The Temnokt Empire

by ladyanaconda

Pribytiye

The Intercontinenal Zeppelin landed on the Zebra village of Greva one day later.

Greva was not a big town. There were only a few homes and shops because there was nothing to attract tourists nearby. The village itself was located on a steppe, with very few trees on the surroundings barely touching the morning sky, often for decorating purposes. The homes were no longer made out of sticks and hay, in part thanks to Princess Celestia's generosity. They were now made out of brick and cement, just like normal Equestrian homes. As the ponies descended from the Zeppelin, captain Cloud Dancer waved their hoof at them. "Well, my job ends here. Go to the train station, and take the next train to Kruscow. It's a day of traveling, so I suggest you go and take something to eat, because the trip will be long."

As they descended, the first thing Stormfly did was hide behind the group and take the same shape he had used the first time he had boarded a train with Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash and Screwball He used a similar spell on Mist Wing, since she was too young and couldn't change forms by herself. After all, while the Ponyville ponies were already accustomed to his presence, the Zebras didn't, and who knew what opinion they had of the Changelings.

"Okay, everypony!" Twilight said as they walked down the dirt path, carrying Astral Aurora and Night Charge on her back. "Princess Celestia said she had reserved seats for us in the train before we came, so we won't have to worry about the tickets. We need to be at the train station in half-an-hour."

"Meanwhile." with a snap of his fingers, Discord soon had sunglasses and a bath suit on. "Let's have fun!"

"Discord! We're not here on vacation! We're here on a diplomatic mission for Princess Celestia!"

"Come on, Twilight. We're not in Kruscow yet, and you're already talking about our task!" Rarity said, wrapping a hoof round her friend's neck and trying to ignore Night and Astral starting to play with her mane.

"Yeah, Twiley. You don't need to worry about it yet," Shining Armor added, blushing slightly. "Besides, we would need to find the train station first."

Fukkuteru looked around, his eyes turning red for the slightest moment before speaking. "That way." He pointed West of the main square, towards a rising smoke column. "If you're looking for a train station, you should look for rising smoke."

Spike made an effort not to flinch next to the Kuros; he had gotten to know him, but that did not mean a dragon much more bigger than him, and capable of using dark magic, was not creepy. In fact, he was surprised that the zebras passing by did not even turn to look at him, and when they did, they simply looked up at Fukkuteru's face casually before going back to their business. As they walked towards the train station, Pinkie spotted something peculiar. A few zebras were making a long line on a pastry shop, and whatever they were buying seemed to be very popular.

"Look! A pastry shop! Let's go have some cupcakes!"

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight called out to the pink mare in dismay as she ran towards the line to wait. Finally, she let out a collective sigh of frustration. "Alright, everypony! I suppose we could take a break. Just don't forget that we'll be meeting in the-"

"Wo-hoo!"

"I want to see the Zebra's rustic clothing! I might even get to buy a dress or two!"

"I suppose I could take a look around and... Maybe, there's some new little animal I haven't seen before around here."

"What do you say, Cadence? Should we take a walk around?"

"Well, I think Blade Kiss would enjoy it as much as we do, Shiny."

"Hey, Stormie! Let's go and make some new friends!"

"Well, Screwball, I'd like to, but- HEY! Be careful!"

Before she was even done speaking, everypony else had already walked off to see a point on interest or to buy some souvenirs, or to simply take a look around. Only Discord and Fukkuteru remained. Lavender Dusk started to giggle upon seeing the look of dismay on his mother's face, soon followed by his brother and sister.

The zebras protested when Pinkie Pie galloped to the counter, and barely calmed down when Twilight and Discord followed them, only settling down when Fukkuteru took a few steps closer. The zebra behind the counter, a mare with crystal blue eyes, became surprised when the pink pony burst through the crowd of Zebras to take a look at the pastries. Her face soon fell when she realized there were no cupcakes, but rather strange-looking sweets. Twilight and Discord followed.

Upon the counter there a few cakes with a thick slice of marshmallow covered in chocolate, a dark-colored cake with a very thin layer of icing, round buns with what appeared to be cottage cheese, and chocolate bars.

"What are these?" Twilight inquired, not recalling having seen them in any recipe books.

"Krussian desserts brought directly from Kruscow!" the owner of the pastry shop said with pride. "And you'll only find them here!"

"Brought from Kruscow! Let me see!" Immediately after the word Kruscow left the Zebra's lips, Fukkuteru's head poked through the door of the shop, and soon he was drooling in excitement. "Ah, yes! I haven't tasted them for so long!"

Discord immediately took Night and Astral in his arms to keep them away from the desserts as they, along with Lavender, were already trying to reach out for them. They had, unfortunately, inherited his taste for sweets, but this time he did not know how Krussian desserts tasted like. "What kind of sweets are those?"

