//------------------------------// // On the other side // Story: The Birth of a New Kingdom // by Dranz_89 //------------------------------// After traveling through a desert of snow, and her life constantly threatened by her captors, Princess Platinum found herself arriving at a small village. Simple wooden houses built around a square where the remains of a bonfire rested in the center, and a tall stone pillar with some kind of giant torch on the top. The inhabitants were, of course, all earth ponies. They were all just as she remembered them, doing hard labors like building and moving wagons filled with heavy-looking boxes, but there was a small, yet very significant difference, their smiles. The earth ponies waved their hooves and gave warmth smiles at each other, however, when they turned their sights to the Princess Platinum, their smiles were changed for trembling lips and hooves, they hid their foals and fillies and stepped as far away as possible while she was marched inside of one of the small houses in the far south of the village. She was thrown to a fairly common room, with chairs and books lined up in the walls, there was a single window and a few candles lit the place, it was warmer than outside but not enough to ease the coldness. Two earth ponies put hoofcuffs on her legs, and her horn was covered with a piece of leather cloth. "This will prevent you from using your monstrous ‘magic’, " claimed the earth pony leader. "No, no, no, you don't understand," said Clover, "you see, that doesn't… " "Silence!" After being locked inside, she could hear the earth ponies sharing a few words. Apparently, some of the earth ponies lived in neighbor villages and parted ways from the group. Shortly after, she could clearly hear that the leader was holding a loud and quite unpleasant conversation with a very angry mare. "By the looks of your face," said the mare, "I can see that you guys were swept again. That's what happens when you rush things like you always do, Seed! But I'm used to it, I can deal with that. What I CAN'T deal with, is that you had to bring one here! It was bad enough when I had to clean their dirty hooves and horns, and now there's one of them in my house! What about my daughters? Did you ever stop to think about them?" "Her horn is disabled, and if she's smart, she won't touch your daughters," said the leader, "She was our ticket out from certain death, and not just any horned monster, she's their princess! The king doesn't know where we are, and he wouldn't dare to risk his daughter's life, that should buy us some time, I'll think of something by then." "The princess!" the mare gasped, "that will not keep the king away from us, that will lead him to us! You want to think of something? Here’s my suggestion: Get rid of her, throw her from the tallest cliff you find or something! I don't want her living here with me!" "Just for today, Estrella, please. She might be the key to defeat the horned monsters. Just this once, ok? For me?" "Ugh... just for you, just this once, and you owe me, got it?" the mare accepted with frustration and displease, not that he would change his mind, anyway. A few hours passed, the princess yawned due to boredom, she looked at the bookshelves and scanned the titles of the books, she wasn't much of a reader, unlike her friend Clover, but there was nothing else to do. One of the titles caught her interest, ‘The Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. She began to read with little enthusiasm, first word by word, until she was drawn in by the plot, then she was reading paragraph by paragraph. Suddenly, the door opened, and her host came in. Just like Seed, she was a blue colored earth pony, but her coat was darker than Seed’s, and her mane and tail were of the shiniest yellow color, as if made of gold, just like her eyes. Her cutie mark was a golden six pointed star. She was carrying a bowl of some kind of grey-colored soup with her mouth, she frowned at the unicorn and placed the bowl on the floor. Princess Platinum contemplated the contents of the bowl, a sticky and weird smelling soup, or at least, that’s what it looked like. She ignored the bowl and raised her head to see the earth pony’s face,  "umm... hello, my name is..." "You should eat," interrupted the mare, expressionless, staring back at the unicorn’s face. She seemed like she was holding the urge to hit her, then she noticed the book the princess was reading. "Oh, I didn't mean to touch your books," said the unicorn with an awkward smile, "It's just that the title sounds as if it’s a peaceful story of love, most certainly it has nothing to do with war or conflict." "Heh... good choice, then," the mare rolled her eyes, and left the princess alone with her food, slamming the door on her way out. Once in awhile the mare peeked from the door to check on her guest, probably making sure that no one has escaped. If stares could kill, probably the princess would have lost fourteen lives already. After a few pages from the book, reading proved most difficult once the darkness of the night invaded the room, the mare came in to lit the candles, she was holding a small torch and she was accompanied by the leader and two guards. "How are you doing, princess?" asked the leader with a very arrogant tone. "Well, these hurt a bit," the princess stated, as she cast her telekinesis spell to release the hoofcuffs she was wearing, the earth ponies jumped back defensively, until the princess put the hoofcuffs on again, "I tried to tell you, if you want to disable my magic, you should cover my eyes, it's hard to cast a spell when I don't see my target, our magic comes