We follow two young ponies who will have a deep impact on all of Equestria as their adventure unfolds
The land that was left in harth's warming eve, was not completely abandoned. In this land a war rages as racism is no longer being quailed as cooler minds leave, and harsher minds refuse to cooperate. Meanwhile, we find a boy in Armello who goes on an adventure that will end up saving all of Equestria.
This is the story of Armello, the country that was forgotten after Equestria's founding, and how the two neighboring countries would each have a deep effect on the other, with only two knowing that the other one ever existed.
During the great winter the country of Armello's citizens' were all separated into groups, with a bitter racism that made the winter grow even worse, and which in turn made their racism even stronger, and so on and so forth, however there was light in the reasonable fair minded ponies. When Equestria was found, a new land without an endless winter, all three groups that found this new land eventually bonded with each other, and with the power of their friendship defeated the windigos, and then would move most of their ponies to this new country, however there were many who refused to leave for this new country.
There were the ponies whom despised the idea of sharing a new land with the other races of ponies. There were the ponies who could not leave their country that they had lived their whole lives in, and their forefathers too. There were the ponies who were not, at the time, ready to leave on a trip to a new land, either too weak, old, pregnant, etc. A large number of ponies stayed in Armello. However, the windigos had been permanently defeated. After a month Armello returned to its former glory, however the bitter racism was not resolved, and after everything returned to "normal" Armello split into four new countries, the magical only country, Magicia, the pegasus only country, Aria, the earth pony only country, Randor, and the all inclusive country, Unitaria.
Very soon after that, the ponies from Magicia started a war against ponies of all other races, with Randor being their primary target. This lead to ponies from both Magicia and Randor to defect to Unitaria, who just wanted peace. However Unitaria was peace loving and wanted no conflicts from keeping refugees from other countries, so they were turned away, and founded their own country called Justarce, whose main goal was to promote peace for all and defend any and all ponies who want refuge from war.
There was much outrage among Unitaria by the actions their government had taken, and so many ponies who wanted to fight for everyone's right to peace, defected to Justarce to protect everypony equally, not just themselves.
However, Randor was happy to oblige Magicia, and saw the cowardice of the defectors of Justarce as outrageous, while the ponies Magicia thought even worse of Justarce than Randor did. However, Unitaria's positioning was in the middle of both Justarce and Magicia, and Justarce and Randor. Which brought the war to Unitaria's front door.
Meanwhile, Aria wanted as little to do with any pony as they could.( they did not want war, they just wanted to live by themselves)
One might ask, why did the ponies who wanted peace not just leave for Equestria? Well the answer is simple, the path to Equestria was through Magicia's kingdom, and very soon after they declared war and the defectors defected, they created a magical barrier to protect and isolate their land from outside intervention. They even managed to maintain their own ecosystem through magic. The ponies of Aria managed to survive on their own through doing the all of the labor themselves, and the ponies of Randor relied on natural weather occurrences to maintain their country.
So the stage was set, five countries, four of which at bitter war with the others, and no windigos to calm their bitter hatred.
We must now travel back in time, to before Equestria's founding, back to the of country Armello, in the outskirts of Ludile, at an earth pony's family farm, to tell the story of Agric, a male earth pony who is still young, but loves to learn of the world around him, who reads books and loves to adventure into the forest.
After Agric finished his minimal chores, as Agric was still quite young, he decided to go adventuring in the forest.
Before he could leave his mother stopped him warning him "Be careful, don't go to deep into the forest because that is where monsters live".
"I will, but you know that is just folklore, there aren't such things as monsters!" responded Agric.
His mother only worrying for his saftey replied "Be careful anyways, I don't know what I'd do if i didn't have you, I love you so much honey".
"I love you too mom, bye!" Agric said as he dashed off.
Agric then wandered into the forest, observing the many trees, when he heard a sound coming from behind a set of bushes. He was scared, because of the conversation he just had, and this is the first time he has heard anything alive outside in the forest, outside of small animals, but his curiosity got the better of him. He leaped through the bushes, only to find a female unicorn, around his age, with a plant cutie mark. She seemed to be collecting some type of herb, but was startled, and immediately turned around, when Agric made his entrance.
Agric quickly said "Oh, hello there, I thought you were some sort of monster, how silly of me!".
The Mysterious girl responded "You almost scared me half to death, I had thought the same of you! Who are you, by the way?".
"My name is Agric, nice to meet you, what's yours?" Agric replied.
"My name is Zyra, and I am here collecting plants, I love plants and have even found a few uses for some of the ones I've collected. So, what are you doing in the forest?" said Zyra.
