//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Progression // Story: Creationism // by Sollace //------------------------------// “I can’t believe this!” Rainbow Dash was now pacing and swearing vehemently at the trees around them, “These stupid tr- Why can’t they just- Arg!” Rainbow kicked the nearest trunk. The tree, much like the countless times before, showed no signs of emotion. “Calm down sugar cube. Yelling ain’t going ta fix anything.” Applejack was lazing calmly with her back against the tree trunk, her Stetson hat shifted low to cover her eyes. Rainbow Dash skipped into the air and hovered above where Applejack lay, giving her, her best glare. “Says you, what have you done?” “Ah been thinking.” “Pretty sure I heard ya’ snoring just a minute ago.” Rainbow Dash jested as she leaned back, folding her hooves and giving a smug grin. “Well, what am ah suppose’ to do? ‘Not like ah can talk to trees or nothing.” “But don’t you talk to your apple trees all the time?” “Well…” Applejack thought on this for a moment, “yeah, but this ain’t quite the same.” “Please, trees are trees. It’s worth a try isn’t it?” Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes, “All right.” and rolled over onto her hooves to stand. She began pacing around the circle, running her hoof over the rough bark. Rainbow landed in the centre to watch. “Right” Applejack stopped at one of the trunks and ran her hoof up and down it, “Uh… hello there, tree?” “You can do better than that.” She heard Rainbow comment from behind. Choosing to ignore it Applejack tried again, putting her ear to the wood she spoke quietly, just above a whisper. “Hey, uh, little fella, won’t ya be a nice guy and let us out?” Silence. Applejack stepped back and turned to Rainbow, “Ya see? N-” A low rumble reverberated through the clearing cutting Applejacks sentence short. It quickly grew in volume until all the trunks around them began to vibrate, and moving as one the tree Applejack had spoken to parted from its neighbour revealing a passageway. Applejack’s jaw dropped, literally, “Hubba what?” Applejack shook her head to make sure she wasn’t seeing anything. “Told you,” Rainbow Dash mocked as she trotted past towards the now open passage. “Hmf” Applejack frowned and pushed her hat down, “Ya’ll got this one, Rainbow…” then continued on after Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie bounded down the passage, every so often checking behind her to make sure she hadn’t lost Twilight, “Hurry up!” She shouted back, and then resumed her merry bouncing. She followed the passage for a while longer and then stopped, having noticed a faint blue light out of the corner of her eye. Checking that Twilight was still going to be a while, Pinkie followed it to one of the side entrances. “Whoa...” She silently whispered to herself. On the other side was a large circular space, dimly lit from the centre by a spotlight focused squarely on a free-standing mirror in the middle of the room. Pinkie quietly paced around the room, investigating. There didn’t appear to be anything else of interest, the walls were bare marble, and there appeared to be nothing above, quite literally. The walls just seemed to keep going until they faded into blackness. In fact, it occurred to Pinkie that she couldn’t remember ever checking up there, it seems like the place didn’t even have a roof. Seeing nothing else to care about, Pinkie turned to the mirror. It was a simple swivel mirror, like the one you would see in a boutique. Its frame was a very deep purple with a faint sparkly finish to it, and the top boasted a lavish star-shaped jewel. Pinkie placed a hoof against the frame as she walked around the front; it felt cold. Looking into the mirror Pinkie saw her own reflection staring back but, as she watched, the image seemed to shimmer ever so slightly. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were quietly following a small path from their starting place in the ring of trees into what looked like a deep forest. Trunks loomed on either side, a thick mass of leaves and intertwining branches forming a long green tunnel. Above could be heard the occasional chatter of creatures scurrying through the canopy. “Look!” Rainbow pointed ahead where the tunnel came to an abrupt end, with what looked like an old swivel mirror standing in the middle of the path. Its frame, a single piece of wood, was starting to show the signs of age. Its surface was faded and cracked along the grain. At the top of it sat a faint engraving, with what looked like three small apples upon closer inspection. “That’s strange...” “Why is there a mirror all the way out here?” “I... don’t know.” Rainbow Dash reached out with a hoof to touch mirror’s surface. It felt cold, and strangely bouncy to the touch. The surface of the mirror stuck to her hoof and deformed for a moment as Rainbow pulled her hoof back, then snapped back to return to its normal flat surface. It shimmered for a moment and, as they watched, their reflections changed. The scene of a forest with two ponies standing side by side faded away, and was replaced by a much darker scene. A pink mare, with a long straight mane flowing over her shoulders and wide, blue eyes stood in the centre of a dark room, staring directly at them. Applejack leaned in closer and squinted into