Bedtime stories
“Well, another day on the road. Rainbow and I put as much distance between us and Canterlot as we could.” Twilight glanced up at the blue sky as she wrote her thoughts down in her journal. Somewhere up there she saw the bright streak of her pegasus friend. “It’s been about three days since the wedding and the changeling attack. During one of our quick stops we read that Shining Armor and Cadence will postpone the wedding until all the damage in the attack has been repaired. I really wish I could be there to help.
“Rainbow Dash also filled me in on some of the… changes I underwent when I was fighting the changeling queen. I’ve never felt so angry in my life and it seemed to show in more ways than just my actions. I wonder if it was me becoming aware of Cheshire that caused it or if I was always capable of it. If the latter is true then I wonder if everypony is capable of doing so? Just another mystery to add to the pile I suppose. I’ll have to think about that after we’ve plotted our course for the near future. At present, I have another matter to deal with.”
“Yahoo!” cried an excited Rainbow Dash over Twilight’s head and she looked up to see the pegasus fake fighting with her sword gauntlets against some imaginary enemy, complete with fight noises.
“That being Rainbow Dash and her fascination with her new weapons,” Twilight concluded and put her journal and quill away safely and looked up at Rainbow Dash and yelled, “Be careful, those aren’t toys!” Rainbow Dash withdrew the blades and floated down to Twilight.
“I know that! I’m just practicing with them!” Rainbow Dash defended and shook one of her forelegs, “You said yourself that I need to actually get better with these if I want to use them effectively.”
“If I had known your idea of ‘practice’ meant swinging those wildly like a foal I would have thought differently,” Twilight returned and shook her head lightly. “That being said, you are right. You do need practice and I think I might know the best way to do that.”
“Really, you actually know how to train with swords?” Rainbow Dash said and landed next to Twilight and prodded her lightly with an elbow. “You never struck me as the type to do something like that, especially with the way you trounced that bug with nothing but magic and a book.”
“I never said I trained with swords, I just happen to know of an exercise you can do to sharpen or in your case develop the skills needed to utilize those weapons properly.” Twilight laughed a little at the look Rainbow gave her and looked up at the sky to judge the time. “It’s just about noon. What do you say we stop for lunch and I’ll show you just what I mean?”
“That sounds like a plan,” Rainbow Dash agreed and flew up to find a good spot to lie down. Soon she found Twilight and said there was a good sized field not too far down the road, which Twilight soon reached on hoof. They sat down and had a suitably fulfilling lunch, at the very least better than canned alfalfa, and when they were finished Twilight got to explaining the exercise she was thinking of to Rainbow Dash.
“So all you need me to do is hit these targets you’ll be making and that will make me better with these?” She asked for clarification and tapped one of the gauntlets.
“More or less, but don’t think it’s going to be easy. These exercises were meant for guard trainees, so they’re bound to be tough. I can probably slow down the targets so they would be at your speed, but that won’t last for long.”
“Oh don’t worry about that, you remember who you’re talking to remember? I’m sure I’ll get the whole thing down pat in a week.” Twilight couldn’t help but smile at Rainbow’s own brand of bragging and pointed out to the middle of the field.
“Well then, why don’t we get started? Leave your cloak here and go stand out there. I’ll send a target your way and we’ll see how you fare.” Rainbow Dash did as told, leaving the cloak next to their saddlebags and waited for whatever Twilight would do.
“Are you ready Rainbow Dash?” Twilight called over and lit her horn up.
“Yeah, just go ahead and-“ Rainbow Dash stopped when a flash of blue shot past her head, with a small yelp from Twilight being the only thing to signify it came from her direction. Rainbow Dash looked behind her to see nothing like what shot past her and said, “What the hay was that?”
“Sorry! I’m sorry, I messed up!” Twilight shouted and waved a hoof at Rainbow, “I haven’t really cast this spell before, so just give me a second to dial it in.”
“Oh, alright,” Rainbow said back, “those things can’t hurt me right?”
“Of course they can’t hurt you,” Twilight said and quietly added, “Probably.”
“What?”
