Equestrian Paradox: "Worlds at war"

by An Sturmmann

Chapter 18: Cryptical Knowledge

Author's Note:

Here's another chapter! Hope you like it fellas!

"What is this..."

Twilight spoke as she drew nearer and nearer, just in time for everypony to get just close enough to witness the same things she was witnessing... and it was by far something she never expected to see today...

The trembling creature, stood in front of the chalkboard, using one of his claws to hold the chalk, softly drawing in the board.

The creature was shaking, covered in a mix of sweat with a really powerful smell, while from its wounds small drops of blood slowly oozed out mixing with the sweat and dripping down to the floor, the giant creature stood tall, but clearly tired, barely holding its own as of now, and yet, every movement it made... was clearly far more elegant than one would expect for such an strange ape-like entity.

However, that wasn't the main focus... but rather, what he had just finished drawing, it was something wich made Twilight sit down to actually try to understand just what that was.

It was a map, drawn on the board with a surprising ammount of detail for the short time it had took the creature to make it, it had some odd symbols in what Twilight could only guess was the languague of the creature.

The map in question showed a series of four islands, each of them being quite small and barely remarkable, save for the strange beak-like symbols that could be seen in each of them, those four islands had weird irregular shapes and somewhere around their middle points there was a dot in each.

Small barely remarkable boat drawings could be seen, following a series of dotted lines towards a bigger set of islands, these ones being just a pair, but far bigger and longer, with more elongated shapes, those two islands seemed to be not too far from the first set, however unlike the beak-like symbol the smaller ones had, these ones had a pair of hooves and then a pair of claws, having far more ships drawn around them.

There was also an skull drawing around those two islands wich were surrounded by a circle, while the skull didn't resembled one from any Equestrian species the message was quite clear...

The male made a last attempt to finish the last part of the map, easily half a board away he finished drawing a dotted line wich connected with a lone island, and then... he barely managed to drew another line and the coast of something, just before falling down and starting to cough.

The medics and nurses were fast to take him again, despite his efforts to stand up and try to finish the map, however, during the small struggle to drag him away, he suddenly lifted his hand and pointed towards Twilight.

"H....l...leans..." He could barely mutter before falling victim to his horrible wounds again, being carried away as fast as the personnel could, leaving twilight to marvel at the sight in front of her. "N...no magic..."

It was clear, the creature didn't use any single trace of magic, all of this was done by hoof... or well... claw?, in such a short span of time, it was a rough but really precise drawing, and the more she tried to analyze it, the more clear it was that the creature knew about what scale it was using, each small piece of the lines was almost identical to the next one, despite the signs of stuttering and weakness, on top of that, each part of the lines wich connected the islands seemed to be following certain patterns, it wasn't just a quick straight line, it followed an order.

To even think that a creature with no magic would be able to create such a piece of cartographical art in such a short timespan was quite the beautiful revelation, any doubts in her hearth were gone, this creature truly was no different from a pony... it was a sapient being...

But... to think... even worse, to witness someone so hurt to do put so much effort in drawing something like this... it didn't make sense... while this could have been a perfect map for an epic novel, the truth is, there wasn't any place in the known world wich looked like this.... why the claws and beaks?, why the warning?

"Twilight" A soft feminine but mature voice could be heard, as the princess turned behind and saw her parents, standing side by side with no one but Princess Celestia Herself, the instinct to bow was quick to appear and yet Twilight hesitated for a while, she truly didn't knew if she was even worthy of standing before the princess knowing the kind of things she did not too long ago. "Princess Twilight Sparkle..."

"Princess Celestia" Twilight coudln't fight back the instinct and fell to her knees before the bigger alicorn, the sight being quite scary from an outside perspective, due to how massive the princess in question happened to be when compared to her student, the white fur of the bigger mare being a huge contrast to darker colours of the smare one, on top of that, her longer horn and outright gigantic wings made it clear that Celestia could stomp Twilight down with just a single movement, and her body languague betrayed any neutrality in her tone, due to how her front left hoof was lifted and her legs were ready to give their all the second the mare wanted to do something. "Come here, you two, This is about your daughter after all"

Twilight's parents felt a bit scared but quickly obeyed, walking until they were at the sides of their daughter, this exact same situation having happened quite a long time ago, back when Twilight was nothing but a filly, however, the serious look in the face of the princess made everything far, far worse, making even the battle hardened mare take a few hesitant steps before dragging her daugher a bit closer to her using her hoof, soon her husband stood on the other side, both of them sandwiching Twilight in bewteen, looking like a trio of foals in front of an clearly not amused matriach.

