Equestria Divided: Bloody Tales of Disgraced Lands
Intro: A Fine Day in Ponyville
It was almost high-noon in Equestria and Celestia’s sun was shining directly over Ponyville; and the town was alive with song.
The nearby river hummed while a gentle wind set many of the town’s wind chimes aloud; tinkling in the breeze as they hung from the awnings of neighboring balconies. Musicians played lutes and drums in the streets to entertain passing ponies while the birds sung along from the trees. The towns-ponies, out and about in the many markets, added their own chorus of chatter and conversation. A dog barked once or twice, and seldomly a blacksmith would strike his hammer against the iron, but never once did they upset the melody.
It was a fine day in Ponyville.
Junebug was walking through the market, drinking in the song of the town. Close to her side was a small filly with a matching chartreuse-yellow coat and two-toned orange mane. The filly looked almost exactly like Junebug, except she was about half her height. This filly was her daughter after all, so Junebug would be remiss if they didn’t bear some resemblance.
Regardless, the two were making their way through the market at a slow trot, listening to the tranquil sounds of the town as they browsed through the day’s wares.
They stopped at a baker’s stand, and Junebug’s daughter played absentmindedly with a bauble as her mother looked at a varied assortment of oats. The stall’s merchant had a similarly warm-toned coat and mane, as did many of the earth ponies in Ponyville as a result from the almost year-round sunshine that lightened the colors of their fur.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any oats from Cloudsdale, would you?” Junebug asked the merchant pony. “I’ve been craving Pegasus Oatcakes for weeks now, and earth ponies just can’t seem to roll their oats the way the pegasi can.”
“I've actually one bag left,” The merchant said as he dipped his head below his stand, returning shortly after with bag a of oats in his mouth. “One-hundred bits.” he said after dropping it on the stand.
“Heavens to Equestria!” Junebug exclaimed. “Why are they so expensive?”
“Supply and demand.” the merchant stated plainly. “ House Stormwing has cut off trade with us earth ponies, so it’s almost impossible to get any goods out of Cloudsdale without smuggling them; which has already gotten many ponies put to death. So something as simple as these oats here are a rare commodity now and, unfortunately, have to be priced as such.”
A clock-tower chimed in the distance, signalling the coming of the hour.
“Oh…” Junebug lowered her head slightly, as if suddenly fatigued by her hopes being raised and cut down so quickly.
“I've plenty of Earthborn oats though,” The merchant said in an attempt to console her. “never a shortage there. And only five bits a bag!”
He motioned behind himself where several bags of oats had been neatly arranged to display House Earthborn’s banner, a golden horseshoe amidst a brilliant field of orange and red. The colors of the harvest. It was the same emblem emblazoned on the banners, flags, and tapestries that hung from the merchant’s stand, the town hall, and several of Ponyville’s homes and cottages as well as throughout the entirety of House Earthborn’s territory.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Junebug said. “It has to be pegasus oats or the cakes just won’t hold together right..”
“I know how you feel.” The merchant pony sympathized. “I'd give my whole stand away just to see a Wonderbolts show, or even eat some Canterlot doughnuts again.” He paused, as if reliving a memory. “Damn divide.”
Junebug suddenly felt something tugging on her tail.
“Mommy?” It was junebug’s daughter. “What’s a pegasus?”
Her daughter, Amber Petal, was only five years old. Born during The Great Division and well after the new equestrian borders had been drafted, she had never seen a pegasus before in her life and had no concept of what one even was. While Ponyville did have their own recursive team of pegasi that weren’t under the Stormwing banner, tasked to control the local weather, they were forbidden from setting hoof on Earthborn land. As such they never dropped below the clouds.
“Well Amber.” Junebug kneeled down to address her daughter. “A pegasus is a pony, just like you oor me, or even this nice stallion here.” She motioned to the stall merchant. “Except they have wings! They can fly through the air and even walk on the clouds!”
“Whoah, that’s so cool!” Amber beamed. “How come there aren’t any pegasus ponies in Ponyville though? They are ponies after all, aren’t they?”
Junebug cocked her head trying to come up with an answer without having to explain the complicated nature of The Great Division that was sure to go over her daughter’s head. “They just aren’t allowed in Ponyville.” Junebug finally said, shaking her head.
“Oh…” Amber was pensive for a moment. “Are there other kinds of ponies?”
“Oh of course!” Junebug said, sighing a minor relief that her daughter didn’t probe her answer. “There are also unicorns too. They have horns instead of wings and can-”
“I know about those!” Her daughter exclaimed. “Teacher taught us about them, and even showed us pictures from one of the history books. Is it true they could use magic to lift things and teleport?”
“Mhm.” Junebug affirmed. “There even used to be a lot of unicorns living in Ponyville, many years before you were born. But-”
“They aren’t allowed in Ponyville?” Her daughter interrupted again.
