Entering Thunder Valley
“Twilight, wake up!” said Spike as his small claws touched Twilight’s shoulder and began to shake her slumbering figure. Groggily, the purple princess half opened her eyes as she lifted her head to look at Spike. The last thing she remembered was giving out a royal decree to remove all quesadillas from Equestria before she and Pinkie Pie went to play chess under a bridge. No idea why she would do the chess thing since, for some reason, it seemed like a silly idea to do right now.
As Twilight opened her mouth to ask Spike what was going on, the room shook violently. So much so that Twilight was knocked off of the couch and landed on the hard metal floor. The room shook again while Twilight realized what was going on. Well, for the most part at least. She did remember that she was going to Thunder Valley and, at some point, had fallen asleep during the long voyage. As to why the room was shaking there were several ideas that quickly came to mind. They could have been under attack from violent air pirates. There could have been an issue with the zeppelin’s engine. They could be caught in weather so severe that an emergency landing may be required.
Quickly turning her head towards the window and, despite the darkness of the room, Twilight spotted Count Raven staring out of it. The scenery of endless valleys and fields that she remembered seeing out of it had been replaced by what seemed to be black rock. As she lifted herself off the floor, Twilight witnessed a large bolt of blue lightning shooting across the window towards the ground below before the zeppelin shook once again. Instantly the fur on the back of Twilight neck stood up as she galloped over to where the Count stood seemingly calm.
Once she was at the window, Twilight looked down which instantly confirmed where they were. They were at the pass that led into Thunder Valley. No place else had the same permanently scorched earth from the massive amount of lightning strikes. The fact that there was a wall of rock before her, a mountain, seemed to add weight to this theory. Twilight could feel her heart beating faster now, her hooves seemingly to be frozen in place while her jaw dropped.
“Ah, Your Grace,” said the Count. It was as if he was so lost in the view that he was just now realizing that Twilight was standing next to him. Calmly he bowed before Twilight as lightning struck the wall before them, various small pieces of rock hitting the glass. “Please, forgive me for not awakening Your Grace when we drew near. I do hope that Your Grace’s rest was peaceful.”
“It was,” replied Twilight nervously as her eyes darted from the stallion to out the window before quickly returning to the stallion. Sweat was appearing all over Twilight face while her wings began to fidget uncontrollably. Despite knowing that the storm had weakened greatly, it still didn’t change the fact that it had not ended. This only served to remind Twilight that they were in one of, if not the, most dangerous spots in the known world! In a zeppelin! Something that, if struck by lightning, would explode!
“Are you sure this is safe?” asked Twilight before gulping. She then braved a peak out the window to see, thankfully, no lightning.
“Far safer than it used to be, Your Grace,” replied Count Raven. “Why, only a few years ago, had this vehicle attempted something like this it would have crashed into the ground the second it entered the path.” If this was meant to reassure Twilight, it failed utterly.
As Twilight did her best to fight the nervousness growing inside her, Spike walked up to the window and pressed his face against the glass. “Well, that was the most lightning we’ve seen since coming here and that was a while ago,” he commented. “I just wonder how much-Hey look over there!” Twilight’s eyes followed in the direction where one of Spike’s claws was now pointing. Much to her relief, she could now see the end of the path as they moved towards it at breakneck speed.
All three of them stood there, keeping their eyes on the entrance to Thunder Valley. Twilight could feel the zeppelin moving faster, almost as if the craft itself wanted to return home as soon as possible. Or, a more likely guess, the captain was pushing the engine as much as possible to escape this area sooner rather than later. But, as they drew closer to the end, Twilight noticed movement all around. From the mountain walls to the ground just after coming out of the pass, she could see that there were plenty of busy thestrals. Curious, Twilight’s horn lit up as she cast a spell on her eyes that would allow her to see at a greater distance for a short amount of time. The first thing she noticed were the thestrals on the mountain walls, standing or laying down on outcroppings with their stick weapons pointing at the ground. A few, she noticed, had their odd weapons pointing at their zeppelin. Feeling a bit more than concerned by this, Twilight began relaying what she was seeing to the Count as she turned her attention to the ground. There, spaced across evenly near the entrance to Thunder Valley, were dozens of sandbag walls. Behind them soldiers moved about, only pausing to look up at their zeppelin.
