ever wondered how the ponies seem to have buildings and other human technology yet lack the required claw and three fingers we have to use them or even build them. This is a story of Dawn Shy, a certain pony who was interested in one thing that was uncommon with ponies. History. And when her Special Talent came out to be History, not every pony was happy about it.
Dawn was frustrated. Her mom and dad were completely convinced that moving out of Canterlot was the best way to keep their daughter safe. Dawn had started being bullied by other ponies at her school because of her cutie mark. Her cutie mark was different from most. Not many understood what her cutie mark even was, let alone her special talent.
"I know you do dear, but trust us! This is so we can keep you safe." Dawn's mom said to her in a gentle tone.
Dawn's dad came through the door. He didn't say anything but just looked to Dawn's mom and nodded. Dawn's mom looked at Dawn. "You ready?" She asked softly.
Dawn sighed. Even though she really didn't want to leave, her parents were set on her moving. Her friends had said she could move in with them, but that left very few options. So, with a suitcase by her side, she nodded her head, annoyed. Dawn's mom stopped for a moment, knowing how hard this must have been for her daughter, but knew in her heart that it must be done.
"You go on ahead with Dawn while I lock everything up, okay?" Dawn's mom said, turning to her husband. Dawn walked pasted her dad, with a look of disapproval on her face.
"Duskshine," Dawn's mom said to her husband. The tall dark brown stallion stopped halfway through the doorframe.
"Dawn. Get to the carriage, I'll join you shortly." His voice was soft but still dominating as usual. Making sure Dawn was on the carriage, he went to his wife.
"What is it, Lily?" Duskshine murmured. Lily was looking at the floor.
"If... If I don't come out after five minutes, I want you to take Dawn to Ponyville… without me." A tear fell from Lily's cheek. Duskshine walked up to her.
"Don't talk like that, you're coming with us."
Lily looked up at Duskshine. "But… I can't! I have to stay here and… and make sure nopony ever finds out where she's gone. Oh, pony feathers! I wish we could just tell her why we're moving her."
Duskshine sighed. "I know it would be easier to just tell her, but Princess Celestia said it's best for her not to know, remember?"
"I know, I know… Is your sister still up for taking her in?"
Duskshine nodded. "Twilight was more than happy to help." Lily looked through the window to Dawn, who was just leaning her head against the side of the carriage.
"You think she'll still understand that we love her, even though we won't be there?" Lily inquired. Duskshine stood at her side, looking out the window. "She will, I’m sure she will."
After standing for a moment, Duskshine looked at the clock. "I better get going, if I want us to get to Ponyville at sunrise."
Lily looked at him. "Make sure you keep an eye on her." "I will. It'll be hard not being able to actually be there." Duskshine smiled. "I know, but at least you'll be able to see her." Lily smiled back. Duskshine looked at Lily. "I'll write to you, every day. I promise." Lily smiled, and bade him farewell. "Go on, before anyone sees." With that, Duskshine boarded the carriage and nodded to the driver, and the carriage sped off.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Dawn looked to her father. "Dad, do I have to live with your sister?" "Yes, dear."
"But… I want to stay with you, dad!" Dawn insisted. Duskshine sighed. "I know you do honey, but this is for the best. You have to trust me."
Dawn scowled. "Don't want to go to Ponyville," she muttered. "You'll enjoy it just as much as you did Canterlot." Duskshine said, overhearing her mutter. Dawn just adjusted her black and green mane so her fringe covered her eyes. It was her own little way of saying don't disturb me. Duskshine just smiled, and silence once again filled the carriage. The sun had just started to rise as buildings started to appear in the distance.
"There it is, Ponyville." Duskshine proclaimed. Dawn moved her fringe out of her eyes so she can see what her new home looked like, and tried to find any bad points. Maybe she'll be able to find something that’ll help her persuade her father that moving here is a bad idea.
"This...is Ponyville?" Dawn said in a judgmental tone. Sure, the country was beautiful but Dawn had always been a city girl.
The windmill started turning as ponies of Ponyville began to wake up and start their daily routine. Closed signs turned to open, locks were unlocked. Stalls were pulled in to the market area as the clock tower donged to tell the residents of Ponyville that it was six o'clock in the morning. The carriage pulled into the entrance of Ponyville and father and daughter got off. Duskshine went to the driver and thanked him for bring them here and then the carriage drove off.
"So dad… are you sure Twilight would want me, what with my special talent?" Dawn asked. Duskshine looked to his daughter. "My sister's always had an open mind, more so than me, so I know she'll look after you." Duskshine then looked forward again, and after a moment, started to lead on.
"We’d better not keep her waiting," he said uneasily. Dawn started to follow her father as they both entered Ponyville.
