Equestria's Founding, Afterstory

Strange how things turn out...

Differences, differences are all you seem to think about when it comes to something that isn't like you. Be they strange and mystical horns or dis-prepositional and flight giving wings, or just an abnormal strength and unnatural connection to the earth. They were what made us different; and thus, afraid.

Commander Hurricane sat with her head upon her hoof, dawned in her typical practical yet stylish armor of old tradition. It was always so boring listening to Chancellor Pudding Head drivel on and on about the earth pony's plights in terms of weather accommodations. Yes, the two had become 'friends' after a strange windigo incident, but dammit if it didn't make her any less annoying or pretensions.

The rest, however, uniformed themselves in a silk green roab with golden trim to symbolize their self importance and standing among the rest of ponykind. For all of her preach of humility and respect, Clover was quite vain when it all came down to showing off her authority.

The golden room which constituted the private countil chamber was accented with a few bits of green trim, complimenting the emerald robes that most of the ponies wore. Small candles littler about, their purpose hindered by the larger torches proving most of the light, save the few candles in the middle of the dark, thick oak table on which they circled.

It had been three years since the pact between the three tribes were made to share the land of Equestria. By no small amount were the pegasi angry about the loss of Pegalopolis, but when life and limb were threatened, cheeks quickly turned the other way. The same could be said for the unicorns and earth ponies too, save the remnant loyalists who refused to see past their differences and stayed behind in the Old World.

All the pegasi leader could hope for was that their deaths be painless.

"Commander Hurricane!"

"Wha?" She said stupidly, her mind slowly draining of her introspective thoughts.

Chancellor Pudding Head stood with a scolding stare, not on of malevolence, but incontrovertibly condescending. "I was asking for your vote on a universal two o'clock nap time. Please pay attention, we don't hold this council for nothing, you know."

Oh yes, the "Equestrian Pony Council". How could she forget this was important? Other than the fact that she now had to share power with five others, half of which couldn't make a decision to save their lives. Save Clover the Clever and Smart Cookie, the rest were either too arrogant or too timid for her liking. Pudding head and Princess Platinum were -as much as she cringed at the thought- on par with her own, Private Pansy.

"Right..." This was becoming torture, two o'clock nap times? This was supposed to be a gathering to determine how the new nation would be governed, not discuss arbitrary mid day slumber parties. It was almost enough to incite a pegasi revolt; how did friendship have power to drive away ice spirits anyway?

"Personally, I am of the opinion that everypony is in need of their beauty sleep." Princess Platinum pronounced with a flip of her mane. It was weird, but most unicorns weren't like her, from what the good commander had observed. The horned ponies had their fair share of prudes and what not, but a good amount were just as honorable and hard working as the IV Expedition Legion the pagsus leader called on to investigate the extended perimeter.

It was almost over whelming how things had changed since her departure of Old World, seven years ago.

Things hadn't started out to great. After the experience in the cave where she became 'friends' with the earth ponies and unicorns, the three leaders sent words to their respective tribes and informed the ponies about the New World ready to be inhabited.

What they had failed to mention, was the requirements in attitude towards one another in order to maintain the current lush greens and comfortable climate.

Soon after the ponies arrived in mass, the Windigo's frosty blizzard followed. Hurricane laughed at the thought, 'Of course that would happen, what else should she have expected? Six ponies become friends and suddenly things were supposed to be alright between everypony else? Old hatred die out and forgiveness abound?' Still, once the revelation dawned on how to stop the obscene weather pattern, the ponies quickly learned to put the past behind them.

It wasn't until the second dispelling did a thought occur to her. The peaceful co-existence wasn't out of genuine tolerance or strength of the ponies present, it was out of fear. Fear of the return of Windigo, the never ending storm. There was no love or caring between the tribes, it was the lesser of two evils that forced cooperation.

Never the less, the settlements were erected and truces decided. Despite the leaders of the respective states becoming friends, the lesser immigrants didn't take to each other as well. While mistrust was still prevalent, it was no where near as bad as before.

Luckily, things had gotten better over the years, thanks to a particularly curious set of circumstances. Early during the second season of harvest, an earth pony out post was viciously attacked by a pack of bandit egeal like creatures called 'griffins'. What was curious about it was, on just the same day, the 3rd cohort of the III Legion -Arial Combat Specialists- were present to save the outpost, thus casting favorable looks from the earth ponies to their pegasi associates.

Another circumstance involved an entire unicorn food barn, holding nothing but carrots, lettuce and a few apples, spontaneously burst into flame. Nopony knew why the building had damn near exploded the way it did, but reports did say a few ponies saw something akin to a magic beam, though; no pyromystic's were present near the town when the incident took place. Luckily for them, an earth pony caravan that was transporting food wasn't but half a days trek from them, and was diverted to replenish the towns food supply.

More incidents occurred that drew the ponies closer and closer together as time went on, speculations grew on who was responsible for some of the events though, none were ever brought to charge for them...

"Commander Hurricane! Earth to Commander, come in."

Hurricane sighed and looked to Clover the Clever. The unicorn didn't often get on the Commander's nerves, but when she did... Resisting bucking her in the face always followed.

"Please pay attention." The lavender mare scolded. The pegasi leader waved her hoof to continue. "As I was saying, our scouts have reported finding an encampment of some kind of equine shape shifters twenty miles east of the newly established, desegregated, mountain town of Canterlot.

