Equestria Divided: The Crystal Dominion

Certainties?
Young filly let me tell you one thing: in my day the only certainties were death and taxes. Now death, I can tell you, is the certain conclusion of life and there's no reason to question why it's unavoidable but taxes... taxes are taxes because at one point in time some pony up and said 'everypony has the obligation to give a little of themselves to contribute to the common good'. And it's happened with many kings and queens and empresses and princesses before: one pony disagrees with just how much their contribution should be. And if that disagreement isn't settled quickly you'll soon find yourself facing a third certainty, the natural offspring of the marriage of death and taxes:

War."

-Attributed to the third volume of the epistles of Starswirl the Bearded

High, high in the sky - so far from the ground there wasn't a visible speck of it in the dead of night and so far higher than the other clouds that no pegasi could be fooled into thinking it would form there naturally - a single dark cloud-cave rumbled with a magical fury in its core. At its hollow center two pegasi struggled to keep the light and the noise contained: The light of lightning bolts contained within bottles and the noise of a mare screaming.

"I need help. I need help." She kept crying, piteously. Her belly was huge: she was with child.

"I'm sorry honey, I'm so sorry. Just try, just keep trying. We're almost there."

Her labor had been difficult, for the better part of two days she'd been nest-bound within their secreted cloud with nothing but rainwater tapped from their ceiling and her husband for comfort. The situation was dire, they were low on food and now-

"I can see the head." he exclaimed too loudly. "You're almost there honey. Push."

Instead of crying she screamed, horribly. Cotton Clouds got up to take his wife's head in his hooves and tried to get her to react. "Honey? Honey speak to me. Don't let go, don't you dare let go of me."

Lemon Snaps came too and despite the pain and the sweating she smiled. "I did it sweety."

"No, not-" Cotton was stopped before he finished saying 'not yet'. He looked down to her nethers and didn't see what he was supposed to. There was no foal in sight.

"No. no no NO!" he cried and with an instinctive pounce he dove into the cloud floor and fell right through it.

It was dark, so dark. Even with the twinkle of distant stars overhead Cotton couldn't see anything. But that was fine, he didn't need to: he could hear. In the distance a newborn's scream pierced his ears and tore at his heart pushing all other thoughts from his mind.

He'd forgotten something.

He dove towards the sound, not knowing or thinking about how far he fell or how long until the earth hit them. All his focus was on that one sound and keeping his hooves straight and his head tucked, slicing through the sky like a knife. Seconds later he caught him, the little tike was in his hooves. He held him close and tried to bundle him tight against his fur. "It's ok. Daddy's got you."

It was then Cotton realized: he didn't have wings anymore.

He held his newborn tight, never wanting to let the little one go. "It's ok little treasure. You're going to be fine."

Cotton started turning, aiming his back toward the ground. Maybe if he took the brunt of the landing the little one would make it...

"I got you!" A voice in his ear deafened him. It was Lemon. "I've got you. Tell me you've got him!"

"I've got him!" Cotton yelled back.

With a gentle tug and a lot of skill she wrapped both sets of hooves around his barrel and spread her wings wide, changing her fall into a glide and taking them all down.

Cotton and Lemon had hoped they were past the worst of it. Life it seemed, seemed bound and determined to inform them that in this new world strife only began at birth.

"Where are you from?" The hoplite demanded.

"We're from Ponyville." Lemon answered. The pair of border guards were especially vicious to Cotton and the last thing she wanted was for them to hurt him. He'd suffered enough at the hooves of the Pegasus tribe...

"Ponyville was flooded almost a year ago."

"I-I knew that. I didn't realize it's been so long but I knew that. We've been forced to rough it for so long we just lost track of everything."
Lemon swallowed hard, praying to Celestia her fear would be interpreted as fear and not deceit.
"We had a foal and it was bad, we couldn't travel. Please, he's just a newborn yet to be weaned, anypony can see that."

"And you're lost, too? Do you have any idea where you are?" The second hoplite asked incredulously.

"No. I mean, we have some idea but it's not really important. We're not heading anywhere in Equestria, we're just passing through on our way north."

"And just where do you think you're going, galloping north?"

Lemon swallowed hard. "To the lands of the first ponies."

"What?"

