//------------------------------//
// Harmony Dies- part one 
// Story: My little Short Stories 
// by Paradise Oasis 
//------------------------------//

Harmony Dies- part one

314 A.R.- three centuries after the release of Nightmare Moon.

The Everfree forest... a dark and mysterious place of shadows and gloom. This place was home to many terrible monsters and horrible creatures, and had such a fearsome reputation that no pony from the neighboring village of Ponyville ever dared to venture here. But to her, this place was home. Not only home, in fact, but her sovereign dominion. Ruled by her and her family for generations, her pony subjects had grown hard and brutal in these lands. Re-shaped by the cruel unforgiving environment that surrounded them, the ponies of Dream Valley had grown strong in the forest they now called home.

But those Equestrian Ponies.... those spoiled little foals who lived in the lands beyond Dream Valley, those were the equines that made the mare sick. Living their sweet and gentle little lives, with controlled weather and safe towns and cities. The mares of Fillydelphia had never known the bitter cold that killed half your harvest. And the foals of Mnaehatten went to sleep in their cozy warm beds each night, with no fear of where that filling meal that would be on their table the next day would come from. Oh, how she loathed those ponies who danced under the light of the alicorn's sun and moon, while she and her subjects fought to survive in the shadows.

"My queen?" A voice called out to the yellow mare with the pink mane. "Queen Sky Skimmer, must come back to the castle at once. It appears that the situation has worsened."

Sky Skimmer stood at the edge of the everfree forest,looking up at the sight of faraway Canterlot. The ponies up there were celebrating the wonderful holiday of Heart's warming eve there, and even from here the queen could see a thousand colorful lights glittering in the capital. There, she knew, ponies were going to watch hearth warming eve plays, and sitting down to warm meals with their friends and families. The royal Princesses were probably sitting down to warm cups of cider, congratulating themselves on how good of rulers they were. the very thought of it was enough to make Sky snarl in rage.

"Very Well, Love Melody." The angry mare replied, trying to keep her composure. "Let us return home, and tell me what is amiss

The first earth mare ever born to the royal Majesty blood line, Sky Skimmer Majesty was a pony many in the kingdom of Dream Valley were uncertain was the best choice to take the throne. But being the last Queen's only daughter, she had promised her subjects that she would do her best to live up to their expectations. But while things had gone well the first two years of her reign, more recent events had only played into her subject's worst fears.

"I just received a report form the castle engineers, that we have a problem with the power." The purple mare with the fading pink mane told her queen. "Quite frankly, the electricity in the generator is running out, and with the waterfall having frozen up, we have no way of restoring it."

"Melody, we need that power to keep the light and heat going!" The queen pointed out, as the two crossed the rope bridge that led back to the castle. "Can't the unicorns generate enough electricity with their magic?"

"I'm afraid not, my queen." The mare replied sadly. "It's taking all of their energy just to keep their family's rooms warm."

The two approached the ruins of the palace of the two sisters- a ruined facade Dream Valley's engineers had restored to keep the true castle hidden. As they trotted into the grand ballroom, the queen could see the forms of the changelings of clan Shadowvale flitting about in the shadows. Cloaked sentries whose job it was to scare off any curious ponies who wandered too far into the everfree, these guardians used the Equestrian legends of the mare of shadows to prevent the alicorn sister's subject from discovering their hidden kingdom.

"This is most disturbing news, another calamity to pile onto our long list of troubles." Sky Skimmer told  her royal chancellor, as the portal into the Dream Castle pocket dimension opened. "For a holiday, things around here just seem to be getting worse and worse."

The two mares trotted down the grand hallway, where several ponies sat huddled in blankets, trying to keep warm together. A Pegasus lady in wasting flew up, and put a warm cloak around Sky Skimmer.

"Here you go, my queen." She whinnied in concern. "Is that warm enough for you?"

"Yes that is fine, thank you." The monarch lied, trying to keep from shivering. Her subjects were so loyal, willing to give up their lives for something as trivial as her comfort. The sight of a shriveled mare and a stallion sitting under a blanket caused her to stop in her tracks.

"Are you two all right?" She asked the malnourished couple. "Why are you not in your rooms?"

"Oh, we're just fine, your majesty." The stallion told Sky Skimmer, a forced smile on his face. "A-and we just wanted to spend hearth's warming eve out here with our fellow ponies."

"Y-yeah," The mare agreed, her teeth chattering. "i-it's really lovely in our apartments, and we wanted somebody out  here to talk to."

"Very well, my little ponies." The queen replied, biting her lip, and trying to hold her tears back. "lease, let me know if you need anything."

The queen trotted on to the throne room, where sparse hearth warming eve decorations had been set up. That was just as well, the queen decided, as Sky Skimmer wasn't in much in a holiday mood, anyway.

"Melody, get the head of our gardens in here." The queen demanded, sitting down on her throne. "I want to know why we don't have enough food to feed my subjects!"

It wasn't long before a purple mare with a peach colored mane was summoned in, Bowing before the throne, Magical Breeze answered the queen's inquiry.

"Putting it quite simply, your highness, our gardens and orchards are freezing up." The mare sighed, shaking her mane. "Too much cold is seeping into the tesseract from the outside world, and it's killing all of our crops."

