From Eternia to Equestria

by deathtap


Chapter 6: The Fracture - Part 3

"Spectacular," Luna whispered still staring at where the stallions had been just seconds ago. "Midnight must be talking about the founders of the Crystal Empire."

"I was just thinking that too," Celestia replied also stunned by the sight of it all. It was mind blowing just how much she had learned in such a short period of time. "But I have read the ancient texts. I do not know of anyone by the name of Swift Wind, or any of the stallions we saw. They are simply not there."

"Crystal Empire?" Twilight asked. She had paused the video.

Celestia smiled at her pupil. "Never mind that for now. I will explain in the future. Let's continue."

"Right! We might get some more answers. Plus, I kinda want to see what happens after." Twilight said and pushed the button on the remote before any could get in a word edgewise.

At once the scene changed and they were looking down a dirty alleyway; tall walls on either side of them extending high up in an unfamiliar material. At once Twilight recognized the place. A tickle in the back of her mind made her recall the day when Cerberus had managed to escape from his prison. Iron that not long after that the changelings had attacked Caterlot. The coincidence in her mind could not be avoided. Were the changelings trapped inside that prison for all this time? She could not help but feel a little sad for them, but she also recalled how they had tried to take Canterlot by force and how she nearly had her brother stolen from her. Her pity evaporated almost as quickly as it had come. She pushed the matter from her mind; there would be another time to dwell on that.

This was what the ancient ruins of Tartarus looked like. She had assumed, as perhaps hundreds of others did before her, that it was an old guard tower that had long since disbanded, but now she understood that most of this ancient city now lay beneath the surface; that she had seen the very top of these walls when she had visited last. Here the doors to the great prison were directly in front -- the huge metal gate still as intimidating and impenetrable as when she had last seen. It was obvious that there was powerful magic imbued within them.

Then it was not the princesses that created the prison. She had always wondered if it was possible for her mentor, with her kindness and benevolence, to create such a place. Relief flooded her as she realized that Celestia nor Luna had anything to do with this place's creation.

Now she could see why the place was designed the way it was. The walls were tall, along the time were supposed to be guards to watch the lower alley. This gave them a vantage on any creature that managed to escape. The sides were smooth, made by that strange, unfamiliar material. Now she wanted to go back and actually examine what it could be. It looked metallic, but at the same time she knew it wasn't. Some sort of element, perhaps?

"The stones are not something I am familiar with," Princess Luna stated.

Pinkie grinned. "It's obsidian!"

"What?" all girls asked looking at her.

"It's obsidian. You don't get to work at a rock farm and not know it when you see it," Pinkie replied. "Although, I don't know how they found such big pieces, but considering how many alicorns and everything there are, maybe they made it! Ooh, maybe they made Tartarus out of a volcano and carved these alleys down from that!"

"That... that actually seems realistic," Applejack said, impressed with her pink friend's answer. "That is doable, right?"

"It would take years, but it is, yes."

"Princess, if we take what we see here as an example, you could say that Equestria today is on higher ground. I mean, when I went to Tartarus-"

"You did what?" Celestia barked.

"I-I went to Tartarus... to return Cerberus to his post... didn't I tell you?"

The princess watched her pupil for quite some time before shaking her head. "No, Twilight, I didn't know you went to that place. Please don't do it again. It's a prison for a reason. There are things in there that must never be released."

"I was just... trying to help," the unicorn replied lowering her head.

"I know, but you must understand that it was very foolish for you to do." Celestia lifted Twilight's face so that their eyes met. "How could I be able to explain to everypony if anything happened to you? How would I be able to cope if I lost my number one student?"

Twilight blushed. "Sorry. I won't do it again."

"Gosh, I had no idea how dangerous it was. If we had known we would have certainly have insisted on going with you to that place," Rarity stated.

The others nodded.

Twilight felt happy that her friends were so caring, but she also felt particular silly for going all the way to Tartarus on her own. Now that it made clear how dangerous it was, she knew to exercise caution before going to that place again should the need ever arise.

