As Blue as the Ocean

“Gather round, fillies and colts. I’ve got a story for ya. It’s about the tale of the Lost City of Atlantis.”

The foals in the community center scooted closer to the old mare as she rocked in her chair by a fire. The storm outside blew and rained on the town, causing some windows to rattle. A brief flash of lightning caused the room to light up.

“The city was a grand city, filled not just with ponies, but with every kind of creature: cows, ponies, griffons, minotaurs, hippogryphs, and even a few giants and trolls. It was the trade center of the world. The building rose from the outskirts, becoming taller and taller as they drew nearer to the center of the city. Brick arches connect some building and the guards who patrolled the rooftops never shirked from their duties. The buildings eventually gave way to a grand palace in the city’s central plaza. It’s walls and arches all blues and golds, glistening in the sunlight. Atlantis was famous for it beautiful buildings and wonderful people. I’m getting off track. This is a story about how Atlantis became the Lost City.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hurry up, Spike! We’re going to miss the train!”

Twilight raced through her house/tree to grab the essentials she needed for her trip to Canterlot. She had an engagement and she did not want to miss it. She called out to her assistant as she began to gather parchments and quills into a saddlebag, “Did you get my suitcase?!”

“Yes, I have it here. But why is it only filled with books?”, called back her little brother/son/thing (the relationship confuses me). “It’s seems silly to pack books instead of clothes.”

Twilight paused just long enough to give Spike a look. “I don’t need clothes, I’m a pony.”

As Spike just rolled his eyes, Twilight returned to frantically gathering what she thought was necessary for her weekend trip, and Spike calmly walked out the door, suitcase in hand, to the train station. Thankfully, Twilight had recently purchased a rolling suitcase, so Spike was able to reach the station without stopping for rest. As he began to climb the steps to the platform, he glanced behind him. No Twilight. “Looks like I’ll have to buy her ticket.”

