It all started on a day that was like any other. My brother, Sub Zero and I had made our weekly trek into the Monocerus capitol city Malvilea, to purchase the groceries. Malvilea was a grand place, a city built on a mountain. It started at the base and wound its way up almost to the top.
We had just made our final purchase and were preparing to return home, when the large crowd that always filled the marketplace of Malvilea parted, clearing a path down the middle of the bazaar.
Zero and I were at the back of the crowd, and kept getting pushed into nearby stalls. When the shifting of ponies had ceased, I watched as a group of carriages, each pulled by a pair of earth ponies, rode passed. Once they were clear of us, the group of unicorns closed the gap, and resumed their business as if nothing had happened.
“Did you see that?” I asked Zero.
“Yes. What of it?” He replied in the cold tone that he always spoke with.
“‘What of it?’ It’s not every day that a group of Gaia ponies marches through the marketplace.”
“Yes, but it’s not like it’s a once in a lifetime occurrence either Nova. You know very well that a caravan of ponies from the Gaia tribe visit Malvilea every full moon to drop of food and other goods.”
“I know, but we’ve never been here when they did so.”
Zero just sighed. He’d never understood my fascination with the outside world, he was always content with the world he was born into, but he never belittled me for it. He may have been a little cold toward others, but he was a good pony at heart.
Once we’d packed up all of our goods we began to make our way home, to a little farm just outside the city. As we walked along the path to our home, Malvilea behind us, I couldn’t help but stare at the horizon. “You ever wonder what’s out there?” I said.
“Out where?”
“There.” I lifted a hoof and pointed toward the horizon. “Beyond the mountains. You ever think about what might lie beyond them?”
“Not really. I mean, I’m sure that many interesting things lie beyond the horizon, but I don’t think that they are things that we should worry about.”
“But don’t you want to see whatever is out there? Wouldn’t you like to see the wonders of the world?”
“I don’t know. Seeing the world is something that I have never really thought about. You have always been the one who was intrigued by the world beyond the farm. Me, I’m content with just knowing that the Gaia are beyond the mountains and that the Thestrals are above the cloud. Anything else is just….” he drifted into silence.
“I think we should go and see whatever is out there.” I proclaimed.
“What?”
“We should journey passed the mountains and see what wonders the world has to offer.”
“You cannot be serious Nova. We can’t just go off on an adventure beyond the horizon.”
“Why not? We’ll be of age soon, then we’ll be able to do whatever we want with our lives.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to go and travel the world. You know what I want to do.” he looked down at his Mark. It was white against his light blue coat. Zero’s Mark was a beautifully intricate snowflake. A representation of his eye for detail, along with his incredible ability to control ice and snow. Zero looked up at me and caught my eye. His dark blue eyes matched the color of his mane. “I’m sorry Nova, but if you want to see the world, you must do it on your own.” With that he marched ahead of me.
I felt bad. I knew Zero had dreams of his own, he wanted to use his powers to help the tribe work through the hard winters that we often had. But, whenever I dream of leaving the farm and traveling the world, Zero is always with me. I feel as though he must be there, otherwise it just wouldn’t be the same. But I understood and respected his wishes.
I suddenly found myself looking at my own Mark. It was a white flare with flames dancing around it. A representation of my immense power over fire. Fire was my destiny, and fire is forever moving. Ice was Zero’s destiny, and ice was stagnant.
But then again, even glaciers move.
Back at the farm we sorted the groceries and proceeded on with our daily chores, Zero acted as if the conversion that we’d had never happened, but I could tell that it haunted his thoughts. Benefits of having a twin, you can always tell when something is bothering them. I let Zero brood. It would do me no good to push the matter, he would open up when he was ready, he always did.
We worked together in silence. The farm where we and our parents lived and worked was an apple orchard. It was small, after all, unicorns weren't made for farming, but it was sufficient. The size didn’t matter much to us anyway, we got most of the goods we needed from the markets in Malvilea.
Money was easy enough to come by. We sold some of the apples that we grew at the market. But most of our income came from trading with the ponies of the Gaia tribe. Our father was an expert in alchemy, specifically fertility potions. A few drops of one of his concoctions and the land would become fertile enough to grow any number of crops. Through some friends that he had in the city, he was able to sell his potions to the Earth pony tribe and receive quite the profit.
It was a simple life. But one I was not content with. I had made my decision, in a few weeks time I would be of age and free to leave the confines of the farm, which was exactly what I planned to do. My only reserve was that I would have to leave behind Sub Zero. For my entire life he’s been there, not only my brother, but my best friend. Plus he was an expert at keeping me out of trouble, my curious nature had landed me in bad situations more than a few times.
I didn’t know what I would do without him, but he was just as much of an adult as I was, and he was free to make his own decisions. If he wanted to stay on the farm, then that was his choice.
“Zero! Nova!” Our mother called. “Come on, it’s time to eat!”
“Coming mother!” I called back. “Come on let’s go.” I said to Zero and together we walked back to our home.
We lived in an average house. Our mother built it using magic. She was an amazing architect, but enjoyed the simple life. She’d grown up on a farm similar to this one, it was out by the village Mavus, a Monocerus settlement to the west of Malvilea. She met our father when she came to the city after her coming of age. Using one of fathers potions to make the soil fertile, they built the orchard that we lived on.
Mother gave us our food as we entered the house. “Eat fast, there is still work to be done before the sun sets.” she told us.
“Yes mother.” We both said. We sat down and ate our food swiftly. We knew there was still a lot of work to be done, and if it didn’t get done then they would fall behind and not be prepared for the coming harvest.