The duo walked right past everypony and some interesting sights till they got to a tree that was fitted to be a home. Duskshine knocked on the door and looked to his daughter. "I know we're rushing abit but once we have you settled in you can explore Ponyville to your hearts content." Duskshine smiled. "Whoo-hoo." Dawn said sarcastically. The door opened and a small purple bodied, green scaled baby dragon stood there. "Duskshine! You're here Twilight's been waiting for you" The dragon said, looking up to Duskshine. "I know she is I'm sorry about being late Spike. The carriage was abit slow" Duskshine apologized, partly bowing his head. "Hey, it's okay, better late then never." He stepped aside and extended his right arm. "Come in, Twilight's in her room preparing things." Duskshine looked to Dawn and pointed with his head to let her go first. They both walked into the tree house and Dawn's eyes widened when she saw all the books. "Whoa" She said naturally. The only time she saw this many books was in the school library when the bullies weren't there yet. A door opened with a purple pony with a horn pointing out from her black and purple hair was standing there, a book that must have been reading floating just to her right. "Twilight." Duskshine said with a happy tone. Dawn looked over to where the voice was directed to. "Duskshine, I thought I heard your voice" Twilight looked to Spike. "Spike, mind taking Dawn to where she'll be sleeping, I just want a word with Duskshine." Spike nodded and walked over to Dawn. Dawn looked to Duskshine and he nodded as ways of saying go with him. Dawn took a step closer to Spike as he smiled. "Follow me; Twilight picked the best place for you." He said walking off, Dawn followed as Duskshine and Twilight walked into the room Twilight came out from. Entering a room that was semi-large, Dawn had to admit that the room was alot bigger then her old room. Looking to Spike Dawn opened her mouth to speak. "It's Spike, right?" She asked, remembering what Twilight called him. He over to her. "Yes, you're Dawn, aren't you? Nice to meet you!" Spike replied with a smile. She nodded to confirm he was right and continued to talk. "So, you've been in Ponyville just as long as Twilight, right? So you must know if this place as any fun and cool places?" She asked. If she was staying here, might as well know the good spots to go to. Spike nodded as a response to her question. "Well let me think, There's Sugarcube Corner, that's where Pinkie Pie stays most of the time, if you like parties you'll love her" He was cut off by Dawn when she jumped to him. "Could you take me there?!" She asked super fast. Dawn might have liked books but she loved to party just as much as the next mare. Spike was taken back by the suddenly lively Dawn. "Erm, sure, I don't think Twilight would mind" Spike said, thoughtful thinking if he would be allowed to. He didn't see why he wouldn't be. Dawn smiled with delight that she would get to meet someone interesting at last. "Great! Can we go now?" She asked. Spike nodded and they both went towards the front door. Duskshine and Twilight were still talking so Spike just left them is thinking they'll be gone and back before she even noticed. The ponies of Ponyville were wide awake with the sun now up and lighting the ground. It was a Saturday so that meant no school for the fillies that were running around and screaming while they had fun while the older ponies went round doing their usual business. Spike and Dawn walked to Sugarcube Corner while Spike made it more a mini-tour of Ponyville, telling Dawn what shop sold what while also saying other various sights she might be interested in looking at. Dawn was actually interested in some of the sights he mentioned but kept her thoughts of what Pinkie Pie might be like, a pony that likes to party is best thing to see and if she had some time after she'll explore it. When they got near to Sugarcube Corner the door busted open as Spike was taken down by a blurring pink object. Dawn spun round fast to see what just shot out and saw a pink pony with curly hair sitting on top of Spike. "Spike! She isn't here yet is she?!" The pink pony shouted. "She is here, she's standing over there." Spike pointed to Dawn and when the pink pony saw her she jumped in the air gasping and shot back into the building. Dawn turned to Spike who picked himself up. "You okay? Who was that crazy pony?" Dawn asked, looking back at the now closed door unsure what just happened. Spike dusted himself up. "That was Pinkie; I guess I forgot to tell you she's a little random." "A little?" Dawn said, unsure if that was the greatest understatement she ever heard or a joke. Spike walked to the door and opened it and Dawn walked in a room which was pitching black. "Is there a black out or is it normally like this?" The suddenly lights came on with everyone; Dawn thought she just literally saw a moment ago, shouting surprise. Dawn took a step back to take in the surprise as Pinkie jumped out from the crowd. "Hey! I'm Pinkie! Boy, you sure shocked me! I thought I had more time to set this up for you!" Said Pinkie, quite fast that Dawn just managed to keep up. "What's your name?" Pinkie asked. Dawn just blinked and then cleared her throat. "Dawn." She simply