//-------------------------------------------------------// Alicorn's Quest -by Tarascha- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One : The Lords will //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One : The Lords will The waiting woman outside the throne room looked once again at the well build guard which stood in front of a giant, heavy iron gate. He carried sword and shield, both marked with the royal seal of lord Discord, the ruler of the empire. His high quality armor was decorated with runes of gold and silver as it was normal for all the guards inside the castle. By his trained body it was foreseeable that he could fight with his weapons as well as with his raw fists. The guard itself just stared into the air and doesn't even recognized as the gate slowly opened. Another guard left the throne room and whispered something into his ear. The first guard nodded and turned his head to face the woman. “Lord Discord will see you now. Don't start any trouble so we don't need to stop you.“ The woman which just had noticed that she was staring at the guard the whole time let out a gasp of surprise as the word suddenly left the guards mouth. She jumped out of her seat and walked through the open gate. As she passed the guard she let out a quiet “Thank you“ and looked at him one last time. Lord Discord surely increased the number of guards in the castle lately. They are everywhere now. And the equipment of them is more worth now then a whole house!. No wonder that the number of guards that were attack while their patrols trough the city raised new heights. The people down there suffer while we live in luxury. But why would he need so many guards? Habe the rebels once more take some of the empires land? She thought as she entered the throne room. Inside the throne room the woman started to walk down a long path which was covered by a majestic red carped. While she walked she passed many more guards, all equipped the same and some other people who either were called in by the lord or those who wanted to see the lord to discuss issues in the city or the castle. Most of them where out of the royalty but here and there was a normal citizen too. At the end of the long path the ruler of the empire sat upon a massive, golden throne. Lord Discord was an old but still strong and smart leader. He was tall and had white hair. His eyes were brown but some people swear that there was a change in the color when he got extremely mad or entertained. His clothes were in the colors of the empire. Red and yellow. Lord Discord was unpredictable man. His planes often seem mad and chaotic but in the end they always work out. He quickly became known in all part of equestria while he was still a young man of twenty years. He overthrow the government back then and crowned himself the new Lord of the empire.The woman glared at the ruler until he notice her stare began to grin. She quickly bowed  and greeted her lord. “My Lord Discord. I've come like you wanted. Say my Lord what can I do for you?“ she said the royal words with which he was greeted by all nobility. “Oh my loyal subject Theresa Sparkle. You don't need to bow before me every time we meet but it still is very kind of you. Now let's come down to business shouldn't we? There is something I need to talk about with someone. And who would be a better choice then my price student and one of the most gifted magicians in the whole empire? But it's not something for everyone to hear. GUARDS! Send everybody out of the room and then remove yourself out of here“ The guards immediately reacted and started to pushing out first the visitors and finally leaving the room before closing the iron gates. “Äh... my Lord. I'm really honored by you to be praised as your best student but when the matter is so important that nobody should hear about it then why are you thinking that I'm the right person for this issue?“ Theresa asked carefully as she became quiet nervous by the amount of trust her lord put in her. “Because my dear Theresa I know I can trust you completely and you would do anything to not disappoint me. You always wanted to make me happy haven't you?“Lord Discord said with a knowing smile on his face. “I always try my best to serve you and the empire Lord Discord“  she answered, now really unsure by such a statement. “Perfect. Tell me Theresa. What can you tell me about the citizens of the beautiful empire?“ he asked her. She was confused, expecting everything but a question like this. She gave her lord an unsure look. “My lord. I'm not sure what you want to hear from me“ “Come on Sprakle. The inhabitants of the empire. Begin with them who lived the longest time on this earth“ “Yes my lord. The first people who discovered this land where the settlers which sailed the sea that is around equestria. They were hard working, realistic people which lived mostly from hunting and farming. With the time more and more of them arrived. Some moved further into the inner of the new land and founded towns and cities. No one knows how long the settlers lived here but it was long enough to colonize the whole continent and to invent politic to hold the peace between the cities. Today there aren't much people who only got this old settler blood in them. Mostly the nobility had tried to save this blood and pass it on to the next generation“ Theresa repeated what she studied a long time ago. “Excellent. Just as I expected. Now go on. What happened then?