The Fall Of Innocence

                  What Was, Isn't Anymore

         "...War is never to be justified...we fight if only to survive as a species..."

        - Alphidesh, Long nights of terror

Atla awoke because his sisters' curiosity couldn't be left unsated. He hadn't slept very long because of this, and was still tired, but not dangerously so. Celestia had created an Invigoration Field around the area, restoring much of his lost energy. And when Atla got up he was immediately bombarded with a torrent of questions from his two little sisters.

"Listen. I am very tired right now and would like to rest up a bit. I promise I'll answer everything you want to ask as truthfully as possible when I am less ready to pass out again. Just give me a moment." He slumped on the ground and breathed the clean air with much enthusiasm, taking pleasure to be out of the stuffy cave. Atla made sure to take his time, finding it very amusing to see his sisters impatient faces in front of him. The silver Alicorn was ready to recount everything. But first he had a few questions, to completely solidate his suspicions.

"What do you two remember?"

Celestia answered first, "We flew away from the river, then we........ I landed next to Luna. My head got foggy and.....Then...... Well, exactly. Nothing, I don't remember anything beyond landing on the ground near Luna and thinking that this place was so pretty."

"Hmm..... And you, Luna?" Atla questioned Luna, and all he got from it was that they both had similar experiences. Except Luna had fought it better than Celestia. Atla had experienced that first-hoof when she had suddenly seemed to change her demeanor, then returned to her trance-like state. It was their turn for the questions. Atla had told them everything from when he had hit the ground behind them, to his escape from the cave. When he had told them about the Dreconi, their faces showed surprise, then conviction. (It seems that we can never escape those cursed Dreconi)

As Atla had told his tale, the day had become old once more. Luna and Celestia had just realized how oddly tired they were, and they decided to bed in the grass another night, closer to completing their mission than before.

The Same Day, About Midnight...

Atla woke to screams, and the sound of fire roaring. He quickly lifted his head, and was stupefied to see the forest all around him aflame. The screams persisted, and his ears strained to distinguish them from the encircling blaze. He looks quickly about him, looking for the source of the screaming. When he found it, his heart shattered.

Luna was tied to a tree, her wings, legs, and head pinned back by strongly woven ropes. He stood, petrified. She writhed around, trying to break her bonds. It was useless. Then she screamed to Atla.

"Atla, help! I can't break free of this on my own!" Atla just stood, still rooted to the spot, his eyes staring in pure terror. "Brother! HELP!" She tried once more to break free, but it was as successful as the last. "Atla, don't just stand there! I NEED YOU!" This seemed to return Atla to his body, and he rushed over to her.

As he reached her his fear grew tenfold, the fire was spreading closer to her. He tried to perform a Severing spell, but his magic was being blocked by something. That option was dead. Atla then gripped one of the ropes in his teeth and proceeded to try and chew them off. He grinded the rope in his mouth, but it was too thick, and the process too inefficient. So he left her there, (her face worried and terrified) and he picked up a branch lying on the ground. He lit one end and ran over to her, holding the fire under one of the bindings behind her.

The flames had spread to her tree now. Sweat trickled down his coat, flames licking the bottom of the tree now. He pressed the branch hard against the rope, almost extinguishing the flame and slowing him down. He gasped, the smoke not healthy for him or Luna. Luna screams again. He stamps his hoof in frustration and fear. Then Atla holds the flaming branch under the ropes once more, and is rewarded by a snap.

His heart lifts, but only just barely. He puts the branch under another rope, in the hopes of breaking his sister free. But he hears a loud cracking noise and turns around just in time to see a large tree, covered in flames, coming down at him. Atla has no time to react as he is knocked out cold.

The Same Day, After Midnight...

Atla wakes up gasping for air, his coat and mane heavy with sweat. He looks around at the calm forest around him. He sighs, and lays his head back down on the ground. "It was all a dream..." He thinks, happier at his understanding. His eyes move over to Luna who was still in a deep sleep. Then he finds Celestia, sitting awake, a little far from where he lay. He rolls and gets to his hooves, walking calmly over to her. She hears him approach and turns her head to look at him. Her eyes are curious, her thoughts are elsewhere.

