Of the Past and its Mysteries

by Sb129

9.) A Starting Point

Chapter 9 (A Starting Point)

~The Irate Lands~

Lyra looked up at the sky, a soft gray in the early morning hours, and forced herself up to begin the day anew. Her sleep addled mind mechanically performed her morning ritual when she was exploring. Rekindle the fire, brew some tea, write a journal entry and so on.

Her golden magic enveloped her pen and slowly dipped it in the ink. “Day 118, as per the usual there is not a cloud in the morning sky and the heat of the sun is already making itself known even before it rises.” She looked over the landscape in front of her, a fair amount of anxiety eating at her inside. “I fear this may be my last expedition for some time, already I have been at this for near of one third of a year. I do feel as though I approach what I so desire, but at the same time each passing day of nothing has an ill effect on me. I pray the higher beings will guide me to my destination.”

Lyra sipped at her tea while her magic closed her book and put away the pen. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the red morning sun fall on her. She thought to herself for a moment about the plausibility of her whole venture, out here. |There is no doubt in my mind that humans once ruled this world. But the others, so content with the history they are taught… Should I find what I seek, would that cause any to stumble in their beliefs?| Lyra sighed and again forced herself to get moving.

With her things tucked in her saddlebags she got out the reason she was here, a book. The soft glow of her gold magic held the book open and flipped to the page she wanted to review. Her eyes scanned the page and found the information she wanted. “‘...past the pillars of artificial stone, I traveled due south from morning until night.’ Such good fortune that I had found those pillars last expedition.” She magicked the book back into her bags and set off for the pillars.

Twas not long before the dull gray pillars came into view, some miles in the distance. They were set in a curving motion, as if making a low bridge. As Lyra came near she recognized the carvings on a wall nearby. It was a series of triangles made to resemble the mountain in the area with some upside down triangles underneath with some lines in them. They had the faintest color of purple to them. Lyra decided that they were most likely decorative in nature by the way they flowed on the wall. She was only at the outermost edge of the network of pillars. But because she knew of the markings here that weren’t anyplace else, she felt this place was where she should journey south.

Lyra stepped in between two pillars and cast a small direction spell, to find the absolute south. She found oddly enough that the two pillars were oriented in a north-south position already. It was almost noon; she again took out the book. “‘...I traveled from morning until night...’” She flipped to the next page, she looked past the familiar illustration of the site she was seeking and read some more. “‘...During high noon a wondrous thing happened, a light as bright as a Sun appeared in the center of the iren superstructure. Lightning crashed around the iren protrusions and a ghostly voice beckoned me.’” The midday sun was almost directly overhead, she knew if she wanted her arrival to coincide with this occurrence she needed to leave for it with great haste.

Out of one of her bags she took out a small vial, a strength boosting potion she got from her friend in the Everfree. She carefully took a small sip and immediately found herself full of energy. She swiftly put the vial away and started to head south like the book told her. She was well on her way to the place where lightning and magic meet when she was suddenly blinded.

Without thinking, her hoof shot to her eye and covered it, shielding it from some intense bright light. Lyra let a small cry of surprise and pain out as she searched for the instigating beam of light. She looked around herself for several seconds before seeing what looked like a dull shard of a mirror. She composed herself and walked over to it. It was about the size of her ear and shaped vaguely like a triangle. She brushed a hoof over the shard to uncover it from the dirt and now saw that it was metallic.
|Could that be silver? Here in the Lands of Ire?| She recoiled at the thought, but noticed none of the symptoms regular with being near an anti-magic metal. She reached out with her magic and wrenched free the shard of mysterious metal. It had the look of being partially melted at the bottom. Lyra was still a bit apprehensive, but it was apparent to her now that it wasn’t silver. It was too dull, it seemed very heavy for such a small piece of metal and it showed no signs of tarnish or rust. She knew she had to get moving, but she brought the shard closer to herself, she saw a symbol engraved or stamped into it.
“I’ve… I’ve seen this before! In my dreams...” She said quietly. Her vision clouded, and her senses felt very distant to her. She saw herself on a pathway of artificial dark stone. Her eyes drifted slowly up, she was on the edge of a shining city made of the same metal she had just found. Nearby, she saw a building erupt with fire underneath and take to the sky and then the city was engulfed in a bright light. It only lasted an instant, but she knew what she saw. Her shattered piece of metal hit the ground with a small thud. She shook her head a little, and quickly snatched up the fallen shard and stared at it once more. It had the image of a Phoenix on it and a small triangle with two interconnected dots in the middle.
Slowly, but persistently, Lyra got herself moving again. She slipped the pointed silvery metal in one saddlebag and trekked once again to the south. She could not think clearly, it was as if her subconscious was still trying to figure out something but wouldn’t let Lyra know about it. All she could do was continue south to the place she set out to find.

