Equestria Exiles: Dawn of Dream Valley

by Paradise Oasis

through new eyes

Through new eyes

In the halls of Canterlot castle, a very powerful mare was yelling angrily at the stallion in front of her.

"How can the Dream Valley ponies be flourishing?" The mare spat in anger. "You promised me they wouldn't survive this long!"

"D-don't worry, your grace!" The stallion stuttered in fear. "Rosaline and her subject just turned out to be a bit more resilient that we thought, that's all."

"Don't you know how bad it would make the entire Canterlot court look if those freaks were ever discovered?" The mare snapped, her usually kind demeanor melting away before her true personality. "I want them dead, you despicable little worm! I want them wiped from the face of this world without a trace that there ever was a Dream Valley!"

"T-trouble yourself not, your grace!" The cowardly stallion sputtered. "We've already arraigned things so that they received no medical supplies or doctors at Dream Castle! All it will take is some major accident or an epidemic to-"

"See to it things play out as you say, and make sure Princess Luna does not discover our little plan!" The mare snorted angrily. "Her involvement in these matters, is the last thing we need!"

...

"C'mon, Golden Harvest!" Cherry Jubilee called back to the slower mare. "Would y'all try and keep up?"

"I'm trying Cherry, sheesh!" The exhausted mare complained, galloping to catch up. "Why do you have to go so fast, anyway?"

After getting permission from the queen, the two of them had traveled outside the castle. The two mares were hoping to find new plants in the everfree forest, to grow as foodstuffs in the castle's garden's.

"This isn't good." Golden Harvest snorted, looking around at the bare forest floor. "Besides the vegetables we already grow, all we've managed to find out here are weeds and grubs."

"And there hasn't been any new fruits out here, either." Cherry Jubilee replied with a sigh. "I think maybe we should head back at th' castle."

But as the two mares looked around, they suddenly realized they had wandered deeper into the forest then withier of them had first thought.

"Uhhh, Carrot Top?" Cherry asked nervously. "Y'all wouldn't happen ta know the way back, would ya?"

"Please don't call me by that nickname, Cherry- you know I hate it!" Golden Harvest replied angrily. "But no, I've never seen this section of the Everfree Forest before."

As the two lost mares continued to wander amongst the trees, the sun slowly began to set in the west. The darkness closed in around them, as the two ponies tried to hide their fear from each other. Trying to find their way back, both of them stumbled in the dark, as the moonlight barely shone through the trees to light their way.

"Ow!" Cherry grumbled, as she tripped over another rock. "This is jes great, now we're totally lost!"

Suddenly a low growl, accompanied by the cracking of sticks,. came out of a nearby bush.

"W-what was that?" Carrot Top asked in a panic.

"A-ah don't know." A frightened Cherry replied.

As the two mares stood there shaking, several dark, angry shapes emerged from the trees. Licking their fanged lips, they stared at the ponies with a hungry look in their eyes.

"Timbah wolves!" Cherry Jubilee whinnied in terror.

"Run for it!" Carrot Top replied, as the two ponies bolted away.

The two mares galloped through the forest at top speed, with three of the snarling monsters tearing after them in hot pursuit. Cherry started to pull ahead, when Golden Harvest suddenly tripped over a branch, and fell!

"Carrot Top!" Cherry shrieked, coming to a stop.

"Cherry, save yourself- aieeeeee!" The pony let out a cry of pain, as one of the timer wolves caught up Golden Harvest, and bit right into her face.

Cherry Jubilee would never forget that horrifying sight. The shrieks, the blood. The earth mare was frozen to the spot in fear, as one of the wolves charged up to her, ready to strike....

"OWWWWWWWWW!" The wolf howled in pain, as a unicorn magic bolt blasted it out of existence. As luck would have it, the two mares had galloped back in the direction of the castle, and the castle guards had come running to see what all the commotion was. Two of the unicorn guards blasted away at the two remaining timber wolves with a fire spell, catching them ablaze, while two Pegasus guards then quickly swooped in, and carried the injured Golden Harvest up over the castle walls.

"You all right, miss?" One of the guards asked Cherry Jubilee, snapping her out of her shocked silence.

"Ferget about me, yuh idjit! Ah'm fine!" She whinnied in anger. "Ya'll need ta help mah friend, she's th' one whose hurt!"

....

"She's going to live." Sassaflash told them grimly. "But I fear she will never fully recover from the trauma that she has suffered through."

Cherry Jubilee and Minuette were in the room, staring down at the injured form of Golden Harvest. Slashes and claw marks covered her bloody and broken body, and a bandage was around what had once been her eyes.

