A lone pony sits in the middle of a forest. He sits eyes closed, listening. Birds tweet. Hawks caw. Deers can be heard prancing about. This pony wasn't destined to be here. A snow pinto, in a woodland area. Thick fur inhibits movement and vitality. He cannot hide amongst the brush, for his grey and white fur don't belong. No matter, he lives. He dislikes his place of birth. Cold. Always cold. Never quiet. Never a clear sky. He'd moved south when he found his father, frozen solid in the night. His name had been Thompson. Thompson is all he remembers of his father now. Never knowing his mother, dying shortly after birth. Not actually related to his birth oddly enough. She'd died of a heart attack while going to the rest rooms. He hadn't always lived in that cold, though. He'd moved there when his father got a job protecting the northern front. His father was an architect, and had been given the plans to build a giant wall separating the Crystal Kingdom and the rest of Equestria. Building a ring around the fortress, from the inside. Just after the defeat of Iron Hoof, the hellish heir to the throne after his father, Shining Armor. Given the orders by Prince Halderon, the new prince of the Crystal Kingdom. Just after the defeat of Iron Hoof, the land was actually fertile and pleasant. It eventually went back to it's previous state of being the pony equivalent of Siberia. After the wall was built, the remaining inhabitants of the Crystal Kingdom muntinized Halderon. He tried to be another Tyrant, like Iron Hoof, and his subjects became rather displeased. By this time, our character discovered his father dead. Realizing that the inhabitants had completely abandoned the Crystal Kingdom for greener pastures, literally, he'd left too. His only remaining friend went off with his parents, but had recommended he go west. Took him a year before the snow drifts and hills ended, and turned into desert lands. He stood at the edge staring for the longest time, before forgetting about heading west, and followed the divide south. Living off snow berries and coconuts, and what appeared to be some kind of banana that tasted like oranges, he walked for six months. On the seventh month, he discovered a vast, untouched plains area. Realizing if he tried heading south any further would result in confusion for himself due to the incredible flatness of the land, he followed this new divide along the snow boundary. He discovered a town of the other inhabitants of the Crystal Kingdom. The housing had been placed in the snow, but the farm land had been built into the plains. Not wanting to linger, he continued. Eventually he ended upon the forest where he now resides. He could still reach the snow if he headed north far enough. It's been ten years since he's seen another pony, and another five since he's spoken a word. The last pony he saw appeared to be a scout for an army. Despite his adapted night vision, he couldn't make out who's army he was for, not if it was a stallion or a mare. No army ever came through though. He's a friend to whatever animals reside in the forest. He has helped them many a time, and them him. Lately he's been letting his coat grow out. His plan is to head back to the Crystal Kingdom and make stand his ground at the wall. He's grown old, and knows his time is coming, so he's moving out. He stands up, and starts out for the north, leaving all his worldly possessions in his shack. He knows the way north to the Crystal Kingdom, thanks to his furry little friends, mostly the bears though. Obtaining food along the way, after two months he reaches the strange drastic border between the two biomes. Head crosses over, waving goodbye to his friends. It doesn't take him many months to finally get to the wall, and there, he waits. He remembers the walls were imbued with magic that would only let those through who knew the words of passage, but did he remember. Could he even speak, it being so long since he's spoken a word. He spoke a word.
"Aperite."
The wall did not budge. This concerned him, for normally, the more spoken of the words, the more it opens. It should've cracked slightly. Perhaps the magic had gone, but he would try none the less.
"Aperite portas, et ambulant veracium."