"The first mares from the story of the first Hearth's Warming Eve. The three pony tribes fled their frozen homes and discovered a new land, they founded a new nation and called it Equestria. That story wasn't just about Pegasi: unicorns and earth ponies crossed too and there's a great ocean to the east and a great ocean to the west. The only place they could have come from was either the deep south or the far north."

"There's nothing past the far north."

"No. The earth is round. Past the far north and south down the other side there's gotta be something, the land ponies first came from. The windigoes followed the three tribes to Equestria and were banished here. After thousands of years without ponies in conflict the old lands should have recovered. They have to." Lemon pleaded.

The hoplites looked unconvinced, but then that wasn't the craziest story they'd heard from ponies looking to flee the war-torn continent. The pegasus sounded manic but then everypony that believed in a silly mythic tale's salvation sounded the same.

And there were more and more of them every day.

She pleaded. "Please. please let us go. We don't have anything you'd want and we don't mean you any harm. We just want a fresh start, and we want to get away, away from this stupid war. Please. Let us go."

"We're no slave-masters. You're free to go where you will. But first, there's one thing we need to know. His cutie mark. Show us."

Lemon balked. "He's got no mark."

The hoplites pointed their spears at them.

"He was a slave of Moon and Star when we met. He ran away. He never did anything, they just locked him up because he's an earth pony."

"A likely story. I smell a deserter. Fallen."

"He's not a pegasus, I am. He's an earth pony. Look, please. Look at our son!"

The guard turned from Cotton and looked over the foal. Sure enough the colt had no wings. He was such a tiny thing, obviously a newborn. No mother would be so crazy as to clip the wings of an infant, not alone in the middle of nowhere. And if the kid was an earth pony then somepony else in his family had to be an earth pony also.

The lead hoplite shrugged and put up his spear. He got into the air gesturing that he and his partner should resume their patrol. "Let's go."

"But centurion-"

"I said let's go. The kid's an earth pony and as far as I can tell so's the father. I'm not going to waste the tribune's time making him look over a nopony in the hopes it's some deserter fallen."

"Sir, we've our orders regarding Oathbreakers."

"And we've orders about wasting our superior's time. I'm in command and it's my judgement. If you feel so strongly about it that you want to hoof-stamp a dissenting opinion be my guest. We'll be challenging on it in the weeks and months to come."

He relented. "I'm not so sure, and I don't feel that strongly about it."

"Then we're done. On your way then." He said to the family and without so much as a backwards glance they were off.

And then, as a casual courtesy he yelled after them: "Go a day's travel North by North-west! You'll find the others like you."

Cotton Clouds and Lemon Snaps could only wonder what they hay that could mean as they galloped out of the last tract of Stormwing land and into the tundra.

A wise horse once said "Patience is the burden of Kings." The history and full lesson behind this simple quip was one passed on through generations to all the pony tribes, one of the many tales that formed part of the formal education for those destined to rule.

But Sombra's kingship hadn't been destined and so tales like it never reached his table. As the months dragged on he found the lessons in cruelty and dark magic that led him to take the throne were not the ones he needed to preserve the kingdom, a reality that began to bear down on him as 'his ponies' struggled, froze and starved. It was beyond his power to affect change; and yet his personal power grew by the hour and soon his magic would be as strong as it was in the days of old. The Crystal Heart was in his grasp, uncontested.

Faced with strength it had been easy for Sombra to make it heel. Now, in the face of weakness, he faltered.

The farms were barren, their planted crops frostbitten before harvest. There were no clouds in the sky and the bright daylight left ponies snowblind and easy prey to Nhorse ambush. He measured the stars and the length of the day to determine the season - by Sombra's calculations there should have been a current of warm winds from the south. For weeks he'd waited and still the warm front never came. He wondered what might be the cause of the dleay when it hit him: it was the pegasi's fault. They were the stewards of the weather and clearly they'd cut the Crystal Empire off.

He growled in anger even as he realized the sense of it. Like the abandoned train station, nopony had cause to come north in a thousand years. Why would the pegasi bother to keep the weather pattern for an empire that was no longer there?

Was that the major change? Had Celestia and Luna accepted the idea that the Crystal Empire was lost to them, vanished from the world never to return? And in doing so had they left the frozen north abandoned, open to be taken over by whatever band of barbarians might come along?

