//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Frozen Land // by jsk244 //------------------------------// “By Celestia…” “Incredible…” “Whoa…” “...This...is not just some city. It’s a freaking kingdom.” Standing side by side, the team looked from atop a hill that slanted deep and long into a valley that stretched across the entire range. Overhead the storm continued to rage, more violent than ever before yet barely more than a soft rumble in the air of this silent grave. It limited their sight, casting the land beneath in pale greys, but the fallen civilization frozen in time here was clear as daylight. Farmland was predominant near their little hill, the fields torn by war making it a no-pony land of destruction. Then began the little villages and clusters of houses, all set to flame long ago or shattered by the weapons still left in their empty streets. Beyond those came the forests, gutted for resources, many of their trunks strewn just beyond after crossing their gazes over a giant river that divided the valley from east to west. On the far bank was a giant wall made of wood, stretching not the entire length of the river, but enough that clearly it was meant to be a great deterrent. Further signs of defenses and assaults filled the area, but as their gazes were drawn by an eerie blue glow over the remainder of the valley, the gasped as they took in the target of their efforts. By their estimates the large wall by the river was the size of Ponyville, yet the city beyond so utterly dwarfed it that they could scarcely believe the sight. It spanned both heaven and earth, separated into four tiers that climbed up the mountains it was nestled between below on the ground, and cloud districts that still hovered above in clumps. In the highest tier, center of it all was a great plaza and palace made of what seemed to be crystal. It was certainly as splendorous as the Crystal Empire castle, yet was shaped like swirling clouds, a great cumulonimbus that capped itself off with a large tower and rounded balcony. It was from the center of that balcony that a blue glow emitted, held within an open room just barely notable thanks to the glow, and shot up into the heavens to stir the clouds and fuel the storm. This was Cloudthage, the city and kingdom of Antrotica’s lost past. The end of their journey was in sight. “This is…” Spearmint trailed off in thought. “This has to be at least as big as Canterlot Valley. You could...probably fit everything from Canterlot, to Ponyville, heck even some of the Everfree Forest in here! I thought we’d find just a city, but this is…” “An entire kingdom, yes. Farmland, villages and towns, a central metropolis, even cloud constructs.” Keen said, noting several irregularly shaped clouds that hovered several dozen to a hundred feet off the ground. “They never had fear of running out of space, not when you could just build up.” “Cloud structures blow away after a few years though.” Doctor Absolut almost sounded like he was whining. “How could the magic be holding them in place, even when half torn from what must have been the siege all those years ago?” “So nopony is going to comment on the giant glowing pillar of light over there?” Slick Slush pointed to the palace. “I’m gonna take a guess and say that’s our ticket to getting out of here and ending the storms.” “What will happen when we turn it off?” The unicorn shook his head, refocusing on the task ahead as his glasses flashed into focus. “A good question Miss Spearmint. Unfortunately I’ve been guess-working everything for quite some time now, so all I can give you is the slimmest of hopes. The storm seems to act upon a strange counter-balance of stillness and turmoil, so if we were to suddenly turn it off we might have anywhere between a few minutes to several hours before both sides began to reverse. What do you think Keen?” “Well…” There was a pause, long enough that the other three ponies turned to stare. “I hate to say it sir, but we’re effectively sitting in a pressure bubble. The magic keeps pushing everything out, making an almost vacuum-like space. It would explain the still weather here, the remarkably preserved bodies and structures…” Keen Sense gulped as the measure of what might happen hit home. “If we turn off the magical...whatever, all of that stormfront above us could suddenly just...collapse inwards. And it would include a heavy pressure front as the air stabilized. This entire valley would be...crushed.” Slick Slush looked faint. “What about us?” “We could probably survive the pressure change, but it’s not what we should worry about. There’ll come a point when we’re surrounded by the storm itself, as well as whatever of everything inside the valley is ripped up and tossed around. It would be like a gigantic bomb going off…” Now Spearmint looked faint, wings twitching anxiously. “Can we stop talking about this? Maybe...maybe there’s a way to turn it off slowly?” “We’ll just have to find out.” Sighing, Doctor Absolut noticed something nearby and began to walk toward it. “Look here - I think these might be some form of cart