Chapter 7: Persistent Legacy (Part 1: The Distant Past)
The Castle of the two Sisters, Equestria
Princess Celestia and Luna were now debating what to do right now as her best friend was sitting in their guest room. The Pink Unicorn known as "Lady Love" was crying desperately, worrying over what could have happened to the Empire her husband made, worried for her citizens, worried for all the subjects she swore to defend with law, rights and strength. She only had 3 years ruling over the Empire, Princess Celestia didn't know why her husband wasn't ruling (a subject that Lady Love always avoided for some reason) but, from what she understood, he decided to stay in the Empire to try to stop Sombra from taking over, they hadn't heard any news whatsoever.
Celestia and Luna agreed that The Tyrant known as Sombra had to be struck down, who knows what kind of monstrosities he has been doing in the last couple days. But they weren't sure how to attack, Luna said that they should go all out with all the Equestrian military to show what happened when a friendly neighbor was attacked, but Celestia thought that only the royal sisters should go (since it was just one overpowered Unicorn. This debate was what made them take so long on doing something, which increased Queen Candente's desperation, she knew that, the longer Sombra was on power, the more her subjects would suffer. She couldn't do anything in terms of strenght for only a group of guards, led by Golden Strike, scorted her to Equestria but all the soldiers stayed in the Empire in an attempt to stop Sombra. How did he became so strong when he was exiled hornless? It was a mystery whose solution neither her or Strike would live to see responded, what they would live to see was the disappearance of the Empire they worked so hard to build and stabilize, almost shattering their souls, and wondered what to do now.
When Celestia and Luna came back from the, now gone, Crystal Empire, they couldn't do anything but feeling defeated, they struck down the tyrant, but at the cost of losing the Empire. They never understood why would Sombra make such a desperate move to take away the Empire with him but the princesses only hoped that the Empire would, one day, come back and become once again the model of great government that the princesses looked up to copy on Equestria.
Now they had to choose what to do with the Ex Queen, her 5 years old daughter, the soldiers that scorted her and the few citizens that fled to Equestria. Luna asked for the citizens to use their knowledge for the betterment of Equestria but Celestia retorted that they should only give them a house and, if they wanted to share their knowledge, they could ask them for what they knew. In the end, the princesses decided for the latter and gave houses to the new Equestrian citizens without asking anything from them, although a few of them would share the knowledge of Trains and architecture that would be applied a few centuries later in Equestria. Meanwhile, the guilt for not doing anything on time, being neglected by her sister and rejecting of her ideas, among many other mistakes made by Celestia unaware of her sister's condition, would be the beginning of Luna's decent into the monster known as Nightmare Moon, stopping any progression in Equestria for the following centuries for Celestia had to stabilize everything while making sure that any type of progress she brought wouldn't cause any type of chaos (for, if Discord ever returned, Celestia wouldn't have any means to stop him again).
Meanwhile, Amor candente was wondering what to do now, she had no empire, no husband, nothing to use her knowledge on. She saw at her little filly, she was so young, and wondered how could she help her daughter to grow into a great mare. Drop her schooling was a foolish idea, they had no power but they were still nobles, they had knowledge and Amor Candente would never allow her family to become in the same rotten elitist that allowed Sombre to come to power on the first place. It was decided, Candente would raise her daughter as a Princess preparing for ruling (perhaps with the help of Luna and Celestia as models for actual rulers) and would teach her all what was needed to know for a princess to properly rule over her citizens. Her daughter would then teach her own daughter, and her daughter's daughter, and so on and so forth until the day came for the Crystal Empire to come back and, thus, rule over the Empire that was destined to be a great stronghold of society and integrity. This habit of teachings, while it would decline, would reach a young Cadenza who, under the tutelage of Celestia (who rose her as someone of her own family) became into the first unicorn who transformed into an alicorn, something that Amor Candente would be very proud of, for the last member of the Royal Crystal Family became in the most capable member to lead the Empire and turn it into the great kingdom it was supposed to be.
