A Lesson from the Dead

by maninthemask132

Chapter 1

A Lesson from the Dead

Chapter 1:

“Hurry up Spike, we don’t want to be late,” Twilight called, “I promised Pinkie Pie that we would help put up decorations before the party.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” the young dragon replied from the bathroom, “just give me a sec.”

“It’s already been five minutes, what’s taking so long?”

“Gee- sorry Twi, I just want to look my best before going out in public.”

Twilight could have argued the point further, but she really didn’t see a point to. She knew full well what was causing Spike’s sudden concern about his appearance, and she smiled slightly thinking about it. Today was Rarity’s birthday and Spike surely wanted to look good for her. Still, Twilight wished he would hurry up.

Twilight sighed as she peered out the bedroom window. It was cloudy, and the mid-afternoon sun managed to find only a few cracks to shine through. It looked as though the Weather-Pegasi were on schedule for that night's storm.

The sound of the bathroom door opening made Twilight turn her head. Spike emerged boasting a small red bowtie, and a curly black mustache.

“Ok,” Spike said, “I’m ready, let’s go.”

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It was getting late as Twilight trekked back toward the Ponyville library. Pinkie’s party for Rarity had taken up the whole afternoon, and while it had been fun, the purple unicorn was ready to call it a day.

“I still can’t believe you made me take off the mustache,” Spike grumbled from atop Twilight’s back.

“Not the mustache again,” sighed Twilight. It was the same argument they partook in on the way to the party. “As I told you before, Rarity appreciates you for who you are, you don’t need the mustache to get her attention. You may have noticed she was wearing her fire-ruby necklace today. You know–the one that you graciously provided the gemstone for…”
“Yeah,” muttered Spike, “still…”

“Besides, I can’t take you seriously whenever you wear that thing; you’re still just a baby dragon after all.”

As they approached the library, the door opened with the aid of Twilight’s magic. It had been quite a long day and Twilight heard her soft bed calling to her. As she got into bed, heavy raindrops could be heard outside; the promised storm having just begun. Twilight was glad she was warm and dry in her bed as she drifted off to sleep listening to the pounding of the rain.

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BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!

Twilight sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. The storm was raging worse than ever outside, with the rain falling hard and fast, and the winds roaring. Twilight jumped as yet another ear-splitting boom ravaged the air. It wasn’t often that a storm was this bad. The unicorn remembered that last time Ponyville had experienced a storm this bad was the night of her first ever sleepover; the weather had prevented Applejack and Rarity from returning to their respective homes.

Twilight’s heart-rate had settled down, but try as she might, sleep wouldn’t return to her. After lying in bed, wide awake, for what felt like ages, Twilight decided she might as well make use of her time. Getting out of bed, she made her way over to her desk. On top laid a book; it was Twilight’s favorite of the many adventures of Daring Do. Opening to the page marked by a small piece of fabric, Twilight felt herself becoming emerged into the story of the fearless golden-yellow pegasus.

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With all her concentration focused on the story, Twilight had lost her sense of time and had no idea how long she had sat at her desk reading. The sound of the storm letting up was what finally dragged her back into reality. She looked out the window and saw that the rain had stopped. It was only then Twilight realized just how tired she was.

After marking her page, the unicorn stood up and started heading for her bed. Something in the corner of her eye however made her stop and turn. A strange light outside her window had caught her attention. The unicorn stared out across Ponyville in the direction of the Everfree Forest. She now understood the source of the mysterious light. Twilight gasped as she recognized the area of the woods that had been enveloped by the light. She had ventured there on many occasions to visit her friend who lived in the forest.

“Oh no,” Twilight thought aloud, “Zecora!”

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Mud slashed out behind Twilight as she galloped down the path leading into the woods. Rounding a turn, Twilight was met with a horrendous sight. It was fire. The flames towered over Twilight and she could feel the intense heat from her position several yards away. Momentarily frozen in place, Twilight gaped as she tried to come to grips with the severity of the situation. From her distant window the fire had seemed much more manageable.

“Twilight, you are a pleasant sight. Have you come to aid my fire fight?”

The voice snapped Twilight out of her daze, and she turned toward the sound of the voice. Before her stood Zecora who, Twilight noticed, was drenched in sweat.

“Zecora! Are you alright?” Twilight asked feverishly. The zebra’s mane was singed and there was a rather large burn running down her side. Looking past Zecora, Twilight noticed that the flames were dangerously close to the zebra’s tree home. There was little time to act.

“I am fine Twilight, I thank you for your concern, but we cannot let this fire continue to burn.”

“No we can’t,” Twilight agreed. “Zecora, where is the nearest source of water?” the unicorn asked.

“Over there if you care to look, you will find yourself a babbling brook.” The zebra’s hoof directed Twilight’s attention in the direction of some trees that had yet to fall victim to the hungry inferno.

