Genesis
Somewhere in the Frozen North, over a month ago
Twilight Sparkle sat in the corner booth of a dimly lit room, a steaming mug sitting before her. On the opposite wall was a roaring fireplace that filled the space with the rich smell of burning cedar and provided a haven from the cold and dark outside.
A blizzard had been raging for hours now. Long ago it had covered the train tracks that led away from the combination train station and inn, leaving anypony still in the frozen tundra stranded for the time being. The lack of sunshine this far north wouldn’t help clear up travel either, so for now she would have to wait.
Twilight wouldn’t complain about a little more time away. After all, a little isolation never hurt anypony in the short term. The recharging of one’s social battery was just as important as quality time spent with friends, a lesson that the princess had learned a long time ago.
She picked up the mug on the table and took a long slow sip. Fresh hot cocoa washed over her tongue and down into her stomach, filling her entire body with warmth. A happy sigh escaped her lips as she placed her drink back down and picked up the book beside her instead.
Practiced and delicate magic flipped the book open to where she had left off. It was a tome she had picked up from Princess Celestia’s personal collection on her way out of Equestria and towards her destination, a book about orbital mechanics and the magical composition of the sun and moon. You know, a light read.
The sounds of two sets of hooves coming down the stairs in the opposite corner of the room caught Twilight’s ear. She had been told that there were two other ponies staying here by the innkeeper, but she hadn’t seen them yet and was curious about who else would be this far north.
The first pony down the stairs was a pegasus stallion, his once slate gray coat was marred with white patches around his muzzle and hooves. His mane was slicked back and was black as night save for the gray streaks around his muzzle. He wore a loose black jacket with patches stitched on the sleeves. The most interesting feature of the stallion was his front right leg and wing, both made of metal instead of flesh.
The mare was a young earth pony, probably around Twilight’s age, with a coat of deep and rich chestnut that shone in the firelight. Her mane was also jet black, but hung in loose curls around her shoulders. She had a baby blue scarf wrapped around her neck. Cold blue eyes stared out from behind a pair of thin glasses as they scanned the room. They eventually landed right on Twilight and the mare nudged her compatriot. Twilight waved at the pair with a smile as they made a beeline right for her table.
“Your Highness.” The stallion bowed to Twilight as he approached the table. She always hated when ponies did that, it meant they saw her as something more than she actually was. She had wings and a horn but she was still the same as them. The mare simply nodded at the alicorn.
“No, please, just Twilight.” She smiled brightly and motioned a hoof towards the opposite side of the booth. “Would you like to sit and talk for a while? I wouldn’t mind some company over my cocoa.” She raised her mug and took another sip.
“Of course, Princess.” The stallion scooched into the booth first, sitting against the window and shielding the mare with him from the cold radiating from the glass. The earth pony moved in after him and kept her icy gaze fixed on the alicorn.
One patch on the stallion’s jacket was a compass rose with wings coming from its sides and a horn jutting from the ‘N’ on the compass. That was an old logo from a defunct part of the Royal Guard, one she had only read about in books. He looked to be the right age to have been a part of it, then again things like that were collector’s items.
“So what are your names? I guess you already know who I am.” Twilight chuckled and quickly realized how conceited that sounded. The mug was once again encased in her aura and lifted to her mouth so she could drown her newfound nervousness.
“Intrepid.” The pegasus stallion brought his metal hoof up to his chest with a smile. The Princess of Friendship had gotten good at reading ponies, it was her job now, and she could tell that this Intrepid’s smile wasn’t entirely genuine. “This is Strata.” He motioned to the mare beside him.
“Wonderful to meet you both.” The wings at her sides fluttered and fluffed out to provide her with an extra layer from the cold. “I do have to ask, Intrepid, is that a genuine patch from Her Majesty’s Exploratory Force? All of the ones I’ve ever seen have been recreations or bought secondhoof.” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the patch, the little piece of history, resting on the stallion’s jacket.
“Oh.” Intrepid blinked and looked down at his jacket. “I’m surprised somepony as young as you even knew what this old thing was.” The pegasus chuckled and tapped his metal hoof against the table as he spoke. “Yeah, I was in the Force. Retired when it got shuttered.” There was a lot of pain and history in those words, memories he no doubt didn’t want to explore. “Just like to wear that part of my heart on my sleeve, I guess.”
