War of the Fallen Race

by PegasusKlondike

Artifacts

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at it again, whatever "it" happened to be this time. Applejack let the little blank-flanked rapscallions do whatever they wanted, as long as it didn't entail destroying parts of Sweet Apple Acres, which it somehow usually did. Today though Applejack had spotted them heading to the south fields with shovels and picks gripped in their mouths. Not a good sign. Moving as quietly as she could, Applejack tailed them.

She came upon the Crusaders digging furiously in the middle of the south field. "Dang it, Ah just had Big Mac' plow here last week," she muttered. She cantered next to the now sizeable hole the trio had managed to dig. "And just what do y'all think-" She was interrupted by a shovelful of dirt to the face. Spitting out chunks of dirt and gravel, she tried again. "What are y'all doin'!" Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all poked their heads out of the hole, their faces smeared with dirt.

"We're trying to get archaeology cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle chimed.

"Yeah! Just like Daring Do!" Scootaloo threw in, stopping to make whip noises and pretending to dodge invisible traps.

"By the Princesses, has Rainbow Dash been lettin' y'all read her Daring Do books again?"

"Yeah big sister! Ah thought we could dig here in the field. It ain't gonna harm nothin'. Besides, what if we find a lost temple or a stash of buried treasure? We'd be rich and get our Cutie Marks!"

"Girls, ain't no lost temples or buried treasure down there, I personally have plowed this here field a hundred times and there has been no sign of treasure, just good soil to grow apples. Now run along while I fill in this hole."

"I FOUND SOMETHING!" Scootaloo screamed at the top of lungs. She emerged from the hole, carrying something in her mouth. Dropping it on the ground, she beamed with pride and looked to her flank which sadly remained empty.

"Why Scootaloo that's just an old....what is that?" Applejack leaned in close to the small object, it was something she had never seen before, and it was totally unlike anything else a pony might use. It was shaped like a fat letter L, but with strange protrusions sticking out at various places. "What in tarnation? It must be some kind of old style farm tool or somethin'." She snapped back to the issue at hoof. "Well, you girls run along, and try not to destroy anythin' else." Applejack took a few minutes to fix the Crusader's damage, them looked back at the curious object on the ground. The thing was just so different. She grabbed it, determined to find out what it was. Applejack trotted back to the farmhouse, dropping the thing down on the dining room table. She had chores to do, and could solve this little mystery later.

That evening, Applejack showed the thing to Granny Smith, the old mare had been around the farm for decades. If it was some kind of tool, she would know. "Granny, Applebloom and her friends found this in the south field, do you know what it is?"

The senior Apple mare leaned in close to the object, looking it up and down, side to side, a puzzled look on her normally wise face. "Well little missy, it looks like somethin' from an old book I saw back when Ponyville was just gettin' started. But its been so long that I don't quite recall what that somethin' was." The elderly mare fell to her usual pattern of reminiscence, but as usual fell asleep after around a minute.

Maybe Twilight would have a book on things like this. But it was late, and they would all be getting together tomorrow anyways.

**********************************************************

Luna was having the nightmare again. She stood in front of the wrecked human flier, looking down pitifully at a broken and twisted human. Celestia had just ordered them to take it alive, but the demon lifted his weapon and tried to kill Celestia. Luna had saved Celestia, took the blow of the weapon. But there it became dark, a living evil began to permeate her being, consuming her mind and raping her soul. All while the human stood back and laughed, his eyes glowing like fire and his teeth becoming daggers.

She awoke with a start, Luna was coated in sweat and panting like her heart was preparing to leap from her chest. She was on the verge of another bout of weeping, but she lifted a hoof and slammed it against a bedpost, venting her frustration and fear of the damnable creature who had assuredly been dead for two millenia.

The Elements of Harmony had purged her of the evil which had a death grip on her for two thousand years. And every single day she thanked Twilight Sparkle and her friends for helping her. But the trauma she experienced could not be cured by harmony and friendship, and time didn't seem to help either.

*******************************************************

Twilight had just the absolute best idea a week ago, a book club! First she would start with her friends, then if they liked the idea, she would make it open to the public. Today was the day of the first meeting at the library, and to start everypony would bring in their favorite book to discuss. Pinkie Pie had managed to bring in a fantasy book that she read often to the baby Cakes. Rainbow Dash of course brought one of her favorite Daring Do novels. Rarity and Fluttershy had both brought romance novels, typical of Rarity, but kind of surprising for Fluttershy.

"Does anypony know where Applejack is?" asked Twilight.

