The Symphony of Canterlot: Chapter V Preview

Chapter V: Al Azif and the Hard-Boiled Warlock

The smell only got worse as we were reaching the end of the stairwell into the somewhat derelict Canterlot sewer system. A strange and humid mishmash of centuries old stone brick masonry, and modern machinery that was built in to meet with the current standards of sanitation. The sewers were expansive, each tunnel easily seven meters high, and seven meters wide. The entire place had old mechanisms and runes built in by the original unicorn stone masons some five hundred years ago. Believe it or not it was by order of Celestia, she considered that while Canterlot was a city built in time of peace and was by all standards built to be impressive and impractical, a place to live well rather than defend. The nobles of the time, considering who they were felt that it was ludicrous that the city would be built without any defenses, so as an overly elaborate insult she ordered the construction of escape entrances all around the city into the then new sewage system.

Celestia also paid the masons additional wages at the cost of the House of Platinum, the noble house that complained of the lack of defenses in the first place.

Whether that was good move on her royal highness part solely depends on how much one despises the wealthy. I personally found it hilarious, as a former soldier I should object, but I feel that if any invading army had already had the gall to go through the rest of the either the west coast or the east coast Equestria was already as good as dead anyway. Canterlot mountain is in the spank middle of the north Equestrian continent! The amount of towns and cities that would have to be seized back then in order to replenish the resources of the invading army was no small number. Add the time on the battlefield, and the resistance of the citizens themselves and you essentially make it abundantly clear that any invading army was just better of taking the surrounding coastal cities and then demand that Equestria surrenders. The cost of time, resources, and life of the soldiers of the invading army would have potentially have cost more than the reward for such an action. Though considering that Celestia can burn down navies, and that the pegasus legions of the time could have created typhoons and thunderstorms (That would have been let loose without any control, industrial weather control was only invented a good one hundred years ago after all.) That would have been unlikely.

But with the invention of large military airships, rocket packs (Even if the technology was invented by an Equestrian engineer), magic syphoning field projectors, the machine gun, and chemical weapons in the last fifty years leading to the events presented here. I considered that the feat of conquering Equestria was more likely than ever at the time, If Equestria was on the bad side of a wealthy and military competent empire like the Russ Empire, or Thule Germania it was doomed. Equestria might have had the resources, and scientific prowess to fight them, had the need been present. But it had a complasant population and a military that for all intents was considered a joke to the rest of the world. No matter how powerful and brilliant Celestia was, she was only one mare, eventually even she would fall. Celestia was a sorceress, she gave up the ax after banishing Nightmare Moon, her fighting instincts were gone. The ol’ gal was out of practice, and she never caught up with the times when it came to warfare.

So in the end Equestria was vulnerable, and too spoiled to care. Funny how the world used to be.

I'm sorry to say that this is the meager progress I have for now. Also, it's unedited.

But If I can ask you folks. What do you think?