It seemed like a reasonable explanation but it didn't feel right to Sombra. The Celestia he knew would never allow such savagery in her kingdom anymore that she would suffer his rule. Her disappearance was reported only a few short years ago. He couldn't believe that a kingdom that had stood for a thousand years would devolve so radically overnight. Something was amiss, something big and it nagged at Sombra that he could neither intuit what it was nor spare the resources to find out. Not the way things were now.

It was a sobering experience: For too long he'd been little more than a thief, a parasite leeching off the prosperity and magic of Celestia's rule. The thought angered Sombra because he didn't style himself a usurper, he was a conqueror. He brought the Crystal Empire low by force of magic, silenced all who opposed him and remade the capital in his image.

No, Sombra hadn't been born and bred to rule a kingdom, he was born to be an apex predator and ironically in this new Equestria he awoke to this path would teach him all the same lessons. For that reason and all the rest Sombra sat in his throneroom as his assistant brought forward five individuals to speak... and for once, be heard.

At his invitation, the first two were Sombra's guests: Adamantine, current Marshal of the Thestrals, and Silver Spear, a pegasus. At first impression everypony might have assumed that Silver was Adamantine's #2 but that was far from the truth. King Sombra had in fact requested the presence of Adamantine and whomever his highest ranked pegasus officer was. Despite their presumed years of service shared one got the impression Adamantine wasn't entirely content to have Silver with him.

The first of the Empire's citizens present, and for that reason already infinitely less important than any of Sombra's actual allies, was the doctor Sombra had seen performing field surgery. He was concerned that the King had sent for him personally, by reputation since Sombra hadn't actually asked for his name nor made a description of his cutie-mark, but his highness had freed him and his immediate assistants from their chains and that alone was promising. The second was an old mare the doctor recognized. At first he thought she might be the old librarian but getting a look at her mark he realized she was actually the wife of the farmer's headstallion. Why she was there exactly he couldn't surmise but she looked out of place with a shawl on her head and a sack over he saddle.

The last stallion present was, in the doctor's eyes, the lowest of the low. He was unremarkable in every way: slim build, ordinary eyes, no apparent great strength nor talent apparent. But he stood out, oh how he stood out, because this stallion alone out of everypony in the room had a glow born from the ordinary light that reflected off his crystal coat.

He was a crystal pony and he was complete.

Which meant he was content, and nothing was more disturbing to any true denizen of the Empire.

Sombra broke the silence: "You are here because you represent those from whom I receive, or would like to receive, the most vital information about the Empire. Stallion, I'll begin with you."

The crystal stallion rose and the other crystal ponies' eyes narrowed. "Ironlock, your majesty. I thank you for your mercy and attention."

Sombra waved a hoof impatiently, compartmentalizing the detail that Ironlock was addressing him... strangely, for another time.

"At this time I and my fellow bullyboys have rounded up twelve press-gangs around the city, mostly along the blocks where we settle."

Sombra turned to his secretary and she produced a map of the city whereupon a dozen icons appeared representing Ironlock's gangs.

"The gangs are maybe ten strong each, armed with rocks or clubs. We've held off a dozen incursions since yesterday."

"My liege -" The doctor interrupted "the press-gangs are an abomination."

Sombra growled and the doctor became quiet. Sombra asked "You held the Nhorse off?"

"We did." He beamed proudly.

Sombra saw the doctor bristle and he made a gesture with his head that encouraged him to speak. "They did, and only two out of every 5 survived. The city is full of my camps tending to the wounded and dying."

The king's attention on him again Ironlock merely shrugged. "They're slaves. I think nothing of it."

"They're completely outmatched against the Nhorse. At the very least they should have their chains removed!" The doctor said angrily.

"The chains keep them in line." Ironlock retorted. "But I'll agree they're fodder." He turned to Sombra. "Real weapons would make a difference."

Sombra nodded. "That will be enough, slave. Doctor: what of the census?"

The doctor was crestfallen. "Dozens have been slaughtered in the districts I tend to. Hundred are wounded. I can't say how many have disappeared, carried off by the Nhorse. I'd hope they've merely run away."

Sombra nodded to him as well. "Enough." He turned to the mare. "I commanded the representative of the farms to appear. You are not whom I was told to expect."

"My husband is dead. I am the only one who can speak for him."

