those supports up! Bring in some more track! Let's actually make our quota this week!" All around him was a hurricane of activity. Ponies put up wooden strut beams, nailing cross-planks into place. Behind them, workhorses brought in rail ties and steel rail on a cart, laying it down as fast as the beams went up. No sooner was the cart empty, than the miners chipped away at the crystalline wall face, putting the raw material into the cart, filling it. The full cart rolled away, passing another at the switch yard, with more building materials heading into the breach. And that was how the work went. Day in and day out. You went down in. You worked. You ate lunch. You worked some more. And then you went home. When you woke up the next day, you knew what you were going to be doing. There was no surprises to it. Until today. "BOSS!" one of the miners yelled. The foreman galloped to the active dig site, fearing the worst. An accident down here was serious business. "What is it? What's wrong!? Dammit, somepony give me a sit-rep!" He got to the site. The miners were all just standing there, looking at the wall. "What the hay is going on?" He walked up beside the miners. The miner beside him cocked his head. "We don't know what it is," he said pointing at the wall. The foreman looked at the wall again, peering through the haze of the dust hanging in the air of the mine. Inside the crystal wall, he could see a dark area, a smudge inside the crystals. "Bring in another floodlight!" he ordered. A couple other ponies brought in the lighting equipment, shining it into the translucent crystal. Inside, the dark area, the smudge, it was clearly the outline of some kind of figure. An animal of some kind. He checked his watch. It was after-dark topside. "Fetch me a runner!" After a few moments, a pegasus flittered through the cavern to his location. "Get a message to Princess Luna immediately, if not sooner. She's gonna want to know about this." Princess Luna quickly walked down the long tunnels of the mine, escorted by her runner and guide, leading her to the site of the 'find'. "Here! It's just up ahead Your Highness!" he said. She turned the corner into the alcove of the new dig. The floodlights brightly illuminated the 'find'. Luna had never seen it before, but she recognized immediately what it was. "Alder" she whispered under her breath. "Your Majesty?" he asked. "EVERYPONY LISTEN UP!" Luna bellowed into the gathered crowd. "I want cuts made around this... 'find'. I need it taken out in one piece! Not a scratch. And then we're going to get it topside." "Princess Luna," the foreman addressed her, "with all due respect, this is my dig site." "Not right now, it isn't," she replied. "with all due respect." "We don't have the equipment to move something like this!" he explained. "Then I suggest you get some. Now!" she commanded. "There's no way we can do all this and stay within our budget!" "Consider you budget increased," she said. "I want this topside, like, yesterday! No matter what the cost!" She turned to the other ponies. "RUNNERS! Front and center!" Two pegasi presented themselves. "Get a message to Princess Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville, and my sister as soon as Equinely possible!" "Princess Celestia will be asleep at this hour," one of them said. "Then WAKE HER!" she demanded. He still looked unsure. "Yes. It's THAT important! Now go!" The two pegasi flew off through the tunnels to the main shaft with all haste. Miners were already beginning to make scoring marks around the 'find'. "And what of you, Your Highness?" the foreman asked. Luna put on a hardhat, pulling the straps tight. She looked back to the figure trapped in the crystal wall. "This 'find' doesn't leave my sight," Luna said. Princess Celestia walked through the long corridors of the mine. Some parts of it were familiar, others were new developments. "Your Highness," her chaperon said, "the mine is a dangerous place. We're a little... uncomfortable having both you and your sister in here at the same time. If anything were to happen-" "If my sister summoned me in the middle of the night, it must be important," she said. "Yes, Your Majesty. But if it's all the same, we should make this visit as brief as possible," he said. Celestia rubbed the sleep from her tired eyes. "I agree." "Bring in the pry bars!" she heard Luna's voice shouting ahead. She hastened into a trot, hurrying to her sister's side. "Luna!" "Tia! We've found him!" "Who?" "Him! The First One," Luna said. Celestia peered through the haze of dust in the floodlights. Stepping forward, closer to the 'find', her eyes went wide. She could see the shape inside the crystal. Her lips moved without a sound. Alder He had been removed from the wall. The crystal he was inside stood freely on the floor. Too large to be moved, or lifted to the surface. "We'll take this from here." Princess Celestia said. "Sister, should we-" Luna looked at the others around them. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Should we do it here?" "We should get him back to the castle." Celestia said. "This facility doesn't have the means of moving the crystal this large," Luna said. Celestia weighed the options. "You two," Celestia said to her accompanying Royal Guards, "get these workers cleared out. Set up a perimeter at the end of this hall. This is for royal eyes only. Understood?" The guards snapped to attention and acknowledged with salutes, answering in unison. "Ma'am!" They moved into action, clearing out the crowd of onlookers. Celestia and Luna waited until there was nopony else around. "Are you ready?" she asked. He sister nodded. Together, they aimed their horns at the crystal prison. They only had one shot at this and they had to get it right, together. Their horns glowed, forming the spell. The crystal glowed and shuddered. The spell snapped closed, shattering the crystal like safety glass. He remained standing. Stalk still at first, then he blinked. His mouth opened and he drew breath. He moved his arms, looking at his hands in front of him. He tried to focus his eyes, shielding them with his hand while looking at the silhouette in the glare of the flood lights. "Faust!? Discord has betrayed us!" he said, taking a shaky step forward. His eyes adjusted at last, seeing the two ponies standing before him. An expression of recognition washed over him. "Tia? Little Luna?" It was a bit of a misnomer. Luna was almost as tall as him. "You're taller than I remember. You sure sprouted." he said to her with a smile. "Both of you." He looked back at Celestia. "Thank goodness you're both okay," he said. "Discord is going to try to plunge the world into chaos!" "That has already happened." Celestia said. "We stopped him, Luna and I." "Then I arrived just in time!" he said, speaking to Luna. "He will have left behind a curse to cause you to become overcome with envy, and transform you into a wicked mare of darkness!" "That has also already happened," Luna said. Alder rubbed his chin. "Then we have to prepare for his return!" Alder said. "If I'm here, in this world, then it means that he has cheated at The Forever Game!" "He has already escaped from his stone prison. The elements defeated him again," Celestia said. "But he will bring with him the three harbingers of doom!" Alder said. "A Change-" "A Changeling Army, King Sombra, and Tirek? All taken care of." Luna said. Alder stood there, still a bit dazed. "How long have I been out?" he asked. "Forever and a day, Alder," Celestia said. "Forever and a day." "I don't understand," Luna said. "I know that he was brought into our world as a result of Discord cheating, but I thought that the second part of it, of the prophecy..." "That the discovery of you, by us," Celestia continued, "would mean the turning of the age, and the coming of the greatest power this world has ever know." "But what could be more powerful, more dangerous than all of those things put together? What hope would we possibly have against such a force?" Luna asked. "What would a monstrosity like that even look like? "Princess?" The three of them turned and looked back. "I got your message... Who is that?" "This... is Alder, the human. You remember? From the stories I used to tell you? Well, this one is true," Celestia said. She looked at the human. "Alder... this is Twilight Sparkle."