Prologue: The Last Bullfight
Four Hundred Years Ago...
Black Horn was burning. The Equestrian Royal Guard, although relatively few in number, were taking the city with sheer force of will, iron discipline, precise fighting drills...
And the fact that their princess was currently unleashing deadly blasts of magical sun-fire as she attempted to bring down the head of the army of mercenaries, wandering warriors from far-off lands, and the rough but determined and supremely dangerous Black Horn Army, as well as hordes of armed civilians.
Black Horn was burning, huge sections on both tiers of the two-tiered city set ablaze as ponies, minotaurs, griffins and more were incinerated by flame, gutted by blades, impaled on spears and pin-cushioned with arrows as spells were thrown about in deadly abandon.
Black Horn, only and greatest city of the minotaurs, was burning. And above the shouted orders, screams and explosions, above the roaring flames, a loud voice was booming out with a laughing taunt, "Is that all you have Celestia? Come on chica! Put some spirit into it! Your ponies certainly are!"
Landing on a rooftop, Celestia looked up at the hovering opponent who stared down with glowing red eyes, armed crossed over his bulky chest, "Why are you doing this? Why fight?"
"Why? You dumb nag, I'm fighting because you barged in and interrupted the course of justice! You accused me of sending assassins when it was you who took those criminals away from their punishment! And as for why I fight? Isn't that obvious?"
He dropped out of the sky, grabbing a passing Royal Guard Pegasus as he fell, and with a sickening, loud crack smashed the pony into the stone rooftop his killer was aiming for, "I fight because I! AM!"
A roar sounded out across the city, carried by thousands of throats, "THE BIIIIIIIIIG BULLLL!!!"
"That's what I'm talking about! You come into my city, flout my laws, and then have the balls to demand that I do things your way? No fucking way, bitch! Black Horn is everyone's city! Black Horn is a Minotaur city! Black Horn is MY CITY! And I will not let some jumped-up winged freak of a horse tell me how to run my city, sun powers or no sun powers!"
"You were going to throw them into that arena of yours! They wouldn't have survived!" Celestia cried out, "That isn't justice! That's murder!"
"And what do you think they were being judged for? You must be the most naive soul in existence if you think your ponies are sinless, pure beings. No such creatures exist in the world, not even in your self-made paradise."
The giant minotaur, seemingly clad in heavy plates of thick green-painted steel, reached behind his back and detached the strange rocket that had allowed him to fly, a handle connecting and extending until the minotaur was holding an equally huge hammer, "Now shut up and die."
Celestia sucked in a painful breath, suppressing a wince from the way several of her ribs groaned in protest, before gathering her energy. The Elements of Harmony had been unusable ever since Luna was banished, but the imprisonment spell was still viable.
Preparing the spell, she watched the ruler of Black Horn charge with a roar and a billowing cloud of steam from the grille on his glowering face-mask. Celestia never believed the rumors that Big Bull was made entirely out of steel, that he was some reincarnation of an ancient Minotaur war god.
What she did believe was that unless he was stopped here, his tyranny would continue and more would die in his arena. The citizens of Black Horn were swept up in his cult of personality, when Black Horn was free they would surely realize the horror of what they had allowed.
She could save this city. She had to.
Big Bull, the ruler of Black Horn, landed with hammer in his hands to smash Celestia into the ground through the building they were standing on top of, and as he raised it to swing down, Celestia struck.
Black Horn burned to ash, even though the fight had been won. It would take weeks to rebuild.
Celestia had thought that Black Horn, now the farthest of Equestria's holdings, so far that it now considered a colony of Equestria, would readily accept the rule of Canterlot and Equestria.
When the arena was closed and converted into a market place to encourage trade, Equestrian traders who set up shop in that arena never saw a single soul as the Black Bazaar, the city's own market saw booming trade. Eventually, those same Equestrian traders would return, penniless and destitute while the goods they had been forced to abandon were taken and sold in the Bazaar.
When the Black Horn Enforcers, the officers of Black Horn's laws, refused to enforce Equestrian law, they were replaced by Equestrian Home Guard. Within weeks they were the most overworked and stressed local police force in the world while the retrenched Enforcers simply took up their Beat Sticks and began enforcing Black Horn's original laws, most of them anyway, in the neighborhoods they lived in.
When the nobles who once maintained Black Horn's trusted banks and money-changers were replaced by Equestrian nobles who wanted to run things their way, those same nobles and their families were quickly ensnared by the myriad web of titles, connections, and protocols their predecessors navigated easily with the knowledge of all the loopholes.
And when those Equestrian nobles melted down the giant statue of Big Bull standing in front of his sealed palace in a desperate need for gold, that was the last straw.
The Black Horn Rebellion was one of many historical records expunged on Celestia's order, fearing that any information of dissent, chaos and disharmony could infect her ponies with violent ideas. And so only in the dry and dusty books of Equestria's civil accountants and other offices was the name of Black Horn remembered.