from the mind, the horn is more like a magic wand, we just use it to aim. No magician loses his power just because he loses his magic wand, that’s ridiculous!" The earth ponies looked at each other with fearful eyes, they took the piece of cloth from her horn and used it to cover the unicorn's eyes. "Now that that's taken care of, we want you to tell us if there's a weakness we can exploit to defeat the unicorns." "And if I don't," said the princess, "what are you gonna do?" "You know that very well!" "But if you kill me, you'll be back to where you started, have you even thought of what you'll do after that? And besides, you'll be just giving an excuse for my father to release all his wrath upon you." The leader gritted his teeth and stomped on the floor, pointing the lance at the princess’ neck, "Don't you provoke me! I know you're trying to manipulate me and it's not going to work! Now, speak!" "Heavens, please, calm down!" the princess jumped back feeling the tip of the lance touching her neck, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there is no tangible weakness to a unicorn's magic. The most common downside is if we are blinded, it becomes harder to cast a spell, but it's not impossible, it may be even more dangerous for both sides." "What else can we do? You must be hiding something!" "Well... you could stop fighting," the princess shrugged. "Hah! You mean we should surrender? That's not happening!" said the leader, and he and his companions laughed at the idea. "No, not surrender! Just stop fighting. Making peace," said the princess, "Why don't you try a more friendly approach? Have you ever tried speaking to a unicorn?" The earth ponies laughed even louder, "unicorns don't ‘listen’," said the mare, "They just kill, that's the only thing they know, and it's been that way since the beginning." "Well, maybe we can make the difference, we can’t keep fighting forever, right? I surrendered myself because I don’t want to fight, aren’t you as sick of this war as I am?" the princess stepped closer to the earth ponies with a friendly smile, waiting for an answer, but the only response she got was an awkward silence, and even if she couldn't see their faces, she could feel their cold stares. "Sleep, princess, our chief will meet you tomorrow, he will decide your fate," said the leader, and with the same coldness, all the earth ponies left the princess by herself for the night. Two small mysterious figures were crawling quietly on the house's corridors like two shadows lurking in the darkness. One of them moved daringly and swiftly, while the other was more cautious and quiet. They sneaked to the prisoner's room, the door creaked as it was slowly opened, and one of them peeked inside and spotted the princess lying on the floor. The mysterious intruder almost regrets its decision when a loud roar came out of the princess's mouth. With extra care, both shadows came inside the room walking on their toes, they both contemplated the horn on the unicorn's head and approached their hooves trying to touch it. "No! Stop it!" the princess woke up as scared as always, both creatures gasped in terror, and the unicorn could hear them very well with her two ears perked like two antennas, "Who's there?!" "I told you we shouldn't be here!" one of the creatures whispered, "Now we're in real trouble!" "Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," said the princess, her ears drooped when she realised it was a young filly's voice, "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you." "All the grown-ups say you're a monster," said the other creature's voice, she was apparently a bit more mature, but still a filly, "But you don't look like a monster to me, I even think you look pretty." "Are you really a princess?!" added the youngest with a very excited tone. "Yes, I am," the princess giggled and blushed a little, "But being a princess is a lot more than just looking pretty. It's a full time job filled with responsibility. I gotta look after the unicorns and be an example to them, everything I do affects their lives and their behavior, I must do what is best for them to improve the kingdom." "It must be really hard to do!" gasped the eldest filly. "Not really," the princess giggled again, a little embarrassed. "You must be respected and loved by all the unicorns!" the youngest filly also gasped. "Not really..." sighed the princess, even more embarrassed. "So... if you are a princess", added the youngest filly, "what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be living in a palace?" "Do you mean you don't know?" the princess raised her brow, "Surely, someone told you about how I got here, right?"         Both fillies shared a confused look, until the eldest talked again, "Our mother told us that you were our ‘special guest’, she said that you were very, very angry and dangerous, and that we should not come close to you, but she didn't mention why you came here.” “Nor that you were blind." Added the youngest one. "Oh... I understand," the princess gulped, she turned very serious, "You shouldn't be here... you shouldn't be talking about this with me. I'm sorry but this is something you must speak with your mother. I don't want to get you in trouble, you must leave now. We'll talk some other time, if your mother authorizes it." Both fillies frowned, the unicorn could only imagine their disappointed faces as she heard their steps quietly leaving the room until the only sound left was the creaking door closing behind her. After a long sigh, she laid on the floor again alone with her thoughts, ‘I should really start asking others' names before ending the