said. "So you are the person who I was told would be here!" Pinkie shouted with delight. "Welcome to Ponyville! I would introduce you to everyone but what better way to meet people is there then partying! So what we waiting for? Let's get the music flowing!" Pinkie shouted to everyone as the room was filled with music. Dawn sighed with a slight smile. She did want to party, that she had to admit. And it probably was a good idea to get to know everypony. She walked over to a table that had cups and a bowl of punch. She grabbed the handle of the serving spoon and poured the contents into a cup. As she was about to drink she noticed three fillies her age. The three fillies didn't seem to have cuties marks. She drank her drink and walked over to the conversing three. "Er...Hey there." Dawn shyly said. The three stopped talking and turned their attention to Dawn. "Oh, Hi! You're Dawn, right? You're new to Ponyville, right?" Asked an orange, purple haired filly. Dawn nodded to answer both questions. "Well Welcome! I'm Scootaloo; this is Sweetie Bell and Applebloom." Scootaloo introduced them all. Each filly saying hi when their name was called. "And we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo proclaimed with pride. "Or the CMC for short" Sweetie Bell added. "Ooo" Dawn said as she heard the name. "Can I join?" Dawn had never been in a group. "Ah well you see, The CMC was made to help those who haven't found their Cutie Marks, find them." Scootaloo explained. "Oh" Dawn replied disappointed. Scootaloo looked to the others. "What you say guys? Let her join?" Dawn looked up to them with surprise and hope. "Ah don't see why not" Applebloom answered. "She could help her give us some advice...like an Elder!" Sweetie Bell replied. "But she just recently joined; Elders are people who were here before." Scootaloo told Sweetie Bell "Oh, then how about an Advisor?" Sweetie Bell asked. "Yeah, an Advisor!" Scootaloo said, liking the idea. "What'chu say? We let you join if you be our advisor?" "Of Course I would!" Dawn replied, eager to be part of a group. "Alright, tomorrow will be your first day as a member of the CMC!" Scootaloo announced. Dawn, Sweetie Bell and Applebloom cheered at the announcement. "But for now, let's party!" Scootaloo shouted. The fillies shouting yeah and all running off to have fun. After the party, Duskshine was thanking Pinkie for throwing the party. He went over to Dawn's room. Dawn was laying in bed. "Hey you still awake?" Duskshine asked. "A little." Dawn replied sleepily. Duskshine smiled. "So, what'd think of the party? Make any friends?" Duskshine asked. Suddenly Dawn became alive. "Yeah! I met these three ponies who let me be in their group!" Dawn said excitedly. "Really? Must have been awesome." Duskshine said smiling as his daughter was happy. "It was."Dawn answered, happily. "So...you like it here then?" Duskshine asked. "It's alright." Dawn said, turning on her side. "Told you it'll grow on ya." Duskshine commented. "Hey, I said it's alright, not that I liked it here." She said sarcastically. Duskshine laughed and turned off the lights. "Night." "Night." Dawn answered and fell asleep.
The sun rose once more on Ponyville. Dawn woke up as a knock at the door was heard. The creaking of the hinges were heard as Duskshine answered. "Hello?"
"Hey, Is Dawn in?" A familiar voice asked.
Dawn's eyes widened. The CMC was already there to pick her up and she was a mess. "Oh yes, she is, you must be Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell and Applebloom. Please come in, I'll go fetch Dawn for you."
The three thanked Duskshine as he went to Dawn's room. "Dawn" He asked, knocking on the door. "Your friends are here."
"Just one minute!" Dawn cried from the other side of the door. "Where's the brush? Why is it always hidden when you need it most?" She said to her self. "Dresser!" She shouted remembering where it was. Pulled the draw out and combing her hair quicker then a flash she burst out her room. "Ready!"
"Whoo, Lets go!" Scootaloo said, pointing to the door. They all hopped into the wagon as Scootaloo took her usual scooter.
As they went speeding off Dawn looked to them. "So, where we heading?" Scootaloo turned her head slightly to look at Dawn while keeping an eye on where she was going.
"We're heading to this cave system in Everfree Forest." Scootaloo replied, turning her head back to normal stance.
"Yeah! We're going to try and see if Cave Exploring is our special talent!" Applebloom said, quite happily and a tad bit loud.
"Well, at least one of ours." Sweet Bell added.
"Well, alright, as long you're sure you're up to it." Dawn said, in a jokingly playful tone.
"Up for it?" Scootaloo repeated looking a Dawn. Her face in the same joking manner but saying challenge accepted. Suddenly the Scooter shot off. It took five minutes for them to get there. "Okay, let's make this interesting." Scootaloo said to the others as they were getting off the wagon.
"Okay what you got in mind?" Dawn replied.
"I was thinking a challenge" Scootaloo stated. "Whoever can go the deepest everyone has to buy ice-cream for." Everyone looked to Scootaloo.
"You're on!" Everyone shouted to her.
"Well what we waiting for, let's go!" Applebloom shouted, with her front legs kicking in the air.