"Hello, brother." She greets Atla solemnly. He sits down next to her.

"What are you doing awake, dear sister?"

She takes a moment to respond, "I could ask of you the same. I am not altogether very sure why I am awake. Something must've disturbed me in my sleep, I guess." Atla gives her a doubtfull look, and she continues more truthfully. "If you really must know, I had a terrible dream. A very, very, HORRID dream--more of a nightmare than a dream." When she said "horrid" Atla noticed that she closed her eyes and shuddered. Her voice quavered, "I--I awoke in the middle of the night. The whole place was on fire, this whole forest was ablaze. And--and Luna was--was--"Her voice dropped off, and her shoulders started to shake out of control. She bent her head down, and Atla placed a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her. He knew what she had seen, it was obvious. So he didn't let her continue.

"Shh, you don't have to say anymore. I know what you went through. It was the same reason I woke up." At these words Celestia looked up at Atla's face, her face tear-streaked.

They sat there the rest of the night, Atla holding Celetia until both dropped off into less troubled dreams.

  After Previous Events...

Luna awoke the next day fully refreshed. She also awoke to see Atla and Celestia sleeping on the ground together, and she wondered what had caused this? But she didn't ask, out of respect for her sister and her brother's dignity. So the morning began. And Atla and Celestia had finally awoken. It was a new day, but their trials were far from over...

"What are we to do today? We've no leads, and this land is more dangerous than we originally thought." Luna had asked this question twice now, and she received no differing answer. The reason being that none of the trio knew what to do next. Their only lead was eaten by a group of voracious monsters, and they didn't want to go searching all through Equestria looking for more ponies. Fortunately for them all, Celestia had just been struck with an idea. A flimsy idea, but it was somewhere to go.

"What if we pooled our collective power?" Her family gave her awkward looks. She elaborated further, "If you two channeled your energy to me, letting me be the focus point, I could perform a wide-ranging Detection spell! We would be able to pick up any lifeforms big enough for our purposes in an area over two-hundred leagues all around!"

"Great idea, sis. But how would we even go about doing this?" Celestia put her left fore-hoof on her chin, in deep concentration.

After a few minutes she said, "Give me a minute." And walked a little ways to their left, pacing, to and fro. Atla laughed inwardsly at the humor. "Give me a minute!" We just gave you more than three! He left that where it was and sat down on a rock, watching the clouds overhead. The time seemed to inch at an unbearable rate, leaving two Alicorn's at their most boring point in life. "I don't know how she can pace like that!" Luna thought after twenty minutes of Celestia pacing back and forth in front of her. Then (after the most boring moment anypony could ever take) Celestia exclaimed with joy, "I have it!" and Atla and Luna felt like cheering.

"If you two just stand right here..." Celestia stated, pointing to two spots in front of her. When they stood where she had specified, she continued her instructions. "Now, if you could just focus all of your energy in your horn, and direct it at mine when I say so." They both followed her instructions to a "T", so to speak. When both had a large amount of energy stored in their horns, ready for use, Celestia said "NOW!" and they let the energy loose, right at Celestia's horn. As it hit Celestia, she felt a huge surgence of power flow throughout her body. The blasts of energy were so powerful, however, that when they made contact with Celestia's own pool of power, she was scooted back a couple of yards. She bent down low in an effort to contain and absorb the power. She succeeded, and she quickly devised a Detection spell in an umbrella format. She pointed her horn up to the sky, directly above herself, and let it go. The energy blasted out the end of her horn, and shot forth like lightning. It went straight up and reached about seven-hundred eighty feet into the air before exploding. A wave of energy leveled out in the sky above them, and swiftly spread from it's origins. The spell was so powerful that when she released it, she was thrown to the ground, completely spent of all her energy. The others were the ones who had to maintain it, so they had to stay there and keep a constant flow of energy to Celestia. They waited. Nothing. They waited some more. Nothing. Then, after a few minutes.......Nothing. Celestia began to think that she performed the spell wrong when she felt a ping, about one-hundred and thirty leagues to the North-East of their valley. She almost let it go to find this source when suddenly she felt many more life forms, over  three hundred, all in the same vicinity of the first one. "It must be a settlement" She thought, contented by recent events.