“Nothing! Let’s try that again.” Twilight braced herself and her horn lit up again. Rainbow Dash did the same, looking a little more worried than she had before, and extended one of the blades in preparation.
It was a very rare sight to see Rainbow Dash looking very tired after an exercise, so Twilight felt strangely lucky to see that. They had been running through this exercise for about an hour or so when Twilight called a break and gave Rainbow a canteen.
“It’s not quite like flying, huh Rainbow?” Twilight asked when Rainbow gratefully grabbed the canteen and sat next to her friend.
“No, it’s not like any exercise I’ve done,” Rainbow answered and took a large drink from the canteen, “and you said the guards do this all the time?”
“I think they prefer to spar, but yes it does help with their skills. I should also point out that they do that with the spell moving much faster.” That piece of information caused Rainbow Dash to fall on her back with an annoyed moan.
“What is wrong with them?” she asked and took another drink from the canteen, “Is it because they train for so long? How long does it take to train as a royal guard anyway?”
“Well…” Twilight rubbed her chin and thought for a moment before saying, “Shining Armor started cadet training around the same time I started studying under Princess Celestia. So they probably train for years until they’re ready for active duty.”
“Ugh, well let’s hope I don’t take as long to figure these things out,” Rainbow said giving Twilight the canteen and rolling onto her hooves, “So should we do some more of that? I’m ready if you are.”
“That sounds good. We’ll do one more round before we get moving again.” Twilight stood up and stretched her legs a little before walking back to where their saddlebags were and turning back to Rainbow Dash. The pegasus stood up and gave her a small nod as she extended one of the blades and Twilight lit her horn up. “Now don’t flinch this time.”
The following two days followed much the same schedule for Rainbow and Twilight. After waking up and eating breakfast they spent a couple hours walking until lunchtime. After eating they would then eat and practice for a few hours, and Twilight was glad to see Rainbow was making slow progress. On their morning hike on the third day they found themselves in the middle of a heated debate.
“Why are you making such a big deal over this?” Rainbow Dash asked and took off in a light hover, “it’s just supposed to be funny.”
“I know that, but you see it all the time in books and the like,” Twilight replied, “You know, like where a table or cart is just weighed down with all kinds of luggage or something and you can hear it groaning under all the weight, but it still somehow holds it all. And then a tiny leaf floats onto it and then the whole thing collapses on itself. That kind of thing just bugs me, even if it’s for the sake of comedy.”
“You choose the weirdest things to be stingy about Twilight. Do you remember that one time we had a picnic and you threw a fit over cupcake frosting or something?”
“The frosting was uneven Rainbow! Stuff like that just bugs me to no end.”
“See, you choose the strangest things to get upset over. I mean, who but a total neat freak gets upset by uneven frosting? Watch out for that snare trap.”
“What snare tra-?” Twilight’s question was answered immediately when stepped into said snare trap and found herself hanging upside down with her legs in a knot. It took a few seconds, and Rainbow Dash barely able to hold her laughter, for her to understand what happened and start thrashing around angrily. “This is so stupid! The second I find the cabbage brained idiot who set up all these traps, I’ll make him pay for every moment of dizziness I suffer through!”
“Well… this is a little awkward,” a voice said behind Twilight and both ponies (Twilight with some difficulty) turned to see a brown pegasus standing there looking very awkward. It took a moment but they recognized him after a few seconds.
“What, you again?!” Twilight exclaimed and settled a little as the pegasus very quickly moved to get her down.
“Isn’t he that same pegasus who caught you a few months ago?” Rainbow Dash asked with amusement.
“He didn’t catch me Rainbow Dash! You are so lucky I can’t move right now, or else I would-“ Twilight gave a small yelp when she dropped a half foot.
“Don’t struggle like that,” the pegasus said to Twilight, “it’s hard enough getting you down as it is!”
“What is with you and snare traps anyway?!” Twilight was set on her back and started untying the rope with her magic.
“Hey, it only happened once before! That’s hardly enough of a base to judge my whole character.” Twilight managed to free her legs and stood up to dust her cloak off and throw a quick glance at Rainbow. “Anyway, what are you two doing so far out here?”
