After Equestria: The Crystal War

  VII

Alex

Alex was dead. The world was consumed with darkness, not even the tiniest speck of light was visible. A cold wind chilled him to the bone, the wind was so cold Alex thought it might have come from the Antarctic.

“Hello?” Alex asked, ashamed at how pathetic his voice sounded, he tried to change his tone. “Who’s there?” Alex’s voice sounded much more confident than he felt.

   Nobody replied, and then an unbelievably strong wind blew past, nearly knocking Alex off his feet-or rather hooves. The cold and the dark was all that greeted him, and then, the world flared with light.

“What the heck?” Alex yelped covering his eyes with his … um … arm, hoof thing-his front leg.

“Ah, Alex nice to see you my old friend!”

When Alex opened his eyes he noticed the darkness had disappeared, a streak of light pierced through the otherwise black as night sky like something out of a myth or legend. A serpentine shadow blocked something like, twenty percent of the light. Dramatic music began to play;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYj8ciqAPcA

Discord floated down from the shinning hole in the sky, he was sitting in a pose akin to one someone would take when meditating. His eyes were closed and the light seemed to radiate from him like he was a star or a flashlight or something. He would have looked peaceful-like a monk who had achieved enlightenment, if he hadn't been smirking. The spot in the sky that was radiating light was covered with clouds and the light went out.

“What is it that troubles you, friend?”

Alex stared, not sure if he should groan or to scream. After about minute of waiting, Alex sighed. “Why am I not surprised?” He muttered to himself before pushing off the ground and flying up to Discord.

“Cut to the chase Discord,” Alex said. “You promised you’d give me answers.”

“Welll … I guess since you asked nicely,” Discord said, his eyes still closed and the smirk leaving his face. The music stopped and Discord’s expression became totally poker-faced, which was really unusual for a Spirit of Chaos. “What is it you wish to see?” And then Discord added, “Its porn isn't it?”

Alex’s face turned red. “No,” he said. “I want to know what happened to that other guy, David.”

“So you’re going through with this insane plan of yours after all, hmm?”

“Yes.” Alex said, the heat leaving his face. “Yes, I am, why, though? Are you going to try to stop me?”

“Nope,” Discord said casually, as if Alex had asked if he would like a glass of lemonade. “It a pointless idea, though, annnnd you’ll probably die.”

“What else is new?”Alex asked in what he hoped was a stoic tone and not a scared one.

“I put a memory spell on your parents,” Discord said randomly.

  “Oka- wait, what?” Alex asked shocked.

“You can thank me later, preferably with chocolate eclairs.”Discord said, rubbing his claws against his chest and then holding out his eagle in front of him, Discord stared at his sharp claws with a scrutinizing expression. There was a flash of light and his claws instantly became blunt."I do love chocolate eclairs!"

“What-I- you-I mean-why would I want to thank you?!” Alex demanded, anger for the chimera before him bubbling inside of him like a volcano ready to blow at any second.

Discord’s expression turned cold as the Frozen North.

“Because if I hadn't your family would still be looking for you-” Discord began coldly.

“Oh, and that’s a bad thing?” Alex retorted, “Why on earth would you do that-?”

“Think!” Discord said impatiently, “if your family realized you were gone what would they do, they’d look for you right?”

  “Yeah, so?” Alex asked slowly, his anger fading. I don’t understand, Alex thought, confused. What’s Discord getting at?

“And what do you think would happen if they didn't find you after a year of searching?”

  “They …” Alex trailed off, realizing what Discord was saying, a chill passed through his body as he thought of what would happen if Discord hadn't erased his parents memories. He hung his head in shame, “I… I guess you have a point, sorry.”

  Discord appeared to calm down. “No," he sighed, his head drooping along with half his body.  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I-it’s just-ugh!” Discord swung his tail in frustration, then, a small rock flew out of the darkness, flying a couple meters before hitting the ground. The spot the rock hit suddenly turned into a barren, rusty red floor. The shadows continued their retreat until the barren landscape was visible.

This looks like … Alex realized that the ground he was standing on was akin to the landscape surrounding Magnus Regnum, the last great griffon empire, and his home.

“No,” Discord said, snapping Alex out his thoughts, he looked up to see Discord looking at him quizzically, like he thought Alex was about to do something strange. “This isn’t your current home; it’s the lad surrounding Canterlot, Equestria’s former capital.” Discord pointed ahead into the dark hazy sky, a shadowy smudge was visible in the distance, and it was roughly the shape of a castle.

