Chapter 1 - The Beginning
Chapter 1 - A New Beginning
Thousands of wounded equine soldiers entered Canterlot. The majority of them were limping, moaning and suffering from their infected, gaping wounds Sombra’s troops gave to them.
Almost every stallion was covered in cuts, bruises or (those who were lucky) blooddrenched bandages, shading the normally multicolored platoons in a deep red. A huge crowd was standing at the edge of the narrow streets of Canterlot, forming a path for the soldiers.
The citizens looked at the remaining soldiers with shocked looks, many screaming for their sons, fathers or lovers.
The stallions who got away without any fatal injuries were carrying their far more seriously wounded comrades on their backs or pulling the huge carts filled with supplies or dead bodies.
Celestia stood on her balcony far up in Canterlot Castle, sobbing and rubbng her tousled mane. Eventhough she couldn’t really see what was going on down at the gates, she still felt the pain in the gut, when imagining that thousands of her soldiers threw their lifes away for almost nothing.
"Again.....another crushing defeat."
She already stopped counting lost battles for a couple of years now, but every defeat had more and more impact on her. Most of the ponies in the occupied regions usually stopped believing in an equestrian victory, after Equestria biggest ally, Saddle Arabia, was destroyed.
However the confidence to win was still alive in the region of Canterlot and Manehattan. Until today.
Suddenly she heard the sound of clopping hooves along with the rattling of thick steel armor, getting louder with every second that passed. A short knock followed and the stallion entered the room.
“Princess?”
Shining Armor stood behind her back. She turned around at looked at him sadly. Her mane was a complete mess and below her tired eyes, dried tears made her white cheeks shine like a lake in the sunlight.
Her horn was cruelly splintered 4 years ago by Sombra. On Day Zero, as most of the ponies called it, the Crystal Empire appeared with the dark king. The 6 were sent to settle the situation, but were taken prisoner instead. Spike could flee and report the ongoings in the Chrystal Empire. The princesses took off to help the 6 mares with a backup of 21.000 guards.
After a hard fight, Luna lost her ability to fly and Celestia the ability to do magic. The elements were lost to Sombra, but the 6 could be freed. The army in the meanwhile was simply erased by Sombra's hordes and the ponies had to retreat. That's how Sombra's invasion started from the north and spread from the Griffin Kingdom down to Saddle Arabia.
Since this day she became a mental wreck.
“I think you’ve already noticed. Our troops just arrived from the Battle of Trottingham. We counted 16.731 survivors out of 200.000 soldiers. Most of them aren’t going to be fully recovered for the next weeks. General Smaragd died during the battle. He was hit by a crossbow. We estimate that around 60.000 of our soldiers were taken as prisoner and will be put in camps. Trottingham has fallen.” Explained Shining in a shaken tone.
This information obviously didn't help Celestia's, but instead breaking out in tears again, she sighed, exhausted of feeling pity for her and her citizens.
“Why don’t we accept it? Equestria is lost!” Celestia exclaimed.
“Don’t say such things, princess!” Shot Shining back.
“You are probably right Shining, but look at us! We’ve carried out this war long enough! And the only thing we have accomplished is…nothing! He simply outnumbers us the next time after a victory! Goddamnit, he conquered all of Equestria in less than 4 years!”
Anger boiled up in Shining, begging to be released: “You can't lose your hope right now! Our soldiers are still out there defending Manehattan with everything they have. The leftovers of the 8. Army just came back and civilians are scared to their bones! They need some motivation after this disaster and if they see their princess just crying in a corner, our country will soon be more broken than....y....you!” Ranted Shining in an angry tone.
She remained silent for a moment wiping her newly formed tears away.
“Ugh, fine! If you won’t go out there and talk to my stallions, I will do it. They risked their life and some even lost it for you, your sister, Equestria and it’s citizens and if you stop believing in our victory, you will stop believing in them and that’s nothing a good princess would do to her subjects!” Shining hissed and slammed the big door tp her bedroom shut.
“How can the princess say these things?! We may have lost many battles but not our hope! Stopping to believe in my studs is not better than a betrayal! Though I have to admit that our situation is pretty tough....."