“What? Um… travelling.”
“I could guess that,” he said gathering the rope that used to be a snare trap, “I’m more curious about the destination though.”
“Why do you care?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“When you spend as much time alone in the wilderness as I do, you’ll take any interaction with other ponies you can get,” he answered and slung the coiled rope around his neck. “But if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine with me.”
Twilight and Rainbow shared a look, ending when Twilight shook her head and said, “We don’t really have a clear destination.”
“Aimless wanderers huh?” He asked with a slight chuckle and a shake of his head, “then again, who am I to talk, another aimless wanderer in the wilderness?”
“You certainly talk a lot don’t you?” Rainbow asked with a flap of her wings.
“Like I said, be alone in the wilds long enough and you welcome any conversation. I’d talk to a rock if it could talk back.” He sighed at that and looked behind him at the trees in thought and said, “I should probably get back to my traps now. I got a lot of them back there.” He waved at the mares before turning back to walk into the forest.
“Wait, before you go!” Twilight called, surprising both pegasi as she trotted up to the stallion. “Can you refresh my memory on something?”
“Well, I suppose.”
“You said you spent a lot of time out here, right…” here Twilight stopped and rubbed the back of her head lightly before asking sheepishly, “I’m sorry, what was your name again?”
“I never gave you it, though if you want you can call me Hunter. I think I told you that before.”
“But you’re a trapper,” Twilight pointed out.
“I don’t get to choose my nicknames. So what was it you wanted?”
“Hey Twilight, are you really going to ask him what I think you are?” Rainbow interjected poking a hoof into Twilight’s side.
“Every little bit helps Rainbow,” Twilight answered giving the pegasus a look before continuing to Hunter, “my friend and I have been having some… troubles with a creature lately. Since you spend so much time around wildlife, I was hoping you might know something about it.”
Hunter was about to answer when a low growling sounded from both him and Rainbow Dash. Both pegasi flinched a little in embarrassment and Hunter said, “If you have a good description of it, I’ll try and help. Before that, how about some lunch?”
“It has been a while since breakfast Twilight,” Rainbow added with a flap of her wings. Twilight, for her part, looked between both ponies and sighed a little.
“I’ll get some firewood.”
After about ten minutes the group had a nice fire going, with Hunter supplying a pot for some kind of stew. Given the lackluster ingredients it was anyone’s guess as to whether or not it’ll be good, but beggars can’t be choosers.
“I take it you guys are new to the whole ‘long travel’ thing?” Hunter had asked when he saw Twilight and Rainbow’s food supply consisting of not much more than canned alfalfa, various fruits and vegetables, a jar of peanut butter, and for some reason a can of juice. Nevertheless he took some of the vegetables and a can of alfalfa to get started, leaving Twilight and Rainbow to get started on the exercises they had agreed on.
One by one Twilight would send out a small magical orb which Rainbow would have to hit before they vanished. The trick came in that the orbs were color coded to a certain swipe or stab, even to the point where Twilight would change the color mid flight to throw Rainbow off. Still the quick changes did their job of keeping Rainbow attentive and she had been improving since they started.
“I wish we had some potatoes for this,” Hunter said from behind Twilight. The unicorn turned her head back to check on the trapper, finding him to be stirring the pot, and returned her attention to Rainbow.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked as she sent three orbs at Rainbow.
“I’m just saying some potatoes would add a little body to this. It’s such a versatile food, you know?”
“Please don’t get all food freak on me.”
“I’m just saying.” Twilight looked back at him to find him giving the stew a taste and nodding in satisfaction. “Alright, it’s ready you two.”
Rainbow Dash let out a breath and retracted her swords into her gauntlets before flying over to the pot and taking a seat next to Twilight. Twilight eyed the contents of the pot with slight apprehension while Rainbow just looked hungry.
“So, do you have a bowl?” Twilight asked. Nopony really wants to eat out of a pot after all. Hunter rolled his eyes, started digging through his saddlebags, and took out two bowls. “Just two?”
