(I don’t expect to get compliments for an original plot(I don’t expect to get compliments at all.). I am aware that this plot is overused, but I will write a “Celestia overthrown, Yada yada yada” story anyway. Tell me when you find mistakes. I will change them.)
Audio Renaissance Presents: Come Hell, or High Water
By TheGodEmperor
Narrated by Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, and Simon Vance
Chapter 1: I must not fear
Something evil was coming. The Princess could feel it. It had been growing stronger the past few days. It was an ancient evil, one so old that not even her parents, the earth and the heavens, could remember with any clarity when it had been the dominant being. Of course, talking to her parents was nearly always futile. They were so ancient that they slept most of the time, and when they were awake (and answering questions at all; they prefered small talk) they were cryptic and almost always involved “The Great Forces of Creation”. So she tended to not ask for advice from her parents, but rather to figure things out on her own. So, with nopony having been around when the mysterious being was, she could not even find out the being’s species. The sun began to set. She did not yet know it, but it was the beginning of a new era. No longer an era of peace, prosperity, and friendship, but an age of darkness, an age of war, an age of infighting. The coming months would see the downfall of the Fourth Equestrian Empire, and begin a new era. An new era, born in fire.
The Princess was correct in her suspicions. Something did, indeed come. It started in Los Pegasus, isolated at first. It began to spread, West by North-West, until it reached Canterlot.
Nobody knew exactly what “It” was until it reached the capitol. Princess Celestia began the day like any other, raising the sun and performing duties, when she looked out from her balcony, seeing the destruction all around the royal city. Ponyville lay in ruins, with ponies lying dead in the streets. Her own city, Canterlot, was on the verge of falling, the defense crumbling, and chaos overcoming the citizens, most of which attempted to escape the city. But Princess Celestia would not abandon her home. She rushed to join the defence, only to be stopped by the Royal Guard at the Palace doors.
(Bear with me here, I’m not particularly good at dialogue.)
“Princess! We are under orders to not let you out at any cost!” said one guard, a strong young colt who was clearly new on the job.
“Orders? Whose orders? I am your leader! I will not be shoved about like the common rabble!” exclaimed the Princess, not accustomed to being disrespected.
“My orders.” boomed a voice from behind her. As she turned around, she saw a mighty behemoth of a pony, clad in steel. His height rivaled that of even the Princess herself. He
radiated a black light, if such a thing was possible. She thought he was a figment of her imagination, until she saw the guards also looking at him with awe.
Shakily and tentatively, she asked him “An-And w-who are you t-to order m-me around?”
The stallion answered, “I am Tor. Lord of the Alicorn. Their king, if you will.”
Celestia was taken aback. She was unaware that there was a civilisation, or even a ruling body, of alicorn. She thought that the alicorn were always deities, not subject to judgement or criticism. Tor seemed to take her silence poorly. His horn began to glow, and he was slowly rising, yet his wings weren’t moving. Celestia realized that he was preparing to release a devastatingly powerful spell, and tried to run. There was an explosion, and then silence. Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, and god of the sun, was no more.
The time changed to night, and then to day again. Canterlot lay in ruins, the death count in the thousands. King Tor had ascended to the throne easily without Celestia to stop him. Princess Luna was found and dragged into the streets. King Tor ordered her publicly hung. Luna did not even try to be brave in her last moments. She screamed and cried for mercy, asking them to kill any other pony, just not her. Within the month, the princesses were the most hated ponies in all of equestria. But the elements of harmony continued to be supported by the general public, even as Tor burned villages all throughout Equestria looking for them, the suffering caused by the very heros the public upheld (or so Tor would have them believe). When he finally cornered them in the arctic north, they hid in a cave. He was running towards the entrance of the cave, a mighty army at his back, when the entrance collapsed. A bright light was seen, and then nothing. The Elements were gone.
Twilight Sparkle awoke from a deep slumber, far in the arctic north. Of course, she did not know this. She remembered being chased, and... it all came back. Celestia dying. Ponyville being attacked and burned. Luna, her hind legs thrashing. Running from Tor. Tor becoming king. Trapping herself in a cave. The cave! That must be where she was. . The need for heat dominated her mind, and she conjured fire. After Twilight thawed herself out, she took in her surroundings. Frozen in a circle were her friends. Realizing that if she was able to survive the frost, the others were capable as well, she conjured 5 more fires and let her companions thaw.
A few hours later, the ponies were wondering how they would escape their imprisonment. They had air, from holes in the ceiling of the cave, and they had water. Twilight could conjure food or steal it from a nearby village that she detected using her magic. Rainbow and Fluttershy would have flown out, but the gaps were far too small, and if they were to make it through, the whole ceiling would come down. So they sat silently, and hoped.
