The Crystal Clock Spire

“Listen up and listen well. There are two kinds of ponies in Gallopmere, the most common of which are the Shire ponies. Those of you just arrived from Equestria will see them simply as your average earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies that is true. On the other end of the spectrum are the Chimerics. The main difference between the two are that the chimerics are born with a natural affliction. In addition to the wings and the horns and what not is the fact that they are born with warped limbs, some may be born with dragon’s wings or the claws of an Ursa (Major or Minor) but make no mistake, they are still like you or me in regards to behaviour…. do not, under any circumstances, chastise them for simply being different in appearance...”

-Harbourmaster of Whitecathedral-

Of course, when I mentioned the word peace at the end of that last chapter, I wasn’t being entirely truthful for you see, when Chronodia disappeared, Crownway: quick to take over the kingdom, started to enforce martial law across the entire kingdom. However, according to official records, the city of Manechester did not take kindly to this new law and had soon revolted against the military and had removed them completely from the city.

That was when the trouble began, when the city, no longer under the jurisdiction of Crownway’s forces, began to fall in disarray: The government dissolved to mere bickering politicians desperately trying to keep order in the city along with a few military soldiers trying to hold out in the ruins, building toppled in the unrest creating a tightly enclosed space of a city in which desperate citizens did what they could to etch out a living, stealing what they could and taking from others.

During these times, soldiers in the city created a small splinter army of their own to combat civil unrest and try to keep what little peace remained and it was at this time that a small carriage pulled by a chimeric driver had pulled up just outside the city outskirts and an armoured guard pony stepped out of its doors…. or rather was forced out.

"Alright, that is as far as I go Skye lass, you’re going to have to make your own way through" called out the carriage carrier to the guard pony now known as Skye. Skye looked to the ruins of Manechester and then back to the carrier.

"Now hang on a minute, the path through the city is as clear as day, surely you could…" she began before being interrupted. "You're joking, once you're in there you'll be lucky enough to keep all your gold coins never mind being able to pay the carriage fare, now be off with you!" he cried. "Now see here, if you don’t take me further in, I’ll make sure you lose your job in a matter of seconds!" Skye threatened.

The carrier at this point was visibly uninterested in her idle threats and instead turned around to face away from the city. "Ha, you don’t need to worry about that pet, once I get back i’m quitting this job and setting up my own business elsewhere, besides every pony keeps asking me to take them here like they've got themselves a death wish or something but not anymore pal, now go on, get lost, we wouldn’t want you to be late for your meeting with the other ‘unwell wishers'" he laughed and ran off with the carriage in tow.

"Sarcastic sassenach" Skye muttered under her breath and made her way into the city. As she did so, she couldn’t help but notice the state the city was in, debris lined the streets where houses used to be and other kinds of debris littered in between the larger pieces. Skye was not prepared to see this sort of thing as this was the first time she came to such a city. It was at the behest of Crownway that she visit the city to join the assessment of the city which was being organised in the city hall, it was also a reason to find one of Crownway’s captains who had gone missing during the city’s collapse.

Skye wondered why this city, of all cities, was the only city that ended up that way. Why a major city would be subject to this kind of emotional torture. As she walked through the collapsed infrastructure, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit depressed that the kingdom would just give up on one of its biggest sources of income, that no pony would even try to lift a hoof to salvage the situation. Unfortunately all these thoughts would have to come later for she noticed a tiny gang of ponies in one of the side streets, or what looked like a side street (This city was ruined after all so it was hard to tell, that and the giant cloud of shadow hanging over the kingdom, we’ll get to that in a moment). and it looked like they were crowding something in the middle.

Skye, at first thought it none of her business, until she spotted a small glimmer in the middle of the group, like light reflected off a mirror. She crept in closer to see what the object was that was giving off the shine and as she got closer the object became more clearer… it was armour and it was still attached to some-pony who was the focus of the small group that had gathered. They were talking to each other and Skye could just about hear them.