“Ok,” Twilight said after some quick thinking, “here’s what we’ll do. Zecora, you should run into your house and retrieve any items that are of the upmost importance to you just in case the fire reaches them. Bring them outside and place your caldron on top of them. That should protect them from the flames. I’ll use my magic to bring as much water to fight the fire as possible.”

The zebra nodded at this and began moving toward her house. Twilight galloped toward the spot Zecora had indicated earlier. Sidestepping a few trees, the unicorn spotted the brook that was flowing merrily. She frowned, the brook, while it might be an excellent source of water for drinking or washing one’s hooves, its size was rather disappointing when compared to the towers of flame engulfing the forest. Still, it was all that was available, and Twilight was determined to make it work.

The unicorn’s horn glowed pink as she began pulling water out of the creek. Twilight navigated the stream around the trees and over to the blazing fire where she began to apply it directly to the trees closest to Zecora’s house. The zebra could be seen skirting about within gathering together her most priceless possessions and herbs, placing them beneath her caldron. Twilight’s stream of water was doing little to fight the fire. She concentrated with all her might, calling her immense stores of magic. Her horn glowed brighter still as she pulled as much water as the brook had to offer, but to no avail. The stream simply did not contain enough water.

Zecora exited her house dragging her caldron just as the canopy of her tree caught fire. Twilight watched as her efforts barely affected the spreading fire. The unicorn was awestruck at how easily the fire was able to spread even with all the trees being wet from all the rain. It must be the immense heat from the fire that allowed… OF COURSE! How could she have been so foolish?! The storm had left the whole area drenched in plenty of water!

“Zecora, you should probably take a step back,” Twilight told the zebra who had just arrived beside her. The light from Twilight’s horn rivaled the light cast by the blaze as she called every ounce of magic she had. Rain water began flowing off from atop the plant leaves. Streams of water rose up from the damp ground, cracks forming in the dirt that had been mud mere seconds before. Hoofs planted firmly on the ground, Twilight was forming the streams of water into a single hovering mass that grew larger with each passing second. Eyes screwed up with the effort of it all, the unicorn directed a large stream of water from her personal reservoir towards Zecora’s house. The fire that had begun to engulf the home was no match for Twilight’s efforts this time, becoming easily extinguished by the onslaught of liquid. The flow was then directed toward the nearby trees, the water overpowering the blaze easily despite its intensity and heat. Twilight had drenched the trees in the surrounding area and saved Zecora’s home, yet the fire continued to burn while she stood there with her zebra friend. Using the last of her collected water, Twilight managed to drench one last tree before collapsing on the hard ground. Her efforts and lack of sleep had left her completely exhausted. The unicorn had done all she could.

“I can’t do it,” Twilight moaned from the ground, “the fire is spread out too far, and there still isn’t enough water.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself, you saved my home; something I could never have done alone. And just because the fire isn’t put out, it isn’t a reason to moan and pout. For up above what do I spy, but your good friend who loves to fly.”

Zecora’s words made Twilight look up. Up in the sky, and heading their way, was what appeared to be a large bundle of gray storm clouds. The large mass of cumulous was being pushed toward where Twilight stood by a dozen or so pegasus ponies.

“Just a bit further!” yelled one of the pegasus. Even from a great distance there was no mistaking that multihued mane.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called.

“Heya Twilight,” the pegasus called back, “you didn’t think we’d let you fight this fire all by yourself did you? Ok. Get ready to release the water!” Dash yelled out the last part to her fellow pegasi.

“Zecora, we should move,” Twilight said to the zebra guessing what was about to happen, “if we don’t want to get wet.”

“Ready…NOW!” Rainbow Dash yelled. The pegasi positioned at the top of the cloud began jumping on top, while all those to the sides began pushing inward. As the water was squeezed out of the clouds, it fell in a heavy downpour onto the flames below. The introduction of this vast quantity of water was too much for the fire, as it had already been weakened by Twilight's efforts. Slowly but surely the fire began to die out as the pegasi forced every bit of water out of the cloud mass. At long last the catastrophe was over as the last of the embers were quenched. It had been quite a long night for Twilight, and although the first rays of sun were peaking over the horizon, she wanted nothing more than to get to bed.

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“So there I was, sleeping soundly in my bed, when all of a sudden, this foul smell met my nose. The smoke had reached my bedroom all the way up in Cloudsdale! It was then that I jumped out of bed; I knew something was very wrong if smoke was invading my bedroom. Looking out my window I spied one of the most terrible yet awesome sights I have ever seen; the Everfree Forest was engulfed in flames! And this was no average fire, oh no. It must have been at least the size of Ponyville!”

The fillies and colts surrounding Rainbow Dash gasped. Twilight smiled to herself, she thought this was stretching the truth a little far. The fire had been a fierce one, but the unicorn doubted they could have dealt with it, had it been as massive as the town. Still, Twilight didn’t feel inclined to correct her friend as she munched on her daffodil and daisy sandwich.

