//------------------------------// // A two-foal tragedy // Story: The Iron Chancellor // by Radical Centrist //------------------------------// There once were two ponies. Whilst being the most privileged tribe, they were poor. Even though they were nobles, they were unknown. Their houses held no titles, no claims, no holdings, no subjects. They were hated by their fellow peers and 'inferiors'. Nopony expected much of them; just another minor noble whose entire merit came from their horns, doomed to serve as clergies or mages and be forgotten. Tia and Lulu were those ponies, and they knew full well what their destiny would be. Their parents were battlemages, serving in the pegasus armies that would frequently battle raiders and invasions. They would leave for as long as 3 years at times, being sent into foolish expeditions or attacks into enemy territories. Whilst they were gone, Tia and Lulu were taken care of by an earth pony nursemaid, as their parents could not afford a proper unicorn nursemaid. The earth pony nursemaid's name was Gentle Care, and despite the two foal's hesitation with the absence of a horn atop her head, they quickly grew to love her. The absence of a parental figure had led the two foals to depend on each other, however, the acceptance of Gentle's care had completed them. Gentle would cry with pride and joy with the fillies' first words, the fillies, in turn, would surprise Gentle with a birthday party, Gentle would teach them to read, and the fillies would repay the favour through cards during maresday. They laughed, cried, smiled, sleep and eat together, Gentle's bond with the foals resulting in them referring to her as their 'mother' which made the childless earth pony weep in joy. Despite being stuck in their house, the minor noble's home was filled with happiness; a never-ending torrent of love that drowned out any notions of boredom. Their only moment of worry came when the oldest foal became 10, as Tia witnessed Gentle shaking whilst holding a letter near the fireplace; confused as to how her mother could feel cold and shiver whilst being directly in front of the fire. Tia became even more confused when her mother threw the letter into the fire and froze staring at the letter being consumed into ash. "Mom?" Tia carefully asked, making Gentle jump in surprise. "T-Tia?! Y-yes dear?" Gentle quickly wiped her tears whilst looking away at her daughter, and turned around to meet Tia's gaze with a weak, trembling smile. "Are you alright?" Tia stepped into the room with a worried expression, causing Gentle's expression to twitch. "-I... I'm fine dearest," Gentle assured, twitching back a smile. Tia, without a word, approached Gentle and stopped at her forehooves, looking up into her mother's watery eyes. "...what's wrong mom?" Tia grabbed her mother's hooves. Gentle closed her eyes and slowly turned her head away from her daughter, as she began to tear. "I'm so sorry my daughter..." Gentle muttered, leaning forward to hug her daughter. Tia complied. "I'm so sorry..." Gentle stroked Tia's mane, allowing her head to rest on her shoulder. "So, so sorry..." Gentle lifted her head to stare at the ceiling. The letter had informed her of the death of her daughter's real parents. "They cannot know.... Else it will devastate them..." Gentle thought, as her ruffling had caused Tia to fall asleep, her worries of her mother evaporating as her familiar hooves ran through her mane. "...I love you..." Gentle quietly whispered, lightly kissing her sleeping daughter's forehead. Gentle was tending to the gardens which had fed them for a while, as the death of her masters had meant no more bits nor food flowed in from the scarce delivery and letters from the front. So far, her earth ponies did their magic and had procured themselves enough food to pass the harsh winters of the north. Little did she know, the cold would be the last of her problems. She did not realise it, but the recent defeat of the pegasus army in the north had allowed the crystal ponies free reign over the northern territories of Equestria; meaning that the borders had changed, and they were currently in the newly conquered lands of the Crystal Empire. Most had already left, including the poorest of serfs and the smallest of the nobility. However, nopony bothered informing the house with the dead owners. Free companies of crystal pony bands rapidly assembled and sacked their new lands, catching any slow earth pony convoys or migrations to sell off to slavery. One such company set their eyes on a lonely house, whose inhabitant seemed to come out and tend to their gardens without worry. They all grinned maliciously. "Tia! Lulu!" Gentle slammed into her daughter's room, worry written all over her face. "You must hide!" "What's wrong mom?" Tia and Lulu asked, turning their heads away from their books. "No time! Into the cellar!" Gentle hurriedly pushed a closet aside, and slid off the carpet beneath it, revealing a small piece of rope. Tia and Lulu watched with surprise as Gentle pulled the rope, displacing a tile and revealing a small hole in the ground. Before the fillies could react, Gentle dragged them into the hole and placed the tile back upside-down to seal it. "W-what's going on?" Tia whimpered, as she was cramped into the hole and was now surrounded with darkness. "Mom?" Lulu worried, not scared by the darkness, but still scared of her mother's frantic behaviour. Gentle disregarded their questions, as she quickly rolled the carpet back and slid the closet back on top of the cellar. "Don't make a noise, and stay still!" Gentle ordered and quickly dashed out the room, leaving the fillies clueless and cramped in a cellar they never knew had existed. "Why is mom angry?" Lulu asked; her face squishing against the ground. "Shhh... She told us to be quiet remember?" Tia replied; trying to readjust her hooves as to not trample her little sister. "If we knew this place earlier, we could've won every hide and seek!" Tia thought, silently pouting for not being told of the cellar earlier. "I'm telling you, my masters are gone!" Gentle spoke in the distance, her voice unmissable to the two hiding fillies. "Who's mommy speaking with?" Lulu asked, however, was silenced by Tia's hoof as the eldest realised the tone of her mother's