"Haven't seen her today," replied Rainbow Dash.

"She must be up to her mane in chores, the poor dear," Rarity added.

A knock sounded at the front door, and without being let in Applejack nearly took it off its hinges.

"Sorry I'm late y'all, but I overslept this mornin'. Twilight, do you think you could take a look at this thing for me?" She reached into her saddlebags, bringing out the rusted, mud caked object.

The lavender unicorn raised an eyebrow at the strange object. "What is that? And where is your favorite book?"

"Favorite book? Shoot!" Applejack's eyes widened as she remembered they were meeting for a book club. "Ah swear I'll remember next time, but Ah need your help with this thing."

"It's alright Applejack, we all make mistakes. Now what are you going on about?"

"This... thing." The curious object sat on a table, nopony could identify it.

"Is it some kind of tool or spare part, Applejack?"

"No, the fillies found it in the fields, about six feet underground. None of mah kin know what it is or what it does."

The book club had been forgotten, and now everypony gathered around to view the strange artifact. An idea suddenly came to Twilight.

"Spike! Could you come in here please?"

The baby dragon stumbled in from the bedrooms, wondering why Twilight had decided to hold her book club first thing in the morning.

"What is it Twilight?" The little dragon said groggily.

"Come pick this up. It won't hurt you, I swear."

The dragon looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow, but reached out with his clawed hand and wrapped his claws around the object. "Woah! That is so weird, it feels like it was made just to be held by me."

"Precisely my theory Spike. Whatever made this object was not a pony. Ladies, I believe Applejack may have stumbled onto a bit of a mystery."

Rarity looked with a discerning eye at the object. "Judging from the accumulation of mineral deposits, this thing has been buried for several thousand years." She was met with stares of confusion. "What? You get to know these kinds of things when you work with gems, minerals and expensive clay all day!"

"Okay, Miss Crazy." Rainbow Dash put a hoof next to her head and spun it in circles, skewing her eyes and sticking out her tongue.

"Pinkie, you've been awfully quiet, what do you think?" The pink mare just stared at the object, mouth slightly open.

"I feel like I've seen something like this before, waaaaayy back in my foalhood. We used to find strange stuff like this on the rock farm. But every time papa would turn it in to the authorities and we would never talk about it."

Twilight levitated the object with a lavender glow, cleaning it off a little bit with a tissue. "That sounds weird, maybe there is some kind of cover up going on here. Okay, lets compile what we know."

Rainbow gave a sarcastic cough. "That this thing was made by a thousand year old society of baby dragons that is being covered up by the government?" She began to snicker at the absurdity.

"Come on Rainbow Dash! This is just as legitimate as any of your crazy ideas!"

Pinkie suddenly became her old self. "Hey! Why don't we take it to the Doctor!"

"I don't think this thing needs to go to the hospital Pinkie."

"No silly, Doctor Whooves! He's been all over the world, if anypony knows what this is, he will!"

Twilight considered for a second, Doctor Whooves was the most well traveled and educated pony in all of Ponyville. Taking it to him made sense.

*************************************************************************

Doctor Whooves had to be careful. One wrong move, one screw too tight or too loose and the entire device could fall apart the first time he tried to use it. Beads of sweat trickled down his brow, just a little more. Done! Well, with that one screw of course, the hourglass marked earth pony still had to do several hundred tiny little things just to get the device working again. He grabbed a spanner and what just about to make an adjustment when a knock at his door shattered his concentration.

"Just a moment!" He grabbed a sheet and draped it over his project, then proceeded to clean the grease and oil from his hooves and mouth.

He trotted over to his door, opening it to find Ponyville's resident troublemakers and heroines standing there.

"Hiya Doctor Whooves!" shouted Pinkie Pie as she barged her way in. Why did it have to be Pinkie Pie?

The Doctor tried to intercept Pinkie, but she managed to worm her way around him and into his home. "Miss Pie, I implore you to please refrain from touching anything! I am still cleaning up after your last visit."

Twilight filed in behind Pinkie. "Don't mind her Doctor Whooves. Pinkie! Hooves to yourself!"

The Doctor grinned at his fellow scholar. "Miss Sparkle, how delightful to see you and your friends today. How can I be of service?"

"Well Doctor, Applejack found something strange in her orchard and none of us know what it is."

"Oh? Trouble identifying a strange stone or what have you?" he chuckled to himself.

"Not quite, bring it in Applejack." Applejack took the thing out of her saddlebags and placed it on a table. Dr. Whooves simply stared at it for nearly a minute.