"Ok.....maybe I was a bit harsh to her.” He thought to himself while walking down the castle halls.
The sound of a galopping pony suddenly interrupted his thoughts and looked behind him. It was Silver Plate, Celestia’s personal butler and friend.
“Hey Shining!” He screamed from the distance and continued running towards him.
“Huh? Why such a hurry, Silver?”
“I have important news, is the princess in her bedchambers?! It may change everything!” He asked, nervously trotting at one place. Eventhough he was in his late 50s, he wwas still full of energy.
“Yes, she always is at this time, what news are you talking about?" He asked with a look of curiosity.
“The mirror we’ve been studying for decades is glowing right now! It seems that we have discovered a new world!”
Shinings eyes widened in surprise and amazement.
“If the things our scientists said about parallel universes are true, then we might find sentient life and a new ally! This really are some great news! Plan unthinkable became thinkable! If we are lucky, they will support us! These are really some great news!” He thought to himself.
“Come on, Captain! We have to find the princess, Luna is already down at the Observatory!”
They galoped off to Celestia’s bedchambers. Without knocking, Silver Plate opened the door forcefully and galloped inside.
“Princess! Princess!” Silver Plate screamed.
“What is it, Silver Plate?” She said surprised hiding signs of sadness and black despair in her face.
“Mirror! Glowing! Important! Change!” He exclaimed between deep inhales.
“What he is trying to say princess, is that plan unthinkable became plan ‘most likely’.” Explained Shining with neutral expression.
Her pink eyes started to shine with happiness and every sorrow she felt was gone.
“Quick! Let’s get to the Observatory!” She insisted and the 3 ponies took off.
The 3 ponies galloped as fast as they could to the Canterlot Observatory. When they arrived a grey unicorn mare with glasses was already waiting for them with a clipboard in her hooves.
“Aaah Princess, Captain, Silver Plate, finally you're here! My father, Dr. Black Matter and Luna are already waiting for you inside, we have done huge discoveries, you know.”
“Thank you miss Farwood.” Thanked Celestia the light grey unicorn and opened the door to the Observatorium.
On the other side of the room was the famous pegasus scientist Black Matter. He had a grey coat with a slight tone of brown and deep black, long, spiky and tousled mane, probably not taken care of for weeks.
The strong pungent smell of coffee and sweat was strong in the air, when they approached. He was always considered a very hard working stallion, especially in the last four years.
Despite his pegasus heritage, he mostly became famous because of his studies about unicorn magic, the cosmic sky and the magical mirror. He also was the first Pegasus who became a honorary student of Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns where he worked at for around 20 years and graduated at Las Pegasus university. He will be turning fifty in 2 weeks.
Black Matter didn’t move. Only his ears began to twitch as the 3 approached. He focused on the pink fume in front of him, holding a thin rope in his hooves which lead straight into the mirror below the fume.
“I can’t believe it! It is actually working.” Whispered Celestia to herself which finally caught the scientist’s attention.
“Ah Princess!” - He shrieked, tumbling backwards and falling on his rump - “.....I mean…great that you are here, Princess! It’s proven! It’s a portal to another world!” He quickly exclaimed
She took another observing look at the mirror.
“Damnit! I lost the rope!” Exclaimed the scientist searching for the rope and after a couple of minutes her doughter interrupted his search by putting the lost rope in the scientist’s hooves.
“There is indeed a strange energy coming out of it.” Said Celestia. Eventhough her horn was destroyed, she could still sense magic and where it’s coming from.
“Actually it’s because there’s no energy at all coming from the portal. Unlike our world, this place seems to be completely out of magic as we know.
“Strange thing.” Said Luna, while coming out of her corner, interrupting the talk between her guards who followed her immediatly.
One of the guards was a strong built, snow white earthpony stallion while the other one was a unicorn mare with a coat which looked like a glass of milk with coffee. Frost Branch and Xilia were their name.
The stallion already had a lot of combat experience. The mare on the other hand was a well respected guard because of her unusual intelligence and agility.