The wall didn't even flinch. After twenty years, these walls had lost their magic. It brought him down. He laid down in the snow, and curled up. He considered his eternal sleep there, but suddenly, a loud crashing sound came from the wall. The masonry shook as the wall began to open up. He got up, and began to walk towards it. Bricks fell from the massive blockade as it opened up to reveal, not snow, but fertile grassland. He couldn't figure it out. This was not the place he'd left twenty years ago. The castle still stood, proud as ever, but the land was something he'd seen only once before. When he was just a colt, no more than two. The short span of real pleasantness in his life. He traverse the path. Not a soul to be seen. No indication of why this place was as it is. He walked, and walked until his hooves. Until his legs hurt. Until he reached the under side of the castle. There sat the crystal heart, as it always did. The ponies had always thought that had something to do with everything that happened here, but it still stood as the land turned to snow. As evil took the throne. As the cries of the enslaved tried to break from the chains of Iron Hoof. He couldn't figure out why, after so long, this place would suddenly be such a prosperous place, despite the lack of those living there. forgetting about it for the time being, he started off to the castle steps. It reminded him of something out of a horror story. A nice looking place, with not a soul to be seen. He entered the crystal castle. Still no ponies to be heard of. He'd never entered the castle before, for fear of being injured or the like. Him and his father had always lived closer to the wall then anything else. The wall was oddly warmer than the rest of the kingdom, though no one else wanted to built out there, too far from anything. He'd entered the grand hall, and grand it was. Prince Halderon hadn't been in charge long enough to take down Iron Hoof's old tapestries. Some of them had been torn during the seizing of the kingdom by Princess Twilight's soldiers. The battle of the Crystal Kingdom was short fought. Once Twilight's army had surrounded the kingdom, they defended their position. Once Iron had stopped trying to repel them, they closed in and took the castle. The soldier gave up the moment the set hoof inside the kingdom boundaries. The few 'loyal' guards fled once they'd seen the size of the army encroaching upon them. Iron Hoof lived up to his name though. With hooves of steel, he fought the soldiers. He'd killed twenty of them, before the Commander and Chief of the army walked up and opened up a can of whoop-flank on him. They called it 'The Weekday War" because it took all of five days to take him down after war had been called. The sun was setting, so he looked around the castle, finding a map conveniently placed next to the throne. He followed the map to a bedroom. Halderon managed to change some of the castle, including the bedroom. This was clear from the assortment of pictures of Halderon accompanied by various ponies whom our pony had never heard of, let alone seen. The only recognizable pony was Princess Twilight Sparkle, along with her friends who he had no idea who they'd be. Halderon was a kiss flank to other regions, trying to avoid war. Too bad he couldn't practice the same thing on the homefront. 'The Weekday War' was just one of many, since his birth. There'd been the war between creatures called changelings, and the rest of Equestria. It'd never touched the Crystal Kingdom though. Some say it's because the changelings knew they couldn't take it. Others say they couldn't find it. Few, including himself, say that because the changelings live off of love, they wouldn't prosper here. There was a short war between Celestia and Luna, resolved by Twilight. It lasted the longest out of any war in his lifetime. All of two weeks passed during that war. Noticing the sun had vanished, and in it's place was the moon, he slept. In the morning, he searched around the castle some more. Realizing he wouldn't need all his fur, be went to the bathroom and cut it off. He saw himself in the mirror. He spoke to himself. The most he'd said in a long time.
"Twenty years ago I was a young, strong stallion. Now I'm just an old pony trying to relive his youth."
He sighed. Looked out a nearby window to the land beneath him.
"I need a new hobby, besides trying to survive. I wish I had a foal of my own. I wish I had the chance to try my luck in a kinder world."
He left the bathroom, took the map, and walked around. There was an unmarked room close by. He looked around where it should be, but the supposed door was a wall. He felt along it, but there was nothing that would imply it would just naturally open. He banged on it in a bit of frustration. The wall caved slightly. He hit it again. Again, it budged more, and a brick fell inward. He looked through and saw a dark room, with some kind of obelisk in it. He continued to bash the wall until it made a door. He'd finally remembered how much he'd liked talking to himself, all those fifteen years ago. Staring into the darkness he laughed.
"My father was a unicorn, my mother was a unicorn, and somehow I got none of it. What are the odds?"
He grabbed a candle from a nearby sconce. It burned an evil looking shade of blue, but it wasn't burning him. He entered the room, and saw the monolith. He'd seen pictures of obelisks before, but this one wasn't quite right. Normally they look like a tall trapezoid from a two-dimensional perspective with an extra triangle to top it off. This one looked like a stubbed rectangle with a trapezoid on top. He walked around it, and noticed that each side was a different metal. One was a silver mirror. The next was copper with Halderon's cutie mark on it. The third was gold with a shield emblem the crystal heart inside. Lastly was iron with Iron Hoof's cutie mark. Each one had words of some kind on them. They looked similar to normal words, but they weren't any like he'd ever heard of before. Under Halderon's cutie mark was the word 'doctrina'. Under the shield was three words, 'Spes et Tutela.'. Finally under Iron Hoof's cutie mark was a single word in full capitals, 'CRUCIO'. He stood in front of the mirror and said to himself the words, looking down in thought.
"Doctrina... spes et tutela... crucio.... These words seem almost familiar.... I just can't place my hoof on it."
The room slowly began to become brighter as he thought. He almost didn't notice until he nearly dropped the candle to the floor. it was a dim light, but it was bright enough to see without a candle. The light came from no particular source, it just seemed to emanate from the walls. The obelisk's silver mirror began to shimmer. It rippled like it was water. Then it blurred into just a silver facade. Then, on it was suddenly imprinted a globe, and under it said an actually readable word, 'alternate'. Then he walked around it once more and noticed that he could read all the words. Halderon's said 'Science'. The shield said 'Hope and Protection'. Iron Hoof's was 'TORTURE'. He sat in from of the silver side now. He reached his hoof out to touch it. It went through, creating more ripples. He walked through it.