“So what did you do?!” asked a highly enthusiastic Scootaloo: an orange coated, fuchsia maned, pegasus filly to whom Rainbow Dash was something like a god.

As Rainbow Dash went into a long winded explanation, Twilight finished up the last of her sandwich and stood up. She wasn’t busy this afternoon and had decided earlier to pay Zecora a visit in case she needed any help recovering from last night’s events. Leaving a few bits on the table, Twilight headed out from the café in the direction of the Everfree Forest, passing Rainbow Dash and her group of admirers. As she walked by, Twilight heard Scootaloo ask the pegasus to recount the story of how she acquired her cutie mark.

As she walked into the forest, Twilight found herself dwelling on the day she had acquired her own cutie mark. It had been then that Twilight discovered her special talent for magic, a rare talent, even with the vast number of unicorns living in Equestria.

While Twilight had been wrapped up in her own reminiscing, she had arrived at the part of the woods that had been revenged by the fire. There was ash everywhere, and it was a rather depressing scene as Twilight hopped a fallen tree as she moved in to assess the damage further. The trees in the area were nothing but charred skeletons of what they had once been. It made Twilight thing of winter as she surveyed the leafless trees that surrounded her.

There was one tree in particular that looked much worse than all the rest. Moving nearer, it was apparent what was different. Most of the trees had been left looking semi-intact, the fire really only having burned away the thinner branches completely. This tree, however, had a split running the entire length of the trunk, as though something had desired to rip the tree in half.

It wasn’t until Twilight was right next to the tree, that she noticed yet another absurd object. Semi-concealed by some of the tree’s roots laid a tan colored stone. What had caught the attention of the unicorn was not the color, however, but the strange looking scratch marks that had been etched into the stone. The scratches seemed to have some sort of pattern, and Twilight saw many of the markings etched in multiple places. The unicorn assumed that the symbols she saw were a part of some dead language that had used symbols to convey messages. Intrigued, Twilight broke off some of the dead tree’s roots in order to get a better look at the stone.
Question after question filled the purple unicorn’s mind as she tried to make sense of her situation. What were these symbols and what did they mean? Why had a tree been growing on top of this strange stone? What had caused the tree to rupture so spectacularly?

In an attempt to try and answer some of her questions, Twilight used her magic to break away more of the dried roots before removing the stone to examine it further. As she pulled the stone from its resting place, its purpose suddenly become clear. Where Twilight had naturally expected to be ground, was instead a staircase that had been concealed by the stone. The stairs appeared to lead down into an ancient, forgotten ruin.

Not sure what she should do, Twilight simply stood there staring down into the dark depths of the ruin. What could be down there? What should she do about it? Should she tell someone? Should she perhaps, venture in?

“Twilight is that you I see? Why do you stand by that dead tree?”

The voice made Twilight jump. She turned quickly around, but as she did so, she covered the stairs with the stone once again.

“Hey Zecora, I didn’t hear you walk up,” Twilight said as she carefully kicked some dirt on top of the stone with her left hind leg. For now the ruin was going to remain her secret.

“Lightning has struck that tree dead, that was the cause of the burning red,” Zecora said in answer to Twilight’s unasked question.

“Oh, now I get it,” Twilight said,“it was the storm that started the fire last night, I had wondered about that. I guess that also explains why this tree was ripped apart.” Then, to ensure that Zecora did not look too closely at the tree and notice the stone now fully exposed beneath, Twilight asked the zebra, “So uh, did your house hold up ok?” The unicorn hoped to shift Zecora’s attention away from the split tree.

Turning away from the tree, Zecora started off toward her house, indicating that Twilight should follow. The zebra explained in her usual rhyming manner, that her house was in rather good condition thanks to the unicorn’s actions, and that any repairs wouldn’t be too hard to make. She explained that while the fire had destroyed a few of her household decorations, all her important possessions, like her many remedy books, had been preserved due to Twilight’s quick thinking.

The unicorn only half listened to this however, as her mind continued to wander back to her mysterious discovery. What secrets were hidden under the forest in the ruin that had been concealed for so many years? As Twilight continued to dwell on it, a wonderful idea floated into her mind. Ever since she had been a little filly, she wished she could be brave and adventurous like her favorite storybook characters, well this was her chance. She could be like Daring Do, and conduct her own exciting adventure, she even owned a hat just like the one her hero always wore, it was going to be so perfect. This thought infected Twilight’s mind and she spent the rest of the day picturing herself as Daring Do, wandering through mysterious corridors of an ancient ruin, escaping traps, and outwitting her foes. As Twilight turned in for the night, she decided that tomorrow, she was going to venture into the ancient ruin. Laying in bed, with the thoughts of the personal glories that were soon to come, the unicorn drifted off to sleep.