Brief Glimpses - An Anthology

by Ezn

A Piece of Forgotten History

A Piece of Forgotten History

"The floating fortress, a creaking ancient thing of leaky cloud and broken stone, floated into position above our town a year ago today," said the Mayor of Ponyville, adjusting his notes with a hoof and spectacles with a field of magic. "Although we initially suspected it to be abandoned, the search party we sent up found that to be very far from the truth indeed..."

Young Comet Trail looked up at his mother pleadingly, his eyes begging her to take him away from the Mayor's boring speech. He remembered the day of the fortress's arrival quite well enough and had no need to hear it retold in the most boring and roundabout way possible by the stuffy old mayor.

"Stop that!" his mother hissed, brushing his side with a wing. "Be a good little colt and listen to the Mayor."

Comet Trail rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the Mayor's podium, but with no intention of listening. He cast his mind back to what he remembered from the day of the fortress – no doubt a more exciting tale than the Mayor's.

He'd been playing catch with his friends in the park when suddenly a great big shadow floated above them. All the ponies around him had stopped what they were doing to look up at the great big fortress in the sky, wondering what it was and where it had come from. There was scattered muttering and lots of oohing and aahing.

When it became clear that this floating construction had not been sent to Ponyville from Cirrus, Cumulumbia, or any of the other cities of the Equestrian skies, that mild interest turned to nervousness and fear – or in some cases, burning curiosity. Was this strange floating thing a gift or the forefront of an invasion force? Did it come from the griffons, or might it have travelled all the way from the faraway lands of the harpies? Was it dangerous?

Comet Trail later found out from his father, who was part of the search party, that the floating structure was actually an ancient fortress, fallen into disrepair. He and the other townsponies theorised that it had come loose from some long-abandoned, long-forgotten cloud city – one that used a lot of marble pillars in its architecture, apparently.

He also heard that the fortress had been inhabited by a group of ponies, but his father had said very little about that, and his mother had addressed all of his questions with "I'll tell you when you're older, dear". He hated it when his parents said that.

Comet Trail's mother nudged him with an elbow, knocking him out of his reminiscence. "Pay attention to this next part, Comet – I think you're old enough to hear it now."

Comet's ears perked up to listen to the Mayor's speech for the first time.

"...but sadly, the poor ponies aboard the flying fortress had been cruelly mutilated. They were all sick, emaciated things without horns. Although our medical professionals tried to save them, most passed away within hours of the fortress's arrival, and the rest within a few days."

Comet gasped. No wonder he'd never seen any of the ponies from the fortress! They didn't have horns, and everypony knows that ponies need magic to survive.

"So today," continued the Mayor, "we remember those poor, brave souls who rode the floating fortress that still casts a shadow on our town to this day, and we renew our vows to bring the ones responsible for their mistreatment and torture to justice."

At this, the Mayor's wings flared out, and so did those of everypony in the audience. They looked up at the floating fortress and put their forehooves to their chests. The Mayor led them in the singing of the Ponyville anthem, and their horns lit up the night sky.

Author's Note:

Originally written for Thirty Minute Ponies Prompt #86: "The Sky is Falling".

Comments

[PYROontheAIR]

So, they're all unicorns and alicorns? I guess this has something to do with 'forced evolution'.

[PresentPerfect]

Man, this really needs to be expanded. D: