Prolouge - A Bitter Pill to Swallow
“Achoo!”
A frilly, white handkerchief soon found itself levitating in front of the monarch’s reddened muzzle, appearing with what could only be described as robotic precision.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Princess?”
Princess Celestia stared at the finely-woven cloth before her with burdened eyes, debating with herself over whether or not she should even bother with the thing. On one hoof, she had always found handkerchiefs to be a bit on the grody side of things. On the other hoof, she would hate to ruin her freshly-washed coat so early in the day. She probably would have kept this mental back-and-forth going for a few more moments had it not been for the growing trail of mucus running down her upper lip.
“Yes, I assure you, I’m —sniff— fine.” she replied, wiping the handkerchief across her face. “I’ve lived for over a thousand years. I think I can handle a cold.”
With a sigh, the butler took back the cloth and folded it up. ‘If you say so, your highness.” he said, contradicting himself almost immediately by taking a few steps backward to distance himself from the Princess as she let out another round of raspy coughs. “Your health is my number-one priority. Please do not hesitate to let me know if there’s anything you need.”
“Thank y-” She began, her words coming out rough and congested. Celestia closed her eyes as she cleared her throat, cringing as the inflamed passageway protested the action. “Thank you. Your concern is much appreciated. Now please, I would appreciate some privacy.”
The butler said nothing, nodding respectfully as he exited the bedroom.
The sound of Celestia’s complaining went hand-in-hand with the sound of the door closing as the butler made his way out.
“Ugh...” she groaned, cupping her aching forehead between her hooves. “This can’t be happening already!”
To an outside observer, her condition didn’t make sense - she was an alicorn. She wasn’t supposed to get sick. She was Princess Celestia, the millennia-old, divine ruler of one of the largest and most powerful realms in the known world. She was an alicorn, a prestigious race blessed with longevity, good health, and eternal youth.
Or, at least, that’s what she told everypony.
It was true — being an alicorn definitely had its perks, but anypony with the smallest notion of common sense knew that nothing, not even a god, can last forever.
She was getting weaker. The eternal life wielded by alicorns might seem like a blessing to the uninitiated, but the truth was that it came at a steep cost. Sure, powerful magic can allow an organism to never age past a certain point, but magic is energy, and if Starswirl’s third law is to be believed, energy degrades over time.
There was a reason why Celestia had begun taking students under her wing. Her magic was getting weaker, and Equestria would soon be left defenseless. Of course, Luna would still be there to take her place, but she would soon succumb to the same circumstances as well. So what was she to do? The answer was simple enough: Find another pony with just as much intelligence and virtuosity as she once did, and pass her remaining power down to her.
After thousands of years, the magic infused into her at her birth had at last run out, and she had become mortal. Her flowing, ethereal hair would soon begin to gray. Her smooth, flawless face would become rough and wrinkled. Then, like she had watched her thousands of years worth of peers do before her, she would perish.
But Princess Celestia did not fear death — she was much too wise to do something as silly as that. She feared for Equestria.
She had thought that Twilight’s coronation would be the end of the dark cloud of anxiety and uncertainty that constantly loomed above her. She had thought that she had had it all figured out, and she could pass on in peace without having to worry about the future of the land she cared for so much. But now, after the unfortunate chain of events that lead to Twilight’s abdication, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Sure, she had a good fifty years left in her to fix it, to find another to take her place. But unicorns with Twilight’s abilities only came around once in a century.
I have to get Twilight back before she does anything drastic, no matter the cost, she thought to herself, pen hovering over the bottom of the scroll laid out before her.
She could easily do the same thing Twilight had done to find her missing friend, but if she was correct in her assumptions of her whereabouts, sending troops into Griffon lands, even unarmed, would surely be seen as an act of war. Her recent diplomatic trip had taught her that much.
A glob of ink dripped off of the tip of the feather as it hovered in the air, tarnishing the pristine penmanship of the mobilisation order underneath with a splatter of pitch blackness.
The alicorn gasped sharply, the feeling of wet ink on her skin breaking her out of her trance. No, I can’t, she scolded herself, placing the feather back into its well and crumbling up the document. Just give it time, Celestia. There has to be another way.
* * *
“Many thanks to ‘ya, sir. Ya’ll come back, now, ‘ya hear?”
Igneous Rock rubbed his eyes, watching Celestia’s sun as it slowly ducked behind the grove of trees on the horizon. With a sigh, he closed the cash register, its signature ring signaling the end of another busy day of business. Kicking up the brakes that held the wooden cart in place, the old stallion bit down on an old, tattered bag filled with the day’s earnings and loaded it into the back.