Golden Strike was wondering what to do now, he never found Stray Stone (and if he was alive in the Crystal Empire, then Golden Strike wouldn't be alive to see him in jail), he failed to his nation when he wasn't capable of stopping Sombra, he failed in keeping the army in line. He never had the same abilities as General Swift Rise, Strike wondered for the rest of his life what he could have done to save the Empire, but he never found the solution to that problem. In the end, he decided to join Celestia's Crystal Guard to modernize them as much as he could. His help was primordial after Nightmare Moon, for Golden Strike managed to keep the Lunar Guard on hold, fused both armies as one and made sure that no civil war could have happened. Due to Celestia's fear of Discord Returning, Strike was never capable of modernizing the army to the same levels of when he was the general of The Crystal Guard, but he did managed to bring order to the previously known Solar Guard, now Royal Guard, and made sure that no general would ever try to take over the government through a coup (even if said coup would have to fight an alicorn). But the greatest achievement of the General Golden Strike (besides the many books that became the structure model for the Royal Guard, even if, over time, it deteriorated over the course of time) was the creation of a special division in the air force capable of making shows for the citizens (idea brought by Swift Rise himself), that way, the Air Force would always be practicing their stunts and be prepared for the day they would be needed against an invasion, this division would be called "The Blue Thunders".
After his death, Golden Strike was buried with all the military honors that he deserved. The Royal Guard and the few Crystal militaries that managed to escape with him to Equestria took his corpse to a place close to the Crystal Empire, whose location was forgotten by history, and in a final honor to his memory, the division he created made a last change to its name. This new name was made in honor to the memory of Golden Strike and the legend that, on his youth, he was capable to go as fast as lightning, this new name its still being used today and is one of the most respected and admired part of the Equestrian military to this day and works as a perfect reflection of what Golden Strike sought in the creation of an air force capable of being prepared for the defense of the nation and still being part of society: "The Wonderbolts".
Somewhere on the north of the Crystal Empire
Golden Claw was now wondering what to do with his clan and her wife's clan. On one claw, he could try to survive with his clan on the mountains on the north, an idea so dangerous that he could be considered mad for even thinking on it, but Sombra survived and came back stronger, he could do it as well. Besides, the other option was trying to go to Equestria crossing the Crystal Empire, it meant going to Sombra and that was a risk he wasn't willing to take.
"I know you said once that you fought the adversity of the mountains," - Said his wife, the Leader of the Blood Wings -, "but I never expected you to return to them after having such a cozy life". By this point, the changes in both griffon clans were more on the inside than the outside. They no longer thought that brute strength was the answer and that, in the case of fight, strategy was the key in having a successful victory (the lesser numbers down, the better). - "I know, neither did I, but such a good life was something that the most greedy would never allow. Now, we have to leave". - "So, what do we do now? Going to the mountains until Sombra is gone?" - Golden Claw thought it, he knew that, as more as he didn't like the idea, Sombra may stay there for a long time. He had to be prepared for the worst and think on what to do then. The choice was obvious -. "Dear, we'll have to stay on the north until Sombra is gone, our other option is to build our own homes in there".
"But how are we going to stay in there for so long?" - She asked concerned around that possibility, she worried for her future children, how would they raise them in such harsh conditions? Who knew how long it would take them to adapt in that environment. And that's not even counting the griffon bandits and the savage clans that preferred to stay as warmongers. They were civilians now, how could they return to those ways? She looked into the eyes of her husband, she saw that same fire she saw that night in that bar, a fire and determination capable of doing the unimaginable, eyes that said "we'll do it" and her husband said the words that made her know that everything would be fine:
"We'll fight the elements if needed. But we'll recover our life back, even if it take us generations".
The Griffons then departed and went into the frozen mountains in the north, the first weeks were made of murdering winds and freezing assassins, the once prosperous clan would suffer of a fifth in their death toll. The savage clans would be their biggest nightmare for decades until the son of the leaders, founder of the Golden Wings, started to take down each one of them, either fusing them to his clan or pulverizing them until nothing was left. with each passing generation, more and more territory would be annexed, conquering even the pole and going from one side of the mountains to the other. This leader, filled with the knowledge and bravebury of his parents, would start the formation of a griffon kingdom, creating fortifications, libraries, citadels both inside the mountains and higher than the mountains. He would envision himself as that leader from the mythical Crystal Empire and would always strive to recreate that paradise his parents always talked to him about. With each passing generation, each leader would become more and more ambitious until the territory would be too much for them to handle. Civil Wars would be made and the final war would have as a victor a Griffon so heartless, that the world evil would be too little to describe him (among a society that never knew of Sombra, Tirek, Stray Stone or creatures of the like).