Beyond that, there was a large amount of obvious machinery. One looked like a scoop made out of blackened metal with what appeared to be a furnace in the back, spewing out smoke as it dug into the earth. Also in the area was another machine made of the same colored metal, moving its bulky body on four tracks as it smoothed out the ground. Around the machines were thestrals in hard hats, reading blueprints in the light of Luna’s moon.
“What’s going on here?” asked Twilight as she turned to look at Count Raven as the zeppelin finally left the pass. As it did, Twilight nearly let out a gasp of shock, for hidden just out of sight was another zeppelin, tethered to the rocky wall besides it. This one had two massive envelopes which held the lifting gases and, given the size of the airship it held, it would need two. The main body of the airship reminded Twilight of a transport boat that she had once seen in Horseshoe Bay. Its surface was wide and flat in order to carry large amounts of cargo. However, instead of crates Twilight saw several large devices that looked like cannons with a seat next to them for a pony to sit and aim all along the sides of the zeppelin. The rest of the airship seemed to be made out of metal; the front ending at such a sharp point that Twilight believed it could slice through anything in its way.
“None of this was here when I left,” muttered Count Raven to himself before narrowing his eyes. “General Steel Trap must have started working on this as soon as I left! I never would have expected him to do something like this, Storm take him!”
“Who’s General Steel Trap?” asked Spike as he backed away from the window and turned to face the stallion. “Is he somepony Twilight is going to have to watch out for?”
The Count didn’t answer right away. Instead he eyed both him and Twilight as the zeppelin moved out into Thunder Valley and past the many ponies on the ground. With no cloud cover, the light from Luna’s moon was able to shine into the room. Finally, he turned to look at Twilight. “Your Grace, please do not take what I am about to tell you as a warning to stay away from the General.”
“Ah, ok,” said a slightly surprised Twilight as she quickly spared a glance at Spike who seemed to be taking this the same way she was.
“General Steel Trap is to be your highest ranking military officer,” stated the Count. “As such, he is in charge of all of Thunder Valley’s military forces as well as working as your advisor in matters of defending this country.” Count Raven paused as he looked past Twilight and out the window towards the pass they had just left. “He takes this duty and responsibility very seriously Your Grace. Always on the lookout for possible threats against our fair country. So it came as little surprise that when the Storm began showing signs of weakening he believed that we should begin fortifying the area. He believed that, whether or not this was the work of an outside force, once the Storm becomes weak enough we will become the target for other nations to plunder.”
“Sounds a bit paranoid to me,” said Spike with a roll of his eyes.
“Actually Spike, he has a point,” said Twilight as she looked down at the young dragon. “The thestrals have no idea what’s out there. For all they knew, it could have been peaceful lands as far as the eye could see or a region filled with various warlords battling each other for control. Also, if there were ever thestrals wondering what was out there I’m sure that the General figured that there was also a good chance that whoever was on the other side of the storm was wondering what was on the other side as well. Thankfully there is still only one viable entrance into the Valley so that it will be easier to defend.”
Count Raven smiled proudly at Twilight, showing his fangs as he did so. “That is an impressive evaluation of the General’s thinking Your Grace.” In response, Twilight blushed while hiding her face with her wings. However, Count Raven’s smile did not last long as it quickly became a frown. Slowly Twilight lowered her wings as the Count continued to speak. “While many of us have agreed that he has a point, we have been more focused on the current situation than a possible future one. There is just not enough within our current budget to build any type of long-lasting defense. Our resources are needed elsewhere! Sadly, there lies part of the problem: nopony can agree on where our focus should be.”