The bag in question was much heavier than usual, and Igneous winced as his neck strained to hold up the heavy burden. If only Maud were here, he thought, grunting as he set the bag down into the cart. I’m gettin’ too old for this.
The old stallion hung his head with a huff as soon as his neck was relieved of the bag’s hefty weight. Then, with everything ready to go, he closed the cart’s back panel and fastened the harness over his shoulders. Here we go again, he thought to himself, dreading the brief, but laborious journey back to the rock farm.
The first step was always the hardest. Igneous shifted his weight forward with all of his might, using almost every muscle in his aged, yet muscular body to pull the heavy load behind him. His hooves firmly gripped the dirt underneath, working in harmony with his four legs to push themselves off the ground. In only a few short moments, his efforts paid off, having produced enough momentum to move the wheels of the cart and shift the brunt of the work to them.
“Whew.” he heaved, staring down the path before him as he started towards home. He had walked the worn, beaten trail countless times in his life, and knew it like the back of his hoof. It was almost a part of him. Over the many decades of his life, he had made countless memories here. This was where he first traveled to Ponyville with his mother and father, and as well where he first did so with his own children.
To him, this trail was a happy place. For years, he had always traveled down it with a tired, but nevertheless satisfied grin on his face. Yet for some reason, today, Igneous Rock felt only emptiness in his heart as he passed under the familiar shade of the evergreen trees that he had watched grow ever larger as the years carried on.
In the aftermath of his daughter’s death, his family’s dinky little farm had received a huge amount of attention. Ponies from far and wide flocked to the Pie family’s little corner of Equestria to lend their support, and every day the Pies would wake up to another few gifts laid on their doorstep. For a while, the constant stream of sympathetic notes, colorful bouquets, blue-and-yellow balloons, and, of course, small donations seemed almost endless. But now, a month later, it finally seemed to be slowing down.
As a result, the farm had seen a massive boost in sales, as well. While before, the Pies could only manage to sell enough gems, gravel, and raw stone blocks to get by, they now had to work overtime to meet the massive demand. Thanks to the Pie’s newfound fame and comparatively cheap prices, ponies from all over Equestria flocked to the farm. Now, Pie family stones could be found in countless places across the realm, from the grand façades of massive buildings to the humble gravel paths of a grandmother’s garden.
Like most lower-class ponies, Igneous Rock had always dreamed of attaining vast wealth. He had always thought that money would bring him and his family happiness. He had thought that all he needed was a few hundred thousand bits, and all of his worries would vanish into thin air.
This thought, however, couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
No matter how much business the farm received, no matter how many gifts they were given, there wasn’t a single earthly possession that could even begin to fill the void left behind by the passing of his beloved daughter. Even with all the new, shiny tools his family could now afford, the new storehouse they could build, Igneous still found himself weeping at the end of each day.
Lately, he found himself traveling to sell his crop in Ponyville more than ever, as he could barely even stand to be at the farm anymore. Everywhere he looked on that rocky patch of land triggered a memory of times gone by. He would look at the far end of the west field and remember the very first time he taught his little Pinkamena how to break apart a geode, and the look of pure, unbridled excitement on her face when she first laid her eyes upon the beautiful crystals inside. He would gaze out the dining room window every morning, noon, and night, and recall a time when he would gaze through the glass to see his four lovely daughters playing in the fields.
No matter how much he thought back to the happiness of the past, he couldn’t bear to work up the slightest semblance of a smile. No matter how sweet the memory, it was always crushed by the fact that somewhere on that very farm, that sweet little filly was buried six feet underground.
“Damn it, Igneous…” he cursed, stopping to wipe the budding tears from his eyes. “Don’t you know that stallions aren’t meant to cry?”
* * *
A bright violet glow lit the otherwise pitch black that shrouded the mountain pass in darkness. Twilight Sparkle squinted her eyes, a slight huff of warm air leaving her snout as she nervously inched forward, making each movement as careful and precise as possible.
Though she had been on her hooves for hours, it seemed as though her neck would be the part of her that would be most tired in the morning. Up and down went her head, constantly moving to both light the way forward, and to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally step off the cliff.
The narrow ridge led to a rather large plateau, visible only by the dim light that radiated from the small cluster of buildings that called it home. “Thank goodness…” Twilight breathed, carefully following the slippery, worn-down stones below her. Each and every step she took was carefully planned, as, though its true depth was not visible in the darkness of the night, one misstep would send her tumbling down the rocky chasm below.
She probably would have complained about the utter lack of proper safety measures had she not been forced to dedicate the majority of her attention to compensating for it. The high altitude didn’t help, either; though she was barely exerting herself, she was utterly out of breath, her lungs having to work extra hard to extract oxygen from the thin air around her.
Next time I’ll just…
She took one final, nervous step forward, establishing herself on the safety of the flat plateau.
...Take the train.
Twilight sighed. At long last, she had arrived. The old, dilapidated buildings before her weren’t by any means a sight to behold, but in her current state, they may as well have been five-star hotels. With new found energy, she galloped as quickly as her aching hooves could carry her, wanting nothing more than to collapse onto a nice, warm bed.
“Hello?” she greeted, peeking herself through the door of — if her Griffonese was still up to par — what appeared to be an inn. From there, she could see an older griffon snoozing rather ungracefully. His face was planted firmly on the surface of the desk, and the only indication that he was still alive was the obnoxiously loud sound of his snoring.
“Hello?” She said again, raising her voice. Despite her best efforts, however, the griffon didn’t budge.
Twilight puffed out her cheeks and huffed. I’m too tired for this, she thought, levitating her wallet out of one of her saddlebags. She placed a few hundred-piece coins on the counter and made her way down the poorly-lit hall, trying her best to ignore her stomach as it tied itself into a knot. It’s better than sleeping outside, I guess, she thought to herself, peeking into a door left ajar.
To her luck, the room was empty. That fact was the only thing ‘lucky’ about her situation, however. The room in question was filthy and decrepit. Shredded, yellowed curtains flanked each side of a broken window pane. The walls were covered with scratch marks, and a faint odor of rot filled the entire space. The bed was nothing spectacular, either, consisting of a lumpy-looking pillow that rested atop a few bales of visibly moldy hay that had been pushed together. It was, to put it bluntly, a hole.
It wasn’t glamorous, or even acceptable, but in her current exhausted state, Twilight found it difficult to care all that much. With barely any hesitation, she collapsed onto the bed, making sure to cast a health bubble around herself before she drifted off to sleep.
* * *
The Joy of Geology
Chapter 22 — The Rock Cycle
The Rock Cycle is the process through which rocks of one type transform into another. It is a fundamental part of the formation of the earth’s crust, and the reason behind the amazing geological diversity we can observe in the world today.
There are an indefinite number of steps in the rock cycle, ranging from as little as four to as many as nine stages. This is due to the fact that the cycle relies on random events above and below the planet’s surface. These stages are triggered when one type of rock; either igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary, is removed from the conditions in which it was formed.
The origin of every single rock that exists in the world is the magma in the planet’s mantle, and so too is the the rock cycle. Magma exists as —
“Time to go, Maud!”
“Hm?” Maud hummed, marking her place with a bookmark before closing the fat textbook and looking up toward the mare who had called her name.
“We’re in the Griffon Empire! C'mon, Professor Feldspar wants us to meet her at the mountain in a few hours!” said her classmate, motioning for her to follow her.
“Oh.” Maud replied, gathering her saddlebags. She stopped to make sure Boulder was secure in her pocket before following her classmate into the middle of the train car.
“Geez! What a trip, right?” said the bright yellow unicorn, her periwinkle hair bouncing about as she walked through the car door and onto the train platform. “That took, like, forever! I thought it was never gonna be over! Am I right?”
“Mmhmm.” Maud mumbled, looking ahead at the city of Talonston around her as she met her friend on the platform. It wasn’t exactly a huge city. There were no tall skyscrapers like in Manehattan, nor any beautiful marble structures like she’d seen in Canterlot. Talonston was a minor port city in the Griffon Empire, and its appearance reflected that fact. Only a few tall steeples dominated the skyline, with the majority of the rest of the buildings consisting of only a single floor. It reminded her of her visit to Ponyville, where her sister, Pinkie Pie lived.
Pinkie… she thought to herself with a worried frown. I hope she’s still doing okay.
“...Right, Maud?” She heard her classmate say, breaking her train of thought. Maud never really cared for most of her classmates, but Silver Spelunker was a rare exception. She was the only pony she had met in her many years of study that was just into geology as she was, and the only one who could actually teach her something new about it. Despite this, Silver still managed to rub her the wrong way occasionally. Maud wasn’t really one for conversation. Silver was.
Maud looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Right?” She said again, a bright grin exaggerating the thickness of her freckled cheeks.
Maud resisted rolling her eyes, wondering what percentage of Silver’s lexicon consisted of the word ‘right’.
Silver Spelunker levitated a neatly folded piece of paper out of one of her saddlebags.“Right, so according to the itinerary, we have to meet Professor Feldspar at Mount Silver Tail National Park at 2 O’ Clock sharp. Which gives us…” Silver stopped to look around for a time-telling device of some sort. “Um…” she said, putting a forehoof up to her lips and squinting her eyes to catch a glimpse of a passing stallion’s pocketwatch, “Exactly five hours and forty-three point fifty-five minutes! Plenty of time!” she giggled.