Then she let the spell go, and told her brother and sister to cut off the connection. When they did, they wanted to know why. The excitement was apparent in her eyes, and in her posture. Though tired, she was almost hopping up and down. The excitement was contagious as she told them what she had gleaned from the spell's search. Many would have called them childish, un-professional, but in their current age and their current mind set, they were easily succeptible to being over-joyed. Especially since they had discovered multiple ponies (they probably were) in one area.

They discussed the plan, for it wasn't as straight forward as just showing up, un-announced. Not to mention that all three were tired after their ordeal, and so they couldn't fly very far. So they sat and worked out plans on how to introduce themselves to the natives of this land. They decided it best to arrive all at once, but not from the air. Maybe fly close, land, then walk the rest of the way? Also, what if they didn't speak the same tongue? The trio talked well into the night, laying out multiple plans for communication, and introductions for these mysterious ponies. By the time they were done, the moon had passed it's middle point, and so they lay around the fire that Atla had created and talked sleepily of what was to come.

    The Day Of Travel...

Again, the three Alicorns woke up on the grass, wet from dew, and stretched in preparation for a long flight. No pony had much to say as they flexed their wings. Too much excitement. So they bent their wings, went down low, and flung themselves into the air with powerful wing strokes. And in a second they were on their way. Just as they didn't have much to say while preparing, they were silent throughout their journey. Only a few "wind has picked up" and "strong headwind behind us now"s every once in a while, and they continued their flight.

As the day dragged on, and the first aches in their wings began to form, the trio stopped for a rest.

"How far do you think we've got?" Luna asked her sister, who was always better at keeping track of distance than her other family.

Celestia replied between inhales, "Only about--eighty--leagues--" She was doubly tired from the day before. The surge of energy she had gotten from her brother and sister was fairly hard to contain and concentrate. Atla poked his mind into his saddlebags, searching for some food. He found some tomatoes and other assorted vegetables that had been magically preserved, and prepared a fire. He conjured an iron frying pan out of the millions of microscopic pieces in the dirt around him, and cooked some food for his sisters and himself. As the fire heated the pan, and the vegetables sizzled, he thought of how meals would have been cooked back in Faerlahern. With a roaring stove and dozens of skilled cooks tending to the food, adding spices and other additives all the while. His stomach growled, signaling his hunger, as he pictured the massive heaps of food he would have been offered while only eating a few plates. Atla grinned in the irony, how he would love one of those magnificent meals now.

A wonderful smell crept into his nose, causing his mouth to water a bit. The meal was ready. Luna created a few ceramic plates for them to eat off of, while Celestia collected small amounts of wood from the trees around themselves to create a table. They sat and ate, each not talking because of their current occupation with their "feasts". Once their appetites were sated, they set to the sky once more, renewed of determination and energy.

By nightfall, they had cut out a huge chunk of distance to the settlement. As Celestia put it, "It will only be about thirty leagues now." They didn't eat any supper that night, hoping to conserve their depleted supply. Though they went into sleep hungry, they were content and as happy as they ever could be. They were making history, doing something their mother had only dreamed of. Something that all of FAERLAHERN had only dreamt of. That there were settlements in this hostile and curious land was inconceivable to the Alicorns back home. And though they had these heart-warming thoughts to think, no pony could ever guess the tragedy that awaited them...

     A Day Of Greetings...

Birds chirping, the wind blowing, sun shining, all of it was a very stereotypical good day. The trio woke the next day, feeling like today had so much promise. They "saddled up", if you will, and started once more the monotonous process of flying through air. The air was clear, no head winds, and no sudden changes of atmospheric pressure, or turbulation. They rocketed through the air cleanly, and made very good time. In a matter of hours they were at their much awaited destination. At least, they were close enough to see it from the sky. Settlement didn't do this place justice. It was a large city, with many buildings stretching far back to a large bay behind it. A large paliside wall had been placed around the buildings, gates at the North-West and South-West entrances. The sun was shining behind it, reflecting beautifully off of the bay water's surface. The trio of Alicorns' altitude declined all the way to the ground, and they landed lightly upon the soft ground. There, they gave excited looks and went once more over their plans. After that, they approached the South-West gate, and came across a guard.

