A New Dawn
On a ridge overlooking the remnants of Ponyville, a lone fire crackled and kept two mares around it warm. The moon was beginning to dip below the horizon, bringing the dawn from the other side of the world with it. It was the early hours of dawn, when most ponies except the farmers were supposed to be awake and getting ready for the day.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Twilight almost didn’t hear Starlight approach over the crackling fire. She had been tending to it all through the night, not because the fields outside of Ponyville were cold but just because it was something to do. The saddlebags she had brought along were filled with books and reading material, but she rarely had the same appetite for them she did before all of this.
“I think I dozed off a few times.” Twilight mumbled as she prodded the fire with a particularly long stick. “I was thinking a lot.” Starlight sat beside her and joined her in staring into the flames before them. “We know this will be dangerous and an added precaution is necessary. Zecora had a trinket in her hut, the Alicorn Amulet; it amplifies the magic of any unicorn who wears it but also makes them lose control.”
“So just in case the stories are true, you want more firepower.” Twilight looked to her counterpart and nodded.The monstrous visage of Starlight looked back at her, free of the hooded cloak she usually wore to hide her magical disfigurement. “What about the whole ‘lose control’ thing?”
“You know the ‘Want It, Need It’ spell, right?”
“That could work.” Starlight’s sharpened teeth clicked together in thought. “I’ll tinker with it, change it around.” She could already see that brilliant mind at work behind the bright blue eyes of her pupil.
“If there’s one pony in this entire world that could get it to work on me, even more powerful than I am now, it’s you.” Twilight extended a wing and laid it across Starlight’s back. “I trust you.”
“That…means a lot, thank you.”
The two mares sat for a moment in silent contemplation. Twilight’s eyes moved from the fire to the forest in the distance, the one where once many beasts dwelled. Nopony had seen hide nor hair of Zecora since The Event, the last report she heard was that the hut was abandoned. Either Zecora had been gotten by one of the monsters early on, or she had fled. Twilight would put her money on the latter, the wise shaman always had a way of knowing when bad things were on their way.
“We should get going.” Twilight resolved, standing up and lifting her pack onto her back with her magic. “It’s going to be another long day, a lot of road to cover. To the Everfree and then Hayseed Swamp.”
A magical barrier from Starlight encased the fire pit entirely. The bubble rapidly filled with smoke and the flames died without a struggle. When the bubble was dissipated, a cloud of smoke rose into the air and the two mares left their makeshift camp behind.
The walk to the edge of the Everfree Forest was quick and silent. Not even the birds sang to accompany their walk, not that many birds were around now. It was only the changing of the color of the sky and a few errant clouds drifting through the sky that joined them.
The forest itself was as dead as everything around it. The trees were nothing but corpses, their branches like twisted and gnarled hands reaching up to the sky in distress, hands that had failed to block out the ceaseless month-long summer of The Event. The usual shadows that hid monsters of every variety were gone, and the monsters themselves had suffered the same fate.
As the hooves of the two sorceresses walked the well-worn path, they crunched dried and brittle twigs beneath them. They passed the carcasses of several timberwolves, all hollow now with no spark left in them. The haunting atmosphere that had once oppressed this place had relented and only left a ghost in its place. It was as creepy as before, but for a vastly different reason.
Zecora’s hut stood as it always had, except now without the light inside. A few of the masks and trinkets from the exterior had been taken away, either by looters or the zebra herself, there was no way to be sure. All that could be said about it for certain was that it was abandoned long ago.
“Keep an eye out, I’ll go get it.” Twilight ordered, receiving a short nod in reply from her student. With that, she headed inside of the shaman’s hut to look for the thing she thought would help them.
The interior of the hut looked like a tornado had rampaged through it. Shelves that had once held tinctures and remedies were loose and free of their contents. A chest on the far side was open and its contents were strewn about the room. Her bed had been stripped of its sheets and the mattress itself overturned on the frame.
“I really hope she didn’t take it with her.” Twilight mumbled to herself as she moved around the one-room abode and searched. She looked under masks that had fallen from the walls, and in any containers that had somehow remained unopened. Through all of it, she found nothing.
Anything of value had been picked up and taken away, leaving only little baubles one would find interesting only if they were studious of Zebra culture. While it was fascinating, it wasn’t why she was here.