When he finally said something, it came out as a whisper. "Where did you say you found this?"

"In mah orchard, about six feet underground," replied Applejack.

"Incredible." the expression on his face had not changed. He suddenly had a revelation and went to one of his many bookshelves. He began to go through books of ancient history and his travel logs. "I haven't seen the likes of something like this in years, not since I traversed the gryphon kingdom of Kali'Gryph in the northeastern frontiers!"

"So its made by gryphons? That doesn't seem very incredible," Rainbow Dash said.

"Not at all Miss Dash! This object is older than even the earliest recorded pony or gryphon societies! The gryphons simply didn't have the stigma that we here in Equestria have against these objects. I saw one just like this, only better preserved, high up in one of their mountaintop temples. They claimed it was a weapon!"

"A weapon? What kind of harm could this thing do?" Rarity asked, nudging the rusted, mud caked object with the tip of a hoof.

Finally finding the right journal he flipped to the right page. "The gryphon monks claimed that in ancient times, a wicked race used weapons like this to conquer the world. The only thing they could tell me was that the ancients called them Demons. Miss Dash, the pegasi were very strict about keeping records of military campaigns. What can you tell me of your earliest leader?"

"What, Commander Hurricane?"

Doctor Whooves snapped his journal shut, placing it back and searching for any other books on the subject. "No, earlier!"

"Honestly I know nothing about the army. I just like to fly."

"You mean General Cloud Hoof, don't you?" The entire crowd turned to Fluttershy, who had now just voiced her knowledge.

The Doctor climbed down from the ladder on his bookshelves. "Indeed, General Cloud Hoof. What can you tell us about him?"

Fluttershy curled inward slightly, grinding the tip of a hoof into the floor. "Well, I read his memoirs back in the Cloudsdale archives. He was Commander Hurricane's father, and he was a great warrior in pegasus lore. He hung up his armor before the three tribes unified for Hearth's Warming. There was a constant theme in his book, but I forget what it was."

"Please Miss Fluttershy, you have to remember."

She squealed a little bit under the pressure. "I remember him saying he fought demons in a great war! Demons that brought fire and chaos and made monsters out of metal!" Fluttershy was on the verge of a total nervous meltdown.

"It's alright Fluttershy, when was this war?"

"He didn't say! He just referenced it as the end of the demon's time and the coming of the Princesses!"

Doctor Whooves rubbed his chin with a hoof. "Well that solves that mystery, all records claim the Princesses came here around two thousand years ago. But what is a demon weapon doing buried under your farm Miss Applejack?"

Applejack shrugged. "How should Ah know?"

"Indeed, with your permission I would like to excavate your field, see if I can't find some more clues. Of course you will be compensated."

"All Ah needed to hear was compensation, go ahead and take a whack at it Doctor." Applejack shook hooves with The Doctor and turned to leave. The rest of the group walked out the door as well, all except Fluttershy.

"Doctor Whooves, sir. There is one more thing I remember from General Cloud Hoof's memoirs, if you want to know that is."

"Go ahead, any more information would be delightful."

"Cloud Hoof wrote that he was friends with one of the demons. And that he didn't hate them as a race, just felt sorry when they disappeared."

"Curious. Why would a pony befriend something he called a demon?" The odd Doctor had to wonder. "Miss Pie, please do not touch the TAR... I mean, don't touch that!"

**************************************************************************************

The excavation was going well, instead of the Cutie Mark Crusader's hole, they had expanded outwards to create a terraced network of several dig-sites. Progress had been astounding, they had recovered over six hundred minor artifacts, anything from tiny brass cylinders to belt buckles. They had even found a larger version of what they guessed to be a more powerful demon weapon. Doctor Whooves oversaw the dig, several out of work ponies worked the pit, dredging out mud and dirt and carefully picking out any artifacts. Carefully cleaning the poorly preserved weapon, Dr. Whooves was interrupted by one of the diggers.

"Doctor Whooves sir! We've dug down to a layer that seems to be mostly ash and charcoal."

"Pardon? I'll have to see for myself." Walking away from the pavilion, he entered the pit, the rich brown soil stretched down several feet, but then abruptly stopped at a layer of black soil. The soil was riddled with demon artifacts, but also crude pony artifacts. Seeing the height of technology next to its polar opposite was confusing to say the least.

Several of the diggers stood with The Doctor, each giving their own less than professional opinions. "Well, what do you think Doc?"

"To me, the high amount of weapons involved with the site suggests that this was some kind of battlefield. Who attacked and who defended is entirely debatable."

