//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Map and The Gate // Story: Cervinism: How to Deal with Depressed Deer // by Deergenerate //------------------------------// Twilight couldn't help but let out a gleeful squeal as she stared down at the holographic friendship map in front of her. More specifically the location that her, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack's cutie marks were hovering over. It was far, far, far to the west, past Vanhoover and Las Pegasus, in what had been dubbed on Equestrian maps as; 'The Undiscovered West.' A large, circular, almost ring-shaped mountain range surrounded a massive open space of forests, farmlands, and the occasional village, town, or hamlet. In the center of the stretch of flat open land stood a large circular city, towers rising forth from an outer wall, branching antlers jutting from the tops like crowns. Each building in the city stood tall and beautiful, the stone bricks that made up their walls carved in elegant designs evoking antlers. They almost looked like cathedrals. In the very center of the city stood a palace, which, from above looked like a large, rather wide letter H. A tower stood at each corner of the building, and in the center, stood a massive spire, two antlers started from the roof of the actual palace, spiraling around it like the coils of a spring, coming to an end at the very peak of the steeple. "So uh..." Applejack started in her stereotypical accent, an eyebrow raised in curiosity as she observed her friend's seemingly boundless excitement. "Wanna explain what's got you so animated?" "The Map!" Twilight cried as she clapped her hooves together. "It's sending us to somewhere outside of Equestria! And I get to come this time!" "Well, that's pretty cool I guess," Rainbow Dash said, floating lazily above the map, her wings flapping as she laid back in the air. She grimaced and looked up in the air, thinking back to the last time she had been called outside of Equestria by the map. "But... considering what Gryphonstone was like..." She turned back to where Twilight had been standing, but she saw nothing. The alicorn had already rushed out of the room. Before Rainbow and Applejack had time to rush after her, however, she quickly returned, carrying half a dozen books on her back, and more were floating behind her wrapped in a purple aura. She quickly set the books out on the map, flipping one in particular open, entitled; 'The Equine's Guide to Cervids.' "The map is sending us to the Principality of Cervus! Do you girls have any idea how big this is?" Twilight cried, putting a hoof on either side of her face as her wings flapped excitedly. "S...should we?" Rainbow asked, looking over to Applejack, who shrugged up at the pegasus. "The Principality is the home of the deer, who haven't actually been seen by ponies in over five hundred years! It's said that a thousand years ago when Celestia and Luna had only recently been coronated as the leaders of Equestria, Equestrian settlers stumbled upon Cervine settlers who were also spreading their nation's borders," Twilight started, practically bouncing in place as she talked. "Oh boy," Applejack started with a chuckle, a knowing smirk on her face as she stared at her friend. "Another history lesson." Rainbow Dash merely groaned. "What even is a cervine?" She asked with a roll of her eyes "The cervids, or as they are more commonly known, the deer, are a noble, deeply religious and proud race who were always said to stand tall in the face of adversity, which is rather ironic considering they are actually about a foot shorter than us ponies on average..." Twilight trailed off. "Where was I again? Ah yes." "It's said that after the settlers encountered each other, they traded stories of their homelands which caused the great prince of the deer, Prince Weald, to travel to the Castle of the Two Sisters to speak to Celestia and Luna, to share the Cervine culture and learn the Equestrian culture. It is actually rumored that there were stories circulating at the time that Cervus would have ended up becoming Equestria's first-ever allied nation if things had turned out well," Twilight said reading from her book, though she didn't really need it. She had already memorized this information, alongside the information stored in every other book in her library. "Things didn't go so well though. Celestia, Luna, and Weald had a private conversation in the throne room. No one knows exactly what was said and Celestia and Luna claim they merely told Weald about Equine culture and reportedly showed him their control over the sun and moon. All anypony knows is that Weald suddenly stormed out in disgust and returned to the Principality and constructed a massive gate to seal off the only known passage through the circular mountain range which separates Cervus from the rest of the world, and barred any pony or non-deer in general from passing through it." "282 words without a breath." Applejack claimed with another laugh. "Ah think that just might be a new record." Twilight took a deep inhale, not even seeming to notice what Applejack had said, before continuing. "Naturally, because of the fact that the principality sealed itself off so completely only inspired rumors and tales to spread all throughout the