Finding Your Voice

I arrived at the mouth of the Crystal Woods, and I wasn't prepared for what laid ahead. The older ponies spoke legends about it: some said that the Woods are the meeting place of the fallen, others that it was the where many failed uprisings were planned, still others said the Woods held the Bandits' only weakness...at any rate, I'm about to find out which legends, if any, are true.

Once I entered the mouth of the Woods, I felt an overwhelming sense of despair wash over me, not unlike what occurs once a flame is extinguished. I had briefly considered turning back before remembering that I must reach Speakly before the Bandits can catch her. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happens.

As I wandered through the dark, I was in constant fear of being both caught by the Bandits and being mauled by the legendary creatures said to inhabit the Woods. One creature was particularly terrifying to me: the Creeping Putrefaction, a slinking mass of pure decay. It is said to both steal your voice and induce total paralysis before absorbing you. It then proceeds to literally rot you from the outside-in, killing you in the most horrific manner possible.

I wandered around aimlessly for what seemed like hours until I reached a large, colourfully lit clearing. Even though it was the first time since I had entered the Woods that I had been able to see anything clearly, it wasn't that alone that drew my eyes to it; rather, it was what I saw within. Lying in the middle of the clearing, bathed in beams of brightly coloured light, was a strange, almost organic-looking device. I thought to myself: "it looks like...No, it can't be. This is supposed to be nothing but a legend. Something told to colts and fillies in secrecy, to give them some hope, something to get them through the dark times".

The sight of it had momentarily stunned me, as I had to do a quick run-through of the legend to make sure it was what I thought it was. "Ok", I thought, "body made of unicorn horn, (check), head made of shaped black Quartz Flower, (check). My God, it is the Microphone!" My excitement was quelled when I realised: "If the legend of the Microphone was true, how many of the other legends are true?"

From what I could remember of our history and legends, the Microphone was a magical artifact created from the horn of the original ruler of the plot, which was originally known as the Kingdom of Hayven.

Before the Bandits ruled, the ponies lived off the land, and were free to go wherever in Hayven they pleased. Their ruler was an extremely powerful unicorn named Geoff, who was said to possess the voice of a god. Geoff's magic was very special: instead of it being contained in the body and transmitted through the horn, like a normal unicorn, Geoff's magic was contained solely in his horn, and he used his entire body to amplify and transmit the magic, allowing for huge output with minimal input. He was a loving, gentle ruler, as opposed to the surrounding Kingdom's, who were vicious Diamond Dogs that used fear and intimidation to rule.

One day, the Kings of the 5 surrounding tribal Kingdoms sent spies to observe Hayven. The spies reported back, saying that we were happy, loyal, and never fought amongst ourselves, unlike their own Kingdoms, whose subjects were unhappy, backstabbing, and fought amongst themselves constantly. This angered the other Kings to the point that they unified the 5 Kingdoms and sacked Hayven. When it fell, the Dogs became the new rulers, and they stripped Hayven of everything, including its own name, reducing it to nothing more than farmland for the Diamond Empire.

Their first act as rulers was to execute the imperial prisoner, Geoff. They began by breaking off his horn, having witnessed what power it held. Then the actual execution began: They started by ripping off a strange chunk of skin with ripples patterned on it from his flank. They then stabbed him multiple times with his own horn, making sure not to puncture any vital spots, prolonging their sick game. As Geoff screamed in pain, he felt a claw trace across his neck: "Lines for later", growled the executioner; and with that, the executioner severed his vocal cords, rendering him unable to even scream. This sick spectacle continued for an hour before Geoff died, not by the Dogs, but from bleeding out.

After the execution, the new rulers sent their new subjects to gather Pitch Quartz flowers, as they had learned its effects on magic from observing us. The Dogs then fashioned them so the crystals would concentrate and amplify the horn's magic. They christened this abomination "Geoffrey", and they used it to rule the Diamond Empire, until they were usurped by an inside force: the Gemstone Bandits. They stole the Mic, and used it to annihilate the 5 Royal Families, dissolving the once hemispherical Empire.

While the other areas once more fell under pony rule, the Bandits became the new rulers of the plot. They knew full well the vast powers of the Microphone, and so to prevent it from being used against them, they hid it deep in the Crystal Woods, never to be found.
Until now, that is.