> Prima: The Forest Shadows > by ShadowWalking18 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prolouge > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canterlot Highschool, a school that was now after three events involving strange events, use to strange things happening on school grounds. But the event occurring on the school grounds at the moment, was perhaps the strangest of all. Stranger then magic demons and zombies. Evil Sirens. Even stranger then a magical battle between two students, or even students growing pony ears and tails when playing music. Standing on school grounds, infront of the Canterlot Highschool Wondercolt Statue, or what remained of it, surrounded by machines and wires and other scientific gadgets, was a young girl and a new addition to the Canterlot Highschool student body. Sitting under the shade of the statue, slept a small purple green puppy, named Spike What was odd was that she was on school grounds. During Summer Break. On a Saturday. Twilight Sparkle, recently transferred from Crystal Prep, was eagerly holding one of her many instruments toward the Wondercolt Statue, a smile on her face as the instrument beeped in response to energy wavelengths sensed within the statue. Wavelengths from magic. Ever since her little transformation moment with the magic her device had absorbed, and the subsequent releasing of said energy; followed by turning into a powerful, mad demon thing with the intention of tearing about the fabric of reality of her world and entering into another that seemed populated by pastel colored ponies with the intent of gaining more magic to absorb. Yet even after Sunset helped her overcome the magic and save the world, Twilight still found herself intrigued by the energy and its various affects and possible applications. So, though now with greater caution and Sunset's help, Twilight set out to study the magical energies that seemed to exist around Canterlot High; and maybe even the rest of the world. But so far she could only commit to prilimnary examinations and wavelength readings, with a new device she fashioned last night, until-Ah there they were. "Hey, over here." Twilight called, waving to the girls as they got of the bus and crossed the street. As the girls drew closer, the little puppy woke with a yawn before panting happily and rushing to meet the friends of his owner. "Hey girls." Spike said, waving a little paw at them. "Oh hello Spike." Fluttershy cooed, kneeling down to pet his head. Spike grunted in content joy at the attention, and instinctively rolled onto his side to get his belly rubbed. His tail wagging excitedly. "Man this feels soooo wrong. Standing on school grounds on a Saturday during summer break," Rainbow Dash groaned, yawning, "And it's too early." "Oh don't be silly Rainbow Dash," Twilight said with a smile, "It's 10:30, you had plenty of time to sleep." Rainbow Dash yawned again, and sipped at the cup of coffee in her hand, "Yeah right." "Oh don't fret none sugarcube," Applejack said, seeing Twilight frown and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Rainbow Dash was never a mornin' girl." Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue at AJ, before going back to her coffee. Rarity walked over and gave Twilight a hug, before looking around at the various scientific implements on the ground, "Twilight darling, while we are all glad to see you, perhaps you can explain why we needed to arrive here so early and to what purpose all these....things are for?" Twilight smiled as she lifted one of the tools, "Oh well I thought since it was the summer, we could spend some time together and try to figure out the nature of the magic that exists around Canterlot High. With none of the other students around, I figured it would be a lot safer then if they were. I brought various different instruments for various tests, this device will allow us to examine and record the energy wave length signature of any magical energies we test for examination and decoding." "Um, are you sure that's safe." Fluttershy asked, "I mean, what if another portal opens up again?" "Yeah, or what if big man eating plants pop out of the portals again, or maybe a dragon." Pinkie started, before gasping in excitement, "No! A Candy Dragon!" The girls blinked and looked at Pinkie with confused looks. Rainbow Dash just shook her head and face palmed. "I don't think we will have to worry about that." Sunset said, putting an arm around Twilight's shoulder, "Twilight and I did some tests and we think that the reason those portals were opening up in the first place was due in part to her device containing the energies. So as long as we just observe, and examine we should be able to avoid anything like the Friendship Games." "Are you sure this will work?