The image moved forwards towards the massive doors and stopped right in front. When Twilight had last seen them, they were a lot smaller than before. Here the full size of the doors were clear. It was massive, big enough to fit a hydra through. The top tapered down until it joined together in an arch at the very top. When she had brought Cerberus she understood that only the top portion of the massive doors remained visible.

Judging everything on that fact alone gave her a better idea on just how ancient this world was.

Another thing that was amazing was their language. Even after all this time they spoke like how they did now. Even some words and phrases matched theirs. Did they retain their language from that long ago? That, in of itself, was simply astounding.

Just then the figure jumped as a loud bark erupted from the side.

"Down boy!" a yell came before a blast of red light struck the beast sending it crashing into the obsidian wall.

It whimpered and went back into a makeshift hole and the side. It lowered itself to the ground, eyes staring straight at the camera, a glowering hatred. The guardian of Tartarus, Cerberus.

"Oh no! That poor, poor, animal," Fluttershy squeaked, tears flowing from her eyes. "They didn't need to do that."

"That was barbaric!" Rarity concurred. "How uncivilized."

"Is someone down there?" a voice shouted.

"Nah, don't think so. Cerberus has been acting like this the past few days," the unicorn shouted back. "He'll calm down in a sec, won't you, big guy?"

The animal whimpered and retreated further into his hiding place.

"Good boy."

The image quickly changed as the speaker and whomever else was involved started to run from that place as fast as their legs would carry them, yet at the same time their hooves hardly made a sound. This place was very different from the previous Equestria they had seen earlier. It was not so much the dark architecture or the strange uniforms these particular guards wore. It was the feeling. A feeling of coldness that seemed to permeate from the very land itself.

"I don't like this place," Applejack stated. "Not one bit. It feels like the first time we ventured through the Everfree."

"I know what you mean," Rarity replied. "It seems so unfriendly and hostile. I get the feeling that anything bad could happen at any second."

"Yeah, this place is so not cool," Rainbow muttered hovering around the ceiling.

The feed continued on, the carrier staying close to the side of the walls to maintain their cover in the shadows. How had the guards above not notice them? The recording device panned to the side and there they could see the face of the figure clearly. They looked at each other and the other figure pulled his hood back slightly to reveal part of his face. It was the Element of Laughter, Percheron, but there was no sign of humor or laughter on his face. It was quite frightening to see just how serious he was.

He gestured with his head towards the monolithic gates to Tartarus and the one who was holding the recorder nodded ever so slightly, the image going up and down almost imperceptibly. The image turned towards one of the two guards standing at the base of the gates, who seemed to be struggling to stay awake.

"Hey!" one of the two shouted. "Who's there?"

The other guard snapped awake and peered towards them from across the street. He rubbed his eyes with his hooves, but that proved to be the worst thing he could do. In that moment the feed darted forwards at a horrific pace and pinned the unicorn guard to the wall with a well place blow to the throat. The guard coughed as he tried to make a sound, but in that next moment a glint of something long and silver appeared in the other hoof and the object vanished inside the body. The guard looked up at them, his eyes petrified with fear. He knew he was going to die. He could feel his life slowly slipping away, his eyes glazing over as the life was sapped out of him.

The attacked ducked and allowed the guard to slump over his shoulder as he turned around to see that Percheron had already done the same thing. They both quickly made their way back across the space and dumped the bodies into the alley they had come from a moment before, shedding their cloaks as they draped them over the deceased and pushed them against a pile of garbage and debris.

Percheron now stood in full armor, the exact same kind the two guards had been wearing a few seconds ago. They then quickly trotted back to the place where the two guards had been standing a moment before.

Neither moved nor talked for a long time.

Fluttershy wiped the tears from her eyes. "H-how could they do that?"

"There was a time when things like this were quite common, Fluttershy," Princess Celestia said quietly. "I have waited for many centuries to see Equestria become what it is today. I am glad that taking a life of another pony is very rare today, and I hope that it will come to a complete end soon."

"That was unnecessary. They needn't kill 'em just for standin' there an' doin' their duty!" Applejack shouted gesturing violently with her hoof. "That's murder!"

"Something's happening," Twilight stated out loud.

Two other guards walked up slowly. They stopped just in front of Percheron and saluted.

