The Creation of Harmony

by Time Ponies are cool

The Rhino Emperor

Chapter V: The Rhino Emperor

At little under one millenium old, Hoofrica was the youngest kingdom in the land, as well as the most diverse, most vast and most progressive. Rhinoceroses, gazelles, zebras and warthogs all lived in harmony under one ruler.

The kingdom was born out of the Hoofricans' mutual resentment against the dragons that freely entered into the forests, grasslands and mountains to mine for gems and precious metals. After the dragon Scorching Stomach first discovered delectable diamonds in the banks of the Uzima River in 1434 B.E., wave after wave of dragon miners came to Hoofrica and violated the land in search of the finest organic ingredients for high-class cuisine. They burned the forests, dammed the rivers, dug up the lush plains and tore down the mountains. Some dragons snatched native Hoofricans and kept them as slaves. The Hoofricans learned to hide in fear when they heard the sound of dragon roars, and the many tribes soon began to collaborate in order to survive the dragon occupation, which continued for four-hundred years.

In the year 1099 B.E., a zebra shaman spoke a prophecy after she ate a raw Heart's Desire flower.

"By the setting of this thousand and the rising of that thousand, a light shall shine.

Atop the tended tallest tree, it lights the path to an ending to the pain and agony of thine.

The mighty Queen, receiving the light, will perform a final act of justice when she hears our plea.

And a kingdom will rise high and strong, born from the beauty of the deepest roots of our holy tree."

The four tribes of Hoofrica brought together their wisest sages to decipher the prophecy. The rhinos sent Moto. The gazelles sent Hewa. The zebras sent Maji. And the warthogs sent Ardhi. They realized that the prophecy was an instruction to send a prayer to the great creator goddess, Queen Faust, and the prayer was to be sent through an enchanted tree. In the distant past, when the Old Gods and mortals were still closely connected, the mortals sent their prayers to the heavens through fast-growing trees that burst with light at the top. As ages passed, the trees were used less and less, and by the second millennium B.E., they were all gone.

Moto, Hewa, Maji and Ardhi spent six years searching throughout the world for a seed of those trees, and they found one on the frozen peak of Mount Matumaini in the Barafu Mountains far to the North, at the edge of the Great Northern Desert. But the seed was shriveled and fragile after centuries locked in ice, and the soil in Hoofrica was dry and infertile. They planted the seed in the best patch of land they could find in all of Hoofrica, which was a small clearing in the Forest of Uhuru. With its tattered state and the harsh conditions, the seed took seventy years to grow into a full tree, and in every single day of those seventy years, the four sages tended to it and recited their prayer over it.

"Holy Queen. Creator of all. Hear our plea. Our land is suffering. Our kind are in pain. We beg of thee, bring it to an end. Free us from the greed of the dragons and bring life back to our land."

After seventy years, the seed grew into the tallest tree in the forest. One day, in the year 1023, as the frail old sages were about to recite their daily prayer, a great light burst from the top of the tree. The light floated up into the sky and disappeared as it went beyond the clouds. Inspired by the sight, the sages made the decision to name the tree the Tree of Light. Moments after the light from the tree lifted above the clouds, the sound of dragons groaning and complaining of stomach ache were heard all over Hoofrica and Dragonia. Every single dragon in the world was feeling stomach pain, and shortly, every dragon burped out a sealed letter. The letter was an order for the dragons to leave the lands of Hoofrica and let the indigenous creatures live in peace. At first the dragons were reluctant to heed a letter from a goddess not heard from in centuries, but the elderly queen of Dragonia, Cinder, knowing it was unwise to anger the gods, decided to discuss the issue with the Hoofricans. Queen Cinder met with Moto, Hewa, Maji and Ardhi on a field full of pink rose bushes. The king of Ponytopia, Solus II, oversaw the meeting, in order to ensure Queen Faust's expectations were met. At the end of the day, while King Solus was focusing on setting the Sun, Queen Cinder and the four sages finally came to agreement. The dragons were to leave Hoofrica and never enter without the permission of the sages.