or sled? What do you three think?” They all followed him over, noting that the spot looked to be some kind of station set up by the Dominium as several low crystal walls were surrounding it along with the now common bodies of the deceased. In the middle of the light defense post was two large sled-like objects capable of holding several ponies at once. Walking around it and trying to find how to move it, they discovered that there was a driver’s seat one could climb into, but that instead of straps for pullers there were just buttons and levers. Keen Sense took to sitting there, as he was the only one who could read some of the small script, while the others piled on. The journey would take too long by hoof and were hopeful that like many things here, this too could return to life with a little nudge. Thankfully, after a few moments they were proven correct as with a strange hum the two long skis under the cart began to glow with magic and the entire cart began to slowly spin in place. Frantically the pegasus grabbed a wheel to make it halt, and after a few more careful tests, nudged it to begin moving down the slope, which it did while picking up speed. By the time they reached the bottom they had somehow begun to hover, which helped them avoid the various bumps and obstructions as they zoomed across the fields as fast as a Pegasus could fly. As they passed battlefields and homes, Spearmint tucked her wings in close to avoid them being snagged by an errant branch or piece of architecture. Her eyes roamed over the valley, taking in more of the sights as they slipped by. This entire place felt familiar, yet alien, as if calling to her from a dream long ago. It was a feeling that the soldier they first found had invoked and yet this was much stronger, lingering as her eyes tracked what appeared to be still standing cloud pillars in one portion of the sky. Her mind played tricks on her, illusions of what might have once been playing across her vision and the sky turning bright as the sun shone overhead. She could hear the laughter and chatter of pegasi from all walks of life going about their days, and then screams of battle as their once proud civilization was terrorized by outside conquerors. An old foe that had at last found their sanctuary and sought to claim dominance of the sky once and for all. Unconsciously, her hand tightened into a fist as anger sent her feathers bristling, but then they made a sharp turn on the road, and that little bump knocked her out of the daydream and she relaxed. Barely acknowledging that she had felt that way at all, only feeling sorrow now for all the things lost within this valley. As they reached the wide river they were surprised to find that not all of the water had frozen over like they thought. Between wide gaps in the sheets of ice water could still be seen flowing, albeit sluggishly as if uncertain of where to go. A bridge of that same hardy unknown stone allowed them to pass over unhindered, but then they came across a barricade of sharpened wooden spears and halted the cart. Stepping down from the back, they worked to remove the smaller ones but it only provided enough clearance for them to pass through. They would have to hoof it again, but thankfully the walls of the city and palace were not far. They were getting close to journey’s end. “I dare say, aside from the danger, this has awoken an old part of my spirit.” Doctor Absolut said, tilting his glasses back up with a flash of intrigue. “I suppose every young colt and filly dreams at least once of adventure - of finding lost civilizations and treasures - but so few actually enjoy it.” Slick Slush snorted. “Probably because we grow up and realize how dangerous it actually is, doc. I’m just a geologist, not Daring Do. My job was finding us a way in here, now it’s getting back out.” “Often, ancient structures of importance were made with emergency exits and escape tunnels.” Keen Sense said softly. “If not for everyone then at least royalty or high authority figures. I just realized - If we find the throne room or private quarters of their Queen, we can probably escape through the mountain the palace seems to be built against.” “I’m starting to get tired of all this walking.” Spearmint flapped her wings, letting out a disappointed sigh as the wind refused to budge. “No offense but I’m way more used to being up in the air instead of walking. My hooves are killing me…” This got a chuckle out of the group, but they grew silent as the massive front gates of the city loomed overhead. They were massive sculpted slabs of stone and metal, the same ornamental motif from the cave set into them only with more detail and precious stones scattered across it. What’s more the bottom held an extra section that depicted the valley and city surrounded by radiant beams of light, as if to say ‘This is our Home’ to all who entered. Unfortunately the gates, although intact, were forced open with giant rams that stood as tall as towers before it. Hundreds of soldiers lay dead around them, the structures themselves looking weak and brittle from