Chapter 2: The Capital and The Elder
The walk through the Cervus countryside was an uneventful one, though it was difficult. Somehow the main road from the gate to the Capital City was even more run-down than the one outside the gate. What had once been a no-doubt incredibly sophisticated cobblestone road, was now so ruined and destroyed that it might as well have been a dirt path. Shrubs and roots jutted out everywhere, and every so often one of the three ponies would trip over a half-buried rock or cluster of flagstones.
On the way, they had passed through several run-down hamlets and farms, all of which looked as if no one had lived in them in almost 50 years, which they knew wasn't the case, as each building was clearly lived in, the occupants having watched them with glazed over eyes as they passed through.
The houses had large holes in the rooves, big enough for a pegasus to easily fly through. Rotten wooden furniture stood broken on their porches, as the doors looked like they were hanging onto their frames by bolts so rusted they were the same color as the brown wood they were hammered into. They saw more than a couple of deer fawns as they walked through one particularly large hamlet, but, somehow, they looked even more dead inside and depressed than their parents, staring at the ponies without even the slightest hint of childish joy or youthful innocence that so infected the pony fillies they were so used to.
At one point, after looking at the dead and overgrown farms that filled the Cervus countrysides, Applejack, a proud agronamist herself, couldn't help but approach a deer who was wearing a worn-out off white peasant's coif, which signified him as a farmer, at least in her mind.
When she had asked them why their farms were so untended too, and where they got their food from, the deer has just pointed over to some does and fawns who were eating grass without a word and then walked off. Applejack's brow furrowed at that. While grass was perfectly edible for ponies, and deer too she assumed, why anyone would ever settle for eating grass when more... appetizing forms of food was simply just a couple of months of honest labor away was an enigma to her. The rest of the walk wasn't much more eventful. It seemed that the deer were more content to stare at the ponies with their distant vacant eyes than approach or talk to them throughout the entire trip.
They soon arrived at the gate to the Capital, which was wide open and flanked by two Cervine guards, who like the ones at the Gate of Weald, were not doing their job, or at least not doing it well. They let the two ponies in without molestation, though Twilight did hear one of them mumble something as they passed.
"Well ur...." Twilight said as she stepped onto the city's cobbled streets, which were absolutely covered in filth, grime and rotten food, it was obvious that they hadn't been cleaned in years, though they were somewhat better kept than the roads outside. "Here we are... The Deer capital. Ancient sources claim this place was referred to as Bratistag..."
The buildings that flanked the road, which from the crystal map back in her castle had looked so elegant, were as run down and damaged as one could expect. The glass windows were boarded up, broken, or so covered in dirt that they may as well have been tinted black. The stone walls, which had been carved so beautifully and masterfully, were chipped and broken, more than a couple of bricks missing. The antler-like engraving, which had been carved into the bricks and then masterfully fit together like clockwork to make massive stretching expanses of art, were faded and dust logged. Previously marble white paint chipped off or was completely gone, giving the city the appearance of grey stone and brown rotten wood. The cyan tiled rooves were broken and dented. Holes, somehow even bigger than the ones in the villages that dotted the landscape they had passed through, pierced through them seemingly at random, giving the slanted rooves the appearance of a greenish-blue swiss cheese.
What really grabbed their attention though was just how quiet it was. Cities were supposed to be loud and rowdy, the noise of business, conversation, laughter, and hurried walking, that is what a city was supposed to sound like. Instead, there was nothing. Just the sound of distant sobs, the slow shuffling of a deer walking passed with their heads to the ground, or the sound of quiet, mopey mumbling.
"Even Gryphonstone didn't look this run down..." Rainbow Dash said with a grimace.
That's when the three heard a sound they never thought they would have heard in Cervus. The sound of laughter, though it was extremely dry and empty. The three quickly turned their heads to see a deer sitting on an extremely rickety-looking rocking chair on the porch of the house closest to the gate. His fur was a deep grey, with small strands of brown and white every so often. His antlers were huge, so large that it looked like it made them nearly impossible for him to keep his head upright, so he kept his head at a slight tilt. His eyes were green, though his pupils were a deep grey in color. He rocked back and forth every so often, though the movement was very slow and shakey.
"Never thought I would see the day." He chuckled in a deep, but raspy voice. "Ponies in Cervus... you are ponies right? It's hard to tell ever since my cataracts came in... All I know is that there are really colorful things in front of me."
