The Table Chamber of Castle Rockhoof was so named because at the center of that large, octagonal room was a table made of stone. Nopony truly knew where it came from, but what was known was that it had been brought by Rockhoof when he left the territory known as the Forbidden Zone after the Fall. Evidently it was a relic important enough for Rockhoof to bring with him after escaping that old land where the Unicorns and Pegasi waged their war, but history never spoke of what that importance might have been.
But, because it was Rockhoof’s treasure, it became the Realm’s treasure, and every so often the Knights of the Realm and their Protector would gather around it, all 12 of them (or as many as could be gathered), and hold the meeting of the Stone Table. It was around that same table where Rockhoof and Meadowbrook, and the original Knights of the Realm, shared First Bread – their pledge to one another to create and defend a land where Earth Ponies could live freely and safely away from their more war-minded cousins.
On that day when Sunny Starscout was brought to the castle, the 3,999th such meeting occurred.
Artemis Brightland, daughter of the Protector’s Right Hoof, and a squire in her own right, awaited nervously outside the imposing double doors of the Table Chamber. They rose like two tall slabs of marble, careful patterns etched into their frames. Each door had the mark of the Realm of the Earth Ponies painted on it – a green Earth Pony standing on his back hooves, ready to strike. They faced away from one another. Artemis nibbled her lip.
“Ohhhh they’re all going to be so upset – why is father like this?”
She fidgeted in her light bronze armor. A guard with a crested stone helmet cleared his throat.
“Ms. Brightland? Are you okay?”
She turned and wore a fake smile.
“Yes, of course. Nervous jitters and all. I am filling in for Sir Curio, the Right Hoof, after all.”
Uncomfortable laughter. The guard raised an eyebrow before awkwardly turning back around to resume his straight and professional pose. Artemis looked at the other guards in the long, carpet-lined hallway leading to the Table Chamber. The light from the stain glass windows (showing all manner of Earth Pony history – including First Bread) behind them revealed their stares – they all snapped back to professionalism once caught. Artemis closed her eyes and sighed.
The Table Chamber doors groaned open, as if two giants had been prodded with forks. A golden figure emerged, blinding Artemis momentarily. Her voice lodged in the back of her dry throat. She shrinked before the towering goddess before her.
“L-Lady Protector!”
Artemis bowed hastily. It was too glorious an image - words could do no justice. The guards, who saw the Protector more often out of necessity given their position, were more relaxed and smiled as they basked in the very real glow – not just from the glimmering golden armor that the Protector wore, but her coat, as well, seemed to glow bright and warm.
And that coat – had a more marvellous shade of light pink fur ever existed? And so finely groomed was it that it looked like iridescent pearl if you caught it at the right angle. A scent like fruity sugar filled the nostrils of everypony, including Artemis, who closed her eyes and sighed happily. Such a scent was a rarity in Castle Rockhoof, Castletown, and indeed anywhere in the Realm.
Nopony quite knew why the Shieldheart family had manes and tails made up of multiple colors. It was an anomaly among the Earth Ponies, though nonetheless something to be appreciated in such a bleak place as the Realm. Those colors - blue, green, indigo and pink - melded together to form a perfect combination that immediately struck the eye, and if one looked long enough, it almost appeared as if the different colors moved in waves.
When the Protector spoke, Artemis froze.
“Where are my Hooves? What good are they if they are never around for counsel!”
She turned and looked down to notice Artemis, who was shaking in the corner. The Protector was so tall that Artemis seemed like a filly.
“Artemis?”
The Protector sighed, becoming pensive.
“I suspect you are here on behalf of your father again…”
“Y-yes, Lady Protector.”
The Protector saw the wobbly apprehension of the mare beneath her and blinked. She relaxed her shoulders. Her irises would seem sharp, hot pink when she was upset, but soften to a pale magenta when she calmed herself. She breathed, then smiled.
“I’m sorry Artemis. There’s a lot going on right now, not least of which is that Mr. Hooffield and Mrs. McColt are still waiting. You can imagine what that is like.”
The hallway lit up from the sheen radiating off the Protector’s pink fur. The guards closed their eyes and sighed. Joy poured into Artemis like a drug in her veins. She straightened into a full standing position. When she spoke to the Protector, it was clear and confident.
“If the Lady Protector agrees, we can start now and I can speak on behalf of Sir Curio! I have memorized all his questions and comments!”
The Protector’s mouth screwed into a line. Her brow curved downward. Artemis felt a motherly presence, although the Protector was not much older.
“Is your father taking an extended nap again?” Artemis’s sheepish smile gave it away. The Protector made a worried noise. “He’s my Right Hoof, it doesn’t look good to the others that he sleeps all the time…” She facehoofed gently, careful not to boop herself with her golden horseshoe. “Let’s just… get this underway.” She winked at Artemis. “Just between you and me, I would rather deal with you at the meeting than either your father or Bastion.” She groaned. “Especially Bastion.”
