Of Insanity and Discovery

by anonymous_brony

Chapter One: Skeletons in the Tree House

Of Insanity and Discovery

Ch. 1

"Ah ponyville, the place where it all started." I said softly, while gazing over the charred remains of my once peaceful village. It has been my goal for the past several years to find out about the Great Equestrian War. For, you see, I am an archaeologist. One of the very important ponies that work directly under emperor Blue Blood himself! My sole task in life was to find out what happened to this once calm and peaceful land.

I walked down the burned street glancing from side to side in the hopes of finding a landmark of some kind. I was not disappointed. There off to one side is a slightly crumbled, completely burned, abnormally large tree.

"Ah, there you are." I said under my breath. "The library." I trotted over to it and took a look inside, careful to step over the remnants of the door. Inside was a large room with things that might have been bookshelves at one time, and a gaping hole in the wall where you can almost make out the remains of a staircase. The thing that most stood out in this room however, was the skeleton of a unicorn, whose mouth was open in a silent scream.

As I take a closer look I see that under the corpse of this unfortunate unicorn, there is another body. This body was something that I had only seen in books. This sad dead creature had at one time, been a baby dragon. Inspecting the bodies further I saw that they had both died at nearly the same time. The unicorn almost seemed to be protectively embracing this dragon in their last moments. That being said it was then that I, being a unicorn myself, realized that there was very potent magic in this room. Without even having to probe the magic I knew that this was no ordinary spell. "Sweet mother of Celestia." I gasp, my eyes widening. "This is a protection spell. I've never felt something so powerful." That would explain how the unicorn had died. Protection spells of this magnitude might burn out the magical reservoir that dwells deep inside of the unicorn's soul.

The protection magic was so potent in the room that you could actually see it, in the light purple haze that lazily drifts though the air. But that wasn't all, there was something, different, something that I had never felt in magic before. I send out a probe of magic to find out what the last spell used here was. The result was surprising, so surprising that I back-petal fast enough to trip over my own hooves. This magic was made out of pure emotion. "My, my Miss Sparkle, you were quite busy before your death weren't you?" I say sadly, gazing around the room, searching for the object of this strange magic. Before I could locate it however, I heard an explosion, an explosion that would begin the end of my normal life.

The mighty roar if the blast was deafening in and of itself, but combined with the fact that the earth shook so hard I fell on my rump, this was utterly terrifying. Let me repeat I am an archeologist, I am in no way trained in what to do in the midst of a war. The bombing of Ponyville lasted for about ten more minutes, and then they just stopped as suddenly as they had started. What followed was almost worse in a sense though.

"Apt Discovery!" An all too familiar voice boomed over what was left of the great town of Ponyville. "Your crimes against Emperor Blue Blood must be paid for! Come out so that we may have a fair and public trial in Canterlot. If you do not show yourself we will continue the assault on Ponyville and make shore you perish here, buried under the smoldering ashes of this terrible disgusting ruins of a town!"

Oh, crap… I thought not knowing whether to role my eyes or duck for cover. It had to be her didn't it.

"I repeat, Apt Discovery reveal yourself or else be blown away." Trixie said a hint of smugness entering voice. "I will give you to the count ten."

Dang it.

"Ten!"

I should run.

"Nine!"

Sorry Twilight Sparkle. I think as I stare longingly around the room. Wishing that I had more time to explore.

"Eight!"

I guess we might never know what your purpose for that magic was Ms. Sparkle.

"Seven!"

Why her? I think groaning inside.

"Six!"

To go or not to go, that is quite a puzzling question isn't it?

"Five!"

Is it just me or does she sound happy about this?

"Four!"

I started to walk toward the door when something caught my eye.

"Three!"

Just then a pulsing orb just off to the right of the door caught my attention.

"Two!"

I step in for a closer look. My inbred curiosity peeked.

"One!"

"Give the order." I heard her say, a bit too happily to her second in command.

"Waaaaaaaait!" I scream galloping at full force toward them. Now let me say something here I am not the most muscular, stamina filled colt in all Equestria. Not even close, it doesn't take much muscle to dig a little until you find something old buried in dirt. So after running all the way from the library to the edge of the Everfree Forest I was pretty beat. "Hold up" I pant. "I'm here (cough, cough) no need to (gasp) destroy this place." I was far too winded to notice the group of ponies that had recently aimed their guns directly at my pitiful head. I could only here one word between my gasps for breath.

"Fire"