"We're here to relieve you," one said.

"Password?" Percheron asked.

"A new dawn is coming," the soldier replied rolling his eyes.

Percheron narrowed his eyes and reached for a sword. "Is that all?"

The soldier sighed. Then, in a very bored tone, he replied: "A new dawn is coming for a new era that will see the power of the powerful wane and the power of the masses rise."

"That's better," Percheron stated releasing his hilt.

"Why our passwords have to be so long, I'll never know," the guard muttered and saluted Percheron again. "I relieve you."

"I stand relieved." With that, Percheron saluted, took a step to the side, turned and watched as the other guard got into position. Only after he was standing there did he turn around and walk off, the individual with the camera following close behind.

"I can't believe they fell for that!" the voice whispered. "You managed to get the password without an issue."

Percheron smirked, "I should've been an actor, no? Too bad those two had to die."

"Yeah, but watcha gonna do, right?" That speaker laughed dryly. "And you should have been an actor. Bein' an Element doesn't really suit you. You were built to make ponies laugh, dance and sing. Not kill."

"Nopony is made to kill. And I don't see what being an Element has to do with my acting."

"Who is carrying the recorder-thingy?" Applejack asked.

"I'm not too sure, but it sounds a lot like your brother," Rarity whispered back. "It sounds just like Big Mac. The accent is unmistakable."

Applejack nodded, he eyes sparkling at the thought. Perhaps this stallion was an ancient ancestor of the Apple clan. That would put her line all the way to this period in time. As a girl who treasured family and values, this was simply the most exciting thing she had discovered. She couldn't wait to tell her family about it.

"I know, I know. Ponies aren't meant to kill one another, they taught us that in school. But then why do we have armies and fighters and stuff? I mean, we have to kill them hydras and dragons to ensure that our cities are safe. Why don't we just kill them all-"

"We protect our kind from the hostilities of this world. Things have changed in these long years. Creatures we haven't seen have started to come and threaten our way of life more and more. I don't like it any more than you do, but if we don't protect our kind, who will? The Elements are here to take on the things that our guards can't." Percheron turned his head to look at the speaker. "We do not go out there and slaughter others. Dragons and hydras have as much a right to exist as you and me."

"Yet we're still going to hunt'n'kill changelin's."

Percheron made a face. "No. I mean, not really. We're going to imprison them. We gave them a chance to adapt, and all that has happened is they may or may not have killed an Element, and-"

"You can't have it both ways, Perch," the voice stated.

"I know. I just wish there was another way. You weren't there during that terrible war. You weren't there when they razed Old Canterlot to the ground. You weren't there when thousands of our kind were changed into those things against their wills. You weren't there, so you don't know."

"Sounds like the more I hear about the past, the less I like it."

Percheron stopped and looked over to him. "Me too. The past few decades were... magical. I wish that kind of peace remained."

"Same here. I just bought a nice plot of land on the outskirts of Trottingvale. Nice place. Nopony around for miles, all that land ready for plantin'. Can't wait to get my hooves on it."

The two continued walking on.

"You decided what you're going to grow?"

"A little bit of everythin', I guess. I mean, I've always loved apples, but I like oranges too. Guess we'll just have to see. You?"

"Me? Grow things?" Percheron laughed. "No thank you. I may be Earthbound, but I am no farmer. Soldier to the core. Always have been, always will be. One day I'll gallop into battle, and won't be galloping back. I might not be as morbid as Destrier, but we're cut from the same cloth, him and I. We are fighters."

The two continued for a while in silence.

"Not me. I'm more of a grower. I like plantin' thin's. I'm only servin' because my daddy served."

"I know," Percheron said. "Your father was a good friend of mine. He was brave."

"I know. Got his medal on my mantle back home. Heard he fought the Horde."

"Yes. Yes he did. Wow, I had forgotten about that. Not that I like recalling it."

"What was it like? Etheria, I mean."

"Etheria? Well, it's a lot like this world. The main difference, I guess, are the creatures. Back on Etheria we had a lot of humanoids. Not so much here. Apart from the Sorceress... and perhaps a few others, you don't get them."