"I'm glad you are allright" Celestia said as she softly embranced the trio, and held them together, like if she was their mother, kneeling to make it easier, softly petting the backs of the three using her massive wings " While I do not approve of your actions... I do approve of your intentions, you took a rather dangerous move, but it saved so many lives... so many colts, so many stallions..."

Celestia softly spoke and everypony nearby couldn't help but try to give them space, the sight was akin to a mother breaking the tough looks and opening to her daughter, and while rare, most of them knew their princess wouldn't hesitate to do this for anypony who needed it, and as such, merely gave them space.

"B...but... the fillies... the captured mares"

"You can lift your worries about that I took care of it" A second voice came, this one a bit more marely than Celestia's just as she broke the embrance letting the trio look to the side, as another, smaller alicorn stepped in with a clearly mix of worried and proud look "I congrat thee Princess Twilight Sparkle, while Mi amore Cadenza may have beaten you on the race to become a Mare, you became one in a far more marely fashion!"

"T...thanks?" Twilight answered in a bit of confusion while Celestia rolled her eyes and her mother chuckled a bit, meanwhile her Father pouted a bit "Princess Luna, No offense but... do you really think that saying such a thing is appropiate?"

"I see no reason why it wouldn't, Cadenza became a Mare earlier because she married the best colt in all of equestria as of yet, meanwhile Twilight became a Mare by surviving against all odds and returning not only victorious but bringing the perfect chance for the armada to ambush the slaver ships, her sacrifice led for the fastest and most dangerous ships to leave the shores earlier, that mistake costed the slavers the protection they needed to avoid us saving the captured fillies and mares, and with Twilight coming back with the captured Stallions and colts, the invaders have nothing worth with them now, not even their lives for such scum doesn't even deserve respect"

"I... would rather not speak about their lives" Twilight shuddered a bit as she remembered something, quickly turning to see the drawing in the chalkboard, and walking closer she could see something. "Wait a minute... this... I've heard about this before"

Twilight said as she pointed at the two bigger islands in the drawing quickly galloping as her mind began to work, trying to descipher what was what she had in mind.

Her memory screamed something about these islands, and seeing the pair of hooves and claws made her pretty much scream in fear deep inside her heart, something was extremely scary or dangerous, specially once she noticed a certain something hiding just bewteen the two pieces of land.

"This... I've heard about this one" Twilight spoke as Celestia and the others drew near, the moon princess getting closer and noticing something about the smaller island of the two big ones. "This isn't an island, its an island chain..."

Luna spoke as she lighted up her horn, and using her magic she pointed at the cracks in the terrain, those at first glance seemed to be mere rivers, but on closer inspection revealed to be, in fact, not only connected to the sea, but big enough to divide the whole island in several smaller sets wich were so close that they could be called one island, but a the same time, separated enough to be technically an island chain.

"Well... geographically speaking... that could be called an island chain, but being so close to each other it wouldn't surprise me if it was considered one single island with several rivers... I mean, wasn't Prance considered part of a subcontinet pre-unification? despite being quite obviously a part of Eqqus and not a separated land mass. " Twilight's father spoke while Celestia nodded and Twilight's mother drew near and pointed at the upper island. "look, there's something written here"

"Yeah, I saw it too mom, but i'm not sure if it supposed to meant something or if it represents a part of the geography" Spoke Twilight while Luna quickly opened her eyes and took a few steps back. "Sister, do you remember the black stone?"

"The tablet of heaven?" Questioned the bigger alicorn while Luna rolled her eyes "The thing that fell from the skies right into the latrines during the first foundation at the everfree"

"Yes, I do remember how awfully it smelled, and how anypony who got near that thing grew sick and died, why is it important now? As far I do concern I think we should rather focus on this strange message the ape left for us"

"The symbols, the same symbols that were there " Luna said while quickly Celestia got closer to the drawing, shifting in place a bit to get her left eye as close as she could to read it "Y...you... you are right..."

