> Rise Of A Pantheon
>  by MidnightMadness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 Rites Of Ascension
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight quite simply didn't know where she was.
She'd known a second ago, she was standing in line for some apple cider on a beautiful summer day, standing in the shade of an old illustrious oak and reading some science textbooks.
Then suddenly she was standing in a white opaque void, without her book rather annoyingly,
Reaching out to scratch her head with these rather confusing circumstances, she noticed that her body seemed to be translucent in nature now.

All things considered, this seems to have ruined a nice relaxing day.

Breathing out a sigh, Twilight looks around in an attempt to spot any landmark and after a while notices a figure walking in the distance.
Twilight calls out "Hello!? Do you know where we are?"
The figure seems to stop in response to these words yet there seems to be no other response.
Twilight takes in a large breath of air, noticing that the air here seemed to have a thicker atmosphere, and runs towards the figure.

As she nears the figure, she identifies that it seems to be an elk, skin marked in bright blue runes and the horns engraved with and a intrinsicate map.
Before Twilight has a chance to speak, the Elk opens his mouth and lets out a scream like noise.

Twilight spins a spell around her horn and takes a step back from this sight.

The Elk seems to frown at this, looks at their leg and waves a hoof over a rune on his skin and then turns back towards Twilight and says "Is this any better?"

Twilight seems to relax and says "Is what better?"

"My Voice" Says the elk "My Runes have been playing up in this expanse, seems like my translation rune was failing."

"Ah Okay" says Twilight while mentally noting the many runes and the potential spell energy the seemed to reside within "Do you know where we are? I seemed to just be here"

"I would have suggested The Woods of the White Snake" the elk responds "it was were I was exploring previously but I know that ponykind is restricted from entering the country the woods are within I imagine not, well unless you've snuck in?"

Twilight had never heard of the woods mentioned and certainly wasn't aware of countries she was restricted from "No, I'm from Equestria, in fact I was in Ponyville just a second ago. Have you ever heard of it?"

The deer puts a hoof on his chin and ponders for a moment, after he says "I know the area, I visited around 40 years prior, got into a vicious drinking game with someone there called granny smith. But I can tell you that, one of us has travelled a great distance fairly quickly then, the countries are nowhere near each other"

Twilight nods, pondering how old this elk was to have drank with granny smith 40 years ago, and says "I wonder, I went to a place like this previously but that required a great feat of magic."

"In any case, I can probably get us to my home. It will be a slight hassle to get you back to yours but at very least it's a starting point. Would you like to try?" Says the Elk.

Interested in this elk's magic and without another method home Twilight agrees "oh I didn't catch your name, my name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Star Follower, of the extinct Plain Explorer's Clan" the elk responds.

Before Twilight is able to ask any more questions, Star slams his hoof on the floor and Twilight watches in fascination as a path seems to emanate and path it's way forward in a snake like fashion and seemingly hunting.
After watching the path venture past the horizon, the duo stand there and wait in silence


Star Follower starts saying "It usually takes some time to find home usually, especially if I have ventured far but it's my most reliable spell and certainly a lot fas-" but is then interrupted by the line coming behind them and re-track it's previous route.

"Well that's new" Star Follower retorts as he lets go of the spell "That method is a bust, my apologies."

Twilight, still mentally scratching notes on this new magic, absentmindedly  soothes Star saying "We will find a way out, I'd wager something has brought us here"

Twilight and Star decide to start walking around the void in the hopes of discovering some more information, when suddenly a large booming voice comes from above.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE, THOU SHALT STOP AS WE WISH TO SEE YE." The voice announces.
A figure of an alicorn starts descending into view, seemingly carrying on it's back.

Star seems to watch the spectacle with a slight bit of interest and as Luna approaches it becomes clear the shape on her back seems to be a wolf.

Twilight watches Star take an aggressive stance and numerous runes light up around his body at the sight of this "Do not come closer Cursed Thing, you are not welcome here."

Twilight goes to put her hoof up before Luna can respond but is sadly not quick enough to prevent her ears from taking the pain of Luna's raised voice "YOU DARE SPEAK TO A PRINCESS OF THE REALM IN THIS MATTER? DO NOT SPEAK OF CURSES CHILD"

Star responds promptly and defensive stance still maintained "Not you, the creature that sits on your back, an eternal thorn in this world and I'd hoped had rotted away years prior"

The wolf hopped onto the floor from Luna's back, gracefully landing without a whisper of sound, "Star? It's rude to speak that way to princesses" and with a toothy grin "maybe she'll let me take that target I placed on you those centuries ago"

Star chuckled a dark laugh and retorted "Don't remember what happened the last time you tried? I'm sure what's left of your tribe wouldn't appreciate it, Cyrene"

In response to this, Cyrene bared her teeth and Star's Runes seemed to glow brighter.

Luna seemed to be perplexed with this interaction from Twilight's point of view and she felt if she didn't try to change the topic now there was going to be a fairly gruesome fight between the two.
"Princess, how did you get here?" Twilight quickly asked "I was just in Ponyville and suddenly appeared here in a blink of an eye"

Both Star and Cyrene seemed to both pause their aggressiveness in anticipation of Luna's response.

Luna regales "I was happily settling into a night of slumber when I felt a dragging sensation on myself, I managed to fire off an array of defensive spells that seemed to halt the transition, tis when I heard a sigh emanating from the air and with a snapping sound my spells seemed to fail and I was brought here" 

Twilight seems to ponder for a moment and says "A snapping sound? Discord?"

Both Star and Cyrene seem to look around the void in a panic when Star opens his mouth "The beast of change? You suspect he's responsible!? We must escape then"

It dawns on Twilight that the news of Discord's redemption probably wouldn't  have spread that far out of Equestria's borders and she couldn't imagine most people would trust it even if they heard it.

"Don't worry, Discord has been redeemed… Mostly. At the very least, we can trust him not to harm us. Also, I don't think he created this place, it seems too quiet for his tastes." Twilight Says to the group.

"I take offence at the Mostly, Twilight Sparkle" Discord says seemingly stepping out of the air wearing a jersey marked with 6 jewels and a foam hand  marked with 'Harmony #1 Fan' "I am a truly harmony loving Draconequus these days" 

Both Cyrene and Star drop low to the group, seemingly trying to literally merge with the floor, whereas Luna seems to look up at Discord "Discord, thou have brought us here? I was trying to slumber "

"My apologies everyone, and to you Luna I promise a nice nap after this, I shall give an explanation when we arrive at our destination. It seems my planeshifting spell has dropped all the guests everywhere"

Twilight hastily attempts to piece all Discord says together in her head and a keyword sticks out "Planeshifting? Discord what's going on, where is our destination?"

Discord flashes a toothy grin and says with a chuckle "That my dear Twilight, is something you'll find out when we get there."

Twilight tries to get another question in but before her lips open, Discord lifts his claw

 snap