“Oh I’ve read all about it!” Twilight could feel the excitement rising in her chest as she spoke. “Spies, diplomats, cartographers and explorers all rolled into one! A.K Yearling says her Daring Do novels were inspired by the HMEF!” She couldn’t stop that giddiness from erupting in her voice. “It’s such an important and underrated part of recent Equestrian history!”
“Yes...it is, I suppose.” Intrepid looked away from the alicorn. There was almost a minute of silence, which allowed Twilight to collect herself. “So what are you doing so far up north, Princess Twilight? There’s not much up here for alicorn to preside over.”
“Oh, yes. I guess it is a bit odd.” Twilight chuckled and fished a small journal she kept around from her bag and set it on the table. “I was here to solve a friendship problem-” She opened the journal and flipped to the most recent entry.”-well not ‘here’ here. About forty miles north-west of here in a Yak village; two rival clans fighting over some old blood debt, the children loved each other, I got there in time before they did something silly and helped settle the old debt. Nothing special.” It was a pretty easy mission, all things considered. There was a lesson in there about kids not being an extension of their parents and letting them live their lives. Very inspirational and important.
“Fascinating.” Strata spoke for the first time, her voice flat and deadpan as her eyes rolled. “I suppose the blizzard has you delayed now?” Twilight nodded. “Intrepid says it will clear up in a few hours, if his reports from Cloudsdale are to be believed.”
“And what about you two? What are you doing out here?” It was a very odd pair to be this far from Equestria. Her curiosity was piqued and she wanted to know more. “Why would a father drag his daughter all the way up here with nothing around?”
“What?!” Both ponies exclaimed out loud as they looked at each other and then back at the alicorn. They looked at her with pure horror before Intrepid finally managed to speak. “N-No...no. I’m not her father.” Twilight opened her mouth but she was cut off by the stallion. “And not her...husband or anything either. We’re travelling partners.”
“I’m an archaeologist.” Strata elaborated. “He is my companion. His knowledge of older maps and general physical ability, despite his age, still comes in handy.” The rather cold and distant manner with which the mare spoke reminded her of Pinkie’s sister Maud, but even more disinterested.
“Thanks…” Intrepid sighed. “Anyway, we-” He was stopped by Strata leaning over and whispering in his ear. “-listen, she can help us. She’s Twilight Sparkle.” The pegasus whispered back to the archaeologist beside him. “Trust me, alright?” There was a grumble from the mare and she crossed her hooves. “We found something not too far from here but we hit a wall. Literally. If it’s not too much trouble, we could use some help.”
“Oooh.” Twilight’s eyes lit up and a smile sprang to life on her face. Her front hooves tapped excitedly on the table and her wings flared out at the thought of solving a new problem. “Yes Whatever it is, yes! I’ve always wanted to help with archaeology!” It was like she was a filly again!
“Hmm. Fine.” Strata rose from the booth and headed back upstairs. She was gone for a minute or two before returning with her own saddlebags, which were stuffed with papers and books. When the overloaded bags hit the table it took every ounce of self-control that Twilight had not to tear into the material inside. She could smell the textbooks and fresh ink in the air already.
Several books were unloaded and set on the table around Strata. All of them were ancient history texts, pre-Equestrian. Twilight had read one or two of them, but there were at least three she had only heard of. Then came the earth pony’s notes. Pages and pages of them written in ink that Twilight could tell wasn’t older than a day or two.
“What do you know of King Bullion, Princess Twilight?” Strata asked with one of her eyebrows raised. Her hooves worked quickly as she regarded the alicorn, opening books and finding the right notes.
“He was the father of Princess Platinum, the last true monarch of the unicorns since she was never made queen.” The simple facts were rattled off with practiced efficiency. She wanted to avoid getting too deep into Princess Platinum, because everypony knew that story. “The story is a little muddled because of how long ago it happened, but he either died or was killed, and Princess Platinum took over. Other than that, not much.” Pre-Equestrian pony history wasn’t her area of expertise except for the Hearth's Warming tale, it was just a mild curiosity.