"Sir! I found something!" one of the digger ponies shouted.

The entire dig team rushed to the pony's side. Doctor Whooves took a close look at the find, it was bones, bones unlike any other species he had seen, with the exception of a few Zebrican apes. "Demon bones, this is one of the demons, we actually found demon bones!" The bones had a scorched look to them, like they had been burned. Brushing away more dirt revealed more bones, some pony, some more demon and others from various species. All had the burn marks. "By the Princesses, this isn't a battlefield, this is funeral pyre. The aftermath of a battle." Doctor Whooves choked as he realized that all of Sweet Apple Acres' trees were fed by this rich deposit of death, Applejack might go out of business if they realized all the apples for Ponyville were grown on a demon graveyard.

"Doc, Applejack is coming!"

"Cover up the bones, everypony look busy!" Doctor Whooves rushed out of the pit, trying to drive the queasiness out of his stomach. The apple marked mare trotted to the edge of the excavation, escorted by her close friends.

"How's the dig comin' Doctor Whooves? My friends and I brought y'all some apple cider for yer trouble."

Doctor Whooves gratefully accepted the jugs of cider, not taking a drink like he normally would have, the apples for that cider might be contaminated with angry demon spirits. "I thank you very much Madam. Would you like to see the artifacts we have managed to recover so far?"

"Why the heck not? All in the interest of science of course!" The group entered the covered tent pavilion, the artifacts laid out on a long table. The majority were metal scraps like the brass tubes and more broken weapons. But there were also scraps of cloth and glass. But especially interesting was a metal box, about one foot high and eighteen inches deep.

"What's in the box Doctor?" said a curious Twilight.

Doctor Whooves stared longingly at the box, craving the secrets it held. "We don't know yet, it could be something wonderful or something terrible, of course it could be completely empty."

Twilight's horn glowed with her trademark purple magic. An aura encompassed the box and it levitated slightly off the table. The unicorn concentrated, and the door to the box burst open.

"Miss Sparkle! I must protest your use of magic on such delicate artifacts." On the other hoof, it was open, and a gold mine of information lay inside. Delicately reaching in, Doctor Whooves grasped a piece of paper. It was in a blocky, uniform script like on a Canterlot printing press. Perfectly legible Equestrian language. With one exception, the way it was written was almost like one of the pegasus military reports.

"Operation Hammerstrike? Military base called Stronghold? Heavy armaments deployment? Aircraft postioning? What is this? None of these names are present in any ancient text. Do you all know what this means!"

"That a bunch of ponies went cuckoo and put gibberish in a box?" Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.

"Rainbow, we are going to have to work on that sarcasm sometime," Rarity said to her friend.

Doctor Whooves had ignored both of them. "It means that this was written by demons! These are their two thousand year old battle plans! And what is this?" He again reached into the box, pulling out something covered in a reflective coating. It was perfectly preserved and looked the same way it did the day it had been written. "By Celestia, it's a map! This could be key to locating this so called Stronghold. So many mysteries to be solved, philosophy could be turned on its head. Everything we know about Equestrian history could be rewritten!"

"Hey Doc, what is that thingy there?" Rainbow Dash dipped her head into the box, bringing out a small rectangular card on a chain. It had a black strip on the back, and on the front it had a picture and some unintelligible writing. "What the hay is a Rudolph Smith and why is it a doctor?"

Crashing noises sounded from outside the tent. It sounded like a struggle was taking place. "Miss Sparkle, I don't have a good feeling about this, take the map and the card and run. Go out the back of the tent and make a break for Applejack's barn. Go!"

The six mares ran out the back of the tent carrying the map, just as the tent flap settled, a white pegasus stallion clad in gold armor entered the front. "Are you Doctor Whooves?" asked the royal guard.

"Yes, and by what right do you have to trespass on this excavation?!"

"Royal right, by the decree of Princess Celestia this site has been condemned and all artifacts recovered shall be destroyed!"

"I'll take you to court for this! I have the law on my side."

"The Princess's word is law, we have already begun with the demolition."

Comments

[MasterDreamy]

I LOVE IT MOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Truth_Seeker]

"The Princess' word is law."

Ah the infinite benefits of monarchy

[ponyTREK]

dr who would know a human bones and what a gun is or has his memory been changed?
dr who would save the 6.1 billon simply by burning telsa reseach no black magic gun no chaos time travel fix genside back to the future style

[kyle131996]

the doc knows about us he just aint telling them

[Dimitri2278]

248154
Well hey, "absolute power corrupts absolutely", am I right?