Age of the Pony

Chapter 2

“The White City of Chains”

Zecora kept her word. She got us to Baltimare where we took ship. We sailed across the sea lashed by storms almost day and night. We spent two weeks out at sea packed in with the scared and the desperate.

That was when we saw it, Kanterwall, the city of chains. Years ago it belonged to the Imperium and it was mostly populated by slaves coming to work in the quarries.

Now it’s a “Free City” I use the term in the absolute loosest way possible. Once you sail through the black cliffs you saw what all the slaves saw; The Gallows, welcoming you and threatening you at the same time. That’s where our ship was bound for, with the rest of the ponies fleeing the evil of the blight. Sometimes, I think that risking the blight would’ve been the better choice.
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Ebony wished he could sleep, but the rocking of the boat and thoughts of what happened back in Equestria kept him awake. His eyes wandered to the red scarf that Big Mac gave him. Ever since they’ve left Baltimare he’s found himself looking at the scarlet cloth as if it was some kind of ancient tome. He tried and failed to convince himself that Big Mac’s death wasn’t his fault. But the scarf served to remind him of the contrary.

Twilight who was sitting nearby came and sat beside him “Serah, you’ve been staring at that scarf since we’ve left Baltimare”

Ebony set down the scarf and looked up at the young mage. She was wearing a hooded cloak to hide her horn from any of the passengers. Luckily the captain hadn’t caught her using any magic so there were no problems with having a unicorn on board. The dark warrior simply shrugged “I just keep thinking about Big Mac is all”

Her amethyst eyes were laced with sympathy “Serah, his death wasn’t your fault. He chose to tackle that ogre to protect Spike and Applebloom”

Ebony’s own green eyes were laced with guilt however “He died on my watch, I couldn’t protect him so how can I hope to protect his sisters?”

Twilight gently put a hoof on his shoulder “Serah, you can’t start thinking like that. We’re all counting on you to be strong as we get through this”

The mage smiled a little “I never signed up to be born with a horn on my head and gain the ability to wield one of the strongest forces in the world”

Ebony nodded “You’re right. It’s just I never expected you guys to take to me like this”

Twilight shrugged “You have this air around you Serah; it compelled me and Spike to follow you out of the Chantry when you rescued us”

“I couldn’t leave you guys behind; I would’ve done the same for anypony”

Ebony looked over at Applejack who was sitting next to a sleeping Applebloom. The country mare looked up as Ebony approached. The dark warrior looked at her and reached to untie the scarf around his neck. He held it before Applejack “You should have this, it belonged to Big Mac”

Applejack shook her orange head “Nah, you keep it sugercube. Big Mac would’ve wanted you to have it”

Ebony raised a white eyebrow “But it belongs to you, you’re his sister. I’m just a stranger you met along the road”
Applejack stood up and pushed the scarf back to the warrior. “Ya made a promise to mah brother, that you would protect us when we got to Kanterwall. It’s yers as far as Ah’m concerned”

Ebony looked at the scarlet scarf then at the orange mare looking at him “If you’re sure”

She nodded “Ah’m sure, so what do you plan to do once ya get to Kanterwall?”

Ebony slid the scarf around his neck and thought for a moment “I’m going to contact my brother Rusty, he should be able to get you and everypony else into the city without trouble”

Applejack smiled “That’s mighty kind of you sugercube, under that there rough exterior ya really are a softy” She chuckled a little at her joke.

She chuckled again at that “Yeah, Ah reckon they’d have a thang or two to say about yer rough exterior”

All ponies in the hull ran to the top of the ship. All gazed in wonder as they passed the black cliffs into the city of Kanterwall. Ebony felt a feeling of dread as he saw a sight nopony wanted to see. The Gallows, practically a prison for mages, Ebony knew that somewhere in there was Willow. Ebony shook his head as the ship came to dock. Now wasn’t the time for nostalgia, the only thing he needed to worry about was getting all five of the party into the city.
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“It’s no good” Ebony said as he came back to the group “They aren’t letting anypony in”

Twilight looked away suddenly as a group of heavily armored ponies passed by. Ebony recognized them as Templars, warriors tasked with keeping mages in line. If they even caught so much as a glimpse of Twilight’s horn they would assume the worse. Templars assuming anything is never a good thing for a mage. It didn’t matter if Twilight was in the circle before she arrived in Kanterwall. They would come up with some excuse to haul her away to the Gallows.

When they passed Twilight looked at Ebony. “We could try talking to one of the guards in charge. Get them to look for your brother”

The dark warrior nodded to the entire group “Alright, Let’s see if we can’t convince them to look for Rusty”

Applebloom who was at her sister’s hooves looked up at Applejack “Ah don’t like this place Applejack, this place gives me the creeps”

Applejack spoke reassuringly to her little sister “It’s alright sugercube; once we get inside the city we’ll all be fine”

Ebony hoped that he wouldn’t let them down. They all looked to him as leader for whatever reason. Ebony had men under his command before but they either died or transferred over before the warrior could invest in them. Now he held the future of three other ponies and a dragon in his hooves. He couldn’t fail at this.