“Yes, precisely” Junebug stated. “They aren’t allowed in Ponyville.”
“Do you think there could be a pony with wings and a horn?” Amber asked with naive curiosity.
“Absolutely, they’re called Alicorns” Junebug said. “They’re just a very very rare breed of pony and are super powerful.”
“Have you ever seen an Alicorn, mommy?”
“We saw one when we went to the Crystal Empire last year.” Junebug chuckled. “Don't you remember Princess Cadence?”
“Oh yeah!” Amber got excited again. “The pony with the pretty singing voice, I remember her!... Are there any other Alicorns?”
Junebug choked up for a moment as if a sudden wave of sorrow overcame her. But it was as sudden as the clock-tower signalling the top of the hour and was gone just as fast.
“No…” Junebug lied. “Cadence is the only one.”
Junebug looked up and suddenly realized a line had formed behind them, but the ponies were too polite to make a fuss or interfere with the childlike wonderment of Junebug’s conversation with her daughter. Still Junebug felt a tinge of embarrassment and apologized to the merchant stallion, buying a bag of Earthborn oats out of obligation and continuing her trek through town with her daughter in tow; who was asking all kinds of questions about the pegasi and unicorns that used to live in Ponyville.
“So what was it like when the pegasuses and unicorns lived in Ponyville?”
“It truly was a magical time.” Junebug said with a nervous laugh. “There were more unicorns than any other kind of pony, but that’s because they were running most of the shops. They could use magic to do things that most ponies would have a lot of difficulty doing, like making watches or sewing clothes.”
They walked past a line of old fence posts that lead to an empty clearing of land.
“I remember, there was a unicorn that used to own a boutique over there.” Junebug said ,motioning to the empty clearing. “She would use her magic all day long to make dresses for everypony in town.”
“Where did she go?” Amber asked as the clearing disappeared behind them.
“I don’t really know.” Junebug said wistfully. “I heard she left for her shop in Manehattan and eventually walled herself up along with the entire city, but I haven’t actually heard from her since the day the Earthborn’s forced her out and tore down her boutique… I think I still might have one of her dresses though.”
“What about the pegasuses?”
“Pegasi.” Junebug corrected with a chuckle. “Multiple pegasus ponies are called pegasi.”
“What about the pegasi?” Amber asked again.
“The pegasi didn’t really do all that much.” Junebug said thoughtfully. “Back then, anypony could live in Ponyville; hence the name. You didn’t need to have any serviceable skills or anything. Back then you could just live in Ponyville simply if you just enjoyed how secluded the town was from the rest of Equestria.”
“But what did the pegasi do?” Amber asked with a hint of impatience.
“Outside of controlling the weather, they didn’t do anything.” Junebug repeated. “Some of them owned shops, a lot of them had cottages here, but most of them didn’t have any reason to be in Ponyville. But we didn’t mind, we just simply enjoyed their company.”
“The pegasi can control the weather too?!” Amber was mystified. “Pegasi sound so cool!”
“They still do!” Junebug laughed. “They can move the clouds around, and can even make it rain and snow. You just never see them because they don’t ever come below the clouds.”
The pair crossed over into an alleyway that connected them to Ponyville proper, and after a few moments they were inside the market square where most of the main businesses and permanent shops were located.
Junebug was explaining to her daughter how the pegasi used to make the seasons change in Ponyville when a shadow passed very quickly overhead, and Amber pointed up into the sky.
“Mommy mommy! Is that a pegasus?”
Junebug looked up but didn’t see anything except for the clear sunny sky.
“Is what a pegasus?” Junebug asked her daughter. “I don’t see anything.”
“I saw something flying through the air, it had wings and hooves.” Amber stated gleefully. “It was a pegasus!”
Not convinced she had seen anything, Junebug was quick to dissuade her daughter as they both stepped into a small dress shop.
“It was probably just a bird you saw.” Junebug said as she looked through a clearance rack. “Many of the local birds are big enough to look like small foal as they fly.”
But her daughter was not listening to her. While her mother looked through the rack of last season’s designs and got caught up in a conversation with the shopkeeper about complimenting fabric and coat colors, Amber petal had her nose pressed up against the glass of the shop window. Her eyes fixed to the sky, eager to see another pegasus.
Leaving the rack empty-hoofed, Junebug saw here daughter staring out the window and softly accosted her.
“You’re not going to see a pegasus.” She said as she guided her daughter out of the shop. “They aren’t allowed in Ponyville, remember?”
However, as they continued through the town, a murmur was brewing. Whispers of ‘pegasus’ were on the lips of several townsponies followed by worried glances to the sky; but Junebug didn’t notice.
