//------------------------------// // The Truth from the Past // Story: Martha & Skits's Adventure in Ponyville // by Zenitram Nadroj //------------------------------// In the emperor's lair, the groups see cages containing monsters. “Why are there monsters in cages?”, Pinkie asks. “These creeps are trying to put us in cages like these things!”, Thorax says. Keretomatus then growls and powers his magic. The other are levitated and put into cages. The dogs and the ponies all gasp in horror. “What are you doing?!”, Martha asks. The emperor then approaches the group. “I should have known better than to send my foolish minions to capture you colorful brutes!”, he exclaims. Martha and Skits then notice. “Colorful brutes.”, they both say. Then they remember. “Wait a minute!”, Martha says. They flashback to the night the monster invaded the fundraiser. “What are you going to do with those pets?!”, Carolina shouts. “I will control their minds and use them to coax those colorful brutes into coming to my lair. That way, I'll extract their beauty and turn them into hideous monsters like myself. Making me worshiped once again.”, the monster says. Martha and Skits then break out of their flashback and turn to the emperor. “It was you!”, Skits shouts. “Hmm?”, the emperor notices. “You didn't save us from being from being captured, you stole us from our owners to use for your army!”, Martha shouts. “Martha, Skits, what's the matter?”, Twilight asks. “This monster invaded our fundraiser and took all of the animals to use for his army.”, Skits says. “Army? What army?”, Rainbow asks. “His army to gather those colorful brutes as he called them and turn them into monsters like himself.”, Martha answers. “He was about to capture me and Skits until kitten stalled him and sent both of us to Ponyville.” “So that's why you both didn't remember where you came from.”, Rarity says. “You two must have gotten amnesia when you fell to the ground.” The emperor then growls. “Well no matter.”, he says. “I finally have my new slaves. And I'll spread them all over the kingdom and rule them all once again.” “What are you talking about?”, Applejack asks. “Well it all started with a simple stallion king.”, he says. “A stallion king named King Vespyron.” “Wait a minute.”, Celestia says. “Luna, doesn't that name sound familiar?” “What do you mean, Celestia?”, Luna asks. “That's the same king from the book we found.” She then feels the aura and her eyes widen. “You're right.”, she says. “Book? What book?”, Martarmus says. “The book we found behind the library walls.”, Luna says. The emperor growls. “I knew I should have destroyed that book.”, he says. “But we couldn't finish it because there were pages torn out.”, Celestia says. Keretomatus walks to a box and opens it. “Well since all of you are going to perish anyway, I suppose these should shed some light on the subject.”, he says as he pulls out torn pieces of paper. The princesses are both in disbelief. “The missing pages.”, they both say in unison. “But before I relay the rest of the story, what have you two learned from that book so far?”, the emperor asks. “We learned that the king was previously a squire for the previous ruler of Equestria, Queen Nebula.”, Celestia says. “Queen Nebula?”, Cadance says. “I've read about her. She was the most beloved queen in all of Equestria.” A unicorn stallion stands by the queen. “Vespyron dreamed of being king of Equestria.”, Luna says. “And since there was no heir at the time...” “Wait, no air? Then how were you all able to breathe?”, Martha says. “No, Martha.”, Shining says. “Not 'air'. She said 'heir'. An 'heir' is somepony legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that particular pony's death.” “Oh.”, Martha and Skits says. “Continue.”, Skits says. “As I was saying...”, Luna says. “Since there was no heir at the time, Queen Nebula decided to make her loyal squire the next king.” The queen then taps him with her scepter. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”, Vespyron says “It is the least I could do for my loyal squire.”, Nebula says. “You will not just be empowered, you will also be loved and respected like a true ruler.” The queen and her new king present their new foal. “The queen soon got married and gave birth to a new foal.”, Celestia says. “And announced that this foal would be the new soul heir to the king and queen.” The squire then becomes jealous. “And the squire was jealous, because she broke the agreement to make him king.”, Celestia says. “He was so jealous that he came up with a brilliant plan.” He goes to a wizard stallion. “The only pony he could turn to was none other than Star Swirl the Bearded.”, Luna says. “Star Swirl the Bearded?!”, the girls say in unison. “Yes.”, Luna says. “Vespyron asked Star Swirl to give him magic that would make the citizens of Equestria grateful.” He looks around and finds a spell that he needs and points to it. “Are you sure you want me to give you this spell?”, Star Swirl asks. “Yes.”, Vespyron says. “I need it to show everypony that Queen Nebula made the wrong choice of choosing the next heir.” Star Swirl then nods and powers his horn. The squire is then effected by the magic and feels more powered. “Thank you, Star Swirl.”, the squire says. “Off I go.” “Wait, Vespyron.”, Star Swirl says before the squire leaves. The stallion turns to the wizard and approaches him. “Be very careful using that magic.”, he says. “There will be dire consequences if you use that magic for your own desires. So I'm warning you. Do not use that magic for yourself.” “Very well. I will heed your words.”, Vespyron says before he leaves. The stallion performs magic to help the citizens with their everyday lives. “Vespyron used his new magic to help the other citizens.”, Celestia says. Trumpets then blare and they all turn to the castle. The king queen and filly present their fourth member. “But soon, they all just brushed it off when they saw that the king and queen has just given birth to a second heir.”, Celestia continues. “And Vespyron then took very roughly.” He then growls in anger. “He's been holding back while watching the young fillies grow up more beautiful.”, Luna says. “But then something snapped.” The squire then gets an idea and sneaks off. Night falls and the parents sleep in their room. “The squire waited until the parents were sleeping and the children were left unattended.”, Celestia says. “The squire managed to use his new magic to teleport into the princesses room.” The stallion approaches the two fillies and prepare to take them. They open their eyes and scream in terror. “Mommy, Daddy!”, the fillies shout. The squire tries to capture them. The noise wakes up the parents and realize that somepony broke into the bedroom of their daughters. “Our daughters!”, the king and queen both say. “Nebula, get the guards. I'll stop the intruder!”, the king says. “Be careful, Sulfur.”, the queen says. The king then heads to the bedroom and breaks the door open. He is then shocked at who the intruder was. Before him stood Vespyron with the daughters in his magic. “Vespyron!”, Sulfur says. He tries to escape with the fillies, but the king stops him with his magic. Soon, the stallion then shoots his new magic and breaks the spell. Then suddenly, and without warning, he then shoots his powerful magic at the king, leaving him completely injured. This gave the squire enough time to take off with his hostages. “When the queen and her guards got to the room, the intruder and her daughters were already gone.”, Luna says. “But not long after, she notices the king.” She then hears the moaning and looks down. She is then horrified to see the king injured and completely weak. “Sulfur!”, Nebula shouts. “Guards, get the doctor and send a search party for the princesses!” The next day, the queen waits outside her and the king's bedroom. “The queen then waited anxiously for the doctor to give her the news.”, Celestia says. “And then the doctor came out.” The doctor exits the room and approaches the queen. “Well how is he, doctor?”, she asks. He then frowns. “I'm sorry, Your Highness. But the king was struck by some unknown magic and we have no research on this type of magic. And it also left him severely injured.”, the doctor says. “I don't know how much time he has left, so I suggest you go in and say your goodbye.” Her eyes widen at the realization and enters her room. She slowly approaches the king and looks at him with teary eyes. “Sulfur, I don't know if you can hear me, but you can't leave me.”, she says. “N...Nebula...”, the king weakly says. She notices the speaking and turns to the king. “Sulfur, what happened?”, she asks. “I was attacked...”, he says. “By Vespyron.” “Vespyron? Our squire?”, the queen asks. “And attacked me....and...took off with our daughters.”, the king says. “Don't worry, I've sent a search party to find our daughters.” “Any sign of them?”, he asks. “No, unfortunately.”, she says. “We're still searching.” “I don't know how he got that magic...or where he got it. But he could have taken our daughters anywhere.”, he says weakly. “Don't worry, we won't stop until we find them.”, she says. “Thank