Once we were finished eating, Zero and I returned to the fields to resume our chores. It was nearly sundown by the time that we finished. But when the final chore was said and done I looked at Zero and held my hoof out for him to bump. He did so with a grin, we always took great pride and pleasure in a hard day's work. But Zero’s grin quickly faded into a frown. “Nova?” he said.
“Zero?”
“I wanted to apologize for earlier. I know how much it means to you to one day go out and see the world. And I want you to know that if you decide that you want to leave and travel the land, then I will gladly join you.”
“Zero, you don’t have to, I know that it’s your dream to help the farm prosper, I couldn’t ask you to give that up. Not for me.”
“Please Nova. As much as I do want to help the farm, I want to help you more. You are my brother, and I belong by your side more than I belong here.”
Tears filled my eyes, and before I could stop myself I had thrown myself at Zero in an embrace. “Thank you brother. You don’t know how much this means to me. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t by my side.”
“Neither would I without you.” he returned my embrace for an instant, then ended it. “Now, let us return to the house. I need rest. And for the time being we still have the farm to tend to.”
“Aye. And now we have to find a time to tell mother and father of our decision.”
“Aye. That we must.”
The next morning Zero and I awoke before our parents. It was our turn to cook breakfast, so we did just that. We took our time cooking, wanting to make an exquisite breakfast, for we had decided that this was the morning that we would discuss with our parents our decision to leave the farm once we were of age.
Mother and father awoke only moments after Zero and I had finished preparing the mornings meal. We gave the pair their meals then went to fetch our own. When we return to the dining area, we began. “So, mother, father. Zero and I have something that we wish to speak to you about.”
“And what might that be?” Father said as cold and straightforward as Zero would have.
“Well,” I began. “As you well know, Zero and I will be coming of age in a few weeks, and we’ve made a decision.”
“What kind of decision?” Mother asked, with curiosity in her voice.
I shared a quick look with my twin brother, took a deep breath and said “We’ve decided that we want to leave the farm. Explore the world and see the wonders that it has to offer.”
They sat silent for a moment, stoic expressions on their faces. “You want to leave?” Our father said.
“Yes.” I replied.
“And you too Zero?”
He didn’t reply immediately. To explore the world wasn’t his dream, but he had made the decision to go. “I want to be with my brother.” he simply said.
Silence followed. I was unsure as to how they would react. I was afraid that they would be furious and say that if we left we could never return. But then Mother sighed. “We knew this day would come.” she said. “You’ve always been fascinated by the outside world dear Supernova. And you, Sub Zero, always by your brothers side.” tears filled her eyes, whether they were of sorrow or pride I could not tell.
“We will respect you decisions.” Father said. “If you wish to leave, you have our blessings, and you will be welcome home anytime you decided to return.”
Joy filled my entire body. “Thank you. Thank you both so much.”
“Just promise me one thing.” Mother said.
“Anything.”
“Please be careful. The world is a dangerous place”
“Don’t worry Mother.” Zero said. “I’ll make sure of that.”
“Thank you.” With that the morning discussion ended, and father sent us out to do our chores. “You are not of age yet.” he said. The rest of the day went by without a hitch. Zero and I blew through our chores and were back in the house with time to spare.
Excitement filled my being with every passing moment, for it was one moment closer to the day of out departure.
We waited until after the harvest to leave, after all I was only just after our coming of age, we agreed it would have been rude to leave Mother and Father with all the work that the harvest brought.
In the weeks leading up to our departure, Zero and I were in and almost constant state of preparation. We made sure to set aside plenty of food and gems every week. We’d bought new saddle bags to replace the old, beaten up ones that we already had. And we helped our parents find good ponies to hire as help around the farm.
When the day finally came for us to leave, we were ready.
The four of us stood together on the end of the path that led to our home, doing one final check to make sure that we had everything we needed. Food, water, money. Everything was in order.
“Now remember. Stay on this road, do you have the map I gave you?
“Yes Father.” I told him.
“Good. This road will take you directly to the village of Mavus. That’s a good place to start. The world is a dangerous place for anyone. Many beasts roam around, you two are lucky, your powers over Ice and Fire will be great assets if ever you need to defend yourself.”
Zero and I shared a look. This was something that we had thought about many times over the past few weeks, and we had done a lot of practicing to be prepared for any situation that may become dangerous.
“Oh, do be careful you two.” Mother said. “And don’t go picking any fights with any monsters, do you hear me Supernova.
“Mother, I would never.”
“You would and you know it. Do keep him safe dear Zero.”
“Yes Mother.”
Tears began to fill her eyes, but she quickly forced them back. “OK. Off you go you two, before I change my mind and make you stay.”
I looked over at Zero. “You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then let’s get moving.” I turned back to face our parents. “Farewell Mother, Father.”
“Farewell my sons. Be safe.” Father said.
And together, Zero and I began our trek down the path to the village of Mavus. Away from our home and into the arms of adventure.
Author's Note
I hope you guys like the story so far, cause it's going to be a long one, after all, Equestria's a big place.
The road to Mavus was long. Days had passed, and still we were a long way away. Woods surrounded the path that we followed. I urged Zero to stray, only slightly, from the path to Mavus, but he refused. “Mavus is our destination.” he had said. “And I will not let you sidetrack us.”
“But don’t you want to see what’s in there? I mean just listen.” we stood silently for a moment, listening to the sounds that came from beyond the trees. “Just imagine what kind of mystical creatures lie beyond this border.”
“Or what kind of monstrous beasts lie in wait.” I just sighed. Zero had a valid point, but I couldn’t not explore at least a bit of the surrounding area on the way to Mavus. But I had to wait. That night, after I was sure Zero had fallen asleep, I slipped into the forest.