“Should we go to the cleaners first and pick up your uniform for school?” Junebug asked Amber. “Or do you wanna go to the antique shop first?” But before her daughter could respond, two more shadows raced overhead.
This time Junebug was able to see, if only for a glimpse, a pegasus in some kind or armor. But it moved through the air so fast that it was blocked from sight by the facade of a cottage before she could really register what she had seen.
“Huh, I guess it was a pegasus.” Junebug said to Amber, whose focus never left the sky. “It must be one of the weather ponies…”
But something wasn’t sitting right with Junebug. Something about how swiftly the pegasus was flying and the armor it was wearing. It wasn’t yellow or red or gold, it wasn’t House Earthborn colors or those of any of the independent factions. She had only caught a glimpse, but she thought she saw the colors of grey and blue. The colors of House Stormwing. The colors of thunderstorms.
It was then that Junebug realised that she felt nervous. She didn’t felt nervous before when she and her daughter had entered the town square, but now it felt like there was a cluster of sparks inside her abdomen and her coat felt like somepony had been brushing it against the grain. She felt like she needed to move, but she didn’t know why.
“...Maybe they’re taking atmospheric readings.” Junebug attempted to rationalise when a drop of rain hit her muzzle and she felt her stomach drop. It wasn’t supposed to rain today.
Junebug looked around and saw a sea of similarly confused faces in the market. Nopony said a word, but all eyes were trained to the sky.
Clouds of all sizes were coasting through the air. Large cumulus, small nimbus, and even fully formed storm clouds that were letting off small amounts of rain. None of them were being pushed by any pegasi, but occasionally a pegasus wearing House Stormwing’s armor zoomed past; creating gale-force winds that pushed the clouds all on their own.
It wasn’t long before the clouds had covered the entire sky, forming a uniform layer that blotted out the sun and cast Ponyville in a dark-grey shadow. Rain was coming down now. lightly at first as shopkeepers stepped into the streets and towns ponies popped their heads out from second-story windows, but soon harder and heavier as each pegasus raced over the town.
“Look at all the pegasuses!” Amber called out to her mother through the rain.
Junebug attempted to correct her daughter again when suddenly an entire army of pegasi crested the horizon and flew overhead, but before anypony else could react to what was happening a massive movement of wind followed. The town’s windchimes went wild. Dust and debris were swept into the air causing the onlookers in the streets to shield their eyes. Thunder was roaring and rumbling, and lightning split the sky. Junebug held onto her daughter as several other ponies where knocked down by the wind.
And then, somepony screamed.
A massive hurricane of water came into view, controlled by hundreds, if not thousands of pegasi. Perhaps even every single pegasi under House Stormwing’s command. Each pegasus was either flying in formation around the twister, maintaining it’s form, or soaring directly underneath, creating enough wind to keep it aloft while miles away even more pegasi were piping in water directly from the western sea.
The hurricane stretched on for miles, resembling a giant serpent flying through the air before suddenly crashing down onto Ponyville. From the mouth of the serpent water spewed like a river, crashing through the town and flooding the streets; sweeping the citizens away and instantly filling the town up to the rooftops.
Junebug emerged from underwater some three blocks away. The water had slammed her into the second-story of somepony’s house, knocking the wind out of her. Clutching her daughter in her hooves, she grabbed onto a nearby chimney to stop from being swept away, but more importantly to try and catch her breath. She struggled in vain to keep both her and her daughter’s heads above water. She tried calling out to her daughter who didn’t even know how to swim yet, to hold on. Pleading for Amber to kick with her hooves to try and keep herself afloat, but just then another torrent of water crashed into the town. Junebug’s feeble grasp on the chimney and her daughter was broken and she was forced deep under the water as her daughter was swept out of her hooves and clear across town.
And all at once, the sky was clear again.
The pegasi had flown off back to House Stormwing territory just as quickly as they had arrived. The clouds had drifted well past the Foal Mountains and dispersed somewhere into the eastern Celestial Sea. It was high-noon in Equestria and Celestia’s sun was shining directly over Ponyville; and the entire town was submerged under water.
The tepid seawater was clear and blue, like the nearby river whose banks stood no chance of absorbing the flood and whose bed now sat some twenty feet below the surface. The many hills surrounding the town created a natural basin that kept the water from receding. The few townsponies that were lucky enough to be swept away by the crest of the waves lay unconscious on the grassy shores of this new great lake, whilst the lifeless bodies of those that weren’t so lucky sank like stones in the streets, or floated under the gabled roofs of their houses that entombed them.
The rippling water reflected silver under the bright light of the sun as waterfowls flocked to the water and swam on its surface. A duck quacked one or twice, and seldomly an article of clothing or piece of debris would float up, but never once did another pony re-emerge from the depths below.
It was a fine day in Ponyville.