Twilight gave a nod, understanding the situation. While she understood the General’s fears she could also understand the worries of the nobles. While ensuring their safety was important, so too was making sure they had running water, food, and dozens of other important things. Not to mention dealing with the chaos of the uprising they just came out of. Right now, Twilight wasn’t sure what was the most important thing to start on.
“Twilight,” said Spike, snapping Twilight from her thought as she looked down at her number one assistant. “Do you think that this means the General has taken over or-”
“Hardly,” snorted the Count as he walked away from the window. “General Steel Trap is many things, but power hungry isn’t one of them. When the army turned against the Princess, he had a chance to take control but didn’t. I’d say it would be far more likely that he convinced the other nobles to do this or he is acting on his own without their knowledge.” The stallion then turned to give Twilight a look. “Your Grace, we’d best hurry to the capital with due haste.”
Twilight simply nodded.
-x-
It took almost an entire night’s flight before they made it to the capital. As the zeppelin flew through the sky, Twilight took this time to get an idea of the land she would soon be in charge of. The first thing she noticed was that the grass was dark than back in Equestria. Perhaps it was because of the lack of light but even back home the grass never looked this dark. There were also forested areas with pine trees so large that the zeppelin had to swerve around a few. Every so often Twilight would catch glimpses of creatures scurrying across the ground only to quickly lose sight of them before she could register what they were. Beyond that, Thunder Valley seemed to exist mostly of rolling hills and flat land with the occasional river. Almost as if it were deserted.
Eventually, the zeppelin flew close to a nearby settlement located next to a large lake. It wasn’t a small hamlet like Ponyville, instead reminding Twilight of Manehatten. Despite the vast area of land they could possibly expand into, the town seemed to be cramped with no spaces between any buildings and in some instances seemingly on top of each other. Each building seemed to be made of grey brick with dark purple roofs that curved into a smoke stack at the top, spewing large amounts of black smoke into the air. The only exception to this that Twilight could see was the clock tower, which was made once more from the same blackened metal. Or maybe it was more than a clock tower as Twilight noticed that below the clock face it seemed to spread out to take up the same amount of room as two buildings on either side. She could even manage to see thestrals walking in and out of it. The only other thing she noticed were the pipes, large massive ones that seemed to run down many of the buildings. Twilight had no idea what they were for, but she could make a few guesses. It could have been some sort of sewer line or perhaps an emergency escape system. The pipes did look large enough to hold a fully grown pony after all.
As they left the city to follow a river that was connected to the lake, Twilight began to wonder about the thestrals. Why did they live like this? Was there enough room to go around or was it that they just preferred to stay as close as possible? Also, why was there so much smoke coming out of every building? For a moment, Twilight’s imagination showed her each building ablaze on the inside. But that couldn’t be. The thestrals she had seen were walking around like it was nothing out of the ordinary. There were so many questions that were buzzing around in Twilight’s head that she didn’t know where to start. For a moment, she looked over at the Count for she knew he would answer them. However, Twilight bit her tongue. If she was going to become the Queen then she probably shouldn’t be asking questions at random without any real thought to them. So instead, she promised herself that once she got to the capital she would get all the paper and quills she could find so she could make a nicely organized list.
After many hours of following the river, the Count suddenly stood up and walked towards the window. “There it is,” he said while pointing to something growing larger in the distance. Excitement was radiating from his voice, his slit eyes twinkling with joy. “The capital of Thunder Valley: Automahollow!”
Both Twilight and Spike moved out of their seat in order to look out the window to see what Count Raven was pointing at. There, in the distance and growing clearer by the moment, was a larger city than the one they had previously seen. Unlike the last one, Automahollow seemed to be more spaced out, as if to give its residents room to breathe. Twilight also noticed that the buildings were taller, perhaps even grander as well, being easily seen in the distance. Above the city, Twilight could see dozens of zeppelins flying through the sky while leaving trails of black smoke in their wake. She could even make out several thestrals in the air as well.
