//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Earthquakes in the north (part one) // Story: Equestrian Paradox: "Worlds at war" // by An Sturmmann //------------------------------// Things aren't by any meaning easy when your whole world suffers from a change, that is something that one cannot deny, one day you are happily living your married life, relieved that a conflict has finally come to an end. Just for the next day to be an absolutely outlandish nightmare, almost as if fate itself had awaited until the very exact second everypony was feeling safe, to crush that feeling in mere moments, in quite the sadistic way too, as if it knew what the ponies of Equestria would think... just to make them understand that they are still bound to its power. We may have a monarch of inmense power, an empress of gold, fire and light, one wich rules over both, land and sun alike... but. We did had a second monarch, one of beauty, honor, pride and courage, an queen of pitch black, nightlight, and stars, one wich ruled over both, land and moon alike, a monarch wich fell into despair due to our fault, a fault we hope our children shall not carry, since it was us who were ungrateful. And, the wrath of this monarch was the reason of our fall as a major power in the world, someday Equestria may Arise again as a powerful country, however that is something wich i doubt I may live long enought to see, for centuries Griffins will hunt us, dragons will pillage and plunder, I pray that the Yak Khanate distracts them enought, since i'm sure that Changellings will become the major force for centuries to come... The truth, is that our monarchs are a good analogy to nature herself, we fell down, because of the wrath of the moon, we fell because of the wrath of nature, Equestria is being forced to abandon the everfree, it's cradle, the very place where our civilization was birthed, diamonds dogs may as well take it. I, for one, I'm against the decision to leave the Everfree towards the more "manageable" lands, if we take away all the strife of not being able to control the nature, in favour of habitats wich may as well be no different than a golden cage, when the day arrives and nature decides to punish us once again, like she does now, with the earthquakes all around the everfree... I fear that our kind will not be ready to face the truth, that not everything can be controlled by magic, by wings, or by hooves... Extract of "Equestria at her lowest" by former Lieutenant General Fear of Night Introduction of chapter one: On Nature's influence over Equestria Silence, a beautiful silence, in the middle of a dark night, the cool breeze flowing all around the halls of crystal, a place wich seemed calm and gorgeus, the only sounds besides the gentle air current, were either the soft sounds of hooves as groups of ponies walked, most of them clad in golden armor. The ponies marching seemed calm, relaxed, but serious and disciplinated, walking tall and proud, but with a certain reliable look, spears on their backs, or held in their hooves, however, there wasn't any reason for them to use those weapons, most of the armor clad equines merely having them as a support as they stood still at the sides of either doors or passages to other hallways. An air of companionship was clear, as most equines merely nodded upon meeting with the marching ones, not a single word needed to greet each other, except for a certain Stallion, who walked alone unlike the other equines, his presence was clearly one of authority, as every single armored one bowed down to him, or raised one of their hooves to salute him. His armor was golden, like the ones of his apparent underlings, but, with a major difference, the golden wasn't the main color, instead, the armor was purple or violet save for the borders and details, giving him a rather elegant look, however, unlike the others he didn't had an spear, instead having an sword, sheated and hanging at his left side. While most equines had their helmets on, this one didn't wore any, his long mane waving in the air once in a while as the breeze gently flowed in the hallways, for an stallion he was pretty tall, giving him a certain air of superiority towards the others stallions in the place, but, he kept rather humble, saluting the guards as they greeted him. A few of the armored equines were in fact, mares, and they seemed to be stiffer than usual as the tall stallion walked towards the next hallway, looking away after saluting or focusing on their weapons, but giving the occasional glance to the stallion athlethic legs, some of them blushing, others closing their eyes, and some others biting their lips. This behavior was quickly noticed by the other stallions, who either sighted, or gave quick hits to the mares using their hooves or the non dangerous bits of their spears, they weren't exactly happy at the mares demeanor, while, the older mares could only roll their eyes. "Looking at the front rookie, if you are that thirsty, go outside and drink from the fountain" An old mare spoke, she was tall and muscular, with a short mane and a rather nasty scar on her face, rendering her one-eyed, she was looking with her only eye at a younger and smaller female, who was biting her lower lip and being extremely stiff as she looked to the wall in front of her "That's better, the same goes to you all, we aren't some shady village policemares, we are members of the royal guard" The elder mare spoke as the stallion left the hallway, in a calm and soft tone, and yet... it sounded hostile, making the clearly smaller and weaker females cringe a little as they couldn't avoid looking at the clearly not amused superior. "Gentlecolts, to your posts please, the lack of discipline from one guard is not an excuse for another to show an equal lack of disrespect" The mare spoke giving a rather strong step to the front, startling the distracted guards as she walked to the middle of the hallway "Remember rookies, you are still being tested, I will ignore this rather shameful display, but the next time one of you breaks