The guard's face was priceless. His jaw dropped, his eyes widened, and he dropped his pole-axe on the ground. Atla laughed heartily, a wide grin spreading across his handsome face. The guard was a pegasus, a deep crimson coat, his wings outside his uniform. But he wasn't wearing any type of hoof-crafted, or fancy armor. Just some clothing that had been dyed green, and was heavily padded. Atop his head was a strange cap, a kind of helmet that didn't cover is whole head, like a helmet should. And no where to be seen was any type of war shoes. He looked kind of like an Earth pony farmhand back in Faerlahern, Celestia had thought.

"St-st-stop th-there!" The guard managed to stutter. Luna took charge of this conversation.

"Ho, colt. Calm down. We are three members of the Royal Family of Faerlahern! We mean you, or your ponies no harm." His eyes had enlarged twice their normal size at the mention of a family that was apparently of royalty, that hailed from Faerlahern, whatever that was. "We came here to this land, led by some rumors. It was told that this land was unsettled. It is obvious that those were fallacy." Luna seemed to calm him down, and so she introduced them to him. "My name is Luna, and these are my family, Atla, and Celestia." She pointed to each in turn, indicating whom was who. The guard responded with his name.

"M-my name is Flame Shard. I am a guard for this city." His voice became much more relaxed, but he was still in shock. It was obvious to them that he had never seen an Alicorn before, for his eyes kept runnig from their wings to their horns and back again. Atla almost burst out laughing when he noticed. But, he managed to keep it under somewhat.

"I'm pleased to meet you!" He said, his voice staying rather flat in an attempt to conceal his amusement. "It is obvious, your astonishment." Atla decided to point this out to him. "We are a race of pony on this earth, same as you. Well, same except for being extraordinarily gifted with wings, magical abilities, and size." Flame Shard's cheeks turned a bit red in abashment.

"Well, may I ask of you your business?" The guard said rather puffily. "It is the law of the land, so to speak, that I ask you why you are hear. Then you may enter Sholda, should I deem it safe." His chest swelled as he spoke. He thought his duties of the utmost important, and so felt very proud that he had done so without fault.

Celestia was curious about this statement. "What does he mean by, 'should I deem it safe'?" She voiced her inquisistion to this crimson guard pony. "And what, if you don't mind my asking, would one have done to be barred from this--Sholda?" The pegasus watchpony's face became very suddenly serious, and much cautious.

His voice was but a whisper. "There have been strange happenings around here lately. Ponies have up and dissappeared, and our appointed leaders seem to find no cause to be worried about this. Not to mention that many cloaked ponies have suddenly started appearing in our streets, speaking to none but whom they must know. When us guards tried to tell them to leave, they just--fanciful as this sounds--evaporated!" They must be Unicorns, Luna thought. "We have kept double watches since then, and we haven't seen any OUTSIDE Sholdan, but they have a disturbing knack for showing up un-invited." His eyes darted upward to their horns once more. Luna, like Celestia, had guessed that he knew they were magical. Unicorns must not know how to fully use their magic here, Celestia thought.

"We would like to speak to your superior," Celestia said, "if that can be arranged." Her eyes flashed an inner cleverness.

Flame Shard's voice faltered at her directness, "Uh--s-sure. Just uh... just go on in and look for the big white building, surrounded by market stalls." The three threw him some thanks, and began walking to the entrance to Sholda. But, just as they passed the guard (who was in the act of picking up his pole-axe) he gave some advice. "Don't be alarmed if you are not well received when you enter that city. Folks are just paranoid with all that has been happening." As they turned back, he added, "And if you see one of those hooded figures, make sure to give them a good kicking."

As they walked throught the gates, they had to deal with another distracted guard. He too, dropped his (pike) weapon as he caught sight of them. They had to explain everything all over again, and then were allowed into Sholda.

