The Puzzle

by englishwitch

Chapter 3

The Puzzle
Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 3

The horse’s head sitting on the table was old, worn, chipped, and made of a grey stone.

As their eyes adjusted, more details revealed themselves to the two surprised ponies. A shape moved in the darker depths of the tent. “Impressive, isn’t it? Miss Sparkle.”

A flap in the tent wall opened, a window, flooding the room with light. The unicorn standing before them smiled warmly. Relic Hunter was a tough-looking mare, her age had done nothing to slow her down and the years of hard work and long hiking across difficult terrain had left her as tough as old leather. Her coat was a faded navy blue while her mane was grey and silver and bound up in a tight bun which she hid underneath a straw hat, her cutie mark was of a magnifying glass. She smiled at Twilight and the bright grin seemed to melt away the years and, for a second, she appeared decades younger.

Twilight found herself grinning like an excited filly, “Professor, it’s so good to see you again.” the two old friends approached each other and exchanged a hug.

“My best pupil,” Relic said, pride ringing through her voice, “How long has it been?”

Twilight’s eyes darted up to Relic’s hat for a second, “The last time I saw you, your mane was still black.”

Relic chuckled lightly, “And the last time I saw you, Miss Sparkle, you were without wings.”

Twilight felt her face flush, her wings twitched and she grinned sheepishly, “It has been a long time.”

Relic nodded, “A long time indeed Miss Sparkle. Or should that be Princess now?”

Twilight shook her head lightly, “Please, Professor, you don’t have to call me that, Twilight is just fine.”

Lyra, loudly and deliberately, cleared her throat, bringing Twilight and Relic back onto the subject in mind.

Relic smiled at Lyra, “Ah, Miss Heartstings, the Princess highly recommended you.”

Lyra smiled proudly. She glanced at Twilight and the smile faltered slightly, Twilight replied by a cocking a confused eyebrow. Relic Hunter didn’t seem to notice the exchange between the two ponies. She walked over to the table and the stone bust, “This is one of our latest finds, we uncovered it last night.” she glanced at Twilight, a smile on her face, “What do you make of it, Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight smiled, memories of her filly days played through her head. Relic Hunter would often bring artifacts into their lessons together and ask Twilight to identify them. Some pieces were simple, others required hours of study to learn the subtle little differences one artifact could have from another.

Lyra looked at the bust, unimpressed. “It’s just a stone pony head. They’re used for decoration all over Canterlot.”

Twilight looked at the sculpture with slightly more interest. “It does bare a strong resemblance to the common Canterlot busts, but the morphology is different. The muzzle and ears are too long, the eyes are an odd shape too. It looks more like a Saddle-Arabain horse than an Equestrian pony. And it looks like it’s made from...” she leaned in close, tilted her head, then finally tapped the bust with her hoof, “what is this made from?”

Relic nodded, Twilight had asked the right question. “I analysed the material myself, twice, this bust is made from moulded concrete.”

Lyra stared in surprise. “Wait, concrete isn’t that old. Ponies have only started using it in the last couple of hundred years. And they only use it sparingly for construction purposes. They don’t make decorations.”

Twilight glanced from the statuette, to Relic and back again. “Wh...what depth did you find the artifact?”

Relic nodded, more of the right questions from Twilight. The deeper one dug the further into the past they looked. “Inside the cave system, approximately one hundred yards down.” Relic said gravely. “It’s approximated to be a little over twelve thousand years old.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped, she had to sit down on the floor. Lyra looked at the professor, slightly confused. “What does that mean?”

Twilight looked at her, “It means that this bust is older than recorded pony history.”

Relic nodded, “much older than any known civilisation.” she at the two ponies and at the bust, “the griffin empire prides itself on its rich and ancient history, but even their oldest artifacts; evidence of proto-settlements, don’t date more than nine thousand years ago.”

Twilight nodded, remembering the lessons of history she had been taught. Pony civilisation as a whole was still young by comparison to some other cultures in the world. The three pony tribes had worked together for a little under a thousand years before suffering the gradual break down of their co-operation, which led to the eventual founding of Equestria. Before then had been the Paleo Pony period, little was known about that time. The three tribes of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns had lived separately from one another, with mostly nomadic lives. Really they had only been one step above animals during that time, the very dawning of a civilisation. The oldest Paleo Pony findings -mostly simple stone tools made by earth ponies- had been between six and seven thousand years old.

Relic Hunter brought Twilight back into the room with a question, “And your findings from this evidence?”

Twilight shook her head, “It’s too early. I can’t make a definite theories from one concrete bust. I could hypothesise that, it seems, there was an ancient civilisation in the world before us, they’d have to be pretty advanced to make concrete. Which raises the questions of who, or what, were they? If they were so advanced why hasn’t more evidence of their existence been found and, most importantly, what happened to them?”

Relic nodded her head, “Questions we hope to answer through our examination of the site.” Her horn started to glow, dragging across the room a large wooden chest. “Hopefully, the two of you will be able to answer the question of what these beings were.” The lid came off the chest, revealing many smaller boxes, carefully packed around straw. “Were they these mythical human creatures you both know so much about?”