world. Many said that the Deer were hoarding Arcane and Druidic knowledge that they planned to keep secret from the rest of the world for all eternity. This inspired a great many unicorn, earth pony, and even pegasus scholars to attempt to make the dangerous journey to the 'Gate of Weald' as it was being called. Every single one of them was turned away, and those that tried to force themselves inside were never heard from again." "Wait wait wait..." Rainbow Dash stopped her, sitting up in the air. "Were never heard from again? So you mean to tell me that these guys have... ya know...?" She slowly dragged her hoof over her throat and made a loud croak. "Did that to ponies?" She continued. "And Celestia and Luna just allowed them to?" "In all fairness, they did try and break into their kingdom, and they really made it clear they didn't want um inside." Applejack answered with a grim look on her face. "And Celestia and Luna were also pretty busy at the time. Only a couple of months after Prince Weald built the gate and sealed everypony out, Discord showed up, alongside Tirek, Sombra, and all those other threats. That was a very very compact year..." Twilight said scratching her chin with a hoof. "I am concerned about one little thing sugar cube..." Applejack said, furrowing her brow as she looked at the gate which stood at the only opening in the circular mountain range. It resembled more of a wall than anything else complete with crenelations and massive deer-shaped statues standing along the top like gargoyles. A large stone slab was in the wall towards the bottom, a seam in the middle of it showing that it was the actual gate part of the massive structure. "What's that?" Twilight asked raising her eyebrow. "If these deer hate visitors of any kind, and don't want anypony going past that gate..." She said lowering her head towards the map to get a better angle of the structure. She knew that the Crystal Map wasn't exactly to scale, in the slightest, but she really wanted to get a better of idea how exactly tall it was. It came to an end about halfway up the two mountains it stood between. Surely that wasn't true! Those mountains were almost as tall as the one Canterlot stood on! "How are we even gonna get inside?" "Oh, that's easy!" Twilight said with a nod. She pointed to where their cutie marks were hovering over. It was the palace in the center of the city in the center of the nation. "Lookie here! The map is sending us right to the Palace. That means that the Prince is in trouble and we are the only ones who can help him! They have to let us in!" "Define trouble..." Rainbow Dash said an even deeper frown coming to her face. "You know how random friendship problems can be. It could be like... him having an argument with a close friend. Or maybe he has a filly or fawn or whatever that isn't getting along with her sister or something." "That... could be what is happening... but I am sure the map wouldn't send us all the way to the other side of the continent just because of something so minor," Twilight said, already walking out of the room to go get her bags. "This is probably something big!" Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other, a frown mirrored on either of their faces. "You'd be surprised..." They said in perfect unison. Unfortunately for the three adventurous mares, there was most certainly not a train that took them directly to the Gate of Weald. The farthest they could get by train was Vanhoover, then they would have to walk the rest of the way on a journey that would most likely take several days by the air, however, because one of them didn't have wings, they would likely have to walk, meaning several weeks of travel at least. This, of course, meant that they would have to travel light, with only the barest essentials for travel. Enough food for about a month of walking, clothes, tents, and a couple of maps, plus a compass. "Thank Celestia Rarity isn't coming." Rainbow started with a chuckle as she slung her saddlebags over her back, Applejack, and Twilight following suit. "I think she is incapable of going hiking light." "You know it sugar cube, remember that time she brought a two-story tent on a two-day hiking trip? That sure was something." Applejack said with a chuckle before looking back at Twilight. "You ready to go?" "Yep! I left Starlight and Spike in charge of the castle while I am away. Spike is probably getting ready for a guys night with Big Mac as we speak." Twilight snickered as they started walking towards the train station. "Good, and I left Tank with Fluttershy," Rainbow said rocketing ahead of the two, hoving in the air in front of them. Twilight threw one last glance to her tree castle before smiling and forging ahead. This was definitely going to be a long friendship mission. Twilight shook in excitement as the group walked through the wilderness of Equestria's west. They were so close now, she could feel it. They were in a temperate oak and pine forest, large, steep hills surrounded them on all sides, the foothills of the mountains that surrounded the Principality. Equestrians called them the Great Barriers, but the Deer apparently referred to them as the Temple Mountains or the Temples for short. She had seen the peaks of those mountains just on the horizon for days. They