the glass, “Pinkie Pie, is that you?” “Pinkie Pie, is that you?” The voices echoed out through mirror and across the room. The spotlight above was well overpowered by the bright daylight sun flowing forth from the mirror and it took several moments for Pinkie Pie’s eye to adjust. She simply sat there, staring, her normal smile having long since faded. The two figures in the mirror were continuing to try and get her attention, not that it mattered. “Pinkie Pie? Where are you?” Twilight’s voice sounded somewhere up the corridor and there was the faint sound of hooves clopping against the ground signalling the mare’s eventual arrival. Without a word, Pinkie Pie stood up and trotted around to the back of the mirror. “Wait, Pinkie, was that Twi— Where did she go?” Applejack’s voice was heard from the mirror and the reflections were seen looking around, trying to find where Pinkie had gone. “I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash’s voice joined her, “Pinkie, come back! Get Twilight, somepony!” Pinkie Pie stepped around the back of the mirror and pressed her side firmly against the back, “Sorry, girls” She spoke softly into the mirror, “but I can’t let you go ruining all my fun, now, can we?” Pinkie Pie sneered as she pressed with her full weight. The mirror was much more solid than it had initially appeared. The stand had a large heavy base and she could feel the mirror resisting her efforts. The base slid an inch across the floor, almost knocking Pinkie off balance and sending her face first into the ground. She adjusted her stance and continued pushing. This time the base caught on something in the ground and, inch by inch the mirror began to tilt. The voices inside were sounding more and more frantic, “Pinkie, wait, stop!” And the sounds of hooves slamming against the mirrors surface filled the room. Pinkie licked her lips and tried her best to ignore that voice inside her head, and continued her efforts. She continued pushing, adding all her weight. She was now almost lying on top of the mirror as it continued the downwards decline. “Pinkie Pie, sto—” The voices suddenly became silent with a loud crash, and the room was plunged into blackness. “Pinkie Pie? Where are you?” Twilight called out. She was still trotting in the direction she’d seen Pinkie Pie take off in, but couldn’t see where the mare had gone after she disappeared around that corner, “Pinkie Pi—” A loud crash broke her off. Her fur stood on end and she swivelled around in the direction of the noise. “Oh no,” she whispered under her breath, and dashed in that direction. Twilight came across Pinkie Pie sitting in the middle of another circular room with her hooves crossed in front of her. She was sitting slumped on the floor with her back to the entrance, shards of broken glass scattered around and the broken frame of some kind of mirror lying face down at the back. Twilight rushed to her friend’s side, “What happened?” “I- I’m sorry, Twilight” Pinkie sobbed. She didn’t look up at Twilight and instead focused on wrapping her hooves around each other, “... it was an accident.” That’s okay, Pinkie” Twilight kneeled next to Pinkie Pie and put a hoof on her shoulder, “Let me see,” Pinkie held up her arms for Twilight. There was a large gash along the left and it trailed blood lightly down the side of Pinkie’s foreleg but it didn’t look like there was anything more serious. Twilight sighed, “Pinkie, you have to be more careful.” She stood up and pulled Pinkie Pie to her hooves with her. Twilight led her out of the room, away from the broken glass, and let her lean against the wall outside. She checked the mare over once more to be sure she was okay. There were other scrapes but none of them proved life threatening, “Okay, I’m going to go find you something to dress that,” Twilight motioned to Pinkie’s leg. It had just begun to dribble anew, so Twilight lifted the leg up into the air and instructed Pinkie to keep it that way. Twilight ran over to the nearest shelf and levitated down one of the old books. She flipped it open in her aura and inspected the pages. Blank, of course, but this was perfect for what she needed. The book was rather large and thus its pages could easily be wrapped around one’s forleg. She took the book over to pinkie and ripped out several pages, then stuck them around the wound as a make-shift bandage. Twilight pressed them down and held the pages in place as she soaked up the blood, “Okay, this should hold,” Indeed the pages did stick, thanks to the clotting nature of blood, but they still hang limply around the edges. She directed Pinkie on how to keep the pages in place, “You just have to hold your hoof here,” She placed Pinkie’s other hoof under her forleg, positioned against the place where the edges of the pages met. “Thanks, Twilight.” Pinkie did as looked up to the Unicorn with a thin smile, “I can always count on you to help me.” “What are friends for?” She replied, and helped Pinkie up, “Are you able to walk?” “Not like this, no.