As they entered the city, Twilight’s heart sank. It terms of size, it seemed larger than Canterlot. Looking down at the layout she saw that she had been right, there were alleyways between most of the buildings in order to give a bit more space. Twilight also noted that there canal system that moved through the city in a similar pattern as a spider’s web and that there were roads on each side of the canal for ponies to walk about or move about in their strange machines. One of these looked like a carriage, black with rows of spikes on the very top. What pulled it was not a pair of thestrals but instead two large machines that looked like ponies. Even from way up in the sky, Twilight could see the smoke stacks in the middle of each as well as the wide array of tubes and gauges on their side as they crossed one of the many bridges. Twilight also noticed the several train tracks that were spread out around the city. These tracks were not on the ground, using many bridges in order to traverse the city. No, these train tracks were high above the ground supported by many steel pillars so that they needn’t interrupt the travel of those below. From what she could see, some of the tracks actually ran next to some of the taller buildings which had areas cleared out as if the trains were meant to stop there so they could unload. There was even one building that had a tunnel built into it!
That, however, was not what made her heart sink. With Canterlot, there was a sense of size and majesty that showed both the power as well as the importance of the capital. While it had the size, roughly about double that of Canterlot’s, it lacked anything that could even remotely be considered majestic. Automahollow was a dank, dirty city the likes Twilight had never seen or even imagined possible. From what Twilight could see, the city had layers almost similar to that of the last city she had seen. Looking down at the canal system, just right above the dank green water, there were dwelling built into the rusted metal walls. Some were even situated next to sewer pipelines which shot out filth into the water system. Whatever decorations these dwelling had looked old and decayed, some appearing ready to fall off at any moment.
Above them was somewhat better. Most of the buildings were made of greystone, going up two to three stories that were topped off with black metal roofs that ended in a narrow point. These rooftops had several smokestacks coming out of each while the outer edges had a row of sharp spikes pointing to the sky. Yet there were buildings where the main body of the structure had patches of the black metal or was simply made completely of metal. Those that were made completely of metal were much different. Instead on the rectangular appearance that the others had, these metal dwellings were a mixture of spherical and cylindrical stacked on top of each other with attachments next to them that reminded Twilight of large kettles. With these buildings, Twilight could see the large rivets in them as well as patches of rust. Pipes both thin and wide seemed to be connected to every building Twilight could lay her eyes upon.
Twilight could see plenty of thestrals walking around on the sidewalks in front of these buildings. Almost all of them were dressed along with their goggles and masks, avoiding the piles of soot that littered their paths. The alicorn could spot a few pausing to look into the dirty windows of what must have been shops but for the most part they seemed to head towards their destination without pausing to do anything else.
Then there were the largest buildings, standing as tall as the skyscrapers in Manehatten. Yet there was something wrong with their appearance. One such building stood on four steel arcs the same way Shining Armor and Cadence’s castle did back in the Crystal Empire. After that the building became smooth and circular before becoming this jagged, almost oval glass section that seemed to go on for ten stories. Above that, the building decreased in width while looking more rectangular before jutting out into three smokestacks. Twilight had no idea if she was supposed to be impressed that they accomplished building something like this, fearful that it might fall if the weather got out of control, or simply repulsed by how ugly it looked. And that was only one of the large buildings she spotted. Several other buildings of similar odd design were littered around the capital.
“Magnificent, isn’t it Your Grace,” said Count Raven, the pride clear in his voice as he looked at one of the taller buildings. “Automahollow has always been the heart of our country. A monument to our ingenuity.”
“Well,” began Twilight as her eyes darted back and forth quickly. She could feel her cheeks burn as she racked her brain on trying to find something nice to say about this place. “It is something.”
“Something dirty,” muttered Spike as he eyed flakes of soot falling down like black snow. “Somepony better tell the weather team to do something about this mess.”
“The…weather team?” questioned Count Raven as he turned his head to look at Spike. “I’m not sure what you mean by that young dragon.”
“You know,” said Spike as he turned to look at the Count, spreading his arms wide as he did. “The weather team. The ponies who move the clouds, make it rain, and all that stuff. I’m sure a good rain or something for a couple of days might help wash away all this crud.”