Turning back to face the platform, he ran into Twilight’s flank, eliciting a not-very-manly scream from Spike and a yelp of surprise from Twilight. The ticket master was not amused. They made their purchase and boarded the train.

~~~~~~~~

When they arrived at Canterlot a few hours later, dusk had just fallen. Being winter, dusk had fallen early and it was barely 5 o’clock. Spike opted to bring their baggage straight to Twilight’s parents’ house because he was not feeling well. Spike had always had trouble with riding the train. He never mentioned it as he did not want the girls to make fun of him, but it was all in his head. Twilight left him to go to the castle for two reasons: to say hi to the princesses, and to pick up some books.

Strolling through the streets, Twilight tried to think back to her filly-hood and relive the memories. Sadly, most of those memories involved her, a book, and a glass of chocolate milk. Sighing, she speed up her pace to a canter. Arriving in a short time, she was waved in by the guards and made her way to the Royal Libraries. Entering, she immediately nodded to the librarian and made her way to the central hub of the library. Closing her eyes, she scrunched her face in thought. Remembering where she had finished last time led her to a new spoke of the library that she had not read. Twilight pulled the first book off the shelf and sat down with at a conveniently nearby table. She then took a moment to actually examine the book. It was coated in a light layer of dust. The covers of it were a dark blue and it seemed to bound in what appeared to be snakeskin. One of the weirder things about it was that it no title or author on the front or side. Only flowing golden spirals and swirls adorned the book, tracing an intricate design that attracted the eye here and there and back to the beginning.

“Well well well, I see you’re already situated.”

“Princess!” Twilight turned and sure enough Princess Celestia was indeed behind her. Celestia smiled down at the unicorn and leant down for da nuzzlies. Twilight happily obliged. “How did you know I would be here?”

Celestia giggled. “It’s you, Twilight. Where else would you be on a trip back to Canterlot?”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to giggle. “I guess you’re right. I’m sorry I didn’t go to see you first. I’m having dinner with my parents and siblings later and I wanted to quickly grab something to read before going.”

“Ah, I see you are still trying to finish that challenge.”, Celestia said with a wink. “You know Cadance was only joking about that, right?”

Twilight shrugged. “Joke or not, it was good idea and I will accomplish it. I’ve already read over half the library, so not that much left!”

“Well then, I wouldn’t want to hold you from dinner. Say hi to Cadance and Shining for my.” And with that said, Celestia waved and set off down ilse back to the castle proper. Twilight picked up her book and carried it to check it out at the desk.

Making her way home in the brisk winter eve, Twilight jogged down the roads to the, more or less, suburbs of Canterlot. Entering her parents house, Twilight was surprised to see everypony there already. They were seated around the table enjoying a nice homemade meal and laughter echoed through the room.

“Waitwaitwait, then... she said, ‘Can I get you some more?’!” Another burst of laughter shook the house as Shining finished his joke.

Velvet trotted to Twilight. “Oh, you’re finally here. Now we can eat. Come on, I made plenty!”

They all sat eating and talking, catching up and joking around. It wasn't until Shining took a drink from his glass that their father spoke up. “So when can we expect grandchildren?”

Shining’s mouthful of water EXPLODED out of his mouth. He flopped to the floor, hacking and coughing. Cadance jumped up and moved to help as Nightlight burst into laughter. After a few minutes, Shining finally calmed down and spent the rest of dinner not answer that question and glaring daggers at his father.

~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the dinner passed uneventfully. Twilight said her goodbyes to her brother and new sister and made her way up to her old room, wishing her parents a good night. Her parents had changed her room. It had gone from its purple, girly, made-for-filly to a plain guest room. The room’s walls shades of green, and a new bed - larger than the original -, but at least they left all the bookcases.

She pulled out her new book, admiring the craftsponyship, and proceeded to snuggle into bed. Opening the book, she finally found the title. It was written a flowing green script, stating “The Last Remnants”. Turning the page again, she found the introduction.

My name is Darvin, and I am writing this to make sure that some part of him will survive the ages. I am writing this story for one who is unable. He is Triton, the First Alicorn. Triton was the first to ascend and was the ruler of Atlantis.

But Triton was not always an alicorn. No, his story starts much further back the road, when things were very much different than what they are now. I am not entirely sure of his experiences, but Triton has given me some of his memories to help convey his story. They are inlaid to the pages of this book and only need a spark of magic to activate. Some of these memories may not be happy, but they are the truth. Whether we like that truth or not is up to us. The memories will be divided into chapters with relevant memories together in chronological order. And remember, reader, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Twilight turned the page, only to find it blank with a “Chapter 1” at the top. Tilting the book back and forth, a faint circle was made visible in the center of the page. Mentally shrugging, Twilight put her hoof in the circle and focused on the book with her magic. In her mind’s eye, she saw all the spells on the book. Page after page of the activation and actual memories burned into the chapters. Tentatively, she activated the memory for Chapter 1.

~~~~~~~~

The state of watching the memory was in a third person view, oddly. Twilight saw the area from a position above a red earth-pony stallion, barely past foal-hood, with a brown mane. It was difficult to tell what his true colors were as he was covered in dirt, sweat, and mud. The stallion was in a field pulling a plow down a column with others earth-ponies. Sprinkled here and there were some angry looking unicorns. Twilight’s gaze was inexplicably drawn to the red stallion, and the memory began to feed her information as it played out.

The sun beat down hard on his back and, unfortunately, so did the overseer’s stick. “Stop standin’ around! Get back to work!”

Stone whimpered in pain. He pushed forward into his yoke, causing the plow to jerk forward and then resume its tired path down his column. His breath steamed in the cold air. Winter was over, but obviously nopony told that to the weather. The temperature had continued to drop even after it should have begun to rise.

The wind howled as the team of earth-ponies made their way down the columns, their sharp plows furrowing the ground. Another team of earth-ponies followed them, tossing various seeds at certain intervals down the path. The overseers continued to yell and insult and whip various ponies, going as far to threaten them with “the shed”. The mere mention of this place caused  Twilight to feel a huge amount of pain and fear and helplessness. It was strange, to feel somepony else’s feelings, but at the same time, it felt natural.

Twilight turned her attention back to the red stallion. The stallion was unhitching from the plow and bringing it to a barn where others were also moving equipment. After they had finished putting away the tools, all the earth-ponies went to section of land with ramshackled houses. They all split up into their housing groups and said “goodnight”.