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared blankly at the mirror, Rainbow with her mouth hanging open in horror. The glass surface, though still intact, now stood shattered into a web of shards, each reflecting their own smaller copy of the woods, “Why would she do that? If that was a portal we could have—” Rainbow fumed and threw her hooves in the air, “That could have been out ticket out of here!” Applejack said nothing. She simply frowned and glared at the mirror then, pushing her Stetson low, turned around to begin trotting away back the way they’d come. “Hey!” Rainbow turned around, “Where are you going?” “Ah’m going back to the clearing, we haven’ time t’ lose,” Applejack kept her head low and continued walking. After a quick glance to the broken mirror, and then back to Applejack, Rainbow decided to follow. “Do you have a plan then?” Rainbow took to the air and hovered next to Appejack as they walked. “Ah do,” the nodded, “Ah recon there must be another mirror hidden somewhere around here and we’d better find. Ah get the feeling we’re not the ones that need to be rescued.” Shining Armour stood in silent darkness for what felt like forever. He could feel his heart beating against his chest and the faint warmth of the Princess standing next to him, “Tell me Shining Armour,” Celestia spoke, causing Shining Armour to jump at the sudden sound, “Are you familiar with the concept of Creationism?” “Um, I am, Princess” Shining Armour nodded, though he wasn’t sure if the Princess could see him. He continued without prompt, “It is a belief that Equestria was created all at once, by a deity, as opposed to the Celestian model currently taught. Followers of such a religion believe that you, Princess, are responsible for the world we currently know, and that it is your good grace that it remains as it is.” “That is very good, Shining Armour.” “B- but everypony knows that it is not true. Such a theory goes in complete contradiction with the Hearthwarming’s tale, among many other historical records dating Equestria’s origins.” “And how do you know those records themselves, are true?” At this Shining Armour frowned, and went silent. It couldn’t possibly. The records of the Hearthwarming’s event are numerous, with many accounts from many tribes, not to mention other historical records predating that. After what felt like an eternity, a faint glow emerged from below. It slowly grew brighter by the minute as the platform carried them both further into the mountain below and closer to their destination. Suddenly the walls around them come to an end, revealing a large cavern below Canterlot. The entire space was brightly illuminated by hundreds of crystals lining the ceiling, reflecting the form of Equestria’s most known constellations. Two large fire gems, a ruby and sapphire, studded the roof of the caver on opposite sides bathing the space in a mix of orange and gold. The cavern is perfectly round, a series of doors stood equally spaced around the circumference of the chamber, eight of them, each bearing a unique insignia. One had a large sun emblazoned in the middle, likely representative of Princess Celestia; another had the moon which would put that as Luna’s. A third had a combination of the two, a large sun with a crescent moon at its centre, likely shared equally between both princesses. But the other five were not anything that Shining Armour could recognise. The platform slowed its decent and came to rest in the centre of the room, perfectly level with the floor and completing a solar diagram mirroring the one from the surface. “This way”, Celestia walked forward briskly, leading Shining Armour across the room towards the door with both the sun and moon on it. “What is this place?” asked Shining as he tried to keep up. “This is the ancient royal archives, a long kept secret of the crown. Until now, only Luna and I have ever set hoof in this place.” “Has this been here all along?” “It was a natural cavern we found early on and a major factor in our later decision for the location of the Capitol. During the castle’s construction we had the cavern enlarged and finished. The construction ponies were never told as to its final intention and were sworn to secrecy.” The two arrive at the door and Celestia light her horn. The door’s insignia glowed in a like aura and the doors cracked ajar. They started to slowly separate revealing another chamber insides, “In the years after its completion Luna and I went on to populate it with personal artefacts of old and enchanted these doors to secure the contents.”The two continued forward through the now opened doorway. The door leading into yet another room, a cavernous void lit only by a single column of light illuminating a platform suspended in the centre. Under the light floated a large heavy set tome its pages yellowed and torn around the edges, an assortment of ribbons hanging out near the binding, and the inscription of the two Royal Sisters etched into the front cover. Celestia trotted forward into the room, with Shining Armour close behind. She stepped aside and motioned to the book, “This is the Diary of the Two Sisters, the real one. It contains records of events going back far beyond the conception of modern day Equestria all of which are true. In that book is contained all your answers, and many secrets that the crown has gone great lengths to keep hidden from prying eyes.” “It is now your choice, Shining Armour. We have chosen to trust you with these secrets. You may now read it, and know what we know, or refuse and continue on in ignorance. We will not blame you for choosing the latter.”