In The Distant Past

by WatchMeShadow

It Begins

King Mercury and Queen Iridium do decree the following:

It has come to our attention that no pony has entered the Copper Flail Mine for a while, and it has been abandoned. We decree our trusted guard and two unicorn architects shall build into thus mentioned mine a large sanctuary within the year. It is of utmost importance word of this sanctuary not meet any pony that includes loved ones. Failure to do so well be considered an act of treason and well be handled as such. Supplies shall be transported under cover of darkness. Any pony who finds out about this and is not a unicorn shall be dealt with on the spot. Any unicorn that finds out about this shall be sworn to secrecy or they shall be considered a traitor of the crown and handled quietly. Details of what is expected will described to our trusted guard.

The architects shant find out where or why there service is being requested until they have proven their worth. They shall be made aware of the terms before they have any idea of what will be requested of them. Payment shall be received in anonymous letters.

King Mercury or Queen Iridium shall do a final inspection of the sanctuary upon claimed completion.

Signed
King Mercury
Queen Iridium

King Mercury and Queen Iridium do decree the following:

The guard shall have the ability to pay for undocumented amounts of flour, salt, sugar, jams, dried grapes, pickles, and other such food items to be used by the crown. It shall be stored in the castle, unless told otherwise. Documenting these transactions in any way will lead to a hefty fine and time in the dungeon. Payment will be ten percent above the current market price.

Signed
King Mercury
Queen Iridium

It has been two years since those decrees had been made. The three pony tribes had been barely living peacefully together. Always on the edge of war. The only things preventing a war was a treaty and the Celestial Counsel. The treaty was one of trade. Pegasi and Unicorns could make their own food but not fast enough to feed everypony. The earth ponies however, could produce food fast enough to feed even the pegasi and unicorns. The pegasi would shape the land and water the plants. The unicorns did research as control over the sun and moon was seized by the Celestial Counsel.

The earth ponies have a Republic government of sorts. They for the most part are farmers. Most earth ponies lived in giant trees. Their villages are kind of like a farmers forest of huge trees lined and spaced up evenly. Their main hub of government, trade, and anything else could be described as a world tree. A massive tree shooting to the sky casting a large shadow over the land. They in general didn’t like the unicorns, but were kind of okay with the pegasi.

The pegasi have a huge cloud city that keeps them isolated. They also have a few underground villages scattered around. Their government is much more militaristic in nature. Every pegasi is prepared for war as part of their schooling. They till the lands for the earth ponies and provide rain for the crops. The pegasi were faithful to the treaty but remained aloof in their isolation.

The unicorns have a monarchy. They usually ended up doing any odd jobs that needed to be done that pegasi or earth ponies would have some problems with. They had a grand castle and surrounding city, and a few scattered villages. The unicorns once had control of the sun and moon and used it as a weapon to starve their enemies. Sure it was a double edged sword; but, with the multiple ways they could use magic they could outlast their enemies and strike before they lost their ability to. The unicorns never liked the earth ponies or the pegasi races. They thought and still think them below them for their lack of magical diversity. They were forced into the treaty thanks to the Celestial Counsel.

The Celestial Counsel was formed eighty years prior to those decrees. The details of how it was formed are fuzzy, but its purpose is not. It was made to ensure the three pony tribes didn’t wipe each other off the map. It’s comprised of a total of six members. Two of each tribe. Their first act was to destroy and/or seize all information on how to raise and lower the sun and moon. After that they forced the treaty on the three tribes that still has yet to bare fruit. All the tribes respect the counsel for at least what they accomplished. If not then they feared them for what they could do. Each member lives on the outskirts of their respective tribes capitals. In the time since the treaty things for each tribe has improved greatly. Citizens felt they were no longer plagued by the threat of war and invasion. Their populations expanded and the cities grew. Even though things got better, their hatred of the other tribes remained steadfast as that’s how they were raised. Sure there have been several deadly skirmishes throughout time that threatened another war, but the counsel always settled the matter.

The king and queen of the unicorns have recently been reaching out to the earth ponies. They began to offer as many services as they could, and began getting in meetings with the leaders of the earth ponies. They tried the same with the pegasi but they weren’t receptive at all to their attempts. Ties between the earth ponies and unicorns slowly began to strengthen while the pegasi remained out of touch. This has been going on for about a two years now. Trust was beginning to build between the leaders of both tribes. The unicorns kept their city closed to earth ponies, but they did begin to invite them over. They even got the earth ponies to sign a mutual alliance. It basically stated that in the event of an emergency the other nation shall bring aid to the other. What kind of aid depended on the emergency.

End Chapter 1

Author's Note:

Hey so I decided to go ahead and expand on the past in the universe I'm failing to create. I would have used more old time style writing but that would have taken forever and been annoying to read I imagine. I'm kind of ashamed at how I described things in here, probable going to redo it eventually.

As always if you see anything that can be fixed or made better let me know! I like to think I got a good story in my mind, but simply fail at typing it down.

Comments

[Icare]

First of all, I really like your story. I think it does have a good potential and you could expand your vision of the old equestria.
Tough I think there is some grammar faults, it's no big deal.

In sum,keep writing , I love it

[Cold Spike]

Interesting idea. Grammar aside, I do feel that this whole chapter could have simply been expanded upon and told from (maybe) somepony's perspective. Saying where each tribe stands with one another, and how they feel, is fine and all, but actually painting us a picture can go a long way to keeping people interested in a tale. I like what you've done, but it would be neat if we focused on multiple protagonists. Maybe one from each tribe? Of course, that's more of a personal taste of mine, I'm sure you have a good idea of what you want to write. Keep going!