I was dark, so I had to light my horn aglow with magic. It was an eerie scene. Beyond the glow of my horn was a void of darkness, but I wasn’t frightened, merely fascinated. What could lie behind the black veil of shadow?
Every so often a bush nearby would shake as something raced by, which put me on edge. But the hooting of the unseen owls combated my nerves and helped me to stay calm.
Fireflies buzzed around me after awhile, adding ever so slightly to the light that I created. At one point a large cluster of them appeared, captivating my attention as they swirled around me to create a beautiful scene.
As time went on more and more of them appeared, until there were so many that I extinguished the light of my horn, for it had become unnecessary. It wasn’t long after that that I stumbled beyond the trees and into a small clearing, with a pond.
Fireflies filled the air of the clearing. The light that they made danced across the pond, creating an indescribable radiance. I was in complete and utter awe. “Great god Manora.” was all I could say. That clearing was something that I though existed only in dreams. It was everything I hoped to find in the world beyond the farm, but had never expected to.
Excitement filled my body. When Zero sees this, he won’t dismiss my pleas so quickly anymore. I thought to myself. I was about to turn around and return to Zero, when I was captivated by the beauty of the clear once again.
Though it didn’t last long.
A loud growl immediately caught my attention. I turned to see a large beast stalking toward me. I appeared to be a wolf, made out of trees.
Its sudden appearance caught me off guard, and I panicked. Stumbling backwards, I found myself at the edge of the pond. Though I knew how to swim, I was not eager to jump into the water. I doubted that would stop the wolf anyway. Seeing no other option, I prepared to cast a spell.
Though before I got the chance, the wolf suddenly stopped its advancement toward me. A look of confusion came across its face. I witnessed as frost began to form on its limbs. It spread and grew until it was completely frozen.
Then, it shattered. Revealing that Zero was standing behind it.
A scowl immediately came across my face. “I had that under control.” I said.
“Of course you did.” he replied sarcastically. “Come on, we need to get back to camp.”
“Wait. Don’t you want to see all this?”
“No.” he said scornfully. “You shouldn’t have left camp. It was reckless and you almost got killed.”
“I did not! I had that situation perfectly under control. And besides, what else was I supposed to do. You were so dead set on marching straight to Mavus that you forgot that we left home to explore. If seeing Mavus was all that I was interested in then I would’ve waited until Father needed to make another trip there for potion supplies. There’s more to the world than just the cities and villages on our map, and I intend to see as much of it as I can.”
Zero stared at me, silent. Then he sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that I keep thinking about what Mother said. You’ve always had a knack for finding trouble Nova, what just happened is evidence of that. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
That time, I sighed. He was right. For our whole lives, I was the one always getting into trouble. And Zero was always pulling me out of the fire. “Look. I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have left camp like that. But look around.” I gestured to the scene around us. “It’s places like this that we set out to find. Can you not see the beauty that exists here?”
Zero looked around and took in the scene around him. The look on his face was one of pure astonishment. “This is amazing.” he admitted. “I didn’t think a place like this existed outside of pony tales.”
“And just imagine how many more places like this there are.”
Zero didn’t say anything for a moment, taking in the unbelievable beauty of the clearing. “How about this,” he began. “we start to take a few detours on our way to Mavus, and you don’t go sneaking of in the middle of the night anymore. Sound fair?”
“Sounds fair.” I wrapped a foreleg around my brother and embraced him.
“This place truly is beautiful.” he told me. “Plus, it’s the perfect place to fill up on water.”
“Aye. But I think that can wait until morning. For now, let’s just return to camp. After what happened with that strange beast, I could use some sleep. What was that anyway?”
“I am not sure, but it appeared to be made out of timber.”
“That it did.”
The next few days went by pleasantly fast. We took multiple detours on our way to the village of Mavus, but found no more clearings like the one from before. Though we did have to deal with a few more of those Timberwolves.
It was the end of the fourth day that the village came into view. “Is that Mavus?” I asked.
“I do believe so. Come on, let's make camp.”
“Camp? But we’re so close. Why not finish the trek and spend the night in town?”
“Because, we need to spend the money that we have sparingly. By spending the night here we save a night's worth of gems. Gems that we can use to buy supplies.”
I couldn’t argue with the point that my brother made. We didn’t have a large wealth to spend. We would have to give up more than a few luxuries in our travels. After we set up camp the two of us immediately decided to lay down and rest. We’d had a long day of marching, our hooves were tired and we needed sleep.
We both woke up at the same time in the morning, disturbed by something that neither of us realized. We rose to break camp without a word. The silence around us was eerie, but not yet apparent to our drowsy senses.
But, after we’d broken down our small hut was when I noticed “Why is it so quiet?” Zero didn’t even get a chance to reply before six armed ponies jumped out of the trees surrounding us. Zero and I automatically assumed a back to back position and assessed the situation.
We were surrounded. Six ponies, some unicorns, some Earth ponies. All of them had some form of weapon or another, and they all wore thick protective clothing.
“Now this doesn’t have to get bloody.” one of them said. He was a gray unicorn with a black, slicked back mane. And he had a spear pointed directly at my face. “Just give us whatever gold and supplies that you have, and we’ll be on our way.”
What should we do? I thought.
Give me a moment. Zero’s voice replied in my head. Zero and I had been born with a telepathic link, a common occurrence among twin unicorns, though twins themselves were rare, so few ponies had such bonds. It was the perfect thing to have in a situation like this however. Be ready to grab our saddle bags.
OK. I quickly glanced over to where our saddle bags sat. Thankfully they were side by side.
“Well?” The gray unicorn said “What’ll it be?” Just then I felt Zero shift behind me. He’d swiftly stomped his forehooves against the earth and cast a spell. In an instant a field of ice appeared around us. The bandits, taken completely by surprise, all began to slip and slide across the frozen earth.