This dictatorship would pacify the now Griffon Empire at the const of destroying the royal family that created the Griffon Empire, they would try to survive for the rest of the dictatorship. The Blood seeking dictator (peaceful to his family and friends, silent to his people but deathly to his enemies) would create multiple royal families that would become the ruling parties in the Congress of the Empire. After the dictator's death, the rule of the Empire was decided through the royal families and the family with the most power in the Congress would be the ruler until the emperor's death, then the new congress (decided each 5 years, in honor of the congress created by the legendary ruler of the mythical empire made of crystals) would choose the next ruler.
The founder's family, now stigmatized, would be fighting for the following centuries to recover the empire it once lost by having the support of the empire it once conquered. This glossed over a lot of their history, including how the young Romanov is planning to use her link to the original family to try to rise to power, but it was told to show how influential can be someone (or something) to the creation of a cvilization and how leaders that existed could have been easily been forgotten by time, until all that's left of it is the legend and the myth which future generations will use to model themselves in the search of a better lifestyle.
Another group that suffered from Sombra's attack, were the Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs and Dragons.
The Diamond Dogs, a species that was abused by Sombra under false promise, was among the least helped during the new age in the Crystal Empire. Very few got the education and good treatment they deserved, this, resulted in the diamond dogs finding a big despise towrds the ponies that only abused them for gems. For the lack of unity among themselves, they would never be capable to become an actual nation or a group capable of develop themselves into what they could have been. This also resulted in the Diamond Dogs finding a liking for the gems (if the ponies wanted them so much, then they must have some worth) so they would always search for the gems, becoming in slaves of the treatment they always got.
The Dragons would be among the ones who suffered the most for, while they didn't liked the idea of being subjects to a pony, at least they got diamonds and they were part of the economics of the empire. They were allowed to make as many enterprises as they liked (and if they empire was wealthy, they were wealthy. SO when the Empire fell, it meant the end of a paradise (no more money, no more riches, no more society, no more gems). They would still live on Equestria, but they would never become what they used to be.
The Minotaurs took a longer time to develop, they preferred to become a confederacy rather than an actual nation, with a confederacy assembly that was controlled by the strongest states. It took a Minotaur form the weakest state to conquer them all with a dictatorship that would create a central government and unite all the states against it. After this, the states would create a republic with all the laws based on the ones made by the Crystal Empire and bringing 500 years of peace for the new Country, a country that survived poisons like corruption and populism (by small inches).
Somewhere South of Equestria
Chrysalis was trying to understand what was going on, why where they fleeing their new home? She really liked it here and she didn't wanted to leave, she would rather stay in her new home instead of returning to the caves. Here she could play with her friends, she wasn't treated like royalty and she could have friends. Her subjects were flying with her. She looked to her sides and watched how her changeling subjects were running away from the beautiful city, she felt their fear and panic, what made them so afraid?
"But mom, please, let's stay. It is nice in here" - Chrysalis begged to her mother, she then felt a spike of anger, her mother turned to see her and responded - "Don't you ever repeat that again, if you ever say that living in there was a good idea I'll banish you". - Chrysalis detected the lie in there, but she didn't understood the reason of her mother's anger.
