Book Two: Chapter Eighteen: Race Across the Savannah
Myths and Birthrights
By Tundara
Book Two: Duty and Dreams
Chapter Eighteen: Race Across the Savannah
For two weeks Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fleur, and the six members of Twilight’s Royal Guard raced across the dusty savannah, harried by fears for what had befallen their friend.
Applejack drove them tirelessly each day from the moment the first of Sol’s rays broke the horizon until it grew too dark to continue. Worry and exhaustion haunted the small force, leaving them too tired to bother with proper camps, everypony all but collapsing into a dusty, sweat soaked pile of bodies every night. They continued though, relentless in their march until the middle of the seventh day when they were forced to stop by somepony collapsing on the dusty, narrow road.
“Celestia’s Mane,” Applejack yelled. “I can understand Mrs. de Lis needing breaks, but you, Soaren? You’re military! And an athlete! A Wonderbolt no less.”
“Yes,” he said, flopping onto his back. “I’m a sprinter, not a marathon flier. I’m also just a regular pony, not…” His voice trailed off and he made a rolling motion with his hoof toward the three bearers.
“We ain’t demi-corns!” Applejack snapped, and kicked a nearby tree in irritation.
In defiance of her assertion, the tree flew several dozen yards, tumbling in a slow arc as it showered leaves over the ground before it landed with a branch snapping crunch.
Soarin gave her a flat stare. As did the equally exhausted group of Twilight’s guards. Rainbow covered her mouth to hold in her guffaws, while Fleur shook her head. Only Pinkie showed no interest, but only because she’d continued further down the road, stopping at the next rise when she realised everypony else was lagging behind.
Cheeks glowing a little, Applejack pushed her hat forward to cover her eyes, and muttered, “That weren’t nothing special. Lots of Earth ponies can kick like that.”
“It isn’t just me, you know,” Soarin indicated the six members of Twilight’s guard. Thick lather covered their bodies, and they’d long since shucked off most of their armour, keeping only light travel cloaks to ward off Sol’s blistering rays. Directly beneath the sun’s daily tract, her heat was so much greater than in the north. “You girls are setting a pace that would impress any drill sergeant.”
Chewing on her words in the corner of her mouth, Applejack said in a carrying voice, “Yeah, well. We gotta make up lost time.”
“Yeah!” Chirped Pinkie, popping up between Applejack and Soarin. “I mean, who could have known that the zebras had a train that went aaaaaaaaaaaaall the way to the edge of their empire, and that the big mean grumpy zebras would take it instead of using their hoovsies like us? Or, that the roads would be rather rocky and bumpy and windy? Or, that all the inns would slam their doors on our noses? Or that the villages wouldn’t open their gates? Or—”
Grinding her teeth, Applejack gently, but firmly, pushed Pinkie to one side. “We get it, Pinkie. We could have got a lift if it weren’t for me.”
Fleur wasn’t so certain about that assessment. If they’d accepted the Empress’ offer of transport they’d have also only had a carefully curated view of the land, and been kept sequestered once reaching their destination. Maatsheptra was certainly playing a game, but her ultimate goal remained obscure. Being free of the Empress’ agents gave them a far better view of the nation, and it was rotten.
An undercurrent of fear ran through every town and village they passed. It was the same every time. The local chiefs or mayors, and even once a lord, had stopped them long before they’d reached the town to demand to know their business and present their papers. Papers they did not possess. If they hadn’t been quick to retreat, they’d have been detained.
They avoided any settlements now.
It was a sharp revelation of the differences between Equestria and the rest of the disc. She’d been a filly when her father had taken the ambassadorial post in Canterlot, and young when he’d suddenly passed away and she’d had to take his place as Prance’s representative in Celestia’s court. Celestia’s gentle, but firm, style of governance had become the anticipated norm. Never in Equestria would towns have been without food, or patrolled by dozens of guards, with eyes turned inward as much as out. Zebrica was an empire in the old sense, and the zebras of the savanna were under the steel shod hooves of those of the rivers.
Fleur watched Applejack ruminate with a growing exasperation of her own. Applejack pushed and pushed for them to go faster and faster, and grew angier each day when they stopped to rest. She paced or fidgeted, and took to snapping at anypony who seemed to be slacking.
“Lady Apple,” she finally said, “you have to realise that you are trying to make us gallop from Manehatten to Vanhoover. A journey that used to take more than a month, non? The progress made has been magnifique. Understand—”
Rounding on Fleur, Applejack snarled, “Understand!? It’s y'all who need to understand! We’re all that’s left. Faust only knows what has happened to Twilight, but, if she’d saved the day we’d have known by now. She’d have found us to dance that silly little dance o’ hers. But she ain’t come back, which means she’s probably been captured. Again. Shy and Luna are protecting that city from them thanes. Iridia has abandoned everypony to go sulk, and Faust has—” Applejack’s voice hitched in her throat, but she pressed on. “She has betrayed us too. Won’t even look at us. We’re her Elements and she refuses to be in the same room as Pinkie, Rainbow, or me. So, yeah, I am focusing on the one thing I know. Twilight needs us. She needed us days ago.”
A comforting wing fell across Applejack’s withers, and a little of her anger melted from her face. “Jackie,” Soarin said softly. “Apple Bloom is Faust-blessed, too. So are her friends.”
“And what has that ever gotten me? Nothing but loads of trouble.” She ground her teeth, her entire body tense. Applejack moved off, followed by Soarin, the couple talking into the night.
That day’s discussion over, Fleur began to assist the exhausted guards with setting up camp. It would all be repeated tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. Until they reached Southstone Spires, or Twilight showed up.
Even traveling relatively light, there was still a lot to set up. Captain Scabbard watched as Teacă and her cousin set small fires to keep the savanna’s natural predators away, and a larger one for cooking. A pair of lean-tos was put up, sleeping mats unrolled, and nets hung to keep most of the insects from crawling over everypony. It was all rote by now, Fleur helping out where she could.
Once everything was done, Fleur went and sat on her own at the edge of the light cast by the fires. There she watched Sol set, and sent a little prayer for her beloved Fancy to be doing alright in her absence, and that he wasn’t worrying about her.
And then came the stars, accompanied by the distant growls of a pride of lions and the chirps of crickets. Even when called for dinner she continued to sit alone.
“Hey, how you holding up?” Rainbow asked, coming to sit and offer her a cup of hot soup. “Not too nervous about tomorrow, are you?”
Fleur answered with a scrunch of her nose, taking the soup and giving it a careful sniff. Cooking duties were spread out, and it was Soarin’s turn. The others all ate their meals with equal apprehension. She was met by a not wholly stomach churning smell. Next to her, Rainbow slurped down her bowl with gusto.
Setting her soup aside, Fleur let out a long sigh. “J’ai peur.”
Rainbow twitched an ear, and stared over her bowl across the golden savannah. “Well, you need to eat more than a few stalks of grass. Have you eaten anything today?”
“You sound like a mother already,” Fleur teased.