Desegregated town? Pft, what a joke. Pegasi belonged in the sky, free to roam the clouds and control the weather as they pleased. - or commissioned to give a pleasant shower to a field of crops- but never in a million years did she see such close proximity coexistence as a possibility, not only between two of the races, but all three. However: Clover, Pansy and Smart Cookie, Pudding head's assistant, thought the idea was a worth while endeavor in strengthening unicorn, pegasi and earth pony relations.

"From the reports we've gathered, they seem to act as a collective more than individuals. With out any foreseeable communication, multiple groups of three would up and move in perfect sync out of the blue. Upon closer inspection, they also appear to be covered in chitin, similar to the exoskeleton that some insects use as armor.

Pudding head and Platinum blanched at the thought, Pansy and Cookie didn't see the idea as too appealing either. Clover set down the parchment from which she read and addressed the council. "Now, I am of the belief that these shape shifters are not to approached. I haven't-"

"Hold on." Hurricane interjected. "What makes us believe that they have the power to shape shift?"

The room fell silent, all eyes on the good Commander. Each stare more condescending than the last; finally, Clover reiterated the provision of the parchment where the scouts reported observing multiple lines of the quasi-equine change from their insect appearance into identical, giant lizards and back again.

She really needed to stop spacing out during these meetings, maybe she could stop sticking her hoof in her mouth.

"At any rate," the unicorn continued, "due to the lack of hostilities and lack of known behaviors exhibited by these creatures, I'm asking this council to vote nay on any current interactions. All present voted unanimously. "Good."

The sun was going down, the meeting would be over soon. Thank Cumuli Nimbi they only held this gathering once a week.
So much time wasted when she could be doing her evening paper work or going for a nice and relaxing flight.

"Oh and there's one last thing to discuss." Clover said.

The commander groaned, but she wasn't alone in her plight. "Please, Clover" Panzy whispered, uttering one of the few words she actually spoke during any meeting. "It's getting late, and, we're all tired."

"Ah'm with Pansy." Cookie agreed, stretching out her fore legs, "we've been talkin' 'bout issues n' such that'd have worked themselves out 'for too long. The black Changer's th' onleh thin' tonight worth discussin'."

Meeting nods of concurrence, Clover requested that the ponies just hear her out for a moment. Grumbling unheard curses and irritated stomachs, the five other ponies looked on impatiently. "There's been another creature sighted."

"Oh so what?" Hurricane exclaimed. "What, is this one another one of your bug pony freaks?"

"Well no." Clover said with a thoughtful frown before pucking up another scroll with her magic. "I wanted to save this for last so nopony else would constantly have it on their mind during the other topics. The northern scouts of the 2nd cohort have made their own discovery, and I think you all will be very interested in their find.

What ever it was, it had better be important.

The silence gave Clover excuse to continue. "There's been sighting of some kind of pegasi unicorn hybrids dwelling within the the northern fields beyond our borders. There were only two present, but there was a third being with them. It wasn't like the others, this one was long and slender with mismatched parts."

Now this was worth listening too, two unicorn/pegasi and a chimera? What did Clover always hold out on the good stuff until the end? And how far did this land's bestiary extend?

"W-w-were they" Pansy began, shivering in her armor. "Dangerous looking?"

Clover shook her head. "The reports I've received indicate that the hybrid are benevolent, sapient, and quite rational. The chimera however... " She bit her lip, obviously a controversial topic.

It was times like these that the Pegasi leader began to regret obliging the unicorns use of her scouts. She always knew where to look to find what she wanted.

"BUT!" Pudding head shouted, jumping on the table with a loud thud and forcing the other ponies back into their seats. "Does he make good chocolate covered pudding skins?"

Silence.

How this pony became leader of anything was beyond Hurricane's knowledge. Smart Cookie must have been pulling the real strings behind that operation.

"I, uh... am not sure, chancellor." The lavender mare smiled nervously. "But what is clear about him, is that he is a trickster and a possible thief. Avoiding him as advised, but the two others are up for debate."

"You claimed they had horns." Princess Platinum said with a serious look. "If worse comes to worse, how effective would our magic be against theirs?"

"Perhaps we should consider trying to be their friends before talking about fighting." Pansy spoke up again, she was really finding her voice tonight. Platinum, nodded her head, emphasizing the 'worse coming to worse' statement.

"I agree, an attempted alliance should be our first course of action." Clover nodded thoughtfully. "However, only a fool would approach such beings with out a back up plan."

Hurricane inwardly scoffed. It didn't matter who these two were, with the entire pegasi military at her back, the two would be history before they knew what hit them. But, to stay on the safe side, she'd have to send her own team to investigate the mutants and gather any information on their combat abilities. Pegasus were arrogant and hot headed, but they weren't foolish and she wouldn't kill perfectly good ponies to prove a point.

Especially when things were just now getting settled down between the tribes.

"Then it's a date." Pudding Head exclaimed. "Tomorrow we go to the Alicorns and demand they provide us chocloate covered pudding skins!"

...

Forget the fact she was leading a state of ponies, how the hay did she dress herself in the morning?

Author's Note:

Eh, nothing I took all too seriously, but some effort was put in.

So... there you are.

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