Artemis beamed, blushed, and giggled fillyishly. She followed alongside but just behind the Protector as the two entered the chambers. A loud female voice called from inside.
“Lady Aurelia, are we fiiiinally gonna begin?”
Sunny was confident the room she entered was Curio’s office – it would be odd for it to be anything else, given how many things had his family’s Cutie Mark on them. Little sunrises – and bigger sunrises – adorned every wall in the form of a flag, a painting, or the large shield above Curio’s head, on a stone atop the large glass window that flooded the room with light.
It was not a huge room – the rich mahogany table Curio sat at took up a lot of space, as did his large, comfy-looking chair. He looked ready to nap just sitting in it. The rest of the room was occupied by books – either put away within the many shelves, resting atop one another in piles, or simply sprawled out on the stone floor. Sunny didn’t bother to keep her hooves off them, though Curio cringed with every step she made.
“Do your eyes work? Can’t you at least feel what you’re stepping on?”
Sunny shrugged and smirked.
“If you cared about them that much you wouldn’t leave them on the floor.”
Curio sighed for a very long time. He frowned at Sunny, an old stallion kind of frown that made his cheeks droop and which revealed the age-worn wrinkles of Curio’s smoky grey face. Enhancing the ancient effect were the copper-colored goggles sitting on the elder’s forehead. Curio stared at Sunny with his big brown eyes and breathed every so often. She sucked in her lips and stared from side to side.
“Soooooo are you going to give me an audience with the Protector?”
A pause. Curio frowned.
“You look like your uncle.”
Sunny’s brow lowered.
“Who? I don’t have an uncle.”
“As far as you know, which is not much, apparently.”
“You calling me stupid?”
“I ain’t calling you a genius.”
Sunny glared. Curio hummed thoughtfully.
“Ah but that’s not what Willder was like at all. He was always smiling, like a foal.”
Sunny stomped her hooves.
“Listen you old coot! I don’t know any uncles or Willders and I’ve had to deal with a lot of crazy stuff from a whole bunch of old stallions in the past few days, so if we could skip to the part where I get to talk to the Protector, I would really appreciate that!”
Curio frowned his grumpy old stallion frown again.
“Why do you want to talk to her? Got some kind of crush? Get in line - Aurelia’s a pretty girl.”
Sunny blushed.
“Je-pe-what?! No I don’t even know what she looks like! I’m here to convince her to give peace a chance! To reunite with the Pegasi and Unicorns!”
Curio chuckle-hmphed, still looking dour.
“Is that so? And how many of these Pegasi or Unicorns have you even met?”
“Just one. Her name is Izzy. She’s a Unicorn, and she’s my friend, and if you sat down and talked to her, you’d see that she’s not evil, she has no magic, and she doesn’t want to gobble anypony up!”
“Anyearthpony is what we say. It’s important to differentiate; they’re not like us. And I’ve met dozens – none of them wanted to do anything except kill me, my family, or my fellow Earth Ponies.”
“On a battlefield?”
Sunny looked down, then back up with resolve. Curio’s left eyebrow raised a little.
“If you meet on a battlefield with weapons and anger, of course anypony will want to kill! That’s just common sense! But if you tried to meet for peace, if you came together and—”
Curio interrupted loudly.
“You’re under the impression we haven’t tried that before.”
Sunny’s mouth was ajar as if she wanted to but couldn’t speak. Curio closed his eyes, a long sigh escaping his nostrils.
“Twenty-five years ago your uncle Willder Starscout came to Castletown. I don’t feel like recalling the whole story, but suffice to say he drew the wonder of everyearthpony. We were in the midst of a war after the Everfree Incident – do you at least have an idea of what that was before I continue?”
Sunny nodded. Curio continued.
“Right. So, you’re aware it wasn’t a good time. You think we hate your little horned, winged friends now, you should have seen what it was like back then. And yet…” Curio looked up at the ceiling wistfully. He quietly continued, gently shaking the thoughts out of his head and looking at Sunny once more. “Willder was able to get almost everyearthpony to agree to send for peace: myself, the Protector of the Realm, and all the Knights… my wife Lorelei, with recent child, too. All of us travelled to the Forbidden Zone. Arrangements were made with the Hornheads and the Featherfreaks to have a talk. A chat – for peace.”
Curio said the last word bitterly. He rubbed his face with his hooves. Stress like an invisible weight made his shoulders tense, his movements strained.