Sholdan is a destitute city. Many buildings were wooden, and much of the pathways were cobbled streets. The buildings were very thin, and the city was as condensed as possible. The streets were packed with ponies walking about, repeating their everyday cycles. And these cycles were only broken by the appearance of three strange ponies. All three of these new arrivals had wings--and they had a horn, each. This was impossible, it was improbable, it was incomprehensible. At least it was to these ponies and their boring lives. This fact was made all the more open as heads turned everywhere and ponies rushed to move out of the paths of the strange trio. Luna, Atla, and Celestia walked ever still proud, but still a little embarrassed at the amounts of attention they were receiving. For the city was packed with ponies. Most, Luna realized, were mundane Earth ponies, a few were pegasi, and none that she could see were Unicorns. And so, most eyes were directed at their horns, wondering what that was used for. Some kind of signal, or part of impressive old age? And then there were their cutie marks. Everypony was put in a state of confusion on these. Especially Celestia and Luna's cutiemarks. The Sun and the Moon. Atla's was a star, burning bright. All around was filled with the entranced chatter of their poorly hushed voices. The three were glad to have finally found the large white building. It was magnificent in comparison to those around.

The building was large, larger than all before. And in front of it were marble steps leading up to a massive entrance hall. As they walked in they admired the expert crafting skills of whomever had done this. There were enormous pillars of logs, intricately carved all the way to their top. The building itself was built out of a mixture of iron and molten marble. The floor was covered with wooden planks, and many beautifully crafted weapons and coats of arms lined the walls on either side of the hall. And up in the center was a--desk? An ordinary desk? Celestia and Atla were taken aback by how magnificent this place was, and then seeing this were fairly confused. Where is a throne? A chair of high authority? Anything? But alas, all there was was a simple little wooden desk, and a green Earth pony sitting behind it. What was ironically funny, to Atla, was that this pony didn't seem to care what you were, or who you were. She had a very indifferent attitude when the trio approached, and introduced themselves.

"My name is Luna."

"Mine is Atla."

"And many call me Celestia. We are three Alicorn siblings sent here to find more about Equestria, and we......" Her voice trailed off. The pony sitting at the desk had given her a look that said she didn't care where or who you're from, just state your business and be done with it! Celestia revised her introduction. "We uh, we would like to see your top official, or leader." The pony just rolled her eyes and pointed to a door to her left, or the three's right. As Atla passed her, he managed to encouragingly whisper, "Great work," and walked on by, leaving her in a state of confusion. Atla laughed, having much fun.

When they walked through, they were surprised once more. The door had had a plate on it, and some words had been inlaid in it. They paid no heed to this, as they walked past the door. The door concealed another desk. But this desk was much more beautifully carved. And it was made out of ebony, much more expensive than simple oak. Behind it was a dark coated pegasus, unusually large. His coat was a heavy blue-black, his mane copper. His eyes were gray. And his pupils were strangely cold, as if there wasn't life in them. But he came off as a joyful colt.

"Greetings! Greetings, friends! Welcome to this city of mine! I am the sole ruler of this county, and I have heard of your arrival swiftly, expecting you to be where you are now!" He motioned for them to sit at his desk where there were five chairs. They followed his instructions respectfully. "Now tell me! How do you like my wonderful city? Isn't it just fantastic!"

Celestia, not wanting to offend him by telling the truth, said "It seems like a nice enough place. I am warmed by your welcome as well, sir--?"

"The name's Flet Flight. I am a pegasus, as you've probably seen for yourself."

"Flet Flight. We need to speak with you on matters we've only just learned of. Plus our original reasons for being here." She said this with as much respect as she could've ever mustered. That was why all three were taken back by his sudden hostility.

"Well, I should warn you to keep your snouts out of business that doesn't belong to you! You might sniff out something you wish you hadn't..." He said this with a tone of malevolence.

"Excuse me, Flet Flight. But I may not have heard your tone quite correctly. Was that a threat?" Luna said, anger rising in her voice, her wrath becomming terribly evident. Flet's tone lightened considerably after that.

"No, no! Not a threat, only a warning! I know what you speak of, those blasted spell weavers! They have plagued my ponies for the longest months, making life a living damnation! I just don't want to see a group of visitors get involved in the wrong places!" He said this with a bit of a nervous chuckle, making his regret as unsubtle as probable. Luna still didn't like him, he had an air of ill will about him she didn't like breathing. He told them of a place that they could lodge in after they had told him of their original plans. They courteously left him to his "arse sniffing" as Luna had put it, and left the magnificent abode.

