This chapter was edited by NewKidOnTheBlock.
???’s POV 1,203 years ago
My pickaxe struck the stone, pulling out the gems that it contained. Lifting a grey hoof I wiped some sweat off of my brow as I set my pick down. I’d been in these caves for so long that I couldn’t even tell you the date. The only form of time I knew was the wake up call and curfew. It was a boring monotonous existence that rarely changed. The last time something a bit exciting happened was when one of the other slaves had found a particularly large gem cache. That was a good day. We got actual food then.
Food.
My stomach growled as I heard the whistle that signaled that our shift was done for the day. I slung my pickaxe over my shoulder and started down the tunnels that led towards the exit. The other workers did the same and we passed by Diamond Dog guards who kept their eyes on me.
That was a major downside of being the only unicorn in the mines. The Dogs always made you work the most. Mainly it was from the Patriarch of the Dogs making me use magical detections spells to try to locate gems. It never worked no matter how much I tried to modify the spell.
When I noticed one of the dogs approaching me I stopped in my tracks. “Pony, you get new slaves working.” I sighed mentally while nodding. It wasn’t uncommon that some of the slaves had to show the new ones the rules around the mines. As long as they didn’t cause trouble then they’d be promised 3 meals a day, if you could call the gruel they serve us food, and a place to sleep.
The dog started down the tunnels pushing past slaves who hadn’t moved out of the way fast enough. I followed closely giving apologetic looks towards those that had been shoved aside.
I was led by the dog towards a cell located, to those that knew the caves as well as I did, near the surface. The dog opened the cell door before pulling out two hairless bipeds. They were resisting his grip for a moment before he tossed them towards me. I reacted a second too late and the creatures fell on top of me. A groan of pain escaped my lips as I felt them land on me along with similar sounds coming from the two that landed on me.
“You follow pony. He show you work,” the dog said before walking away. The two creatures began shifting around on my back until they finally got off of me.
“Did that thing say that we’re supposed to follow a pony, Becks?” one of the creatures said to the other.
“Umm...was he talking about this one?” the other asked. By their tones I deduced that it was female and the other was male.
“Yes, he was talking about me,” I said with a groan as I got to my hooves. Looking at the creatures I saw that they had looks of
confusion and fear on their faces.
“Beckii, did it just talk?” the male asked its, now that I looked closer at it, twin.
“Yes, yes he did,” she replied looking less scared now and more intrigued. Her twin, however, was not.
“Why is that horse talking? Where the hell are we?!” he shouted until his twin hit him in the back of the head.
“Calm down, Tomas. I know you’re scared but we can’t go crazy now,” She said condescendingly as the creature, now identified as Tomas, rubbed the back of his head where he was hit.
“Ow, Beckii! Did you have to hit me?”
“Yes.”
With that she looked over at me with an apologetic smile on her face. “Forgive my brother. He’s kind of apprehensive about where we are.”
I shook my head slowly. “He should be. Welcome to the Diamond Dogs mines. You are now like me. A slave to the dogs,” I said solemnly.
Shock was etched onto their faces at my words. I didn’t want to lie to them. I started down the hallway explaining what was expected of them now that they were slaves and how to make life bearable while they were here. Out of all the questions they could have asked me, the first one surprised me.
“What’s your name?”
No one had bothered to ask me my name in a long time preferring to call me ‘Hairless’ or, in the case of the dogs, ‘horned pony’.
“My name’s Starswirl.”
Robert Lutece’s POV, Present time
I looked over at my sister with a raised eyebrow. Had Celestia really forgotten the date? That was unlike her considering that she normally spend this day remembering him. “Does she not know what the date is?” I asked my sister.
“It seems so, although we could have arrived early.” She replied reaching into her jacket and pulling out a pocket watch. It was made of pure mithril and had the same images as the Silver Eagle had on both sides of it. Pressing the button Rosalind opened the watch and examined the insides.
On the inside of the cover was a picture of 4 people. Me, Rosalind, and two unicorns; a pink one and a grey one. I smiled slightly at the picture remembering the fun we had together. On the other half where the clock proper were many circles that were divided into sectors with several colored circles moving around it. There were several runes and other symbols that moved around the face changing every few seconds. Too anyone else it would just look like an interesting piece of art, but to us it was a watch perfect for traveling the multiverse.
“No we’re on time. She’s just forgotten,” she said, closing the pocket watch and turning to face Celestia. “I’m surprised you have. I was under the opinion that she cared much for him.”
“She cared a lot about him,” I said as we started a common argument about grammar. In all honesty, it didn’t matter, but it helped pass the time. This time, however, she didn’t press the argument.
“I see what you mean,” she said while many of the guards and both princesses looked confusedly at each other. I resisted the urge to facepalm. Was it really that hard for Celestia or Luna to remember the date?
“It’s painfully obvious,” I said to them. Turning to a random guard I asked, “Miss, can you please tell me the date?”
She was confused by my question, that much was obvious by the look on her face, but the guard lady replied, “It’s the 15th of Starilliuss.” Both Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes widened as they heard the date.
“Yes, thank you, miss, It’s the 15th of Starillius. Aka-”
“-The Deathday of Starswirl the Bearded,” Celestia interrupted with a grim look on her face.