With her frustration close to boiling over, she grunted and kicked a squared rock that had been sitting by the door. She only succeeded in hurting her own hoof and not moving the makeshift doorstop at all. It wasn’t even that big or heavy, so why hadn’t it moved?
She picked the thing up in her magic, no small feat considering just how heavy it was, and brought it close to her. It was gray, yes. It was heavy, yes. It wasn’t a rock though, just painted to look like one. She turned it over in her magic, end over end, until she found a seam. It was small, almost imperceptibly so, but her magic seeped into it when she gave the cube a squeeze. Her magic was forced into that seam and she pried the not-rock open.
Inside was the Alicorn Amulet, as sinister looking as the last time she had seen it.
“A doorstop for a doorstop, huh?” She chuckled to herself at the irony as she pried the artifact from the box and put it in her saddlebag. “Now did she forget it or did she know we’d need it…?” A question for another day, or maybe for when Zecora showed up again.
Twilight gave one last longing look to the hut as she left. Hopefully there would be another occupant again someday. She shut the door behind her as she left, leaving only the dust to keep the place safe for now.
“I got it, let’s-”
“Do you hear birds?” Starlight interrupted her and pointed to the sky. “I can’t remember the last time I heard…” Her words trailed off and a small smile came across her face, her fangs poking out from behind her lips. Indeed there were the tweets and chirps of birds, somewhere far off but not far enough away to be inaudible. “Can we go find them? Please?”
Twilight thought about it for a moment. This was going to be a long journey, and probably demoralizing as well. Any trek across Equestria this day was demoralizing, but they were going to be seeing a large swath of it. She nodded, seeing some wildlife would be good for the spirits if nothing else.
The birdsong was gentle and sweet and strong enough to lead them to the source. It was outside of the Everfree, right on the edge where the trees thinned out and opened into a little grove. A house was there, sat on a little hill with a babbling brook in front of it. It was a simple two-story cottage, its roof covered in moss and leaves. This whole area was the patch of living anything within miles.
It wasn’t just birds, either. Bunnies, weasels, even a bear wandered around the little area. They had risen with the morning sun, much like the two unicorns who had just entered their midst. The sight brought a tear to Twilight’s eye for more reasons than one.
“Fluttershy’s house? I can’t believe it’s still standing.” Starlight chuckled in wonder and stepped further into the grove. “You said it didn’t reappear late in The Event, right? Discord must’ve taken the surrounding area with him when he pocketed Fluttershy.” More and more critters came out of their burrows and homes and wearily eyed the newcomers intruding on their property. “Twilight, there might be enough animals here to repopulate a small area. With the right spells…Twilight…?”
A million little memories were worming their way deep into Twilight Sparkle’s head. All of the times she trotted up this path, across that little bridge and up to the door. All of the times she visited with her introverted friend and they had tea and talked about animals. All of the lessons she had learned in the company of that mare. She nearly collapsed at the weight of it all.
“I know I’ve taken good care of it but I don’t think it’s worth crying over, Princess.” Twilight’s ears perked up at the new voice that came to her ears. To say that this voice was music to her ears would be vastly overestimating just how much she valued the creature it belonged to. “Hmm…poor choice of words. I’m sorry, Twilight Sparkle.”
“DISCORD!” Starlight Glimmer raced past the prone princess and leapt at the creature. Twilight eventually stood and turned around to face the creature behind her. She was greeted with the sight of Starlight hugging the patchwork god and he was returning the gesture.
“My my, what lovely teeth you have, my dear.” Discord lightly gripped Starlight’s face and studied it. “All the better to smile with, hmm?”
“What are you doing here, Discord?” Twilight was weighed down with mistrust of the trickster before her. It wasn’t her fault that he had wrought so much misfortune and was inherently untrustworthy.
“Twilight Sparkle…” Discord’s voice wasn’t angry or annoyed, it was…sad. “Of all of the ponies in the world, I thought you would understand me the most.” He finally let Starlight go and slithered to Twilight’s side. “After I returned from my dimension fully powered, I came back here. I went nowhere else, sought out nopony. Fluttershy-” He nearly choked on the name as he spoke it. “-one of the last things she said to me was to help make ponies smile. Seeing Starlight’s face as she saw this place, now I’m sure this is what she meant.”