“No way,” Alex muttered. Everyone in the Great Tree (the Great Tree was the center of Magnus and was the capital of the kingdom) knew about Canterlot, it was infamous because of the Great Changeling Invasion of C.E 1007, where the Changeling hive, Scorpion, launched an all out invasion of Canterlot during the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Captain Shinning Armor I.

   Alex remembered why he was talking to Discord in the first place, clearing his throat he asked,

    “Um, can you tell me what happened to the David guy now?” Alex said.

“Hmm? Oh, okay, sure.” Discord snapped his fingers

   Canterlot disappeared and Alex found himself in the Everfree Forest.

    “Whoa,” Alex whispered, the Everfree was a hundred times bigger than what he’d expected, and it caused him to gain a sense of overwhelming dread. “Um, okay, this is nice and all, but can I please go home now?” Alex said, nervously. Fighting battles was one thing, but hiking through the Everfree with no plan, no weapons and no help was just suicide.

“Aw, buck up you big baby!” Discord told him, rolling his eyes.

Crack!

Alex turned his head in the direction of the noise, to his horror he saw a large golden carriage half the size of a double-decker bus being pulled by two Minotaurs who looked like they’d barely survived a famine, hollow cheeks, ribs straining against skin, and a desperate look in their eyes, like they were ready to do anything to survive. On the carriage lay two unicorns chatting away on their comfortable mattress as the poor Minotaurs struggled to move the carriage forward.

“How can they just … sit there and do this?” Alex asked furiously, his fear of the forest was over shadowed by his outrage at the scène before him.

“I quite surprised that *you** of all people, would say that,”* Discord said, his arms folded across his chest and his eyebrows rose, like a police officer who was listening to some pathetic excuse for robbing a jewelry store or something. “Wasn’t it you, who killed the traitor Skyfire?”

  “That was different,” Alex protested. “We were at war, and she killed my mentor!”

“Well, these people are at war too,” Discord told him.

   “Really,” Alex asked, skeptically. “Who are they fighting?”

“Why, the Lunar Republic of course!”

   “Wait,” Alex said slowly. “Isn't the Lunar Republic the good side?”

“Ha!” Discord snorted. “There is neither any ‘good side’ nor any ‘bad side’ surely you of all people would realize that!”

   “I know!” Alex said, his expression morphing into a severely annoyed one. “But the Lunar Republic is fighting against King Sombra, who completely gave himself up to dark magic and has gone completely insane! So, yeah, the Lunar Republicans are the good guys!”

“So you’re saying that you’re going to fight Trixie, correct?” Discord said, ignoring what Alex had said.

“Yes,” Alex said, sounding braver than he felt. “Me and my friends will fight against anyone who enslaves others, that’s what true heroes do! They fight for anyone who is innocent and needs help, and I’m going to strive to become one!” Alex wondered if he would stay true to those words.

“Fair enough,” Discord said, narrowing his eyes. “But know this, boy, not ever hero has a happy ending.”

  Before Alex could ask what Discord was talking about, the latter snapped his claw-fingers and the world turned dark.

  ~

  When the darkness gave way to dim light (and when Alex’s eyes adjusted to the light) Alex found himself in a massive underground tunnel. Seriously, it was so big; Alex reckoned an entire legion could fit in it no problem.

  Torches on the walls provided a little light, so that Alex could see where he was going, but just barely. Where am I? Alex thought, silently laughing at the irony of the situation, for when he’d first arrived in Gaea/Equestria he had wondered the same thing. Except this time I have my memories, Alex told himself. This brought little comfort. And I know that my family has completely forgotten about me …

Crack!

That sound snapped Alex out of his depressing thoughts. The rattling of chains, pants, screams and wails followed. The sound grew louder and louder until something appeared just within Alex’s field of vision.

  Griffons, Minotaurs and Earth Ponies, that’s what Alex saw. They all were chained, shackled riddles with wounds, as well as seemingly starved, judging by the way their ribs were visible through their strained and scared skin. Hollow sunken cheeks, eyes filled with despair, it rocked Alex to his core. They were dragging several carts of gems, the cart wheels squeaked as they moved, bumping occasionally and spilling the contents, in reply, a whip cracked, striking someone on the back.

“I don’t want to see this,” Alex muttered looking way in horror.

"Look over there,"Discord told him. "Do you see him?"