Immediately I ran toward our saddle bags, picked them up with my teeth, and began fleeing toward Mavus, with Zero following closely behind. We ran as fast our legs could carry us, hoping to put a large distance between us and the thieves before they could recover.
After awhile we noticed that they weren’t chasing us. We counted it as a blessing, but continued running until we were positive that they’d not made to chase us.
Both of us were breathing heavily when we stopped running. Even though we’d grown up on a farm, neither of us were used to long sprints like that. “Bandits.” I said once I’d caught my breath. “Exiled Gaia and Monocerus by the looks of them.”
“Diaspora.” Was all Zero could say. The Diaspora were the ponies that had be exiled from they’re tribes. Most were traitors who committed some sort of act of treason. You wouldn’t find a bandit anywhere in the land that wasn’t a Diaspora from one tribe or another.
“Come on.” I said. “Our little sprint got us a lot closer to Mavus then we thought we’d be. We should be able to make it there before the sun reaches its zenith.”
“Aye. Let’s go.” and with that we walked on to Mavus.
The village was larger than I had expected, nowhere near as big as Malvilea was, but by no means small. Cottages were the first thing we past when we entered. Farther in we began to see stalls with vendors working them, the marketplace.
We made a quick stop there to stock up on food and water, we still had plenty left over from when we started, but Zero believed in complete preparedness. Also we needed to by a new tent since we had to leave our last one with the Diaspora.
From there one of the stall vendors kindly pointed us in the direction of the closest inn. It was in the center of the village, and from there you would never know that the place was surrounded by trees.
The inn was beautiful. Made out of wood, like most of our buildings were, either that or stone. The craftsmanship was amazing. Elegant designs ran up the support beams and across the ceiling. Zero, however, was unaffected by the buildings pure beauty.
That was something that my brother and I never really saw eye to eye on. Art.
Zero could never understand my fascination with such things, for instance, there was this exquisite statue of Manora in the center of Malvilea. I could just sit there for hours staring at it. Admiring its beauty, noting every perfect imperfection that it had. Zero on the other hand, was content to just glance over it and continue on with his day. It was ironic when you think about it. A pony with his ability to control ice could make amazing sculptures if he oh so desired.
Art was another reason that I wanted to travel. I longed to see what manner of art the other tribes had created. What could the magicless Gaia ponies create with only their hooves. And what sort of creations did the Thestrals up above the clouds have. Alas I doubted that I would ever get the chance to see any of the latter. I had never even seen one of the winged ponies, neither of us had.
But there was always hope. There were all manner of spells that a pony of our race could learn, perhaps there was one that would allow us to march above the clouds and explore the world of the Thestrals.
But that was a worry for another time. While I was admiring the woodwork, Zero arranged for us to have a room in which to spend the night. “Nova!” he called, drawing my attention from the beautiful scenery of the inn. “Come on. We have things we need to plan.”
I groaned, hating having to walk away from the extremely well made carvings within the wood. But Zero was right, we had agreed that once we arrived in Mavus we would discuss the next leg of our journey.
I followed Zero up to the room that he had acquired for the night. There were two beds, and we both laid our saddle bags at the foot of the one we claimed. Immediately, Zero pulled the map that Father had given us from inside his bag, and laid it our across the floor.
“OK.” He began. “We started here.” He pointed a hoof at Malvilea on the map. “And we made the trek along the path to here.” he dragged his hoof across the map and stopped when he reached Mavus. “From here we have two directions to choose from. We could go north to the village of Artemis, in Cytgord territory. Or we could move south and visit the Gaia capitol of Terrus.” he took a moment to look up from the map and face me. I was staring intently at the map, and only just noticed his moment in time to catch his eye before he spoke. “This is your journey, you decide our next move.”
I was astonished for a moment, not having expected being giving the responsibility of choosing our course. “Are you sure brother? You chose this journey as much as I did.”
“I follow you brother, wherever you may lead us.” I was surprised by his response, but happy that my brother had so much faith in me to not lead us into danger.
I took a moment, weighing my options. Go north to the Cytgord village of Artemis? The Cytgord, they were a tribe mysterious to me. I knew next to nothing about them, but that made them all the more intriguing. After all the whole purpose of this journey was to learn about and discover the mysteries of the world. Was going north the best course option?
If I went south, we would arrive at Terrus, the capitol city of the Gaia tribe. The Gaia were familiar to me, I’d learned much about them over the years from my father, and had traded with a few of them in the markets of Malvilea, when one happened to be there. Would it be smarter to go south? Start with a group that I was more familiar with?
The decision was tough, but in the end it was made.
“We go south, to Terrus. It’ll be easier if we start ourselves of with a tribe we are, at least slightly familiar with. We’ve had dealings with Gaia ponies before, we know how to handle ourselves with them. We know next to nothing about the Cytgord, we don’t know there customs and may end up offending them, or worse breaking one of their laws.”
“A well made decision brother. I could not have said it better myself. And now that I think about it, it may be a good idea to ask around, and see if the Mavus ponies know anything about the Cytgord tribe. And see if we can learn anything about the other tribes, such as the Armonia.”
“I agree. Do you think you could ask around the inn? I was hoping to go for a trot, explore the village a bit.”
Zero chuckled at my query. “Of course, Nova. You go explore. I will stay and find anything and everything that there is to on the other tribes.”
“Thank you Zero.” I said gripping my saddle bag in my magic and putting it on my back, just in case. “I will return before dusk, I promise.” And I left.