“You did all of this?” Twilight asked, looking around at Fluttershy’s land, now resplendent with the wildlife she so loved. “All of it?”
“Admittedly I’m not as good at it as she was.” Discord rubbed his chin and looked around, two beady yellow and red eyes surveying everything around. “It’s much harder to keep things in order rather than disorder. I do keep everything watered and fed…and maybe one day I can get to working on the forest.” He looked back towards the Everfree. “Seeing as how its natural state for over one thousand years was death and chaos, I figure turning it into something more lively might be chaotic enough.”
“Wait-” Twilight dumped what was actually just said and focused on what he had just said in his previous ramblings. “-you said you’re fully powered now?”
“Oh yes, quite so.” Discord grinned that awful toothy grin. “Would you like to see a demonstration?” He raised his big lion’s paw and snapped his fingers. Nothing immediately apparent had changed, so she raised an eyebrow. Discord simply pointed one of the same fingers that had snapped at the mare that was now behind him.
Starlight Glimmer, whose face had still resembled that of the monsters who devastated the world up until a moment ago, now looked like her old self. The elongated muzzle, the sharp teeth, they were all gone now and replaced with just plain old Starlight Glimmer.
The student’s hooves went to her face as she felt her features again. She couldn’t speak as her mouth worked wordlessly and tears fell from her eyes in streams. She blubbered out ‘thank you’ over and over again as she fell to her knees.
“So you can help us, then.” Twilight was more focused on her mission than Discord’s magic tricks. It was a nice gesture for a pony he would call his friend, but she wanted more.
“With what? What are you planning, Twilight Sparkle?”
—-
Shining Armor wasn’t above working with the rank and file. In fact, it was how he spent his mornings most days. He would wake up at three or four in the morning and go down to the lobby of the Royale, take in the deliveries that kept the place running and then help distribute food rations to the populace of Manehattan. It wasn’t the easiest work, seeing all of those sad and hungry faces, but it was something that needed to be done.
“Thank you so much, Captain.” A gangly unicorn mare with jutting fangs said with a sad smile. Shining returned the smile with a nod and deposited a parcel of foodstuffs into the basket on her back.
“Of course.” Shining Armor suppressed a sigh. “Try to have a good day.”
With the way this was sorted, there was always work to do. The city was split into neighborhoods and each neighborhood had a day when it was their turn to go to one of the numerous distribution sites around the city and get their rations until their next day. Somepony was always here wanting their share, and so there was always good work to be done.
When the stallion turned around to grab the next ration, he found that his box was empty. He looked to the guard next to him and found much of the same, and so on down the line of guards that occupied the front desks of the former hotel. He looked around until he spotted his second in command ushering some unicorns out of the building.
“Sentry! Over here, now!”
The orange pegasus strode over towards Shining as quick as he could, two metal hooves clinking against tile in a syncopated rhythm. He could see dark bags under the stallion’s eyes and smudges across his golden armor. The pegasus gave as crisp of a salute as he could with one of his prosthetic legs. Before Shining could even ask him a question, the other stallion’s one good wing ruffled and twitched a bit in anticipation, signaling to the Captain that he knew what was wrong.
“Go into the back and tell those ponies to hurry up and get more food out here, the last thing we want is angry and hungry civilians.” The sneaking suspicion that Shining had that something was wrong spiked when Flash Sentry rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. Also the fact the other stallion wasn’t meeting his gaze only served to exacerbate that suspicion.
“What is it? Out with it.”
“Sir, we’ve run through all of our rations for the day.” Flash never stopped looking Shining Armor in the eye as he spoke even if every word shook as they came out of his mouth. “Yes, already. Other garrisons around the city are reporting the same. The last round of…gathering supplies from the towns around Equestria didn’t bring in as much.”
“Does Princess Luna know?” Shining Armor lowered his voice and kept as straight of a face as he could. The last thing he needed was to let everypony in the lobby know how bad things were. A shake of the pegasus’ head was all the answer he needed to know. “Okay, stay here. Start digging into the stores we have, tell the other outposts to do the same. Just keep the rations smaller than usual and keep things under control and I’ll see what she wants to do about this.”
