//------------------------------// // 25. Crystal Kingdom // Story: Divine Entertainment // by Orthoros //------------------------------// Atlas was once again walking next to Silver Wood, conversing with her as they climbed the mountain pass. Crimson had joined them, while Belle preferred to stay in the back with Quartz, much to his dismay. Citrine on the other hand had fallen so far behind, they couldn’t even see him when they looked back. The snake on the other hand had left Atlas’s head, in favor of curling up on his back. Atlas and Crimson used their time to ask Silver various questions about the Crystal Kingdom. Even though Crimson had been there before, it was only to deliver packages and he never stayed long, thus his knowledge about the inner workings of the city was vague at best. “So do you think I’ll have any trouble finding work?” Crimson asked. “Probably not.” Silver answered nonchalantly. “Compared to High Rock or Uranos, we accept just about everypony into the Kingdom, if they’re willing to work. Seeing as we have trouble growing our own food, earth ponies and pegasi are always in high demand.” Atlas furrowed his brow, before he tapped Crimson on the shoulder. “What’s Uranos?” He whispered so Silver couldn’t hear. “Pegasus capital.” Crimson whispered back, before assuming a normal speaking voice again. “Any tips on where to find a job?” He asked Silver. “There’s a weather facility on the East side, which would be your best shot. If you’re interested, we at Teras could always use a good scout.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Crimson. The red stallion rolled his eyes in response. “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.” As they discussed Crimsons job opportunities, Atlas was focused on something else that Silver said. According to her, Pegasi and Earth Ponies were welcomed in the Crystal Kingdom. If he remembered correctly, in the show, the events of the Hearths Warming Eve would come to pass because the tribes couldn’t co-exist with each other. Judging by the earth ponies of High Rock, Atlas had no trouble believing that those events would eventually transpire, but the Crystal Kingdom seemed to be the polar opposite of the earth pony tribe. Atlas concluded that an event in the future would drive a wedge between the tribes, destroying all signs of goodwill between them. “Hey Silver?” Atlas asked. “Yeah?” “How are the interspecies relations within the kingdom?” He elaborated. “Come again?” Silver asked confused. “Well, while we were in High Rock it was pretty obvious that pegasi and unicorns were not welcome, almost despised even. I was just wondering if there’s something similar going on in the Kingdom.” “Ahh, High Rock.” Silver said, malice in her voice. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that.” Atlas let out a sigh of relief. “Though we do have our own share of problems.” Silver added. “Of course there would be a catch.” Atlas murmured. “In the Kingdom it’s all about how much you contribute to society that defines your social standing.” Silver started to explain. “Therefore it doesn’t matter which tribe you hail from, as long as you do good work. Of course the whole system is corrupted to Tartarus and back.” She added with a sigh. “The lower you are on the totem pole, the more you’ll be looked down upon.” “Sounds like we’ll face some trouble from the get go.” Crimson mentioned. “You and your pink friend have nothing to worry about.” Silver assured him. “Pegasi and Earth Ponies are well respected, as they do essential work most unicorns can’t. You on the other hoof won’t be so fortunate.” “Of course it would end up like this…” Atlas muttered. “Pray tell, why?” He said in an overdramatic voice. “For unicorns, the most important thing is how powerful a mage you are.” Atlas face-hoofed at her words, he felt a headache coming on. “Well that’s one part of it.” Silver remarked. “There’s also another issue.” Atlas let out an exasperated sigh. “Why wouldn’t there be?” He looked towards the heavens, wondering if they at least had fun up there. “As I already said, unicorns are measured by their contributions. You’re an adult and a blank flank, which will lead others to believe you’re a useless bum who doesn’t contribute anything.” “Ha.” Atlas shook his head, and looked back down to the ground. “Yup, definitely having fun up there.” “What was that?” Silver asked, her brows furrowed. Atlas waved her off. “Nothing important.” “Alright then.” She looked towards Crimson, who just shrugged. “You don’t seem to have a problem with him.” Crimson pointed out to Silver. “We’re military, we won’t differentiate between anypony, we just protect.” Silver replied casually. “That’s a good policy.” Crimson nodded. “Alright, you wanna know anything else?” Silver asked. “How big is the Crystal Kingdom?” Atlas blurted out. On his map, the Kingdom was just represented as a dot next to a singular mountain, surrounded by flatlands, nothing to indicate the actual size. He was already surprised at the size of High Rock, and their impossibly huge palace. When he asked Fancy Scrolls about how they built it, the explanation almost blew his mind. Apparently the plateau where the palace rested upon wasn’t always one. It was an impossibly huge rock, and they carved the palace out of it. The black color of the castle was due to the nature of the rock. Atlas’s best guess was that it was some sort of meteor that fell there eons ago. “You’ll see soon enough.” Silver answered mysteriously. Shortly after she said that, they crested the incline they travelled on, revealing the fact that they had finally crossed the range. Presented before them was a vista like Atlas had never seen before. True to his map, the mountain ranges surrounded a huge flatland. In the distance he could barely see another range circling around, creating an enclosure. Smack dab in the middle of it, stood an enormous mountain, making the ones in the ranges look like a collection of pebbles. Atlas came to a halt, trying to process the sheer size of this lonely