Sticking out her tongue, Rainbow huffed, “Told Twi I was going to be the best mom ever. Doesn’t hurt to start practicing.” A wing drifted down to the sides of her stomach, though it’d be months yet before she began to show. “Now, stop dodging my question.”
“Non. I have been unable to eat the last… while.” Fleur pushed the soup a little further away. “Since the duel.”
“Yeah, a fight like that can get in your head. Was pretty amazing to watch. But, we went up against a demon before, and that didn’t make you lose your appetite.” Some idea came to Rainbow, her head jerking up. “It isn’t Soarin’s cooking, is it? Guy is one of the best fliers alive, but put him near a kitchen and things just go wrong. His cooking is enough to chase away dragons. I think I see why he is so interested in AJ.”
Stifling a laugh, Fleur shook her head. “Non. I am never hungry. Food is just… unnecessary. It has been days now, and I am strong, and healthy, and full.”
“Hmmm.” Rainbow gulped down the last of her soup. “So, what you’re saying is it’d be okay if I had your portion.” Fleur cast a sidelong look beneath her mane at Rainbow, to which the other mare laughed. “Hey, I’m eating for two here!”
Her own laugh like the chiming of silver bells, Fleur happily set the bowl at Rainbow’s side. They sat in silence the remainder of the evening until Rainbow turned in. Fleur continued to watch the heavens until Sol was roused and it was time to continue on their way.
It was the same the next night, and the night after that, and after that. Hunger never pinched her belly, and even water was something she only drank to appease concerned looks. Sleep became foreign. And, if she didn’t sleep, she wouldn’t dream.
They crossed the savannah without incident, Kiligrifjaro solidifying in the distance by the end of the second week.
Signs of the passing army became more apparent. Wide swaths of earth overturned by numerous hooves and carts. The occasional battlefield, thankfully devoid of any bodies, with the winner only obvious by the continued advance of the zebras. Burial pyres at the heart of the fields were the only indicators anypony had fallen.
Gingerly, they stepped around the broken shafts of spears and torn pieces of armour left discarded in the yellow grass. Sometimes they passed a wagon or pile of supplies that had been abandoned, but that was rare. As the days rolled by, and the miles grew behind them, the number of scavengers grew. Lions and hyenas gnawed on bones under the watchful eye of vultures, while zebras from nearby towns or villages scooped up anything salvageable.
Warily, the scavengers watched the group of colourful ponies pass.
Almost three weeks after the attack on Zerubaba, after her duel with Algol, they caught up to the zebrican army.
A sea of bodies, striped coats melding with striped armour creating a single, solid mass, like a black-white ooze covered the grasslands ahead. Spears like a field of grain glinted in the simmering sunlight, a hundred and fifty thousand strong. Among them rose banners in various colours, each adorned by the unit’s unique sigil. Ornate drums on rolling scaffolding beat a steady thrum to which the army marched. In the center of the army a long line of giant, bronze cannons, maintained by teams of a dozen soldiers each, belched acrid smoke as tongues of flame sent iron balls arcing over the soldiers’ heads. Further off, older trebuchets could be spotted at the flanks.
Further afield to the north, a second, much smaller body of soldiers could just be discerned. A dark cloud flew above their far more loosely organised ranks below. Fifty thousand, all told, if Fleur was to estimate. Making it one of the larger griffon armies in the past several centuries, meaning the aeries had banded together, or been brought to heel.
And then there was Southstone Spires itself. A series of walls and gatehouses blocked the long, narrow road to the city proper, wards built in steppes up to the top of the mountain. Thick sheets of rain obscured most of the city, a lingering fog rolling down desolate, grey slopes. There were no lights. No movement. No sign of any life at all on the lowest walls. Spears didn’t glint between the parapets, nor armour shimmered under the moon’s light where it broke through the clouds in silver shafts.
“Awesome,” Rainbow let out a long whistle.
The guards in their group were equally impressed, but far more grim faced. “Never expected to see something like this again,” Soarin grumbled with a shake of his head.
“Ain’t no time for standing around like a bunch slack jawed foals,” Applejack said, leading the way back to a nearby copse of trees from which they could plan their next move.
How were they to get to the other side of the army, into the city, and find Twilight? Applejack and Rainbow both favoured direct approaches, but with so many zebras between them and the city, agreed that it’d be almost impossible to make it more than a few yards before being swarmed. Flying was quickly ruled out. Rainbow and Soarin were the only fliers, and they’d be alone against a city of griffons. Nopony had enough magic to teleport them, except perhaps Fleur.
When the suggestion was made, Fleur stiffened. “Non!” She protested, wildly waving her hooves. “Je ne connais pas le sort pour le teleporter!”
Her magic was… unreliable. She hadn’t dared to even check on her aether pool in the past few weeks. The idea left her trembling, both for what she might, or might not find.
“Alright, we get it, you can’t teleport,” Rainbow shrugged her wings and hopped off the tree branch on which she’d been lounging while they discussed things. “Well, I have no clue what we should do.”
Tapping Fleur on the shoulder, Rainbow indicated she wanted to be followed, “Let’s have a look around while they figure out the plan. Make sure nopony has seen us yet.”
“Oui, a bunch of colourful ponies standing on a hill are easy to miss, non?” Fleur responded, her spirits surprisingly buoyed despite the next problem they had to face. Behind them they heard Pinkie clamouring for attention, but were gone before her either insane, or strangely brilliant, idea was given.
“Wish Fluttershy and Rarity were here right now. And Twilight,” Rainbow grunted as they made the long circle around the campsite. “Especially Rarity.”
A sharp pang pierced Fleur, and all she could say was a soft, “Oui.”
Ear flicking towards Fleur, Rainbow came to a stop. “Oh, yeah, you knew Rarity too, didn’t you.”
“Oui. I hoped she would join my herd, once. It seems so long ago now, when it has only been a few months.”
Rainbow blinked a few times like she been slapped in the face by a wet fish. Her mouth opened a couple times, clamped shut again, and then she let out a long groan. “Why didn’t you ever mention this before? Why didn’t she? I never even knew Rarity had been in a relationship. She always seemed so… focused on her work, or saving Equestria. Kind of like the rest of us.”
Cheeks colouring a little, Fleur did her best to appear in control of her feelings. Face neutral, with just a pleasant little hint of a smile. Keep the racing of the heart, the flush of blood in her veins from showing. Just as she would in a negotiation.
“It was a while ago now,” Fleur demurred with practiced ease. “And never too serious. More a desire that wasn’t allowed to bloom. She seemed interested. Fancy found her fascinating, delightful, and brilliant. Yet, she never pressed the issue. I asked her once why, she gave her reasons, and that was the end of it. It feels so long ago now. Like it was all just a dream.”
“Hmmm,” Rainbow tapped her chin. “You know, your Equestrian gets better when you try to avoid subjects?”
Fleur’s cheeks flushed brighter still, and she sputtered for a few seconds. Long enough for Rainbow to begin laughing.
