Generations-Chapter 2
Generations-Chapter 2"This is gonna be great!" Rainbow Dash chuckled as he watched Spring Parade sawing a hole in the library room floor.
"Did you hear she fell asleep in here again last week?" Spring Parade scoffed. "That pony's got problems. She'd rather spend her time in this solitary room with books she can't read than with the company in the drawing room. This week..." He said with a sly grin as he covered over the hole with the heavy oriental carpet, "She's in for a surprise!"
Wysteria chatted on about the events of the week, and Sweetsong listened intently, smiling and nodding occasionally, but adding very little to the conversation.
Wysteria was so beautiful; no wonder she was loved by everyone. Sweetsong was not jealous of her; rather, she admired her. While Wysteria's colors were very similar to her own, her features were much finer. She was slender and tall, and had a classic beauty about her. She was so animated when she spoke; her green eyes danced, and her skin glowed. She had the most perfect white teeth and the most brilliant smile. But the best part about Wysteria was that she didn't know her own beauty, or if she did, she didn't act like it.
Sweetsong considered herself pretty, but certainly not beautiful. She was of average height and weight, nice eyes, relatively clear skin, and decently straight teeth. She had a high self esteem, but was well aware of the fact that her presence in a room did not make the pulses of men accelerate the way Wysteria did. If they walked through Ponyville together, heads would turn and necks would crane to see them walk off. If she walked through town alone, she received a friendly nod and smile, or a polite 'How do you do?' but nothing more. Sweetsong did not resent it; she was used to it. She was proud of her friend, and knew that she would marry well and have the greatest of happiness.
"Oh, there's Amberlocks!" Wysteria's exclamation brought Sweetsong around from her thoughts. "I'm going to go hear the latest news." They were standing just outside the library and Wysteria knew Sweetsong would not be interested in the recent gossip.
"Alright, tell her I said 'hello'." She called as she pushed the door to the library. As she walked past the shelves, she selected a book she had not seen before. It seemed to be an atlas. It had maps, pictures of exotic places, and descriptions of each which were, unfortunately, in the ancient text. She was fascinated anyway. She had always wanted to travel to far away lands and have exciting adventures...
She turned the pages as she walked. Suddenly, the rug slipped, and the floor gave way beneath her! She scrambled to regain her balance, but landed on her back and hit her head on something very hard and sharp.
She heard laughing above her. "What did I tell you, that was great!" Rainbow Dash stamped his hoof on the floor, doubled over in laughter. Spring Parade was too choked up to respond. He fell to the floor and rolled over.
"That was great Rainbow Dash!" Came the young voice of Daisy Jo. Sweetsong heard the giggling of the other girls, though it was less enthusiastic than the boys.
Sweetsong felt a warm liquid run down her neck, and groaned in pain. Five faces appeared above her, fuzzy and spinning. The smiles fled.
"Spring Parade..." Sparkleworks nudged her big brother, "I think she's really hurt."
"We heard the crash! What happened in here?" Amberlocks and Wysteria also appeared above her. Wysteria gasped and Amberlocks threw an angry glare at Rainbow Dash. "You're pranks have gone way too far!" Rainbow Dash crouched down at the harsh words and looked guilty.
"You ok hon?" Wysteria was concerned. Sweetsong groaned again and turned over. She wobbled as she got to her feet, but soon stabilized herself.
She breathed deep; her head was throbbing. "Yes," she whispered the answer. She collected her wits for another moment. "Where's the book?"
She looked around. She was standing on cold hard ground with the floorboards above her. There was just enough space between the floorboards and ground to crawl. She squinted and peered into the darkness. There was the book; it had fallen back under the boards. She crawled under and reached it.
"Let me help you out of there," Offered a sympathetic Sparkleworks. She and Wysteria each offered her a hoof. She got halfway out of the hole, but then slid back down on the carpet, which was still dangling half in and half out of the hole. Amberlocks pushed Spring Parade and Rainbow Dash out of the way to move the carpet. The boys retreated and hung their heads guiltily.
As the carpet was lifted away, Sweetsong noticed a metal object sticking out of the ground. That must have been what she hit her head on. She peered closer at it and brushed away some dirt. Part of it was buried. She brushed some more dirt away, but it was still buried. It was a large object.
"Someone go get me a shovel or something!"
Amberlocks and Wysteria looked at each other in confusion. "She's lost her wits!" Amberlocks muttered, "She must have hit her head pretty hard..."
Wysteria was less judgemental, "No, no, hon. Come on out of that hole."
"No! There's something down there. I need a shovel."
Amberlocks looked at Spring Parade. He got the hint and ran to the greenhouse to get the gardening tools. He got back and tossed a trowel in to Sweetsong. She caught it and didn't thank him.
She dug out more and more of the object, and it just became larger and larger. She suddenly realized what it was: the metal corner to a box or chest.
"It's a chest!"
"What, like a treasure chest?" Amberlocks curiosity never failed.
"I don't know! Get something bigger and help me dig it out of here."
The ponies worked all afternoon to free the chest from the ground. It turned out to be huge, and extremely heavy. They had to cut a larger hole in the floorboards, and use ropes to lift it out. By the time they had lifted it to the floor of the library, they were all exhausted, but more anxious than ever to see what was inside.
"I think Sweetsong should get to open it," Wysteria insisted. There was a tiny lock on the front but it was easily broken with the large shovel.
"We're gonna be rich, we're gonna be rich!" Amberlocks whispered excitedly.
As Sweetsong opened the chest, there was an intense hush. Everyone leaned forward, but there was no sparkle of gold, diamonds or other jewels. There were two books, other papers, pictures, what appeared to be a wedding dress, and other trinkets.
Everyone frowned. Spring Parade sighed. "Well that was a big waste of effort."
"No it wasn't!" Sweetsong said excitedly. "Don't you understand, it's a time capsule!"
Rainbow Dash furrowed his brows, and Amberlocks tossed her mane with an air of 'who cares?' Everyone else groaned. Wysteria wasn't particularly interested in the contents either, but she knew how excited her friend must be. She smiled and gave her an encouraging hug around the shoulders. Wysteria knew how important this was to her, and she was just happy to see Sweetsong happy.
Golden Delicious appeared at the door. "Dinner's ready, and all the other company are assembled and waiting for you." Everyone trotted off after him, but Sweetsong lagged behind. Wysteria noticed.
"Come on hon. I'll help you go through everything after dinner." Sweetsong smiled and followed her out.