---

The next day, Lyra stooped over her book, reading intently. She knew she was very close, the iren was already eating away at her magic power and Lyra knew she was running out of time.
“’On that day the Princess stole the talking box from our possession it repeated what it always said. It spoke of the final destination lying west of the sea of glass. And that five pillars of iren shrouds the truth from all and that we can catch a glimpse everyday at high noon. But now a 2nd part was added, it said that on the apex of the aestal season that the truth is revealed for any who wish to know.’” Lyra breathed out a small sigh, |It’s a good thing I studied all the old books I did, to understand the meaning of that word, summer’s kozranal, the longest day of the year.|

Lyra felt a cold shiver in the hot sun; she knew this would be it. If she could find this relic of old, she might be able to convince somepony that humans existed. At the very least it would prove that history was different than what was taught. It had to; after all, she had her piece of mystery metal and it had that symbol. That symbol, the triangle, the phoenix…
Lyra sat down and her golden magic covered the shard of metal and encircled the things imprinted on it. Since the shard was in her bag, she never noticed that her magic around the symbols had changed color. Ever so slightly, her magic now had a tinge of fire around its edges. Immediately she had another vision like the previous one, only this was crystal clear. It was as clear as the desert before her. Her mind was shown a different city this time, but Lyra compared its similar looking buildings and layout to that of the last vision. The buildings looked like they were one piece of seamless metal. And the way everything was curved to fit the circular confines of the outer walls made it seem very alien to what cities looked like in Equestria.
A noise distracted her, and all in the next blink of her eye, the latest vision was gone. She felt a twinge of despair at the small fleeting vision fleeing her mind so easily. The dust filled wind picked up and she heard the sound again, it sounded like a chain rapping against a heavy metal pole. Lyra stopped and listened for the sound again. Another small gust rattled the chain again. She made her way to the sound. She was close, she could already feel the iren giving her a migraine and draining her magical power.
Lyra knew she was lucky her magical well inside her was not particular strong or abundant. If it had been her magic would drain even quicker than it already was now. |I bet that zealous purple one from home would feel this a mile away.| She thought to herself. Lyra took a few more steps and all of a sudden she felt the wind die down. She glanced around and saw it! She made it! She jumped up and down, elated that she finally arrived at something very real and solid.
Before her was a quintet of pentagonal columns. They were connected via chains, and formed a large pentagon. There was nothing in the center of the pentagon, only dust and small rocks. Straining through her headache she studied the iren pillars up close. It was like books had told her, iren was a very dull and dark grey. She tried in vain to reach out to the pillar with her magic, but nothing happened at all. She gave a small shrug and looked at the shadows, high noon rapidly approached. She contemplated whether or not she had enough time to get out her book to check something when the air became charged with energy.
The shadows had gone and the pillars started radiating a type of energy she had not felt before. It was as if she were in a bad lightning storm. The hair of her fur and mane started to stand on end. Lyra was getting a little nervous and tried backing away. But she bumped into something behind her; it was a shield that was clear as glass. It held no magic in it. A sound of thunder cracked and before she knew it she saw something inside the previously empty pentagon.
An ornate tile floor appeared where the rocked once were, the tiles looked like glass. And they formed a five pointed star inside the iren pentagon. In the center of the tiled pentagram floated an object that looked like it was at odds with itself. Something ancient melded with something advanced. It was a small slightly bluish rectangle with some small flat buttons on the front. Around the bottom, back and side of that was something like frosted glass and angled etchings.
She reached out a hoof to touch it when a voice boomed from nowhere. It said /| Greetings weary traveler, welcome to the Valley of the Sun! What do you seek in this place, Equestrian? |\ lyra stood frozen for a split second, but answered. “I, Lyra Vega Heartstrings, only seek the knowledge of the past, the true past.” There was a pause, and the voice boomed in response /| Indeed you have, for lost and forgotten knowledge brought you here, so shall you leave with a piece of the past! |\ The bluish rectangle floated to Lyra. Through the corner of her eyes she saw the same glassy shield cover the iren and all in an instant her head ached no more. |This is truly incredible, shall I really gain my proof simply by asking?| She thought to herself.
She reached out with her recovering magic and took hold of the object. It was heavier than it looked. /| You have proved you posses the courage needed to behold the past and in order for you to unlock all the secrets of the past you will need wisdom |\ the voice boomed. Lyra wondered what the voice meant by that last part, but her question was answered as soon as her eyes fell back on the object in her magic. Black letters appeared in the frosted white glass. Lyra’s eyes narrowed a little, |A riddle…|
The air became charged again, the shield around the iren started to fade. Lyra quickly ran to the outer edge of the shield and ran right through it. As she looked back, a blindingly bright bolt of lightning shot up from the center of the pentagram. She felt a small ache in her head. The place inside the pentagon held nothing but dirt and dust once more.
Lyra sighed and released some anxiety. She looked to the sky and could've sworn she had just seen the outline of the moon in the daytime sky. A single dot of white pulsed within the outline, Lyra did not know how long this happened because she hadn't looked to the sky since dawn. After several seconds the white pinpoint of light faded into the light blue of the sky, as did the faint outline of the moon. She stared into the cloudless sky for almost a minute before slightly shrugging, rubbing her head and readying herself for the return trip home.