There wasn’t much to Mavus. It had a few interesting landmarks, one of which was an amazing church of Manora. It was small, but most of the churches were. The outer shell of the building was beautiful, it was made of stone, as all of our houses of worship were, and there were many carvings that went up and across the side of the building. I was so enraptured by the beauty of the outside, that I couldn’t resist the urge to go inside.
The interior had more room than I had expected. A lot of the churches in Malvilea were cramped, and usually filled with ponies praying to Manora for good fortune. Further within I discovered a large statue. It was a simple six pointed star that stood in the center of the room.
The alter.
It was common belief that the Mark of Manora was a six pointed star, such as the one represented in the church. The star is supposed to represent a burst of pure magic, because Manora was a god of great magical power.
The Monocerus worship Manora as the one true god. We believed that she created the Earth along with everything on it. We also believed that the great goddess blessed the unicorn race with magic when we showed a higher understanding of the earth’s properties than the other pony races.
I approached the alter in awe. The church I stood in was much more beautiful than any that could be found in the capitol city. Carvings along the ceiling and walls depicted the myths surrounding Manora.
Her creation of the earth was carved into one wall, and her creation of ponies was on another. Carved onto the ceiling was Manora blessing the unicorn race with the gift of magic. It was an amazing sight to behold.
The alter was just as astonishing. Carvings of spells ran up it, upon studying I saw that the spells were designed to protect the alter from any form of erosion. I took a step back from the alter and basked in it glory.
Then I prepared to cast a spell. It was common practice to cast a spell before an alter, in hopes of impressing the great goddess and being blessed with good fortune. It took only a moment for me to cast the spell, it was one of my favorites and I had practices it a lot.
A fireball floated before me. The flame dances around in the air, creating a folly of lights that illuminated the entire room in a way even I hadn’t expected. Shadows were dancing around the room, in sync with the flame. They moved across the carvings in such a way that the stories on the walls appeared to come alive and tell themselves.
Unfortunately, it only lasted a moment. The fire require a certain amount of focus to maintain, a focus I lost when the room came alive the way that it did. I was about to cast the spell again, when I was interrupted.
“That was spectacular.” a voice said. I quick look to my left reveled a dark blue unicorn wearing the robes of a priest had joined me. “I have seen many ponies cast many spells in my time here, but nothing compares to that.”
“Thank you.” I said.
“Tell me, what is your name?” the mare asked.
“Supernova,” I told her. “But you can call me Nova. What is your name?”
“I am Blessed Church, high priestess to this house of worship. And I must tell you, Nova, that the goddess Manora must have great things planned for you. In all my years as a priestess I have never seen anything as amazing as what I just saw a few moments ago.”
“Well, thank you. But I didn’t do much, just a simple fire spell.”
“That makes it all the more impressive, my little pony. Believe me when I say, you are destined for great things.”
I left the church shortly after my encounter with the pony priestess. The rest of the large village didn’t offer much else, and dusk was fast approaching, so I made my way back to the inn. Upon returning, I immediately notice Zero was sitting at a table with a pony I didn’t recognize.
It was a stallion, an earth pony with a gray-blue coat. They appeared to be deep in conversation when Zero noticed that I had returned. “Nova!” he exclaimed. “Come have a seat. Meet my new friend.” I approached the table and sat down next to Zero. “Nova, meet Dusk, of the Cytgord tribe.”
“The Cytgord tribe?” I asked astonished.
“Indeed.” Dusk said. His voice was deep, but calming. “Your brother has told me that you are looking to learn more about my tribe.” he spoke in a relaxed tone.
“Aye.” I told him.
“Well, there is not much to tell. The Cytgord are a fairly simply tribe, we are nocturnal, so we rely on trade with the other tribes to survive.”
“The Cytgord are nocturnal?” Zero asked.
“Aye.”
“What about your beliefs?” I asked. “What sort of gods do you worship?”
“Well, children of the night that the Cytgord are, our god is the great moon that sits in the sky.”
“You worship the moon?’
“Yes, because we know that without it we would not be able to survive in the night as we do.” the Cytgord worshiped the moon. Interesting. I knew that the other tribes had different beliefs, but I hadn’t expected anything as simple as the moon. But then again, the Gaia ponies did worship the earth as a sentient being.
“So, my young Monocerus friends,” Dusk said. “Why do you two have such an interest in the Cytgord tribe?”
“Well,” Zero started. “it is my brother’s dream to explore the world and see everything that it has to offer. We simply want to learn what we can about the other tribes, so that we don’t offend or break the laws of other tribes while we are in there villages or capitols.”
Dusk chuckled at Zero’s explanation. “You won’t have to worry about much of that. I’ve done my fair share of traveling, my job requires much of it. The laws among the five tribes are, for the most part, the same. And as far as anything offensive goes, as long as you don’t insult their beliefs, you shouldn’t have any issues. If you don’t mind my asking, where do the two of you plan on venturing from here.”
Zero and I shared a glance.
Should we tell him? Zero thought.
I don’t see the harm in it. And after all, he did just provide us with quite a bit of information. Zero gave me a nod. I turned back to face Dusk, but before I could say anything, he spoke.
“Why do I feel like I just missed out on part of the conversation?” he said. Zero and I stared at him, astonished. He just laughed. “Oh, you two are quite the treat. Yes, I know about the bond you share, you didn’t do a good job a hiding it.”
“But how do you even know that such bonds exist in the first place?” Zero asked. “There are few ponies, even among the Monocerus, that know about them.”
“I know many things.” Dusk answered simply. “It is my job.”
Zero and I shared another quick look, this time of awe, then proceeded with the conversation. “Well,” I began. “to answer your question, we plan on visiting the Gaia capitol, Terrus next.”
“A wise choice. I have been to Terrus, it is a great city, and the ponies there are very hospitable.”