One of the guards held up a hoof as they approached “Back in line you lot! We don’t have any more room for refugees”

Ebony walked to the guard and stood firm “Sir, me and my companions need to get into the city”

The guard shook his head stubbornly “Under Knight-Commander Maredith’s orders we can’t let just anypony in”

Ebony raised an eyebrow at this “Knight-Commander? That’s a templar title, what is the city guard doing listening to her?”

The guard frowned “We don’t answer to her, but while the viscount is sitting on his throne dealing with the lords she’s the real power in Kanterwall” He grinned a little “Everypony knows not to cross her if they know what’s good for them”

Merethorn that was the name of the templar that took Willow all those years ago. Guess she’s moved up quite a bit in the world; Ebony ignored this and moved on. “It’s obvious I’m going to get nowhere talking to you. Can you point me to someone who could help?”

The guard spoke smugly “You could try talking to Guardsmen Ironsides, though I don’t know if you’ll get better results by doing so” He grinned “If I had my way I’d bar you all from coming like the lice you are”

Ebony frowned and simply walked by the guard. He wasn’t in the mood to let some scumbag of a guard egg him on. The group of five began to walk up the stairs towards the main square. Applejack fell into line beside Twilight.

“So how did ya’ll escape from the attack at Ponyville?” the country mare asked curiously.

Twilight smiled and looked on at Ebony who was leading the way. “It’s thanks to Serah Blade that we managed to escape. Had he not arrived when he did me and Spike would probably be dead”

Applejack looked on the dark warrior almost admiringly “Mighty noble of him to risk his neck fer ya. Ya ever ask why he rescued you though?”

Twilight shook her head “I’ve tried to bring it up on the ship but he always answered it with the same answer” She imitated Ebony’s voice “It’s because I couldn’t leave you guys behind to become Darkling food” Both mares laughed at this.

Ebony and Spike rolled their eyes at the same time and said together “Mares…”
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“Let us through you damn blighter! We need to get into this pit!” A rather large and dumb looking earth pony said to the guard posted in front of the city gates.

The guard, a strong and formidable looking earth pony with a shield and mace frowned. “All the gold in Equestria can’t make the city any larger” He shook his head “I’m sorry but you’d be better off taking your ship and going back”

The thug wouldn’t take that for an answer “You can’t do this! Me and my men paid good bits to get here!” His men behind him nodded and murmured agreements.

The guard again shook his head “You and half of Equestria have used that same excuse, despite popular opinion it doesn’t give you a free pass into the city”

“You must be letting some ponies in though” Everypony there turned to see Ebony walk up with his group behind him. The dark warrior spoke reasonably “It’s an awfully big city so some ponies have to be able to get in otherwise how could you get supplies?”

The thug pointed an accusing hoof at the guard “That’s right! We saw you let ponies in here before!”

The guard sighed clearly exacerbated by the whole business “Legitimate business stallions and citizens to the city that make it worth our while” He glared at the men before him. “Since you are neither I can’t let you in”

The thug growled. Ebony looked at the guard with a look of desperation “Listen I have a brother that lives here, goes by the name of Rusty Blade”

The guard tapped his chin in thought “Rusty Blade eh?" He then nodded "Yeah that name does ring a bell”

The warrior nodded and went on “He’s about my age with a reddish orange coat and he’s a noblestallion for House Blade”

The guard raised an eyebrow “Noblestallion?” The guard smiled almost cheekily “We can’t be talking about the same Rusty Blade who can’t keep two bits in his pockets at the exact same time” He then nodded in agreement “If he comes around I’ll tell him you’re here and-“

“What?!” The thug snapped glaring at Ebony and his group “You’re just going to let them in!? They’ve been here only five minutes while we’ve been here for three days!” He turned to his men who all drew their weapons in anger “Men! Cut your way through!”

The leader was about to swing a short sword at the guardsmen before Ebony blocked the sword with his own blade. “Now that was just plain rude of you” The thug lifted his blade and prepared to strike the dark warrior again. Ebony blocked it with ease and continued fighting.