Chrysalis looked back and saw again the Crystal Capital in its glory, she could feel the chaos and anguish in there, she could feel all of its citizens wanting to run away but she couldn't understand why. In the end, her questions were answered with a huge black cloud that swarmed the whole city. While the cloud was swarming the city, Chrysalis could feel the anguish and fear increasing exponentially. This was bad, she knew it, but Chrysalis felt powerless to do something. Why her mother wasn't helping? Why they weren't, at the very least, trying to help them? Chrysalis saw the cloud and detected how it was taking the pony she admired the most. It was taking him into the city. Chrysalis was trying to ask her mother to stop, to fight the mean cloud, but she didn't wanted to listen, nobody on her swarm wanted to listen. When the cloud swarmed the city, she saw how the pony she looked up to saw her (she sweared for the rest of her life that he looked at her) and smiled before being engulfed by the black smoke, after that, Chrysalis stopped detecting emotions, as most as she tried, she couldn't detect anything. Not a single mother searching for her child, not a family asking for relief, not a foal crying for her disappeared parents, Chrysalis was incapable of detecting anything inside that smoke and that mixture of anguish, fear and despair would haunt her for the rest of her life any time she remembered the happy times she lived in that city.
After that, Her life would be filled with a love-hate relationship with her mother (too complex for this story to handle) that would end with Chrysalis exiling her mother to the unknown and trying to make that Empire she used to love and treasure so much. She would always search to bring back that shining era, that she always loved so much, in multiple occasions (and some attempts would be more successful than others) and, over the course of time and after historians understood how much story she lived, she would be known as "The Last Enlightened" for being the last living creature that came from that era of enlightenment and prestige and the studying of her life would be as controversial as the leader she always looked up to.
Somewhere in Equestria
A Gray Earth Pony was ending the buyout of his new land, he didn't liked the fact that he had to run away from his homeland but this was a better choice instead of facing jail, he was sure that he wouldn't survive that, and at least nopony knew him here. Still, he would miss all that power and control. He adjusted his clothes, covering his cutie mark, and combed his hair once more to stay as straight as possible, he wasn't going to lose the style and dignity on exile, so he could finally give the land a proper analysis and give it a proper investment.
It didn't went for too long when his son came back with two more ponies, the Gray Pony recognized the first one: It was another earth pony, pink coat and puffy hair. He used to work on The Crystal Empire as a soil specialist, maybe he could help the gray pony on the land (and he only had to hope that the ore specialist didn't recognized him), though he didn't recognized the second pony. His son introduced the two ponies, Special Ore and his daughter, and went to his side, meanwhile, Special Ore got close to him (he would have recognized Stray Stone if it weren't for the fact that (ever since Stray Stone left The Crystal Empire) he wasn't smiling neither using the fine clothes he used to wear back home) and engage into business with him:
"Hello fine gent", - he said on a cheery tone -, "I'm glad to see that you decided to ask me for help here. My family has been historically working with rocks and other types of ore over the course of our time. Tell me, have you planed what kind of ore are you planning to make here?" - Stray Stone looked at him, and after some thinking, responded to him - "Indeed, I think it would be helpful to create rocks, said rocks could be used for construction workers. So my plan is to farm rocks to sell them to construction workers, considering that this kind of job would never end, I can create a job that could sustain my family for centuries. What do you think?"
Special Ore gave this a thought, he was capable of making many other types of ores, but the pony was right, rocks were very useful, easy and fast to make and easy to sell. A sustainable project (as long as no other farm decided to do it) so he had no other choice to agreed:
"It sounds like a good deal, Mr..." - Stray Stone looked at him, wondering what kind of name he could make up and avoid detection. After some thought, he responded simply by - "Holder Cobblestone, I've been planning to make this farm for a long time." - Special Ore looked at a huge boulder in the middle of the future farm and asked - "Including that?" - the new Holder looked at the boulder and simply shrugged - "sure, why not? Its part of the land it will stay here".
Both ponies shook their hooves and started a deal that would last for over a millennium. Stray Stone managed to escape from jail, but he suffered from something even worse: Exilement from his own country. A punishment that would destroy anypony's will and would rather choose death over that. In the end, the exile squashed Stray Stone's soul, disintegrating him until he died form depression (never smiling again in his life), depression that went over to each generation, being showed in their gray (or dull colored) coats.
