A Quest's Warm Beginning
The weather patrol pegasi had done a great job today; the sun was shining, a fine breeze was blowing, and only a few of the fluffiest clouds were left in the sky. You know the ones, perfect for a pegasus to catch a quick nap on! Quite a few of the citizens of Ponyville were taking advantage of the beautiful day- whether they were strolling through the market, tending their gardens or just enjoying a sunny lunch. There were six ponies in particular who were doing just that on a hilltop on the edge of town. They were all seated on a red checked blanket and enjoying the company of each other. Well, one of them was reclining on a lovely fainting couch, the rest were on the blanket. As the meal wound down the white unicorn on the couch cleared her throat demurely and smiled to the rest as she spoke.
“Twilight, I must say that this was a lovely day for a pick-nick, I'm very glad you suggested it.”
The rest voicing general agreement in their own ways, Fluttershy nodding quietly while Apple Jack polished off a piece of a delicious pie she had brought. Pinky Pie of course tossed the rest of the pie in the air and swallowed it in one frightening bite all while enthusiastically agreeing, managing even to drown out Rainbow Dash's shout of “Best pick-nick ever!”
Twilight smiled, and the studious pony stood up, “Thank you everypony, it was really only lunch, but it wouldn't have been nearly as good as it was without all of you. Though there was another reason I wanted us all to get together today--”
That got everypony's attention quickly, but before she could continue the pink party pony began bounding up and down,
“Oh oh oh! Do you need our help dying your mane? Maybe blue? Or green? Or Chartreuse? Isn't that a weird word? Chartreuse? I like it! Chartreuse! Chartreuse! Chartreuse! Its much better then vermillion, isn't it? Vermillion, chartreuse, vermillion chartr---!”
Thankfully Pinky was finally cut off by Apple Jack's hoof being quickly jammed into her muzzle. “So tell us sugarcube, what is it ya wanted us all here for?” Eyeballing Pinky, to make sure it was safe to remove her hoof...
“Yeah, what is it Twi?” this from Rainbow Dash, finally perking up a bit, and no longer wincing from Pinkie's brief spot of craziness. The sky blue mare flapped her wings a bit, stretching them out after the meal and then remaining in a hover a foot or so off the ground.
“Well... I was reading some odds and ends recently and I stumbled across a book about Hearth's Warming Eve... It was not a very old book, and I don't think it had anything particularly special in it... Mostly a lot of what I guess you would usually see, the basic story and the carols and such, but it got me thinking about all of it again...”
The other five ponies were nodding and looking to her, though they were also thinking back to their performance of the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant a couple of years ago back in Canterlot. They all knew the stories and carols, everypony did of course, but it was very special to be chosen, and by Princess Celestia herself! After a few moments of day dreaming Rarity broke the silence.
“Of course dear, it was a lovely time, but its the middle of summer now, whyever would you be thinking about that chilly holiday?” Her words bringing a small shiver to her that she quickly shook off.
“-Maybe she's thinking about what amazing gifts she got last year, or what she'll get this year! Or next year!” apparently AJ removing her hoof from Pinky's muzzle was not such a good idea as the pink bundle of energy bounces around the blanket, spouting off possible reasons for Twilight to be interested in Hearth's Warming Eve again.
“No, that's obviously not it!” retorted RD, hovering up to Pinky, and having to move pretty fast to keep up with her. “Why would Twilight be thinking about what gifts she's going to get in three years?” As a friendly argument begins to bounce between the pink and blue ponies most of the others are caught up just watching, even Twilight had briefly lost her train of thought... However the quiet yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, tries calmly to bring some peace. Unfortunately there is no way the others can hear her over the frackus that has been created already.
Thankfully Fluttershy doesn't go very many places without her bunny, Angel- who quickly hopped to the middle of the blanket and started rapidly kicking at a large wooden bowl that had held some fruit from their lunch. The din he was making quickly broke up the silly argument, and got everypony to turn and look at Fluttershy who blushed a little bit, but spoke up, “Um... well, about the holiday... what is it Twilight... that you wanted to tell us about? If you know, you... if you wanted to tell us about it...”
Quickly breathing a sigh of relief as soon as the focus is moved back to Twilight both the quiet pegasus and her bunny sit back down with each other. “Well girls, its not technically about the holiday itself...” Twilight fidgets a little bit, seeming to go through some talking points in her head before she continues. “Its more about the story, about the land the three tribes came from.” She now had their attention as they waited for her to continue, “Well, what I was thinking is, what happened to it? I mean, we know ponies left, but did they all leave? Did anypony stay behind?” she stopped for a moment, to let this brief bit soak in... As fascinated as she was with the idea that a pre-Equestrian society of ponies could be out there *somewhere*, or perhaps was out there somewhere she wasn't sure what the others would think.
“Um... If you don't mind me askin', what exactly are ya thinkin' 'bout those ponies for? As Ah remember, they weren't the best sort... An how would we ever know what happened to em for that matter? Its not like we've heard of em since, or even where about they'd be...” The farming pony was the first to weigh in, level headed as usual...