“He was a tyrant and a fool.” Strata started moving pages over to Twilight for the princess to inspect. They were notes with detailed sketches of ruins and old glyphs, all painstakingly recreated with ink. “He was convinced that a war between the three tribes would break out at a moment’s notice and thought the unicorns would be the ones to lose due to pegasi militancy and earth pony strength. It drove him mad. Princess Platinum had him executed and locked his body away in a bunker he built called ‘The Vault’.”
Twilight skimmed over the pages as Strata spoke and soaked in every last drop of information like a sponge. Original old ponish had already been translated and dissected, all of it confirming what the mare was saying. They had even found something in Vanhoover, one of the oldest pony settlements in Equestria, with carvings of Bullion’s name with several unkind words attached to it.
“We found The Vault.” Intrepid finished for the mare beside him. “Not far from here, lodged in a mountain. At least, we’re pretty sure it’s The Vault.” Twilight looked between the two ponies across the table, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.
“I-If it is the vault…” Her mind raced and put together the pieces. “...that means you might’ve found the Homeland.” To say that the original home of the unicorns was the ultimate find would be an understatement. Everypony knew it was in the Frozen North, but nopony knew where. The elements and time had eroded all traces and knowledge of the location despite hundreds of years of searching. The castle of Princess Platinum would be the biggest archaeological discovery in the past three-hundred years. “Where?”
“It’s about an hour’s trek by hoof east of here.” Strata began to organize the material she had sprawled out across the surface as she spoke. “It’s in the base of a small mountain in a cave. We couldn’t get the door open before the blizzard started to come in and we had to come back.”
“Do you want to come with us when we head back, Your Highness?” Intrepid didn’t even have to ask. Twilight was nodding as soon as the first word came out of his mouth.
----
Twilight had taken a short nap before departing from the inn. She also made sure to let the innkeeper know to delay the train for another day and send a message to Ponyville so her friends knew she would be late. After that, she headed out with Intrepid and Strata across the tundra once the blizzard had died down enough.
They were all bundled up in the warmest clothes they had, double or triple layered, and not a single part of their bodies exposed to the harsh conditions. They said it was an hour’s journey, but the freshly fallen snow that reached their stomachs had made it much slower than that.
If there was one thing that the alicorn could always be thankful for, it was her magic. Routine spells to heat her and the two other ponies up made the trek a little more bearable, as it meant they weren’t completely freezing. It also helped to put a barrier in front of them if the wind started to whip up the fresh powder in their eyes.
Strata had claimed it was at the base of a small mountain, but it was more like a glorified hill. It sat alone in the middle of the vast snowy plains, a proper mountain range rising up into the sky in the distance. The stubby little thing was probably less than six-hundred feet tall and could be mistaken for a massive snow dune in the right conditions.
The cave was also an exaggeration, as the entrance had all but collapsed and left only a small crack barely big enough for a pony to get through. They each squeezed in, one by one, until they were in the cave proper. It was a space about twenty feet wide and some eight feet high and it trailed into the darkness beyond.
“Well…” Twilight focused and lit her horn up to provide a good source of light for the group. “At least we’re out of the snow for now.” She pulled down the covering she had over her muzzle and took a deep breath of the freezing air.
“Light this for me?” Intrepid held a torch in his metal wing and held it out to Twilight. She stuck her tongue out and focused on the pitch covered tip and set it ablaze. She never much cared for pyromancy and wasn’t practiced with it, but even she could conjure a spark. “Thanks.”
The trio made their way deeper into the cave in a group with Intrepid taking the lead. What started as a large enough cavern started to narrow as they went, and the floor started to slope as if they were descending.
It was a five minute walk in the cave, which should’ve been long enough to come out of the other side of the mountain, until they came to the end. The cave had turned into a tunnel that was barely big enough for the three ponies to stand side by side now, which at least helped the torch keep them warmer.
Before them at the end of the tunnel was a massive ten foot tall stone door. There were intricate characters and runes that carved out of the rock that bordered the gate, ones that Twilight couldn’t identify at a glance. The edifice of the door itself was graced with a highly angular depiction of a white unicorn reared up on its hind legs that stretched the entire height of the surface.
