Chapter One: Immortalitatem
“There is one mystery that society has failed to investigate: what happened to those that were abandoned in the original land when Equestria was formed? It is presumed they died, but nopony actually knows their fate, nor the location. What if there is an entire society undiscovered that is thriving?”
-Rainbow Dash, Doctor of Archaeology
Back a few thousand years ago, during the Longest Winter, when spirits froze all of the land. This led to the subsequent Great Exile, when the leaders of all the tribes left to find new lands and were never heard from again. That, in itself, wasn’t the problem: it was what happened nearly a hundred years later that did.
The sun and moon started rising of their own accord, without the unicorns’ influence. The Longest Winter soon ended, and with it, the balance of power did as well. The unicorns no longer held their power over the other two tribes, and became essentially middle-class citizens. They could do a lot with their magic, but they weren’t really specialized.
They carried on their old traditions of arranging marriages, however, and the pegasi became essentially the ruling class. They were in control of the weather, and could do whatever they wanted really, because no one could retaliate. The earth ponies formed the backbone and bottom echelon of society, working fields and providing food. The one tradition, however, that my parents had seemed to borrow was marrying for love.
How do my parents tie into all of this? Well, as my father had put it, one “fateful day”, my mother had a flying accident, and would have died had my father not been nearby. He was a doctor, and was able to save her, and eventually the two became close.
They married about three years after that, much to the shock of all three tribes, but what came as more of a shock to the tribes was their foal that was born, also known as me, Lusus Naturae.
Normal science states that if a pegasus and unicorn have a foal, the foal will either be a pegasus or a unicorn. But for some odd reason, life decided to mix it up a little, and when I was born I had wings and a horn.
No one had ever seen anything like it, and for most of my life I had been demeaned for not just that, but for other abnormalities as well. I seemed to have some of the innate abilities that the earth ponies had, and I had a master’s skill with magic. Most unusual of all, when I matured into a stallion, I seemed to stop aging; when I should have started getting the slightest hints of age, there was nothing!
The thing that got me most about myself though, was my dreams. They were always about the same thing, of a land far away where there were a few others like me, and where all of the tribes lived in harmony.
Anyways, I had wound up in a jail cell after I had visited the pegasi city of Hurricane’s Memory, during which a few pegasi thought it would be funny to assault me. I was arrested for defending myself, while they got off the hook, claiming I had attacked them. I had spent the rest of the day sleeping, seeing nothing else to do. It wasn’t the first time I had been in jail either, but every time it was always false accusations.
“Wake up, weirdo!” A voice hollered at me, and I opened my eyes. I still was in the same cell as yesterday, nothing had changed.
I yawned, stretching my forelegs out, but my captor wouldn’t have any of that. I felt a wooden pole smash into my barrel, and I was now jerked fully awake.
“I’m getting up!” I wheezed as I instinctively brought my legs in to where I had been hit. It didn’t hurt that much, but when you’re half-awake and someone jabs you, you can’t say you’re happy.
I looked up to see the unpleasant constable known as Lieutenant Gust tapping his hoof impatiently. “I better not see you in here again, Lusus.”
Yeah, unless some pegasi decided it will be funny to attack me again. I silently added, and the pegasus opened the cell door.
I hurried out of the police station, and immediately took to the skies, eager for no one to see me leaving.
Some days were better than others, just like everybody else’s life. Except with me, everyday was horrible, but some were to a lesser degree. Today seemed to have been off to relatively a decent start.
As I descended to the ground, I relished the feeling of the air going against my body. It’s a unique experience you really can’t describe, only one you can experience.
When I landed, I took a moment to admire the wildlife that was around me. Everything was alive, from the trees to the grass to the animals. And everything accepted me as an equal, with the exception of the majority of the tribes.
A squirrel raced up to me, eager to see me. I had been there several times before, and the denizens had grown used to me.
It was also one of the few places where I could smile.
The squirrel, whom I had nicknamed “Acorn”, a relatively happy title, frowned and ran away. That meant only one thing, Farmer Oats was nearby.
This part of the forest actually fell under Oats’ 16-acre property given to him by the government. The first few times I had been here, the earth stallion had been wary of me, but now he seemed to be friendly. The animals, however, were scared as hay of him.