Ironlock got close and tapped her barrel brisquely. She yelped at his angry face as he gestured silently towards Sombra."

"M'lord." She added.

It wasn't the proper title but Ironlock appeared satisfied.

"Speak." Sombra said, rushing her.

"The Nhorse raid the farms and steal the seed crop for themselves. Without it we've little to plant and despite our experience what little we have sewn hasn't made signs of progress. We've used up alchemical stores as well to no avail, nothing makes the seeds grow - accelerated or otherwise. The season isn't what it should be."

Sombra nodded and turned to Silver Spear. "Pegasus, I believe you will explain."

Silver Spear looked afraid now that he understood why he was there. He swallowed hard and answered "My... king. When the princesses disappeared the natural order was supposed to come to an end. Instead the sun and moon still rose and fell and the clouds and seasons moved all on their own."

Sombra nodded. "Yes, this is the root of the 'heresy' speculation I've heard rumors about. You and your fellows gossip quite a lot."

He flushed, embarrassed, but agreed. "As you say. The weather goes on but it's not the weather we've always had. With the winds and rains changed the soil's affected too I guess. And... well, it's not for me to say what you winter and summer were supposed to be like in the first place."

Sombra nodded. "You will be educated." heavily implying what role the pegasi would play in the foreseeable future.

Finally he turned to Adamantine who quickly declared. "I've nothing to say that isn't redundant. In light of current trends I'd advise deploying the Night Guard to garrison near the farms, if only until the first harvest."

Sombra nodded and signaled his assistant directly whom began to speak. "There is another matter of some discretion that needs be addressed, fillies and gentlecolts. Our guest."

Sombra made the floor at the center vanish and the crystal ponies all shot a step backwards for fear they might fall. Sombra's 'guest', the female caribou, was dragged out by chains of solid night.

Sombra waited, expectantly.

Adamantine and Silver Spear looked confused and appeared to consult silently with each other before Adamantine answered "Sorry, we've never seen her like before."

Sombra didn't hide the disappointment from his face. He'd expected the outsiders to provide some intelligence on this creature. Of his own people he didn't expect much more.

Ironlock looked her over. He got close and ripped her foreleg armor straight off her hoof. "Looks Nhorse." To make his point clear he emphasized. "We're not friends of the Nhorse"

She spat on the crystal throneroom's floor. "Pfff. Nhorse. Ponykin. There more than just ponykin in the snow."

"My liege, please." The assistant began but Sombra had heard enough.

His levitation turned the caribou on the spot and now, since apparently nopony else would speak to her or her species' intentions Sombra gazed deep into her eyes and unleashed his mental spell on her.

The caribou lay in a heap on the floor. Her shadow chains melted away, Sombra had apparently decided she wouldn't need them anymore.

The secretary approached Sombra but all he said was "The enemy of my enemy."

Cryptic. She couldn't tell if he made a description or just reference to the idiom so she let it go.

"Leave." He commanded them all, and they all turned to go save the farmer's wife.

"M'lord, there is one more thing I must say."

Ironlock looked angered and approached her. Silver looked offended but Adamantine held out a hoof keeping him from passing past and interfering. Sombra arced a brow.

The four stood waiting for the king's reaction.

Sombra gestured with his hoof at the mare that she'd best hurry. With her teeth she pulled the sack off her secured saddlebags and opened its mouth. "As the doctor said there have been more than just raids and killings: there've been disappearances as well. We thought nothing of it, hoping those who'd ran had just moved to another part of the city."

She paused.

"Then we'd found other things."

From the sack she pulled out a length of fluff with a stick at the end. After looking at it for a few seconds the ponies realized it wasn't a bolt of cotton, they were looking at the leg of an ewe.

"My husband suffered the same. All we found was a leg. If it hadn't been for his cutie-mark we'd a never known it was him."

Ironlock scoffed. "Nhorse then, what of it."

She shook her head. "No, the flesh was stripped from his bones. We knew that once we could the rest of him, once we knew what to look for. When we found the severed limbs, ell... look at the wound."

Sombra levitated the limb and inspected the end closer, pulling off the tufts of fluff. Sure enough there was a sharp edge but the wound was clean, neat like it had been done with a single blow. And there was something else about the indentations where the leg appeared to be cut at both sides unevenly.

This was a mystery.