“Hey, it’s your business. And hers. Wish I’d known. So would Pinkie. We thought it was just us. If we’d known…” Rainbow’s voice trailed off and she ended her unfinished thoughts with a shrug. She then grew tense, muscles rippling along her back as some new thought came to her. “Now the Cutie Mark Crusaders are missing. Only Faust knows where they are, and she’s keeping her muzzle shut! If I ever see that mare again, I’m going to kick her flank so hard!”
Fleur began to say something, when a flash of movement came out of the corner of her eye. She began to twist around, reaching for Pallas and Aegis, the spear and shield appearing out of nothingness at her side. Raising Aegis Fleur slipped into the defensive stance drilled into her by Princess Luna.
The tawny brown blur wasn’t aiming at her, however. Instead, it hit Rainbow in the side, the pair rolling the the grass in a flailing ball of hooves, talons, and wings, before coming to a stop with the griffon on top with Rainbow pinned. The griffon opened her beak, a feline growl issuing from her throat, and for a moment Fleur was terrified that Rainbow was about to be killed.
Then the griffon demanded, “What are you doing here, Dash?”
“Gilda!” Rainbow tried to shoot up with a disbelieving laugh, but remained solidly pinned to the ground. “What in Tartarus are you doing way out here?”
“Hey, I asked you first.” Gilda flared her crest feathers, talons drumming on the loose dirt next to Rainbow’s head. “And why’d you bring only half the dweeb squad?”
Chuckling, Rainbow pushed Gilda off of her and rolled to her hooves. “That is a very long story. So, you with the griffon army then?”
Gilda’s crest flared again, as did her wings. “Tartarus no! I hate those featherbrained idiots.”
Stepping forward, Fleur asked, “Then what are you doing way out here?”
Snapping her beak shut, Gilda looked away and growled something. “That is my business.” Her entire body grew tense, and barely contained fury burned in the back of her golden eyes. Talons scraped long furrows in the dirt.
“Listen, me and my crew are going to be hitting the griffons tomorrow. There is a molly in there in need of… of a good flank kicking.” Gilda indicated the further army with a wave of her claws.
Pressing her lips together, Fleur glanced at Rainbow. Rainbow was considering the armies, her posture relaxed. Almost too relaxed.
Speaking up, Fleur said, “We need to enter the city. Lady Sparkle was last seen heading there, and her friends are worried for her safety.” She pointedly didn’t mention the fact the God of the Dead had taken residence in the city.
Gilda shook her head. “Don’t. That place is trouble with a capital ‘T’. We scouted the lower gates, and they stank of death. Southstone got what it deserved, far as I am concerned. Good riddance to those pebble brains.”
As if conjured by Gilda’s words, a wind blew across the mountain clearing away the rain and fog to reveal the city in all its decrepit glory. At first glance it was impossible to tell what was wrong with the city. And then it struck Fleur; there was no smoke coming from the chimneys. So high up the mountain, the city would be cold year round just like Canterlot. Yet, there wasn’t any smoke or the other telltale signs. As with the lower gates, it was as if the city was empty.
Fleur covered her mouth to stifle a sharp gasp. Of course there wouldn’t be any indications of life. Hades was the God of the Dead, of Tartarus, and he’d chosen to make Southstone Spires the seat of his throne on Ioka. A long tremble worked its way through her body as tears stung her eyes for all those who’d made the city their home.
Images of Athena’s descent into Tartarus flashed before Fleur; the wide, flat, empty plain of cracked dry earth; black walls hundreds of pony lengths high ringing the continent sized city at the heart of the Underworld; the empty, hopeless pale faces of the thronging dead; and the jagged, harshly sharpened edges to Hades’ palace in the distance, visible from almost every point in the city.
She could picture him at his ease, gaunt and black in a hall of grey shadows barely lit by smoldering coals, flush with power from his victory over Twilight Sparkle.
“Crew, huh?” Rainbow said, drawing Fleur out of her thoughts. “What sort of group would go after an entire griffon army?”
“Heh, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Dash.”
“Try me.”
Considering Rainbow, Gilda shrugged, beak upturned into a dangerous smile. With a sharp flourish, she said, “Humans.”
Rainbow blinked a couple times, then threw herself backwards, hooves clutching her sides while her wings flapped to, somehow, make her float. “Really, Gilda? Humans? What is this, a bad Trotkien fanfiction?”
“Hey, you asked,” Gilda pointed out with a dismissive flick of a talon.
Settling down, Rainbow turned as serious as she’d been on Marelantis during the shoregoing expedition. “You are different, Gilda. What happened?”
“What happened?” Gilda’s talons clenched, tightening until blood seeped onto the ground. “What happened was I lost everything Dash. Everything.
“First you, then Blinka, and finally my teacher. I’d be dead without Zubu, and not just because I’d been stabbed and he healed me. That crazy zebra trained me. He actually cared about me, in his own sadistic way. Without him, I don’t know what I’d have done. Probably what I’m going to do now. And then he just… died of old age. The disc wants me to be alone, and all I have left is getting some payback. You were right to abandon me, Dash. I was a really molly to you and your friends. As for Zubu, you can’t fight time. But, I can kill the molly who murdered my cousin. I can find her in that army over there, and sink my talons into her throat. That is all I have left.”
Rainbow stared in horror at her friend, mouth opening and closing soundlessly as she processed everything.
Without any former connections to the griffon, Fleur took what was said with a slight shrug. What Gilda was planning was suicide. No regular pony could hope to reach any of the generals of either army. Not during a heated battle, anyways. And a heated battle there was surely to be on the marrow.
To her surprise, Fleur said, “Then help us. That is what your friend would have wanted, non? Anypony who cared for you would tell you to hold onto life, not throw it away.”
Rainbow added in a firm, “Yeah, exactly.”
Gilda just shook her head, and turned to leave. “It was good to see you again,” Gilda said over her wings. “Let’s me say I’m sorry for how I acted in Ponyville.
“Listen, You—”
“You remember Blinka?” Gilda continued, talking over Rainbow.
“Yeah, she was always tagging after you. A total fangirl.”
“She is dead. Murdered.”
“Oh.”
“The molly who did it is out there, in that army,” Gilda indicated the further away of the two bodies of lights.”Tomorrow, I’m going to make her pay, then rescue…” Gilda shook her head, as if to cast off false hopes.
When she continued, her tone was surprisingly light, buoyed by acceptance of her fate. “The griffons took an alicorn filly. Blinka named her Talona. If you are going to that city, then for Blinka, find that filly and get her to your princesses.”
Gilda then vanished into the swaying grass, leaving Rainbow and Fleur alone on the rocky patch of empty savannah.
Pulse quickening, Fleur’s heart beat hard enough against her breast to cause her to shake. Athena’s daughter had a name. Talona.
What would Athena have made of such a development? And why had she never named her daughter herself? It seemed all so strange. On Ioka, and in Equestria and the Old Queendoms, ponies were named long before they were even born. Failing to name a foal was itself unthinkable, a griffon giving the foal a name more-so.