For a moment, the Count stood there looking down at Spike with a look of confusion that did not sit well with Twilight. Then his eyes widened slightly. “Ah, yes. I remember Princess Luna and Celestia mentioning something about that while I was in Canterlot. I might have even saw a few of them at work one night, but thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me!” He then paused to let out a good natured laugh. “Mr. Spike, here in Thunder Valley there is nothing like that here. We thestrals are unable to manipulate the weather. Why, we can’t even walk on the clouds!”
“You can’t?!” exclaimed Twilight in surprise. “B-But then who manages the weather?”
“Why, nature itself Your Grace,” replied the Count before turning to look out the window again. “Thunder Valley is much like this Everfree Forest I was told about. We are at the Storm’s whim. Only it decides when to grace us with rain or snow before it rejoins with the main body at our border.”
As the zeppelin moved further inward, Twilight could see a more…normal buildings dominating the area. Nearly all of them were large, square shaped buildings that took up a large amount of land. So large in fact that a few of them had small, personal zeppelins parked on their flattened roofs! Taking all this in, as well as the fact that there were no thestrals living in the canal system, Twilight assumed that this was the upper class district of the capital.
Licking her lips in anticipation, Twilight turned her head to look in the direction they were heading. There, in the of the city, were several grayish rectangular guard towers that were about six or so stories tall with a large gate in the middle of them. Twilight could feel her heart beating faster now, knowing that she was closer to the end of this journey. She could see the towers of her new home as the zeppelin rose higher into the sky. This would be the place where she would rule this land. She only hoped that it wasn’t as filthy as most of the city.
After the zeppelin passed the towers, Twilight noticed a bridge with a filthy yellow glass ceiling connecting the guard towers to the castle which was surrounded by the polluted water. As her gaze started from the river, Twilight looked up to see massive gears turning under the bridge on both sides with cables running along its underbelly. On the castle’s side, the foundation looked ancient with green moss taking up large portions of the walls. Water was pouring out of various holes from the wall while on another side of the building were four massive pipes that trailed downwards into the murky depths. Then, just beyond those pipes, were row upon row of yellow tinted windows that started from the water level and went all the way up towards the main body of the castle. Said main body had four circular towers, one at each corner, that were each topped with a giant orb of yellow stained glass and bound together by steel girders. The massive building had areas that jutted outwards for a floor or three here which seemed odd to Twilight. After several floors, she noticed what looked like another smaller building had been placed on top of it away from the smokestacks about one tenth the size of the main body. This upper level had large yellow stained glass windows, three on each side, that reminded Twilight of the ones back in Canterlot but only due to their sheer size.
As the zeppelin moved towards the back, Twilight felt the airship begin to slow down while continuing to climb up higher. The reason for that, as Twilight quickly realized, was that there was a long stretch of metal exiting from the back of the castle the length of a polo field. Below them was a largely polluted lake of green and black that made Twilight’s stomach turn just by looking at it.
Finally, when the zeppelin came to a stop it was parallel to the strip causing Twilight to realize that it must be some sort of off loading deck or something like that. She wasn’t the only one to realize that either as Spike ran to the door. “About time,” he said, his voice ringing with childish eagerness. Before Twilight could say anything, Spike was already out the door, probably tired of being cooped up in one room for so long.
“Spike, wait up,” cried Twilight as she chased after her assistant.
“Your Grace, you need to-” began Count Raven, but Twilight kept moving out the door and down the hallways following after her baby dragon. She watched as he sprinted as fast as his tiny legs would carry him, almost uncaring if he bumped into anypony. Twilight…did not have that luxury. Her ears picked up the sounds of hoofsteps and voices from the other thestrals aboard the airship. No doubt they were glad to be home as well, ready to depart when they were able to. Meaning it was likely that some would be heading towards the exit right about now. So with this in mind, every time she saw a new hallway coming up she slowed down and looked to see if anypony was heading in her direction. While doing this slowed her down greatly it did prevent her from running down two thestrals.