They strode out with a new purpose! To get to the bottom of these mysteries, and put an end to these ponies suffering. After all, it did seem just as Flame Shard had put it, '...leaders seemed to have no cause to be worried about this....' His words had proved to be true enough with their encounter with Flet. But they did listen to his advice on where to stay that night. In an inn named "The Canters' Cart Inn."

Again their walk through Sholdan had everypony's eyes focused on them, just not as dramatically as before. They walked around a corner in the thin winding roads of Sholdan, trotted down a dark alley way, and found a decrepit building. Small stone stairs led up the foundation to the front door. On the door was painted a large white eye. Celestia shuddered when she saw this, it gave her goosebumps. Above the door was a sign haphazardly hanging on by one rope. On it read, in roughly carved words, 'The Canters' Cart In'. The second "n" on inn had been wore down so that part of the sign's width was off by a few inches. The creaking of the solitary rope holding on to the sign added to the eerie feeling that somepony was watching them. Atla quickly looked up the alley walls and to the sky above, recalling this feeling in the cave of Dreconi. He mentioned this to the others, and they prepared some small quick-to-fire spells of anti-matter. Then, Luna enveloped the door knob in her blue energy, and turned the door magically. The sight that awaited, was horrifyingly normal.

Past the malign door were several tables. On these tables were candles and mugs full of strong cider. This cider was being drank by several normal looking ponies. As the door had opened and flooded the room with the bright sunlight from outside, the ponies' attention flew to the three young Alicorns. Upon seeing this sight, the three extinguished their stored energy, and walked to the bar tender as if everything about three mysterious Pegasi/Unicorns appearing out of thin air was a normal part of maturity. They moved to the bar, and greeted her.

"Hello my fair pony! We've heard tale this place being of one to find some rest, and food." Atla announced in mock royal voice.

She just looked at him and replied, much more ordinarily, "Yeah, you can rent a room here. But what are you, and who are you?" She realized her rudeness and immediately ammended it. "I don't mean to be rude, it's just that you are--a curious bunch!"

"That is quite alright!" Atla reassured her. "We've gotten that a lot since arriving here, in Sholdan. We are a group of three of the Alicorn race. We are the sons and daughters of our ponies' rulers, being here to scout. We found this place and met with it's leader." Her face expressed immense surprise, as if she couldn't believe it. But she figured "Alicorn" was a tribe or something. In the dark of the room, she couldn't make out many details about these ponies. The same for them. It has to more than a scouting mission if they are staying in an inn in the city, she thought. Atla saw this, and was spared from having to answer her by his sister, Luna.

"Look, we just want somewhere to stay for tonight. We will pay the necessary expenses, and will stay out of your mane." Luna was tired of having to explain everything to these ponies, especially since she didn't think it best to tell every peasant of their plans.

Sun Blossom was not taken aback by this sudden outburst from this deep blue pony. Her attitude suggested she was tired, and Sun Blossom was used to impatient, tired ponies needing rest. She understood Luna's urgency, and set about getting them a room.

Sun Blossom told them the cost, "It will be eight-teen bits for all of you." Celestia just magically counted out eight-teen bits on the counter in front of Sun Blossom. This rang some bells in Sun's mind. Magic?!? she thought. What are Unicorns doing here, they aren't usually anywhere near us! She decided she'd do something about this.

"Thank you! It is the last door, upstairs and to the left!" She played it cool until they had left to go upstairs. All the while going over what she should do now. There were Unicorns in the city, and the guard had given her explicit orders to notify them immediately if one should find one in the city walls. She called over her waiter, Crystal Storm, and her everything about the mysterious arrivals. When she got to the Unicorns part, she had to cover Crystal's mouth to avoid directing attention to themselves. She explained the importance of alerting the guard, and pleaded with Crystal to tend to customers until she got back. She calmly walked to the door, and opened it. As soon as the door closed behind her, she broke into a gallop, searching for a guard. She found one on the square near the trade and stock buildings.