“What about you?” I asked. “Where are you traveling to?”
“I had a feeling you would ask.” he said. “I am traveling to Malvilea. There is a pony there who makes a special kind of potion, a potion that the Cytgord use to grow what little crops we can.”
Once again, Zero and I shared a look, this time of pride. Dusk was going to trade for some of the potions that Father made. His potions were often traded to the ponies of other tribes. But usually the ponies that made the trade were important members of their tribe. Just whose company were we enjoying?
We spent a few more hours with Dusk, discussing a variation of topics. But in the end, Dusk had to depart. “It was a pleasure spending the afternoon with you fine young ponies.” he said as he prepared to leave. “If the pair of you are ever in Veil, please look me up. I would love to hear about the many exploits that I am sure you will encounter.”
“We will.” I told him. “And good luck in Malvilea.”
“Thank you, and farewell.” he said as he turned to leave.
“Farewell.” my brother and I called as Dusk exited the inn.
“Come on,” Zero said. “It’s late. And we need to sleep.”
We spent the next couple of days in Mavus. It was a pleasant time, but by the end of our third day there, I was ready to move on. Except that’s when things got interesting.
When we woke up in the morning, Zero and I began to pack up our stuff, we had agreed that we would start the trek to Terrus that day. After we had everything stored in our saddle bags and were ready to go, we left our room at the inn and began to make our way toward the exit.
But we were stopped by the innkeeper. “You don’t want to go out there.” the beige unicorn mare told us.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because, today is collection day.” she said simply.
“What’s collection day?” Zero asked.
“On every full moon, a small group of Diaspora come to the village to collect a fee of gems from the village chief. In exchange for the gems, they leave us in peace.”
“What!!” Zero exclaimed. “That is absurd, you shouldn’t have dealings with the Diaspora, you should be fighting them, wiping them away like the scum that they are.” Zero had very strong feelings about the Diaspora. He believed that any pony that would betray their tribe is worthy only of death.
“We tried to fight at first,” the innkeeper said. “But the Exiled that come are part of a much larger group, and when we denied them the gems the first time, they raided the village. They destroyed the stalls in the market, burned down the homes of other ponies. My own inn was nearly destroyed.” she sighed. “We cannot fight them, they are too many and we are too few.”
“They send word to Malvilea, surely they could provide you with enough support to handle a group of Diaspora.”
“We tried, but the pony that we sent,” she paused, and a shiver ran up her spine. “He returned, beaten and bloody. He said he was ambushed by a group of bandits not far from the village. We knew what that meant: we were cut off from the capitol.”
“Zero,” I said. “we were attacked by bandits just before we arrived here.”
“They must be apart of the larger group.” Suddenly I found myself thinking of Dusk. He would have taken the same route to get to Malvilea that we took to get to Mavus. I worried that they might have attacked him, and hoped that he managed to escape as we had.
All was silent for a long time after that. The owner of the inn, whose name, I learned, was Keeper, had returned to her chores. Zero was standing by the window, just staring aimlessly out of it, and I was sitting at one of the tables. We were the only three ponies in the inn.
Time went by as slowly as it possible could. Minutes felt like hours, and an hour felt like a lifetime. The three of us were silent the whole time. Zero refused to speak, both physically and mentally. And Keeper and I just didn’t have anything to say.
And then, with a roar Zero broke the silence. “I will not, cannot stand for this.” he said as he marched toward the door.
“Zero, what are you doing?” I asked.
“Please don’t open that door.” Keeper pleaded. But it was too late, Zero had already kicked the double doors open and marched outside.
I quickly followed him, and immediately noticed the iron clad ponies walking down the road. In fact, I recognized them as the group of ponies that ambushed us on the road just a few days before.
“Hey!” Zero yelled as he stomped onto the road. “Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to extort these innocent ponies?”
The gray unicorn, who I assumed was the leader of the band of thieves, turned to face Zero. And before he could say a word, his face formed a scowl. “You.” he growled at Zero. “You’re that pony from before. The one who escaped us on the road. Where’s your friend?” Without hesitation I moved next Zero, ready to face the challenge that was before us. “Ah, there you are.”
“Yes. And we won’t be running away this time.” I told him.
He only laughed at us. “You two think you can take on the six of us? Ha! I’d like to see you try.”
Then try we shall. I heard Zero's voice in my head. Are you ready brother?
As ready as I’ll ever be. I told him.
Then let us begin. In an instant, I cast a spell launching a ball of fire at the gray unicorn. And Zero simultaneously cast a spell that fired shards of ice at the group of bandits.
The group scattered, taking cover behind the different buildings. Zero and I did the same, he ran to one side of the road, and I took cover behind a building on the other. All seemed quite for a moment, then a voice whispered in my thoughts. One of them is trying to sneak along the side of the building. Zero told me.
Within a second I prepared my spell, then turned the corner and cast another ball of fire at the Diaspora. It struck him dead in the chest, and he collapsed to the ground. I wasn’t sure if he was dead or not, but a chill ran up my spine. I had never cast my spell at another pony like that before, let alone struck one. It was a bit unsettling, but unfortunately necessary at the moment.
Back behind cover, I heard a whistling sound, and then something struck the building that I was hiding behind. I cast a quick glance to find an arrow was stuck in the wooden frame of the building. Another quick look and I discovered that a dark red unicorn with a bow and arrow was perched atop one of the buildings. I quickly cast my mind toward Zero’s
There is an archer on the roof of the building two down from where you are.
I see him. Give me a moment. I cast my gaze back toward the Diaspora on the roof. He was preparing to draw back another arrow, but never got the chance. A shard of ice pierced his neck, and he collapsed.