By the time Twilight caught up to Spike he was already out the open door. Groaning and gritting her teeth in frustration, Twilight picked up the pace as she too exited the airship. She could see Spike as he began to slow down on the metal pathway, taking in everything around him as he did. Twilight took a breath, ready to yell at him only to have her eyes widen. Her lungs felt like they were on fire! Had she pushed herself too hard running after Spike? Was it a cause of needing more air? While it certainly felt that way to her, Twilight doubted it was because of this light gallop. When she had been chased by that hydra she hadn’t felt this winded and since then she had become much more physically active. Twilight began to cough loudly, doing her best to take deep breaths as Spike turned around to look at her.
“Twilight?” Spike said in a fearful tone as he took a few steps towards her. However, Twilight couldn’t answer him as she was now on her front knees coughing violently in order to get some air with her eyes wide with fear. She didn’t understand what was going on. How could Spike be fine while she wasn’t? A new burning sensation cut off those thoughts as tears began to run down her cheeks. Her eyes felt like dozens of tiny needles were pressed against them.
By this time members of the crew were now exiting the airship. Twilight did her best to look up, but found it difficult due to the severity of her coughing. Still she was able to see something in her peripheral vision. There were only a few that she could see, mostly engineers and crew members. Most of them took to the sky to head into the city while the few that didn’t walked past Twilight without paying her distress any mind. Twilight wondered if they even bothered to look at her as she couldn’t tell due to the fact that they were all wearing their goggles.
“Twilight!” shouted Spike. “Somepony help! Twilight’s-”
“Your Grace,” came the familiar voice of Count Raven while Twilight felt somepony landing next to her. But, by this point, it was getting harder to concentrate. Her thoughts were becoming less focused while her vision was becoming blurry. It was all she could do right now just to identify who was around her and try to breath.
Then…sweat relief filled her. Her lungs were finally getting air and her vision was beginning to clear up. However, everything around her now had a yellow tint to it and there was something around her muzzle.
“Just keep breathing Your Grace,” said Count Raven in a comforting tone as he knelt down besides her. “Forgive me for my failure. As soon as when got into the city I should have been giving your autolungs and goggles.”
“Why does she need those?” asked Spike as he point to Twilight. Or, more specifically, her face. While continuing to take steady breaths Twilight brought a hoof up to her muzzle to find that she was wearing a mask, one that was probably identical to the one Count Raven was wearing.
“An…unfortunate side effect I’m afraid,” replied the Count as he helped Twilight get to her hooves. “With all smoke from burning coal as well as a number of other gases that are all needed to power everything there is sadly not enough fresh air to breathe. Thus the need for the autolungs arose. Without them, no thestral would be able to go outside.” He then looked down at Spike. “Hmm, curious. I was going to give you your own autolungs as well but it seems like you are not having any difficulty breathing at all.”
“I guess dragon lungs work differently,” said Spike as he moved next to Twilight. “After all, we can swim in lava. Guess we’re just made of stronger stuff.”
Insane. That word echoed in Twilight’s head as they slowly moved towards the doorway at the end of the ramp. The thestrals were insane! How in the wide world of Equestria could they live like this? How could they trade fresh air for these ugly factories? How could they allow their water to become so polluted like this? How could they walk past a pony in need of help like she wasn’t even there? Didn’t they know anything of friendship or compassion? What was wrong with them?!
Perhaps for the first time since she had begun this trip, Twilight was glad her friends weren’t here. In fact, she was now dreading the moment that they came for a visit! She could see Applejack’s disgusted expression as she looked out at the land that was probably useless for farming. Fluttershy would be worrying herself to death over all the animals who suffered because of what had been done to the environment. Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be able to see anypony smiling due to the masks as well as realizing that outdoor parties were a no-no. Rarity would faint at seeing how everypony dressed and would then go off the deep end when she found out you had to wear the autolungs regardless if it clashed with your outfit. Then there was Rainbow Dash. Who knew what would happen to her if she came in here at full speed without one of the masks? Just one visit and Twilight knew that none of them would ever want to come here of their own free will. Right now a part of Twilight was screaming at her to change her mind, hop back onto the zeppelin and return to her library. But she knew she couldn’t. After all, she had promised them she would become their queen.
