A World Apart (Old Version)

by Star Scraper

Prologue

With a spark of light, a candle lit. A small piece of flame was floated from it, to another, and then another candle. The flames’ gentle light revealed their maker, a white unicorn adorned in a thick robe. She brushed the snow off of her green mane, and sat at her writing desk. Lifting the quill in a magical grasp as lavender as her eyes, she set to work.

I remember a time when the sun shone its radiant face.

To you, my future readers, I write with the hope that you will understand that dawn is something worth fighting for. To you, it will seem a strange idea; a light in the sky that brings warmth and beauty to the world underneath. But it is not to me. It is my home, forever gone, forever apart from this world as it is now.

And yet, I do not despair at the darkness, but instead I find hope in the glorious dawn that must one day come. I find hope in you, my reader. I believe the numbers and power of The Alliance is far beyond what we can hope to overthrow in my lifetime. But not in yours.

Be patient. Be kind. Be strong. Be courageous. And never, no never, stand down and be overcome by the powerful darkness that will surround you. It is better to die a light, than to be overcome with the darkness.

But also be wise, for sometimes, it will be better to keep the light within you so it can live and shine later, than to confront the darkness if you will surely fall.

There is no dishonor in hiding from The Alliance. There is no dishonor in doing what you must to bring dawn to this world once more.

She paused. “Is there?” she wondered aloud, then shook her head.

I will have much to tell you, to warn you, to teach you in wisdom, wisdom learned through most grievous, and most joyous experiences. But for now, dear reader, I must tell you my story. I must tell you what happened, and how the world came to be how it is as of this writing.

There will be many who will lie to you. The Alliance will stop at no ends to achieve power and dominion.

She shivered. Snowy fields littered with still, broken bodies of unicorn, pegasi, and Earth ponies came to mind. The ground was bare and scorched from magical flame. On a distant hill, a tree's branches bore the burden of a dozen unicorn mares and fillies, whose hooves dangled limp inches off the ground.

She paused for a moment, closing her eyes, breathing deeply. Then she continued writing.

Their lust for power, and their fear of us, have led them to lose all decency. But never, never my dear pony, never stoop to their level. Only by forgiving them of their evil can you ever cleanse it from this world! If you do not, you will become just as brutal as they.

How is it that we can fall so far, in so little time?

I remember a time when we all lived in harmony. When the Sisters ruled together, bringing peace and life to our world. But then, for reasons we do not fully understand, the younger sought the throne, to reign in eternal night. Despite the love she received, and the throne she shared with her sister, she desired more at the expense of others. So our Princess of Day was forced to defend the kingdom from never-ending darkness, and slay her own sister, banishing her soul into the Moon.

Some believe she will return one day, but in truth, we do not know.

But this we do know: her elder sister was so distraught, she could no longer lead her kingdom. The law held no power. The government was frozen, and our beautiful princess faded from our eyes. And so, despite the desperation of the governors, we divided into the trade guilds. Most of our proud craftsponies of beautiful works and skill, magicians, scientists, philosophers, intellectuals and skilled laborers were unicorns, and they united. Most of the weather control, and our sword and shield against other nations were the Pegasi, and they united. And finally, the farmers were almost entirely Earth Ponies, and they united in their trade guild.

We ceased being a kingdom of love. We became trade guilds whose soul interest was wealth. We would sell our services and abilities in exchange for eachother's goods, seeking our own prosperity above all else, and relishing the exploitation of others. We became bigoted, and those whose race was unusual in their guilds, were ostracized and became even rarer.

And then the winter came. The terrible, terrible winter...

* * *

Across mountains, vales, frozen fields and ice-capped rivers, deep in a cave, a unicorn with a mane and body as deep blue as the night sky and mottled with a deep brown sat, surrounded by others, and wrote on parchment.

