//------------------------------// // Prolouge // Story: Ponyville Generations: Spike's story // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Ponyville Generations; Spike's Story Prolouge Ponyville...nearly a century after Nightmare Moon's defeat... The funeral was a solemn affair- attended by everypony who had known her... and everypony who had admired her. The casket was covered by flowers, from family and friends alike, as the pallponys lowered the lifeless metal box deep into the cold, cold ground. There was not a dry eye amongst those ponies gathered... and one set of eyes was watering more than the others. "Sweetie Bell... are you gonna to be al' right?" The elderly Applebloom, her face covered with the wrinkled lines of her advanced age, looked over at her old friend, the grey-haired unicorn that sat next to her. The wizened and worn mare simply shook her mane. "She's gone... my big sister's gone..." Sweetie Bell's children and grandchildren, along with Rarity's family- moved to comfort the beloved old mother, grandmother and aunt. Looking beyond the mourning crowd, Applebloom gazed at the four crypts near this newest grave. "Pinkie Pie... Fluttershy... Rainbow Dash...Twilight Sparkle..." She looked back at the funeral before her. "And now the Element of Generosity has gone to earth." All five of the harmony bearers had passed on in the last six years... leaving something of an open wound in the heart of Ponyville. There were those, of course, who should have been here, but weren't. Scootaloo had refused to come, saying she had buried too many old friends recently, and couldn't take another funeral. Princess Celestia, the ageless alicorn whose kingdom the harmony bearers had saved again and again, had sent flowers and a royal letter of condolence, but nothing more. The younger generation were already turning their attention to new ponies and new ideas, as the memory of the harmony bearers was slowly fading into the past. As the dirt was shoveled into the grave, the crowds began to disperse. The matriarch of Sweet Apple Acres gazed high on the hill overlooking the cemetery. There, a young, orange earth mare had watched the whole service from afar, unseen by all the gathered ponies save Applebloom. As the service ended, she put her cowgirl hat over her blonde mane, and trotted off in the direction of the everfree forest, towards the kingdom of Dream Valley. Applebloom wished with all of her heart she could rush up and greet the departing filly, but she had already said her goodbyes a few years ago, and had no desire to open old wounds. "Goodbye forever, Big sister..." Applebloom thought to herself, as she turned and trotted away. She and Sweetie Bell walked out of the Ponyville cemetery together, as the two pony caretakers quietly shut and locked the iron gates behind them. ... "Ladies... I am pleased to announce the last of the harmony bearers has passed away!" Sitting at the head of the boardroom table, Diamond Tiara Rich looked around at her fellow conspirator ponies, pleased at the positive reactions her news was garnering. "This is excellent news, Diamond." Silver Spoon, the mare to her left, replied. "Now, we can proceed with our goals on schedule!" Diamond Tiara had inherited her father's business more than forty years ago, and through underhanded acquisitions and forced mergers, had built a department store into the single most powerful business in the region. All of the small shops, restaurants, and businesses in Ponyville were now owned by the unscrupulous pink mare. In the room with her, sat the rest of the rich and influential mares in the town... eager to hear Diamond Tiara's economic plans for the future of Ponyville. "My good ponies... it's clear to me that the future of Ponyville lies not in small-town agriculture, but instead in a brave new endeavor... tourism!" Opening a folder with her mouth, she spread several pages of designs out over table. "The Cotton Candy Cafe... the Petal Parlor... and the Sweet Reflections dress shop! After our buy up of all the retail and privately held land in downtown Ponyville is finished, we will begin a massive reconstruction program! Tearing down all of these dull and drab buildings, to make way for a new Ponyville that is all pretty and pink!" "Mares and their daughters will come from all corners of Equestria to visit our beautiful girly tourist trap!" Silver Spoon continued. "And to top it all off, once we demolish town hall, we plan to turn Princess Twilight's palace into Celebration castle, the centerpiece of our town-turned theme park!" Silver Spoon held up a diagram of the refurbished castle... a large, purple monstrosity with pink towers. The entire room burst into applause... an entire generation of well-to-do ponies, who had grown up caring more about amassing a fortune of bits over the concept of friendship. "In other words, we turn the whole town into a giant, frilly amusement park that we live inside." One skeptical-looking mare noted, skimming over the designs for a roller coaster and a miniature lake with gondola boats. "This design will make the town fall smaller than it currently is, and I don't see any unicorn or Pegasus accessibility." "We feel it's time that earth ponies reclaim Ponyville for our own!" Diamond Tiara replied with a sinister smirk. "We have already talked with our allies in the unicorn and Pegasus communities... and they are asking for a re-segregation of the tribes in exchange for helping us." She laid out the designs for the neighboring town of Unicornia, and Butterfly island- a home for the Pegasus far out at sea, that was to be accessible by a portal beneath Ponyville's waterfall. "We can make three times as many bits, by charging for three differently themed parks as one!" "The unicorn's plan to encase the entire region Ponyville under an enchantment, that will expand the self-operating weather of the everfree forest to all three communities." Diamond Tiara continued. "That will free up the three tribe's time, to concentrate on making more money!" "Hey, what this about that weather