giant, allowing Belle and Quartz to catch up to them. The snake on Atlas’s back reared it’s head, checking out what caused it’s taxi to stop so suddenly. When it realized they had reached the end of the mountain range, it offered a friendly hiss towards Atlas before slithering off into the surrounding rocks. Belle waved it goodbye, while Atlas was too busy marvelling at nature’s beauty to even realize it had left. “I present to you, the Crystal Kingdom.” Silver said snickering at Atlas’s reaction. After hearing her words, he remembered there was supposed to be a city at the base. He let his gaze wander downwards until he spotted it. All this time he assumed that the Crystal Kingdom would be just like any other city, but just like when he first laid eyes upon High Rock, he was amazed beyond belief. Countless buildings were erected around the base of the mountain, doing a full circle around. His view of the other half was blocked by the mountain itself, but he just assumed it went all the way around. Extending towards every direction, the buildings went on for at least five miles, creating a circle around the massive mountain. They even built straight upwards, creating giant platforms decorating the mountainside, each of them bearing small villages, which reminded him of Canterlot. After the city’s border, buildings gave way to huge fields. While not as impressive looking as the ones in High Rock, they looked like they did their job, albeit Atlas doubted they were able to sustain the city entirely. Atlas’s eye twitched at the sheer size of it. He was no expert on infrastructure, but building a city this huge without the proper resources to sustain it seemed borderline retarded. It would at least explain why unicorns couldn’t afford to be racist towards the other tribes. “Do you even have other settlements?” Atlas asked incredulously. “A few small ones are nestled in between the mountains, but most of the unicorns are concentrated here.” Quartz offered. “Amazing.” Atlas said, barely managing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “Thanks.” Silver Wood and Smoky Quartz replied in unison. Atlas’s eye twitched again, apparently this was normal for them. Sure, Atlas was no stranger to huge cities, but what was presented before him looked like an unsustainable mess. Which led him to realize exactly what would happen to make the unicorns hostile towards the other tribes. Their population would continue to grow until eventually they wouldn’t be able to sustain their citizens anymore, leading to them making outrageous demands of the other tribes. Which in turn would most likely be the tipping point for the other tribes as well. The downfall of this continent wouldn’t be the lack of friendship, but unsustainable expansion. He briefly wondered if it was possible to maybe change something, so the whole debacle could be avoided. But the idea was destroyed when he remembered Silver’s earlier words. To change something in the Crystal Kingdom, he would need to have a very high social standing. Atlas was the bottom of the barrell right now, and he wouldn’t even be able to change his pillow for a more fluffier, most likely. That’s when he realized something. If he didn’t have anything else, the one thing he did have was time. He had more time than anypony else in this world. And maybe, just maybe, he had enough of it to change their way of thinking. His musings were disturbed when a wall of pink entered his vision, ripping him from his thoughts. Belle stood before him, waving her hoof before his eyes. “Hellooo! You still in there?” She asked in a singsong voice. “Time to wake up!” Atlas blinked a few times, looking around sheepishly. Everypony was staring at him, some with concern, other in confusion. Apparently he had spaced out for quite a while. “Wow, I have seen ponies being stunned when they first set eyes upon our glorious city, but you take the cake.” Quartz said casually. “There’s cake? Where?” Belle asked, looking around trying to find any. “There’s no cake, Belle.” Crimson replied calmly, being used to her antics already. “It’s just a way of speaking.” Belle looked disappointed, but calmed down and sat down on her rump. “I never had cake… I wonder how it tastes…” She said with a downtrodden look. An awkward silence followed her statement, until Silver caught herself. “So anyway, this is as far as we’ll be able to take you guys.” She said. “You’ll be safe from here on out, as the monsters usually stay in the mountains. Just follow the road and you should be within the city proper by tomorrow afternoon.” “Alright, thanks a lot for helping us out.” Atlas said. “Don’t mention it.” Silver said. “After Quartz got you involved in his shenanigans, it’s the least we could do. We’re here to protect ponies after all.” “Then I would like to ask one last thing before we go our separate ways.” Atlas stated. “Now that I’ve seen how huge the Kingdom is, how are we supposed to find anything without getting lost?” He asked, desperation seeping into his voice. “Oh that’s easy.” Silver laughed. “Just ask one of the city guards, they’ll be able to point you into the right direction.” Atlas’s group thanked them once again, before shaking their hoofs and starting their descent down the mountain. “Make sure to come visit us once you join the military!” Silver called after Atlas. “Teras is always looking for new members!” Atlas laughed and shouted a “Will do!” back at her. Silver and Quartz watched them for a while, until the sound of ragged breathing announced the arrival of Citrine. He slowly trotted up to them and collapsed as soon as he reached them. “Alright, break time's over.” Silver commanded. “I want to do one last patrol, before we set up camp.” Quartz saluted before he and Silver galloped off, back the way they came, leaving behind an exhausted Citrine. As Atlas and his friends continued their descent, a pained whinny pierced the calm atmosphere. Recognizing it from earlier in the day, Atlas and Crimson shared a laugh, Belle apparently oblivious to the situation.