were always just out of reach. Part of her had always wanted to take to their air and soar ahead of her friends, leaving them behind so she could just take a little peek at the Gate of Weald, and maybe the nation behind it. She knew that she shouldn't have thought about doing that. Abandoning her friends like that. She shook her head several times. Just because this was possibly going to be the cultural discovery of the century didn't mean she had any right to leave her friends behind like that. "You alright there Twi'?" She heard from her right, she quickly spun her head to look at Applejack, who smiled over at her. "Oh yeah, I'm ok," Twilight said, straightening up, a chipper tone in her voice. "I just have a lot on my mind right now! We are going to be the first ponies in 500 years to see the gate, and possibly the first ponies ever to see what's behind them! Do you think the Prince would be alright if I asked him some questions? I brought some light writing material and some scrolls with me." A rolled-up scroll emerged from her backpack, wrapped in purple magic. Twilight held it aloft, unfolding it in front of Applejack. The unfurled paper hit the ground, rolling down the hill until it almost hit the foot of the hill they were halfway up. "Urm... Maybe not too many questions Twi'." Applejack laughed as Twilight went about abashedly refurling the scroll. Rainbow Dash walked behind the two, letting out a very loud sigh. "Are we there yet? We've been walking for days." She whinged as they came close to the top of the hill. Twilight placed the scroll back into her back. "Actually, I think we are!" Twilight said with a smile as she crossed the crest at the top of the hill, closing her eyes and throwing a hoof in front of her pointing to what she undoubtedly was a grandiose sight. "May I present, the Gates of Weald!" She cried with a smile. As soon as the other two joined her, however, she heard two simultaneous gasps, and they didn't sound like gasps of wonder. Slowly opening her eyes and blinking a couple of times, she too couldn't help but let out a worried gasp alongside them. The Gates of Weald stood before them, but they looked nothing like how they looked on the map back in Twilight's castle. Massive cracks ran through the walls, entire sections looked like they had collapsed or fallen over. Pearly white and cyan paint-covered sections of the all, but it looked chipped and scraped off in several extremely noticeable places. At least half of the deer shaped statues that stood near the top, like massive sentries or gargoyles, had seemingly fallen off, piled up on the ground hundreds of meters down from their initial perch, and those that still stood on the wall looked worn down, large chunks of them missing. An entire wing of the wall near the top looked caved in on itself, leaving a hole large enough for an adult dragon to fly through with plenty of room to spare. The small, distant shapes of quadrupedal creatures were walking around at the base of the wall, near the gate itself. It was hard to make out exactly what they looked like from up on the hill, but they seemed to be taking up lazy, disorganized guard positions or patrols as if they weren't even trying to protect the gate. "W-what happened here?" Twilight asked, blinking several times, her mouth completely agape. "Ah guess there is only one way to find out." Applejack said grimly as she started walking down the hill, Rainbow Dash quickly following after her. Twilight mouthed several words to herself as she looked at the wall. She couldn't believe it. Grunting, she shook her head and quickly followed after Applejack and Rainbow, explanations rushing through her skull. Maybe there had been an attack, and Twilight and co had been called there to sort out the problems? Maybe they were tearing down the wall to open their borders to Equestria and the map sent them there to help them? She would only know by asking some deer. The party soon reached the foot of the tall hill and approached the guards, the land around them was engulfed in shadows, the massive wall and the mountains on either side of it bathing the land around them, hiding Celestia's sun behind them. An ill-kempt cobblestone path greeted them when they reached level ground. It was so broken and dilapidated that it was easier to walk on the dirt and grass around it than attempt to stay in the middle of it. Soon they approached one of the figures they had seen from the mountain top, who was facing away from them. It was a deer, that much was obvious. He had brown fur, with a white chin and throat, two antlers came out of the top of his head. The antlers were seemingly coated in metal, which was sharpened to make them sharp and durable as if the deer had two four-pronged trident tips sticking out of his head. He wore silver half-plate armor, intricate designs invoking antlers were carved into the metal plates that sat on top of chain mail, which was a slightly darker shade of silver. Despite the intricateness and shine of the armor, it obviously looked worn and old. Scratches covered almost the entirety of the armor, and several parts looked so broken that they were only hanging onto the deer by a thread and were liable to slide off him any second. "Um... excuse me?" Twilight said, clearing her throat to get his attention. The deer let out a long, drawn-out sigh as he slowly rolled his head to look over at her, not even bothering to turn his body. His green eyes were glazed over, large bags sat underneath them. His mouth was a straight line which quivered ever so often. Applejack and Rainbow glanced at each other as the deer looked them up and down. He didn't say anything for what felt like several minutes as Twilight awkwardly shuffled on her hooves as he stared directly at her. "H-Hello. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria." She said with a smile holding out her hoof for him to shake it. He didn't make any motion, merely shifting his gaze to her hoof, then back up to her eyes. The deer let out another long, drawn-out sigh. "Hello. Nice to meet you." He said in a monotone voice, his body sagging and his head lowering. The three ponies couldn't tell if he didn't care, was being sarcastic, was just really sad - perhaps all three. The silence returned as Twilight stared down at the buck. She turned her head over to Applejack and Rainbow Dash for a second, before turning her head back to the deer. She opened and closed her mouth several times until she let out a sigh. "Come on girls, let's go ask the Gate Guards to let us in or... something." She said walking past the deer, who stared at her as she went, not raising a hoof to stop her, through his head followed after her. Rainbow quickly followed after the Princess, with Applejack behind her, before the cowpony stopped in front of the guard. "So uh... what caused that damage up there." Applejack said, pointing to one of the holes in the wall with a hoof. The deer lazily followed her hoof, turning his head skyward. There was a short pause before the deer let out a single word. "Wind," he said, in the same monotone voice. Applejack blinked a couple of times, her jaw falling open. "W-wind? You mean to tell me that wind did all this?" "And rain," The deer explained. Applejack shook her head and quickly rushed after her friends. Twilight and co quickly came up to the massive gate itself, two solid slabs of stone. It seemed it too wasn't spared to damage the rest of the structure had. Cracks and chips permeated the stone from top to bottom. Several fist-sized holes were pierced clean through it, broken to such a degree that it looked like someone shot several cannonballs at it. Two antlered and armored deer stood on either side of it. One looked fairly young, while the other looked significantly older. The younger one was staring down at his hooves miserably, muttering quietly to himself. The older one looked slightly more stern as he stared directly at the ponies as they approached, though like the deer they had met before he had bags under his eyes and a glazed-over expression. "Halt." The older guard said as they came closer, though his voice was devoid of passion. At least it wasn't completely monotone, however. "State your business here." "Ah, finally. This is more like it!" Twilight said, straightening up. "Greetings. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. I have come on a diplomatic mission to meet with your prince. I know your gates may not open for me, but I seek to heal the relationship between our two nations." Her voice was rich with authority and a warm, diplomatic tone. The Deer stared at her for a couple of seconds before turning to the other deer, who hadn't even noticed her, still staring at the ground and muttering to himself. "K," The Deer said, stepping aside and revealing a lever which he put his hoof on. "You're free to go in." For what felt like the fiftieth time that day, Twilight felt her jaw drop to the floor. "W-wait really? That's it? I thought this gate was supposed to be an impenetrable fortress that no pony has ever or will ever cross? Didn't your Great Prince Weald order that it would never open to a pony ever? I seriously thought it would be harder than this to get inside..." "Nodeer cares about that stuff anymore..." The guard said with a sigh. Twilight's eyes widened as she turned to her friends. That wasn't a good sign. "Not like I could stop you if you wanted to enter anyway." He said as he flipped the lever. There was a loud grinding sound as, slowly, the two slabs of stone started to slowly slide apart, giving the ponies a view of the land behind. Farmland stretched out before them, but it looked wild, unkempt, and overgrown. That or completely dead and barren, as if no one was even trying to plant or harvest new food. In the far distance stood the capital city of the deer, but it looked to be just as damaged and uncared for as the gate they stood in front of. The spire of the palace barely peaked out over the city wall, one of the antlers that emerged from the roof and spiraled around it seemed to have snapped in half, collapsing onto the spire, several large holes pierced through the building. An earsplitting shrieking sound pierced the grinding noise, as one of the slabs stopped moving, coming to a standstill while the other kept going until it retreated into the wall. "Welcome to Cervus princess." The Guard said, his voice suddenly becoming monotone and dead. "Enjoy your stay." Twilight and Applejack locked eyes while Rainbow gawked at what she saw. "Yeah, something is definitely wrong here..."