No matter what it took, Fleur would find Talona, and save the filly. She owed it to Athena, and to Talona.
They remained there for some time, each brooding in their own thoughts. Long enough for Selene to make her appearance as night claimed the disc.
That night the stars were especially active. They swirled and danced almost as if mimicking the ponies below. It was the night before the Summer Sun Celebration, after-all. The shortest night of the year, ponies, zebras, and more would be at parties that would last until morning to mark the official start of summer. Traditionally, the Prench Embassy held a grand gathering in Canterlot. Fleur wondered if her assistant or Fancy were hosting the gala this year.
This display, however, could not be termed happy. The stars motions were wild and frantic, an angry edge making them leave sparking trails of violet and red across the heavens. Athena had seen such displays on Gaea.
The war-dance of the stars heralding a day of blood to come on the marrow when their mistress would descend clad for war with a hardened heart. Athena last saw the stars make such a performance the night she and her cousins were banished from Gaea.
Fleur’s throat constricted, and she turned to relay what she knew to Rainbow, but the pegasus already seemed to have an idea what the display meant from the deep scowl she wore.
“I am so going to kick Twilight’s flank tomorrow for making us worry,” Rainbow muttered to herself before saying to Fleur, “Come on, we better head back now.”
Food was cooking, an ugly sludge of boiled grass and some sort of sweet potato Applejack had foraged, when Fleur and Rainbow returned. They were met with nods and a few question about what had taken them so long. Rainbow answered with a grunted, “Patrolling.”
After dinner, nopony wanted to go to sleep, worry and excitement in equal measure filling them with a nervous energy. Instead they all went about preparations for the infiltration of Southstone Spires. Fleur summoned Pallas and Aegis, and though the divine artifacts never required any such attentions, she began to oil the metals, and tighten the straps.
As she worked, Fleur was reminded of an ancient song of the Summer Sun. One from the War of the Sun and Moon.
At first she simply hummed a few bars while she worked. A barum-thum-pum-pum-pum in tempo that skipped easily off the tongue.
Then Soarin picked up the tune, adding his deep baritones at the appropriate points, and pounding a hoof against a log like a drum. Pinkie pulled a flute from the bottomless depths of her mane, and though not especially skilled with the instrument, she managed to find the tune. From that same nowhere a lyre and tamborine appeared, dropped into Applejack and Rainbow’s hooves.
On the next swell of music Fleur began to sing.
We oil our swords close to the fire,
Dark is this night, short though it seems.
For on the ‘morn our prospects are dire,
And so we must quiet our dreams.
Her laugh is cruel, bound by her madness,
Torn is her mind, and long is her reach.
Across the disc she spreads only darkness,
To Sol’s salvation beseech.
Everypony joined in for the chorus, soft and sad in their tones. It was a somber chorus, with little hope for what the next day would bring.
To—morrow, To—marrow,
Onward to battle my sisters,
Tomorrow the Summer Sun comes,
Listen not for the thane’s whispers.
To—morrow, To—marrow,
Onward to battle my sisters,
Tomorrow the Summer Sun comes,
Listen not for the thane’s whispers.
Fleur paused, her head hung low, as flute and lyre spun and danced around each other. Higher and higher they rose, mimicking Sol herself. The drum beat with greater vigor, and then Fleur resumed the song, her voice containing twice the power it had before.
With hearts of fire, on hoofalls of thunder,
Towards our doom, this army does face.
Though war may soon tear us asunder,
Our deaths we will face with Her Grace.
Cadence of Love, Celestia of Light,
Together they rise, as all sing their names.
Through forests of fire, they broke through her spite,
And cast the Nightmare into the flames.
To—morrow, To—marrow,
Onward to battle my sisters,
Tomorrow the Summer Sun comes,
Listen not for the thane’s whispers.
To—morrow, To—marrow,
Onward to battle my sisters,
Tomorrow the Summer Sun comes,
Listen not for the thane’s whispers.
As the last few strains of Pinkie’s flute left a fading mournful hole, the ponies settled down for the night. Only Fleur remained awake, sitting watch all through the short night, her eyes fixed on Southstone Spires, and what it would reveal with the dawn.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Sweetie Belle plodded along an empty street in Southstone’s Middle Ward.
Though they were no longer prisoners in the castle, she alone dared venture beyond its walls. Scootaloo hardly left their room, and Apple Bloom stayed by her side. Sweetie couldn’t stay in the castle. She had to move, to do something.
With a simple gesture, Hades had removed the brands on her and her friends, snapped the collars about their necks, and turned the ring on Sweetie’s horn to dust. Sadly, that was all he could accomplish. The marks on their heart could not be so easily mended. She despised the griffons, boiling hatred a warm lump in the pits of her gut.
Southstone Spires was no more. Whatever the city once was, Hades had swept it away with his arrival. Slaves and slavers. Commoners and nobles. Parents and children. All were gone, replaced by something far worse.
Their punishment had been too kind.
Sweetie welcomed the desolate streets. The click of her hooves on damp stone was accompanied by a solemn creaking groan of a hanging sign, canvass rustling in a light breeze over empty stalls, wares still laid out, waiting for customers that would never come. An overturned wagon half blocked the road, bags hurriedly tossed over it to form a makeshift barricade. Scattered food rotted where it had spilled from the cart.
Here and there bodies lay in twisted poses, rictus and gray. Ghostly forms hovered half in shadows. Eyes aglow with emerald and hate watched Sweetie pass. Ugly forms warped by Tartarus’ arrival on the disc, they skulked in the corner of her eye for only a moment before slinking away on the wind.
The scrape of hoof or claw warned her of zombies long before even their rotten stench. The mindless dead clumped together as they moved through the dead city. Slowly they congregated in the lower wards to from a horde. Their empty, glassy eyes were fixed ahead, and they hardly even reacted when Sweetie pushed her way past. Even the mindless undead were compelled by Hades’ command to leave Sweetie and her friends unharmed.
Those were the least creatures created by Hades’ curse.
A tavern door hung askance, thin light filtering through the crack revealing a few hairless griffons moving in the depths, pale skin gaunt over their bones, and hungry gazes staring after her long after she’d vanished around a misty corner. At night they swarmed outwards in search of living prey, desperate to steal a warm breath from a gasping throat so that they might remember briefly what it was to be alive.
In the towers near the castle lingered far more dangerous things than those in the lower wards. Atop the spires the queen and her cursed court plotted ways to break free of the city, and spread their maleficence over the countryside.
Only the castle formed any sort of safe haven. It was there that the griffons’ former slaves gathered. Those that had managed to survive without Hades’ protection. It only extended to the five ponies that had, for the time being, gained his attention.
Every other living thing in the city was fair game for the lurking dead.
The sound of sniffles attracted Sweetie’s attention. Half drawing Durandel, she slid up to a door on the edge of a darkened alleyway. It was the sort of place the undead would congregate. As she approached Sweetie detected the heavy, pungent stench of decay mingling with an equally strong smell of flowers coming from the doorway.