conversation’. After another night with the very same nightmare, the princess was visited by several guards. They tied a rope around her neck and marched her out of the house and pushed her to the streets, using the rope to pull her in the direction they wanted her to go. The snow on her hooves felt more soft and thick, so different from the snowy ground in the village, she did her best to keep the walk while blindfolded but her hooves sank beneath the thick layer of snow covering the field and tripped several times, and having her neck pulled by a rope was not making the walk any easier. It was not a long walk, when the snowy ground became easier to walk on, the princess deduced that they had arrived to another village, the sound of gasps of the ponies around resounded in her ears, even if she couldn't see their faces, the echoes of their voices were still filled with fear and anger. They arrived to a wooden house, Seed of the earth ponies knocked on the door five times as if he was trying destroy it. A few seconds later he knocked the door again and louder until a female’s cheerful voice responded, "Password?" she asked. "I have business with your father!" demanded Seed. "Wrong!" laughed the voice. "Open the damn door!" insisted Seed, he stomped on the ground, but the snow softened the impact. "You know the rule, Seed Sower," the voice laughed louder, "No password, no admission. Come on! I know you can do it!" Seed Sower growled as his whole face turned red, until he finally puked the words, "Pretty please… with a cherry on top." The guards around and even Princess Platinum released a few laughs as low as they could while the door opened with a quick slam, "Ding, ding, ding! See? It wasn't so hard, was it?" the female voice stated very proudly. Seed Sower ignored her and all the laughs making fun of him, he went straight to the room in the back of the main hall. The princess perked up her ears trying to hear the conversation behind the back door, when suddenly, she felt a poke on her horn. Startled, the princess hopped aside. "Oops, sorry, does it hurt if I touch it?" asked the mare. "Har har har! Puddinghead, leave her alone!" said the raspy voice of a stallion. The cloth covering the princess' eyes was removed, she shielded her eyes from the daylight for a few seconds, then looked straight to the eyes of the earth pony in front of her. He had the same eyes as Raystorm, the cold eyes of a soldier. He was a strong, bulky stallion with an orange colored coat and a blue, messy mane and a short tail, he was wearing a worn out cape which looked like it was his companion in many travels and battles. "Who are you?" asked the chief, he stared at her with curiosity, "I've seen and fought many unicorns and I barely remember any of their faces, har har! They all the same to me! But yours... I think I've seen your face before... who are you?" "My name is Princess Platinum," she responded, "I'm the daughter of King Lancer and Queen Starlight, and I'm…" "Our prisoner! Har har har har!" the chief laughed so loud it echoed in the entire village, "Unicorns enslaved us for so many years, and only gave us freedom so they could hunt us down like animals. Even mares and fillies, they kill everything different from them just because of their superiority complex. Har har har! Do you take me for a foal! This is obviously a cheap tactic to locate our hideout! I'm sorry, princess, but there’s no way you’ll come out alive of this one, you are pretty dead. Any last words?" "I'm terribly, terribly sorry for what us, unicorns, have done to your ponies," the princess bowed down, the chief’s smile disappeared leaving no trace behind as Platinum continued, "I know this apology is meaningless to you, and I know that there's nothing I can do to mend the past. But I want to create a better future, one where earth ponies and unicorns no longer need to fight. But even as a princess, I am powerless by myself, I can't do it alone, I need voices to join my cause. So please, you can help me! Pretty please... with a cherry on top?" The chief looked around to see the reactions of the others, they were just as baffled as he was, and the awkward silence invaded the room. With her face down, her nose inches from the floor, a giant knot in her throat stopped her from speaking more words, her knees shaking like jelly. Until the chief finally spoke. "Young princess… even if we stop fighting unicorns will keep trying to kill us all. That's why we must keep fighting for our lives, there will be no peace until the unicorns are defeated. I'm sorry, princess, but that's just the way it is. I will not kill you... she's your prisoner, Seed, do as you wish with her." The princess couldn't believe her ears, indignant, she raised her face to look at the chief’s face, seeking his eyes, "I came to you because the hearts of the unicorns are filled with rage and hate!" she yelled, "But I guess it's the same here! It's even the same lame excuse! Why can't you even look at me in the face!? You're just as vengeful and stubborn as my father! The only difference is that he has a horn!" The guards covered her eyes again and they marched her out of the house. The chief just turned his back and silently went inside the back room. "Father," called Puddinghead, shocked and confused, the chief stopped to listen to his daughter’s words, "Everything she said… it was true…" Once the princess was chained and locked in the same cold room, Seed Sower reunited in with the other earth ponies at the center of the village. The winds were blowing a bit harder, the sky was getting darker, and the bonfire was already lit, illuminating and warming their