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Prologue: A battle finished, an adventure just begun1,948 words
Chapter 1: Storm of Swords2,451 words
Chapter 2: The Lonely Mountain2,148 words

Prologue: A battle finished, an adventure just begun

Stick War: Equestrian Shores

Prologue: A battle finished, an adventure just begun

Underneath a pool of dark clouds, on a large and beautifully designed harbor, thousands- no, hundreds of thousands of small, thin, pitch-black stick figures with eyes filled with a white glow were stumbling, crawling, and dragging themselves along the wooden planks onto fifty large ships. On tall wooden towers, soldiers with bows and sleek helmets used their keen eyes, examining the crowds closely, hoping to notice any families that might be split up.

"For we, are the Archidons! With bows so accurately piercing, they will fall, before they get a chance to stand!"

The boats, while still wooden, are very beautiful. They're enormous, each of them with at least three levels above water, and keep in mind these ARE the smaller ships, and go at least 17 dekameters from front to rear. Each boat has a tree-like structure on each mast, offering multiple crow's nests for the Archidons. The boats creak and groan with every movement made, trying to support their own weight and their passengers. Upon the barge, several soldiers stand tall, with gleaming helmets, spears, and shields.

"We, are the Speartons! Born to die... but not before them!"

The warriors dutifully glare out at the mountains, their snowy eyes analyzing the heavenly stone pillars closely, trying to detect any incoming enemies. Their spears glimmered in the candlelight, as the dark and impure clouds had swallowed the sun, or was it the moon? None of Inamorta could tell the difference at this point. One Spearton turned his head upon hearing a strange scuttling.

"Mother! Where are you? Mother!" The Spearton looked at his partner. The soldier nodded towards the child, giving the silent signal for the Spearton to do his job. The first soldier looks around, and walks towards the little girl.

"Hey. Little girl. What nation are you?" The girl blubbers out, frantically turning and shaking.

"Wh-where's my mother? Where is she? I was right behind her and-"

"Shhhh, it's okay, now. She's probably waiting at the boat. Now, what nation are you? I'll get you there."

"Archidon, sir."

"Oi, you! She's one of your lot." He calls to an Archidon on a tower above. The Archidon nods, and climbs down from his tower. He pushes through the crowd, and guides the little girl by the hand to her nation's section of the harbor. The Spearton turns, and watches as his own nation's people flood these boats, to leave the land they grew up in. The Spearton's mind drifted off to the bone-chilling announcement...

The entire Order Empire stood underneath the mighty palace, where the Senate was holding an important meeting. Word had gotten around that the evil witch Medusa had been killed. Slain in battle by an Archidon. This Archidon, named Basilio, was officially given the title of Prime Minister of the Archidon on the spot, according to the hushed whispers flying around. The crowd erupted into cheers when the leaders of each of their nations stepped out from the shadows of the Senate chambers and into the light.

King Leonidas of the Speartons made an effort to appear first, and grinned as his nation whooped in joy.

Next, Lord Daiki, patriarch of the Shadowrath, stepped from the Senate chambers, giving a rare Shadowrath smile. The crowd went wild, wishing cameras were invented just so they could take pictures of the LEADER of the Shadowrath smiling.

Following him was Chancellor Aedan of the Swordwrath, who raised his fist high into the air, sending the crowd into an absolute riot.

Next, Elder Alberic appears, with the Magikill jumping up and down... and breaking their hips... Alberic cringes, and then gives an apologetic grin, one of his signatures, which officially gave the Order Empire's logic processors one big bitch-slap.

Now, to give the crowd one last motivator, the hero of the day, the old Prime Minister of the Archidon stepped out, and handed his quiver, the Prime Minister's quiver, to the hero Basilio. The crowd snapped, and began to tear at the doors, trying to reach their lords and masters.

Then, a single figure appeared, his quiet frown calming the entire civilization he had personally built. At the tip of Emperor Orpheus' frown was a sudden twitch into a cocky grin. His civilization became a horde of savage animals, roaring desperately. With a single motion, Orpheus quiets his people, and breathes in. Alberic mutters a quick, unreadable spell under his breath, and in doing so, amplifies Orpheus' voice several hundred fold.

"People of Inamorta! People of Order! You have wasted months of your lives, waiting to hear news of your families! Your lost brothers, sons, fathers, lovers. And you have dipped into despair when you heard of their deaths! And then you flew into rage, rage against the bastards responsible for your loss! Rage against Medusa! And now I tell you, your losses were NOT in vain! For the witch Medusa has been SLAIN!" The crowd's roars of joy and unity reduce their leaders' hearing to 'really, REALLY old guy who blasts dubstep all day'. Orpheus' satisfaction reduces to a somber expression, and he calms his people, tears welling up in his eyes.

"But I'm afraid that the witch's bag of tricks extended past her grave. For she has used her last breath to curse this land. Medusa wanted it to be her land, or no land. Now, we are under threat from nature itself. The clouds above shall deprive us of crops. We. Must. Leave. Inamorta."

Orpheus rubs his temples as he relives that tragic memory for the umpteenth time. The strength to broadcast that message was more than just Alberic's spell. It tore at the old emperor's soul to speak those four words. To abandon his once-beloved homeland. A scrawny (how can you be scrawny when your people are bone-thin? I dunno, he just is) young man walks up, holding a long scroll. Various Inamortan literature is etched across, mainly numbers and statistics. The emperor of Inamorta sighs, 'Oh, dear. Haven't I suffered enough?'

"Emperor, the Shadowrath and Archidon are ready to depart."

"Did I do the right thing?" The boy blinks, trying to understand his master's words.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Condemning my home... our home... without even trying?" The boy looks around, trying to escape the awkward question.