whatever blows the defending pegasi had rained down to try and stop them. The group made their way carefully around them, fearing an errant bump might cause them to collapse, and upon stepping into the city proper held their breaths. Bodies littered the ground, pegasi in the hundreds laying slain and mummified from the long years lingering here. But what was so different from before was that there were not just soldiers among the fallen, but women and children too. Some had arrows riddling their backs, others the marks of spellwork and sword having struck them down. It was obvious that even with the very doors of their kingdom being battered that they had not seen fit to flee until it was too late. Perhaps it had been confidence in their defenders, or confidence in their Goddess, or worse of all perhaps it was simply because there had been nowhere else to go. The valley had been claimed by the Dominium settlement by settlement until only the river and metropolis had remained, and then even that too fell as the four explorers now could see. “...I wish the storm hadn’t preserved this place so well.” Keen Sense said quietly, not wanting to speak above a whisper. “For all the wonders we’ve seen, even the bodies, this is just…” Spearmint nodded silently, while Slick Slush broke down and started to cry. “The Dominium earned their place as the ancient monsters of civilizations everywhere for a reason.” Absolut touched the underside of his glasses, making them shine with anger and remorse. “Their demands and command over magic could not be sated, not as long as something remained unknown or beyond their reach. Not even the ponies that embodied it...truly barbaric.” They moved past the houses and began to see shops and demolished market stalls as the street began to widen. “If I had to guess, this was the tier where most of the citizens lived on. The next one will perhaps be where the traders and merchants lived. It’s common enough that the wealthier you were, the closer to the top you lived.” They all nodded at that, although it didn’t make better the grim scene by the gates. Ascending some large and wide stairs they came up to the next tier where indeed larger and more lavish housing sat. However instead of ornate architecture this tier seemed to favor cloth and colors, with many tattered overhangs shadowing the place as they moved along. Faint, lingering odors began to trickle into their noses, making them pause or move quickly as they assaulted their olfactory senses. “Maybe this was also a place for them to drink and party.” Keen suggested, noticing at one still standing table what appeared to be several bowls of dried herbs around an apparatus. “Definitely not what Pegasopolis did - they were quite strict on recreational activities - but there’s an air of celebration and revelry here. Some of the words I see indicate it too - see that sign? It’s actually a communal bath.” Not pausing to look around, they swiftly moved through this tier and climbed to the next. It was here that the architecture took on the predominant decorations of the buildings again, with the streets narrower to allow for gardens and patios that ponies could sit on. Overhead, the residue of countless clouds hovered, looking like houses that had collapsed or become lost over time judging by twisting stairways left exposed to the air or doors that lay between two other clouds. Nothing was said between them on this level, namely because they were too busy having to brave yet another obstacle on their path. The mass of bodies had grown too thick and were piled up upon one another, likely choked by the narrow streets, forcing them to move some to advance. They each took to it in silence; It was not an easy thing, but it got done and gradually they made it to the stairs up to the palace tier. Here the houses and buildings faded away in favor of a massive parade ground and plaza, and it was here that the final battle had clearly been waged. Climbing onto a large platform built by the Dominium for its commanders, they had a perfect view for the full scope of the final conflict. Thousands of unicorns had taken to the plaza to siege the palace and its gate, with barely a few hundred pegasi it appears manning the defenses. Here, in the tighter quarters of the city and its seat of power, the giant weapons the Dominium De Magia had brought could not be utilized, and so it had turned into a war of attrition and more standard attacks. Scorch marks from spells and lightning alike littered the once pristine motif of tiles that dotted the ground, with various barricades scattered around for the few ranged weapons and their users to stand behind. Some of the palace windows and pillars could be seen to have pegasi leaning out or against them, archers taken out and left in awkward positions at death. It had been a bloodbath with how little cover the unicorns had, or until their magic gave out for whatever shields they likely used. And yet given that everyone was dead, and in such numbers, it would appears that the defenders had held them off until the end. The problem was...the