//------------------------------// // Interlude // Story: Rise of the Harmony Kingdom // by cornholio4 //------------------------------// 1 YEAR AGO On the way to the next land on their list to free and annex from the Storm King’s former domains, the Queen and the Harmony Guard had stopped at a village called Our Town. It had appeared that they residents all sported unnatural looking smiles and had the same Cutie Mark. ”Are you sure, you can’t stay? We think your Harmony Kingdom can learn a lot about friendship through our Equality!” Starlight Glimmer the village’s leader asked with her weird smile to Twilight and Tempest who were more freaked out than anything. Grubber was busy eating a cupcake that he had brought with him from the sky skiff. ”No thank you Starlight, we really need to get going as we have some more Tyrants to dethrone and lands to annex. We thank you and your friends for your hospitality but we hope our lands can remain friends....” Twilight told Starlight with a smile which dropped as she made her way to the airship. Tempest not that far behind her. ”Are you sure we can’t just annex this place and force those creepy smiles off their faces? Something doesn’t seem right.......” Tempest muttered to Twilight thinking the sooner that if the answer was no then she hoped never to return to these unnatural smiles. ”Everypony seems happy with their way of life here, we only dethrone tyrants and we will only annex lands if the residents are being oppressed by their leaders. I can’t say I don’t feel as if something is off but we can leave them to it....” Twilight responded with a shake of her head. In truth she was feeling the same as Tempest, in a hurry to leave as soon as possible. Starlight gave a mental frown and followed them trying to keep up with their paces. These two unicorns lead a massive empire and she figured if she could get them on her side then she could spread her message of Equality further. However Grubber took one last bite of his cupcake which ended up covering Starlight’s side with frosting. ”Sorry about that, let me fix that for you!” Grubber stated wiping the frosting off Starlight. He then followed Tempest and Twilight to the inside of their skiff and the last of the guards entered. Starlight tried to use a spell to stop them but was too late as the doors closed and they were now air bound. Starlight gave a mental sigh as she went back to the resident of Our Town. ”Oh well, unfortunately we haven’t made any new friends today....” Starlight told them only to frown physically when they were looking at her all shocked and mouths opening. ”Look, I am sorry that they didn’t learn the Magic of Equality but......” Starlight told them only for their glances to become accusatory and they were pointing to her flank. Starlight glanced at it and her face now had a look of horror when she realised what they were looking at. Grubber had wiped away her false Equal Signs Cutie Mark and her real one was now clearly visible. Starlight had a sheepish smile as she faced them and muttered “I can explain..........” Starlight Glimmer fought through the cold using her warming spell to keep her warm in the snow. She had used a tracking spell on a magical signature and she had made it to the Crystal Empire. After they left the residents of Our Town had an argument with her which led them to decide to get their original Cutie Marks back, going into the cave and breaking the jars. After that they were angry with her and it was clear she was no longer their leader, fumed she decided to leave them be. In her anger she was blaming the so called Queen Twilight and the Harmony Kingdom. It took her quite a while for her to track the queen down since she didn’t settle on a single place for very long. I will finally catch you and when I see you again, you will regret the day you came to MY TOWN!!!“” Starlight snarled as she kept on going. Soon enough the ponies got their assignments: • Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash were doing the jousting • Fluttershy was taking care of the petting zoo • Rarity was making hats for the Crystal Ponies • Applejack was serving refreshments • Pinkie Pie was doing entertainment Spike and Cadance were helping Skystar with a stand selling merchandise. Apparently Skystar thought it would help morale to be giving gifts to Crystal Ponies. Apparently the skiffs had merchandise of their ruler Queen Twilight. Spike sighed looking at the box of plush dolls of her lost friend, the sooner they can meet her again the better. Still if he knew about this stand before, he might have brought his own custom Pony figures to sell there. It was what he made to sell at things like the Summer Wrap Up Festival. He glanced at one of the plush toys and then picked one up to inspect it closely. He then had a silent gasp when he noticed something. Cadance was helping Skystar unload the boxes. Skystar was chatting off about which bobble head was the most popular seller or the Harmony Kingdom board game, Cadance was like Spike looking forward to getting to meet her favourite filly again. Even if she was a queen now.... “Hang on a minute, I think whoever made these dolls made a mistake!” Spike shouted bringing one of the plush toys to Skystar. Skystar stared at it before shrugging and asking what was wrong with it and Cadance gasped when she saw what it was. “Well for starters, Twilight doesn’t have wings. She’s a unicorn and not an Alicorn!” Spike told Skystar who looked confused as Spike was holding the plush toy by the wings.....