"These," Fukkuteru first pointed to the marshmallow-chocolate cake. "It's Ptichie Moloko, or as Equestrians would say, Bird's Milk Cake. It's one of the best Krussian sweets." Next he pointed to the dark cake. "That's Prague Cake. It requires four different sorts of cream, some laced with brandy and other liquors, and the pastry is soaked in rum."

"WHAT?!" Twilight yelped, almost making the zebra from behind the counter flinch. "You put alcohol in that cake?!"

Fukkuteru tilted his head to the side. "Yes, why?"

"It's... Not... normal in Equestria." Twilight muttered. "Remind me not to taste that cake..."

Pinkie Pie lifted the round buns. "Do these have alcoholic beverages too? Because if it does, I'm not eating it! And if I don't eat it, I'm going to get sad! If I get sad, I'll make everypony sad! If everypony is sad, we'll make the Kuros sad-!" Before she continued speaking, Fukkuteru, in a fit of panic, used his magic to make her mouth close shut.

"N-No..." he stuttered. "It doesn't have any liquor."

Pinki accepted the answer with a 'hhmmm'.

"Listen, fellas." The zebra from the counter spoke, her patience wearing thin. "Are you buying something or not? There are clients who have been waiting a month to come and get their orders."

"Don't worry, we won't take that long." Discord whispered, still struggling to get the triplets away from the pastries, especially the prague cake. "We'll take a chocolate bar!"

"Ok. It's twenty bits."

"WHAT?!" Twilight bellowed, this time making even the entire line of zebras outside flinch. "Twenty bits for one single bar of chocolate?!"

The zebra stared at her like she had lost her mind. "Well, what did you expect? Krussians are very picky about their desserts, and it's not compared with how much it costs in Kruscow."

"She's right, Twilight." The present Kuros spoke. "If I were you, I'd take the chance."

Twilight let out a sigh as she placed twenty bits on the counter, and Pinkie enthusiastically grabbed one of the chocolate bars. Before they could be overhelmed by the zebras outside, they calmly walked out of the shop, watching as the rest of the zebras -mostly mares and colts- rushing into the store.

"I don't get it," Twilight levitated the chocolate bar from Pinkie Pie's hooves to take a closer look at it. "What makes this bar different from normal chocolate?" she looked up at Fukkuteru in dismay. "Please don't tell me it has rum!"

"Don't worry, it doesn't." Fukkuteru chuckled. "Just remember what I told you about Krussian sweets."

Twilight looked down at the chocolate bar levitating in front of her. Shrugging, she decided to taste it since she had spent twenty bits on it, it had to be worth of it if it was so expensive. She levitated the chocolate to her lips and gave it a small bite...

The lavender unicorn's eyes widened as an incredibly bitter feeling invaded her mouth, she felt her papillae protesting against the piece of chocolate, not used to such a bitter flavor. Twilight immediately spat the piece of chocolate from her mouth, and started wiping her tongue in desperation. "This thing is very bitter! How can Krussians eat this?!" she spat.

"Like I told you, we are not used to eating too much sugary food," Fukkuteru said as he gently took the chocolate bar from Twilight, levitataed it up to his face and gave it a bite. His lips curled into a smile. "Delicious! I had missed these bars so badly!"

Twilight and Discord stared dumbfounded as the Kuros ate the rest of the chocolate with a grin. Pinkie Pie tapped Twilight's shoulder and pointed to her lips with her hoof when the lavender unicorn turned her head around.

"Oh, sorry, Pinkie!" With a flash of her horn, the pink pony's lips opened. Pinkie Pie looked up to the Kuros pleadingly.

"Would you give me a bite?"

---

Rarity and Applejack looked around the rather small marketplace, watching as zebras sold strange-looking fruits or herbs to those who could afford it, and a few, homeless zebra colts were waiting for a chance to snatch up a single piece of fruit and run for it before the owner caught them in the act. Much to Rarity's disappointment, zebras didn't exactly have a taste in fashion. They didn't even use clothing, for Celestia's sake. And the few who actually did wore nothing more than cloaks and small garments of dark brown cloth. Applejack was looking for some souvenirs. After all, she had promised Applebloom to take her something from Krussia.

"My! I can't believe it! These zebras really should look at themselves in the mirror sometime, if they have one!" Rarity commented overlooking one nearby zebra mare, who gave her a funny look.

"Stop it, Rare!" Applejack snapped, upon noticing the way the other zebras were looking at them. "The last thing we need is to be chased around by an angry zebra mob."

"Applejack, please! What would make them lynch us to death?"

"Maybe somepony's comments about their lifestyle."

"I'm just giving giving them a little words on fashion." Rarity's eyes widened when at another zebra mare with spiky hair. "My gosh! Look at her hair!"