“How is life treating you?” I asked.
“Jus’ great, bein’ an earth pony and all,” the rugged farmer’s voice replied. Meanwhile, a blade of grass had caught my attention.
“I got arrested for defending myself again.”
“Ya know, Ah’ve been thinkin’ lately Lusus.”
“Thinking about what?”
“What is tuh stop us from leavin’ this forsaken place?” he mused. “There ain’t no law Ah heard of that says unicorns, earth ponies, and you can’t leave!”
“What an optimistic thought,” I replied morbidly. “Then we can die like the leaders in the Great Exile.”
“But what if they didn’ die?” he asked. “Granted, that is an unrealistic outlook, but it is still possible.”
“Yes, and it so likely to happen.”
“Lusus, you an’ Ah both know we can feel life growin’ beyond the Empire’s borders.”
“Anything else to stall me for today?”
“Ya got me. Again,” the farmer confessed.
“Who was it this time?”
“Couple o’ pegasi colts who thought it’d be funny tuh make me have tuh work harder, that’s what! They went and fed a bunch of mah crops tuh the birds, and Ah just have to stand there and watch!
“The terrible thing is that nobody realizes that if we all refused tuh make the damned crops they couldn’t send us all tuh internment!”
“Yeah, they could just kill the rest of us.”
“Look Lusus, what Ah’m tryin’ tuh tell you is-”
“ATTENTION ALL EARTH PONIES AND UNICORNS OF SETTLEMENT 41!” a booming voice roared from above. “YOU ARE ALL TO REPORT TO THE SETTLEMENT CENTER IN HALF AN HOUR FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM COMMANDER TYPHOON!”
“Let’s go,” I sighed. “It’s probably something about how some other earth pony refused to grow crops.”
The farmer silently agreed, and we moved out of the forest after a few minutes. Now, we were in the middle of his assigned land, walking carefully so as to not damage any of his farmland or crops.
Eventually we got to the shoddily-made road that went through most of the settlement. We followed it to the only halfway decent looking buildings that comprised the settlement center. There were a number of other earth ponies as well as some unicorns, but surprisingly there was no earth pony being guarded.
This isn’t about another ‘traitor’ then, I thought. I saw some of the others were staring at me, but I continued to watch the podium.
Sure enough, flying down from the sky escorted by a number of heavily armored pegasi was Commander Typhoon himself. As he landed, his eyes met mine and he gave me a look of disgust.
I was actually distantly related to him, because my mother was related to the Typhoon clan. The Typhoons had descended from Commander Hurricane, and a distinctive mark of being related was naturally having three or more colors in your mane, like my mother.
He had been enraged at first to find out my mother was marrying what he called a “bonehead”, but when she had me it was taken to a whole new level.
He made sure that I could be arrested for just even walking in certain places, but never was I to be sent to internment, due to him knowing I would gain a personal victory from that. You see, I would most likely die there, due to my difference, and he knew that dying would be sweet mercy compared to having to stay here.
“Equine subjects,” the stallion said in a mirthful, calculated tone. “I come here today due to the recent activities of some of your fellow citizens.”
Oats had told me a few days before about a huge fight that had broken out, and the Pegasi Military had to be called in. What happened was a group of earth ponies and unicorns tried to incite an insurrection, but somebody ratted them out. They decided to attack the settlement center earlier than they originally planned, specifically the armory so they could stand a chance, and it was a bloody massacre. Of course, the pegasi claimed that they had been killing other earth ponies, even though everyone knew that was false.
“Due to recent incidents in other settlements, not just this one, travel for unicorns is hereby restricted until further notice. As for you earth ponies,” he gave a smirk that showed only pure malice. “You are to hereby turn in your food stock early.”
An unfortunate earth pony yelled out something he realized too late he shouldn’t have. “THAT’S NOT RIGHT! YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT!”
Typhoon gave a merciless smile. “Arrest that stallion and send him to internment.”
A few of the guards went and grabbed him, and dragged him towards a transport carriage. During this whole time the earth pony was crying and begging for them to change their mind, but it only served to amuse the pegasi. Before they shut him in the cage, one of them kicked him in the barrel.
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Typhoon calmly told everybody. “All earth ponies are to turn in your food stock early, however, due to the timing, you only have to turn in thirty percent of your weight.”