"Why did the humans choose to leave this world?"

That made Percheron laugh again. "Is this a history class? They had to combine their magic to separate the worlds. Simple as that. We came here and combined our powers with that of Castle Grayskull and pulled off a miracle. Not to mention we defeated the Horde to boot. It's a sad shame that you will never get to see it, but considering how vast Eternia is that's not so bad."

Celestia looked at Twilight and she instantly paused the video.

"Can you please explain what Eternia and Etheria are?" the princess asked.

"As far as I can make out from what Orko has said, Eternia is our world that was renamed to Equestria. Etheria is another world where the Sorceress is from... she's the one I mentioned to you before. Anyway, something happened and the worlds were split apart. From what they said, they must have had a terrible war."

"Yes, I think so too. It's troubling how many conflicts our ancestors had to face in their short time. And you were saying something about different dimensions."

"Well, Orko is from a different dimension, and from the way he was talking about it, even this one wasn't where he belonged. He seemed to have come here and stayed, I think. I'd have to ask him."

"Why would he stay if he was the only one of his kind?" Applejack asked.

Twilight shrugged. "Maybe because he made good, good friends."

That made the girls smile at each other. As long as there were good friends around, it would make this place bearable. But Orko had been alone for so long, so why was he here?

"Let's continue." Luna took the control from Twilight and pressed the button.

The image started moving again, but all they could hear was the sound of their hoof-falls on the cobbled street as they reached a set of barred gates that marked the entrance to a walled-off area. In front of the keep and were a large number of guards. They did not seem to pay attention to the two as they walked inside. There were a lot more guards here than at the entrance of Tartarus, a fact that Twilight considered rather strange.

As they crossed under the gate, they were immediately stopped by a large, obese pony chewing on a straw of wheat. He sniffed and wiped his leaky nose with his foreleg and sauntered over to them.

"What's the pass phrase?" he stated in a bored tone almost equal to the soldier from before.

"A new dawn is coming for a new era that will see the power of the powerful wane and the power of the masses rise," Percheron said without a pause.

The guard nodded, "Right, head on through." He then turned and sauntered off, spitting a huge wad of half-chewed hay onto a wall. It was tinted red.

"Ugh, I do hate it when ponies chew cud. Disgusting habit," Rarity stated shuddering. She had stood where the fat guard had spat.

"Cud?" the others asked.

At that Rarity blushed. "Oh, you know. When in university I did experiment a little with... things."

"Way to go, Rare!" Rainbow shouted, slapping her friend across the back. "I didn't you know you were into that kinda thing!"

"I'm not. I just... experimented... a little. Oh, it was so long ago. Anyway, it's a stimulating, psychoactive preparation of betel leaf combined with areca nut and or cured tobacco. It is chewed and finally spat out or, it can be swallowed depending on how it is made. Cud has many variations."

All she got was blank stares from her friends.

"Like I said, I experimented."

"You said 'a little', Rare. That don't sound like 'a little' to me. Kinda sounds like you could make it on your own if you wanted to," Applejack teased.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "That part of my life is now over. Can we concentrate on what's going on? We can always discuss this further when not in the presence of Royalty."

Unexpectedly, Celestia smiled at that. "Cud, although not recommended, isn't illegal, Rarity."

"I know, Your Highness, but it's still taboo in respectable society. I don't think it is appropriate to discuss it in front of you."

"You'd be pretty surprised what 'respectable society' does behind closed doors," Luna muttered quietly.

That brought a snicker from Rainbow and Pinkie.

Their attention was brought back to the feed when the two stallions entered the courtyard and headed over towards what looked to be a tavern. There were several other ponies drinking outside the doors, making noise, singing and whatnot. They seemed to be having a wonderful time.

One particularly intoxicated mare walked over towards them. As they approached she put a hoof out and shoved the one with the recorder against a parked cart and licked her lips. "I think you're cute," she said in slurring, seductive tone. She leaned in closer so that her face was inches away from the camera. "Wanna rut?"