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~The Moon~

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High above the ground, over the tallest mountain peak and the highest cloud, the moon orbits the Earth. The moon is only visible at night, that is common knowledge, but it is a forced and fabricated truth. The moon, or at least the face that always points to Earth, is covered in illusory magic. It alone creates the illusion of a night sky exclusive moon. It, the spell, also serves the purpose of masking the surface and causing it to look different. For those residing on the surface of the moon this conveniently hides their presence as well.

---

Deep in a crater near the northern pole, there is a human listening post. A two person crew is all that's needed in the small contained pod. For years, decades, even a century or two nothing much has happened Earthside that the pod could report. Earth always was normal, no changes, just like the dominant civilization on the surface.

A human sat at one of the many monitors in the red lit pod. A top down view of Canterlot was visible on the screen. No æktivitœ was entered in the machine in reformed english. The human did this several times for several cities. There was seldom any changes to be made save for a new house or government structure being built. Bored, the human did what was normally done after 'critical' targets were checked, used the many spy satellites to look at various places on the planet.

The human was in for a surprise this shift. An alarm sounded and the human jumped and quickly switched it off. The human glanced to the other side of the pod and saw that the only other inhabitant was tossing and turning in a small cot. But a small sigh of relief came as the sleeping subject stayed asleep. The humans attention turned back to the offending notification. "ALERT! Œkwestrian Atempting Kontækt æt þe Pentegræm Monoliþ" Flashed in bright red letters on the main screen, underneath it was a live satellite feed on a small minty green unicorn approaching the monolith.

With haste, the human opened a quick bio on this Equestrian and saw some interesting things in her genetic history. It was also noted that this unicorn had an interest in history and possessed some old ancient human objects. She was already on a candidacy list. The human typed some commands into the terminal and got a low quality audio feed from the monolith.

“I, Lyra Vega Heartstrings, only seek the knowledge of the past, the true past.” The human thought about the response and quickly decided she was worthy. He typed several more lines into the terminal and looked out the small window over the planet. It was surrounded by a pinkish mist like it always was. But the human held hope that humankind's return to their homeworld was now within sight.

The human typed out a small message to humankind's interplanetary capital city on Mars Lunar servalænce post sending konfermation of relik rœsœved bi þe Œkwestrian. Then the data about the subject and related images, audio and video was also sent. The human looked to the opposite side of the pod at a sleeping unicorn and smiled. "Someday soon, this conflict will end."

Author's Note:

~Tweaked 2-29-16

Comments

[Shpoople96]

It has been a while.

[Lazy_]

5751826
A while too long. One thing I do notice is that the word order in this story is a little weird. It still makes perfect sense, 100%. However it keeps the flow of the story nice and creative.

[Sb129]

Sorry I don't update much, I have a busy day schedule, but it's summer and I'll have more time now, even if a little...