"Urm.. yes! We are ponies! I am Princess Twilight Sparkle! It's a privilege to finally meet a Deer who actually wants to talk!" Twilight said with a smile approaching the elderly stag and holding out a hoof for him to shake.
The stag looked down at it for a second, before his brow furrowed and he looked back up to her.
"Feh." He muttered. "You can put that down, I ain't gonna shake a pony's hoof, especially one of the princess's. And what's this I heard about Gryphonstone being rundown? You ponies finally got them to give up too eh?"
"Wh-what?" Twilight said, taking a couple of steps back. "No uh... Gryphonstone collapsed because their idol got stolen... What do you mean by making them give up too?"
The Stag rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. "Of course not. Gryphons never know what's good for 'em." He said with a sigh as he sat up slightly. "The name's Buckley. I would wish you a good day and make you tea or something, but you are probably off on some world-altering adventure, as is common for you equines, and can't dilly dally."
Buckley had said the word equine with such venom that it made all three of the ponies visibly flinch. Twilight cleared her throat. "Urm... actually we were sent here by a magic map to help-"
"Oh a magic map is it? Oh, then it must be super important, more than world-altering, galaxy altering!" Buckley cried sarcastically, shoving his hooves into the air. Then he started coughing, covering his hoof with his mouth and bending over. It soon stopped after a good thirty seconds of hacking, causing him to let out yet another sigh. "If you're here to help or whatever, you want Prince Forester. He's up in his palace. I doubt his guards will give you much trouble."
"T-thank you..." Twilight said quietly, slowly backing away from the elderly stag and rejoining her friends.
"I think I might have a theory of what's going on," Rainbow said, clearing her throat. "I think we might have like... a Sombra situation or something. I bet this Forester guy is like... a terrible dude who is making all the deer sad so he can stay in power... or something."
They were next alerted to the sound of someone slamming their hoof. Quickly turning, she saw as Buckley rose to his hooves and marched towards her. "Don't you dare say anything bad about Prince Forester! He is the only one who ever tried to help fix things around here, and I will not stand to see a pony talk bad about someone she doesn't know the slightest thing about!" The deer cried, pressing a hoof into her chest and growling, though he did have some slight trouble appearing intimidating, what with him being a head shorter than her at least.
"Now hold on there partner!" Applejack said, stepping inbetween Buckley and Rainbow. "You gotta excuse her, she's new to the whole... deer thing. Maybe you could tell us about the Prince, that way we won't make a mistake like that again?"
Buckley frowned and shook his head. "Fine." Buckley grunted, turning around and walking back to his chair. After sitting down and clearing his throat he openned his mouth to speak.
"So, way back when, when Prince Weald was in charge, and before you ask, no I didn't experience these things first hand, I am not that old, he got called out to go meet with the leaders of Equestria." Buckley started with a sigh, as already the three ponies could tell that what little emotions he had barring apathy before were seemingly evaporating before their very eyes. "When he came back, he was an inconsolible mess, and locked himself in his palace for six days. When he came back out, he was malnourished, ragged and devestated. He then claimed that the meeting he had with the Princesses of Equestria had prooven all Cervine sciences and religion at the time wrong. He claimed that the ponies were superior to us in every way, and controlled every aspect of the planet, be it the rotation of the sun and moon, the weather or even the changing of the seasons. Cervus scouts that were sent out to Equestria only proved his sources, and came back with knew ones, like how even equine children were capable of magic which was something even the smartest and most intelligent of cervine were completely incapable of."
Twilight started to grow visibly uncomfortable, as if she already knew where this was going, though that didn't stop her from pulling out a piece of paper and a quill to write on it.
"Weald abdicated soon after, and was sent to an Asylum up in the Temple Mountains. His son Prince Thicket ended up taking over and ordered a massive wall be built at the entrance of Cervus, which he named after his ailing father. Cervus then sorta just went into stasis for the next thousand years or so. We kept our culture and kingdom atleast for the first five hundred years. Then things rapidly started breaking down, most deer went back through Weald's revelations and we just sorta... gave up I guess. Then Prince Forester took over from his dad, Thicket the 8th, and initially he wanted to end Cervus's problems. And at first he did a good enough job I guess. He fixed the streets here in Bratistag, and started fixing everything else, like the Gates of Weald. Everydeer was starting to think things were starting to look up. He even started sending scouts out to learn about the outside world. Catch up on the things we missed in isolation. Things didn't stay good for long though."