“Nice.” Maud replied flatly. She followed the peppy hoofsteps of her classmate as she made her way into the city proper. She was glad to finally be finished with her long journey, but couldn’t help but get an uneasy feeling being in a city with so many griffons.
She had no prejudice against the race, but the griffons here sure seemed to have one against ponies. Everywhere she looked, she could see the residents of the city eyeing her. Griffon society was relatively homogenous, so she would have wrote this off as curiosity had the expressions on their faces not been so disgusted-looking.
“Mmm…” Silver purred, stopping to smell the air. “Wow! That smells delicious!” she announced, turning to Maud. “I don’t know about you, but I’m like, super famished. You wanna stop and get some food before we head off to the mountain?”
“That’s okay.” Maud replied, despite the poorly-timed rumbling of her stomach stating otherwise. “I had a big breakfast.”
Silver scrunched up her muzzle. “You did?” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes.”
“What? There was a breakfast buffet on the train? And nopony told me?”
Ugh, Maud moaned in her head. She didn’t like to lie, but she was growing increasingly uncomfortable with every second she stood out in the open in this city. “I tried to wake you, but you were fast asleep.”
“Hmpf.” Silver pouted, “Well, try harder next time, okay? In the meantime, I’m gonna eat up! I’ll meet you at the mountain, I guess! See ya!” Silver Spelunker waved goodbye before excitedly galloping toward whatever smell she had picked up. In the blink of an eye, the unicorn had disappeared into the crowd of griffons in the city’s main square.
“W-” Maud sputtered, lifting a hoof in Silver’s direction. “I-” She stammered again, looking around at the plain, wooden buildings surrounding her. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to ask her how to get to the mountain, she thought. Maud bit her bottom lip, feeling her stomach tighten as she felt hundreds of hateful eyes staring her down.
I do not like this.
* * *
Pokey Pierce made his way down the wide cobblestone streets of Talonston, scanning the seemingly endless line of shops for any sign of food. He cringed, cursing under his breath with every step he took.The rough cobblestone below him was clearly not suited for the sensitive bottoms of hooves.
Such a mild inconvenience was the least of his problems, however.
“Ugh…” He complained, feeling a familiar tingling sensation in his body as his heart rate began to rise. He probably would have taken a deep breath of the fresh afternoon air to calm himself down had it not been for the griffon behind him slamming into his rear.
“Hey! Get out of my way, pony!” Pokey heard a rather irritated voice call out from behind him.
“Oh, u-uh, so sorry.” he apologized, swiftly moving himself out of the way.
“Freaking immigrants. Go back to Equestria!” the griffon huffed before continuing on his way.
“Heh…” He awkwardly laughed, sidestepping toward the edge of the thoroughfare.
Now that he was out of the way, Pokey stopped to take that breath. Looking around once more to make sure he wasn’t in anypony’s — or, rather — any griffon’s way, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The briny, salty air of the sea overwhelmed his senses, whisking him away to a world without worry, if only for a moment.
Unfortunately, a simple breath of fresh air wasn't nearly enough to get his unfortunate situation off his mind. He was a wanted pony, and, if the age-old stereotypes held true, the griffons who inhabited this land would love nothing more than a bag of gold in exchange for his head.
Pokey would have much rather ran off to another, safer country, such as Bovina, Cervidaevia, or even Yakyakistan, but he hadn’t much time to plan his escape, and the dire circumstances had forced him to act quickly. The only international voyage that day had lead him here. Pokey just wished that he had been able to go to a more pony-friendly area of the world.
This wasn’t totally a bad thing, however. Equestria and the Griffon Empire didn’t exactly have a history of friendly diplomatic relations, so even if he was recognized, it wasn’t likely that the government here would put much, if any, effort into capturing him. If anything, they would praise him for killing off so many ponies.
He eased a little at that thought. Sixteen kills, he thought, chuckling quietly. He could only hope to continue his life here, doing the thing he loved.
Sixteen victims… His inner-monologue continued. That thought had forced a devilish grin onto Pokey’s face. I hope griffons are just as easy to torture than ponies, he thought to himself as he made his way into the city’s central plaza. Then again, I’m sure there are still plenty of ponies living around here.
“Heh.” he laughed. I can’t wait to make somepony scream...
“Excuse me.”
“Gah!” Pokey yelped, earning the attention of more than a few bystanders. They each cast a hateful glare or stifled a laugh towards the tall, shrimpy unicorn before returning their attention to their respective errands.