The zebra mare in question twirled her head around, and narrowed her eyes. As she walked closer to the duo, they realized she was not a short as she seemed; in fact, her build as much bulkier and she had much more muscles than the rest of the zebra mares.

"Ya got a problem with my hair?!" the zebra hissed, making Rarity step back in fear. "I said, ya got a problem with my hair?"

"No, no, no!" Rarity replied, panicking, loking around. "I was talking about that zebra's hair!" She pointed at a zebra stallion with a long mane that almost touched the ground, making the zebra mare snort.

"That's my husband!" she hissed

Before Rarity could say somethiing else, Applejack gently shoved her back and took charge. "Don't listen to her, miss!" she stuttered nervously. "She's just... Confused, yes, that's right! All this heat is afecting her brain!"

"Hey! I not-!"

Applejack quickly put her hoof over her friend's mouth before giving the zebra a nervous grin.

This was going to take a long time.

---

Fluttershy stared in wonder at a glossy-furred skunk napping on a small stuffed bed.

The pet shop she had come into had many types of animals she had never seen before. There were gray-feathered parrots, red-colored macaws and a few other birds. There were gigantic ground turtles, alligators, crocodiles and three meter long snakes. There were monkeys, chimps, lemurs and many other small mammals scrittering around. The zebras had a policy of 'no cages' for the animals, so all the little creatures in the shop were trained to remain in their respective places wherever a potential buyer- and owner- came into the shop.

However, there was an area Fluttershy found rather... intimidating.

Unlike most animals in the shop, those animals were mosty colored in dark shades. And unlike those animals, these were actually encaged; the cages were big enough to be comfortable, of course. Ravens and crows cawed at the zebra shopkeeper asking to be fed. Great panthers, ebony-colored jaguars and white tigers were either napping or licking their fur. Dark-colored wolves, foxes and coyotes were playing around in their warm stray beds inside their cages. Five-meter long black snakes, deep green iguanas and spiky-covered lizards were lying around in their tanks.

"What kind of animals are those?" Fluttershy inquired, walking closer to one of the cages containing a crow.

"Those animals are imported from Krussia, miss." The zebra explained. "However, they are mostly for collectors. Whoever buys them usually want either guardian beasts, or to show off animal collections. They're expensive, that's for sure. Only members of the High Blood can afford them, and they're shipped to the capital."

"Shipped?" Fluttershy inquired, giggling as one of the wolves started licking playfully on her hoof. "Aren't there animals like this in the capital?"

The zebra shookd his head. "No, miss. Since Greva is the closest Zebra setlement to Kruscow, the Kuros can only send them here. It would take two weeks to ship them from Kruscow to the Imperial city, while it only takes two days to ship them here."

Fluttershy stroke one of the snake's heads. "What kind of snake is this? I've never seen them in this color."

"I would be careful if I were you, miss. Those are black mambas, and they're very poisonous."

Flutershy let out a frightened 'meep' and quickly withdrew her hoof. The snake simply stared at her in confusion, bright golden eyes staring into aquamarine eyes.

She needed to be careful around black snakes.

---

Stormfly flinched as Screwball dragged him across the town, Mist Wing clinging to his mane. His face was a much darker shade of gray due to the blood rushing to his cheeks, making him blush deeply. He was starting to realize that he felt strongly about Screwball, but he had not missed the looks Discord gave him wherever he and Screwball were 'too close' to one another. Screwball didn't seem to notice, however, and she always cuddled with him whenever she could.

"Screwball, where are you taking me?" Stormfly finally gathered the courage to speak, and he nearly tripped when the mare stopped right in her tracks and let go of his hoof.

Innocently, she turned around. "I don't know." Screwball started gigling. "I was just trying to drag you away from daddy so that he would stop giving you funny looks."

So she actually does notice Discord's glares. Stormfly thought. "What kind of funny looks?"

The mare shrugged. "I don't know. But he looks like he want's to kill you with his eyes, do you think it's bad?"

"Seriously?" the Changeling in disguise sighed, making Mist wing slide from his back to his neck. "I think it's bad considering that he tends to be quite... jealous."

"How can he be jealous? We're just friends, right?"

Stormfly stared at Screwball for a few minutes, enthralled by her swirly, pinkish purple eyes, her cotton candy pink coat, and the white swirls in her violet mane. She always had that innocent look to her, like a filly inside a mare's body, which made her look adorable, in his eyes. Mist Wing had taken a great liking to her as well, often crawling or hovering in search of Screwball when he was out. He was confused to this. Baby Changelings were hostile towards those who did not carry their parents' scent; in fact, it took about a month for him to teach Mist Wing that Twilight Sparkle and everypony else were 'family'. But it was a piece of cake with Screwball. He deduced that, since they had interacted very closely during the first hours they met (when he had first embraced her in a moment of weakness) his scent had mixed with hers.

