The darkness was almost palpable, ever just beyond reach.
It whorled and flew with the vicious rain, broken only by the flashes of lightning and fading shouts of thunder. The night had wrapped itself in a storm, blanketing the land below in brisk dampness. A yellowy, fiery light banished darkness around it, its source vaguely visible through the rain.
The traveller saw this as he mounted at hill, black cloak flowing in the wrathful wind. Though he did not need shelter from this storm-- he could easily shrug off the beating it gave him-- it was preferable.
Hooves sinking deep into the mud and making a wet squelch as he dragged them out again, the traveller set the homely light in his sight.
Bitter wind met the stagnant air as the door flew open, rain splattering on the wooden floor around the traveller’s hooves. Inside was a tavern of sorts-- a long, high table with many stools and emptied tankards; a few tired souls murmuring on cushions by the kindly, yellowish fire.
What sound there was ceased with his entry. Paying little regard to the heavy silence, the traveller slid over to the bar with a surprising grace. Looking through the shadows of his cloak to the yellowish mare behind the bar, he said, “Do you have any rooms?”
The mare cringed slightly behind her mane of pink-- not her pink, the traveller reflected--but returned his iron gaze. “You look tired, Mister...?”
He drew in a long breath, the quiet growing in weight. “Bronze.”
“Mister Bronze. Why don’t you leave your cloak by the fire there, and go right on up to the first room on the left.” she finished, pulling a key from underneath the bar and sliding it across.
Bronze nodded, accepting the key with a greyish hoof. As he stalked by the fire, his cloak floated off in an alabaster glow and lay itself in the warmth. Before anypony could get a good look at him, he was up the stairs.
The sun was barely over the horizon when the bartender and owner of the tavern padded into the main room, for a moment wondering where the animals had gone. Like every day, she hardened her heart in the face of a thousand miserable memories and set about with a cloth and brush.
On the bar itself lay thirty bits and the key to Bronze’s room. For a moment, she worried for his fate, but was distracted by the entry of a stranger in a ragged, dirt-colored cloak.
The Beasts had it out for me now, it seemed. I had long ago sheathed my family sword in favor of a crystal shard I had torn from the Beasts of Stalliongrad; the shard was sharper and more suited to magical combat.
With a wet crack like ground meat and breaking branches, I decapitated one of the horrendous lion-like creatures. I leapt back to dodge the strike of the second Beast, letting the momentum of the shard carry it deep into the Beast’s shoulder. It sounded like I was striking a bag of wet sand, and was just as hard to pull out.
Crimson stained the shrubs and dirt below as I twisted the shard, driving it upward to meet the cut I’d made before. I cut the bone at the joint with a dry snap, cleaving the leg from the body. It nearly managed to catch me with a bite, but I managed to shove the shard down his throat and end its miserable life.
The icy blue crystal looked a grim purplish-red in the afternoon light, stained in blood and hunks of meat still clinging to it. I cleaned it in the grass nearby and sheathed it, making haste for Detrot-- though Commander Scrolls hadn’t sent any messages in a year, I did not doubt that her city was still standing. Those walls were stronger than any magic a Beast could conjure.
It had been a long time since I had seen an intact Wayfarer’s Shrine. Most had fallen apart naturally; few ponies worshipped the Faith and its harsh gods. A handful remained, each one a place of quiet peace. In theory.
Once upon a time, travellers could offer food or coin to the idols in hopes of a safe trip. Nowadays, a safe trip outside a city was unheard of, if not impossible. Despite that, I approached the wooden building with a prayer on my lips.
The inside of the doorless room was bare aside from an alcove-- the ‘house’ of the idol. The idol was a stone carefully, delicately sculpted into a tree. A shrine Gurok, The Stone Tree. He was the patron of Nature, and the most worshipped of the Old Gods.
I left a few coins in the alcove. The ‘Goddesses’ of Equestria were no more; but the Faith remained.
The dark was empty that night; the sky a purplish-black canvas specked with light. There was a gaping abyss in the center of that sky where the Moon should be, glaring down at the world with an accusing hatred.
Ten years of looking up and not seeing it tended to erode the strangeness, but the memories attached would never burn away. Even if Luna returned and claimed the throne, it would be an empty crown. Her ‘noble’ sacrifice kept Princess Celestia from dying, but in exchange? Princess Luna was turned to stone and the ‘hero’ Twilight hightailed it into the archives.