"Get outta my way” commanded the pony in the middle to which what looked like the ring leader of the group replied "Certainly not, you’re one of those soldiers who stayed in the city". The leader nodded to two members of the group behind the guard pony and they grabbed his front legs, hoisting him up to the leader’s face. The guard pony resigned himself to his fate and merely said "Alright then, take what you want. I don’t need it, not at all". The leader shaked his head at him and pointed to his body.

"We don’t want your earthly possessions, we want you old chap" he responded gleefully. "Ah, I see what this is, you’re one of those hypocrites who believe that we are the ones who caused this. Well, you’re not wrong at all, I used to think Crownway would uphold the old gallopmerian traditions but now look what’s happened. But we were nothing more than a catalyst for this and you… well, my reasons for calling you hypocrites is justified isn’t it?" the guard pony inquired. The smirk from the leaders face was quickly replaced with a look of sheer anger at the thought that he was somehow responsible for causing more damage that Crownway’s lackeys had made and he quickly rammed his victim into a wall all the while the two who were holding onto him had maintained their grip.

"That so, well then, I hope you don’t mind if I put you out of your misery… lads take his teeth out" the leader commanded opening the guard pony’s mouth ajar "Oh they’re his own, right then we know what to do" one of the two who had hold of him jeered. The leader raised his head and went to try and ram his head against the guard pony’s face. Of course, when you’re threatened with the knocking of ones teeth, the best thing to do is to avoid the hit and that is what the guard pony did. He ducked his head just low enough that the leader’s head missed him and went straight into the wall, knocking him out.

Skye saw this as an opportunity to intervene and did so. She ran straight into the crowd and shouted "Oi, clear off." The rest of the group became startled at this. "Run, he’s brought back-up here, we can’t win" one of them cried and the rest, as if they knew what to do in a situation like, scarpered like there was no tomorrow, which could be true because of the cloud hanging above them. Once the group left albeit without the leader who lain slumped on the floor unconscious, Skye ran to the guard pony who was lying on the ground in fear and picked him up.

"Are you alright sir, you took quite a beating when they pushed you up against the wall, I thought you were done for." "The guard pony looked up at the soldier and breathed a sigh of relief that he was saved from a brutal beating. "Yes, i’m fine, I was on my way to the city hall when those louts ambushed me” he responded while slowly getting up.

"I don’t believe it, this city has gone to the crystal caverns in just a few days and we were helpless to stop it, which reminds me, what are you doing here, you don’t look like you come from here" Skye smiled at him and nodded in agreement. "You’re right I don’t, I come from a small barracks just north of here, I took a carriage to the city, well close enough to it before I was kicked out, I’m on my way to the city hall for a briefing on the situation here in Manechester but then I found you, my name is Skye, i’m a sergeant from Whitecathedral." She explained. The guard pony, now recovered, nodded and smiled back in agreement.

"That’s a lovely name, must be a chimeric’s name. It’s a good thing you did find me Skye, ha and a small world, i’m going to the city hall as well. Maybe we can go together, my name is Dusklight, i’m the residing captain in this city. It’s nice to meet you." Skye nodded in surprise as before her was the captain she was supposed to find, it was a lucky break on her behalf that was for sure. "Dusklight…. yes of course, I remember you, you were in the city before the unrest, I’m glad I found you and I know Crownway will be glad as well."

Dusklight, just as surprised as her at this merely shrugged. "Crownway, ah yes, I was wondering if some pony might be looking for me, I must confess I was a little bit sceptical that any pony would be worrying me, seems to me that the whole world just stopped caring when that… empire, well if you could call it an empire just upped and disappeared, glad to see my confessions have been proven wrong" he mused.

"Well, we mustn't keep our ‘friends’ at the city hall waiting, I suspect Corrosion and Lifelike are at each other’s throats again" he continued. Skye nodded in agreement and they made their way to the town hall.

“Corrosion has berated me for the last time, he thinks just because I’m a simple painter and have no real figure in the waking world we live in today, it’s not my fault I am an artist who doesn’t favour the arts of war more than the arts of beauty but enough about that. What is his problem, flaming shire pony I wager, as is typical of them. Another transcript has gone up in flames again, I must keep my… other powers under control until I find what I came to this misbegotten country for, and I will find it. I always get what I want”.
-Lifelike, painter and artist-

The two arrived at the city hall that was awaiting them, it was the only place that those who were still considered ‘sane’ (although that still doesn’t help them much) considered to be some kind of safe haven for them when in actuality, it was just another base of operation for the military. Nothing safe about that.