They all entered the cave together. Only two feet in and they saw how dark it was. "We're going to need some torches with us really going to do it." Dawn said to them.
"That's why I bought these!" Scootaloo reached into her bag and pulled out lanterns for each of them.
"How long did she have that bag with her?" Dawn whispered to Sweetie Bell and Applebloom.
"No idea." They both replied.
Putting each lantern on their necks, Scootaloo cleared her throat. "If you think you can't go any further just head back here and wait for the others by the wagon" The others nodded agreeing with her terms and they set off to go deep into the cave.
"So, Dawn, when did you stop being so shy?" Scootaloo asked. It had been five minutes and they walking down a stone corridor-like tunnel.
"You know what they say. Don't judge a book by its cover" Dawn said, with a cocky tone. The group stopped when they heard rumbling.
"What was that?" Applebloom asked.
"Probably nothing caves do that all the time" Scootaloo said with confidence.
They carried on walking down the tunnel. Ten minutes had passed and rubble was heard. "I think we should leave" Dawn said but then suddenly the tunnel on the other end started to collapse in. "Run!" They all called out and started to bolt down the tunnel. They near the entrance as Dawn could see the light. Suddenly she heard Sweetie Bell trip. "Sweetie Bell!" She called and ran back to her. She helped up. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks" Replied Sweetie Bell. And she ran after the others. Dawn wasn't far behind her till suddenly the floor underneath her dropped.
"Dawn!" The others called as they saw her disappear amongst the rubble.
"Quick, we got to get help!" Applebloom shouted, already running towards town.
Scootaloo ran to catch up with Applebloom. Sweetie Bell was looking at the now closed entrance of the cave. "I'm...so Sorry, Dawn." She said like Dawn was standing there. She sighed and then tried to catch up with the rest.
It was dark when Dawn awoke. Cuts, bruises and a sprained leg was all she got from the fall. She was lucky. She looked up and saw where she dropped. "Uh, great." She said, slowly standing up. Her back leg twitching from the pain. "No way am I getting back up there." She said, looking at the large hole. Then a glow caught her attention. It lit up the corridor faintly. It wasn't her lantern as the glow was pure white. "What's that?" Dawn asked. She wanted to check it out but was unsure if she should. She thought about how the others would be going to fetch help. "Guess if I'm quick, I'd be here when they try and save Me." he was determined to find out what was causing that glow.
She limped down the corridor towards the glow. The glow fading in and out. It revealed a corner that Dawn would have to turn round on. If she could make it.
She managed to limp her way to the corner and turned to be facing a door. It was made out of metal and had no handle. Just a line in-between. She looked at it confused. "A door?" She asked herself. She placed a hoof on it and the glow faded and shined around her hoof then lighting up the door's decor. The line between became a gap and the door opened slowly.
"Okay..." Dawn said unsure how to react. She limped in and the door shut behind her faster then it did open. The floor lit up with the light shooting down the corridor lighting the whole place up. Dawn begun questioning if she was actually awake or not. Following the path the light went she came to a dead end.
"Well that was disappointing." Dawn said seeing nothing but a wall of rock. "Now what?" She said, leaning on the wall. Only for the section to slowly move in. Standing on her legs again, she looked to the pressed in wall. The once silent room now filling with the sound of cogs turning. The floor begun to lower itself.
Dawn began to fear for her life. Did she set off a trap? She thought. The floor continued to lower till something became clear. The rocks in front of Dawn stopped showing and in their place was a glass tube that she was in, revealing something much bigger. A room. So large you couldn't see the other end of it due to fog. You couldn't see the floor or ceiling either. In the room dotted ruins of buildings of all shapes and sizes, much taller the average pony buildings. These were towers made of concrete and glass.
The floor stopped and a door opened. Dawn limped out onto a platform. It lead to spiral staircase that went down into the foggy mists at the bottom. "Where in Equestria am I?" Asked Dawn to herself. She thought she must be crazy about thinking about going down those stairs. But Dawn's heart just wanted to know more about this place.
What felt like hours, Dawn finally made contact with the dusty ground floor that the spiral stairs lead to. She was perfectly level to finally see how tall the dark towers were. She never felt so small in her life. The ground underneath was different to the usual dirt paths she was used to walking on and there seemed to be two different types of paths: small ones that seemed to outline the buildings and a bigger one with white dotted lines on it that laid in-between the smaller paths. There was something wrong with the big path she was currently on as it had two ends that seemed to go somewhere but end up going into a solid rock wall. Dawn started to follow on of the big paths as her curiosity of the place grew even more upon seeing it. Even though the dark towers were intimidating, something about the place, weirdly enough, felt like she had been here before, like a child who left home for a while and just returned.