A thick band of salt spanned the entrance and charms hung from the frame. Pressing her side tight against the damp stone wall, Sweetie slid inch by inch closer until the tip of her horn poked over the edge.
In a single, fluid motion she jumped forward and channeled magic enough to fling a ball of light into the building. She landed just on the other side of the salt as the room bloomed in vivid colours. Her blood thrummed in her ears, and a surge of vital energy readied itself for any monsters leaping out of the shattered gloom.
Several zebras huddled in a corner, adults pressing their foals between bodies, shields against whatever came through the door. Sweetie refused to relax. Her gaze darted from side to side, peering into the shadowy nooks and the door that lead from the common room to the single bedroom used by the family. For a long minute everypony was silent, a dreadful stillness falling over the hovel. Faces pale beneath their striped coats, the zebras stared in open mouthed terror at the same pool of darkness as her. Something moved in that fathomless void, a slithering mass curling and unfolding just beyond perception.
Inclining her head towards the door to the alley, Sweetie carefully drew Durandel and put herself between whatever monstrosity hid in the adjoining room and the zebras.
Slick, slippery tentacles slid into the light cast through the cracks in the shutters. Thorny protrusions covered the slimy surface, a green ichor dripping from the tips. Dozens of emerald eyes opened in the darkness like hellish lamps, and beneath them a single mouth filled with thousands of jagged teeth.
Sweetie’s stomach curled into a tighter knot. Her mind recoiled in terror, and for not the last time she wondered how Celestia could allow such monstrosities on the disc.
There were no princesses coming to rescue the survivors of Southstone Spires. Twilight had tried, and she’d been defeated.
Since then; nothing. No sign of any of the other princesses.
Not Celestia, not Luna, not even Cadence. Iridia and Faust were equally absent. As were Tyr and Fluttershy, though what either of them could do eluded Sweetie. But, they were princesses and alicorns. And they’d all abandoned her.
So, it was up to her to confront the horrors lurking in the shadows and keep every zebra and pony safe.
Keeping her attention firmly on the thing in the other room, she commanded the zebras to slowly make their way out of the house in a low, hissing whisper.
They continued to stare, glazed eyes locked, mouths unmoving, a long line of drool hanging from white, dry lips. If not for the ever so slight movement of their chests, Sweetie would have believed them already dead. Between the adults the foals moved, sniffles going unanswered as they poked their heads out.
“They won’t move,” the eldest said.
The thing in the other room squirmed faster, a deep, amused grumbling gurgle sound that made Sweetie’s teeth ache and the foals disappear back into the petrified cage created by their parents legs.
Whatever it was, the creature was something other than the usual undead that filled Southstone.
Something dragged out of the endless void between worlds by Tartarus when the land of the Dead was brought to the realm of the living.
Something that smelled… like overly sweetened chocolate milk?
Sweetie’s nostrils flared wider.
Every instinct awakened since encountering the diamond dogs roared for her to get out of the house. But her body remained fixed, locked, staring into that dark pool of madness that waited in the adjoining room.
If she ran now, if she left this family to the mercies of whatever entity it was that had found its way into their home, then she’d be no better than the diamond dogs or griffons. Whatever it was, she refused to abandon the zebras. She refused to let anypony else suffer.
Beneath the tentacles the floorboards began to wither, a vivid purple-black mold creeping towards her.
Slowly, she tried to edge a little closer towards the terrified family, and again her hooves refused to move. The shifting emerald eyes held her fast in a vice tight grip.
Along the edges of perception she could see the madness squirming into her soul. See the tendrils beginning to borrow into her, even as they slid back into the emptiness held in the doorway.
Trying to close her eyes proved as useless. She didn’t even blink.
Sweetie’s heart quickened.
She was trapped, just like the adults. Trapped in the many eyed emerald gaze.
She tried to open her mouth, to tell the fools to get out of the house again. But her jaw was locked in place.
Fuming at her own stupidity, Sweetie’s mind raced. There had to be some way to break the spell and strip the invisible shackles holding her in place. Even her magic refused her command, slipping out of her grasp like oil.
In the distance the bells tolled for dinner.
Sweetie’s eyes would have widened. She’d been standing there for hours, at least. With all her might she struggled to move, to so much as twitch an ear, but her body had become divorced of her will. Imprisoned by the creature, forced to watch as it slinked closer and closer as the weak beam of light retreated.
Day began to dim as Sol set and night claimed the disc, and still Sweetie could not move.
And the creature began to move its ponderous, hulking mass out of the shadowy morass in the other room.
This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be how she died. Held by some some alien magic, trapped like a fly in a spiderweb.
There was still so much she had to do.
So many she had to…
‘Punish’ seethed an alien thought, crushing all others with an impossible weight. ‘There are so many who wronged you who need to be punished for their transgressions.’
Stoked by the thundering thoughts, the angry flames in her soul burned higher and higher.
‘There is One who can help you. Who can lay bare all who have stolen from you, flayed your heart and ruined all that was best in life. The ones who took her. Who stole away Rarity. Made her fall, body and mind broken, into the deepest pits of creation. They who pushed her into that chasm of despair and death.’
Within the darkness the mass squirmed with excitement, its many eyes piercing deeper and deeper into Sweetie’s being.
‘Say Her name, and She will grant your greatest desires.’
Silent roars echoed in her head as she warred with her limbs to move. For her magic to come to her call. Only her heart answered, racing faster and faster.
‘Call to Her, and she will answer. What else do you have left to lose? What more can the supposed gods take from you as penance?’
Images of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo flared with a burst of deep dread. She needed to get away from the beast for their sake. They needed her protection.
‘And when they too are gone, what will you have left but the pain and rage poured into you by the uncaring gods? She can take away that Wrath, if you would only let her into your heart. She is patient, and will wait, and will always be there for you when you need Her, Sweetie Delilah Belle.’
The door to the hovel burst open, and in swept a tawny blur. The thing in the dark screeched, its voice ripping through Sweetie like acide dripped claws. She scrunched her eyes shut and fell forward onto her knees as the scream echoed through every fibre of her being. And then she was being grabbed by the mane and dragged out of the hovel, the zebras family scramble after her.
Unceremoniously dumped into the alley, Sweetie looked up to thank her savour, and found it was Queen Hydrosia towering over her, a sneer on her glistening beak, red eyes aflame with loathing contempt.
“This is where you’ve been? Playing with some sort of mind-slaver?” the griffon queen spat, eyes barely flickering towards the zebras before returning to Sweetie. “Trying to save more of the cattle, but unable to save yourself. How… pathetic.”
“W-what is that thing?” Sweetie gasped, trying to get to her hooves. Her entire body shook with exhaustion and a deep, simmering rage at being rescued by a the fallen queen.