Their pleas for help were answered a few hours later by some travelers who had come by to see the “statues” that had been supposedly left there by ancient pony folk. Or, this is what the friends heard. It turned out that that was what the local ponies told everyone, making the cave a bit of a tourist location. The tourists were initially a bit scared, but they came around and eventually helped the Elements out, and even went so far as to invite them to their camp site. As they sat around a warm fire later that evening, the unlucky ponies began to ask questions.
away.
“ What are your names?” inquired Rainbow Dash. “Tell me about yourselves!”.
“My name is Llewelyn. This is my wife, Joanna, and my kids, Davydd and Gruffydd. We’re just an average Imperial family, taking a holiday .” answered the eldest pony, a male that looked to be in his mid-thirties.
(36.)
“What empire? Crystal?” asked Twilight, the “Imperial” comment having piqued her interest.
“No, no! The Ent Empire of Tor the Conqueror.” said the stallion, clearly surprised. “The Crystal Empire was annexed years ago.”
(Hehehe... Tor of the Ent empire. And his preferred OS is Windows XP Black Edition.)
“King Tor. The evil Emperor.” muttered Twilight. “So, he’s continued conquering Equestria, has he?”
Joanna must have heard her, and thought that it was a question directed at the family, so she began talking. “Tor? Evil? No, he saved equestria from the monarchy of the Celestian era.”
“What is the date, Joanna?” asked Fluttershy.
“Today is the Summer Solstice, 1693 post-Celestian Era. If you still go by the old Celestian calendar, 2695.”
The friends looked at each other in shock. It had been nearly 1700 years. Everyone they knew was dead, whether by execution or sheer time. Twilight had a sudden revelation: They must destroy Tor. He had ruled long enough, doing as he pleased and indoctrinating the populace with false claims of liberation. He was a blight upon the once-pristine land of equestria. Tor must be stopped!
Far to the south, Tor was leading an army into the Badlands to stop the threat of the dragons. They had been making raids on villages such as Appleoosa, and had even gone so far as to attack Baltimare. The Dragon tribes were restless, and had broken the peace treaties laid down 500 years ago. The Sthrathone were under new leadership, always a time of strife. Their old leader, Crackle the Wise, had died while on campaign. The confusion of his death had lead to a civil war, and many of the tribes had banded together under his uncle, a violent example of dragonkind who wanted to bring down the Ent empire. Tor wanted peace and prosperity for his people. Nobody starved, these days, and the police force was almost unnecessary. Tor was happy. He had saved equestria from the dark days of celestia, when cruelty, although hidden, was abundant.
Twilight and her friends had spent the night with the travelers, and then they left, journeying to the Council of Elders in Cloudsdale. She talked to an elder, and he agreed to call a meeting. When the Elders arrived, she jumped right in to the heart of the matter, and asked for military support.
Rainbow Dash had been listening outside the door. As the leaders debated and argued with Twilight, she could not help but feel sorry for Tor. He was a good pony, it seemed, and was legitimately trying to help the public. Twilight just wanted to settle an old grudge, she concluded. Why else would she overthrow a kind and just ruler, however he came into power? As she pondered, the arguing went on.
“Tor has been good to us! He protects us from the Ponyginians, and defends us from the dragon tribes in the far south. If he were to be overthrown, any new ruling body would be destroyed as well, due to the threats of our rivals!.”, said one elder, countering yet another of Twilight’s points.
“Tor killed Celestia and executed Princess Luna. Why would he do that? Celestia was kind, and in her age there were no such problems, because she kept the peace.” yelled Twilight, now taking the offensive.
“Celestia kept the peace with torture and murder! She did no good for this land? What of Elrond the Great? What of him? He was preparing to make an unsatisfactory deal with the dragon tribes, but he died before he could! And what about - ”
“Enough!” interrupted a pony with a grey beard, far older than the rest of the elders. “If this mare must have her revenge, then so be it. Prepare a legion at once. She will depart on the morrow.”
His word clearly carried authority, and the elders went off to do his bidding. But Twilight stayed.
“Thank you, sir. It’s nice to know that someone other than myself hasn’t been indoctrinated into Tor’s evil ways.” said Twilight.
“Tor is not evil. This is one of the things you must learn to travel through the Ent Empire safely. He may have done evil things in the past, but he has made amends.” corrected Nicomede- , I mean, the stallion.
(I hate Twilight. I really do. Or, at least, in this story. Also, This story gets a decent score in terms of relation to the FiM universe. (either 4/6 or 5/6, if I recall correctly.))
“Then why did you support me?” questioned Twilight.
“Because. No ruler should have committed evil at any point in their reign. If the circumstances of Tor coming to power were ever revealed, there would be a civil war.” replied the stallion.
Twilight would have, in other circumstances, argued more, but it was late, and she would have a long day in the morning.
Author's Note
Hmph. A bad start to a story that nobody is gonna like. That doesn't mean I want you to hate on it, mind you. It just means I don't expect any praise.