She carried on limping down the big path, looking at each differently shaped tower, wondering why no-pony had heard of this place before. Or, have they but they just kept it a secret? So many questions were going through the purple pony's head that it felt like it was going to overload. In fact, the strain caused Dawn to have a powerful migraine. Distorted by the sudden pain, Dawn seeks aid to holding her head. But during the stumble to a wall, Dawn hears a metal clang as she accidently kicks a metal disc that had been lodged into the ground.
"Huh?" Dawn reacted, as she felt the object under her hoof.
A blue flashing light start beeping off from the centre of the disc as a robotic voice emitted from the device.
"Audio Recording Log: 78. Science Officer John Cooper:-"Been a couple of days since I took the first one in. Now they want me to look after a second one? I would love to take care of them but my apartment isn't bigger enough for the three of us. Guess I could find some way of making space for the other one, The Government don't really take no easily. Apparently this one is the sister of the first one, DNA wise anyway, so this should be interesting in seeing their interaction with each other. The funny thing is the new one has different marks on her rear as supposed to her sister. This one has a..."
The device was crushed as a metal spear lands on it. Dawn followed the metal spear to the now looming shadow which was looking down to her.
"Illegal Life-form detected. Objective: Kill." As a whirling of machine was heard Dawn took nature's instinct and ran. Bullets ripped into the now empty space where she stood. Running was hard to do due to her limp but she couldn't feel the pain as the fear of her life now ran in charge of her mind. A strange low humming sound could be heard, so Dawn looked back and saw the machine that was after all was hovering to her. Another round of bullets ripped into the ground as Dawn tried her best to dodge them, but in her attempt to brush against death she gets leg-tied and is sent forward face-planting the floor. Her body went into a spring like motion as she was sent flying into the air. Her body smacked against a wall of one of the towers as her head followed. Everything went to black as the purple pony was sent unconscious.
Dawn awoke in her bed, but something was different. She was younger. Her mom checked in on her.
"Everything okay?" She asked in her usual sweet tone.
"Yeah, mom. Just worried about school tomorrow." Dawn replied, now sitting up from her covers. "Hey, mom? Can I ask you something?" Dawn's mom looked to the young filly and walked up to her. "Sure dear, what's on your mind?" She sat down on the bed, beside Dawn.
"I was wondering..." Dawn paused, thinking how to say it or if she should even ask. "I was wondering, why have people started being mean to me? After I got my Cutie Mark, It's like, I was found to be the one who bought Discord back."
Dawn's mom sighed. She looked down to the floor. "I guess it's time you knew the truth." She looked up to the wall. "You see, Dawn, You aren't the first Pony to have History as their speical talent. There was another."
Dawn looked puzzled. "But how does that pony explain why people are treating me like this?" She asked, not sure what her mom was getting at.
"Dawn, How exactly are the other Ponies treating you?" Dawn's mom asked. Dawn never really gave her speicfic detail to how the bullies were treating her.
Dawn looked down as she cleared her thoat. "Some just shun me. Like I wasn't there, like I didn't exist. Like where I stood was just a blank hole."
"And the others, the ones that don't shun you?" Dawn's mom asked.
"T-They either call me names or..." She paused. The memories of the old school flooding back in. "...Or beat me. Like a...Piñata" Tears started to run down from her eyes.
Dawn's mom hugged her. "That's how they treated him. The pony before. He went against Celestia. Claiming that what she told us about our past was lies. It was harmless before but over time he grew more...insane. Over his claims and due to how people was treating him." Dawn's mom continued to explain.
"So, everyone's treating me like this because of some pony that had the same Cutie Mark?" Dawn asked.
"Sadly, Yes, but you know what? They might go around thinking you're the same as Dark Star, but we know you're not." Dawn's mom said, trying to comfort her.
"Was that his name?" Dawn asked.
"Yup, Dark Star, the first Pony Historian. Would have been great if he didn't go insane." Dawn's mom sighed.
"What happened to him, in the end?" Dawn asked, now curious about this character.
"No-one knows. He just vanished." Dawn's mom simply answered. "Now you, It's your first day in this school tomorrow, so you have to go to bed."
"Okay, Mom." Dawn said, tucking herself in. "Good Night Mom." Dawn said, watching her mom walk out the door.
"Good Night Dawn, sweet dreams." Dawn's mom said, smiling to her daughter.
As the young-Dawn hit her head on the pillow, the present Dawn opened her eyes slowly. Her head was pounding like she was in a hangover. It came to a surprise to her she wasn't dead. But then she went a defensive postion as she remembered she was on the run from a killer robot but it wasn't there. In fact, she wasn't in the place she was before. The over-spawning concreate jungle was replaced with what looked like a trashed room.
"You're awake, good. I thought I got there too late and the machine had got'cha." A voice from the shadows called out. It was a male voice with a obvious British accent.
Dawn followed the voice to a darkened out corner where the flickering lights of the ruined room couldn't reach. It was pitch black in that one corner.