Pokey had never been a shy pony, but now, given his reputation in Equestria, every set of eyes that glared at him felt like a knife stabbing him in the back. He couldn’t cower forever, though, and Pokey soon found himself forced to slowly turn to face whatever creature had called out to him and pray it wasn’t a bounty hunter.
As soon as he did, however, his heart only jumped even further, but for a much different reason.
If the beautiful-looking earth pony had been startled by his reaction, she didn’t show it. “Do you know the way to Mount Silver Tail?” she continued, her stoic expression matching the droning, monotonous way she spoke.
“I...uh, um…” Pokey stammered, barely able to hear himself over the sound of his heart pounding away in his chest. “I, um…”
A strange blend of emotions stirred around inside of him. Fear took hold of his heart and his hooves, the former shaking wildly as the latter pumped away furiously. At the same time, relief washed over him. The mare clearly hadn't recognized him, but the anxious feeling still lingered on in his chest. But most importantly, Pokey felt a familiar urge deep inside of his blackened heart - the urge to kill.
Here he was, alone in a city full of griffons with another of his kind. A young mare who looked not a day over 20. Four strong, sturdy legs that gave way to a full, yet still slender body. So powerful, yet so helpless. So willing to follow without question. Just waiting to be controlled.
Pokey held back the urge to reach for his knife and slit her throat right then and there. He wanted to kill. He wanted to hear her scream and beg for mercy. But he couldn’t. Not now.
He had lost everything he had in Equestria. No cabin, no cells, and no tools. If he tried anything now, he would almost certainly get caught.
Pokey smiled. But I suppose that just makes it all the more thrilling.
“Y-Yeah.” he finally answered, putting on what he hoped was a convincing, non-threatening smile. Sixteen and counting.
Though Pokey had tried his best not to come off as creepy, it seemed as though the mare had done her part to fill in the gap, and then some. The stoic, almost apathetic way she stared back at him was strangely unnerving.
“Well?” she said with a little more force, her purple bangs shifting as she tilted her head. “I don’t have all day.”
“Oh, uh, yes. Of course!” Pokey replied, pointing a hoof in the direction of what appeared to be a dense forest in the distance. “Lucky for you, I, uh, know this place like the back of my hoof. Follow me.”
She shook her head. "That's okay. I would rather you just give me directions."
"Oh..." Pokey blinked. "Well, to tell you the truth, I, uh..."
Think, Pokey! Think! he berated himself, wracking his brain to think an excuse.
"I'd, uh, better not, honestly. I'm actually pretty terrible when it comes to directions. I promise can lead you there without a hitch, though!"
She squinted, looking Pokey up and down. There was something about the frail, wimpy stallion in front of her she didn't like, but she found it difficult to pin down. She didn't have very much of a choice, however. Thanks to Silver running off, he was the only pony around, and it seemed highly unlikely that any griffon would want to help her. “Fine.” she sighed, casting her gaze downward.
"Great!" Pokey smiled, gesturing the mare to follow him. "Let's go, shall we?"
The mare simply let out another sigh in reply. Watching him closely, she followed after Pokey, the slightest frown finding its way onto her face as she watched the stallion begin to awkwardly weave his way through the crowd. However, despite the uneasiness she felt around the stallion, she kept herself close to him, probably because of the fact that he was the only one in this city besides her fellow classmate who didn’t seem disgusted by her presence.
The city’s cobblestone pathways ended abruptly as they approached the city limits, devolving instead into an unpaved dirt path showing where millions of hooves and talons had worn down the grass over time. From there, the path branched off in a few directions, each separate pathway becoming increasingly narrow the further it went.
“Come on, uh…” Pokey began, “This way.” he said rather indecisively.
As soon as they entered the forest, Pokey began diligently scanning his surroundings, searching for a secluded area of some sort. Despite this fact, however, he secretly wished the mare would say something, if only to break the awkwardness. “So, uh...if you, ah, don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?” he finally said, turning his head slightly to meet her gaze. To his surprise, the mare was already staring at him.
“Maud.”
“Just Maud?”
She exhaled sharply. “Maud Pie.”
Maud...Pie? Pokey thought to himself, his hooves stopping mid-stride. There’s no way that-
“Is something the matter?” Maud said, interrupting Pokey’s train of thought. She looked at the unicorn quizzically, watching his face go through a slideshow of expressions.
“N-nothing.” Pokey replied, shaking his head. “There was, uh, something in my eye.”
A short “Hmm.” was all Maud offered in reply before turning her attention to the variety of rocks that lined the path below her.