the behavior code, I will personally take away your armor and send you to my good old friend at corrective class... I'm sure she would love having those bathrooms way more clean that they already are" "Corrective class?" A female voice spoke as the elder mare got stiff and turned in the split of a second, bowing down as an even taller mare got closer, this one had a pink coat, a beautiful long mane, a golden tiara and both, a pair of wings and a horn, her mere presence being enought to make everypony bow down "Is something the manner instructor?" "N-no Princess, everything is fine, just warning these young fellas about the dangers of incorrect behavior, there's nothing wrong besides some small details" The mare spoke, clearly startled but calming down slowly but surely "I see... well, good luck on your tests everypony, but, before I leave, have you seen my husband?" "The captain is going towards the Headquarters of the exploration committee, he just left this hall" The instructor spoke as the Princess nodded "I see... well, thank you, just one thing before I leave" The princess horn began to glow as a few mares suddenly began to sweat cold as the princess eyes were set on them... eyes wich clearly weren't the usual kind ones... "If you need a coltfriend... feel free to ask me for tips on dating... but the next one who even dares to look at my husband legs that way... will wear socks in public for a whole month... I am clear my trusty guardsmares?" "MISS, YES MISS!" The now pale looking mares shouted with all of the strenght and air their lungs could muster, breathing rather heavily as the Princess nodded and departed following suit the path the stallion had followed before "What's the deal with socks anyway?" One of the stallions couldn't avoid whispering towards his partner, both of them seemed a bit confused "Honestly... I don't know, I just know my herd goes crazy whenever I wear the set you gave me last year, for some reason they go crazy if I want to go out with my red stripes socks, I mean... it's freezing out there at times so I want to not feel that uncomfortable when doing guard practices" "I knew you two were a pair of janefillies... but, mare, how can you two not understand how utterly slutty is to go around with socks in public?" Another stallion spoke, blushing clearly uncomfortable, while his partner had a rather fake smile on his face "I... I will better not say anything..." "Why?, I really don't understand the whole socks thing" The first guard spoke and the smiling one answered up "And it's better that way... at least you aren't as shameless as I am in that regard..." "I forgot you once wore socks in front of an school... why aren't you in jail in first place now that I think about it?" The whispering kept going for a while "Being a Whorse has its benefits at times..." "..." The clearly flustered stallion couldn't avoid taking a few steps towards his side, getting away from his partner, as a few mares raised their ears in interest to that last phrase "You can talk about that kind of things later, now, EVERYPONY TO THEIR POSTS, MOUTHS SHUT AND MINDS OF DUTY, THE NEXT ONE TO SPEAK ABOUT SOMETHING IDIOTIC WILL BE REASSIGNED TO BATHROOM DUTY!" The interaction wasn't clearly the best... but that did cause a little chuckle from the princess who had already left the place towards the next hall. The pink mare couldn't avoid laughting a bit to herself, as she heard everything, from the not so low whispers, to the clearly serious warning of punishment from the elder mare. However, after some seconds she calmed down, calmly walking towards a crystal door on her left, her horn glowing as the doorknob got enveloped in light before the door opened up. "Is something wrong shiny?" She spoke as she made her way towards the inside of the room, watching a white coated stallion in purple armor sitting down in front of a table, looking at some papers "You got up way earlier than usual, even for your schedule this is quite rare" "I'm sorry Cadance, I had a hunch at midnight, and woke up way earlier... I couldn't close my eyes after that, I simply felt that something was wrong, and I couldn't avoid the need to research a bit, old habit that I got from Twi. " He answered, blushing a little as Cadance made her way to his side and sad down in the closest chair "Well... what is that then?, I admit that there's something different today, but i'm not exactly sure either. "To be honest I don't know, its just... a feeling, deep down my gut, like an small shake or quake, a bit like the feeling after overeating, but way more subtle, It isn't something with my body, since I can also feel it in my horn, so I can guess its something magical" "Something magical...that would explain why my horn is itching, could it be the aftereffect of the whole Tirek fiasco?" Cadance asked as he seemed to ponder about it a bit "I doubt it, it doesn't feels like the after effect of magic depletion, but rather as if being inside a magic circle, just passive magic around, but, unlike a magic circle, it does feels way more subtle" "Could it be that the Crystal heart is doing something?" She looked at an open window, gazing at the city outside, the crystal buildings shining in a rather beautiful and magical display, however there was something a bit different in the sight "Wait... did that pole always quake like that?" "No... neither I remember this chair being capable of giving massages" He answered as he looked down, inmediatly standing up and looking around "Everything is shaking..." "Oh Celestia, EVERYTHING IS SHAKING!" Cadance got up two, starting to fly as she left the room through the window looking back at him "Shining, get the guards as fast as possible, the whole city is shaking, we need to get everypony safe! Shining nodded as his horn lit up, and in a flash of purple light he dissapeared, while Cadance suddenly heard something, looking at her side, an small scroll of paper appeared out of thin air, her magic quickly enveloping it. EVERYPONY LISTEN UP, WE NEED TO GET TO A SAFER PLACE, REMAIN CALM I WILL GUIDE YOU!