...The guilds fought. Amid accusations and strife, one point was the most difficult to disprove. Neither the pegasi or earth ponies knew or understood magic. It was a strange, and powerful thing to them, and as always, the weak feared the mighty. While we could all see the pegasi attempting to clear the skies, and the Earth ponies struggling to grow food, nopony could tell what we did. So it was an easy accusation to make; we brought the winter in their eyes.

For a time, though, we simply avoided eachother. We moved, and found a new land. We discovered the Wendigos, and came to know harmony once more. We sought our old princess to reign over us again.

But as we searched, winter came again. Fearing the worst, we pooled our magic, and built great domes, under which using our spells, we could keep warm, and create a fake summer sky.

It was all they needed. They feared us. It alienated us. We could only manage to shelter ourselves, thus it was easy for them to claim we brought the winter to slay them all. And they believed it...

* * *

...When they came, there was little we could do. We fought, but they outnumbered us greatly, and too few of us were powerful enough sorcerers. They besieged us and set fire to what we had. Our domes filled with smoke. Some domes fought until the end. Others surrendered, only to find death came to them with their horns blocked and hooves fettered, rather than on the battlefield.

I would that I could go back to a time before my eyes had been marred by such sights. In this writing, in particular, I will spare you the horror of the atrocities they committed, dear reader. But know we must never give in to the darkness. We must forgive them, for as I have written, it is the only way we can keep our own light against this endless night.

We must do what it takes to bring down their might, so peace may come again, but I beg of you to do no more than that. We don't need to kill their children, their unarmed masses. When they surrender, we have won, and that will be all it takes. Although war may call you to slay them in battle, to slay them while unarmed, bound, and in needlessly cruel ways is never, no, never justified.

Then what right would we have in the eyes of The Creators to win? Why would the Song of Harmony ally to us, if we are as cruel-hearted as they? No, my dear reader, above all else that you keep strong, your heart is your greatest weapon against this dark night...

* * *

...But still, they will seek to rise again if they are allowed to live. There must be no mercy for what they have done. It must be an extermination so thorough that none of them can ever conceive of bloodshed again. Do not be foolish, those who are for us are not against us, and may be joined to our numbers, and counted as friends and equals. But those who are against us, they must fall. Only when we are united again, as during the reign of our Dear Mother, can summer come again, and the world will know peace in Her gentle night...

* * *

...And so we wait for the morning that Harmony will bring, when there is again a single throne for our Princess of Light to set on.

You will be the one to bring the morning, dear reader. Keep heart, and keep wisdom, and you will prevail.

But for now, we hide, here in this beautiful city on the side of a mountain, our bastion from the winter that covers this world. I will write a fuller account of what has happened over the future months, but in case fate is unkind to my mortal frame, and The Alliance of the Pegasi and Earth Ponies find our home, I leave you with this short tale of truth, and plea for light.

* * *

Nopony knows we are here, and it will forever remain that way. We will be shadows, a Blade in the Night, forever Her Children of the Night, forever devoted to the fall of the Alliance.

* * *

Take heart my dear reader, may the Architect and the Song of Harmony guide you in our quest for the Cerulean Sky that comes with dawn.

For one day, the Song of Harmony will bring us our salvation.

“The Song of Harmony will bring us our salvation…” Her eyes glistened as warmth flooded her body. A soft smile gently came over her.

Signed,
Clover the Clever

Comments

[HJSDGCE]

Woah...

[Travolore]

Excellent!
T

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Nice opener.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Cromegas_Flare]

I had to read through the beginning at least and I must say, "you certainly got my attention!"

I don't know when i will finish this, but if you nag me I know I will

[Marked of Luna]

Ummm... You scarin me, tovarisch. my gut reaction to this is far different from our discussion of the PMR vs the UMR
- Dust Phantom

[Star Scraper]

4430882 I am confused Tovarisch? PMR and UMR?
My char in that RP was Fenrar Flightfeather. No Tovarisch :p

[Mocha Star]

Well I'm hooked