As the Hoofricans celebrated their liberation, Moto, Hewa, Maji and Ardhi met together to plan the future of Hoofrica. They knew that Hoofrica needed leadership if it was to survive, and they knew their time in this world would not last much longer. They wrote a constitution for Hoofrica and assigned Moto's son as heir to the sages. The sages died peacefully, Moto's son, Nguvu, became the first emperor of Hoofrica.

The new kingdom of Hoofrica advanced quickly with the assistance of the ponies. The Hoofricans learned from pony magic, architecture, and weather control. The Hoofricans built their capital, Rhinopolis, from scratch and built the Emperor's palace around the Tree of Light. Soon Hoofrica was a kingdom as magnificent as Ponytopia, using modern names, attire and language.

No longer a fledgling kingdom needing aid, Hoofrica was now a kingdom fit to be a rival to Ponytopia and Dragonia.

~~~~~

"Your Highness, here's this week's copy of the Gazelle Gazette. The publishers apologize for the lateness. There was some controversy over the gossip column and they had to delay printing to sort it out."

A gazelle in a butler suit entered the Rhino Emperor's throne room while balancing a silver tray with a newspaper on his head. He approached Emperor Bluehorn and bowed before the throne. Bluehorn sat on a magnificent ornate throne carved into an ancient and mighty tree. The throne was decorated with gold, diamonds and detailed carvings of rhinos, gazelles, zebras and warthogs. Above the throne, on the trunk of the tree, were carved these words in the old language of Zwahiri:

"By the setting of this thousand and the rising of that thousand, a light shall shine.

Atop the tended tallest tree, it lights the path to an ending to the pain and agony of thine.

The mighty Queen, receiving the light, will perform a final act of justice when she hears our plea.

And a kingdom will rise high and strong, born from the beauty of the deepest roots of our holy tree."

Emperor Bluehorn took the newspaper from the butler and said, "Tell them not to worry about it Alfalfred. Unlike my old man, I'm patient enough to allow a late newspaper."

Bluehorn was a stout rhino, but he had an impressive horn with a brilliant royal blue glow. The glow lit up the entire throne room as he used his magic to open the newspaper and levitate it in front of his face. Bluehorn wore a tall golden crown studded with diamonds, big golden nose rings and a traditional turquoise collar necklace. His cutie mark was a pair of scales.

The throne room had massive clear-glass windows, but for hundreds of years, the emperors kept them covered with velvet curtains. The light of the sun and moon were controlled by the pony kings, and the emperors refused to let such light enter the throne room. The floor of the room was of pure white marble and on the ceiling was a beautiful fresco depicting scenes of the goddess, Queen Faust, creating the world and all its inhabitants. A warthog was about to begin scrubbing the floor when Emperor Bluehorn gave a loud hearty laugh while reading his newspaper.

"Corn on their horn. Haha! Too rich! Ah, what else is there? Oh my Faust! 'Renowned Poet, Spoken Heart, found Dead With Head In Oven!' Noooo! I loved her poems." Bluehorn looked up and shouted, "Everyone! A moment of silence for Spoken Heart! Now! And hats off!"

Bluehorn took off his crown, the guards their helmets and the warthog his cap. They all looked down and remained silence. During the silence, a strange exotic noise was heard out of nowhere. Bluehorn looked up and saw a strange object slowly appearing right before his eyes. From out of thin air, a tall blue box materialized in front of the throne.

"What the Tartarus? Guards!"

The guards all put their helmets back on, picked up their pikes and surrounded the blue box, pointing their weapons at the strange object. Bluehorn gave the captain of the guards a nod and the captain banged on the doors of the blue box, shouting.

"Who's in there? You've infiltrated the Emperor's throne room! Come out and face the consequences for this crime! You have the right to an attorney!"

There came a small click and the doors of the blue box slowly creaked open. A pegasus calmly walked out of the box and gave Bluehorn a short bow, saying,

"Salutations, Your Royal Highness. Fine afternoon we’re having."

The guards immediately took hold of him and the captain pointed his horn at the pegasus' throat.

"I say. What a wonderful butler! He's so violent!" the pegasus said.

"Silence!" the captain shouted. "Speak only when spoken to! And I'm not some lowly butler!"