“Just two,” Hunter answered and held one out to Twilight, who took it in her magic with a small shake of her head before grabbing the ladle in the pot and filling it up. She was about to take a sip when she felt eyes boring into her and glanced at Rainbow giving her one of the most intense stares she had ever seen. With another roll of her eyes Twilight levitated the bowl over to Rainbow, who took it happily and started downing the stew.
“You know, it’s better if you actually taste it,” Hunter said pouring his own bowl.
“She gets like this when she’s hungry,” Twilight replied with another glance at Rainbow before clearing her throat. “Anyway, about that creature I mentioned earlier.”
“Right right, that thing.” Hunter paused to take a sip of stew before continuing, “I’ll try and help as best I can. What exactly does it look or act like?”
Here Rainbow finished her bowl with a large sigh and said, “It’s big, nasty, and very persistent. It has been following us all across Equestria for about six or so months by now.”
“That’s… odd for a predator,” Hunter stated placing his bowl on the ground, “Usually they’d give up if you can get away the first time.”
“It’s also somewhat magical in nature,” Twilight added watching Rainbow refill the bowl before lighting her horn up and pulling out her journal. She flinched a little at a scar the book’s cover now bore and flipped it open until she found a particular page. “It’s strictly nocturnal because sunlight seems to hurt it. Ah here it is.” Twilight levitated the book over to Hunter, who took it and looked over a drawing of Carver Twilight had made. “I’m not the best artist, but that’s more or less what it looks like.”
“Well I agree with the artist thing, but…” Hunter leaned closer to the page and squinted his eyes, “it looks like a Timberwolf.”
“I hate those things,” Rainbow commented and started on her second bowl.
“I’d like to eat sometime too Rainbow, and it’s not a Timberwolf. It’s… bigger.” Hunter’s ears pressed down on top of his head and he gave a low ‘hmm’. “Do you know what it is?”
“No, but it gives me the creeps,” he said and held the journal back to Twilight. The unicorn sighed and took the book in her magic and set it down next to her.
“It was worth a try I suppose. We don’t know much about it either.” Twilight then heard a particularly large burp and turned to Rainbow with an annoyed look.
“Uh, excuse me,” the pegasus said and held the bowl to Twilight, who took it and started to fill it with some stew. “And you’re not kidding Twilight. I’m still caught on that whole ‘hating love’ thing.”
“Hating love? What do you mean by that?” Hunter asked.
“A couple of months back we ran across a stallion who proposed to his girlfriend. When it happened Big Nasty was there and skulked away ‘looking disgusted’ according to Twilight.” Rainbow gestured to the unicorn who was now carefully eating the stew.
“That’s… also really odd. Are you sure it didn’t just get scared off by something you did?”
“Nope, I was busy watching the happy couple and Twi here was watching it. It just walked off.”
“Hm, so it reacts to emotions like Changelings huh?” he asked scratching his chin with a hoof.
“Changelings?”
“Those things we fought off in Canterlot,” Twilight answered.
“Oh… probably should have guessed from the name huh?”
“Yes.”
“I have to admit, you two stumbled on a doozey of a beast,” Hunter said interrupting the conversation, “I wish I could help but this is way beyond me.”
“It’s alright,” Twilight said draining the bowl and moving it over to refill it, “I expected you to not be able to help.” Twilight managed to catch the worried look that Rainbow gave her out of the corner of her eye and went to take another drink of stew.
“What about things that walk on two legs?” Rainbow suddenly asked, taking both Twilight and Hunter off guard. The former choked on some of the stew while Rainbow asked, “Do you know anything about those?”
“There are plenty of two legged walkers out in the world: Minotaurs, the occasional Satyr. What exactly do you mean?” Hunter asked taking the moment to get himself some stew.
“Well um…” Twilight started and coughed a little bit, “that’s a little hard to explain. We only saw the barest details of what Dash is talking about. They aren’t Minotaurs or anything I’ve ever seen before, but they did walk on two legs. They were also about…” Twilight though hard for a moment with a hoof hanging over her head, “twice the height of a pony, I think.”