I looked back at Zero, and saw fear on his face. Behind you! He shouted in my brain. On instinct, I quickly raised my back hooves and threw a wild buck. I felt my feet connect with the face of a pony. Once my feet were back on the ground, I quickly turned to face my would be attacker, only the find the pony lying unconscious on the earth. She was a mare, she had a bright yellow coat, and looked to be an exile from the Gaia tribe.
I turned away from her, confident that she would not wake anytime soon, but still aware of her, in case I was wrong. Zero and I shared a look of pride, we had already taken down half of the group. But defeating the last three would be no easy task.
A quick scan of our surrounding told Zero and I that the remaining bandits were still behind cover. If I was correct in my assessment of the group, the remaining ponies were all unicorns. Having taken down both the earth ponies myself, and Zero took out one of the unicorns.
We’re going to have to draw them out. Zero said.
How?
An open challenge. Grab the swords from the two earth ponies, I have a plan. I did as Zero said, taking the one sword from the mare behind me, and taking the other from the pony I’d struck with fire, whom I had discovered, was dead.
I met Zero in the middle of the road, and he took one of the swords from me. “Are you ready?” he asked me. I replied with an unsure sigh. I’d never really used a sword before, not a real one. Zero and I had played with toy swords when we were colts, but that is the only experience I had. “You’ll be fine.” he assured me, then started yelling. “Well!” he called. “Are you going to come out and fight, or hide like the craven traitors you are!”
In reply to the taunt, the three remaining Diaspora emerged from behind their cover. When the gray coated leader saw that we both had sword, he only laughed. “You think you can best us in a fight? Fine, if that’s the way you want to settle this,” he paused and drew his own sword with the magic from his horn. “then so be it.” the other two unicorns behind him drew swords of their own, and a brawl commenced.
Zero was the first to make a move, lunging his sword at the gray pony’s. We were a fair distance apart, but it wasn’t so far that it affected the levitation spell. I was amazed at the skill that Zero was showing. He moved the sword with expert deft and performed flourishes with ease. It was quite impressive, but the exiled unicorn was just as adept. He caught every swing of Zero’s sword with his own, and equally returned the favor.
With each swing of their swords, the two ponies took a step closer to each other, slowly but surely closing the distance between them. I was so distracted by the battle that my brother fought, that I hadn’t noticed the other two unicorns approach me until one of them swung their sword at my head.
I raised my sword only just in time to block the oncoming blade. The was a loud clang as the metal hit metal, and I immediately jumped backward, creating a distance between me and the two Diaspora.
I was at a disadvantage, not only was it two against one, but I knew next to nothing about swordplay. Acting on instinct, I swung my sword at the dark yellow unicorn in front of me. He blocked it with expert ease, but I didn’t let that stop me from bringing the blade around and swinging it again.
Swing after swing, I kept him on the defensive, never giving him the chance to strike back at me. After what was my eighth swing, the sword flew from the grip of the unicorn’s magic, and across the road. Without hesitation, I aimed my blade at the pony’s torso and ran him through with it. He groaned in pain, then collapsed on the ground. He twitched for a moment, then, with a sigh he went still.
I gaped at the dead stallion, and horror filled my body. I just killed somepony. I thought to myself. Self-defense or not, it didn’t feel right taking the life of another pony. Diaspora or not, it just felt wrong. Despair began to fill me, but was knocked away when I was suddenly tackled and taken to the ground.
The other Diaspora stood over me. Anger burned in his eyes. “Bye bye, little pony.” he growled, and raised his sword over his head. Panic filled my body. Without thinking, I cast a quick spell, and a stream of fire erupted from my horn, and engulfed the pony about to kill me.
His screams filled the air as he began to retreat. He was running around in circles, hoping to extinguish the flames, but he only succeeded in making them bigger. As I got to my feet I watched as the burning pony tripped over the remains of the unicorn that I had run through with my sword.
He lay on the earth, flailing and screaming as he was burned alive. It was a horrible sight, I had to look away. It wasn’t long before the pony’s scream ceased, and he was dead. I looked toward where Zero had been fighting the leader of the group of bandits, and saw him standing over the dead body of said pony.
I approached him. “You OK?” I asked.
“Yes.” he replied. “I am glad that this pony is dead. I see you fared well against the other two.”
“Aye, though not nearly as well as you did against this one.” I said, referring to the dead bandit, “Where did you learn to use a sword like that?”
“A lot of practice. I began teaching myself to use them when we were younger, and continued to study them ever since.”
“Well you are quite the expert. I am very impressed.”
“Thank you. Come on, let’s-”
“Stop! Don’t move.” a guard yelled. We were surrounded by no less than eight guards, all of which had their swords pointed in our direction. “The two of you are under arrest.”
Zero and I were led through the village of Mavus to the home of the Chief. Side by side we stood before him. We weren’t chained, but we dared not move, for fear of being immediately thrown in the prison.
All was silent for a time, neither of us dared to speak, but the Chief broke the silence. “What are your names?” he asked simply.
“I am Supernova, and this is my brother Sub Zero.”
He nodded slowly. He was a broad unicorn, of course, with a brown coat, and a black mane with flecks of gray in it. He sat with his head held high in pride. “You are not from here?” he asked, though it sounded more like a statement of fact.
“No. We are from the capitol, Malvilea.”
“So, you are outsiders. What makes you think you can just come into my village and disrupt an already fragile agreement that we had with a large group of bandits?”
Zero moved to speak up, but I hushed him before he got the chance. I loved my brother, but he was horrible with people, and anything he might have said could put us in an even worse situation.
“I must sincerely apologize for that, sir. My brother, though he has a cold exterior, has a fiery temper, and a very poor opinion of those exiled from the tribes.”