enchantment causing the Ponies in the three communities to gradually lose intelligence... and sanity?" Another mare looked over one of the reports from the folder. "And there being mutative side effects?" "Merely an unintended side effect of the enchantment." Silver Spoon exclaimed. "But what do we care if Ponyville degenerates into a bunch of stupid, overly girly ponies generations after we are gone?" "And as for mutative effects..." Diamond tiara wrapped her hoof around a pen lying on the table, and picked it up as if she had hands. "They can only be beneficial to our plans, see?" Most of the ponies at the table recoiled in shock... but as Silver Spoon appealed to their love of money, she slowly got them calmed down again. "And what's to stop the Alicorn sisters from putting a stop to our goals?" A third pony asked. "And what about the ponies here in town that oppose what we are trying to do?" "The royal sisters are too busy dealing with all of the problems currently plaguing their realm." Silver Spoon replied. "They are far to worried about the kingdom that is crumbling around their pointy ears, to care about a tiny little village that is right under Canterlot's nose." "And besides, the bureaucrats in high places that we paid off, will ensure Luna or Celestia never visit here." Diamond Tiara continued. "And as for any who oppose my lucrative plan, they can be 'persuaded' to leave Ponyville for Dream Valley kingdom, our neiiiighbors to the south in the everfree forest." "But the cost of maintaining such a park! With this endless string of festivals and celebrations." A fourth mare asked, looking over the plans for the Spring Promenade and the Rainbow Celebration. "And the land you want for your 'unicornia' is already occupied by the Fluttershy cottage nature preserve, and Sweet Apple Acres!" "I've already seen to the purchase of Fluttershy's old house from the town council... and all of the silly yellow Pegasus's animals have already been sold to the griffin slaughterhouses of the north." Diamond Tiara clopped her hooves together in amusement. "Those griffins so love eating meat, you know." "And we've spoken to Big Macintosh's daughter." Silver Spoon continued. "She is more than willing to Sell us the farm... once we help her ship her 'crazy' old aunt Apple Bloom off to the Ponyville retirement home." "But as to maintaining the park..." Diamond Tiara opened a small box, and a pair of Parasprite-sized ponies with fairy wings flew out- much to the astonishment of the rest of the room. "We found these little creatures when the work ponies were renovating Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle... our unicorn mages believe she brought them back with her from that dreadful Tambleon lab incident a century ago." "We found that they can multiply quickly, and we believe we can train these 'Breezies' to maintain the park for us." Silver Spoon finished. "And given their eagerness to help and small intellects, we won't have to pay them a single bit!" The entire room burst into applause, pleased with the pair money-making 'investment' in the future of Ponyville. After the meeting had adjourned, Silver Spoon stopped Diamond Tiara to talk to her. "Something's bothering you, I can tell." The old pink mare told her lifelong friend, looking up at her. "What is it?" "You know we're going to be the last generation of sane ponies in Ponyville." Silver Spoon exclaimed. "Within three generations, they'll all be so air headed and scatter-brained, they'll have forgotten the other three tribes.. heck, even Equestria and the Alicorn sisters... even exist!" "Your point being?" Diamond Tiara replied coldly, looking up at her. "I've already spoken to the Equestrian board of Health. Once our generation dies off, and the theme park has run it's course, the bureaucracy will expand the everfee forest quarantine over the Ponyville and unicornia region. That'll keep outsiders from the rest of the kingdom out." "Our childlike descendants will be left to play, in an amusement land paradise." Silver Spoon smirked. "A girly utopia with endless parades and parties, where nothing ever goes wrong..." "I can think of no better world to leave them." Diamond Tiara replied, looking out the window at a Ponyville that would soon vanish forever... ... As evening drew on, a lone form still stood vigil over Rarity's grave. Tears fell from purple scaly eyes, which had watched his beautiful white unicorn fall to the ravages of time. He was all alone now... Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy... none of them were left. He had received many condolences from the few ponies who still knew who he was, but even they had now abandoned him to his tears, after the funeral was over. Where could he go now, he wondered? Twilight's family would most certainly take him in, as would Rarity's, or any of the harmony bearer's children or grandchildren. He could even return to Canterlot... back to the white alicorn princess who had raised him. But no, he wanted to be alone. And he was tired... so very, very tired... Walking to the center of town, he dug his way far beneath the town hall. Tunneling deep into the soil, he left the world above, with all it's pain and memories, and closed up the path behind him. Down here, in the quiet and the dark, he could get some sleep at long last. As he curled up, he looked at the heart's desire flower that was wrapped around his tail. He had picked the flower outside of town a few days ago, intending to give it to his precious princess, Rarity. But she had passed on before he could present it to her. Seeing as the flower was enchanted, it would no doubt continue to grow even as he slept. As he closed his eyes in slumber, his thoughts became muddled. He was going to give the flower to his princess.. what was her name again? It didn't matter, the flower belonged to the Princess he must serve, so she would be the one who claimed the flower. Letting out a yawn, master Kengtrowth Gilspottom Heathspike- the formal name Celestia had given him at court- slipped into the slumber of the ages.