“Some more than others,” Lyra muttered bitterly. Twilight only just heard her, Relic Hunter didn’t seem to have heard at all.

Relic lifted one of the larger boxes, a foot long, resting it on the table. A mouth-written label was stuck to the lid bearing the legend:

artifact 14-e
Possible Child’s Toy
Material Unknown

“This is the item we discovered which first led us to believe that beings of this civilisation were human. I recognised their description from your book,” she looked at Twilight, who looked surprised. “Princess Celestia was kind enough to send me an advance copy, I must praise your analytical skills, quite detailed.”

Twilight grinned sheepishly, “Thank you professor.”

Relic lifted the lid of the box. Inside was more straw packing and nestled in the middle was a strange object, it was a foot long, fitting tightly into the box, with a mess of black hair around its head, green coloured glass eyes stared blankly up at them. Its skin -for lack of a better word- was filthy, covered in ages of grime and dirt, but traces of its original pale yellow still showed in spots. Tattered rags of clothes were wrapped loosely around its body, which had pudgy limbs, two legs and two arms with small hands and chubby fingers.

Lyra stared at the doll. “Hands,” she whispered absentmindedly.

Relic looked between the two ponies, “Your opinions please? Is this a human artifact?”

Lyra and Twilight nodded at the same time. It was Lyra who spoke first, “A human doll. A toy for children.” she leaned in close, “Amazing workmanship, glass eyes, strange hair, maybe some kind of animal fur, the body is made of...” she tapped an arm of the doll with her hoof, looking puzzled, “I don’t know, some kind of rubber?”

“Close,” Twilight interrupted, “The body is made of a human invention called plastic. A synthetic material, which they used to make a lot of different things in the world beyond the mirror. There were many different types, from soft synthetic rubber to types as hard as stone yet light as a feather. They used it to made furniture, storage boxes, even moulded casings for food packaging, frames for eyeglasses, and even electronic equipment such the casing of compooters.” the last word was greeted with blank looks, “compooters? I covered them in a whole chapter of my book.”

Lyra waved a hoof dismissively, “I didn’t read it.”

Relic grinned sheepishly, “I haven’t read that far yet.”

Twilight nodded, “They’re wonderful machines the humans invented, almost magical. They-”

Lyra cleared her throat, “You were talking about the doll?”

Twilight grinned sheepishly, a blush rising on her cheeks, “Yes, as I was saying, both the doll’s body and hair are made of different types of plastic. They’re both artificial.”

Relic looked closely at the doll, “Fascinating. If this could be analysed in Canterlot, if we could learn how to make this material...”

Twilight didn’t hear the rest of Relic Hunter’s speech, she had to sit down. She put her hoof to her chest and took in a deep breath, extending it on the exhale. She repeated the action several times as she waited for the calmness to come onto her mind. It was confirmed. Humans. In Equestria. Until now it had only been a task to complete, a fact to be confirmed or denied, but now it was real. At some point in the distant past of the world, humans had lived and thrived in the land before it had become Equestria. It was astounding, mind-blowing.

She wondered what this human tribe had been like. How large had they been? How advanced? How long had they lived? What had occurred to bring about their end? Or did they still exist, somewhere in a quiet and unexplored corner of the world did a tribe of humans still live and thrive?
This was astounding, a much larger mystery to solve, with so many questions that Twilight wanted to answer. What were they like? Were they similar to the humans she had known in that other world? How were they different? How were they the same? There was so much to learn and she wanted -maybe needed- to stay here to find out the answers.

A shadow appeared in the doorway. Applejack, carrying a tray with a jug of water and several small cups on her back. “Hey y’all, we thought ya could do with a drink.” she walked into the tent, Twilight smiled at her friend. Her horn glowed and she lifted the tray off Applejack’s back and brought it over to the table.

“Thanks Applejack.” she smiled and poured servings for all four of them, “It’s just what I needed.” she drained her cup in several gulps. The water was lukewarm, but still felt cool to her, taking the edge off the heat.

Applejack glanced at the doll on the table, her eyes widened with curiosity. “Is that the thing that brought us here?”

Twilight nodded, “yes.”

Applejack continued to stare, “and, is it...human?”

Twilight nodded slowly, “it is.”

“and how old-”

Relic answered the question before Applejack finished asking, “At least twelve thousand years.”

AJ stared in disbelief, letting out a long, low, whistle. “Wow,” was all she could think to say.

Relic smiled as she sipped at her water. The last half hour had been exciting. First she had met one of her favourite pupils and now she’d had it confirmed that her unusual findings were artifacts of an ancient creature unknown to Equestrian science. She was quite flustered, her heart was jumping like an excited filly.

“Professor.”

The gathered ponies looked to the door of the tent, an olive coloured pegasus with large dark glasses and a red bandanna on her head, smiled at them. “Professor, we’re ready to open the chamber.”

A spark of excitement flared up in Relic Hunter’s eyes, “Thank you Slipstream, we’ll be right there.” She rushed around the tent, first placing the doll back into its box, then returning said box to its shipping crate. Next she grabbed a satchel, levitating it and strapping it to her body. “Miss Sparkle, Miss Lyra, do you want to accompany me as we open this newest chamber?” she glanced at Applejack, “You and your friends can come too, if you want.”