At the gate was a lone guard pony making sure that those making their way to the meeting had made it to their destination. It wasn’t long before he spotted Dusklight and Skye approaching the main gate. ‘Hold up sir and ma’am, who are you and what do you want?’ Inquired the gatekeeper before noticing that Dusklight was near enough badly injured with a small scar on the right side of his pitch black face.

"C-captain, what happened to you, another of those flaming mugger gangs I wager, we’ve been getting plenty of those around the area!?" he inquired.
Dusklight nodded ‘Yes, shame too, this city used to be such a nice place to live in, now thanks to Crownway and his foolish decision, we’ve got ponies in every district trying to desperately get back on their hooves, making gangs and making other pony’s lives a misery," Dusklight added.

The gatekeeper was taken aback at this accusation. "W-well sir, maybe we’re being a bit too harsh about thi…". Dusklight leaned closer into the gatekeepers face and repeated: "It’s because of Crownway and his foolish decision that we are in this mess, declaring martial law like that, it just wasn’t needed."

"Uh well, go on in sir and ma’am, Corrosion is most likely waiting for you," the gatekeeper reminded them "Perhaps you could take up your issue with him, he’s one of the few who holds sway over this place… well other than you of course." and with that the gatekeeper opened the double doors of the city hall and the two guard ponies went inside.

The meeting room was packed with ponies from the individual districts that had arrived to contribute to the briefing based on their thoughts and situations from their respective districts. Usually you’d expect the entire room to be filled with noise from the individuals whether it was simply chats about places outside the city or downright arguments between those with differing viewpoints which was common among those with positions of power.

However, the only noise that both Skye and Dusklight and the rest of them could hear was from two bickering ponies at the far back. One of them was a shire earth pony and the other was a larger shire alicorn by the name of Lifelike: a painter by trade but when called upon she would write transcripts and reports for the local authorities and, like Dusklight, believed that the city could be restored back to its former glory. The other was introduced to Skye by the captain shortly as he entered.

"Nice to see the top brass agreeing on common issues such as this, eh Corrosion" inquired Dusklight, hoping to break up the argument. Both arguing ponies looked up from their argument to face the captain and walked away from each other in a huff; Lifelike walked to the back of the room with her head stooped low and the other pony, now established as Corrosion walked to the couple at the entrance of the room.

"Skye, I’d like to introduce you to lord captain Corrosion of the Manechesterian army, he’s the one who’ll be taking the briefing for today or tonight, whatever." Skye took the lord captain’s hoof in hers and shook it lightly so as not to pull something in either hers or his arms. Once both had been acquainted to each other, Corrosion turned to the other captain.

"Ah captain, Am I glad to s… good Chronodia, stallion, what happened, you’re face is almost red raw, did the muggers catch you again. I swear if I see another gang of the louts i’ll make sure they get what’s coming to them!" commented Corrosion on the state of the captain. "I’ll be fine and I told you this wouldn’t have happened if Crownway had just left the city alone, martial law was just uncalled for." Dusklight replied to which Corrosion merely put a hoof to his face in sheer astonishment that the captain would ignore his own injuries and attack the current ruler of the kingdom.

"Look we’ve been already been through this and I told you to forget about it. What was done was done. Now look, can you please talk to Lifelike about our current situation, she won’t listen to me at all, she’s convinced that all I do is talk drivel." Lifelike looked up from her table at the back of the room and tried to utter something but instead returned to facing down on the table overlooking a blank piece of paper with which she was tasked with writing down the agenda for the day.

"Come now lord captain, we’re only here to contribute to the briefing, nothing more. Isn’t it time we got something done by now." answered Dusklight to the frantic Corrosion; calming him.