Applejack meanwhile was fighting off two of the thugs with shield and sword. She blocked one thug's blade and delivered a swift buck to the chest of a thug that tried to attack her from behind. The thug’s bones made an audible crack when they were hit. She then turned and delivered a deadly bash to the face of the first thug with her shield. Ebony looked on as Applejack walked away from the two now unconscious thugs. She smiled and winked “Years of Applebuckin’ never thought I’d need to use it this way”

Ebony turned his attention back to the leader. The earth pony thug had no formal training whatsoever. It was like fighting a one legged dog the way the leader kept lumbering about. Ebony didn’t want to kill the guy, just hurt him enough to get the dog to back off. He leaped over the leader’s head and slammed the blunt end of his blade to the back of the leader’s head. The thug dropped like a ton of bricks.

Twilight twirled her staff and beat the last thug upside the head. All the thugs lay on the ground clutching their bodies trying to deal with the pain. Ebony estimated they would need at least three months to recover physically, maybe five yers psychologically. Either way, they weren’t going to bother them anytime soon.

The guard smiled impressed by what he’s seen “You three are quite a capable lot, I haven’t seen anypony fight like that before”

The guard that was blocking the entrance before came running up flanked by two other guards. “Captain Ironsides! Are you alright sir!?”

Ironsides frowned “I am, no thanks to somepony who believes that arriving late is fashionable. These three warriors already dealt with the thugs while you were out twitting your hoofs at the docks”

“As you should be, gather your men and clean up this rabble” He gestured to the unconscious and groaning thug pile that the group had created. The guard ran off to gather his men and turned to Ebony “You have my gratitude young warrior. I’ll go and see if I can find your brother for you”

Ebony smiled and nodded “Thank you sir, that would be much appreciated”
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Applejack paced in the center of the courtyard. She shook her head and sighed in frustration “It’s been three days since Ironsides left, Ah hope he finds yer brother before we all starve to death Ebony”

Twilight looked on at her orange companion “Don’t worry, I’m sure Serah Rustyblade won’t be long”

Rusty was a rather skinny earth pony. He had a long black mane and a reddish orange coat for which he got his name for. He looked on at Ebony as he approached them. “Ebony? I almost didn’t recognize you brother, it’s been so long”
Ebony walked up to Rusty and smiled “It’s good to see you again brother”

Rusty tried to smile then that smile faded “I really wasn’t expecting this. What with the blight and everything, I would’ve figured you’d be Equestrian for life”

Rusty looked on at the group and shook his head “Don’t dump this on me now Ebony, I’m not running a charity here”
Ebony frowned “I just need you to get them into the city”

Applejack got into the noble stallion’s face “Ya mean yer just gonna leave us here! Mah sister can’t stay on the streets like this!”

Applejack slowly nodded and stepped back from Rusty. Rusty sweated a little as he continued “Well, I was hoping to grease some hooves but we’re going to need more grease what with all the new regulations”

Spike looked up at Rusty “But Ebony said you guys had an estate, I would think your family would’ve left something behind”

The rust colored pony sighed “About the estate, Ebony I’m sorry but I couldn’t hang onto it”

Ebony furrowed his eyebrows and resisted the urge to tackle his brother “You lost our home!?”

Rusty nodded slowly “To settle a dept…I’m sorry but I had no choice. I’ve been meaning to write you”

Twilight put a hoof on Ebony’s shoulder before he could tackle his brother. Ebony looked at Twilight and sighed. He turned to his brother and spoke earnestly. “Is there something we can do to at least get in?”

Rusty smiled at this “Actually yes, I’ve made contact with some groups willing to give you all jobs to pay your way into the city. But the thing is you and your friends would have to work for a year to settle the dept”

Rusty held up his hooves “It’s the best I can do, Trust me when I say that you won’t find a better offer anywhere else”

Ebony looked to the group and gestured for them to gather. They all huddled in a circle just out of Rusty’s hearing range. Ebony looked at each companion in turn and then asked: “Opinions?”

Twilight spoke up first “Whatever we need to do to get us inside the city. I can’t stay here what with all the templars everywhere. I'm also worried about somepony taking Spike”

Twilight spoke frankly to the young dragon "A dragon can be a valuable resource to the right ponies"

Applejack spoke next “Ah’m willin to whatever Ah can to get Applebloom into the city. We ‘ave no choice but to go along with this”

The group broke up and Ebony turned back to Rusty. “Alright, we’ll go along with your plan Rusty”

Rusty smiled “Great! I’ll go make the arrangements now then” He started walking off into the town. The group looked up at the white city towering before them.

Ebony nodded and spoke firmly “The blight may spread at home, but here we’re safe at least for a while”

Applebloom’s small voice spoke somberly “If only Big Mac were here to see it”

Ebony stepped forward and looked up at the city. He never expected to come home like this. He looked back at the group he had gathered. They looked at him expectantly, hanging on his every word. Ebony could never explain what made ponies want to follow him. He simply smiled at them and spoke simply.

“We have a long year ahead of us. Let’s make the most of it”
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Age of the Pony

by Jacoboby1

Chapter 2: "The White City Of Chains"