“And they had hands like a dragons!” Rainbow shouted holding her hooves out in demonstration, “you know, with the fingers and stuff.” That little mention did catch Hunter’s attention.
“And I’m sure they had manes on their heads, like ours but shorter.” Twilight cast a look at Hunter, watching in curiosity as he stared into the stew bowl. “Have you… heard of these things?”
“Where did you happen across such things?” he asked suddenly.
“Uh… a painting. It had those creatures in it and… well, they were running from a burning town.” Hunter swirled the stew around for a moment before taking a drink of it, which reminded Twilight of her own stew that she needed to finish. There was hardly any left for her, so that was easy enough and Twilight could focus her attention back on the stallion.
“That’s… the first time I heard that little detail,” he mused and gave a soft chuckle, “The story is much better without it.”
“Story?” Rainbow asked and passed a glance at Twilight, who shared her look.
“What you described matches more or less with this race I remember hearing about in a fairy tale when I was a foal. It’s quite a long story though, you probably won’t be interested in it.”
“Tell us,” was all Twilight could reply with. Hunter looked up into her eyes and, after a brief staring contest, shrugged and downed the rest of the stew.
“Alright, but how about we clear this up first. I’ll tell you when we’re back on the road.” This elicited a groan of frustration from Rainbow Dash.
Proper camp dismantling takes a little while, which Rainbow Dash hated, but it was over soon enough and the second they set hoof on the road Rainbow flew up to Hunter’s face.
“So, don’t you have anything to say?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” Hunter said and playfully waved a hoof in front of his face, “Brush your teeth.”
Of course, Rainbow didn’t take that well and, after quickly smelling her breath, glared at the pegasus and said, “Are you trying to pick a fight with me, wise guy?!”
“Rainbow!” Twilight immediately said and moved her head to the spot next to her. After giving Hunter one last glare Rainbow flew over and landed next to Twilight. “Sorry about that, she gets a little impatient sometimes.”
“I noticed. Well anyway, you two wanted to hear about that story right?” Both mares nodded and Hunter gave a small sigh in return. “I don’t know why you’re interested, but if you insist I’ll tell you. Do you at least know the basic story of how our world was made?”
“Yeah, I heard that a lot growing up,” Rainbow Dash answered with a small laugh, “the one about how Princess Celestia and Luna made the world right?”
“Wrong.” Rainbow and Twilight gave the stallion a confused look before Twilight perked in recognition.
“Oh! You must be talking about Zacherle and Faust!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Hole in one,” Hunter said with a nod.
“Who?” was Rainbow’s question.
“The story of Zacherle and Faust is a common alternative theory for how the world was created,” Twilight explained, her hoof idly moving in front of her as she talked, “According to it, before Celestia and Luna, there were two other alicorns who made the world and its inhabitants. Zacherle created ponies and all the other races of the world: dragons, Diamond Dogs, griffons, all of them were made by her.”
“On the other hoof, Faust created the world itself. The mountains, the rivers, the plains, all her work. Maybe with massive amounts of magic, maybe with a paint brush, there are different accounts for that. I’ve even heard one story about how Faust is the mother of Celestia and Luna themselves, but that’s not really important to the story.”
“Not important?!” Rainbow shouted and flew up into a light hover, “That seems like a very big detail to just skip over!”
“The story isn’t about Zacherle and Faust, it’s about those creatures you described,” Hunter said and motioned for Rainbow to land. Once she did, he said, “Like I said, it just reminded me about an old fairy tale I heard once.”
Before Zacherle and Faust and the world as we know it, there was another race of creatures that ruled over the world. The name of these creatures have been lost to history, but they’re acts and works are still felt to this day.
Their numbers were so great that they spanned the entire planet, making cities that would put Manehattan to shame on size alone. Their technology was advanced to the point where they could sail among the stars if they wanted too. I’m sure you’ve seen remnants of this technology in your everyday life. The friendship express that runs through Equestria is based on an obsolete version of something they made.
Unfortunately, this very aptitude for advancement may have been their undoing. At the height of their era, they were cast down and vanished into thin air several thousand years before the rise of the three pony tribes. Coincidentally, Zacherle and Faust created the world at around the same time. So maybe the two creator alicorns played a role in the destruction, but nobody knows for certain.