doors to the palace were still shut, meaning that both sides had died to the last. The last great fort of Cloudthage had survived yet still the civilization had fallen and become locked into the eternal storm above it. Taking a deep breath, the doctor coughed and shook his head. “This is terrible...to think this was what our people once did for so much of our history. This is why-” “Hey guys, look at this weird thing.” Slick interrupted. Ignoring the glower from the stallion, she stood over a table which had several dried up pieces of parchment and a strange crystal orb that pulsed faintly at the core of it. Giving it a poke, the crystal pulsed once and then resumed its low glow. “I don’t know about you, but this makes me think of Whispers’ crystal magitech. Maybe it was some kind of communication orb?” “And again, something that shouldn’t still works.” Keen marveled over the orb, picking it up and making it glow a little brighter and steadily. “It’s responding to my touch, or maybe my magic? Doctor, why don’t you try channeling magic into it?” “I don’t see a reason why…” Still, the doctor obliged, and as his grey magic seeped into the orb, its internal glow grew brighter and stronger until the surface flashed. To the shock of everyone, a message long buried within the orb began to play out, the voice clear and strong of a serious sounding stallion giving orders with the sounds of battle behind him. Images also played across the surface, but if it was meant to show the sight of the orb during the message then clearly whoever was holding it had not been still. “Well, I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point, now should I?” “Is this a message from the commander here, or somewhere else?” Spearmint asked, leaning in to try and make out anything familiar. She could see bits and pieces of the surroundings past the stallion’s head, but the movement made it hard to focus on any one object at a time. “How incredible...it’s a live recording of events from...er, from all those years ago. This orb probably is the most valuable thing we’ve seen, right Keen?” “Considering I’ve never heard of someone finding something like this before? This is practically the Rosey Stone all over again. This could...wait, something’s…” They all went silent, watching as within the orb’s video, something was occuring. The stallion had stopped talking and moving, pulling back to look over the battlefield which they could now see was the plaza itself. A few pegasi were still alive behind the main barricade, holding off the unicorns and their spellwork, but that was not the focus. Instead, all eyes, unicorn and pegasi alike, had begun to pan their gaze upward, and after a pause the orb moved as well. An eerie and ominous rumbling could be heard as, far above the palace’s peak, the same beam of light now emanating from it today was starting to form. Punching into the clouds that had been raining lighting down upon the invaders, it began to form the same terrible storm that would soon curse the land to eternal ice and snow, as a howling shriek of rage echoed out from the palace. It was so loud even that the four ponies watching the orb had to cover their ears, and then to their shock a strange wave of air began to shove out from the palace walls and wash over everypony. Each pony struck by it suddenly collapsing, clawing at their mouths and throats, until it hit the commander as well who gasped and then went eerily silent. The orb fell, at least in the video it did, and landed where it had been found by chance as a stack of papers caught it. The last sight it transmitted was the commander, his face growing veined as blood vessels burst in his eyes, and died while falling over the edge. Shivering, Keen Sense took the orb and put it away in his pack to bring with them. They all then looked down where the commander newly identified lay, one of many bodies across the battlefield, but now knowing his fate none of them could stay near. They hopped off the platform quickly and moved away before talking among themselves again. “Vacuum…” The pegasus said, voice hitching before pausing to think clearly. “It’s not as bad as I feared then. There used to be a total vacuum here, when the storm was first formed. It must have been intentional - a way to enact revenge on the entire Dominium force that came here. Wipe out every last one of them inside the valley, sealing it and letting the mountains themselves hold it in somehow until they started sinking with the continent. The pegasi soldiers manning the palace must have volunteered to bar access while the ponies inside enacted the ritual, probably with the last of the civilians and soldiers escaping via a tunnel. Once it was sealed...the spell went off like planned.” “Who was that...screaming, near the end?” Slick Slush asked, rubbing her arms as if a chill had overcome her. “It sounded familiar…” “I want to know how pegasi, no matter how advanced as this civilization seems to have been, managed to cast a spell this powerful.” Doctor Absolut looked toward a Dominium soldier. Their armor was shattered, punched