“ Lord Discord commented. “Of course my Lord. It's not proved why but one day a new kind of humans appeared inside the community of the settlers. These humans could sense forces of the nature and use them for their own good. Later this was called magic and the people who could use it became the nickname „Unicorns“ because of their abilities. Today the best historians and scholars think that the magic of this land influenced some of the settler and instead of normal humans, unicorns were born. The new type of humans quickly got their own place in the society. They mostly worked as politicians or teachers because of their natural given higher intelligence. The normal humans had no problems with the unicorns and tolerated their presence without any issues. With the strength of the humans and the intelligence of the unicorns combined, the cities were able to grow. Quickly the races began to mix. Humans and unicorns mixed their genes but nothing special happened out of this. Humans or unicorn were born out of this relationships. A mix of both was believed impossible” “Correct. And then? As I can remember there is one more race you haven't mentioned” “At once Lord Discord. Again there is no prove why but one more time a new race showed up. This time a mix of the human and unicorn genes worked. These humans had some behaviors of normal humans and unicorns. They could feel the magic around them but were not able to use it like unicorns could. But they discovered ways to use if differently. While they couldn't force the magic to obey them, they could bend the magic around them. With this ability they were able support the natural strength in them. They could change the air around them to run and jump better and even release the magic with one hit and the direction of an enemy. Because of their wild lifestyle and abilities they where called pegasi. Again the new type of humans was adapted into the society but pegasi were perfect warriors in a land of peace and harmony. Of course this hadn't worked out well and soon war fall above the continent. Since then wars were fought and either won or lost. The last time peace had ruled the land was a long time ago” Theresa ended her lecture about the history of equestria. “So young and already so smart? I'm so proud of you my dear” Lord Discord stated with an ironic grin. “I am honored my Lord” she answered, knowing the previous comment was just a mock but she had to be nice to her Lord. “But”, he continued “what if I tell you that there is one more possibility. One more race to discover” “Excuse me my Lord but if you are speaking of a mix between all three races than I must tell you that this is impossible. There is no way to mix the genes of all three races” Theresa tried to explain her Lord. “Yes my dear, for us it seems impossible but not for one special unicorn. The one who lives far in the north, between the ice and the mountains. His name is Starswirl. Starswirl the bearded to be exact” Lord Discord jumped out of the throne and began to wander around the room. Theresa quickly followed him. “After the beginning of the war he fled there as his tower was destroyed by the filthy crystal rebels while they were on the way here. The years he lived there had make him mad but he still is one of the wisest people in equestria. Shortly after his disappearance I send some people after him to observe his actions. He could have been a threat to the empire but he just settled down and tried to survive in misanthropic landscape of the north. Something must have happened because one day he spontaneously started to research on the genes of humans. Back then I thought he just got completely mad but today I know what he wants to do. He tries to mix all races and create one race that would have all the abilities of all races. Humans of this race would be like gods and won't obey anyone. These gods would rip the world apart while they fight over the splinters. I can't let this happen”, he stopped wandering around and turned his head to his follower. To her surprise they stood in front of the throne again. “And this dear Theresa is where you appear in my plan” he said with a look in the eyes that terrified the woman. She tried to take a step back from her Lord but he took her arm and hold her in place. “You will travel all the way up until you reach the his tower and when you are there you will stop him and his mad plans so the land must never fear an invasion of powerful gods” “My Lord. I'm not sure I can satisfy your whishes. Wouldn't it be wiser to send a troop of soldiers to stop him? They have the knowledge how to survive in the nature and are skilled in combat, everything I never learned. I'm really sorry but I can't do as you wish” she explained her Lord while tear herself apart from him. “But I insist that you do it. You can travel anonymous through the land. The rebels don't know you. My soldiers would be spotted from miles and killed by the rebels in no time. I need my soldiers here in case of an attack too. And there isn't any other person which I would trust as strong as I trust you” he tried to convince her. Theresa was quiet for a moment and began to rethink the situation. What he wants me to do it totally madness! she thought. I can't travel across all of equestria, survive the different problems the land would throw at me and in the end fight one of the most powerful unicorns of equestria. This is impossible! She was about to refuse her Lords order and possibly take a punishment for disobeying the Lord but then one thought crossed her mind. Isn't that what you always wanted? Leaving the castle, the Lord and live somewhere else where the war hadn't destroyed all beauty of the land? This is your chance! Take it and leave the castle, even when it's just for some weeks. See the land and his people.That's true. She had thought about it often but never had expected to get such a chance. “Say Sprakle, what is your decision? When you are still unsure I could force you to make the journey” he said, not showing if he was joking or not. “When will I leave my Lord?” she asked him, pushed by her thoughts and the Lords offer. Perfect, he thought, just as is expected.