She also was an experienced fighter in the war, which is one of the few exceptions, because the guard usually chooses the physically stronger and larger built stallions. But due to the decrease of the male population, because of the war, many females were lately also welcome in the military.
The scientist pulled a while on the rope with a strained look and a heavy rock, covered in dirt, grass and water out if the mirror.
“Here! It’s proven again!” Exclaimed the scientist in awe and checked over the rock with his hooves, scratching away some dirt.
“Farwood, darling! Could you please help your old father a bit and analyze this rock with your magic!”
“Yes dad.” She said in an slightly annoyed tone, trotting over to her father and checking over the rock with her magic.
Some time passed, as the scientist’s daughter checked over the rock, while doing some notes on her clipboard.
“And?” Begann the Frost, breaking the silence after a while.
“I told you that I don’t want to date you.” Deadpanned Farwood in a neutral tone.
“I mean the rock.” Hissed Frost shooting her a cold glare.
“It’s a rock from our world, covered in mud and some grass from the other world…again.”
“Ugh! I can’t take it anymore!”, Screamed Luna highly bugged, “You’ve been throwing rocks in and pulling them out for about half an hour! Sombra will be standing at the front door, if we continue like this! We may never find allies in the other world if we are just throwing rocks in!”
“So, dear sister, what would you suggest?” Asked Celestia in a worried tone.
“Duh! Go the hell in there and ask the friendly aliens!”
Silence hit the Observatory and everyone, even her guards stared at her with surprised looks.
“Impossible!” Denied the scientists.
“Why?! The dirt and the grass look exactly the same as here in Equestria so it seems that our worlds aren’t that different! I mean you even said that parallel universes are very similar!”
“But the aliens! We don’t know if they’re friendly!” The scientist shot back.
“'Not friendly' my blue, royal flank! Look outside! Doesn’t seem to me that we have a better chance right now!” She shot back.
Silence overcame again in the Observatory.
“Ugh! Fine I’ll do it.” And just after she finished her sentence she jumped straight into the portal in the new world.
“Wait!” screamed the scientist, but it was to late.
“Princess wait for me!” Screamed Xilia and jumped into the portal, also disappearing from the known world.
Shocked faces were looking at the mirror, while Frost trotted around nervously. He was trembling in fear, torn back and forth of whether or not entering the portal.
“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! What should I do!” - He said, looking at the portal for a brief second and sat down to calm himself.
“Screw it! I'll jump in there!” Decided Frost confident.
“Wait!”, Screamed the scientist, “take this with you and give it to the princess you 3 may need it in order to make your way back! It’s a piece of an ancient rune of which the mirror is made of!" The scientist quickly flung the amulett over his neck and gave him an assuring tap on the shoulder.
"Now go in there!” Frost nodded at this and followed his companions.
“Luna!” Cried Celestia out and ran towards the portal.
"Celestia, stop!" Screamed the scientists simultaneously and tried to hold the princess back.
“Let me go! I have to…”
*whack*
Everything went silent and the ponies stared at Shining Armor.
Cestia now sat quietly on her rump while rubbing the hit area on the back of her head.
“Sorry that I had to slap some sense into your brain!” - Spat Shining Armor shooting an intimidating glare at her - “I know it was hard for you losing your sister for thousands of years! I know it’s hard to lose your ability to do magic! But what the fuck do you think you are!? You are the ruler of Equestria! As I said some minutes ago, your folk believes in you and leaving now will result in riots all over the leftovers of Equestria! You know very well that your sister can take things on her own! Apart from that you're not in the right mental and physical capability right now to go in there on such a mission! You would just get in their way and slowing them down, because you’ve become a wreck of emotions during the war! Your place is here, watching over your subjects and giving them hope! So stand the fuck up, go out there and tell to your ponies what just happened!" Shining yelled at her.
"Princess..." - He said in a much calmer, more like a pleading tone - "My daughter is 3 by now and I don’t want her to be raised under the rule of Sombra and neither of a broken princess so settle and go out there.”
He snorted a couple of times in anger, before trotting out of the Observatory.