"And what of our livestock?" The  queen asked, tapping her hoof on the throne's arm rest. "Are they too suffering from this terrible weather?"

"The animals are starving and dying, as well." Magical Breezes responded sadly. "And the situation isn't much better amongst the castle's pony population. I've heard stories about some mares and stallions eating their family pets, and boiling saddles to eat the leather."

"It's all those stupid alicorn's fault!" Lovely Melody snapped angrily, stamping her hoof. "If it weren't for those idiotic embargo laws, we could get the food and energy we need!"

"And what can we do about it, Melody?!?" The irritated queen snapped back. "We don't have the might to challenge Equestria, and we are even allowed to survive because the rainbow of light is a powerful enough defensive weapon! How could we possibly challenge the Equestrian army head on?"

"What about the golden crown, my queen?"  Magical Breezes asked, pointing to the object on the mare's head. "Surely you could just tap your hooves, and-"

"And what, blow my entire kingdom to smithereens?" Sky Skimmer asked, shaking her head. "The crown is the most powerful object in this world, tapping the might of the great horsemaster herself. For whatever I do with it, the crown will take just as much away." The mare shook her head. "I cannot risk causing my poor subjects any more suffering."

There was silence in the throne room for a few moments, before the chancellor finally stepped forward.

"My queen, I wasn't going to mention it, but..." The mare sheepishly held up an envelope, with seal of the dark lands on it. "...but this came for you a few weeks ago, and perhaps it has the answer we've looking for."

"A diplomatic dispatch?" Curious, Sky Skimmer took the already opened envelope from her adviser, and began to read the letter;

To her royal highness, Queen Sky Skimmer of Dream Castle. Ruler of one of the strongest nations of survivors in all of Equestria, Greetings;

It has come to our attention, that your loving and loyal subjects have come under much affliction of late, due to the harsh rules and regulations set upon Dream Valley by your surrounding neighbor, the principality of Equestria. We are deeply troubled by the rumors of starvation and hunger that are coming out of the Everfree forest, and we wish you to know that the sympathies of the Dark lands are with our dear friends in Dream Castle, despite all of the... 'difficulties' our two nations have shared in the past. the royal Princesses Celestia and Luna should not be so cruelly with their fellow equines, and we fear for the survival of your entire nation under Equestria's continued blockade of your borders.

My gracious lord and master, the great lord Tirac, believes that we may offer a suggestion that will assist in your malady. As you are well aware, Equestria's good fortune and magic flows from the tree of harmony, a crystalline plant growth, located at the very heart of your wild and untamed dominions. As long as the tree lives, Equestria remains strong, and your little ponies continue to suffer. But if a powerful enough magic of sufficient might-say, Dream Valley's rainbow of light, or that powerful crown of yours- were to attack the tree at it's roots, such a blast would be of sufficient power to kill it. With the harmony tree gone, Equestria's weather would become self governing, totally uncontrollable by the Pegasus, and unicorn magic would be severely weakened and diminished.  Also, the everfree forest- your domain- would expand over Equestria.  Dream Valley's rough and rugged everfree forest ponies get new territory, while those spoiled and selfish little Equestrian ponies are pushed farther and farther back.

Furthermore, my great and gracious lord has another offer to make Dream Valley. If that accursed tree were to be dealt with, opening up the opportunity for my master to exploit such a weakness, I am in a position to offer absolute neutrality should lord Tirac or his allies begin their war with Equestria. And he promises Dream Valley shall come to no harm, so long as this conflict is being waged. We offer you and your subjects the opportunity to better your lives at the expense of those who have caused you so much misery. Will you cause a little suffering to those who gave it to you, or will your subjects continue To be pushed around by two unicorns with wings in far away Canterlot.  

The choice, my wise and noble queen, is in your capable hooves. But it may be everyone's best interests, my good queen, to destroy a worthless plant that is only bringing pain to your subjects. Take some time to think about what I have written here, and I shall await your response to our most gracious and ingenious offer.

Kindest Regards,

Viceroy Thugly, Goblin enforcer of the Darklands for Lord Tirac

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Sky skimmer asked, throwing down the letter with her hoof. "Melody, something like this is too important to just ignore!"

"My queen, you can't possibly be considering taking the dark lord's offer!" Breezes protested. "The tree of harmony is the life force of all Equestrian Ponykind! Without it, this continent will slip into a Dark age that will never end!"

"Why should we care?" Melody asked, shrugging the other mares concern off. "They've turned down all of our pleas for help, why should we care about Celestia or Luna or any ponies outside of this forest?"

"Both of you, leave me." The queen told them, as the two other mares bowed and departed. "I must think on this matter... alone."

After the other ponies had gone, Sky Skimmer stood up, and began to pace the floor in thought. Looking up at the portrait of Queen Sunsparkle, she wondered how the very first mare in her royal bloodline would have handled this situation.

"You were first queen of the unicorn kingdom, created by the horsemaster herself to rule." She thought to herself, gazing at the mare with the glittering red coat and yellow mane. "It was you who first forged the golden crown from the tears of the horsemaster, you who was the first leader the first herd of ponies ever had. What would you do, if you were in my horseshoes?"

As she stared up at the portrait, the queen thought about all those lights off in the distance in Canterlot, and of all those suffering ponies who loved her, and relied on her for guidance and leadership.

And it was then, that the queen knew what she had to do.

...