So the question was: how could she do that if she didn’t want to be here?
-x-
As Twilight and company entered the castle, the alicorn princess found herself in a short hallway that actually looked nice. The dark purple carpet felt soft against her hooves and matched the wallpaper perfectly. On each side of the walls, high above their heads, pipes were jutting out of before bending downwards and ending with a bright light. This light confused Twilight for a moment since she had never seen anything like it. It wasn’t a candle nor was it full of fireflies. It was…fascinating. She couldn’t stop staring as they made their way down the hallway, passing by many bronze doors that looked like they slide into the walls.
It wasn’t until Twilight heard a slight whooshing sound coming from the end of the hallway that redirected her attention. At the end of the hallways was another one of the bronze doorways which opened up to reveal two thestral mares in maid uniforms with their masks hanging from their necks. Both mares had dark brown coats while dressed in pitch black uniforms with white aprons in the front. As for their manes, one was a darker color of brown with a light toned stripe in the middle while the other had a simple grey color and both were tied up into tight buns. As the two walked into the hallway, their eyes lingered on Count Raven for a moment before trailing off towards Twilight. Upon seeing the alicorn, their dull eyes lit up as they rushed over towards the princess.
“Princess Luna!” exclaimed the brown maned mare as they stopped in front of Twilight. “It is an honor to have you here this wonderful night. You are everything I’d image you’d be. You even have a night themed cutie mark!”
“We are delighted to see that you have accepted the offer to rule over us,” said the other while they both placed a wing over their chests and bowed. “With an immortal princess as our new beckon, Thunder Valley shall continue to move forwards.”
Twilight raised a leg as she was both surprised by this sudden outburst as well as to keep herself from backing up. It wasn’t surprising that they would have assumed she was Princess Luna given that it was supposed to be her Count Raven was sent to find. They had probably been waiting, hoping for this moment to come for a week or so. Now Twilight was in a very uncomfortable situation while being glad that the mask hid her nervous smile.
At that moment, Count Raven cleared his throat to grab the mare’s attention while also removing his mask. “I am so sorry to disappoint the two of you; however this is not Princess Luna. The alicorn who stands before you is Her Grace Princess Twilight Sparkle.” As the Count said her name, Twilight slowly removed her mask so that she could give her best warming smile.
For a moment, the two mares looked at each other in confusion causing Twilight to grow nervous again. Then, when they looked back at them, the brown maned mare spoke up. “Is she Princess Luna’s daughter then?”
“Ah, no,” said Twilight as the two mare’s looked rather disappointed by this.
“Then does this mean she is Celestia’s-”
“Her Grace was not born from either of the two princess of Equestria,” interrupted Count Raven in a firm tone, his eyebrows narrowing as he did. “Rather, Her Grace earned the honor to ascend to becoming an alicorn just recently.” This statement caused the two mares’ to glare at Twilight while Spike moved in front of her and glared back.
“With all due respect, Count Raven,” said the grey maned mare in a rather harsh tone. “Why did you bring back this alicorn when it was requested that you ask Princess Luna?”
At this, Count Raven took a few steps forwards so that he was now in front of the mare who had spoken. His wings bristled slightly while his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Is it your place to question me?” he asked, his voice full of authority. “Do you think I am some senile old stallion who has forgotten his duty to crown and country? That I would be so careless as to grab any alicorn in my path?”
At this point, both of the maid’s ears were flattened against their skulls as their bodies trembled. “P-Please, your lordship,” said the brown maned mare. “S-She meant no disrespect. T-This j-just comes as a surprise.” She looked like she was going to say more, but a sharp glare from the Count silenced her.
“Not another word from you,” he stated causing both mares to whimper. “I should have you both tossed out onto the streets for this poor showing.”