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Empire was swallowed by a huge cloud not too long ago, the smoke was starting to degrade the pristine buildings (once white, clean and with enough strength to stand several years, now they were being demolished slowly by the physical embodiment of fear and hatred) and the souls of the crystal ponies that decided to stay in the Empire for either loyalty or hope that everything would be fixed soon, their strong souls were being demoralized as long as they would be smelling the toxic smokes. In the middle of all of this, the only place that was holding out was the Crystal Palace, housing the two generals that affected the empire the most in the recent years.
Sombra was looking at the pony he despised the most, he was on the ground, contorting from the pain caused by him. Sombra never felt so good on years: He was finally getting back all the pain and humiliation caused to him that day 10 years ago and he was going to enjoy it by punishing this stallion, this ungrateful freak that dared to betray him. Every electric charge that Sombra sent to Swift was a new series of screams that sent joy to Sombra's ears and with every shock that was sent to Swift it was a new series of orgasm that Sombra felt on his spine, he was going to take care of the others that fled from his attack and he would send his thanks to those that decided to side with him when he decided to return to his rightful throne, he was extremely glad that (at least) he now had a bigger territory to control, he used to be a king and now he was going to be an emperor. Sombra was about to send a new wave of torture to Swift Rise but, before taking that moment of self indulgence, he was going to make some fun to him (psychology was also, one of his skills, so some psychological torture would be good for him) so he got close to him and started gloat:
"Tell me: How do you feel for being such a failure? How does it feel to know that all of what you have done was either useless or being taken over by me? After all, you haven't done anything, all you've done is making me angrier and more powerful. Everything you have done will be destroyed and you'll be forgotten by history because that's what you are: nothing, just a little speck on this world that doesn't know how to stay down. Once I'm done with you, I'll chase down all the things you pointlessly love and terminate it with the precious little toys you have now developed for me, and after I conquer all the land, I'll have you to thank for taking all of this problems. Now, before I finish your insignificant existence from this world that doesn't deserves you, do you have anything to say?".
Sombra was expecting for him to cry, he was expecting him to scream in pain, he was expecting him to stay on the ground (at the very least), but what Sombra didn't expected him to do, was to laugh. Swift Rise started to laugh with a lot of strength, with each second that passed he was laughing harder and harder until it was resonating in the whole throne room. This infuriated Sombra to no end, why was he laughing? He demanded an answer and, right before Sombra lost his patience, Swift Rise decided to answer him:
"You think you'll make me cry with that petty speech?" - He proceeded to laugh a bit more before continuing his response -. "Please, you always abused me with speeches like that when you kindly recruited me into your army. But you're committing a huge mistake if you think that your petty speech will make me feel meaningless after all of this. You say I'm nothing when I managed to stage your overthrowing, I manage to run this country on its most precarious moment, I managed to raise it from the slump you had it in, I deflected every single one of your attacks and the only reason that you won this was because of that traitorous scum that WILL ALSO betray you once they realize that you're a worse choice to the kingdom they used to work for. You act like if nobody loved me, like you used to tell me when you kindly raised me (after taking me here by force mind you), but I got married, I got a beautiful daughter, I'm one of the most respected generals and pony on all of this empire, and speaking of it, I MADE this empire. I managed to, not only, make this kingdom be respected, but also, fear it to the point that other tribes and nations accepted to become subjects to my kingdom AND EVEN STILL I treated them hundreds of times better than you ever could".
"You claim that I'll be forgotten by history, but this empire will only forget me if you manage to magically erase me from their minds, erase all the news, statues, buildings and other works I did AND EVE STILL you would have to try my memory form the other tribes and citizens that fled from you." - From this point, he got a bit more relaxed and said in the coldest tone he could ever muster before laughing again -. "Even still, if you manage to erase me from the face of history, you'll still remember me, you'll always remember me and how I managed to coup you (when you were an Unicorn with me being an earth pony), I managed to become a better king that you'll ever be and you'll always be there to remember me and how I was superior to you in every way possible". From this point on, he started to laugh with all of his strength.