"Yeah..." stormfly whispered as Screwball turned around and started to walk towards some zebra fillies.

Just friends.

---

The train station of Greva was nothing grand. Nothing fancy. It was simply a wooden platform next to the railway and the brown-colored train that would take Twilight and the rest to their destination. The morning sun was already hovering much higher in the sky, and the colors of heaven had changed from cake blue with the white clouds tinted of yellow to a bright sky blue. Twilight was the first one to arrive, carrying the triplets on her back, after Discord and Pinkie Pie's little incident made her husband carry an unconscious Kuros to the station.

"Come on, Twilight! it was fun!" Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Pinkie, making Fukkuteru faint just for a chocolate bar that you didn't even eat is not funny." Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Hello! A little help here!" Discord cried out, almost dropping Fukkuteru in the process. Twilight sighed and, using her magic, levitated the Kuros's unconscious body next to her. Pinkie Pie hopped unto his back and started playing 'cowpony'. Twilight was glad he was unconscious.

"I just don't understand why he reacts that way with Pinkie Pie." Discord commented.

"Maybe she resembles somepony... or somekuros he would rather forget." Twilight deduced. "Or maybe his race is not used to... ponies like Pinkie Pie."

"Hey, everypony!"

Applejack and Rarity trotted toward the station, calling out for Twilight and Discord. Rarity looked like she was about to faint, and it took five minutes to explain to the others the little situation with the zebra they just had. Rainbow Dash was the second to arrive, saying that she didn't find any 'worthy opponents' anywhere, not that the zebras paid her any attention anyway.

Fluttershy arrived soon after, and she couldn't wait to tell them about the wonderful animals she discovered in a nearby pet shop, but also the animals imported from Krussia. The most majestic beings she had ever seen, with a prideful air and good proportions. Stormfy and Screwball arrived soon after, with Spike following suit. Discord discretely narrowed his eyes when he noticed his little Screwball was holding the Changeling's hoof, but this timeStormfly chose to ignore it.

"So, everypony is here?" Twilight asked for the fifth time.

"No, Twilight. Cadence and Shining Armor are yet to arrive." Spike rolled his eyes

"Why don't you relax a bit, mommy?" Screwball asked innocently.

"How can I calm down?" Twilight replied, nervousness in every fiber of her body. "The train departs in five minutes, and they're not still here!"

"Well, maybe they're coming right now..." Fluttershy timidly suggested. "I mean, it's not like them to be late for a train ride."

"To enworse this, Fukkuteru is unconscious!"

"I have an idea. Some of us could get Fukkuteru inside the train, while Twilight Sparkle waits here for Shining Armor and Princess Cadence!" Pinkie Pie hopped from the Kuros's back. "I'm bored, and I want to take a nap because I couldn't sleep much last night because I was excited so-"

"Okay, okay!" Rarity finally snapped out of her state of shock. "We all understood, Pinkie."

Twilight Sparkle watched anxiously as Discord and Stormfly struggled to get Fukkuteru into the train with a little help from Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Pinkie Pie followed suit, hopping her way to the train door. Rarity and Fluttershy, along with Screwball and Spike, decided to wait for Shining Armor and Cadence.

They failed to see a crow staring at them from a nearby withered tree branch. It flew away once it noticed a pink alicorn and a white unicorn rushing to the station.

---

Said crow landed twenty minutes later in a parch inside one of the windows of the Krussian Imperial Castle. While it took usually three hours for a normal bird to fly from Greva all the way to Kruscow, Krussian messenger ravens were enhanced by dark magic. They could fly to Equestria and return in a question of hours if their master asked them to.

Drakon slowly walked towards his window when he heard wings flapping, and a bird's talons grab onto its wooden perch. While he wasn't particularly fond of animals, crows were an exception. They could be as silent as a gray wolf about to lunge at prey. They could be as fierce as a panther pouncing at its enemies.They had an elegant air to them, like the Kuros themselves. But overall, they were loyal.

"Well, hello there, Charcoal." Drakon whispered, his voice as cold as ever, but his eyes showing great affection towards the black bird. "What took you so long?"

Charcoal cawed in reply

"There's something I need to see?" Drakon chuckled humorlessly. "Show me."

Purple mist started flowing from his amber eyes, and his schlera changed to phosphorecent green. He met the crow's gaze, and soon the bird's eyes turned red and green. Blurs of images invaded Drakon's mind. An Equestrian airship, ponies descending and going their separate ways just to reunite minutes later at the train station. A Draconequus, a baby dragon, a Changeling, a Unicorn, and various mares whom he assumed were their maids. But what gave them away was the unconscious body of a very familiar black dragon being carried into the train.

Drakon's eyes went back to normal as a malicious, cold grin that would have given King Sombra chills formed in his face.

"They're finally coming."