"Yes, you’re right, i’ll get every pony settled down and we’ll get down to business. Now then, fillies and gentle-colts, if you would be so kind as to take their seats and we can begin" he called out to the crowd of ponies in the hall and they did as they were told, each one taking their respective seats to which Skye and Dusklight took theirs as well. Once every pony had taken their seats, Corrosion walked to the back of the room and took his seat as well, cleared his throat and begun to talk when the room had become quiet.

"I’ve called you all down here today to discuss the current situation about Manechester and try to work out possible ways of salvaging it," He began.

"It’s about time, I was wondering if you would have the guts to actually do something about this!" called out Lifelike from the back of the room while writing the transcript so far. Corrosion turned to his subordinate and yelled back; ",for Chronodia’s sake, Lifelike, would you just shut up and carry on writing, that’s what this meeting is all about." prompting her to return to writing on the desk.

"As I was saying…" began Corrosion before being interrupted again, this time by a pony in the seated audience. "She has got a point you know, it’s been like, what, ten years past and we’ve only just had a chance to talk about this. Perhaps we should take this opportunity to make light of the problems that have afflicted this once great city and how its come to this." Corrosion again put his hoof in front of his face and sighed.

"Perhaps if you had listened then maybe you would have picked up the fact that that is what we are doing, if you would all just keep quiet and speak only when spoken to then we can actually get started!" he cried out to the crowd that had broken out in nervous chatter from the last remark, prompting them to remain silent.

"Now as you know, we’ve been trying to fix this city for ten years as one of our esteemed guests had delightfully pointed out but unfortunately we haven’t had the opportunity to co-ordinate our efforts in the different districts" Corrosion continued and to be fair, he wasn't wrong at all. Because of the state the city was in, nopony was able to get in contact with each other, not even briefly and as such it was rare for meetings were able to take place safely and in such short notice, even the military could not move about freely in fear of being isolated from the squads.

"However, now that we are all together, we can actually do something and it’s certainly no time like the present to do so". All the ponies in the audience nodded in agreement and they let Corrosion continue.

"Now then, would any pony like to start us off… what about you sir in the middle." he asked a member of the audience. The member he pointed to stood up and walked his way to the back of the room with Corrosion at his side and at ease to allow him to speak. Clearing his throat, he addressed the audience.

"Now as you may know, we live in constant fear that we will be mugged or beaten at any moments notice by the roving gangs in the city, oh it’s appalling, it’s either shire ponies or chimerics, no pony is spared from their violence" he said. All the audience including both Corrosion and Lifelike who was still busy writing down notes for the archives back at the castle nodded in agreement. "It’s all their fault, those in what’s left of the streets, they mug, loot steal and by chronodia are they getting dangerously close to killing us, picking us off one by one, it’s no pony else’s fault but theirs" he finished and returned to his seat.

"Thank you sir for that insightful last minute comment, now then would anyp..."

"I’m ashamed that you would think that." called out a voice from the back. Both Corrosion and Lifelike jumped at this sudden voice and wondered who it had belonged to. You've probably guessed by now that that voice had belonged to Dusklight who had seated himself at the back with Skye at his side. Corrosion looked puzzled at the captain’s sudden outburst, as if they never expected him to say anything.

"Ashamed captain, surely you’re not referring to…?" began Corrosion.

"I am and I will refer to it. How could you all forget the real reason to all this. It’s because of this martial law that Crownway has set in motion. I mean the people were in open revolt at that, well, not at first but it certainly wasn’t any better before it."

"Captain please..." Corrosion interrupted.

"Shut up. All these years you've played lap dog to that tyrant up in his white and shiny palace. For goodness sake stallion open your flaming eyes and see things for what they are and the rest of you better open yours as well!" Dusklight continued to an almost flabbergasted audience and to a now fuming Corrosion.

"Captain that is enough, Skye, you’re not from around here, why don’t you say something!?" Corrosion asked Skye trying to change the subject.

"You want to know what I think,?" Skye inquired. ",I think that you should let the captain speak."

"Yes lord captain, why don’t you let him speak, he’s seems to have a point" added Lifelike.

"Shut up Lifelike, this has nothing to do with you!" replied an angered Corrosion.