The throne was left empty, and Celestia even now remains in stasis, presumably suffering. That choice led the nobility into a desperate grab for the Throne in a bloody war- the War of Roses.
So many innocents died. Equestria was reduced to nation-states that crumbled into solitary cities against an ever-darkening world. Then came the Beasts and the Crystals, which purged most of the remaining population.
I shuddered, trying to shake off the darker thoughts.
Author's Note
Chapter 2, yay! This chapter was read over by Paxtofettel and JeffCvt.
Things are moving along slowly, but I will finish this story. I promise.
~Nharctic
EDIT: Phrasing of a sentence or two changed.
1 - Sunset for Stalliongrad
Today was not a good day for me. Not one, but two Beasts were reported by the sentries--and they came from Canterhorn, not the Everfree. At best, we’d lose a few of the Guard stopping them. At worst, we’d lose half of Stalliongrad, if the Manehattan Attack was anything to go by.
I looked out the window, watching my city with care. It had been mine since the Generals were killed in Canterlot, and with no higher ranking soldier, it was me they looked to when the Beasts attacked.
Combing the reports on my desk, anticipating more bad news, I spotted a message from the North Gate-
Yr. 1012 CR
Wk. 18, Day 3
North Gate, under watch of Captain Silver Feather
Sunset- Guard reports unknown (unicorn?) pony entering North Gate. No identifiable features visible; brown cloak with hood. Wards indicate that this pony had traces of crystal magic, most likely source is Canterhorn.
My shoulders slumped. The wards had let the pony pass through, so he or she meant no harm- but crystal magic was attracted to itself. Whoever they were, they most likely had led the Beasts here. By accident or no, they had be be caught. Silver Feather was too kind; her heart was not ironclad like those of ponies who had been through the War of Roses.
I looked at the coat rack, seeing my war medals on my green combat fatigues. The Rose Medal, for outstanding service; for defeating Lord Blueblood in single combat during his assault on Fort Mane.
“Commander Bronze!”
Two Pegasus Guards entered my office, slamming the door open. Between them, a unicorn in a cloak the color of dirt. I’d been alive long enough and learned enough magic to know that this was no normal unicorn-- they practically radiated crystalline magic.
I paced around my desk, leaning close to the unicorn. These were not the sunshine-and-smiles times, where foals could wander about a city safely. Intimidation was an effective tool, and I needed it more often than not to get answers.
“And why,” I asked sternly, “Were you brought here by the Guard?”
She did not meet my eyes; I could tell her fur was white and her mane pink. Pink was not a common mane color. “For using Crystal Magic, I presume.”
The guards nodded at me, indicating she was correct. “I see. I don’t know what world you live in, but it certainly isn’t reality if you think using Crystal Magic is a wise choice. Surely, you saw the notices on the gate as you came in yesterday?”
“How did you-” She coughed. “I did see it.”
“Then why did you use it?”
She looked up, meeting my eyes with her pinkish ones. She did not answer; I had expected this. No doubt she was one of those foolish young ponies that thought they were the next Bearer of Harmony. Since the fall of Canterlot, it was not uncommon for the younger generation to think that they could be the ones to fix Equestria, if they could just find the Elements.
Crystal Magic was the kind of magic that the Elements used, and the irrational logic went that if one mastered it, then the Element of Magic was theirs for the taking.
The Elements couldn’t save anypony. The Elements couldn’t fix Canterlot.
The Elements couldn’t bring back the dead.
“You have two choices, I’m afraid; You tell me why you’re using Crystal Magic and swear to never use it within Stalliongrad again, or I put you in a Null Room until you do.”
That got a reaction. I could sense a fire in her eyes; the same fire I’d seen in Lord Blueblood’s eyes before I ran a sword through his chest. “A Null Room? Those are only for dangerous criminals of the worst kind. The Princesses would not approve.”
I drew my sword from its sheath with my magic, driving it halfway through the stone floor. “The Princesses, if you didn’t know, are dead or close to it. The Princesses, even if they were to return, would return to a useless throne. Inside Stalliongrad, my word is law. Use Crystal Magic, you get us all killed.”
The mare shrank back, but her will remained strong. “But surely, the Lords-”
“By right of single combat, I am a Lord. You’re wasting my time, mare. Make your choice.” The Guards seemed a little scared of me. I’d apologize later, but I had no time for fools who thought it was a good idea to get us all killed.
“I.... the only magic I can use is Crystal Magic.” She looked at the floor.