Applejack smiled and tipped her hat to the professor, “Thank ya kindly ma’am. I’ll get the others.”

...***...

The underground space was a vast, wide cave, but the roof was low, less than ten feet in the air and covered in many large stalactites, reaching down upon the group like the lowering fangs of a monster. Stalagmites rose up to meet them and great stone columns of various thickness’s were scattered around. The ground underneath was uneven, but not completely impassable.

Long lines of lanterns, dangling from ropes strung up on poles, made a brightly lit path that the ponies followed from the entrance to the location of the latest excavation.

Relic Hunter spoke as she walked, leading the group through the cave, “We believe this pathway was part of the main street of a large town, or small city. We have found streets and the ruins of buildings. Unfortunately, cave-ins and other seismic activity had buried a good portion of the settlement. We have to excavate the town one building at a time.” She stopped and sat down, taking several deep breaths and wiping her forehead. “Although, some sections are naturally open to us,” she pointed her hoof to the left, there was nothing but an ominous looking dark space, with only the vaguest hint of shapes in the shadows. “Miss Sparkle, I assume you remember how to conjure an illumination orb.”

Twilight nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating. Her horn glowed with a white light. The light formed into a ball which detached from her horn and started to float in the air. She tapped it with the top of her horn and it floated, like a balloon into the darkness. The white light flooded the vast chamber illuminating the hidden cavern.

Even in ruins the ancient buildings were a sight to behold. While many were just piles of rubble and some others were half buried in stone, either through the shifting of the earth, or the slow growth of stalagmites over the centuries -which was beautiful in itself because it looked like the settlement was actually growing out of the stone- there were many buildings which were, more or less, still standing. Squat houses in their neat little neighbourhoods, towers ten stories high or more, which may have been apartments, or perhaps even places of work. There were patterns, the long ribbons of streets and roads, ruined and upturned by time, but still recognisable.

The buildings surrounded a large bare patch, a small shape was in the centre, round with a pile of stone standing in its centre. Twilight stared for several seconds before she realised it was a fountain. A fountain standing in the middle of a park. The bare patches may have been where grass, flowers and trees had once grown. Now it was as bare as a mountainside and still as a graveyard. Graveyard was the right word, the whole place seemed to echo with the ghosts of the ancient and mysterious past. If these humans had been so advanced as to build entire cities, how had they not survived to the present day?

The group of ponies gasped in awe.
“It’s, really quite beautiful,” Rarity spoke quietly.

Twilight looked at Relic Hunter and seemed to notice, for the first time, that her old teacher seemed to be out of breath and looked tired. “Have you explored that area yet?”

Relic shook her head, “No more than a quick survey by Slipstream. We found so many interesting artifacts along the tunnel system we’re currently exploring that we haven’t had the time or the ponies to spare. It is on the schedule though, once we have finished looking at this latest chamber.” her eyes sparked, as though remembering something important, “Come along, come along, we haven’t time to delay any longer. History awaits.” she rose to her hooves and trotted off.

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow, “But wasn’t she the one who stopped us?”

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth and shushed her. “It’s okay, come on.”

Around a bend in a cave they came to their destination. The space was lit with more lanterns, a long table with water, food and various tools was set up to one side, a team of four ponies were waiting for them; the pegasus Slipstream, one unicorn and two earth ponies, one was Mineral Deposit.

Before them was a face of a building. As high as the doors of Canterlot Castle, it was made of grey stone, which had long since began to merge with the wall of the cave. It was just a bare and blank wall, no windows at all, with one single door. It was ancient, but still solidly strong, sealed with rust. Six and a half feet tall and almost four feet wide.

“That, is a big door.” Dash commented absentmindedly.

Relic Hunter nodded, “And what lies beyond may be the greatest find in Equestrian history.” she looked to the team of ponies assembled by the equipment, “Are we ready?”

Mineral Deposit nodded his head, “Ready Professor, just give the word.”

Relic nodded her head, “Open it.”

Pinkie squealed, clapping her hooves together, “Oooh, I’m so nervouscited!”

Author's Note:

I really thought I would have gotten to the adventure part of this adventure story by now, but so much details and back-story is coming out in the telling it might be another couple of chapters before I get there.
Two things I do promise will happen in the next chapter is Twilight learns to source of Lyra's animosity toward her and Relic Hunter will pass away. Since I said that would occur in the description of this story, I don't think that's a major spoiler.

EDIT: Thanks to Bowow for correcting all the mistakes I'd missed.

Comments

[Bowow]

Yippee!! We're getting into the interesting part. I gave a huge sigh of relief when the pony head wasn't Relic. The story would feel wrong if it was. The flow of it would shatter in an instant if it was, though it would make a good murder/mystery plot for Equestria Noir. I much prefer the mystery about what happened to humans in Equestria than just solving the murder and discovering some things on the side.

Anyway Hope you update soon!

[ShadowWing09]

Interesting! I like the premise and characterization has been fairly on so far.

I do think I know what Lyra's issue is...