through by no physical object discernable. ”And those lightning strikes were nothing like the ones cast today. They could destroy entire houses I’m sure of it, whereas even the best Wonderbolt could at most hurt a pony.” “I think the answer for both is the same pony - Queen Elysium.” Spearmint looked up to the palace’s tower. “She must have been helping the defenders somehow, and when it was time to cast the ritual, she poured all her anger and hatred into it because of all she lost, and what she had to do. Her very soul must be powering the storm now, mad and lost to her own fury after so long.” “Y-You really think so Spearmint?” Slick shivered and rubbed her arms, looking around. “Then again, with how...everything, has been…” “Yes, yes but how did she cast it in the first place? Unicorns-” “Are not the only pony tribe with magic, doctor.” Keen Sense interrupted. “Even if I myself doubt the magic here, I think you’re holding too firm to the beliefs of today, ones that I know for a fact came from the Unification Era first. It’s barely even talked about because of how long ago it was, but the days of Dream Valley included tales of magical earth ponies and pegasi just as much as any unicorn. That’s not including all the other stranges species that supposedly lived at the time.” Looking between Slick Slush, Absolut and Spearmint, the stallion continued. “You didn’t understand what he said, but I did. He was talking about the siege being too long, that they needed to prepare something they called ‘The Crescent Armada’ to be used. The way he talked about, I think it was a super weapon they used on only the toughest of foes and fortresses. What’s more, he kept calling Queen Elysium the ‘Witch-Queen’, and if I’m not mistaken the way he worded it was implying she was some kind of heathen.” “A heathen?” “Remember Spearmint that these ponies believed in a Goddess, one that oversaw their kingdom if not pegasi as a whole. With the rumor of the Dominium having some powerful god of their own, it could be that they saw these pegasi - the Cloudthage - as denouncing their god in favor of their own.” “Are you suggesting Keen that these gods were real?” Absolut tilted his head down, glasses flashing in doubt. “The closest things to gods ponies have ever had are the alicorns, and we all know how far they are from such beings. They are hardly all-knowing or all-powerful.” “But they’re still powerful. Strong enough to raise the sun and moon for thousands of years, and Princess Celestia did it alone for one-thousand. We don’t really know how strong Celestia is, or Princess Luna, so why couldn’t a Queen from a civilization tens of thousands of years ago that could fight the Dominium be easily as powerful if not more? Perhaps to them she was an incarnation of the Goddess.” “Commander Hurricane was a powerful pegasus who had mastery over storms and martial combat unlike any pony of his era.” Slick Slush surprisingly chipped in. “Everypony knows about him, even an earth pony like me. He had the respect of the old unicorn royals despite them being so demanding and controlling. Now just multiply his strength and we’ve got this Queen.” “I-” Suddenly, the palace screamed. An unearthly wail that sent them to the ground from the sound and volume, crying out in pain as their brains felt icy fingers clawing into them from the magic that seeped through the air. It rose into the heavens, the storm thundering aloud with renewed fervor, and the echo lingered for minutes afterwards. Nopony could move for quite some time, the suddenness and shock of it rendering them mute and still. Then, slowly, Doctor Absolute pushed himself up and shakily picked up his glasses from the ground. The lenses cracked with terror as he tried to straighten them back on. “Y-You may have a point. By Celestia and Luna, that was no pony scream. I-It was monstrous and raw.” “The air...it feels...heavier. I can breathe easier.” Keen Sense mumbled, flapping his wings and looking around. “The seal on the valley is weakening. If I were a betting stallion, I’d guess that when it falls, so will Antrotica.” “What even c-caused it?” Spearmint groaned, her wings flapping madly behind her. She had wanted to take flight and flee to the other side of the valley, but thankfully the air was still too weak for her to do so. “She’s been quiet the whole time we’ve been here, what made her just...scream like that?” “Do we really want to know? Maybe it’s a sign we’re nearly out of time. It’s been thousands of years so she might finally be struggling to keep this storm going” Pushing back up, Keen helped the two mares back up and then patted the doctor on the back. “Let’s go - into the palace, up to the very top. The architecture tells me that’s where the throne room is anyway.” Nodding, they all hastened over to the palace doors, forcing the ancient wooden beams to splinter and crack on the inside with some magic through the gap. One they entered the palace and began to climb, they stuck to the main staircases they found and hurried to the very top. It was time to at last finish their journey.