Sombra could not stand this, his anger couldn't hold any longer and blasted Swift Rise with the strongest laser spell he could cast. Swift Rise was disintegrated while he was making his final laugh. In the end, nothing was left of Swift Rise on the room but Sombra was still hearing his laugh, he could still see him laughing, he could still feel his resistance. He could still remember how, even after all of those years of torture and humiliation, that mud pony was still looking at him with defiance and anger. He couldn't stand it, he couldn't stand how he was still haunting him. He never understood him, how could he managed to stand him? He was the only pony he ever met on his life that ever dared to defy him or even challenge him, a true mystery that, with luck, would stay as the only one ever doing that. But Sombra was surprised to see himself wrong. Even with his smoke deteriorating the crystal ponies, they still rebelled him in protest, they didn't wanted to stand another tyrant, they preferred to die trying to rebel against him rather than living on another dictatorship, Sombra tried to induce fear on them by telling them of Swift Rise demise and use it as an example, but that only enraged them even more, in the end, Sombra would have to erase their memories so they could forget their bravery, but that also lead to the erasure of everything that was made by Swift Rise so nopony could use his memory. This lead to another coup attempt by the military who didn't wanted to lose all the goods that were made for Swift Rise (which lead to Sombra disintegrating them as well), both the Congress and the Supreme Court were also murdered so only Sombra could hold power.
The greatest irony was that, even after doing everything to concentrate power on himself again, he wouldn't even got the chance to enjoy the power again, for the princesses of Equestria would come, just when he finished his job, and defeat him. Sombra then decided to use the a forbidden spell to disappear the Empire (in a desperate attempt to not lose his power over it) along with him so he could reclaim it once he had enough power to come back. And what made the irony even greater was that after all of that, Sombra still didn't managed to regain his power, for he was defeated by another alicorn. An Alicorn that was pink (like that princess that he never managed to capture) and held some familiar, defiant eyes, eyes that Sombra quickly recognized. Sombra was defeated once and for all, by the descendant of those two ponies he never managed to defeat.
And now, let's make some comparisons. Sombra and Swift Rise were quite similar if you think about it, they were both generals that came to power through military coups against a corrupt or inefficient leader, they both tried to hold onto power through the military but the high military command rejected them when they became something they dissapproved and, even though they tried to chase down their opposition, they never managed to hold supreme control over the minds of their subjects. But the similarities ended there, where Sombra tried to focus the power on himself just to fuel his ambitions on the expenditure of the kingdom he controlled, Swift Rise would try to create a better system so, after his death or whenever he stopped having the control, everything he worked for could be used by the next leader and improve the nation. Where Sombra violate the lifestyle of his subjects, Swift Rise would try to give them something to help the nation. Where Sombra would try to hold to power until the very end, Swift Rise gave up his power to maintain the stability of the nation he believed in. Both Ponies were so similar in their backstories (except with Swift Rise origins, that have already been debated to no end by other authors of great renounce, who decided to uncover him to understand what made him who he was, said debates are things that won't be discussed on this source but you can search for them if you want to know more) but so different on everything else, this two ponies are a perfect comparison of how influential you can be and how does that influence will affect the history around you.
The biggest difference remains on how they are remembered: While Sombra is remembered as one of the worst things that could have ever happened to the Crystal Empire, Swift Rise (not only) managed to survive the test of time, but he also managed to become a figure for those who want to learn about government and military for, while he was a dictator, he was more than a simple dictator, he was "The Great Dictator".
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
952 users online
208,515 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This is one the best stories I've ever read.
I was wondering if you could do a sequel where he's back from the dead or is it too much to ask?
7675030
1.- Thank you for your comment, it gives me the inspiration to continue with this.
2.- No, he's dead, any type of sequel would be to show the total extension of his influence (and if you want an idea of where a direct sequel would go, I recommend you to wait for the epilogue)
you have made one of the best stories i have seen
you get a bow, a clap and a salute.
you are a great writer and id be glad to reed other stories you've made.
that said wonderful story and may "The Great Dictator" live on through stories, legions and old as $h** documentaries.
7676960
Thank you very much for your comment, if you want, you can read my other two stories: a MLP crossover with the Legacy of Kain series and my third story that is Twilight coming to Venezuela (from August of 2015) and living through all the events we've lived through here.
You can also read my first blog which features all the ideas to write I have so far and see if you see one that picks your interest.
7677780
ill be sure to do that