Alfalfred gasped at the captain's remark, glared at the captain and said, "Well. I never!" Then he began to walk out of the room.

The captain looked at Alfalfred walking away and shouted, "Wait! Alfalfred! I didn't mean it that way! Oh come on! Don't take it personally!"

"Anyway!" Bluehorn interrupted, "Back to the intruder. You! Uhh..." The Emperor hesitated and whispered into a guard's ear, "How do I start an interrogation again?"

The guard whispered back into Bluehorn's ear and Bluehorn looked back at the pegasus, saying, "State your name, rank and intention!"

"Well, my name is Tympanus. My rank... hmmm.... not sure about that. I suppose the best I can come up with is 'renegade.' And as for my intention, I have only one intention and that, Your Highness, is to help you."

"Oh, you're here to help." Bluehorn said, "In that case, guards release him."

The captain gave a sigh and spoke, "Your Highness, he's a pony. He could be lying. We can't trust him."

"Oh, yeah, right. Guards, keep a hold on him." Bluehorn looked the Master in the eye and asked, "And how am I supposed to trust you, Tympanus? If that's even your real name! Are you a spy?"

"Ah, you need a token of my trust. Of course. Well then..." Tympanus reached in the blue box and took out a piece of paper. "Here's my I.D." He flipped the same piece of paper to show a new set of text. "Here's my resume." He flipped it again to show yet another set of text. "Here's a wanted poster signed by King Concordius." He flipped it one more time. "And here is my- Oh, jeez! Oops! That's Cheerilee's phone number. Can't believe I still have that. How embarrassing. Hehe..."

"What on Earth is a 'phone number'?"

"Oh right. Phones haven't been invented yet. My bad. Anyway, if you're still skeptical, take my blue box. You saw it with your own eyes. It just appeared here. This box can go anywhere in the world and you can use it to your advantage. And with my help, you might be able to finally put an end to this war, Your Highness."

"He's just some mad pony, Your Highness." the captain said, "He belongs in the dungeon."

"Hold on, captain." Bluehorn said, "A pony with a box like this might be worth listening to, even though he seems insane."

"Oh, you have no idea." Tympanus said with a small laugh.

Emperor Bluehorn faintly chuckled at the funny pony before becoming serious and asking, "Tell me why. Why would you turn against your own kingdom?"

Tympanus let out a tiny smirk. Everything was going according to plan.

"Oh, Your Highness, I just want to put an end to all the suffering these centuries of war have caused. I tried to convince King Concordius to end it, but he wouldn't listen. He's a bloodthirsty tyrant. But I know you're a kind, noble and understanding emperor, Your Highness. You reign justly over your subjects and have only their wellbeing in mind. A far greater ruler than Concordius could ever be, if you ask me."

"Go on..."

"If you win this war, you can usher in an era of harmony and friendship, with all your rhino, gazelle, zebra and warthog subjects with your foes as slaves farming the lush fields and bustling through the magnificent streets of a new paradise: Camelot!"

"Camelot?" Bluehorn disgustedly replied.

"Hmmm... yeah, forget Camelot." Tympanus answered. "Rubbish name. Who would name a paradise after those bloody desert dwellers? Oh, I got a good one! How about the United Kingdom?"

Emperor Bluehorn leaned back on his throne and dreamingly stared off, saying, "The United Kingdom... my subjects, living in harmony..."

Tympanus interrupted Bluehorn's fantasizing. "But of course the box alone can't win the war. Look at it. So tiny. You'll need me, Your Highness, and all I need is access to your best alchemists."

Tympanus deeply bowed his head as he made his request. Bluehorn put his hoof to his chin and thought deeply on what Tympanus had said. After a few moments, he smiled and said, "Alright then. Captain, release him and escort him to the laboratory."

The captain looked with a raised eyebrow at Emperor Bluehorn, then gave a skeptical look at Tympanus. He signaled for the guards to let go of Tympanus and Tympanus rubbed his shoulders once his hooves were finally free.

"What a rough lot, these guards. I thank you dearly, Your Highness. Hopefully your alchemists are more... gentle."

Tympanus let out a laugh and Bluehorn laughed along with him.

"Hurry along, pony." The captain gruffly said.

Two guards opened the door out of the throne room and followed the captain as he led Tympanus to the royal laboratory. Tympanus strutted with a mischievous smirk down the halls of the palace. His plan was going by smoothly.