“When we got there, it was a trap. The leader of the Hornheads at that time, Kaygn Oncefolly, decided to use us putting our guard down to his advantage. As I understand it, the Featherfreaks never even showed up. Kaygn Oncefolly and his forces killed the Protector, almost every last Knight of the Realm, and every other Earth Pony who had attended, including your uncle… and also…” Curio struggled to swallow. Sunny watched his eyes focus on something that wasn’t there. “My wife.” Sunny saw the old stallion shrink in his seat as a lull in his words created an uncomfortable silence. “She was just a nurse. Thank Rockhoof our infant daughter was here at the Castle.”
Sunny struggled to understand what she was hearing. She tried to picture such brutality, but couldn’t find the right images. What would such a thing look like? And she had never lost a member of her family in such a way – her parents were lost at sea. Curio smoothed down the wrinkles on his jowls, his gaze placed on the floor in front of him.
“The Realm would have fallen after that, guaranteed, if it weren’t for one squire’s courage. Do you know who that squire was?”
Curio looked up. Sunny couldn’t hold his gaze – the stare of those brown eyes was like a flurry of daggers, showering Sunny as if to punish her foolishness.
“It was Bastion Titaneous. He was only your age at the time, I would reckon. And while I and another Knight were struck with fear, frozen in place, and prepared to die, Bastion threw himself at Kaygn Oncefolly and destroyed him. When the Hornheads lost their leader, they broke, and the ones brave enough to stay were chased away by Bastion. The war ended on that day – at least for us. None of those others dared attack after they heard about the Titan.”
“You may hate him — and make no mistake I am no friend of his. But Sir Bastion is a hero in the Realm, and if it wasn’t for his actions that day, the war would have continued and we would have lost everything we held dear because we were stupid enough to believe a silly dreamer who told us to wave an olive branch and ask for peace.”
Sunny snapped.
“So that jerk saved everypony a million years ago – that doesn’t give him the right to abuse ponies over some sick, twisted sense of justice!”
“It gives him that right more than you have a right to belittle everyearthpony who has suffered and died by talking about some silly peace!”
Curio sighed with frustration.
“Anyway, now that you have heard that little history lesson – and I am shocked you were able to listen the whole way through without interrupting – I want to give you a choice.”
Sunny glared. Curio continued.
“Leave this place. Go to Tall Tale and introduce yourself to the family you have there. I don’t imagine your folks told you about the other Starscouts – I heard they left after news broke of what Willder did. Embarassed, perhaps. But your family will find a place for you in Tall Tale — they’re the kind of folk that run game stands and fortune telling, that sort of thing. Your grandmother has a high position among the Earth Ponies there.”
“You’ll let me go? Why?”
Curio adjusted himself with a tired grumble and rested his chin on his hooves, elbows on his desk.
“Because I don’t want you to spread any more of your poisonous talk about peace. And don’t think I’m stupid - you have to leave and NEVER return. If I hear even a whisper about you causing trouble again, I will personally come and bring you to the dungeons to rot.”
Sunny looked past Curio, to outside. The clouds looked like giant puffy marshmellows, the sky a clear blue as long as the sea, but not shiny or rich in blueness like its salty, wet cousin. Sunny closed her eyes. She considered what was being said – of course she did.
“I know how much Earth Ponies have lost. That’s all I’ve heard about in the last few days – and it’s not like I’ve never heard about it before.”
Curio raised an eyebrow as Sunny walked and talked.
“Of course I’ve heard of the history - the wars, the suffering, all of that – ponies think I don’t know but I do. It’s just that I don’t FOCUS on that. I focus on the future!” She pointed at herself and Curio laughed. “What we can still have if we try hard enough! If we go forward even if it IS scary! And I think… I think the best way to heal is to talk about it with the Unicorns and Pegasi, eye to eye!”
Curio scoffed.
“So they can gloat?”
Sunny’s eyes widened.
“So they can cry with us! Do you think we’re the only ones who have lost?!”
Sunny looked at Curio, conviction swelling up within. Curio’s face showed no signs of emotional wear.
“I want to ask them for their side of the story. I want them to tell the Earth Ponies why they did what they did. Did all the Unicorns decide to betray peace, or was it only their leader? Do you know that for sure?”
Sunny laid a hoof on her forehead in frustration and shook her head.
“Why am I the only one asking these questions? Why am I the only one wondering about what we could HAVE not just focusing on what we LOST?!”
Curio nearly spat.
“Because YOU didn’t lose anyearthpony! You never watched your loved one die before your eyes! You never had to sit up at night after not sleeping for weeks because you were afraid if you did something would come and take away your child, the only thing you have left in the world that’s yours! Only someearthpony as young, stupid, and foolish as you could possibly—”
“I AM young, I AM foolish, and MAYBE I’m even stupid! But I’ll be all of those things before I’ll be a coward like you! You’re just scared, you’re not—!”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!”
Curio slammed his hoof on the table. Sunny took a step back, her courage faltering momentarily. She regained it and stepped forward, brow lined with conviction. Curio shook his head.