Buckley slumped forwards with a long sigh, and cupped his face in his hooves. "One day a Scout came back, and claimed that some Ponies had just picked up this artifacts that basically gave Equestria another claim to superiority and used them to stop a rogue princess from literally destroying the planet, and then stopped another monster from destroying the planet not even a year later. Things really went downhill after that. The Prince took the news particularly poorly, I think he was hoping that the Ponies really weren't the uh... race destined to divine hegemony anymore. You know, better than everyone else."
Rainbow stepped forwards with a deep frown. "Now hold on! Equestria isn't destined for divine heg- hegem- divine anything! We aren't better than anypony!"
Buckley slammed his hoof down on one of the arm rests of chair. "Then explain the fact that you are the only race with magic? Or the fact that your leaders literally control the sun and moon! Or... or... or everything else about you!"
"Hey... hey..." Twilight said, holding her hooves in the air, putting down the notepad she was scribbling down notes in. "Let's all just relax. Please finish your story, we'll be quiet."
Buckley sighed and shook her head. "There really isn't much to finish. After the Prince gave up, so did everydeer else. It seems like every generation is worse off then the last these days. And I should know."
There was a moment of silence as Buckley sank into his chair with a sigh. Silence soon gripped the group as Buckley started mumbling to himself.
"You know... ancient Cervine sciences said that the planet went around the sun, and that the moon went around the planet." Buckley said unprovoked with a sudden dry laugh. "They also said that our god lived on the moon, and would look down upon of every night to make sure his prefered Antlered race were safe. The whole thing just sounds stupid now."
Twilight was the first to speak up after finalizing her notes. "Thank you Buckley," She said, a sudden grim tone in her voice. "D-do you know where I can go to learn more about your... urm... pre-collapse culture? As well as your sciences and religion?"
"Afraid I can't help you there, even if I wanted to that is. After it was all proven to be a lie, Weald ordered the Cervine Army to enter every library in Cervus and burn all of the books relating to science and religion in the entire kingdom. It was the last thing he did before giving up the throne. As for culture, why the heck do you care? Your's is better anyway." Buckley finished. Twilight visibly recoiled. The word's he had spoken just now were so horrifyingly disgusting, that grasping them seemed completely impossible to her. Who in their right mind would burn books?!?
"Sweet Celestia," Rainbow said with an annoyed roll of her eyes. "Would you stop with all the defeatism?"
"Defeatism?" Buckley started with yet another dry and apathetic chuckle. "Here in Cervus, we call that Cervinism."
Buckley then rose to his hooves again, and with a grunt he turned around. "Anywho, I am done for the day. Have fun talking to the Prince or whatever. I certainly bet you can get through to him." He called back to them as he opened his front door and entered. "That was sarcasm if you couldn't tell."
Twilight sighed and put away her notes. "Of course. Have a nice day Buckley."
With a face, full of resolve she cleared her throat and turned in the direction of the Palace.
"Come on," She said to Rainbow and Applejack. "We have a Prince to meet with!"
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Well shit.
This is sadly a thing I could believe happen.
10630577
Same here. One does not recover so easily when an entire world view is crushed like that (even though it was unintentional from the ponies), and then cracked up even more later on. Yes there are ways to recover, but it feels like that "magic of Friendship" might not be it this time. It seems to be kinda the cause of the problem this time in a way...
Dang I predicted correctly
10630711
Indeed, you must be psychic XD
10630770
well I mean if I met a race that proved everything I believed wrong I would be crushed
still gonna be kinda crushing, cause they are gonma be saved by ponies wether they like it or not
Oh, deer.
You had my curiosity, now you have my interest.
I’m sure a bunch of Equine macguffins one of which wielded untold magical power at the age of five, while the other could break the sound barrier with ease, will make Forrester see that Ponies aren’t all that better than deers.
Durrs!
Whoa, this chapter really explained my inquiries on what was going on. I can't wait for you to drop a new chapter. As I said, I love this story!
Oh deer, they do be depres
Recently, I noticed that in many stories any philosophy plays a role, something is bad. The role of the villain. Like, the ancient philosophy of Nietzsche took possession of the character's mind and everyone suffers from this, something like that. But philosophy can play a positive role in history, read here https://eduzaurus.com/free-essay-samples/philosophy/ for excellent examples of how Darwinism and even Marxism are being introduced into history. And they don't make a horror or utopia out of it.