“I’m pretty sure that is King Bullion.” Strata muttered. “Everything we know led us here and this looks like a bunker. There’s no guarantee, but this is a safe guess.” The earth pony mare placed a hoof on the stone surface of the door. “I tried to open it, but it won’t budge and there’s no visible mechanism to open it.”
Twilight stood up on her hind legs and placed both of her front hooves on the door. While she wasn’t as strong as a natural earth pony yet, she still had increased strength from her ascension. The alicorn dug her rear hooves in and she put every last drop of strength she had into pushing the door open. After a solid thirty seconds of pure unrestrained effort, she gave up.
“Yeah, we tried that.” Intrepid chimed in and he moved the torch along the door. “No air flow, no way to move it. We don’t think these symbols translate to anything either, not that we can tell.” Strata nodded along with her compatriot’s words and moved over to get a closer look at the symbols.
“I don’t recognize them either.” Twilight’s voice was awash with curiosity and worry as she searched the runes. “They look like a mix between...alchemical symbols and old ponish.” She rubbed her chin and closed her eyes in thought. “Earth ponies, before the unicorns made them adopt old ponish, wrote in hieroglyphics that have their origins in alchemy.”
“A root language, maybe?” Strata offered as she sat down and retrieved a journal and a quill. “We don’t know much about language or ponies before the three tribes era. It’s possible this was the predecessor language and when the tribes split, so did the language.” The sweet sounds of academic theorizing was like music to the alicorn’s ears. It had been so long since she had been around another pony that could talk like this to her.
“That’s possible, but that will take a lot of time and effort to prove.” Twilight bit her lip and looked up at the unicorn carving on the door. There had to be some way to open it, who would have a door that couldn’t open?
“If he was a unicorn king, wouldn’t he make sure that something he called a Vault couldn’t be opened by the other tribes?” Both mares looked at Intrepid as the obvious answer fell from his mouth. “What?”
Twilight fired up her horn and cast a simple detection spell on the door. Why this hadn’t come to her sooner, she would never know, but at least somepony had thought of it. As soon as her magic touched the door, the horn of the stone unicorn lit up. It was made of pure crystal, covered by dust over time and only just exposed.
“It can’t be that simple, can it?” Twilight muttered as she focused a bolt of energy into her horn. She let it loose right at the crystal and watched. The crystal horn lit up, fully absorbing the magic blast, but nothing else happened. “No, of course not.”
The other two ponies didn’t bother her as she thought. Strata worked on inscribing the new language into her notes while Intrepid was happy enough to just sit back and wait. She wracked her brain to think of every single spell or enchantment that she would use on the door, and then tried them. Nothing seemed to work.
“It’s supposed to be a vault, correct?” Strata stood once more and asked, her icy blue eyes narrowed. Twilight nodded and followed her gaze. “Perhaps it’s a combination lock, like any safe or vault would have. Charge the crystal with the correct sequence of spells or energy and the door opens.”
“Do you have any idea how many spells there are?” Twilight scoffed. “Because I don’t! There are too many, and knowing when certain ones are created is almost impossible. Knowing what spells King Bullion knew is impossible.” Twilight couldn’t see into the minds of dead ponies, not yet at least. She would look into that with Starlight for future use. After all, the former villainess was an expert in mind and memory magic.
“If I remember right-” Intrepid stepped forward, his metal hoof clacking and clicking against the stone beneath. “-unicorns have three basic forms of magic, right? One of my old partners used to badger me into learning about this stuff. He said it would be useful someday...don’t think he meant this far in the future, though.”
“Mechanical. Focused Energy. Transformative.” Twilight rattled them off in a heartbeat. They weren’t just taught that in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, it was drilled into them from day one. It was the basis for all magical teaching, it was… “It can’t be that simple.” She repeated yet again.
Twilight fired up her horn yet again and focused on the crystalline horn on the unicorn’s head. They were always drilled in that very specific order; mechanical, focused, transformative. That’s how everypony said it and that’s how it was written in every piece of text since magic had been studied. So that’s the order she performed them in.