"You saved me? T-thanks." She said shaking. She was intimidated by the voice from the void, just like any other pony would be.
"How did you get down here?" The voice asked her. The pitch black looked with him as none of this features could be seen.
"I-Me and some friends went cave exploring. A earthquake caused the tunnel we were travelling to collapsed. I fell into another tunnel which led to this dead end. But it wasn't a dead end but more a lift and. I got here." Dawn explained. "Look, thanks for saving me. Do you know how I can get back to the surface?" Dawn paused and thought for a moment. "And could I see what my saviour looks like?"
You didn't have to see the figure to know he was staring with a glare at that question. A heavy sigh was heard. "Alright. Very well." A cleaking of metal was heard as the shadowy figure gained shape. Revealing to be much taller then a pony.
As the figure stood up, Dawn took a step back. He was much taller then she imagined a lot taller. The figure stood there, he already knew his posture and his body shape was causing the little pony to be intimated. Regardless, he took a step into the light and that’s when Dawn’s jaw just dropped. There standing before her was something beyond her imagination, and she’s seen dragons and minotours; The figure had a mane, at least that’s what Dawn thought it was, it was flat and spread across his head, his left eye was covered by it, his mane connected to a beard that showed how long he’s been down here. His head shape was different to anyponys Dawn has seen; it was round and didn’t trail off into a snout, more downward, especially his as it looked so long and thin, with a straight nose. The figure seemed to be wearing some form of make-shift armor made of spare machine parts, no doubt made from the very machines that hunted Dawn. An ocean blue eye looked towards Dawn; behind it was the feel of years of anger and sorrow.
“W-what are you?” Dawn managed to ask the figure, her voice trembling. Fear finally set into the girl and has clearly taken control.
“Let’s say I’m the last of my kind but what I am isn’t important right now. We need to get you out of here before any more machines come.” The figure responded, his voice was aggressive. “I know a way back to the stairs and back to the surface but you must promise me that when you’re back up there you don’t tell anyone anything you’ve seen, okay?”
“Okay” It was obvious that if she went around telling everypony that she found a ruined underground city with a mysterious and weird creature, they’d form a lynch mob.
“Good. Now, can you walk?” The figure asked, noticing her injured leg.
“It might mean we have to go slower” Dawn shamefully admitted.
The figure shook his head as he walked to the window. He squinted his eyes as he peered through the fogged out glass then walked over to Dawn and picked her up. Carrying her like a rugby ball, the figure charged through the doorway and almost flew down the stairway, every floor just blurred past in a second before Dawn’s eyes. After about thirty minutes of blurry floors, they finally met to a doorway but the figure slammed himself to the side against it. “Shh” the figure said to Dawn, with his finger to his mouth. He pressed a button and the door slid open. Peeking round the corner, the figure slowly moved outside but immediately turned round to see another machine just standing there. “Illegal life form detected: Objective: Kill” The machine spoke and the familiar whirling sounded. The figure just ran up to the machine, ran along the wall, and kicked the machine to the floor then he pulled out a device from his make-shift armor. He pulled the trigger and a blast came from the device which made the machine explode.
The figure continued his sprint to the stairway. “What was that?” Dawn asked the figure. “What did you use on that thing?”
“Something I hope your kind never gets familiar with.” The figure replied.
The explosion had echoed throughout the whole chasm so now every machine was now alert to activity and on their way to where the figure and Dawn was. But still he ran towards the stairs. Dawn looked into the eye that was visible and never saw such determination. Such focus. This made Dawn question more as to what creature this figure was, till a jerk shook her out of this questioning. “Sorry, almost tripped over a stone.”
The stone the figure kicked flew off into one of the alleyways, bounced off an approaching machine, knocking it over, down into an empty doorway and tumbling down a flight of stairs where it landed on an console which both machine and console fizzed as both metal and wires combined and a row of green light shun down into the darkness. A blinking red light that read out: “Cyro Aborted” shun above one of the tubes, stream creeped out as the capsule opened. A hand grasped the edge of the tube as the sound of large inhaling emitted.
Finally the figure and Dawn reached the stairway and begun they ascent out of the machine hell and towards freedom. Hours passed away as they climbed and climbed, back tracked the way Dawn had came from, but instead going a different way into a separate tunnel which was a hole to one of the tunnels the cave split into. “Here we are, don’t suppose you could reach?” Dawn asked him, what with him being much taller.
Perhaps, let’s see.” The figure walked up to the hole and reached upwards with Dawn in both hands. Going on his tiptoes, he almost reached but Dawn easily walked up onto the other tunnel with her legs. “Alright, just go back down that way and you’ll be out” The figure begun to walk back towards the underground city.
“Wait! W-may I know your name?” Dawn quickly changed her wording of the question but was eager to know. The figure stopped in his tracks, thinking about it. He sighed and pulled out a small oval shaped device and handed it to Dawn which she took with her mouth.