Hydrosia shrugged, drumming her talons on the wet stones, glaring at Sweetie as she would a stain on a favourite dress. “A demon of some kind? Something else? Does it even matter? Several such monsters seem to have made my city their new home. You would do well never to leave the safety of the castle or its towers again. I am more than some errand chick to be sent to find a wayward pony.”
Folding her ears back, Sweetie bristled at the queen’s callous indifference. But, what else could she expect from an undead griffon?
Long, black tongue licking her beak, Hydrosia lifted her glare from Sweetie and fixed her sight on the huddled zebras.
“No!” Sweetie put herself between the undead queen and the trembling zebras. “I will not let you hurt them.”
Shrugging, Hydrosia flipped her talons. “We’ll see, we’ll see.”
A protective bubble surrounded the group as they were lead back to the castle. There was no physical shell, but it was there, the other creatures of the city parting around them like they were traveling in the eye of a storm. Ghouls and ghasts licked their chops with unnatural tongues, but dared not approach.
Leaving them at the gates, Hydrosia returned to the tower she and her former court had claimed as their haunt.
After leaving the zebras with the other survivors to get blankets and some warm food, Sweetie went in search of her friends. Barely more than a few dozen zebras and a couple older ponies milled about the long entrance hall, huddling near the fireplaces and staying away from the boarded up windows. The kitchens still operated, but much of the castle had been rendered inaccessible in Twilight and Hades’ brief confrontation. Even with space a premium, nopony dared venture into the Great Hall where Hades resided in melancholy splendor.
As she was grabbing a piece of bread and some soup, Sweetie noticed Soir picking her way through the hallway.
“Salut,” Soir called, her voice far too cheerful for the gloomy atmosphere. “Votre ami a des difficultés.”
Putting her bowl down, Sweetie asked, “Which friend? Is it Scoots? Is she hurt?” When she received a blank look in response, she repeated the questions in Prench.
“Oui. Scootaloo, uh, sad. Tres sad.” Soir scrunched up her face, injecting about all her Equestrian.
Sweetie was a little thankful that Rarity had insisted she learn Prench. Otherwise Soir would have been entirely isolated, and they’d have had no knowledge of Hades intentions, or reasons for coming to Southstone. As it was, they didn’t have much of an idea, Soir only able to provide guesses at best.
Yet, Soir continued to have faith that Hades was doing the right thing, though how cursing an entire city and generation could be considered ‘right’ eluded everypony else.
For his part, Hades spoke to nopony else but Soir, and only sparingly at that. The rest of the time he sat on his throne staring into the hole Twilight had left in the Great Hall with a distant gaze.
To her surprise, Sweetie wasn’t taken to the former slaves’ quarters, but rather to the Great Hall. Inside, Scootaloo sat on the steps leading up to the throne, Apple Bloom next to her trying to provide comfort. Hades stood near a window, looking out at the countryside beyond the mountain slopes. The scene stiffened Sweetie’s spine and sent a twitch down her tail.
Scootaloo was rocking back and forth, legs tucked up against her chest and wings snapping at odd intervals like she was trying to shake them dry but couldn’t. She addressed Hades in a quivering voice, one broken by frightened sobs. “What if she’s dead too! What if this city got her as well?! You have to f-find Sweetie!”
Hades didn’t respond, if he heard her at all.
Clearing her throat, Sweetie tried to casually trot to her friends. Apple Bloom brightened with a relieved smile, while Scootaloo looked as if seeing a ghost. Pushing herself up, Scootaloo rushed to Sweetie, grabbing her in a crushing hug. Head buried in Sweetie’s mane, Scootaloo shook with silent sobs.
“It’s okay, Scoots. I’m back. Just got, uh, stuck in a house down in the Middle Ward for a while. Nothing I couldn’t manage.” Sweetie pointedly kept out the fact she needed rescuing. Tenderly, she patted Scootaloo on the withers and stroked her neck.
Ear flicking in her direction, Hades turned towards Sweetie with a deep frown, as if he was well aware of her omissions.
Ignoring the bleak alicorn, Sweetie asked, “What’s wrong? You can tell me anything.”
Scootaloo trembled, and took her time to speak. Her mouth opened and closed. She began, stuttered, and then fell silent several times. Words tangled in Scootaloo’s throat, and each time she held Sweetie tighter.
All Sweetie could do was wait, and be strong.
Eventually, Scootaloo managed to whisper, “I c-can’t stop seeing their f-faces. All their faces. The diamond dogs. The g-griffons. Every time I close my eyes they are there. And then you went missing. And… and… I kept thinking that you were gone too, and picturing you like them. Dead. And… I want to go home. I want my moms.”
“I know. I know.” Sweetie patted Scootaloo on the withers. “We all want our mothers.”
Looking over, Hades’ expression hardened, sharp as flint and just as cold. Sweetie returned his look with one just as frosty. Leaving his vigil, he crossed the room silently while Scootaloo repeated her plaintive whimpers. He reached out with a wingtip, touching Scootaloo on the brow. Sweetie groped for Durandel as Scootaloo sagged into her, all strength gone from her friend.
“What did you do to her?” Sweetie and Apple Bloom demanded together.
“I gave her peace, if for a time,” Hades responded, lifting the limp filly in his aura as he summoned a thane. “Return her home,” he commanded, and to Sweetie and Apple Bloom he said, “You may join your friend. This is no place for mortals, and I should have sent you away long ago. Go. Go and be with your families.”
“Wait, that is it?” Sweetie demanded, incensed at Hades unexpected offer. “You think you can just wave a wing and everything will go back to normal? What about all the griffons you killed? All the zebras? Everypony you hurt when you cursed this city? You can’t undo that!”
Hades scowled through his lanky, ghostly mane. “They were punished for consorting with demons. A punishment your own gods should have meted out long ago. As you have gathered those exempt from my judgement, I will grant them safe passage to their homelands.”
“And how many did I miss? How many died because of you?”
“Seven hundred and fifty-three,” Hades replied without hesitation, sweeping past her with continued indifference. “All told, a far lesser number than I’d initially estimated. You look surprised, but I am well aware of the consequences to my actions, miss Belle. Take pleasure, you have saved everyone that could be saved.”
Aghast, Sweetie looked between the thane, Scootaloo draped across his thin back, Apple Bloom already beside them, and Hades. Soir also vacillated between the thane and Hades, lower lip caught between her teeth.
“What? That’s it?” Sweetie shrieked, chest heaving as anger exploded from her. “If you know exactly how many died, then you must of been able to help!”
“As I’ve told Soir plenty of times, you mortals live but fleeting lives, and wander my city for ages. Death is the natural state of your kind, not life.” No anger came from Hades. He spoke as all adults spoke to a petulant foal, with an infuriating sort of exasperation.
Hearing her name, Soir came closer, eyeing Sweetie warily. “De quoi parles-tu?”
“We are talking about how this cowardly excuse for an alicorn hides here instead of fixing the messes he makes.”
Flipping a hoof at Sweetie, Hades said, “Elle est en colère, je laisse les gen mourir.”
“Or course I am angry you didn’t help them!”