I miss this one
10630826
10630667
I don't know, I think the deers should have declared a war to rid the ponies from the world, to fix the balance.
Ponies clearly bypass, destroy the balance of the universe with makes everyone else but them to take the punishment when the world decides to retaliate.
Most of the problems everyone has to deal with are made by ponies' mistakes and even sometimes successes .
At least humans would do something like that.
Kill or be killed
10872785
Well, without the magic horses, who will keep the sun and moon moving?
10894875
The world once lived without them, which means it can exist without them now too.
All they have to do is just find a way.Be it nature,magical or machine way
Even in the war, Celestia and Luna won't be able to use the sun and moon against them because the ponies and other races would be in crossfire
Any new updates? This is a fantastic thing to read. Very in depth.
Oh my god, you had me hooked at,
I'm listening to this right now.
“Hundreds of years,” Reflection muttered, enjoying the scratching. “That’s a lot of porn.” - Dropbear
Maybe this is part of their whole doom and gloom but this is not correct right? Every monster and animal has some magic in the because I don't think that science alone can explain why something could need more than one head like a hydra or a quimera, griffons have the same magic as pegasy, dragon have their own to fly, grow wings out of nowhere, spit flames ,send messages and any other crazy thing they can do, even changeling drones are mini alicorns and all those creatures and more need magic to make entire civilizations with hoofs and no opposable thumbs.
Did the deers not know about magic before encountering the ponies? Because that would be like a civilization not knowing about water with how ever present magic is.
But besides my nitpicking I really like the story and I hope we see an update soon.
11098916
The sending message thing was only because Twilight cast a spell on Spike, canonically. No other dragons can do that kinda thing lol.
And the thing about Deer in this setting, is that they live in an isolated corner of the world without magic, as most forms of magic, even natural magic, never pass the Temple Mountains, and as such the Deer evolved 100% magic free.
And as for an update to this story, I spent so much on making chapters 1 and 2 as detailed and long as I could that I have literally 0 idea of to continue this story on the same level of quality and length as the last two for the next chapters XD
11098952
In my defense of the Spike thing every single other fanfic decides to ignore that and give the message sending ability to all dragons so I thought that was canon and all of them had it XD.
But 100% magic free ? No wonder their worldview got so molested, although the little nitpicker inside me wants to find some way for them to have found magic before even if they just relegate it to their myths and legends, that would have …. cushion the blow a little bit.
And I see how making a new chapter for this story would be hard lol, the description of the deer land really is wonderful and I imagine it is really time consuming to make and the subject of the story can't be just solved with a hug and the elements of harmony (not yet at least). I suppose that after the meeting with the Prince they will try to find someone, anyone, that still cares about solving the problem and maybe find out how could a totally magic deprive species exist to begin with and if there is any way to connect them to the world and its magic but I guess it could never be as simple as that.
Also I find the idea that their god is real and actual lives on the moon both hilarious and sad, he was the only company Nightmare Moon had in her exile and the only thing it did was lament the fact that his chosen species decided to settle in the only gods forsaken place in the world without magic so now it cant reach them and they cant reach him either. Maybe by the end of the fic it descends on the world to say to its children that their wait is over and a world of joy and madness waits for them on the outside.
technology is the antithesis of magic, you can create a second sun with it, no alicorn can control this without melting in radiation
i.ytimg.com/vi/4R7pZOAWQrk/maxresdefault.jpg
11099009
maybe if they go the way of technology they'll realize they can be as powerful as ponies. with greater production power, superior weaponry, and the ability to meet your god on your own ground by colonizing the moon
11241308
I doubt a gun can do anything against a magically created tornado ripping through your city.
Or a giant monster godzilla-sized creature being controlled by magic.
Or Celestia just deciding 'lol I'm not gonna move the sun anymore if they are gonna be pricks. Good luck when the planet gets scorched of all life because it's now tidally locked.'
11241337
i think if they have a radio frequency haarp capable of controlling the ionosphere, yes they can control the weather.
something equivalent to godzilla like that golem can be destroyed with tungsten projectiles, kinetic or high explosive, hellfire missiles would take care of that and even if they fail, hypersonic missiles would accomplish their goal of penetrating, even the kinetic force would be so much that I doubt even something supernatural would prevent that knowing that even their magic has certain limitations. about her giving up the sun it is unlikely she would condemn a planet including her own species just to defend her pride and ensure some suicidal supremacy of her race.