"Can... can her body be made whole again?" Minuette asked nervously. The unicorn mare had been sent by the queen, to check on the status of the palace gardener.

"Well, I'm no doctor... I wish we had one to spare here at the castle.... but I think most of the scars and fractures can be gradually healed up by unicorn magic." Sassaflash groaned, wiping her brow with a cloth she held in her wing. "But the wolf's bite on her face destroyed her eyes in their sockets. I fear she will be blind for the rest of her life."

"Awww, no!" Cherry Jubilee wailed sadly. "Carrot Tawp!"

"Is there nothing you can do?" Minuette asked nervously. "Wasn't there some kind of treatment for blindness the Tambelon exiles brought with them from the labs?"

"Normally I'd advise against it... but since the request is coming from a lady in waiting to the queen, very well." Sassaflash nodded to the pony assisting her. "Twinkleshine, get me that last set of gemstone eyes..."

...

"Jewel eyes?" Cherry Cola asked in shock. "That's how the restored her sight? By giving her those creepy things?"

"That's the buzz ah head through the grapevine!" Sapphire Shores told the stallion. "Those nasty wolves crushed her eyes in their sockets like grapes!"

The pony of Pop had been hungry, and so had stopped by the castle kitchens to spread this latest tidbit, while grabbing a bite to eat.

"How awful!" Apple Cobbler exclaimed. "But at least she'll be able to see again, right?"

"Yep, good as new, or so I hear." The earth pony of pop replied, tilting her hat back on her head. "Though I wonder if those jewels will let her see through walls or anythin?"

"I'll tell you what I wonder." Inky Pie snorted, trotting into the room. "I wonder if any works going to get done in here, so we can get the evening meal done on time!"

"Well, I said mah piece, so's I'll catch you all latah!" Sapphire Shores trotted out of the room. "See ya later, every pony!"

"Boy, that mare is something else!" Apple Cobbler commented.

"I'll say!" Cherry Cola replied with a grin, staring after her. Apple Cobbler merely scowled at him.

"Say, I just realized something." Inky Pie noted, as the other two got back to their work. "Have any of you ever seen Sapphire Shores without that little hat on?"

...

"Look, she's waking up!"

As soon as Golden Harvest opened her eyes, she cold tell something was wrong. Her entire field of vision was filled with what looked like... glass, though it made her sight much clearer. Looking off to her side, the earth mare saw Cherry Jubilee and Caramel Chancelot were standing over her, staring.

"Cherry, good to see you! Well... it seems we got away from those wolves!" She pulled herself up onto her hooves. "But why is my vision look all funny?"

"Golden Harvest, darlin'..... there's something you should know..." Cherry muttered, looking away. "Those ornery wolves took yer eyes, an'-"

"Why, what are you talking about?" Golden Harvest said with a laugh. "I can see as clearly as day!"

"Well I should hope so!" Caramel replied indignantly. "Those are the finest set of jewel eyes our forge's lens smith turned out!"

Cherry scowled at the earth stallion, who had all the subtle tact of chainsaw. Golden Harvest stared at them in shock.

"W-what? You mean that glass I see is..." Golden Harvest suddenly broke down, and started to cry. Cherry Jubilee moved to comfort her friend, while glaring at Caramel.

"What?" Caramel asked indignantly. "You were going to tell her, anyway!"

....

"So my gardener has had her eyes put out?" Queen Rosaline snorted, sitting on her throne. "Lovely, absolutely lovely! My reign is off to a wonderful start!"

"Not to belittle Golden Harvest’s problem, your majesty, but we have more pressing problems at the moment." North Pole snorted. "With no doctors currently at the castle, and medical supplies running out, Dream Valley is vulnerable."

"It's all part of Princess Celestia's plot to do away with us, don't you see?" Minuette spat. "First get all the undesirables out of Equestria, then leave us in the wilderness to be picked off by the forces of nature."

""No! That is impossible!" Prince Blueblood replied, snarling at the two other unicorns standing before the throne. "Aunty Celestia would never do something that cruel to us!"

"That's enough! All three of you!" Rosaline yelled angrily. "It doesn't matter how we ended up in this predicament out here, the problem is we are in it! Now, unless anypony has a solution to get us the supplies and medical expertise we need..."

"Perhaps we could help, your majesty." Three ponies suddenly emerged from the shadows- two white unicorns, and a red Pegasus- and bowed before the throne. "In exchange for sanctuary and protection, we would be happy to fulfill your needs with our... special talents!"

"Who are you?" North Pole demanded angrily. "How did you get past the guards?"