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Yeah," Fluttershy added as she picked up Spike and cradled him in her arms, ideally petting him every so often, "I mean, last time we tried to study magic you ended up getting shocked and smacked against walls Sunset. I don't want anyone getting hurt." "Oh there shouldn't be any risk at all," Twilight said, setting one device down and moving to a big, bulky sack with a red cross upon it, "But, in the off chance of on site injury I have a fully stocked medical bag that I keep with me whenever I do any field experiments." Twilight noticed the look on her new friends faces, and she blushed. "Uh, well it pays to be prepared you know." Twilight said, smiling nervously. "Riiight. But why do you need us?" Dash asked, "I mean, its cool to hang out but couldn't we do it at the beach or something?" "Well, since you girls have more experience with magic, and a longer exposure period. I figured it would make examination easier." Twilight said, taking another device and moving over to place a headband tied with wire to a device that looked like it was measuring a heat beat onto Dash's head. "Ugh, do we really need to do this now?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the strange device she now wore with confusion. "I know its a lot to ask for Rainbow Dash," Sunset said, "But after the Friendship Games I think it is really important that we figure out how magic works in this world. Last time we managed to save the day, but next time we might not be so lucky." "I gotta agree, we were running around blinder then a bat in the day." Applejack said. "Indeed, I think it would be beneficial," Rarity added. Rainbow Dash sighed, "Fine." she sipped her coffee again. With a group cheer, mostly done by Pinkie that came with an explosion of confetti, and largely ignored by Dash as she drank her coffee, the girls all set out to study magic. A few hours later, the girls sat on a picnic cloth that Pinkie had brought, and were busy enjoying a much earned lunch break after almost constant failure in understanding the magic of their world. They had spent almost the entire day trying to get some data in regards to magic, and had while they had managed to acquire some rhythmic sequences and wavelength measures thanks to Twilight who had some skill in creating devices to measure magic, they had so far been unable to come up with anything substantial. "Ugh, why does this magic stuff have to be so hard to figure out," Dash groaned, taking a gulp from her Gatorade, "Sunset, didn't magic exist in Equestria. Shouldn't it be the same thing here since you brought the crown here?" "It's not that easy Rainbow Dash," Sunset said, "Even in Equestria we didn't understand everything with magic. Even when we made it an almost daily part of our lives, a lot of wizards were making new discoveries every day. And back in Equestria I had my horn to act as a guiding point. Here all I got are hands, and they don't work as well as my horn did. I tried." "Now, now, we knew that this would be a challenge," Rarity said, holding up a hand, "Let us be glad for the time we can hang out together." "Yeah, now lets dig in." Pinkie said, pulling the cover off a picnic basket to show off some freshly made muffins she had cooked up. "I brought some chilled cider from the farm." Applejack said, pulling up an ice chest filled with bottles of Sweet Apple Cider. Dash gasped, "Cider! Alright!" She fist pumped and snagged two bottles. Sunset and the girls all rolled their eyes, knowing how much Rainbow Dash loved Sweet Apple Cider. Sunset reached for one herself, when she noticed that Twilight was standing right near the Wondercolt Statue, setting up a device. "Hey Twilight." Sunset called. Twilght didn't respond and it seemed she was talking to herself. "Twilight!" Sunset called again, louder. Twilight jumped and looked around to her friends, "Sunset, you startled me." "Sorry," Sunset apologized with a smile, "but you were spacing out. Come and have lunch with us." "Oh but I think I just had a break through." Twilight said, smiling as she looked back to her device. "Twilight, you've been saying that all day." Spike said, looking up as he snuggled against Fluttershy and chowed down on the snacks she had brought him. "And each time was true. We gained so much new data on magic, but I think I might have made a breakthrough in magical application as a clean and more effective energy source." Twilight said, excitement evident in her voice. "Oh, like solar or wind?" Fluttershy asked, sounding excited over the possibility of new clean energy. "Better. If I just connect these wires and use this device to match the frequency, with some parts from my device from the Friendship Games, I might be able to power this small hand held t.v." Twilight finished as she put the last few touches onto her device. "Are ya sure that's safe?" Applejack asked. "Postitive. Oh this is so exciting." Twilight