“You were no better.” he argued. “And from what I understand, you killed most of the bandits.”
He’s got a point. Zero said through the bond.
Shut up. I told him. “All due respect sir, but I couldn’t let my brother face a group of six Diaspora on his own. Would you not have done the same if it was your brother?”
The Chief was quite for a moment. “A fair point,” he said. “But it does not change the fact that your actions could cost this village dearly.”
“You are right.” I told him. “And for that, we apologize thoroughly, and accept any punishment that you may give us.”
Once again, all was silent. The Chief’s stared at Zero and I with a crushing gaze. We feared the worst. Until the brown unicorn's face broke into a wide smile, and he uttered a loud, deep laugh. “You have not punishment to fear from me.” he said in a new, upbeat tone. “I have been looking to get rid of those wretched Diaspora ever since they came to Mavus. The two of you may very well have saved this village. With the road now clear, I can send a message to Malvilea for support. By the time the rest of the bandits discover what has happened, we will be well prepared for them to come.”
Zero and I relax, and shared a chuckle of relief. “So we aren’t in any trouble?” I asked.
“From far it, my little pony. In fact, from this day for, you two will be honored guests whenever you visit this village.”
That took me completely by surprise. “Wow. Thank you, great Chief of Mavus. That is a great honor.”
“That is not all. I understand that the two of you are will be leaving here soon. Is that correct?”
“Aye, sir. We planned on departing this morning, but were delayed by the appearance of the Diaspora.”
“Well, I am glad that you had not decided to leave sooner. Anyway, as a thank you for your help, I have these gifts for you.” he nodded at a pony that was standing nearby. The unicorn mare quickly ran from the room, and returned with two swords in their sheaths. They we connected to belts that went on underneath our saddle bags. “These were forged by the finest smith in Mavus, and imbued with magic, so they will never grow dull. I hope they serve you well.”
“Thank you, sir.” I said. The swords were good to have, just in case, but I felt I wouldn’t use it as much as the Chief hoped.
“You are welcome. And please take these gems as well. Travelers must always have a good supply of gems.” the unicorn that gave us the swords, floated a sizable bag of gems over to me, and I accepted it graciously.
“Thank you again, sir. You are very generous.”
“As any good chief would be to ponies who basically saved their village. Think nothing of these gift, young ponies, for you have earned them. Now, I imagine that you both would like to rest before departing. Where are you staying?”
“At the inn.” I told him.
“Of course. I shall send somepony ahead to make sure that the your room is paid for.”
“Thank you, great Chief.”
“If you do not mind my asking, where do the two of you plan on traveling from here?”
“We are going south, to the Gaia capitol of Terrus, sir.”
“Terrus!” he exclaimed. “Interesting. You two have already done so much for my village. I hope that you do not mind if I ask for a small favor from you.”
“Not at all sir. What would you ask of us?”
“Tis a simple request. I would ask that you deliver a message to the Chieftain of the Gaia tribe, letting him know that it is once again safe for his people to travel through the village to Malvilea.”
“Of course, sir. We would be happy to.”
“Great. You have my thanks. Now, I must retire. The two of you are free to return to the inn. Though I must ask that you refrain from causing anymore trouble, unless of course you cannot help it.” he said jokingly, the left the room and retired to his bed.
Zero and I walked out of the home of the Chief glad as could be. “Well that was interesting.” Zero said. He had been silent the whole time, but he knew that I was better with ponies than he was, and he let me take the lead in situations like that.
“That it was.” I agreed.
We arrived at the inn a short time later. Upon entering we found Keeper had been waiting for us. “You two,” she started. “you ponies are really quite something. You’re little brawl with those Diaspora made quite the impression on the Chief.”
“We only did what any other pony would.” Zero said.
“That’s not true, and you know it. This village is forever in your debt. The next time you two are in Mavus, I’ll make sure to have a pair of beds set aside for you.”
“You don’t have to-” I tried to say.
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. Those bandits killed my mother. You two avenged her death, and for that I am forever grateful. You two will always be welcome in my inn.”
“Thank you.” I said, then entered the room that Zero and I were renting.
It wasn’t until I laid down that I realized just how exhausted I was, because I fell asleep almost instantly.
We left Mavus the next morning. It was an interesting walk through the village to the road that led south the Terrus. Everypony recognized us when we passed them, a few even stopped to thank us and wish us luck on our journey to the Gaia capitol.
But what was the most interesting was when we ran into the priest from the Church of Manora. Blessed Church approached us directly, and dove right into what she wanted to say to us. “You see,” she began. “I told you you were destined for great things.”
“Stopping a group of extortionist Diaspora is hardly great.” I told her.
“On the contrary, what the two of you have done here is indeed something great. If only to the ponies of this village.”
“Nova, who is this mare?” Zero asked.
“Oh, Blessed Church, this is my brother Zero. Zero, this is Blessed Church. She is the high priestess to the Church of Manora in the village. I met her on our first day here.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Zero said.
“I am pleased to meet you as well, young Zero. You and your brother have my eternal thanks for what you have done for the village. Though, I sense that this is only the beginning for the two of you. You both are destined for thing far greater than any one village has to offer.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Supernova. Sub Zero. One day the two of you will do great things. You two will face many challenges, and suffer great losses, but one day you will bring harmony, not only to the five tribes, but to Equestria as a whole.” With that, the pony known as Blessed Church turned and walked away, without even so much as a good-bye.
Zero and I stood stagnant for a moment, baffled by the priestess’s prediction. “What’s Equestria?” I asked as Zero and I resumed walking.
“Manora only knows.” Zero replied. “You told her my name was Zero.”
“Aye. What of it?”
“She called me Sub Zero, my full name. How could she have known that?”
