Innocence Lost

by Granite

Digging Up The Past

Rainbow slammed another book closed again in annoyance. Granite's welcome party was three weeks ago now, and his promise to explain was way overdue. The stallion at the party was never caught, but the Ponyville Express was plastering the incident all over town. Whoever he is, he was a master of evasion, which made his name harder to place. Rainbow was digging up everything she could. Normally she'd drop the research, but Twilight tasked her with it, because she was being held up with her royal stuff. So Rainbow started taking it seriously, which was rare for her. For all the newspaper articles and gossip, she had no leads.

She even checked her flight camp yearbook to no avail. The only pony who seemed to know anything was totally focused on building his house and not answering her. Fluttershy was also being distant, but Rainbow payed less mind to that. She was a shy one, and ponies with knives didn't exactly work wonders on her mind. Also would hardly be the first time she boarded herself in. Rainbow Dash paused briefly over her own picture. The little cyan filly with the carelessly messy mane and the cocky smirk. She hadn't changed much, and didn't really intend on it.

She flips forward a few pages. The student's were separated by grade scale and age, although some other flight camps used flight ability to segregate trainees. Fluttershy was about half a year older than her, and so was further ahead. She eventually finds the shy little filly with one eye covered by her bangs. A few rows under Fluttershy was Granite who was in the same grade as Fluttershy, and also a little older than Rainbow, by a few months, but not a whole year. In his younger picture, he had one larger spot surrounding his left eye in addition to his snout freckles along with a scruffy looking mane, though not as scruffy as she wore hers back then. It made him look much younger. Borderline childish. Then again back then he was.

She slammed the yearbook shut in a fit of rage. This was getting her nowhere, so she kicked back on her bed, completely done with trying. The sun shone brightly through a window. It was autumn, and she volunteered to participate in the Running of The Leaves again over the weekend, and she felt like relaxing until then.

*****

Granite withdrew the brush from the gravel. His snout was so close to the ground that it had bits of dirt on it. Every time he exhaled a small cloud would puff away from him. He was inches away from a shard of ivory colored rock. He had taken a walk out in the Everfree Forest and eventually stumbled upon what he was here to do. Now in the ground around him a skeleton was partially uncovered. Normally Granite had a whole crew of ponies helping him with such projects, but they all ditched him when word got out of Daring Do's latest exploits.

He huffed at the though, causing another puff of debris to float lazily away from his face. He had a long time rivalry with the adventurous mare, and they shared very similar jobs. However where Daring Do would delve into temples wrought with spear traps and quicksand, Granite would shove his hoof in the ground and eventually pull something cool out. Daring Do was heroic and bold. Granite was clam and collected. They were the embodiment of the two types of archaeologist. The recent reveal of her actually existing in the form of author AK Yearling had put a heavy strain on Granite's work, although he knew that well before anypony else.

He kept poking at the loose dirt around the fossilized skeleton of...whatever the animal was. The whole skeleton wasn't there. In fact, this find was only partially complete. That happened very often and it was very irritating. So far he had uncovered a few ribs and a foreleg, but looking around the surrounding rock, he surmised that's all he was going to get. He tossed the brush aside and stood up from his crouched position. He had a ton of dirt on his stomach, but it didn't seem to bother him. He walked slowly over to the tent he pitched on the edge of the forest borders. The dig wasn't far into the forest. Maybe twenty feet. It made him wonder what might lie further in.

He unzipped the tent and the flap swayed gently in the fall breeze. In the distance the leaves were soothing hues of orange and red. But the Everfree trees remained their shade of haunting purple and green. They never changed. Everything about that forest was radiant with a primal aura that seemed so ancient and unnatural. As if the trees were older than time itself. To Granite, it was an irresistible call for exploration and discovery. He entered the tent and rummages around. He came out with a sketchbook with a worn leather cover. He was barely out of the tent when his ears twitch. He though he heard a quick little yelp.

*****

Fluttershy ducked behind the stallions tent, barely leaving his field of vision. She waited motionless as he listened for the noise he hopefully didn't know was her. She could practically feel him tense up suddenly, as if bracing for an ambush. Fluttershy had no intention to do so, instead she was doing her own detective work. She'd been following him for two hours now, and she found herself to be surprisingly intrigued with whatever he was doing in the forest. whatever it was must have gruelingly dirty work, as the state of his coat suggested.

After what was probably a minute or so, Granite relaxed and walked back towards the forest edge. She moved around the tent with the speed of a snail on the back of a tortoise and gingerly tiptoed her way towards the forest. If he decided to turn around her cover would've been blown, but Flutteshy had quietness and grace equal to that of a ninja. She hesitated when Granite walked straight into the thickets.

She took a moment to think. For her, sneaking around like this was a bold move. After the threatening pony at Sugarcube Corner, she attempted to stay away from Granite completely. Whoever the insane blue stallion was singled out Granite specifically. They knew each other. But as much as Fluttershy attempted to push the thought away, it always came back with double the curiosity. It got unbearable. Fluttershy was actually worried more for Granite than herself. So she summoned all the courage she could muster and eventually made it to this moment. In this moment, Fluttershy felt something. Something different, like whatever happened on the other side of the brush was crucial to her very being. It somehow felt...right.

She took a deep breath and stepped through into the forest