voice. "Strange how your 'masters' left their belongings'." A foreign stallion's voice sckeptisised. Tia began to worry and shrank lower in the hole whilst Lulu did the same. "T-they left in a hurry!" Gentle argued. "Uh-huh, right. Search the house colts!" The foreign Stallion ordered, followed up by sounds of clopping hooves that echoed through the house. Tia and Lulu held their mouths with their hooves. "NO! STOP!" Gentle screamed, followed up by sounds of struggling. "OFF ME MUD PONY!" The foreign stallion shouted, as loud noises of glass shattering and a thump rang out. Tia and Lulu exchanged worried looks. The fillies held their breaths as sounds of hooves clopping approached their room. The doorknob began to rattle. "The door's locked boss, and it looks pretty sturdy..." A stallion said, followed by series of knocks on the door to test its integrity. "It's wooden, how sturdy can it be?" The previous stallion deadpanned, as the noise of a pony dragging across the floor began approaching the fillies' room. Tia and Lulu jumped, as the sound of wood cracking was heard in the general direction of their room's door. Then silence. "The door's tough boss, must be a treasure room!" The latter stallion concluded. "Treasure rooms aren't guarded by a wooden door moron, it's probably just a bedroom." A distant stallion voiced, followed by a sound of another door being opened. "Keep swinging." The former Stallion ordered, as the sounds of wood cracking continued. Tia and Lulu shook at every crack, as the force's vibration would rattle them in their cramped hole. Until finally, the cracks no longer became muffled. The sounds of fumbling hooves were then heard, followed up by a grasp of the doorknob from the inside and a turn. They were in. "Guess you were right Sharp! It's a bedroom!" The latter stallion boomed, as he began trotting into the roof. Tia and Lulu held their breaths once more. The dragged pony began to awaken. Gentle awoke to find herself being dragged, and as soon as she opened her eyes, her heart sank in realisation. One. They were in her daughter's room. Two. They had forgotten to make their bed. Gentle bit her lips. The former stallion snooped around the room, running his hoof along the tables and opened books. His eyes finally settled on the un-made bed. He began to smile. "Seems like we got ourselves a treasure..." He refocused on the pony he dragged, as she looked distraught. The former stallion leaned in, drawing Gentle's head in as well, pulling her mane with his crustal hooves to meet eye-to-eye. "Where are they?" He queried, "-I... Don't know what you are talking about." Gentle feigned ignorance, making the former stallion frown. "You know full well what I am talking about." The former stallion gripped harder on Gentle's mane, causing some on the edges to pull out. "..." Gentle didn't answer as she was frozen, even as the pain dotting her mane threatened to make her cringe or shudder. "The nobles." The former stallion asked again, growing impatient that he had to spell it out for the mud pony. "-There are no nobles in this house." Gentle corrected; hoping the poor condition and furniture in the house would convince the crystal pony company. The former stallion simply laughed, causing the fillies hiding to huddle for comfort. "You expect us to believe that from a mud pony whose flank has been marked as a nursemaid?" The former stallion chided, pointing at Gentle's flank which had a burnt mark of a link of chain. The symbol designated for a slave. "N-no! I'm actually an escaped slave!" Gentle desperately argued but was scoffed at by the former stallion. "Right... Flip everything here colts!" The former Stallion ordered as everything that wasn't nailed down was moved and stolen. Gentle tried so hard to not look at the carpet to draw any unwanted attention, however, the former stallion noticed kt anyways. Tia and Lulu grasped each other harder as the sound of clopping hooves approached them from above. "pleasenopleasenopleasenopleaseno," The former stallion's grin widened as he approached the sole carpet, barely resisting to lick his lips in temptation for what he was about to find. But he didn't realise that Gentle was charging him however, as his company had left the room to carry the stolen furniture onto their wagon. Gentle lunged at the former stallion in a burst of adrenaline sourced from the need to protect her daughters, as she grappled him to the ground whilst he still held the carpet. She growled like a feral at the struggling crystal pony, as she looked close enough and willing enough to bite his face off. Then a crack echoed in the roof, causing the two fillies-in-hiding to duck and cringe. They could no longer hear their mother growling. "Woah! You alright boss?" The latter stallion asked as he heaved the axe off Gentle's carved head, causing her to unceremoniously flop onto the former stallion sprawled barrel. "Argh! THIS BITCH!" The former stallion threw Gentle off, causing her to flop over the cellar's entrance. Tia and Lulu looked up in expectation and surprise. Blood dripped down onto Lulu's indigo muzzle. She stared at it cross-eyed. So did Tia. "THIS! FUCKING! BITCH!" The former stallion berated, whilst continuously stabbing the dead earth pony's body in revenge. More blood began dropping on the hiding fillies, whose mouth was now covered by their hooves, and their eyes twitching with streams of tears. "TREACHEROUS! MUD! PO- HEY!" The former stallion was pulled off by the latter, who held a bored expression. "This house's worthless. We gotta leave fast if we wanna catch up to the fleeing stragglers." Sharp explained on the doorway, gesturing the boss and the latter stallion to leave. The former stallion continued swinging aimlessly in the air, as he was carried off outside the house. Tia and Lulu stayed completely silent, even as they were drenched with their mother's blood. Tears, mucus and blood mixed together to fill the hole and submerge their lower half in fluid. But they weren't sure if everypony had left yet, and they definitely did not want to be the ones to push the tile and push their dead mother's body aside. And as the noise of the crystal ponies disappeared, the fillies began to weep. Even in their mother's death, she would make sure they were safe.