  Alex forced himself to look, his eyes widened when he saw a unicorn stallion chained to the carts as well, he was not in a as bad condition as the others, but it was bad enough, his bright red fur was damp with sweat, his muzzled dripped blood from a large cut on his lower jaw. The stallion’s mane was disheveled, ripped, covered in dirt and stuck at odd angles.

Firestorm, Alex thought, somehow he knew that the stallion was the other human Starswirl had brought to Gaea.

Alex trembled and took a step backwards, but he lost his footing and landed on his rump instead. The image before him was seared so deeply in his mind he knew he’d never forget it, even as the scene faded and was replaced by darkness.

Suddenly, the dark caves were replaced by the black crystal wall of the Crystal Empire. Alex’s breath hitched. In the History classes at the Great Tree he learned out the Crystal Empire, it was a thriving Utopian kingdom, everyone-ponies and some griffons, worked together for the good of the Empire. That is, until King Sombra arrived.

King Sombra’s origins truly were a mystery; nobody knew who he was before his rise to power because the Crystal Empire had been on a decline long before King Sombra could be born. So no one noticed that the Empire had fallen, no one, except Princess Luna.

Princess Luna detected Sombra’s dark magic and alerted her sister, together they vanquished Sombra. However, Sombra had foreseen something like that happening, so he placed a curse on the Empire. The curse made it so that, as long as the connection was working he was immortal, every time he was defeated he would just come back again and again until he regained his Empire.

When Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends regained the Crystal Heart they were able to sever Sombra’s connection to the empire. But regardless, Sombra returned once more, due to his darkness festering in the mind of Starswirl the Bearded. Sombra corrupted the immortal wizard and convinced him that Celestia and Luna were tyrants. Starswirl fell victim to Sombra and tried to overthrow the sisters. When Starswirl finally realized he was being used, Sombra fled from his mind, and then, three years later, the Equestrian Empire fell.

Wait, Alex thought, confused. How did I know that? I’m pretty sure they didn’t teach it in History class-

“Oh, that’s simple; I downloaded the info into your brain.”  Discord said casually as if to say; No biggie, I know I’m awesome.

Alex was not amused.

“Wait, you were messing around in my head?!”

“Maybe,” Discord said, unconcerned. Suddenly he was wearing a monocle and suit,(on the upper half of his body) and reading a book entitled; A History of Sapient Stupidity, with a picture of a stupid looking, drooling unicorn with humongous buck teeth on the cover.

Alex wanted to scream at Discord, he had way too many people messing around in his head and the last thing he needed was for a Spirit of Chaos to be taking a stroll in his mind, but out of a need to hear more Alex kept his mouth shut.

“So,” Alex prompted, hoping for Discord to explain whatever it was that he was doing.

  Discord closed his book and looked up at Alex with a bored expression. “So what?”

  “I-you-I mean, “Alex spluttered caught off guard by that stupid statement. “So tell me why you dragged me into this stupid dream!” Alex yelled, his anger finally getting the better of him.

“I already did,” Discord said, then seeing the look on Alex’s face hurriedly continued. “David’s been captured by the Unicorn Union, and his friend-plus the Savior Six- are back in action and are going to launch an assault on the Crystal Empire. There, happy now?”

   “So what should I do?” Alex asked, gulping.

  Discord ran his thumb over the title of his book, not looking at Alex. Finally he spoke. “Do what you think is right.”

Discord snapped his fingers and a card appeared at Alex’s feet, then, dream dissolved,

  ~

  Alex’s eyes shot open, gasping he moved to a sitting position, looking around his room/hollow. It was just a dream.

  Alex sighed in relief; he was safe back in his hollow. Griffons slept in hollow-like rooms that were almost entirely circular, even the door was round.  Alex’s hoof nimbly turned his gas lamp back on. The walls of the hollow were shiny and smooth with shelves curving along the walls.  The door was red with a golden door knob and lock, it looked strange in comparison to the brown bark walls of Alex’s room.

“What a weird dream,” Alex muttered, pulling off his covers. A card fell onto the floor, surprised, Alex picked it up.

On it was written:

Nice talk, kid, if your still in for that suicide mission then tell your friends to raid Unicornia’s underground capitol. Oh, and try to rescue Firestorm while you’re at it.

    Your pal,

Discord

    Alex stared at the note in mute shock, and then he picked it up and stumbled towards his door, clumsily prying the lock open and then rushing into the air to find his friends.