That made every one of the girls watching blush furiously. The mare turned around and shook her rear in a tempting fashion. Percheron ignored her and continued on as if nothing happened. The one recording, however, seemed to have been mesmerized by the shaking of the posterior and the device was glued to the subject at hand.

"You like?" she cooed.

That made Rainbow laugh out loud, rolling on her back in mid-air kicking her legs out at the ridiculousness of it.

"You coming?" Percheron stated glancing backwards.

"Huh? Oh! Oh yeah! Sorry, got distracted." The voice trotted by the mare who blew him a kiss.

"I noticed. Aren't you currently seeing someone?"

The voice muttered something, but it was unclear as to exactly what he said.

"Well, I'm all for fun and games, but there's a time and a place."

"I get it, Perch. Can we just go?"

Again, Rainbow roared in laughter.

The subjects walked into the tavern were multiple numbers of ponies in and out of uniform were milling about minding their own business, or conducting business. There seemed to be a lot of different things going on within the tavern and not just the purchase of food and drink.

To the back Rarity spotted a mare and a stallion slobbering over one another as they suppressed their moans. She blushed when she realized what they were actually doing and turned away.

Pinkie was interested in the strange dancing some of the ponies were doing in a lowered floor area to the back. Here ponies danced in synched steps that were so easy that Pinkie was in step with them perfectly within seconds. All they seemed to be doing was taking a step to the right before switching over to the left and bouncing their right-rear hoof twice then repeating the steps again.

In many ways it seemed a fairly simplified square dance.

Their eyes spotted a hoof waving casually towards them from the very far corner. A group of about six ponies sat along a roundish table, each had a mug either in front of them or in their hooves. They two newcomers sat down and the recording device was skillfully placed in the center of the table and the entire image changed.

Now they were standing on the table itself, the mugs were standing to their shoulder. The other ponies were huge from this perspective and the girls finally got to see the stallion who carried the recorder. He was a pony that none of them had been introduced to before. A young beige stallion with a spot over his right eye. There were no scars on his forehead.

"So? How did it go?" Percheron asked, then burst out laughing making the others look at him before they all imitated his outburst.

"Why are you laughing like this?" the beige pony asked over his ruckus laugh, breathing in a breath.

Percheron smacked his back hard making him choke on the brew. "So we don't look suspicious is why!"

Indeed most of the ponies around them were now completely ignoring the group. Twilight had noticed that a few were eying them their suspiciously when Percheron and the beige stallion walked in. She read enough mystery novels to know that taverns like these carried a sloth of undesirables that were usually trouble.

"Let's go over the plan again. Swift and the pegasi are already heading towards the keep tower as we speak. When we get inside we're to lock the gates from within and hold out. Once we have secured the entrance, the others will arrest Tender. Everything clear so far?" Percheron looked at each of them one at a time as each gave a single nod. "We're severely outnumbered, and we're got nothing to back us up. If they raise the alarm, it will be very bad. We're all that we've got."

"More than enough," a deep baritone voice spoke. It was Destrier, but he was sitting in such a way that he was hidden behind a ledge. "I'll head inside first. I'll secure the guardroom on my own. The rest of you take the guards in the gate. Then we proceed along each floor. No alarm should be raised until we have Tender in custody."

"What if Tender doesn't surrender?"

They all exchanged glances.

"You know what will happen should that come to pass. Let us not humor the idea any more than we already have." Destrier stood up. "I may not like what she has become, nor her insistence that she rehabilitate the changeling scums, but she is still an Element. She deserves our respect. She was entrusted by Swift to defend this kingdom. Do not forget that. Let's go."

With that, the large stallion stood up and headed out the door. The rest of them continued to drink for a bit making small, idle talk and slowly, in pairs, the others followed after Destrier. Most of the conversation was about their current events, but with no context the girls could not understand what they were really talking about.

Twilight looked over to her mentor. Celestia seemed to be deep in thought by the way she seemed to be concentrating on nothing in particular, her brow furrowed. Meanwhile Luna was listening intently at the conversation, perhaps in an attempt to garner any clues about her mother.