Twilight’s view continued to follow the red stallion, who was huddled in a corner of his shack. The wind blew, causing the shack to creek and the cold become biting. The ten ponies inside pulled all the blankets and sheets they had, though moth-holed and moldy, and proceeded to make a large cuddle-pile. There was nothing fun or nice about this cuddle. This was for survival. Each was draped and curled shamelessly around each other, shivering and occasionally whimpering. It was not lying peacefully that lulled these ponies to sleep, but the sheer exhaustion of the day’s work that knocked them out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Time had passed. She couldn’t say how much, but she could feel that years had past. The same right-out-of-foal-hood red stallion now stood under a tree, waiting. He had grown considerably, layers of muscle only added to the illusion of his height. He glanced around, checking. He continued to scan the area, still waiting, but for what?

That question was shortly answered in the form of a pegasus mare dropping out of the tree. Her green coat had provided suitable camouflage in the tree. She shook her mane before pulling a vial out of her saddlebags. “Here, just put this in their food and then...” She trailed off, obviously uneasy about the subject.

The stallion nodded. “I don’ like this either, but it has to be done. Are ya sure this will work? If not, you will won’ be seein’ us again.”

The pegasus nodded. “I understand. It will work. Good luck.” With that said, she took off, staying low in the trees until she rose into the clouds. The stallion stared at the vial. He shook his head, place the vial completely in his mouth to hide it, and left.

Twilight glided through the air after him. After a moment of silence, his thoughts rang in her head. I really hope this works. I wish I didn’t have to do this. Faust, please forgive me.

~~~

Twilight could tell it was the night of the same day as the previous memory. The stallion sneaked into the kitchens connected to a large house. Unlike where he slept, this house was very well kept. Nothing was out of place and not a speck of dust glistened in the dusk. As the stallion made his way into the main room of the kitchen, Twilight saw another earth-pony. This one was a yellow color with his hair tied back in a bun.

“Ah! You brought it. I hope that pegasus didn’ give ya any trouble, eh? Wacha have to do to git this one, Stone?”

“Nothin’ I’m proud of. Now, put this in their food. Make sure they all git some.” After a second of thought, the red stallion (“Stone.” Twilight thought.) added, “Don’ give any to the kids, they don’ need it.”

The cook nodded in agreement and turned back to his stew pot. “Ya best be goin’. They’ll be ‘ere soon fer the food.” With a nod goodbye, Stone turned and fled the house.

As the sun fell, Stone made his way back to the dilapidated houses where the other earth-ponies were. Squeezing into the circle they had formed around a small fire, Stone was bombarded with questions. “Did you get it?””Are we all set?””When do we start?””How long?”

Stone merely shook his head and silence fell. Stone shuffled close to the fire. Slowly, the fire began to fight back the fierce cold that now set in year-round. As he warmed up, he whispered, “I wish there was another way...”

~~~

Midnight. The landlords and overseers were all asleep, snoozing soundly due to the poison in their food. Stone looked at the sky, the moon shining bright and full overhead. As if Faust wants us to put a stop to all of this. Stone rose, threw dirt onto their fire, and began rousing everypony else.

They all groggily walked to the supply barn, each pony steeling himself for the coming hardship. They pulled open the red door, and began arming themselves with tools. Some had pitchforks, some hoes, other had simple garden hooks. When everypony had a weapon, they made their way outside and assembled in lines to here Stone talk. Stone walked up and down the first row of ponies.

“Alright, I don’ wanna do this, but we got no choice. Jus’ remember, spare the kids an’ the maids, they didn’ do wrong.” With that said, they all began the walk up to the master’s house, a fire burning in their eyes. Once again, Stone’s thought rang clear in Twilight’s head, Dear Faust, please forgive us.

~~~

The memory jumped forward, but Twilight knew what happened. They killed them. They killed all of them. The poison had stopped the unicorns from using magic. Twilight felt sick. She saw Stone, whose fur was now truly red. His face was as grim as his bloodied pitchfork. The earth-ponies took all the food, blankets, and supplies they could carry, and left.