“It is not my duty to help them!” Emotion at last inflected Hades voice, his eyes pinching in the corners as he loomed over Sweetie. “And I will not be questioned by a mortal foal.”
To Sweetie’s astonishment, she wasn’t afraid of Hades. He could kill her in an instant as casually as stepping on an ant, but that didn’t bother her. If anything she welcomed it. An end to the guilt, to the nightmares, to the despair. To the frothing rage in her gut.
He wouldn’t harm her, however. It wasn’t his ‘duty’ to punish the merely insolent, afterall.
Pressing her advantage, Sweetie stepped closer to Hades, head craned back to look him in the eyes. “Your duty is to help keep life flowing. Tartarus is where bad ponies and the faithless go to be cleansed so they can start their next lives free of all their previous mistakes. Just because we never knew about you doesn’t mean we were ignorant of everything about death. How is cursing a city and killing all these griffons and zebras your duty, oh great God of the Dead?”
She was pushing him perhaps too far. A few steps away, Apple Bloom and Soir were both deathly silent. One by choice as she waited for a response, too scared or too awed to add anything to the argument. The other having little idea what was being said, and scrunching up her face as it continued in a language she hardly understood.
Cold disdain twisted Hades’ face, and then as quick as it came was banished. A deep chuckle rattled in his throat like the toss of bone dice.
“You are a very brave pony, miss Belle. I see what attracted Faust’s attention to you. I am demonkind’s jailer, and it is every god’s duty to return them to the hells beneath Tartarus should they manage to escape, as agreed upon at the beginning of Time. The gods of this disc have been negligent.”
Any further arguing came to a sudden halt as Talona skipped in through the main door, singing a nonsensical ditty. “There is an army outside the city,” she declared happily. Everypony stared at her a moment in shock, and then the first discordant boom of the zebrican bombards rolled up to the castle, deceptively soft over so many miles.
Hades took the announcement with a stoic weariness, returning to and slumping onto his throne. “You mortals are truly amazing,” he sighed, “Where an alicorn fails you think to send an army. I will not even need to raise a hoof. My city will do all the work of driving this nuisance away.”
Sweetie chewed on the inside of her mouth, both appalled and enraged at the callous disregard for life. Any further arguing was pointless. Spinning on her hooves, she started to march away. She’d made it part-way down the hallway adjoining the throne room when she was called to stop.
“Where are you going?” Apple Bloom demanded, skidding to a stop in the wide doorway. She hovered there, clearly reluctant to follow any further.
“There are a bunch of ponies who don’t know what they are prancing into,” Sweetie answered. “Somepony has to tell them to stay away from this place.”
Apple Bloom slid her mouth shut, sighed, and nodded her head in understanding.
“Princess Twilight, where are you? Why haven’t you come back? We need you,” Apple Bloom whispered. It was a sentiment Sweetie no longer shared.
Shifting Durandel at her side, she said, “We don’t need the help of cowardly alicorns.”
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Nice to see an update to one of my favourite stories. Sweetie is getting a little dark, can’t really blame her though, considering everything she’s gone through. Still, hopefully she gets a decent happy ending at the end.
Poor Sweetie. I hope she gets a happy ending, but that's a lot of bitterness.
Only Spanish has this weird "¿". Et je pense que l'on dit plutôt « Tu/Vous parles/parlez de quoi ? » C'est plus facile.
It's better having a "parce que" in the middle. Et il faut ajouter un « s » au mot « gen ».
...yeah, I started learning French less than a year ago, and my knowledge in this field is still very limited (my English isn't that much better though, after all I'm Chinese). I'm pretty sure there are some other weird stuff in those French sentences that you wrote, but I dare not correct them.
Ooof, this chapter and the author's notes are heavy. Rarity come back! Equestria needs you.
9583200
Hmm, I thought it was French as well that had the odd upside-down question mark. Oh well, I'll hunt them down and remove the improper punctuation. It has been so long since I took French back in high school that I am 100% utterly reliant on Goggle translate algorithms. Having read many an translation into English, I can only imagine how bad the French is mangled.
sweetie is just a child having a temper tantrum.
Wewt. Always look forward to these updates. Would have read it earlier if I hadnt been so busy.
It's always great to see an update from this!
9583986
Be fair. Everypony has a breaking point. What she has gone through would send most folks to curse the heavens.
9582077 9582345 9583200 9583428 9587599 9590019 9594999
I have been reading everyone's replies, even if I haven't responded. They've been some of the few bright moments in what has otherwise been a hellish week. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to comment.
9600174
no problem; i know that feeling.
Hades is being a hypocrite in saying that the gods of Ioka failed to act against the demons when he is actively going against his duty by holding souls hostage. I wonder what is going on with Twilight since she has left the dimension of secrets at least. Maybe Sweetie Belle will meet Shyara again which might make her slightly less cynical.
9600174
Hey just a thought. Maybe you could set up a M&B discord. I would love to bounce ideas off other fans. Or maybe there is a larger mlp fanfic discord that could add a M&B section or somin. Idk. Just a thought. Anyway hmu if you ever need to vent. I seem to help quite a few folks in that regard.
9605278
At this juncture I can not recall if it was directly stated or just implied, but the father was Polished Armour. They had a tryst at the gala and then ghosted each other. Hence the animosity when Rainbow found him on the Bellerophon.
9603508
I personally hardly use Discord. I'm not averse to setting one up, per se, but at the same time I don't really have any intention or drive to do so. I'm having a lot of difficulty just getting the energy to write anything these days, and I really don't have the desire to use Discord.
9601582
He actually isn't going against his duty by holding souls hostage. He is grossly abusing his position and powers over souls, but it is not his role to tend to the living. Once he is done 'punishing' Twilight and her followers (now that he has focused in on her), he will release his hostages. For mortals, what he has done is thoroughly despicable. But, to pretty much every non-Iokan alicorn it would be met with a shrug and, 'Yeah, that makes sense. Seems justified.' The morals of Gods and of Mortals are vastly different. To him it is the equivalent of taking her ball at the playground, and being taller, holding it over her head while going, 'What are complaining about, shorty? You hit me first and took my friends!'
9622414
eh sure! I do wonder what my own species has been up to, and if our world exists somewhere in the void.
9622423
Alrighty. Humanity appeared around 2300 BE during the Dark Age in an arid, hilly region that has since become home to Saddle Arabia. As with much of the Dark Age, whoever lived in those lands has been long lost to history. All that is known is that a massive, silvery archway appeared in the side of a mountain, and from it appeared the creatures that would be known as Humans.
Humanity's arrival spurred Irida and Faust to action, and within 50 years the Dark Age would come to an end and the Golden Age would rise along with the Thuelesian Empire. Humans spread quickly, bringing with them great leaps in innovation, technology, and warfare. They enslaved every pony herd they came into contact with, cross breeding them with the large horses that they brought from their own homelands. Ponies refer to Humans as the Soulless, not just for the cruel and callous nature of their sudden expansion, but because they do not go to Tartarus and are not part of the cycle of Life and Death every other creature on the disc, from dragons to griffons, are part of. They were not part of Faust's Weave, and Iridia could not even see the souls of the unborn of humans. Humanity was utterly alien to the disc. If not for Faust forming the Thuelesian Empire, it is possibly that the entire disc would have been conquered.