“I won’t sit and hear this nonsense! Not again! When I believed Willder it cost far too much – almost more than I was able to bear! I thought you would see reason but this?”
Sunny retorted immediately.
“Let me do it! I’ll go to the Unicorn and Pegasi lands and convince them that peace is possible! I’ll bring the Warlock King and the Pegasi leader here and show everypony that they want peace just as much as we do! You don’t have to do anything - you don’t have to risk ANYTHING!”
Curio leaned against his hoof on the desk and shook his head.
“No - not happening. You either take my generous deal or I’ll leave you in the dungeons for Sir Bastion.”
“What are you so afraid of?”
“I mean it… my patience is wearing thin.”
“If you’re too chicken to make the decision, then leave it to the Protector. Let her decide – I’ll make her see!”
Curio simply glared. Sunny continued.
“Even if you let me go, you wouldn’t let Izzy come too, would you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not?!”
Curio jumped off his chair.
“BECAUSE SHE’S THE ENEMY!”
“SHE’S MY FRIEND! YOU DON’T KNOW HER!”
“I know what her and her kind are capable of! Do you?”
Sunny did not back down. Her face changed to a snarl.
“I haven’t had much of a chance to learn about her thanks to Sir Bastion!”
“Big deal. It was a meeting that never should have happened in the first place. What exactly was a Hornhead doing so far into our territory anyway?”
“I don’t care if it never should have happened – I am happy it did! I’m not going anywhere without Izzy – I need to bring her home and convince the Warlock King to forgive her, to forgive Earth Ponies, to accept peace! Let me show you what I mean!”
“That’s stupid, and if you had any idea how stupid it sounded, you would never utter such idiocy. The Warlock King would tear you apart! You might be able to convince me his sister is a kind mare, but the King himself is utterly deranged. He sits in a throne room filled with all manner of grotesque Hornhead creations. Monsters that can crawl inside you, make you do things to other Earth Ponies that you never thought you’d be capable of with your own two hooves.”
Sunny never forgot the old stories – though she was no friend to “history”, she had always lent an ear to fairy tales, or whatever one would call the scary ones. A shiver went up her spine as she imagined the worst of what she remembered about the Warlock King. She looked at her hooves. Curio continued.
“Real life is not a fairy tale. Your parents came from Tall Tale – they were able to make up nonsense and make it sound reasonable. That’s a great talent. But here in the real world, we have to consider what the actual consequences of our actions will be. If you go to Unicornia, with a Hornhead pal beside you or not, regardless of who she is the sister of, you’ll wind up a science experiment and nothing more. A blip in the annals of history – a freak, maybe, or at worst a puddle of goo in a dark chamber of some evil spire in Sire’s Hollow! That the fate you want? Is it?!”
Sunny was silent. Two warring factions inside her brain vied for control. She wanted to run away, tears streaming down her face on the one hoof, and she wanted to stand up and scream to the sky on the other. Finally, she decided. Sunny looked up, eyes afire with conviction. Curio leaned back.
“I’ll take that risk, for the sake of my dream!” She smacked her chest with her hoof and held it there. “Hoof to heart!”
Curio became quiet. He considered what he saw in Sunny’s eyes – sparkling lights of passion swirling about to the backdrop of rich magenta irises. Irises that looked a lot like her uncle’s – Curio did not forget the wonder he had seen so long ago. It was something he had never seen since, until that day when Sunny Starscout stood in his office.
Curio got up and moved around his desk. Sunny backed away uneasily.
“Well?!?
Curio sighed.
“Come. To the dungeons. There’s no convincing you.”
“No!”
Sunny fought back as Curio tried to tie her with a rope from his bag. Both grunted and strained. Curio was faster and he was experienced with hogtying Earth Ponies who needed hogtying.
“No – no… let… me… go!”
“Give it… up… Starscout! I’m… ending it… now. The madness… ends now! No… more!”
Curio managed to get some of the rope around Sunny’s hoof and chest and he tightened it with his teeth. Sunny felt her anger rise from the tips of her hooves to the beating organ within her chest. It balled up and swelled inside. She remembered being so helpless the whole way to the Castle – Sir Bastion’s gags, his chains, his cages.
His stupid laugh.
Sunny grit her teeth as the ropes tightened even more. Something throbbed in her throat and grew in size until it could be contained no more. She screamed.
“GET OFF ME!”
The scream took an almost physical form – a visible sound wave that pushed Curio back toward his desk, the rope flinging harmlessly against a wall. Scrolls and books flapped as the scream moved outward, and the glass window behind Curio shattered with a loud crash. Sir Curio’s eyes widened, his pupils shaky, his chest still, his limbs frozen. He finally looked to Sunny like a frail, old stallion.
Everything stopped moving. The only noises were Sunny’s pants and Curio’s struggled breathing. Sunny looked at the ground.
W-what was that?!