“When you get home, and you really, really want to know. Play that. You just hit the centre and it’ll play. But I warn you, knowing me comes with the price of knowing everything, some things that might be hard to bear.” The figure warned Dawn and continued his walk back to the city.
Dawn watched as the figure disappeared and looked down to the discus in her mouth. A minute or two later she ran down the tunnel right back to the cave entrance, at least a cave entrance that wasn’t blocked by rocks. She was walking back to Ponyville where she was met with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Applebloom, Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Duskshine.
“Dawn! You’re okay!” Duskshine shouted and ran towards his daughter, they hugged before he looked to her. “How did you get out, the girls said the tunnel collapsed?”
“I found one that wasn’t” Dawn, slightly joked.
Duskshine lightly laughed. “At least you’re okay, you got to be more careful next time, at least take an adult with you next time” He turned to the others. “Sorry I got you guys up so late, but thank you.”
“We couldn’t leave anypony trapped in a cave, besides least we know she’s okay” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered.
“c-can we go home now?” Fluttershy said, shyly hiding behind Applejack. They all smiled as you can be sure they all thought “oh Fluttershy” as they walked back to Ponyville together. Once home, Dawn pulled out the strange Discus from her mane, which she hid before meeting up with Duskshine and the others. Making sure her father was in bed, she hit the middle of the discus with her hoof. A light shun onto her wall as a video played. It was the figure without a beard. “Recording Log 1. Science Officer John Cooper:-“
On the video that was playing, was a cleaner version of the figure that saved Dawn with an even cleaner version of the room she woke up in. Outside the window was the city, brimming with life. Metal flying boxes were hovering in a line outside the window. The video was so clear that if you squinted you could see beings that resembled the figure driving the flying machines. On the buildings, such buildings that would completely shadow Ponyville, had these bright moving pictures with words saying: “Breaking News: Aedan Cousland voted for new Imperial Vice-Emperor”. A woman with brown hair that trailed off with blue was also standing in the corner watching the figure as he faced Dawn, so it seemed. “Recording Log 1. Science Officer John Cooper:- The date is the 23rd of December, 41,2012. Let me first say, off the record, that I hate these things and the only reason you’re seeing my face on this is because it’s part of the job.“ His voice seemed more clam and more friendly than it did when Dawn met him. He chuckled till the female spoke up. Her voice had the same familiar tone “Come on John, you do remember the Imperial Science Council hate infalmorities.”
“I know, I know. But the only time I’m going to be replaced is when I hit retirement and that’s only when I hit 20 thousand. I’m only 134 years old.” The bare mention of the age made Dawn’s eyes widen, hardy the impact of the age mentioned about retirement. “Well, the sooner you get these done, the quicker you get back to work or would you prefer to sit there in front of a camera?” The female asked rather sarcastically.
With a sad sigh, John continued in a more professional pose. “Now. If you’ve managed to suffer through this video enough, the main reason you have this is because this is the new way of teaching pupils without wasting the resources on them, unless completely required. Now I’m going to assume that you’ve been taught on how things were when this video was recorded; Such as current projects, or more importantly the project you’re going to be assigned to, Project Eden.-“ The video fuzzes out into a white noise and Dawn instantly looked down, just now noticing that the discus had dents and scratches. The all too familiar hooves of Dawn’s father was heard with the creaking of wood, followed by another set of hooves. Dawn hit the middle of the discus presuming that’ll turn it off. With luck that it did and hid it under a pillow as she pretended to sleep, in case they ever entered the room.
Quiet whispering between Twilight and Duskshine was heard through the door, everyone would have gone to bed by now but Duskshine and Twilight had some free time to catch up. “I was actually wondering where you was, to be honest” Twilight said with curiosity.
“I wish I could have come, but setting Dawn into the new school had to come first. I’ll have to give my regards to Shining Armor when I’m back in Canterlot.” Duskshine said firmly, he knew Twilight would understand how important children are to their parents after all Spike was like an adopted son to Twilight.
Twilight smiled, it was nice to see one of her brothers all grown up and worrying over their children, something that made her laugh inside when she thought that Shining Armor would have to do that soon. She looked past Duskshine and to the door that lead to Dawn’s room. “I hope she’s okay, who knows what she might have seen down in those caves.” Duskshine just smiled to Twilight. “You needn’t worry. She’s been fine no matter how things got.” He noticed that Twilight still had her concerned look. “I’ll ask her in the morning, for now let her rest.” Twilights face eased, letting the fact that Duskshine would know his daughter better than her calm her. “Talking about morning, we should head to bed ourselves.” Twilight softly laughing.