you, Nebula.”, he says. Then his breathing starts to shorten. “Sulfur, hang on. You're gonna be fine.”, she tries to reassure him. He then grabs her hoof with his and smiles. “Nebula, I gave you so much that you didn't have before. I gave you a better home, better guards and two beautiful little fillies. I don't regret any of it”, he says. “And just promise me, that you'll keep our tradition stable.” “Of course, my king. I promise.”, she says. “Goodbye, my queen. See you...again...soon...”, he says before he goes limp. Her eyes widen as he loses his grip. “Sulfur?”, she asks. She then lifts his hoof and puts it on his arm. There was no pulse whatsoever. The king was officially dead. The queen then breaks down in tears by her king's side. “The king died?!”, the CMC ask in unison. “I'm afraid so.”, Luna says. “And without the king or the daughters, there was nopony to take the throne.” The queen and the citizens are at a memorial for the king. They all stand in front of a statue and bury a coffin below it. “The queen held a memorial service for the king in his honor and everyone was there to mourn for his passing.”, Celestia says. “What they all didn't know was there was that they were not alone.”, Luna says. “Vespyron was spying with a smug smile at the thought of the king's passing.” Everyone grieves for the king, while hiding in a bush, Vespyron peeks out with a sinister smile. “The queen then waited for the status from the seach party for any leads on the missing princesses.”, Celestia says. Later, she then sits on her throne until one of the guards enters and approaches her. “Well have you found my daughters?”, Nebula asks anxiously. He frowns. “Your Majesty, I'm sorry, but there's still no sign of the missing princesses.”, he says. “I think it's best if you just call off the search.” “No.”, she says. “Just keep searching.” “Your Majesty, we've been searching for half a year and checked everywhere about eighteen times each.”, the guard says. “The princesses are nowhere.” “But...but...”, she says. “Your Highness, it's hopeless. You're just gonna have to accept that the princesses are gone.” She then has no choice but to take his advice. “Very well. Call off the search.”, she says reluctantly. The guard nods and exits the room. “The queen wouldn't take it, but she had no choice.”, Luna says. “It was hopeless to search any longer.” She then approaches the door to her bedroom. “The queen was about to relax in her bedroom...”, Celestia says. “But unfortunately gets an unwelcome nighttime visitor.” “Don't tell me...”, Martha says. The queen opens the door and is horrified. She sees Vespyron sitting on her dresser. “Good evening, Your Highness.”, the stallion says. “Vespyron!”, she says. She's about to call for her guards, but is then dragged to him. “Shh.”, he says. “Don't make me put you in the same deathbed as your king.” “What are you doing here?”, she asks angrily. “Well I came, because I heard you called off the search for the missing princesses.”, he says. “So I decided to drop by to see how you took it.” She then turns her back on him. “It's a shame that you'll never be able to see your daughters again. Or will you?” She then notices his snark and turns to him. “What are you talking about?”, she asks. He power his horn and the princesses appear bound and gagged. She's in shock be the squire covers her mouth before she can scream. “Not a yelp.”, he says. “Where were they?”, she asks. “The party searched everywhere.” “I hid them in the one place they never dared to look. The Everfree Forest.” “The Everfree Forest!”, she says. “And I'll give them back to you if you give me something in return.”, the squire says. “What do you want?” “I want you to make me king of Equestria as you promised me years ago.”, he says. “Absolutely not.”, she denies. “I promised Sulfur that I would keep our families tradition alive and to make our daughters our next heir.” “Very well. Good luck living the rest of your life with nopony to take your place.”, he says. “Balance of the kingdom will crumble with nopony to rule them.” “Wait. You promise to give them back if I give you the position of king?”, she asks. “On one condition. You are not allowed to tell anypony that you saw me in your bedroom, say I killed the king or took off with the fillies. You are to remain as if nothing happened and appoint me the position.”, Vespyron offers. She then thinks about the offer and looks at her bound daughters. She then sags her head. “Sulfur, please forgive me for doing this.”, she says under her breath. “Alright. I'll accept.” “Perfect.”, the squire says.