And so the city began its long decay.
Chapter 1: The Bull's Return
The Canterlot Statue Garden...
"Oh, it's such a lovely day for a picnic, here with all of the ponies that deserved immortality in stone, and all of the enemies that one day will break out and wreak havoc again before you six fix the problem in half an hour."
"Half an hour? Really Discord?" Applejack replied dryly, "Last I reckoned, it took us near on a week to defeat Tirek and that was even with your li'l change o' heart."
Discord clutched his chest like an arrow had gone through it, before looking down and seeing that were was one actually stuck in there, "It's official, your words are really like an arrow to my heart." Pulling out the arrow and unscrewing the top he began sucking out the sugar.
After a few minutes, he tossed the stick away, "So, what's so special about this picnic that we're having it here. I mean, for one thing I can actually hear their thoughts." Waving at the various statues, some more overgrown than others with vines, Discord shivered, "They are...not happy beings."
Flying above, Rainbow Dash snorted, "Yeah, sure, and ponies really do get exiled to Black Horn."
"Actually Rainbow Dash," Rarity spoke up from underneath her sun hat, "It is a punishment under Equestrian Law to be exiled to that awful city. Apparently it was chosen as an alternative to the punishment of execution" She glanced at the various statues, "So if that is true, then perhaps Discord is telling some truth about some of these statues."
Applejack grimaced, trying not to think about that before looking towards the head of the group, "So Twilight, what did Princess Celestia say about having this picnic here?" At the head of their small group, a purple alicorn turned her head back as she navigated the path.
"Well, her letter said that she wanted to talk to me about an important decision she was planning on making, but didn't really provide any details on what that decision was. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's important and a picnic in the sun is always nice."
There were murmurs of agreement before Applejack grimaced, "Just a shame Pinkie and Fluttershy are both sick with the flu, they probably would've jumped at the chance for this. Well, Pinkie might jump at it, dunno about Fluttershy."
"Ah, she probably woulda just wanted to see the animals here again." Rainbow remarked, "Still, kinda a wierd place to have a picnic, what with all these freaky statues." She rose higher in the air and surveyed the various statues of ponies, griffons, minotaurs, and other, stranger forms along with statue bases that were empty or only occupied by rubble.
Dropping height again to catch up, Rainbow shook her head, "Kinda gives me the creeps a little."
"Oh Rainbow, I'm sure that's just your imagination." Twilight replied with an easy smile, "Ah, there's Princess Celestia!" Sure enough, Celestia was standing near a statue staring up at it, "Princess Celestia! We're here!"
Turning, the Sun Alicorn smiled warmly at the approaching mares, "Hello my little ponies, I hope the trip wasn't too long for you?" Looking over the group, Celestia frowned in confusion, "Where are Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie?"
Twilight coughed, "Ah, well, they came down with the flu that's been making it's way across Equestria, so we had to leave them behind. I hope that's all right."
Celestia smiled, "That's entirely fine, I was merely curious. Although having their input would have been useful for solving my problem." She turned back to the statue, "Do any of you recognize this minotaur?"
Looking up at the huge hulk of a bipedal bovine, one by one the ponies shook their heads, except for Twilight Sparkle as she dredged her encyclopedic memory and came upon on fragment of trivia, "This is Big Bull, isn't it? The minotaur that destroyed the fledgling colony of Black Horn and made it his private kingdom until Equestria took it back, only for him to curse the city with ruin."
"That is...partially correct, Twilight." Celestia admitted and Twilight's eyes widened at being told she wasn't fully correct., "I had that particular piece of history revised. The truth is-"
"You were the one who destroyed Black Horn, which he built, and then rebuilt it as an Equestrian colony. You even modified the two-tier construction to supposedly make the upper level more open." Discord interrupted, expression now actually serious, "All that did was make it easier for the rebels to burn down everything up there, hang most of the nobles, drive out the others, and then simply vanish."
"I know." Celestia replied somberly before looking at the gathered ponies, "This is Big Bull, legendary minotaur warrior, and the founder and ruler of the city of Black Horn, the only Minotaur city in existence."
"Wait, the only Minotaur city?" Rarity spoke up, "Then how did they ever live before this Big Bull character came along?"
Celestia smiled, "Minotaurs are actually a nomadic race, who by long tradition in ancient times would make their homes in places that were maze-like in the belief that they would be able to better defend their homes if intruders got lost. But many simply wandered, and while Equestria was being formed, a common raider would be lone Minotaurs wandering in from far-off lands and simply taking what they wanted by virtue of brute strength."
She turned, her smile dimming, "It was a dangerous time, even more so after Luna was banished, and then, four-hundred years ago, Big Bull strode down from the mountains and founded Black Horn."