At these words, both mare’s trembling grew as tears began to form in their eyes. To Twilight, it almost looked like they wanted to throw themselves before the Count’s hooves and beg for forgiveness. Only something was holding them back. Was it because they knew it wouldn’t do any good or that they were too afraid to do so? Regardless of what it was, Twilight had seen far too much to continue to stand on the sidelines as a simple observer. In a bright flash Twilight teleported herself between the Count and the two mares before extending her wings.
“That is enough Count Raven,” said Twilight as she gave him a disappointed look that she usually reserved for Spike when he misbehaved.
Count Raven didn’t raise an eyebrow nor did he seem irritated that Twilight was getting involved. Instead, he simply bowed. “Forgive me, Your Grace,” he said in a humbler tone as Twilight folded her wings back. “I was only acting in accordance to my station in an effort to correct these mare’s presumptions. If Your Grace feels that I have stepped out of line then I shall willingly accept any punishment deemed fit.”
This statement caused Twilight to falter slightly, her expression morphing into a more flabbergasted one. To be honest, she hadn’t expected that to work so quickly. Twilight had thought that he’s put up a bit more of a fight or thoroughly explain why his actions weren’t out of line in greater detail. She also certainly didn’t expect him to willingly accept any punishment she thought he deserved.
“There’s, ah, no need to go that far,” she said quickly as she composed herself a bit. Twilight then took a step back while turning so that all three thestrals were in her line of view. “I think that we all allowed our emotions to get the better of us. So, what we will do is pretend like this never happened.”
Count Raven bowed again. “If that is what Your Grace wishes of us,” he said. As for the two maids, they didn’t bow like they had before. Just lowering their heads slightly as they took on more neutral expressions.
“As you wish Lady Twilight,” said the brown maned thestral as she and her fellow maid lifted their heads. “Please, follow us. The other lords are in a meeting with the General. I’m sure they’ll wish to meet you.”
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yay new chapter
Quite the interesting world you've made.
darker
Also yeesh! Pollution city, also awkward maids!
Looking forward to seeing this unfold
Twilight needs to head back to Canterlot, grab Luna by the ear, and drag her back to help fix whatever she did to make this mess.
Looks like Twilight has her work cut out from her. Also, Steel Trap might be somepony for her to look out for. It is good that she can understand his reasoning so maybe she can use that to help him see that there is nothing out there for him to worry about. Except for changelings. And Timber wolves. And Tirek. And Discord when he feels like it. And the Storm King.
Oh.
8935661
If she did that, then there would be a story
ok next chap going to be good, I hope twilight try with some effect to clean up the pollution of the city and air,
Ummmm mmmmmm HOW the fuck are they surviving in those conditions............as the air is on par or worse than air in a out gassing VOLCANO, water that is likely able to eat paint off metal aaaaaannnd etch the metal doing so, and going to say food is in just as bad if not worse shape as the ONLY way they could grow any is in fully enclosed greenhouses. I give them around 10 to 20 years before a full on collapse happens and the need of a immortal ruler becomes a mote issue. With how things are described the writer took the worst conditions during the industrial revulsion and turned the dial to 20 and then ripped it off ohhhh Twilight is fucked.
I'm interested to see how Twilight plans to rectify the abysmal situation she's found herself in.
hello 8899452
I'm sorry for not answering your message, the page did not tell me you sent a message.
I only noticed it when I decided to read the comments. again I'm sorry
and yes, I'm excited to see what happens
With all due respect, go sit on a horn and spin.
Talking about Twilight like she's not there.
The nerve.
Looks like twilight just got introduced to how magicless technological development happens.
It's almost like pony china. Looks like Twilight has her work cut out for her. Perhaps she can find a way to burn coal cleaner (we humans figured out how to do that IRL) or maybe bring in unicorns and switch from coal to magic power? And the seeming lack of any Good Samaritan culture (another reason I called it pony china, in china nobody will help you even if your life is in danger unless you are family. No Good Samaritans in china) that should be fixed too. And ugly buildings are unacceptable, cities should be beautiful.
Your the Queen Twilight! You can fix things!