“Well, that's a part of it, we don't know what happened to them, if there even are any of them that stayed... If you think about it though, its very possible that some stayed behind. We know that the pony I played in the pageant, Clover the Clever was one of the founders of Equestria, but what about her mentor? Star Swirl the Bearded? We know she was his student, as famous as he was, none of my history books actually seem to know what became of him!” The excitement now becoming more and more evident in the young princess as she speaks, her wings even flitting a bit as she tries to convince her friends of why this is so interesting...
“What if ponies stayed behind? Wouldn't it be possible for them to have discovered the magic of friendship in their own land, just as it was found here in Equestria? Couldn't they have saved themselves from the wendigo and continued to live there? A completely unique and different society of ponies? Like the Crystal Empire?”
As Twilight stopped for a moment to catch her breath the fashionista chimed in, “Well, it is a very interesting theory darling, but however would we know if something like that happened? Its not like we could just pack up and go find this... archaic pony land. Where would we even start looking?”
At that question the saddlebags that Twilight had left laying on the ground nearby began to glow as she used her magic to open them up and float three scrolls up to her. They were quite dark and stained, appearing to be very old. Though what was most surprising was that they were not even bound with the familiar horseshoe seal common to the Canterlot archives! The first seal seemed to be a silhouette of a unicorn over a field of stars, while the second was a pony's head flanked by wings over a similar star field. Finally, the third, seemed to be a scene of the sun, a hill, crops and flowers. Once the others saw them, they all fell silent, even Pinky stopped bouncing for a few moments... They had obviously never seen scrolls like these...
“Twilight... What... what are those?” Fluttershy's voice barely breaking the silence...
The purple alicorn shook her head, “I'm not entirely sure, I only found them yesterday. Well, Spike found them actually. It was the strangest thing, I had him looking through the books on one of the highest shelves to see if I had any more lore from olden pony times and he said these were in an unadorned wooden box, tucked behind some books. I don't know how I could have missed them on re-shelving day... But he said that the box fit almost perfectly into a nook set in the shelf. Its like they were there, waiting for somepony to find them...”
“Oh Oh Oh! I know what those symbols are! They look just like the flags and banners we used during the pageant!” It seemed that even ancient artifacts like these scrolls couldn't keep Pinky from bouncing for long! She was hopping about quickly around and around the floating scrolls, nearly causing Twilight to lose her focus and drop them. “Yes! The unicorn, pegasus and earth pony tribes banners! I knew they looked familiar, mostly the earth pony one, probably because I'm an earth pony after all! I mean, maybe if I was a unicorn I'd remember that one instead, Did you remember that one better Rarity? Or Twilight, Oh, I shouldn't ask you, you're an alicorn now, you probably forgot all about the unicorn banner. Do alicorns have a banner? If they don't you and the others should make one---!” This time the moment of respite coming from Rainbow, who promptly dropped out of the sky and landed on Pinky Pie, stuffing an apple into her mouth.
“So, what do they say Twi?” the blue mare asked as she tried her best to hold down the squirming pink pony beneath her.
The alicorn's wings dropped a bit as she shrugged, “Actually, I can't read them... They're written in a language that I don't understand... Given time I may be able to figure it out, but at the moment I don't think that may be necessary just yet.” using her magic, she very slowly and very carefully unrolled the pegasus scroll. “There isn't a lot of actual text on this one, it actually appears to mostly be a map. I think its a map that the pegasi made as they traveled here, to Equestria. I think we could use it to find where they came from!”
The others started to think that over, Dash speaking up first, “You mean... you want to go on a quest? Like, travel the land, no idea what's coming next, full of adventure QUEST!?” The idea of adventure and the unknown perking up her ears.
Twilight nodded, “Well, yes. I do... I mean, I know its a lot to ask of you girls, we could be gone for awhile, and I know you all have things that you need to do...”
AJ shook her head, “Well sugarcube, if'n we aren't gone too long Ah think Ah can join ya... There's a good month before apple bucking season starts up... An Ah spose Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh can take care of the farm for a lil while.”
The posh white unicorn thought it over and replied next, “Well... I was considering a brief sabbatical after all the recent excitement... I doubt that an... adventure...” said with a good bit of disdain, “may prove as restful as a spa vacation... However, considering how very beautiful the Crystal Empire was... Well, who knows what we may find. I will be glad to join you girls...” whispering the last bit- “If somepony else carries my luggage.”
Twilight looked next to the yellow pegasus that was trying to hide behind her hair, “What about you Fluttershy? Will you come with us? It won't be the same without you!”
With a look down to Angle she surprised them all by standing slowly up and nodding, “...yes.”
“You will? I mean, that's great! Its just that we've never seen you agree to something like this so quickly, are you sure?”
The yellow pegasus with the pink mane nodded again, “I'm sure... Angel-bunny thinks it will be a good idea to get out and explore a little, and he promised not to have any parties at the cottage while we were out this time.”
It seemed that the word party reacted with Pinky, but before she could say anything Dash shoved another apple into her mouth, “Well that's it then! We're all in, right?” Getting several quick nods from the party pony beneath her who had already swallowed the apple whole, “You got it!”
Twilight beamed at her friends, “That's great! I know it will take some time to pack, and get everything ready, so lets plan on leaving in three days, will that be enough for everypony?”
They all thought it over and nodded in agreement, heading off towards their own homes to begin getting ready for what promised to be an interesting adventure!