The captain of the guard marched off before his subordinate could utter a word in affirmation. He marched with purpose through the lobby, past the angry and hungry ponies that filled the room and up the stairs. Through the halls he went and up more and more stairs, probably a solid ten to fifteen minutes of walking up stairs and using what elevators weren’t locked down for security reasons, until he was at the door to Princess Luna’s chambers. He knocked only once.
“Enter, Shining Armor.”
So he did. The grand doors of the suite were pushed open with his magic and he stepped into the alicorns’ shared room. Princess Luna was at her desk, as she always was, now however she was enjoying a breakfast before her day of work started.
“Your Highness.” Shining Armor bowed as much as his armor allowed and stepped closer to the desk. “We have a problem downstairs…” He removed his helmet and set it on one corner of Luna’s massive desk. There was the expectation that Luna would ask for more details but instead she looked at him with those cold calculating cyan eyes. “I’m afraid the recent acquisitions weren’t enough to fairly ration out to everypony in the city. We’ve already run out of what we prepared and we’re digging into the stores.”
“Why?” The question was simple enough but oh so complicated.
“A mix of more and more refugees pouring into the city and not as much coming from the towns around Equestria if I had to guess.” He shook his head and let out a little sigh. “I’ll look into it more, figure out how we weren’t prepared but those are the facts right now.”
“Starting today, We want everypony in this city to be tracked.” Luna began, looking down at her desk. She picked up a quill with her magic and began writing down notes. “We want to know how many ponies are here and We want the other towns and cities to do the same. Seal off buildings with magic if you have to so ponies won’t hide. Just give Us the most accurate count you can.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” His mind began to race with how exactly he would accomplish that with his numbers, but he would try to make it work. “The food problem?”
“Have Spike send a letter to the guards in charge of collecting the food across Equestria, telling them to increase their take for the time being.”
“Princess Luna-” Shining Armor objected and shook his head. “-the last thing we want are the ponies outside of the cities getting angry over us taking their food. Trust me, you don’t want to know what hungry farmers will do.”
“What of the ponies here?” Luna put down her quill and looked at the captain of her guard with an expression that said nothing. “What will we do when the ponies in the city start going hungry and they realize all of the food is in here? Can you hold off a siege of angry and hungry ponies?”
“Your Highness-”
“Somepony will be left at a disadvantage here, Shining Armor.” Princess Luna stood, her chest puffed out and her feathers thoroughly ruffled. “We learned long ago it is best to have enemies outside of Our walls rather than in them. You will see it this way in time.”
“I trust your judgment, Your Highness.” Whether or not he agreed with it was another point altogether.
—-
The morning sun rose, and so did Cheerilee. It was her day off from teaching the foals in the village and her turn to help out in the fields instead. Scootaloo, because school wasn’t in session for the day, would be up soon enough to start her delivery job.
In her previous life, she would’ve enjoyed a hot cup of coffee to enjoy her day and help get her juices flowing. This was her current life, where a luxury such as coffee wasn’t a thing a normal pony could enjoy. So instead she started it with a refreshing glass of water and a small breakfast of eggs and toast. She had also already prepared Scootaloo’s customary bowl of oatmeal, made with milk and sprinkled with just a little sugar.
The day ahead would be long and leave her sore, but it would be best for the ponies of both Hope Hollow and Equestria as a whole. She had never worked in the fields before this, not a day in her life. Before she had gotten her cutie mark she had contemplated trying her hooves in some of the orchards outside of Ponyville, but thankfully fate had spared her that particular fate.
Once she was done with her meal, she disposed of her plate into the sink and retrieved the wide-brimmed hat she used for her work in the sun. Cheerliee placed the hat on her head and started towards the door, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. She sincerely hoped it was Cedar Mulch come to make sure she was awake and ready to work; she had thought they had passed the need for that a month ago.
As soon as she opened the door, she regretted it. Amidst the small noises of Scootaloo rousing from her sleep in the background, Cheerliee’s heartbeat began to rise into her ears and drown out those sweet domestic sounds. Before her was the pony who was supposed to be gone much sooner than later, the pale blue unicorn with the platinum mane, sharp horn and fangs.