As it was, the mountains between Canton and Saddle Arabia created a bulwark in the east, while Faust formed one in the west with her empire. The griffon empires to the south-west fromed another, while in the north-east, the Pegasi would spend the next two and a half thousand years in perpetual states of warfare, reshaping much of Pegasi culture as a result.
Humanity quickly broke down into kingdoms that would war amongst themselves even more than they would the neighbouring ponies and griffons. Parmeria, Tarkania, Narmada, and Babrudas are but a few of the more well known human kingdoms, and mostly due to the Books of Sol and Selene. Luna spent years among humans, even living as one for some time through the use of transfiguration magic. (As an aside, I have a series of Young Luna stories that are in various stages of completion set in this period.)
Going to have to finish this later...
9622496
are they actually soulless? That's interesting.
9622874
They are soulless as far as pony and alicorn can determine. Humans had many different afterlives and gods. Some nations had a single patron deity, others whole pantheons all their own.
The kingdoms of Man waxed and waned over the years, with some men spreading over the seas to the south-east, and through the inner sea to the ocean. Mankind outlasted the Thuelesian Empire that had kept them contained and protected the lands of ponykind. The Golden Era came to a crashing end with the collapse of the empire, Faust either actively destroying her own nation, or allowing it to crumble depending on the scholar asked. Regardless, as throughout the Airborean Period humanity resumed its expansion. It was one such group Luna met when she was a filly, lead by Heyreddin Barbarossa at the closing years of the Airborean Period.
But, the single greatest event of the 600 years had to be Fall of Acamar. Acamar was not the first star to fall, but hers set off a great change among the pegasi and mankind. The star had fallen in love with a shepherd boy named Tam the Lame, for his one malformed leg. Tam become known as the Tamer, and the first man to ride a pegasus. Together Tam and Acamar united the Pegasi and Tarkanians and swept the through the lands of man and pony alike in an unstoppable wave. The empire the two built did not survive Tam's sudden death and Acamar's disappearance. The Tarkanian tribes would spend the next few hundred years trying to recapture that brief torch of glory.
Acamar herself wouldn't be seen again for a hundred years until she re-emerged to unite the pegasi into the Pegasi Hordes in a mirror of their long standing foes. The Hordes still exist in present day Ioka, almost two thousand years after their formations, having survived ice ages, Discord, humanity, and more. The rise of the Hordes marks the begining of the Pre-Classical Period (300 BE - 12 BE).
There isn't a whole lot to say about humanity as a whole during this time. The former territories of Thuelesia were filled with ruins and monsters that kept humanity from otherwise resuming its expansion. During The Long Winter (12 BE - O ER) the Heroes of Harmony encountered a few humans, but otherwise, mankind stayed on the sidelines watching with curiosity and concern as Hearthsong (Iridia) fell to madness in her grief. Iridia and Faust were revered as either gods, or as the mounts to gods, depending on the culture and time.
It was the Age of Chaos and the arrival of Discord where Mankind's story was believed to have ended. The God of Chaos had a particularly potent effect on man, his mere presence enough to drive entire cities into frothing insanity that descended into bloody pits of death. By the time Celestia and Luna had imprisoned Discord, mankind was believed to have been wiped out. Their cities turned into gravesites, with scattered tribes of horses roaming the hills and deserts.
Faust, however, had other plans. Having seen the effect Discord had on mankind, she decided to save those she could. Gathering up survivors, Faust created a few refuges across the disc. One of these is Phoenicia.
The humans of present day (1563 Equestria Reckoning) are very spiritual and isolationist. They are lead by the Priesthood of Faust, who claim to have visions granted by her to guide them. Phoenicia is hidden in the bowl of a massive crater in the middle of the jungle. The city itself is built into the crater rim, with the floor of the crater used for agriculture and a lake. Hunters patrol the jungle to keep intruders away. Little else about them has been mentioned. I've left myself large swaths of history that can be filled and used as needed.
My favorite period to work on is the Airborean Period with Young Luna's adventures and travels eastward. I've only posted a couple of the stories of written of her and the men of that age.
Sorry for being a bit rambly in my response. I had to go back to my notes a few times to get the dates correct.
9623650
Tbh they probably just aren’t within the domain of these specific gods. As you said, they’re alien, so they probably just reincarnate or something.
9638103
Sorry for the slowness of my response,
1: The present day humans all worship Faust now. It is much the same as any group that worships her, with a whole lot of prayer, and very little response. The main exception being the high-priestesses who claim to be granted visions by Faust of what has been, will be, or could be. This is why Zubu went to them seeking their assistance.
2: Yes. 100% Lyra is obsessed with humans, more so since Luna returned and the Book of Selene regained prominence as it is filled with stories about them.
3: Derpy is from the coastal islands. Her first foal, Sparkler iirc, was from an 'out of season accident' when she had a spring fling with a sailor from one of the ships that are based in the islands. Because the foal was a unicorn, and born out of wedlock, Derpy was cast out by the rest of her clan, the tern Pegasus clans being far stricter and 'old fashioned' on both points. She moved to Ponyville, and since then met and fell in love with the local clock maker, Time Turner. Sadly, her conversation with Applejack was one of the things lost in the rewrite.
I'm 50:50 with you, Fleur. Yeah, not many of the griffons there had much choice what their rulers decided to do in general, much less any control over the decades of secret demonic rule that led to pissing Hades off.
On the other hoof, they did choose to stay there instead of leaving, and didn't have much of a problem with the whole eating other intelligent races thing, or with making armor out of pony/zebra skins, so how innocent could they really be said to be?
Especially since Hades has apparently spared the griffons' "cattle" from his curse. For what little good that did them...
How does Fleur know Gilda's target is a general?
Gilda hasn't mentioned that.
I'm confused. You just recently set up that the stars were gone, and that ponies would be shocked by the empty sky when night came, the stars having been taken away inside Twilight when she left Ioka. This is two weeks later, sure, and Twilight was asking Shyara for a way back to Ioka at last appearance, but for them to be back, there'd need to have been some mention of them returning? Surely everypony would be notably relieved and gratified by a sign that Twilight was back/not dead/somethingorother? This reads as if they'd never been gone after all and they're just still generally worried about Twilight.
The brands, okay. The collars and horn ring? I thought they'd gotten rid of those using the overseer's keys after Sweetie snapped his neck in the door, before they ran into Hades in the first place?
Oof. Sweetie's really in a bad place right now. Hopefully she recovers at some point.
my my author, is that self-deprecation I hear?
Rest assured that this is the best damn bad Trotkien fanfiction that can be found.
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Yeah, a lot of small inconsistencies that need to be corrected. An editor should have caught these, honestly.