bodies from the cold winter. Estrella was seated next to the fire alongside her daughters, who were happily clapping each other’s hooves at a rhythmical pace. “Why is she still here?” asked Estrella, she could hear Seed’s hooves stepping on the snow, approaching her. “The chief didn’t have the stomach to finish the job,” Seed sat next to her, “said it was my decision, we’ll take care of her at dawn.” Both fillies quietly approached their mother without them realising, the eldest sister jumped in front of the mare, “take care of what, mom?” she said. “Uhh… Oh, nothing important, honey,” Estrella smiled at her and waved her hoof trying to shoo her like a fly, “You go and play your games, ok?” “It’s about our guest, right?” added the youngest filly, “Why isn’t she allowed to come outside and eat with us, mom?” “We told you she’s very dangerous, who knows what kind of hexes she might throw at us,” explained Seed Sower. “But that doesn’t answer my question!” insisted the little filly, “Why? What makes her so dangerous? We may be just fillies, but we’re not dumb! Why are you hiding the truth from us?” Estrella and Seed gasped upon hearing the fillies’ words. “Now, young lady, don’t you talk to me like that!” said the mare, trying to regain control of the conversation. “Mom! You’re evading the question again!” protested the eldest filly, “We talked to her last night, and she was super nice to us! I don’t think she’s a dangerous monster at all, and I think you’re being unfair!” “You did what?!” the mare almost fainted, “I specifically told you to not get close to her!” “We wouldn’t have, if you had told us the truth from the start!” yelled the eldest sister, and ran away to her home, her young sister followed. The mare sighed in frustration and chased after her daughters The night had arrived and the winds blew stronger by each second. Estrella was unable to get to sleep, yawning and wallowing between the sheets of her bed, haunted by the midnight thoughts after an awkward and silent diner with her daughters. A window was constantly slamming against the house due to the strong winds blowing outside. Some minutes later, the sleep was finally gaining some weight on her eyelids, however, a horrible din woke her up even before she could shut her eyes. She jumped from bed and peeked outside from a window, the pillar torch had fallen over a pony’s house and the fire was spreading quickly. She rushed outside and sprinted straight to the burning house, and with no hesitation, she blasted through a window to get inside.         “Help!” screamed a colt, Estrella followed his voice to the bedroom and kicked the door open with her hind hooves. The young colt was trapped in a ring of fire, Estrella leaped over the fire, grabbed the colt by the tale and escaped before being crushed by a piece of burning ceiling. “My mom, she’s trapped!” the colt pointed with a hoof at the stone pillar. Estrella threw the colt outside from the closest non burning window she could find, and returned to help his mother. “My son... save my son...” the mare was barely conscious, with one of her hind legs stuck beneath the fallen stone pillar. “He’s fine!” responded Estrella, trying to pull the mare by the tail. Suddenly, Seed Sower appeared leaping from the smoke, he hit the pillar with his strong hooves and made a crack on it, after a second a second hit, the stone pillar was reduced to rubble. The stallion carried the mare on his back and sprinted out of the house with Estrella behind him, but they were separated when a burning pillar of wood crumbled down between them. “Go, now! I’ll find another way!” said Estrella. “There is no other way!” yelled Seed, with tears in his eyes. “Just go!” yelled Estrella. The stallion snorted, he turned around and escaped the house. Estrella looked around, but everything was covered in fire. Meanwhile, Estrella’s daughters visited the unicorn once again, the princess was also awake. “Princess, you got to help us! There is a fire!” screamed the eldest sister. She took the cloth from Platinum’s face. The unicorn ran off to the street, and quickly spotted the fire. Seed Sower was just leaving the mare on the ground, he returned to the house to try to find a way in but the doors and the walls were all wrapped in flames. “Is everyone safe?” asked Platinum, approaching from behind along with Estrella’s daughters.         “Estrella… she...” responded the stallion, impotent and rageous. The princess didn’t need to hear more, she approached the house and tried to look inside the house through the fire, after a deep breath, her horn began to glow and with a poof, she disappeared. Seconds later, the whole house was crumbling down like a big fire ball, when another poof appeared, revealing Platinum and Estrella, both covered by ashes. Estrella looked upon the princess, “Why did you save me?” she asked. “Why? It’s only natural to help someone who is in danger, isn’t it?” said the princess, tired and breathless, “I know what it's like to lose a mother… I couldn’t let that happen to your daughters… not if I have the power to prevent it.”         “You… thank you. Girls, come here,” said Estrella, the fillies obeyed timidly, the princess could finally meet them with no interruptions, the eldest one was a white filly with beautiful wavy, long pink mane and tail the same color of her eyes. The youngest was a dark blue filly with a wavy, light blue mane and tail, her eyes were sky blue and her cheeks were a bit red.         “I guess you’ve already met my daughters, this one is Celestia,” Estrella pointed at the the elder sister, then she pointed at the youngest one, “and this one is Luna.”