"On the contrary lord captain, I agree with the old stallion, he seems to be the only pony who knows what’s going on" she counter-argued.

"I’ve just had about enough from you captain, all that was in the past, why can’t you get past all this and focus on the task at hand" Corrosion responded while also glaring ferociously at Lifelike.

"No my lord, let me tell you, We've been going at this for far too long. I am getting far too old for this, I am an old stallion with grand kids who are currently living in Equestria because they can’t live here, where else can they go because our esteemed lord Crownway has had the audacity to instate a draconian law to control the common ponies of this kingdom. It’s barbaric, our country is one of the most secure; we have walls around every city and village, we have an actual military force and we did have a benevolent ruler who would have tried her best to make sure we live our lives in harmony and that is more than I can say about our neighbours across the sea. And all that went to the crystal caverns when Lord Muck outside decided to control us with his armies. So yes, it was our fault and if I may so then it was fault entirely so to the crystal caverns with all this!" ranted Dusklight.

By then every pony in the room had become shocked at the captain’s sudden outburst including Sergeant Skye who listened to it all.

"Come captain, let’s get out of here. I think we've outstayed our welcome here." reasoned Skye and grabbed the captain who was clearly out of breath, leading him out of the meeting hall. Lifelike, who had clearly had enough as well, followed them out.

"And where do you think you’re going, Lifelike?" Inquired Corrosion who recovered from the outburst of his colleague.

"If you must know old stallion, I'm going to make sure the captain is alright because, unlike you, I have feelings." Lifelike replied and exited the room as well leaving a shocked audience and a fuming Corrosion. Skye carried the exhausted captain to the main doors and sat him on a seat while taking one herself.

"Captain, c-could you explain to me what in chima’s name that was, you seem upset" Inquired Skye.

"I’m sorry sergeant, it’s just that I am getting very annoyed at the ineptitude of the younger generations in dealing with this situation, always blaming the wrong groups of ponies for this. Now, as I have said before, I’m getting too old for this charade and wish to find a permanent solution to the problems that pollutes the very air of Manechester." He answered just as Lifelike entered the doorway.

"Captain, I couldn't help but say, you have grand-kids back in Equestria. Who are they?" she asked him. The captain started to become upset at this question but sighed and reached into one of the pockets on his armour and produced a photograph of his family.

"Ah yes, my grand-kids, they were born in Equestria, my daughter and her husband fled there while I stayed in Manechester to try and fix all this, found out much later that one pony could not do it alone so I helped Corrosion in his district sort things out and now look at how he repays me, if you ask me, he’s like the rest of them, ignorant of what is truly happening here. Now if this situation isn't fixed before I die, then I’ll never see them again, all I want is to see their faces in person, just once. Is that so much to ask?". The captain asked sobbing between sentences. Skye hugged him as hard as she could trying with the warmth body to comfort him with Lifelike only standing there to watch unsure of what to do.

"Then why don’t you leave captain?" asked Skye letting go of the captain who had calmed down enough to answer her.

"I’d love to," he replied "but I promised myself I would help those who are suffering in this city".

"Then come with me, I live just outside of this city in an old abandoned barracks with a few others, you won’t have to leave completely, just visit a couple of times to get your bearings" Offered Skye. Dusklight looked up at her and smiled slightly.

"You… would do this for me sergeant, I mean the only home I've got here is a hole in the ground, maybe I will" he replied.

"That’s the spirit captain, now come on let’s get you out of here" agreed Skye and she picked him up.

"Lifelike could you help me with him please" asked Skye. Lifelike nodded and helped her pick him up

"Before we go since I've decided to come with the pair of you, I just need to do one last thing" said Lifelike and turned to the main hall. Lighting up her horn with magic, a cry could be heard from inside the main hall’.

"Fire, she’s lit the transcript on fire again, Lifelike you backstabbing mare, get back here and put it out" cried out a voice that could be attributed to none other than Lord Captain to which Lifelike merely muttered; "Not in a thousand years you old hypocrite" and helped Skye carry the captain to a nearby carriage that was waiting for them.

"Well, at least some ponies here have the guts to come here" Skye mused.