“Why?” Rainbow asked suddenly.
“Huh?”
“Why would they do that? Destroying a whole race of creatures doesn’t really seem… nice, I guess.”
“I don’t know, it’s just an old fairy tale! It’s not supposed to be historically accurate, it’s supposed to help parents keep their foals quiet for bed time.”
“But-“ Before Rainbow could continue her mouth glowed purple and was zipped shut by a zipper.
“Rainbow, please be quiet for a second,” Twilight said sparing a glance at the pegasus, who glared back at her, and the unicorn looked back at the stallion and said, “Fairy tale or no, it seems like something related to what we’re doing. Do you know anything else about these… creatures? What they looked like or anything?”
Hunter offered a shrug and said, “Can’t really say. The story called them Precursors, they were bipedal, and very good at adapting to most environments. Anything else is lost to time.” He then leaned closer to the mares and said, “And personally, I feel that a race like that would be very secretive naturally. Anything about them probably went away with them, if they actually existed.” Twilight tried her best to ignore Rainbow Dash’s muffled sounds of annoyance.
At this point the trio reached a crossroads, the road stretching out ahead of them as well as splitting off to their left and right. Twilight took a quick glance at the sun’s direction to see they were facing west.
“I assume this is where we split,” Hunter said turning to the road that lead south, “it was nice chatting with somepony on the road for once, so thanks for that.”
“Oh, no trouble,” Twilight returned, “we should be thanking you for the story.” Hunter shrugged and, after wishing them luck on whatever journey they were on, left the pair at the crossroads. Twilight’s view was soon filled with Rainbow pointing at her zipped up mouth, which Twilight undid with a small apology.
“Thanks for zipping my mouth up Twi. It’s very comfortable,” Rainbow complained.
“I actually understand sarcasm Rainbow Dash, and I don’t appreciate it,” Twilight returned, “You would have kept interrupting him if I hadn’t done that and he wouldn’t have finished his story.”
“Yeah, some story! It didn’t even tell us anything we needed to know.”
“Actually it did, if you think about it.” Twilight glanced at her friend and rolled her eyes at the blank look she got from her. “Think about it Rainbow, he told us about an old race that was apparently very secretive. A bipedal, secretive race that doesn’t have much evidence to support they even existed…?”
“…You’re kidding right? What are the chances that the species is the same as that painting?”
“I see your point Rainbow, but let’s assume it is for the sake of this conversation.” Twilight waited for Rainbow to respond, which turned out to be a shrug, before she continued, “So, assuming that it is the same species, that would mean that this species is somehow connected to Carver. Do you follow?”
“I’m lazy Twilight, not stupid,” Rainbow said. It took a few seconds before Rainbow realized what she said and could only reply with, “That was a poor choice.”
“As long as you’re paying attention Rainbow. So if Carver and these precursors are connected, then that means Zacherle and Faust are involved in some way, even if it’s very small.”
“So…?”
“So, we research Zacherle and Faust and hopefully find out more about our situation.”
Rainbow, already feeling the direction this was going, went ahead and said, “So that means we have to-“
“That means we have to find a library!” Twilight finished for her, only barely able to keep the glee out of her voice. She was able to keep herself from bouncing a little though.
Rainbow could only really shake her head and say, “So, where’s the closest town then?”
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an update! yayayayayayayayayayay!
The introductory excerpt from Twilight's journal in the second chapter is referenced as having been written 10 years ago.
4680671
Thanks for that. I was sure I had forgotten something.
Dont recall if you mentioned any ponies reletave ages in the ten year gap but if you did might want to adjust them. Also great update!
Great to see another update on this. I hope we get to see some romantic developments between the two protagonists, unless the story was added to the wrong groups (nope, just checked, Twidash and romance tags *squee*). Still, making them share the same bowl is cute and setting a slow pace only makes it more rewarding when something finally does happen between them. The hugging is adorable too. Hunter is a funny guy and finally Twilight has some actual clues to research.
Please keep writing.