“Trixie…” The unicorn opened her mouth and immediately choked on the words. She cleared her throat, her eyes never leaving the doorstep. “You don’t need to say anything if you don’t have to…but I apologize for intruding, Miss Cheerilee. I’m probably the last pony you ever wanted to see…and I feel the same way. I…feel the need to apologize for what I did. I am sorry. The dreams of it still…” She took a deep breath. “I’m sure they follow you the same way. I don’t have a lot to give, but I wanted to give you this.” The unicorn produced a necklace on a small silver chain, a wooden carving of a bear hanging off of it. “It is a ward of protection Starlight Glimmer made for me. It will protect you from any physical harm for as long as it has magic left in it.” She set the little charm down on the doorstep. “Have a good day, Miss Cheerilee. Be safe.”
Cheerilee herself didn’t intend to say a single word to Trixie even if she had the ability to. The unicorn simply turned and left without the earth pony saying anything, leaving behind only the gift. It wasn’t until Trixie was out of sight that Cheerilee finally shook her head free of the fog that had suddenly invaded it that she reached down and scooped the little thing up.
The bear charm attached to the chain was very well made, obviously carved with care and by a talented magician. Little stars were carved into its skin, connected by faint lines painted in blue. She could feel the magic entombed in the little figure just by how the fur on her hoof stood on end from contact with it.
“Cheerilee?” A little tired voice came from behind her. “Who was that?”
“I don’t really know, Scootaloo. Somepony who I met once…and who I wished I never had.”
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Oh boï, it's still going on ! And interesting as always. Discord turning a new(er) leaf for Fluttershy is a kind gesture, the kind this Equestria need right now to bring back hope, unity and all that. The fact he could even restore Starlight's face is just icing on the cake... tho we still don't know what Twilight's up to. And depending on what it is, chaos magic might just be oil on the fire.
On the other side... well, things might get rough between the cities and the outskirts. Food problems really are something dangerous to deal with, and politeness tend to run dry once there's nothing left to eat. It might lead to a conflict, and given unicorns and alicorns where still monsters not a long time ago... might be the war to end all wars, sadly.
And on Cherilee's side, we see that those scars, those damned scars are still there, painful as they there the first day. I wonder if there's truth to this pendant charm. Magic was compromised once. I hope it doesn't bring some untold suffering to our dear (ex)teacher !
It's great to see this story continue. Answers will come, and I'm eager to see what you have in store. Be it good or bad for these lovely characters... I know I will have a great time !
I'm so proud of Discord. Almost cried.
Not Dead. It's nice to read such uplifting words from such a horror-filled story. I do think Glimmer's reaction should have been expanded on, but perhaps for later?
Spent yesterday puking my guts out, so seeing this updated today was a nice treat after that.
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Yeah sorry, when I was finishing this up in the wee hours of the morning I started to feel sick so I put a bow on it and sent it out to my pre-reader. I'll expand on that more in the next chapter.
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I'm in the same boat with the sick thing. Hope you get to feeling better.
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Fair. I also found some random comma splices. But writing is never perfect... the eternal struggle.
Thank you for continuing this story.
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That sucks. I hope you get to feeling better as well. :)
Oh Thank God!!! I really love this story, it's been such a fun read and I'm very curious on where it'll lead.
Now that I think about it, I wonder how some of the Diamond Dog settlements are doing. Like, some of them must have had unicorn slaves, at least depending on your stance on how Diamond Dog societies operate.
And, hey, we got some maybe good news since nothing says Zecora has to be dead. But now I have to wonder how bad things will get. You give us a little bit of hope and then crush our expectations.
I'm gonna guess that Discord's treatment has some kind of negative drawback, like creating order makes him sick or he needs to balance it out with big bursts of chaos.
Welcome, to City-17. I am Director Luna, and I loved this Quant little city so much I moved my quarters here. Now, you may want to know some frequently asked questions. "Why are the rations so small" unfortunately, since the disaster the amount of food we have been able to
What a pleasant surprise to see this pop up.
Fluttershy's cottage is like the Noah's Ark of Equestrian fauna, that's nice. Discord can conjure food, right? I'm sure the hungry citizens could use some popcorn and chocolate rain right about now.
I wonder how soon after the guards are either driven from the countryside or refuse to continue her harsher requisitioning Luna will not have enough food to feed the city ponies.
"You might hate me now. But you will realise that I did all of this for us. Not for me."
Yo, I miss a week and come back to this? HELL YA, ITS A GOOD DAY!
Now its dead since Dec of 2022
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