clapped as she reached for the switch on the small, portable t.v. Sunset and the others got up and moved a little closer, but kept a safe distance none the less, to watch and see if Twilight's experiment was a success. "Okay. Get ready." Twilight started, "Three. Two. One." With that, she flipped the switch and all the girls and Spike watched the small t.v. screen. The screen went on, pure white and filled with static sound for a few moments. For a time, Twilight felt she had failed, but then in flickering motion an image began to take shape. On the small screen, a landscape view of a wide, fog heavy jungle began to appear. Large trees and the dark shapes of birds flying over head soon came into full view. "Wow." The girls went, eyes wide with surprise. "Hey, you did it." Dash congratulated. "Well I'll be. That's rather impressive." Applejack said. "Indeed. After all the destructive and chaotic moment's we've experienced with magic, it is nice to see something less so occur for a change." Rarity added. "Wow, how did you do that?" Sunset asked, "I've tried for months to even figure out magic in this world and how it works. How did you get it to power this t.v.?" Twilight blushed, finding all the praise to be embarrassing, "Oh well it wasn't that hard. I mean, I still don't understand all the details, but when I thought on my containing device, I thought of a battery. The connection isn't the best however." As if to prove the point, the t.v. screen flickered and showed a different scene now, this time one of a place that Sunset recognized. "Hey! That's Canterlot!" Sunset gasped. "Oooh darling," Rarity cooed in awe, "That is where you grew up? Oh it looks absolutely marvelous." Rarity gushed over the white and gold spires of the otherworldly city. "Still odd to see a castle sharing the same name of our school." Dash pointed out. "Or that Principal Celestia is a powerful goddess that can move the sun and is over a thousand years old!" Pinkie gushed. "How is it showing Equestria?" Sunset asked. "Yeah. The only time we saw where Sunset is from was when you started making those cracks in our world." Applejack pointed out. "Oh well, you see I'm using the magic from the statue to power the machine." Twilight said, looking at the statue, "The energy wavelengths of the statue were at a different frequency then the magic my device sensed around you girls. I figured it must be a wavelength for extra planar travel." The t.v. screen flickered again and showed a different world now. This one made of pure fire and lava. "With the t.v. screen, and the statues magic I managed to turn it into a sort of window we can use to look at Equestria. Or it should in theory. It seems to be working." Twilight finished, smiling. "Wow." The girls went. "Uh, are you sure this is safe Twilight?" Spike asked, moving out of Fluttershy's grip to look at the machine that was powering the t.v., and connected to the statue with a wire and suction cup like device. "Well, there is always a chance for problems in any experiment Spike." Twilight said, leaning down to pick her dog up and pet him reassuringly, "But the odds of something going wrong are nearly .00001 percent." Sunset looked to Twilight, in the time she got to know the human counter part to the princess, she did notice some slight differences in personality. Sure, both Twilight's could often be too scientific in their studies, but this Twilight was often overly more so; perhaps due to not originally being use to magic as the Equestrian Twilight was and so had grown use to explaining the world in a scientific way and seeking to understand what she couldn't. In fact, sometimes this Twilight could be a bit too excessive, that one time Rainbow Dash joked she was perhaps one experiment malfunction from becoming an Evil Genius. "Uh, Twilight, it's cool what you have done, but if there is even the slightest chance of something going wrong, maybe we should back track on it," Sunset said, "I mean, this is magic after all. It can be a bit unpredictable." "Sunset's got a point," Applejack said, "I mean, even us ponying up has its problems." Rarity scoffed, "Oh speak for yourself Applejack, but I look absolutely stunning when I grow those adorable pony ears and tail." Applejack rolled her eyes. "What I'm tryin' ta say is, maybe we should understand this more before we go powering our t.v.s with it." Applejack said. Twilight opened her mouth to counter their argument, but sighed when she realized that they were right. As much as she wanted to uncover every secret of magic, she knew from experience how dangerous it could be. "Alright. I guess you have a point." Twilight sighed. Sunset smiled and patted her friends shoulder, "We can do other experiments. Seeing as you were able to even get magic to perform a simple task like this is impressive. I happen to remember a few minor