Rainbow Dash landed on the ground, "So wait a minute, you're saying that Black Horn actually exists? Ponies getting sent there is actually true?"
"Originally, yes, but I have been forced to strike it from Equestria's list of official colonies," Celestia answered before focusing on Rainbow Dash, "I'm surprised that you know about it."
Rainbow smiled and tapped her chest, "Well, I am the official Ponyville weather chief, so I get the flash-mail that reminds everyone not to send any clouds over there because they start acting like Everfree clouds when they get close."
"Yes, Black Horn is beyond Equestria's harmony with nature that allows us to be its stewards." Celestia explained, "So it was a waste of clouds and money to send weather that would go wild within a few hours. Even so, that city thrived, but it thrived under a darkness."
Turning back to the statue of the armoured minotaur, Celestia sighed, "Big Bull ruled his city with a casual and brutal hand. The most common punishment for a crime was to be thrown in to the Bull Pen, a massive arena where you fought for your innocence were declared guilty if you were slain in the arena. I knew I had to take action but the efforts of keeping the peace in Equestria meant that it wasn't until several Equestrians were thrown into the arena that I took action."
She closed her eyes, the memories flowing back, "Black Horn was so in his thrall that they didn't stop fighting until the city had burned to ash. Not even his imprisonment in stone could prevent whatever magic he used to grant him such loyalty."
She sighed, "And I am now considering releasing him so that, like Discord, he might be helped to learn the meaning of friendship and harmony. If successful, I could hand back Black Horn and let him rule there in peace and happiness."
Turning to the gathered mares and spirit, Celestia regarded them with a level gaze, "Which is why I want your opinions. Should I release Big Bull in the hope that he can learn the same lessons as Discord did? Or should I keep him locked in stone."
"It's a bad idea." Discord replied immediately, causing all eyes to turn to him, "You know that as a spirit I can basically 'hear' the ones trapped in the statues, right? Particularly the ones who don't like you, Celestia?"
At Celestia's nod, Discord looked up at the glowering, armoured head, "Well, I'm hearing him loud and clear. If you let him out, you'll never be able to put him back in. My vote is no."
"Discord! That's a terrible thing to say!" Twilight immediately spoke up, "Everyone deserves a chance to learn the value and magic of friendship. I for one think that this is a wonderful opportunity and that we should take, what do you say girls?"
Applejack looked up at the minotaur, "Now, I'm not quite sure that this might be the right thing to do Twi." She started, "I mean, sure we're had a lot of success, but that just means we're also getting set up for a big fall if'n we get too cocky."
Twilight frowned, "But we've face down Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek! We're the Elements of Harmony and I know that our friendship can withstand some angry minotaur. I mean, we helped Iron Will and he's gone on to even greater success!"
"As a rebuttal, Twilight darling, Iron Will was a spokesperson for an originally minotaur-focused motivational routine that found that he needed to change it for a new market." Rarity spoke up, "We can't exactly compare that to blasting three near-godlike entities with what amounts to a giant rainbow."
"Still, I...I think we should do it." Rarity managed to say before an argument started, and although she flinched slightly as all eyes turned to her, she managed to rally herself, "If we release him, help him, then maybe he can help the rest of the minotaurs as well."
"Yeah, and besides, we'll just kick his tail if he gets uppity! After the kind of action we've had, one Minotaur will be a piece of cake!"
"Then it seems we're at an impasse." Celestia noted, "Three to release Big Bull, three against the decision. We need a tie-breaker." There was a long moment of silence as each considered their arguments and reasons.
"I say release him sister." A voice spoke from behind Celestia and the Sun Princess turned to find Luna standing nearby, "The Minotaurs move by night and my Night Court has worked tirelessly to improve our relations with their people. I say release Big Bull, not just to help him learn harmony, but also as a way of making peace with the Minotaurs."
Celestia nodded, "Thank you Luna, and I hope this will help your efforts. Very well, I shall release Big Bull." She motioned with one of her wings, "Remain behind me, there is no telling how he shall react when he is released. Luna, be ready to support me."
As everyone moved to obey Celestia's instructions, her horn glowed with yellow light before a beam briefly struck the statue, before everything was silent.
After several long moments, the first cracks started to appear in the stone, criss-crossing the statue until chunks began falling off to reveal dark-green metal with strange characters on some areas. More and more stone began to fall away until it seemed as though it would be a simple release.
Right before the stone exploded into a cloud of dust, blinding the ponies while Discord covered his eyes with a pair of sunglasses, "Fortunately, I am far too scared to say I told you so."
"You got a right to be scared cabrone! Because I am the Whirlwind Warrior! The Breaker of Mountains! The King of Black Horn! I! AM!"
A dark shape suddenly rocketed out of the dust on a plume of smoke and fire, voice echoing across Canterlot, before vanishing into the distance.
"THE BIG BULL!"