"H...hold on... the ape wrote in some sort of ancient language?" Twilight spoke as she froze up looking at both princesses, then Luna nodded "Not exactly, the symbols are oddly reminiscent but not the same ones, they look more akin to a mix of ancient Equish and those symbols, so much that I think I could actually read them"

"Wait... it is because of the tilt, don't you remember than the tablet was in fact just as similar to ancient Equish as these symbols?, it is only to the differences in angle that it looks totally different, however if I move just a bit..."

Celestia said before she suddenly did a series of movements with both her neck and body, leading to she standing at an awkard position, most ponies would have laughted were it not for the fact this was the Princess... and the fact that now only Twilight, her family and luna were here to witness such a funny sight.

"Yes... as I suspected, just like the tablet, it is ancient Equish, not some odd language" Spoke Celestia with a triumphant smile while luna groaned and lifted an ancient looking tablet made of some sort of dried clay, and using an small beam of light from her horn she drew an small stick on the right side of the tablet, one of many, however, on the left side of that face of the tablet there was another series of sticks drawings, just a tiny bit behind in numbers about three or four, now with the newest one five "Yes... Celly 5, Lulu 0"

"You are cheating and you know it, i'm yet to adapt to this odd new world where stallions constantly show off their manes in such outrageous styles!"

"Ahem" Twilight's father fake coughed and luna bowed in apologize "Sorry, some... stallions show off in such outrageous styles" Luna apologized and he smiled back "No offense taken Princess"

"I thank thee for your kindess venerable Patriarch of the house of Sparkle" Luna spoke and he blushed a bit in pride before his wife rolled her eyes amused "Returning to the symbols"

Celestia said just a tiny bit louder to get their attention back, as she pointed with her hoof at the drawing holding back an small chuckle while Twilight just felt a bit weird after witnessing her Princesess shenaningans, not used by any meaning to see both of them acting like that instead of their usual regal manners.

"The symbols say the following" Celestia said out loud as her magic focused on the bigger island the one wich was one single landmass, highlighting it with an small golden aura. "Siempre Fiel isla Fuba" and right next to it, what I suppose is a translation of those words, wich It seems its the island name; 'Forever Loyal Island of Fuba'.

Celestia said before taking a few steps back and using her magic to highlight the island chain.

" Muy valiente y santa isla de la pimienta" Celestia said outloud before closing her eyes just a tiny bit to read better what was written next to it. " Courageous and saint island of the pepper"

Everypony had to hold an small chuckle upon to hearing that even Celestia herself, however, following the dotted lines she read out loud some other names until she saw a tiny dot, with just a tiny name over it.

" Isla de Filly" She read before drawing a bit near and quickly looking a bit confused before silently asking Luna for help with an small motion of her neck, the small alicorn followed suit and drew near too, before being equally confused. " 'Former Grifo... grifo... how does one pronnounces this..."

"Griffoñol?" Asked Twilight and Luna looked at her with surprise, so did Celestia as she looked back and forth to Twilight and the writings. "Well... it does sounds correct... it does fits with the rest of the word, save for that one syllabe wich I don't know how to pronnounce"

"How do you knew that Twillight?" Her mother asked and Twilight spoke "I... I heard it from a captured hippogriff... she was some sort of zealot, overly proud of her country and religion and more than willing to kill the poor alien stallion, she told me how she was part of some sort of expeditionary force to capture him because they believed him to be a demon."

"There isn't such a thing as demons, the word itself was racial slur against Changellings, even back when ponies did believe in demons" Spoke Luna and Celestia nodded "Yes indeed, the concept of demon comes from a series of epic tales and songs from milennia ago, even way before us or Starswirl, no one truly knows what the original concept meant but eventually it became a racial slur against Changellings, akin to calling Thestrals 'winged rats' "

"Something wich I would prefer you don't remember me" Luna asked and Celestia gave a quick silent apology, before Twilight's dad spoke again "So... you not only meant pirates... but also a dangerous zealot... who tried to convert you to her religion?"