That was obviously engineered, because thirty percent would probably be all the food they had at the moment.
“You are all dismissed, and all earth ponies will turn in their stock by 1900 hours.” Eager to leave, I started moving away but Typhoon shouted before I could get away.
“As for the freak,” he yelled. “You are to stay.”
Knowing it was the only logical choice, I followed his orders, and Oats gave me a grim look as he started moving away. I just shook my head, gesturing for him to go on.
I heard gravel crunching, and I took a deep breath.
“So what brings you to Settlement 41?” the teal pegasus asked. “Last I heard, you were causing trouble in Hurricane’s Memory.”
I bit back an angered response, and replied mechanically. “I was attacked, I was merely defending myself.”
The pegasus smiled, and I focused on his mane. It was shades of black, grey, and whites. “Didn’t you learn anything in school?”
“Yes.”
“Then you would have gotten it through your bonehead freak skull that you are to follow the orders of a pegasus!” he hissed. Several pegasi guards were looking on, and I could tell they were slightly frightened. I stood a head taller than Commander Typhoon, who for a pegasus, was pretty big.
“They didn’t order me, sir. They simply attacked me,” I replied. I hoped it didn’t sound like I was talking back to him.
Instead of getting infuriated, he gave an odd look that showed the slightest iota of pity, but nothing more. “You still are not to interfere in pegasi affairs!”
“Of course, sir.”
“You didn’t answer my question from before, freak. What brings you to Settlement 41?”
“I wanted to have some peace and quiet.”
“You can have peace and quiet with your whore of a mother and bonehead father in Settlement 62!” Typhoon hissed in my face. “Why. Are. You. In. Settlement. 41?”
“I said I wanted to have some peace and quiet.”
“I was a fool to think you were intelligent enough to start anything with that Farmer Oats. I will give you that.” He spat in my face, and I resisted both tears and flinching. “Either way, I am ordering you to return to Settlement 62. To ensure that, I will have you escorted by the generous pegasi guards in a cage back like the animal you are.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said as cheerfully as I could.
He smirked, “Go on, freak.”
A number of pegasi moved quickly around me, and I followed them to a large cage adjacent to another one filled to the brim with mostly earth ponies, though there were a few unicorns in the cage as well.
I felt guilt wash over me as I realized I had the most comfortable environment, even if I was large.
“Hey,” an earth pony groaned. I looked around, no pegasi were taking interest in me or them, but rather appearing to take their sweet time talking to Typhoon. “You’re Lusus, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?” I replied.
“Why doesn’t he send you to internment?” the earth pony asked. I noticed he was sandwiched in between two other earth ponies as well.
“Because he knows it is more torture for me. Death would be such a sweet release,” I admitted. I hoped silently that the earth pony didn’t resent me. “Let me ask you something.”
The earth pony nodded.
“Would you believe I am fourty-two years old?”
The earth pony looked at me with a confused look. “You can’t be more than twenty!”
“That’s a weird thing about me, I seemed to stop aging. It’s been sheer hell all these years having to see he won’t just let me die, let me be free.”
“What’s to stop you?”
“Because Typhoon will harm my parents, and I can’t let that happen.”
For me, talking about death like this was not as horrible as it should have been.
“Lusus,” the earth pony breathed. “They’re afraid of you.”
“Why would they be afraid of me? I’m a freak!” For a second, I thought the pegasi had heard us, because the carriage jerked. Thankfully, I realized we were flying.
“I’m from Settlement 39, the thing is I heard them talking about you.”
That stopped me in my tracks, why would they take the time to talk about me?
“You’re apparently something of a scare to them, and not just because you’re bigger.”
“What do you mean?”
Unfortunately, one of the pegasi decided to kick the carriage at that moment.
“Shut it mud pony,” a stallion clad in jet-black armor told him. Somehow, I hoped he hadn’t heard everything of the conversation.
The rest of the ride was spent in a forced silence, and when we arrived at Settlement 62, they slammed me out of the cage.
“Welcome to Settlement 62, freak!” one of the pegasi jeered. They took off quickly, and I didn’t bother to even look in their direction.
Author's Note
Thanks goes out to Kaidan for his support yet again. You're an awesome proofreader.