experiments with magic I did back when I was a student in Equestria. We could try those." Twilight smiled, finding the idea to be enjoyable. But just as the friendly moment started, it just as quickly ended. "Uh...is it suppose to be doing this?" Rainbow Dash asked, worry evident in her voice. Twilight and Sunset looked over, and saw that now all the girls were watching the hand held t.v. that Twilight had powered up with magic. Twilight rushed over, and gasped at what she saw. The screen of the device was flickering madly now, going from picture, to pure white to static. The pictures that did show up between the flickering began changing as well, in such a rapid succession that Twilight could barely keep track of it; and had to look away or risk throwing up. Finally, the t.v. screen went black and still. The girls all stared at it, wary of the lack of activity. "Uh...is it broken now?" Pinkie asked, slowly and carefully poking it. "Um...maybe the battery ran out." Rainbow Dash said, looking at the device that was suppose to be powering it with magic. "Uh...maybe." Twilight said, her self not sure just what had happened. In the same moment that the t.v. device began acting up, it suddenly began shaking violently. Sparks rising from the magic battery device, as it took began to shake. Rainbow dropped the t.v. and all the girls began stepping back, as Spike began barking at it on instinct. Cracks began to appear on the hand held t.v. before finally splitting apart as a burst of bright light exploded from it and the magical battery. All the girls screamed, and turned to run and duck for cover; even as the light engulfed them. The girls screamed, feeling as if their bodies were being torn apart, piece by piece and their sight was blinded by the pure white light that had engulfed them. Twilight herself tried to reach out for someone, believe she had heard one of her friends voices, and felt her hand grab something, even as her other arm gripped tightly to a presence in her arm that she felt was Spike. Before she could look to see who it was, the ground below her feet rushed up to meet her and she hit it with a thunk; and everything went black. Sunset, Spike and Twilight Twilight groaned, awakening to the sound of low whimpers and a wet tongue licking against her face. "Twilight? Twilight?" A voice whimpered. A dog like whimper following the words. Twilight felt something wet on her face, and gasped as she opened her eyes and was greeted with a blurry vision of a purple green blob up to her face. But the voice she could recognize. "Spike?" Twilight asked, squinting her eyes to try and get a better focused look of her dog, "Where are my glasses?" "Twilight!" Spike gasped, and leapt at her, licking her face happily, "I was so worried." Twilight pushed Spike away, "Easy Spike, I'm fine. But it's hard enough to see without you in my face so much." Spike whimpered, "I'm sorry...b-but when we hit the ground...and I don't know where we are and Sunset wouldn't wake up and..." Twilight gasped, looking around, only seeing blurry colors and shapes, "Wait, Sunset's hurt?!" "I-I don't know. She fell with us, but she's the only one around." Spike whimpered, biting Twilight's shirt sleeve and pulling her to where Sunset was. "Sunset? Sunset?" Twilight said, finding Spike leading her next to a prone form, that looked like Sunset. At least color wise to her poor eye sight. Twilight then heard a muffled bark from Spike, and she felt the familiar form of her glasses in her hand. "I found them. But their a little cracked." Spike said. Twilight frowned, as she put on her glasses. As Spike said, there was a long crack down one of the lenses. Still, at least she could see clearly now, and she looked at Sunset. Sunset lay still on the ground, but she was breathing. Twilight cheeked her head for any injury, but saw none. The fall, which she still did not understand how it happened, must have winded her. Twilight shook Sunset harder. "Sunset! Wake up!" She shouted, shaking Sunset vigorously. Sunset groaned, and slowly her eyes fluttered awake. "Twilight? Ugh what happened?" Sunset asked, placing a hand to her head and pushing herself up. "I don't know. Are you okay? Where are the others?" Twilight asked. Sunset coughed, then said, "I'm fine but....aren't the girls around?" Spike whimpered, "No. I can't smell them anywhere. I don't even know where we are, but it doesn't look like Canterlot High." Sunset and Twilight took a moment to look around, and both gasped as they finally took a good look at their surroundings. High, vine covered trees surrounded them, though many of them were larger and thicker then normal trees, with various colored plants and flowers. And the air felt more humid and moist. It seems that they were in a jungle. "Twilight? Where are we?" Sunset asked. "I don't know." Twilight wondered, looking around.