"Not like that, she called me witch just like the griffons, but she never bothered in trying to convert me, she was focused on 'warning' everypony about the dangers that ' El Diablo Carnívoro' represented, that thing being the poor alien colt that her country sent her to capture in first place... now that I think about it, she did say that she came from the Forever loyal island... and she went towards the Filliy islands..." Then it clicked, Twilight eyes opened wide as she quickly connected every single dot "Princess Luna... you said that the armada caught the pirates and saved the fillies and mares?"

"Yes, exactly yesterday, just a day after you were captured" Said Luna while Twilight looked at her with the horror of the realization "How many...ships were sunk..."

"No casualties thanks Faust, but alas, we lost twenty ships taking down five of theirs, our ships are badly outmatched at long range, and getting at close range only was useful when several unicorns could cast their shielding spells at the same time. Said luna with clear frustration "I was just this close of just flying and delivering upon them all the wrath of the moon, just this close of sending them to Tartarus myself... and not the prison."

"Please refrain of speaking so casually about killing sister, while Equestria may be at danger we still need to be careful about what we say"

"Well... the thing is... if you fought against five ships... wich is what I can infer... then Equestria is at the very edge of being stabbed with a really sharp sword, pointed straight at her underbelly" Twilight said as she pointed at the Two bigger islands. "These two islands must be part of the 'Griffoñol' empire, wich seems to be one of at least two major powers, from what little information I have"

Twilight spoke as she shuddered, remebering something...

The smell of death... smoke and steel, the courtain of steel and fire wich rained upon the pirates, the disgusting loss of life in such an organized manner... being akin to the perfect work of a machinery made exactly for one purpose, a beautiful display wich only the best trained ponies would ever be able to do... sadly, not done for something beautiful and good, but for something horrid and evil, the stench of death was so potent and so nasty that she could swear she smelled it again after remembering just a mere fragment of it.

"Twilight Sparkle do you even understand what you are saying?" Luna asked being the only one who seemed to have the stomach to ask the question, however Celestia lifted her hoof and tapped her in the chest to let Twilight speak.

"I... I saw how those Hippogriffs fight... they form perfect formations, more artistic looking than anything, using strange staffs wich shoot small pellets, I am yet to understand what kind of magic they use, but it looks like some sort of hand canon... their cannons are stronger than any canon in Equestria's know history, on top of that they don't show any regret on murdering... were it not for my Teletransportation skill we would have been killed..."

Everypony froze upon hearing Twilight's words as she pointed at the Filliyi island and then to the nearest landmass.

"And if what I can infer is correct... due to weather and time I spend at that ship... supposing that i was around this part when the armada intercepted the pirates..." Twilight said pointing bewteen the island and the bigger landmass nearby.

"This... is New Horseleans"

Comments

[AgentKorpsman]

Oh that would have been my first guest. Welp I wonder what happens now

"This... is New Horseleans"

Wait is that a colony/ a horse pun of New Orleans

[An Sturmmann]

11859566

New Horseleans is a canon location, here, it is the town wich was raided by the Griffins a few chapters ago, and yes as far I do concern it is a pun of New Orleans, or so I can guess.

However I doubt the term colony would work here unless we apply the meaning of Colonial land that is used in Victoria 2, where both Mexico and the USA have California, Texas, and others as colonies instead of states in the early to mid game (Funny enough a heavy alt story run of this game inspired several ideas of this story)

Also, i'm sorry but what was your first guess? I'm quite curious.

[AgentKorpsman]

11859641
The horse pun.

But I do wonder if the other counties will try to set up colonies on equestrian soil

[An Sturmmann]

11859686

I'll just say that Equestria is quite the big country, akin to the Qing Dynasty in the late XVIII, don't forget that Equestria isn't the only country on its world, there are many others, I just haven't focused on them so far, just like so far I just mentioned two of the countries of the other world with the griffons and hippogriffons.

[AgentKorpsman]

11859695
So maybe a colony will be tried to set up by one of the other countries

[An Sturmmann]

11865959

At some point, yes, however Equestria is the big cake, there are many smaller treats scattered all over the world, the many colonial empires have a lot to pick from.