First she pulled on the crystal with her magic and it glowed brightly in the dimly lit cave. Mechanical. Next she fired a blast of pure energy at it. Focused. Finally she thought about turning the closed door into an open one, shaping the magic in her horn to fit her wishes, and let it flow into the stone unicorn’s horn like a stream.
With a click and a deafening groan the door gave way. The grating sound of stone on stone echoed throughout the tunnel as the unicorn was split in half and both halves of the massive portal swung inwards. They both hit the walls that were behind them with a massive crash like the sound of thunder.
The magic combination must’ve activated long dormant spells, as several crystals set in sconces roared to life with a furiously bright light. All three ponies brought a hoof up to shield their eyes as the light died down enough to finally see again.
Inside the air was stale and was rife with the stench of decay and chemicals. It smelled like one of Twilight’s science experiments gone really really wrong. Besides that, it looked like a royal bedroom one might find in Canterlot today, with its extravagant white marble floors and walls with golden molding around the ceiling. There was a massive bed that dominated nearly a quarter of the room, and then several rows of bookcases that dominated the other side.
For once in her life, it wasn’t the bookcases that had Twilight’s attention. No, what had her eye was the plinth in the middle of the room. On it was a cylindrical glass container that was about three feet tall and filled with black liquid and at the top of the container was a thorny crown. It didn’t look like anything she had ever seen before in her entire life, and that made her curious.
‘Come and see.’
Her ears twitched and she spun around to find the source of the voice, but found nothing. Intrepid was already sitting on the bed and testing how comfortable it was, while Strata was over in the bookshelves. Nopony had said anything.
So she went over to the plinth and leaned in towards the jar, and she looked. Inside wasn’t just the strange black liquid, there was the bleached skull of a unicorn as well, staring right back at her. The alicorn yelped and staggered backwards.
“Something scare you, Princess?” Intrepid was by her side faster than she thought he was capable of. Twilight hadn’t even heard his metal hoof hit the ground. “Oh that is creepy…” The pegasus brought his flesh and blood front hoof up and tapped the glass, making the skull inside jiggle. “I forget how macabre these old time-y ponies were. Good thing they always feel the need to remind us.”
“Th-there’s some writing here.” Twilight caught her breath and stopped her heart from racing before she continued. “On the plinth.” She kneeled down and wiped the dust away from a little plaque that sat right beneath the container. It was in old ponish, something she could definitely translate. “For...when we need...might? No, strength.” It was more of an art rather than a science. “For when we need strength.”
“Weird.” Intrepid concluded as he sauntered off towards Strata. “Creepy shit…” He muttered as his whole body shivered. Twilight could only sigh and stand up again with a shake of her head. She wanted to get a better look at this thing, she needed to. She focused on the container and wrapped her magic around it, and then lifted it up.
Something clicked from underneath the plinth and then shot up through the glass container, shattering it. The black gunk inside sprayed everywhere, mainly all over Twilight’s face and body. The alicorn coughed as it got in her mouth, and then she stumbled and fell backwards.
The substance was thick like molasses and tasted bitter and stale. She couldn’t stop coughing. She couldn’t stop her wings from flapping wildly and her limbs from spasming as the same voice from before came from nowhere.
‘You are different, but the same. This will take time.’
The last thing Twilight Sparkle saw before she passed out was the lifeless sockets of the unicorn skull staring right at her.
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Oh. Oh fuck.
So it's basically some sort of old unicorn enhancement designed to give unicorns an edge against the other pony races I assume as a last resort. Well Twilight has her work cut out for her to fix this mess. Maybe if she's lucky all she'll need to do eliminate King Bullion or whoever/whatever the hell that voice is and it will undue the damage.
Though if the source of what caused this disaster was revealed after everything is fixed it's safe to say that Equestria will most likely face mass amounts of discrimination against Unicorn from surviving Earth ponies/Pegasi or even fracture the nation into the three original tribes.
And hell followed.
Curiosity killed the ponies.
So King Bullion is the true villain here: He expected a war to break out, and created a contingency plan that would ensure Unicorn victory.
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Roll credits!
