My little Short Stories 2- Paradise Edition

by Paradise Oasis


We have returned, part one

We have returned, part one

Where are we? What's going on? What has happened?

As I go about my nightly business of lighting the city's crystalline street lamps, I have to keep myself from looking over my shoulder, afraid that something will jump of the shadows. The families of our fair metropolis are hurrying their foals inside as the sun sets, and the city's knights are starting up their evening patrols. A tension hangs in the air all about us, but not for fear of a terror that we know, but for the fear of what don't know.

My name is Electric Sky, and I am a proud unicorn of the crystal empire. Like all mares of our great nation, my blue mane and tail are done up in elaborate ribbons, and my yellow coat glistens with the glittery translucence of all ponies of our kind. I live in Topaz city, which along with the cities of Quartz, Opal, and Turquoise are among the seventeen ciommunities of the the central region of the Crystal Empire. We form the heart of the empire's cultural and agricultural regions, and were always considered the stronghold of the nations oldest and most traditional noble families.

But a time of crisis came upon us recently, when a tyrannical unicorn named Sombra appeared as if from nowhere. He enslaved the outlying territories, including the capital, and had sent his enforcers to ensure our obedience to his will. I... don't remember much from his rule, none of us do, really... and I'm not really sure we want to. But then, the Tyrant was suddenly gone, defeated as quickly and mysteriously as he came. The whole world seemed to vanish right after that. We came back to normal after a few moments.. but the whole world has changed around us.

In the first few days, each of the twenty heartland cities sent out messengers, and we reestablished contact with each other. Each city got it's own heart stone energized- they are each small crystals made of the same mineral as the crystal heart- and got our region's magic and defense systems fully energized. A temporary ruling council was established to rule us for the duration of the emergency, and we managed to get things as normalized for our ponies as possible.

But when we sent out scouting parties to check on the rest of the empire... we suddenly found ourselves alone. Every other city in the empire, every proud and noble city in our great and civilized land, was gone. All our sentries found were destroyed cities, covered in millennia-old shells of hardened lava. It was then, that our cities' few unicorn mages, told us the horrible truth; a curse Sombra had placed on us had taken us away for two thousand years. Everypony we knew, everything we loved... was long turned to dust.

Friends, loved ones, family.... we have all tried to deal with our losses, and move on with our lives. I personally try to go about my job with a smile, but I cannot help but think of my sister and her family in the capital. I remember my little niece, her warm smile looking up at me with gratitude, when I gave her an alicorn doll for her last birthday. Is she and the rest of my family really gone? what about the royal family, the rumor was that Sombra manged to wipe them out- did even one of the royal bloodline survive?

We all try to keep a smile on, but it is hard to stay happy with the scope of everything that has happened. I see all of my neighbors keeping up a front, but there are moments where flickers of their sorrow seeped through. Things will never be the same around here. My best friend, Berry Green, is constantly distracted while she's picking the crystal berries on her farm. She can't stop thinking of her brother, who was on his way back from a wedding in Equestria when Sombra's attack came. Groomsby, the stallion barber whose shop is mere blocks from my house, quietly mourns for his elderly father, who was safe on a visit in Saddle Arabia, but must certainly be gone after over two thousand years.

But what is far worse for all of us, is the uncertainty of what the future holds for us. None of us know what's going on in the rest of the world- our knights have encountered no Equestria troops on their usual patrols along the old border, no ponies out there in the frozen wastes to tell us what has occurred in our absence. What has happened to the other pony nations? Does Equestria still exist? What final fate had befallen the empire? We cannot know, as we have failed to run into anything sentient out there amongst the snows. Only angry troll bands and ice dragons, ready to make a meal out of our troops. But obviously none of them have the answers we so desperately seek.

The only possible clue we have are the sight of snarling, snow-covered ponies whom our knight patrols think they've seen watching our cities from afar. I've heard rumors whispered throughout the city that many had seen these odd-looking equines as the edge of the ice and snow, staring at us with furious glares, as we go about our day to day business. Berry told me she thought she actually saw one on her farm, watching her from the bushes. And Groomsby mentioned seeing a strange pony outside his window, covered in melting snow and looking like he had been drowned in an icy lake.

But the knights have found no trace of these 'snow ponies' many claim are watching us, keep insisting that there is no ponies out beyond our cities in this regions. Even if there were a tribe of ponies out there, why would they spy on us? Why have they not made contact? We crystal ponies lived in cities warmed to near-tropical levels. Whatever ponies live out there in the wastes, would have to be able to survive in subzero temperatures. And if a pony that harsh and wild exists... well, I really don't think anypony among us would really want to meet them But personally, I'm not so sure any such thing is out there, in that frozen, icy wasteland.

Nothing... there is nothing out there, but death.