Duskshine laughed with his sister. “Yeah. I’m just going to check on Dawn before heading to bed, but you go. There’s no point of two tired ponies tomorrow.” Twilight smiled and nodded. “Goodnight Duskshine.” “Goodnight Twilight.” Twilight walked off to bed as Duskshine opened the door to Dawn’s room. On the bed was a passed out filly that got too comfortable that she actually fell asleep. Duskshine smiled and closed the door shut as quietly as possible as to not disturb her.
The following day, the light through Dawn’s window woke the sleeping filly. “No matter how far the sun is, it always manages to catch you in the eyes” She hazily said as she rose her head, rubbing the left side of her head as she spent the night upside down. It took a moment till her brain woke up enough to flash a memory before her eyes, a memory which caused her to grab hold of the pillow and flinging it aside to be relieved by the silver-glimmer of the discus still laying there. A sigh swayed into the air as she laid back, she had so many questions going through her head from what she saw. There had to be so much more on that discus and she had to find out what it was, a knock at the door caught her attention as she flipped the pillow back onto the device. “Yes?”
It was Twilight, she had woken up earlier and couldn’t wait for Duskshine to wake up to see if Dawn was alright. “How are you doing?” She worryingly smiled. “Much better actually” Dawn had to admit, and it was true. Her leg no longer hurt at all, which was odd, she had a damaged leg before and it took a lot longer than a night’s rest to heal up. She just brushed aside. Twilight’s smile widened a little more as she mentally sighed. “Well that’s good to hear, I heard from Rainbow Dash that it’s going to be a sunny day today, so if you’re feeling up to it, you might want to meet up with the girls, I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to see you.” Dawn thought it over and agreed that did sound like a good idea, she looked to Twilight and smiled. “Yeah, that sounds awesome. Thanks Twilight…Sorry about making you and Dad and everypony worried last night…”
“You don’t have to apologies, just promise you’ll be more careful from now on.” Twilight lightly laughed. “Promise.” Dawn responded in a similarly joking manner. Twilight turned around and started to walk out the room but stopped in her tracks and turned her head to face Dawn. “Oh! Yeah, The girls will most likely be in their tree house, just wake Spike up and he’ll take you there” Then she continued her walk out of the room, closing the door behind her. Dawn lifted her pillow and pulled out the discus and laid it on her bed. “Should I show it to them? I did just meet them so that would be a major leap of faith, but it was due to them that I’m here with this thing. And they did seem trusting enough to let me in their group so quickly. Yeah it’s only fair to show them. I think.” Dawn thought to herself. Hiding it inside her mane, she got up from her bed and walked out into the library. The murmurs of Spike’s dreams directed Dawn to where he was, slightly giggling at what he mentioned most of the time, with a nudge, Spike woke up. First confused to the sudden awakening but quickly calmed when he saw Dawn trying to hide away her giggling.
“Good Morning Spike, sorry to disturb you but Twilight said that you might know where the Cutie Mark Crusaders tree house were? I was wondering if you might be able to take me there.” Dawn tried to ask as politely as possible, trying not to get her tongue tied on how long saying Cutie Mark Crusaders tree house was without pause. “She did, did she?” Spike answered, not surprised that Twilight had him already working before he even woke up. He yawned, stretching out his arms and then proceeded to scratch his back. “Well, sure I’ll take you there.” He climbed out his basket and stretched some more. It wasn’t long till Dawn and Spike arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was bucking trees as usual while the rest of the Apple family did their chores. Applejack waved to Dawn and Spike as they passed to the tree house. It was a bit out of the way but Dawn could see how the girl weren’t bothered by people seeming how far in Apple Acres they were. “Hey girls, someone is here to see you!” Spike called up to them as each head popped out to his voice. “Dawn!” All three shouted and was down on the ground quicker than Rainbow Dash can clear the sky over Ponyville. “We’re so sorry about what happened!” Sweetie belle apologized first. “And kind of leaving you…” Scootaloo nervously said. “But we were only going to get help!” Applebloom explained. Dawn smiled at the three as they apologized in their own ways. “Girls it’s okay. I’m fine anyway so it wasn’t that bad” Dawn joked. “Will you be able to make it back on your own?” Spike asked Dawn, which she just simply nodded as he walked back to the tree house. Waiting till Spike disappeared over the horizon Dawn turned back to the girls quickly. “You would not believe what I found down there.” Dawn whispered to them. “You found something down there?” Scootaloo said curiously. Dawn pulled the silver discus out to show them all, as the glimmer of the sunlight bouncing off the discus into their eyes the girls instantly awed. “What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I don’t actually know but when you press the centre a video plays.” Dawn explained roughly. “Well what you waitin’ for? Press it!” Applebloom excitingly exclaimed. Dawn put it on the ground and was about to press it till she stopped. “er..thinking about it, it might be better to play it inside the tree house. Also I got a lot of explaining to do…”