In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings.
Wow,that was a great chapter! We finally know who's to blame!
...
Twilight, and her insatiable curiosity
You know what you did with this line.
Okay, glad to know we have a really unethical Princess Twilight in this story.
Oh fuck... You know what happened to those other two, now. They're either locked in that room, or it was aa quick spell. This explains the black bile since no one else had it.
Overall, the chapter felt really tense, even before they actually got to the door. Every second felt like I was being dragged closer to something horrible, and I loved it!Great work, BR.
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What makes you think there are many Pegasi or Earth ponies left to discriminate against Unicorns? especially with 4 Alicorn's blowing cities up.
Haven't you learned anything from Daring Do? Don't take mysterious objects on plinths without being prepared, that's rule number 1!
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
-Revelations 6:1-17
They're at least at Seal Five.
They're fucked.
God Dammit, Twilight. This is the Magical Mystery Cure scenario all over again. Just because you can use your magic on something doesn't mean that you should!
Love how a bunch of people speculated about the role/importance of the friendship mission and if it caused the outbreak, only for it to turn out to be just some Yaks with no connection. It's quite amusing.
Now that. That was new.
media.discordapp.net/attachments/803139376418783263/850157731528704080/SombraKermit.jpg
Made this when everyone was trying to guess who the voice was
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Hell didn't follow. Hell was already there, waiting for us from the very beginning.
We followed.
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The unicorn's numbers don't matter if a majority of them die as a result of famine. Unless unicorns can create food and water out of thin air (And I mean the average individuals not a minority who are gifted in magic) or somehow kept their ability to not really require food when they were monsters which race do you think is responsible for feeding them and Equestria as a whole? After this disaster chances are any surviving earth ponies and pegasi will refuse to provide any form of aid to the unicorns and seeing large amounts of farmland would be destroyed due to how long the sun has been up any food that can somehow still be grown will naturally not be given to the race responsible for causing this disaster in the first place. Earth ponies (At least to me) generally come off as a hardy people so I'm sure after some time they could undue a good portion of the ecological damage but the scars will still remain. Pegasi helping them transport fresh water from other locations and ensuring good weather conditions could speed things along in the restoration of farmland.
Discrimination in this case doesn't just have to be slurs and bigotry I'm talking straight up decimation of the unicorn population through starvation.
Crazy, terrifying thought: What if Bullion isn't having the unicorns dig in order to corrupt the Castle's leyline. What if instead, he's having them dig in order to bring himself back. I mean, if the purpose of this was purely to wipe out all pegasi and earth ponies, why would digging to the leylines be necessary? ESPECIALLY as with the other Alicorns besides Twilight under his control, it's possible they could brute force attack the castle to get at the survivors. I think there's a bigger endgame to this than simple double genocide.
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Nah, it's totally Sombra. Sombra is very sneaky.
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Ah revelations you just can’t help but admire the apocalyptic language in that book!
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It's hardly the smartest contingency plan, due to how majorly it fucks up the world, but going by that there was the whole 'went mad' thing, that's perhaps not a huge surprise...
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It’s true
Wait, hold on, I just realized something.
1. The villain is too old to know about the new mana pool. Maybe he kew where the old one was, but only Twilight and Starlight knew about the new one, so he's using their minds and their bodies.
2. Villain is older than Canterlot, that means the plan to demoralize the others was either from one of the alicorns or he wanted it to be more symbolic than demoralizing.
I hate to say this, but this, along with Sweetie's confession, paints a picture where the ponies are mind controlled but are still cognitive enough to have some independent thought that aligns with their actions.
Wow, I wonder how Luna will react to being corrupted not just once, but twice by some outside force, assuming she survives to the end. She already held a lot of guilt for her actions under the moniker of Nightmare Moon, and I can only imagine that this will awaken some old deep seated loathing inside of her as she questions what it means to be a ruler with so much political and physical power.
I wonder if there was a compulsion spell placed on the jar, to make sure whatever poor fool who managed to get in would unleash it? It may not fully be Twilight's fault, if it was a trap all along.