"My apologies! Uh.. I think I have some... uh... numbers to check, sir!"

"You may leave..." A soldier with nothing more than a sword stands at attention, and turns to his emperor.

"We, are the Swordwrath! Forging blades so sharp, that limbs will sever, at mere sight!"

"If I may speak, milord?"

"...yes..."

"Sir, I think you... did make the right choice. From what I've seen, if we made this move any later, we would've run out of food in only seven months. Now that we're all rationing, our food could last us four years!" Orpheus turns, the bags under his eyes encompassing his glowing pupils.

"But... what if we never find anything? What... if we go in a circle? What if there's NOTHING? What if we just drop off the side of the earth, straight into HELL? HUH? WHAT IF THAT HAPPENS? WHAT IF THIS WHOLE DAMN THING WAS FOR NAUGHT? WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE WE LOST IN THE WAR? THEY'LL HAVE DIED TO PROTECT A DOOMED NATION!" The Swordwrath guard leans back as Orpheus knocks around various items in his chamber, and finally, the Emperor collapses, out of breath. His guards move him onto his well-furnished bed, and return to their positions. The guard sighs.

"What do you think? What if there really is nowhere for us to go?" The other guard snorts, "Feh. If we could live past the witch's armies, then we're gonna live through this." He looks out the window, staring at the waves slowly churning below. "I hope..."

Forty minutes pass, and the same scrawny boy runs in, and when he sees that the emperor is unconscious, he begins to back out. The guards cross their blades, blocking him off.

"What's the matter, boy?"

"Well... when he wakes up, could you tell him that the Speartons and Magikill have finished preparations?"

"No need. Already up." Orpheus stands, and quickly dons his red cloak. He walks outside, and looks out at the hundreds below, knowing that even more are under the deck, and will have to stay down there until they find anything. 'IF we find anything...' The old man's bones shiver from the cold sea winds, and he looks to the boy.

"How long until we can set sail?"

"Well, we were... waiting on your command, milord." Orpheus turns, eye twitching.

"And... you didn't think to say that earlier?"

"Well... no. M-my apologies-MMPH!" Orpheus shoved his hand over the boy's mouth.

"No need to apologize." He sighed deeply, letting the salty air fill his lungs, and he turned.

"Tell them to set sail. Now." The boy scampers off, and Orpheus looks at the dark clouds, devouring the sun and its brilliant light and warmth. He turns sharply, forcing his cloak to drop from his shoulders. The guards look at each other nervously before one of them picks it up and walks inside with it, putting it back on the rack. Orpheus, now sitting down, sighs and lets his head collapse on his desk, the sound of wood creaking and moaning in the wind filling his ears.

Delighted and ecstatic cheers fill the air, as hundreds of ponies line the streets of their capital, Canterlot. In the middle of the street, the newly crowned princess Twilight Sparkle is carried down the middle of the street in a carriage, with flower petals fluttering around in the breeze. She opens her mouth, and a chorus pops up from nowhere.

Life in Equestria shimmers
Life in Equestria shines
And I know for absolute certain

She jumps off of the carriage and lands on her feet (how the bloody hell do you even DO that?), and her friends spontaneously appear from nowhere, joining into their friend's song.

That everything (everything)
Yes, everything
Yes, everything is certainly fine
It’s fine

Twilight opens the wings on her back, and ascends into the air, calling out, "Yes! Everything's going to be just fine!" She flies out, farther and father, until she reaches Mare Angeles, a coastal city. She stands on a cliff, letting the ocean wind fly through her mane. She notes the dark clouds in the distance, which suddenly sends shivers down her spine. But they are quickly quelled by her joy and pride in her newfound powers.

"Heh, you hear that, sister? 'Everything's going to be fine'."

"Indeed. Everything IS going to be fine... for us. Medusa might have failed to take Inamorta, but I think that Equestria will be a PERFECT place for revenge... HAHAHAHAHA!"

"AHHAHAHAHAHA- Gackoughhagh! Seriously, we can't laugh like that. We're getting too old."

"No, YOU'RE getting old! I'm still young and beautiful."

"Bullshit, I SAW that wrinkle treatment cream!"

"Oh, COME ON!"

Author's Note:

Yeah, everything is NOT going to be fine. Seriously, haven't you people learned NOT to tempt fate? "It can't get any worse" "Everything's going to be fine" BAM! Godzilla comes up and eats everyone! Oh, are- are you recording this? Oh fu-

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. We will return to you in one moment.

Well, there you have it, folks! The beginning of another random load of bullish*t on this website! By the way, do stick figures count as humans? They're supposed to be humans, but they're bone-thin, and... the color of coal... and have glowy eyes... Ah, to hell with it! They're still humans in my head!

And speaking of heads, here's my head-canon for how Order works: all of the nations are under one umbrella, the Order Empire, but still act individually. The Speartons have a king, normally determined by being the strongest and most honorable fighter, etcetera. The Archidon have a Prime Minister, with a Cabinet that influences his decisions. The Swordwrath have a Chancellor, which is just one Swordwrath that the rest of the Swordwrath Council had elected to be their public figurehead. Put bluntly, he's the scapegoat AND the glory-hog. The Magikill and Clerics (just their women) have something like a Pope, the Elder, one who's considered the wisest of them all, and is fit to lead their nation of sorcerers. The Shadowrath are one large family, or clan, and the eldest man is the patriarch, and will be in charge. The Giants are just dumb animals, so... no leader for them.

For those of you that didn't notice, each of the civilizations have character names based on a certain real-world civilization.

Archidon/Albowtross- Italian
Swordwrath- Irish
Spearton/Order- Greek
Shadowrath- Japanese
Magikill/Clerics- German

Well, that's all for now. Ciao!

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