"My name is Shadow Vale, former head of espionage at her majesty's royal court. For those of my profession, getting past your guards was foal's play." The red Pegasus gestured to the other dozen or so ponies, emerging from the shadows. "And these are my loyal lieutenants. We too are exiles, for our... different ways of thinking." He bowed low before queen Rosaline. "We swear our Loyalty to you, great queen, so long as you are loyal to us... unlike our last ruler."

North Pole trotted up to Shadow Vale, and stared at him carefully. "Strange, I don't remember you from the royal court."

"Nor do I, my good spy." Blueblood agreed, looking the red Pegasus up and down. "And believe me, I knew everypony who ever came to court!"

"Oh... I was undercover at Canterlot for much longer than either of you realize." Shadow Vale replied with a grin. “I have worn many disguises over the years, and used my talents to get into many places where no pony is supposed to go.. and learn many secrets no pony is supposed to learn!"

The queen stared at them grimly. "I have no reason to trust you, stranger. But if you are able to procure what we need to survive... there will be a place for your ponies at this castle... and a place for you, as head of royal intelligence."

"Your majesty." The newcomers all bowed to the queen, before melting away back into the shadow from whence they had come. But as the shadowy forms departed, Minuette noted that the newcomers had never said exactly what royal court they had served at.

...

The shadows gathered in the gloom around Ponyville, as every business was closing up for the evening. As she was locking up the clinic, Nurse Redheart sighed- today had been another slow day for her, especially with more new town nurses on duty, and the doctors giving her fewer and fewer hours every month.

It wouldn't be long, she realized, before the younger, prettier nurse fillies squeezed her out of a job completely. And what made it worse, was that she was becoming more and more unable to carry out her special talent, helping sick and injured ponies who needed her. Unable to fulfill her purpose in life, Nurse Redheart was becoming more and more disenchanted with her life in Ponyville. With a sigh, the white earth pony wished something- anything- exciting would happen!

It was then, that Nurse Redheart heard a rustling and scratching noise coming from the window behind the clinic. "Who's there?" She asked in a panic, galloping around to see what was going on. The nurse saw nopony was at the window, and decided to go back inside the clinic- to make sure everything was all right.

When she got the door unlocked again, Nurse Redheart was shocked to find the clinic emptied of everything! All cupboards, boxes, and shelves were completely devoid of drugs, bandages, and medical equipment. Redheart's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"What.. why.. how?" The shocked nurse whinnied. Who would be so cruel as to rob a clinic of the medical tools and supplies the sick ponies of Ponyville needed?

"I know you must think us cruel, but those medical supplies were needed elsewhere." She spun around to see a red Pegasus staring at her.

"Who are you?" Nurse Redheart snapped in anger. "How dare you take-"

The red Pegasus put a hoof up to her mouth. "Listen to me, Nurse Redheart, and listen carefully... there are several ponies out there who have no medical supplies, and no doctors. Ponies who were abandoned to the wilderness by an uncaring Equestrian bureaucracy, out of the sincerest hope that they will die."

He threw down a packet of photos in front of the Nurse, whose eyes went wide in shock when she opened it to look at them. Pictures of a foal with rashes over his body... a mare who was in agony from giving birth without any sort of painkiller or medical professional nearby... and a stallion at death's door because he didn't have the vaccination for a common illness.

"Great Celestia..." The Nurse pony whimpered, her cutie mark burning to the point of agony. Sick, suffering ponies who needed tender loving care...

"For over a month now, these exiles have lived in the everfree forest, with no doctors or medicine. Celestia hopes they will all die off, leaving no trace- a bunch of mistakes her royal highness can sweep under the rug." He turned to leave. "So you can ether run for help, and leave those ponies who were denied medical care to suffering and death.. or you can stay quiet, and let us save as many lives as we can."

"I'll let you take the supplies, on one condition." Nurse Redheart snorted angrily, staring the red Pegasus down with an iron gaze that unnerved even him.

"And what is that?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"If you're going to treat those ponies, you're going to need somepony who knows about medicine and illness." She shook her mane in anger. "I will not live under the rule of a princess who would do this to her own subjects. If you want the supplies, take me with you."

Comments

[Al-1701]

And thus we have our first twinkle-eyed pony.

[Frankie2]

I have read the first three chapters. I find it hard to believe that Celestia gave power to a bunch of Canterlot bureaucrats and has NO IDEA what is happening in her OWN kingdom. I admit, I did not read the story that this is a sequel of, and I have no intention to do so. I hope to better understand this as I keep reading.

[Leave a Whisper]

i'm glad the nurse cared and those changelings are clever. in and out before anyone could question them closely. I wonder how much celestria actually knows? something tells me quite a bit, which was the reason why luna took action