The voice saying "it's us or them" makes a lot more sense now. Still need to know what the end game is, if Bullion is pulling the strings still somehow and has a plan to reestablish his kingdom in the wasteland he created, or if this is nothing more than his insane final revenge against the other tribes and he couldn't care less about the aftermath.
I know this is a very serious chapter but the misspelling of inn as inwwwwn in the second paragraph had me laughing too much to take it that seriously.
Damn. I was close. I was thinking it was Princess Platinum fucking things up. Not her father.
Hmmmm. How very…Klyntar… not necessarily saying it is but the comparisons are there. Promises of power, black sentient goop in a glass tube, Violence. The only thing off with that would be the absence of the need to consume. Curiouser and curiouser.
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I never saw that...I have no idea how that happened. Thanks.
10849278
Wait fuck I was playing Overwatch while it was being edited and I must’ve clicked over and held W oh no
10849171
But satisfaction brought them back...right...?
10849307
Only the unicorn master race.
10849307
They'll always be in our hearts. And for some, they'll be in their intestines too.
10849289
GG.
Finally we get some answers to the source of this madness, and it truly wasn't the mission responsible for it.
This is gonna get even more interesting now
but wait, if Platinum was the one who executed (or ordered him executed), why does this look more like a last retreat of Bullion where he hid himself, waiting for someone to unleash him and this "curse" again? Why would Platinum let him be "buried" in a glass tube?
Even more questions, or maybe I'm just stupid and missed something XD
10849329
The one time I shouldn't have held W as Rein.
F
10849330
It's ancient history. Twilight didn't even know what really happened, who knows if what Strata said is what really happened back then.
10849333
yeah, good point, didn't think of that
10849331
*W
10849330
He wasn't buried in the goop. His skull was on the ground, remember? I'm guessing his mad spirit just stuck around, possessing his "great work". Or possibly just bouncing around the vault until Twilight got sprayed, at which point he used his weapon as a carrier to possess her and then her as a carrier to posses everyone else.Of course it might not be him at all. He could be long gone. It's magic we're dealing with; the weapon might be sapient. I doubt it, though.Ignore me. I misread it.
10849338
His skull was in the liquid. When the container shattered it fell to the ground.
10849349
I was just about to ask if I'd misread that, actually. I thought she'd fallen to the ground and then seen it.
I've been getting the feeling for a few chapters now but this is reminding me of an old movie called Ghosts of Mars.
OOOO
So... And he, that means... OOOO, it unravels further and further.
10849333
Equestria is kinda shit when it comes to recording any history.
We get it Celestia, you flunked your history class growing up. That doesn't mean you have to abolish all history classes as soon as you sat on the throne.
Oh yeah, Strata is from a story I wrote called Father of Monsters! Intrepid is also in that story, but he's originally a side character in A Scratch On Shining Armor. He's one of my favorite OC's that I like to re-use.
Well, that answers why the tree only sent Twilight, it was completely unrelated to the cause of the disease. At least we now know that the cutie map may not be corrupted.
However, what we still don’t know is whether King Bullion’s magic worked as intended, as these unicorns seem far too feral to ensure any long-term stability even if he managed to exterminate all other races.
10849395
Soooo... Did you just killed them off, or did they actually survive, OR it's not exactly the same universe?
if there are parallel universes can I assume that in some of your worlds the twins from Hivemind are still alive plz
So, crazy unicorn wanted an army of super unicorns to win a war that never happened. The question is if he intended for them to be monsters. If he did, then surely he had a plan to turn them back to normal afterwards.
Maybe he didn’t even do it. He could have just been the first one corrupted by this and that’s why he was killed. Then they put his body and the goop in this container and locked it here so nobody would find it, but that wouldn’t explain why there was a trap set to break it.
10849210
If you looked close at it you will have noticed that the yaks were a Romeo and Juliet Reference but other than that there is no connection just that she was in the wrong place at the right time
10849391
Classic conqueror's move. History is a source of considerable strength for rebellion. Wipe away a people's history and they lose much of that drive to rebel within a few generations. I can't entirely blame her, either, given the nature of their world; their fighting had severe metaphysical affects on it. Unless I'm mistaken (again), didn't it kill the original homeland of the tribes?