"What's wrong, Your Highness?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing. It's just... it really looks like modern day Equestria. If you had shown me this yesterday, I would have thought you were showing me events from the past year, not thousands and thousands of years ago." Celestia looked up at the lights along the side of the walls. "See, here? This is powered by something. Electricity, right?"

"I think those are powered by the kind of crystals that are outside this castle, Your Highness. I mean, I think that's what's powering this place." Twilight studied the lights as well. How advanced was their technology? She had read books about electricity being discovered at the turn of the last century, but here it was.

"You may be onto something," Celestia voiced slowly coming out of her thinking process.

"Then... what Midnight said about mining crystals in the north. Maybe our Canterlot is further north?"

Celestia and Luna exchanged glances with one another.

"No, I don't think so, but it explains other things," Celestia replied cryptically.

Twilight chose to ignore the riddle for now. If the princesses were not ready to tell her just yet, then she would have to wait until they were willing to do so. She knew that they meant no harm by it, but the unicorn still felt a little hurt. Had she not proven herself capable? Or maybe they did not want to distract her from this.

The image changed suddenly as the beige pony took the recording device and placed it back upon his head. The remainder of the group headed towards the keep together with Percheron leading the way. Bringing up the rear was a reddish, tan pegasus mare who kept giving the beige pony stern looks.

Percheron turned his head to the side slightly and nodded.

At once they all trotted into the interior gate and past the secondary metallic bars towards the upper floors of the keep.

The camera had followed two others, not Percheron. The beige pony quickly vanished around the bend and some muffled cries were heard before the reappeared in the hallway. Then the three of them rushed up the stairs accompanied by yet another one of the ponies from the tavern.

"Hey, what's going on? You're not-" the voice was cut off as one of the two ponies charged into the guard. He slumped down on the ground and flinched slightly.

"He'll be okay. Will wake up with the worst hangover, but he'll live," the voice stated.

"Nice going, Rusty. Ember, you head on up with the others," a greenish unicorn ordered.

"Are you sure?" the recorder's voice asked.

"Yeah, we've got this place covered. No worries. Oh, and Rusty?"

"Yeah?"

"Be nice to Ember."

"Hey, Leaf, mind your own business!" the mare stated angrily.

"Hey, I just don't want you two to fight, okay? You're great together."

Rusty, the beige pony with the recorder turned to the mare. He walked over to her and she turned away. Gently her reached over and pulled her chin so that she faced him. "Stay safe."

With that the image turned and he quickly trotted away.

On the way the girls saw unconscious guards. Many had been knocked out, but a few would never wake up. Each time a dead guard was seen, Fluttershy would close her eyes and shake her head. All that death was pointless and sad for her. She just could not understand why a pony would harm another in that way.

But whoever these ponies were, they were good. They overpowered any guards within moments with brutal efficiency. In no time they found themselves on the top floor. Here, Destrier was standing in front of a door that was broken in. Inside there was nothing except for a small desk and a table. Everything else was a mess, and there was no sign of Tender Heart. In fact it looked as if it had been deserted quite hastily.

Percheron was sitting down on the floor. He had removed the helm from his head and had a mirthless smile on his face.

"What's wrong?" Rusty asked.

The two looked at him, but it was Destrier who spoke.

"It's a trap. We have been betrayed."

"H-how can you know that?" Rusty asked. He had placed the recorder on the ground. "We're still here... where is Swift and the others?"

"They were discovered. It will take time for him to mobilize the army. The keep is doomed, and it has been locked from the outside. I suggest that you make your peace. I doubt any of us will be leaving this place alive." Destier looked out the window and nodded. "Yes, they have surrounded us already. We have been betrayed."

"Someone told Tender Heart about us?" Rusty asked. "Who?"

"I wonder," Destrier growled.

"You can't automatically assume that it's Haze," Percheron argued.

"Is there any doubt?" Destrier replied. "We are going to die here because of his love for her. He betrayed his kingdom for the sake of a single mare."

"Maybe he wanted to make her come to him without all this?"

"Then why are we here?" Destrier shouted in response. "Wake up! She isn't the Tender Heart we once knew! She is a changeling and she must be stopped. Prepare for battle."

Percheron stood up and saluted. "Well, I was just starting to get bored anyway...'