I sighed. “Really.”
“Yes, really.”
“Will you avoid using magic within Stalliongrad, then?” I stated tiredly.
“...Yes.”
“Good. Guards, you are dismissed.” I nodded at them, and they left with a questioning look in their eyes. I wasn’t all brawn. Getting the rank of Commander required mental and physical fortitude, and though I wasn’t a scholar by any means, I was able to discern there was something very important that this mare was not telling me.
“What do you want from me?” She wasn’t dumb, obviously.
I pulled my sword out of the stone, returning to my desk. “Tell me, where have you been the last five years?”
She hesitated. “Wandering Equestria.”
“Equestria isn’t a safe place for anypony. What are you looking for?” She had not been wandering Equestria, I knew that for a fact. This mare would have noticed that her magic attracted Beasts by now.
“An old friend.”
I sighed. “I see. What is your name?”
“Sunny,” she replied, a little too quickly.
Sunny. Pink mane, white fur. “If you don’t mind, what’s your talent?”
This stumped her. Perfect. “Haven’t found it yet, hmm?”
“N-no! It’s Crystal Magic. That’s why all my magic is Crystal,” she argued.
“If you say so. Now, whoever you actually are, Sunny, I advise that you depart this city before sundown today. The Beasts that you’ve undeniably attracted with your magic will be here by then, and I’d rather you not get killed in the crossfire. Guards!” I said grimly.
“Wh-what?”
“Crystal Magic. Attracts. Beasts. Now, I have work to do. Good luck, Sunny.” The guards entered again, grabbed ‘Sunny’, and presumably escorted her out of the fortress.
I returned to my work.
“Beasts at the Gate! Beasts at the Gate!” A guardspony burst in with those words in his throat.
“Which?”
“North Gate, sir!” He saluted me.
“Very well.” It hadn’t been two hours since ‘Sunny’ had been dragged up to see me, and already the Beasts were here. They were fast.
I threw on my combat armor- not the ceremonial armor that couldn’t turn a kick if it tried, but the cold steel armor that we soldiers actually used. With my sword floating by my side, I dashed past the guardspony, shouting orders to Captains as I passed them.
I would meet these Beasts in battle myself.
The architecture in this part of the city was almost rural-- wood-and-plaster structures that stood no chance against the Beasts. Luckily, the Guard was at the North Gate; they had not lost enough ground for the Beasts to start breaking houses.
Captain Silver Feather and her regiment of the Guard were holding the line excellently against these Beasts. They looked almost like Chimeras, only they were made of jagged icy crystal. Four of them, each at least double my size.
The individual members of the Guard were blocking with shields and magic as those behind them hit the Beasts with spears and spells. I ran past them, using the momentum to drive my sword straight into the chest of one Beast. Pulling it out, I fell back and let the Guard protect me.
One of the Guard screamed as a Beast lifted him up and bit his head off. It sounded like grinding stone, and the Beast’s jaws turned from a glassy light blue to an icy, gory mess as blood dripped between the razor-sharp teeth.
With a sound like shattering glass, the Beast I had injured fell apart-- the constant poking of the Guard had worn it down already.
It looked like this might be a major victory- we had lost only a few soldiers.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
The sound of screaming would have burned my ears, had I not heard it so many times, but it was still disgusting to see. A bloody crystal the size of a house shot out of the ground, killing half the regiment-- including Captain Silver Feather. Rivulets of crimson littered the ground like so many tears.
“No....” No. Not here. There were innocents. Thousands of ponies with lives; it was my duty to protect them and I was about to face a failure.
Another crystal shot out of the ground, the top sticking through a house. And another. And another.
The Crystals had come.
The mare in a cloak like dirt emerged from the shadows of an alley, her hooves echoing in the silent city streets. The city was dead, a thousand crystal needles driven through it. It had not been very kind to her, but it was not without reason.
She walked to the North Gate, where the fighting had taken place. A hundred dead soldiers, most beaten and sliced beyond recognition, lay upon the cold ground or up on bitter, icy lances.
But one...
If she wasn’t mistaken, it was Commander Bronze, sitting frozen in a mess of crystal and crimson. She dared not approach the stallion-- in her current state, she was no match for the embittered soldier.
Sunny turned around, heading to the South Gate.
Author's Note
Welcome to the world I've been working on!
Please, let me know if you spot any errors, not to mention what you think of the story.
~Nharctic