"I love to come here and just adventure around, since the nearest city is too far to make regular trips to." answered Agric.
They both continued talking while they walked deeper into the forest. They both seemed instantly attracted to another.
"I live about a mile from here, whenever I can I sneak into the forest away from my parents to study the small critters and plants. There is something so peaceful about the forest, and at the same time it is quite lively with the bunnies and squirrels" Zyra said.
"I know what you mean, but my mother always warns me of monsters, so I don't really go to far in. Why do you have to sneak away?" Agric asked.
Zyra slowly answered "Well, my parents teach me all the time, I never stop learning from the seemingly endless amounts of books they throw at me, so I have to be able to get away and have fun, which is almost impossible to do at home".
Agric exclaimed "I would love it if I had parents who would teach me all sorts of things, we only have a few books to read, and every year on my birthday I get to pick a book from the city, that my parents buy me. You are so lucky!".
Zyra said in response "I never thought of it that way, you know if you ever want to come over and borrow a book from my house, you are more than welcome!".
Agric quickly replied "That would be amazing, thank you so much!"
They both blush a little bit as they stare in each others' eyes for a little too long
Zyra wondered "What was that you mentioned about monsters? Do you think they really exist?".
Agric reassured her fears by saying "Oh, yah, well you see my mom tells me of these ravenous monsters that will gobble you up if they catch you, that live deep in the forest. I really don't think they really exist, though.".
Zyra said as she rubbed up against Agric "That seems really scary, but i'm sure with you with me, there is nothing for us to fear."
Agric blushed in response.
Zyra suddenly says "Oh look, this is a special plant that can numb the senses." She then pulls out a basket from her side that went unnoticed till now, and places the plant inside.
Agric being surprised by this says " I never knew such small plants could have such tremendous power and utility!".
Zyra informs him "Yes, there are all sorts of plants that can do all sorts of things, though I haven't studied all of them, and have only been able to find a few types myself.".
It had been 30 minutes since they first met, and they had unknowingly walked deep into the forest. A loud howl screeched as the two realized that they had gone too deep, and they promptly decided to run away. However, their realization had come too late, as a giant timber wolf leaped out at them and growled.
Agric screamed "Run!"
They bolted through shrubbery to try and duck the beast, but there was another one, and they were starting to get cornered when Agric noticed a medium sized cave entrance, and he deduced that the giant timber wolves would be too big to fit, so he called out to Zyra, "Into the cave, climb up the rocks into that cave!".
However, they were both young, and the timber wolves were catching up to them now that there wasn't any shrubbery to dodge through . As Agric had finished climbing up the first big rock, he lent out a hoof to help Zyra up, but mid way through the timber wolf set his teeth into her lower right leg, and so began a tug of war. Even though he was only a young pony, he was still an earth pony, and with all his might he pulled her, resulting in a large ripping sound as she came flying up. Agric then noticed Zyra was gushing blood, and that one of her lower legs had been ripped off. Zyra started screaming in bloody agony, as Agric remembered the plant, and immediately gave it to her, however as the screaming began to quail, Zyra let out one last bloody agonizing screech, and Agric noticed the timber wolves starting to turn their attention away from their food, which had only temporarily stated their hunger, and back to the two young ponies.
Agric quickly yelled "They are still coming, we have to escape into the cave!".
Zyra desperately shouted "I can't move, you're going to have to carry me!".
Agric flung her over his back and said "Okay, grab on to my neck and ride me!".
Agric ran and climbed as fast as he possibly could, and barely managed to leap into the cave inning, as the timber wolves pursued . He kept running, but noticed that the cave was actually quite lit, with blue glowing rocks surrounding the cave. However, as he began to stop, he saw shadows growing larger, and immediately assumed that it was the timber wolves, as he kept running he noticed small mice skimping through the cave. He kept running, however 10 minutes later, he felt Zyra slipping so he stopped immediately. As he stopped, she fell onto the ground, having fainted from the blood still oozing from the open wound. He tried to tend to her as he made a make quick turnakit in which he had read about from stories in books, but had absolutely zero experience with. As he finished tying his shirt tightly around Zyra's leg, he heard a knock on the floor, and saw a large shadow, and since he knew he couldn't possibly carry her alone, without her grasping onto him, he ran away deeper into the cave as fast as he could. He started crying from everything he just saw, mostly his cowardice in sacrificing his new friend for his own safety.
So Agric just kept running as fast as he could. It seemed like hours had gone by. When he saw a light at the end of the cave, he saw trees and assumed that he had made it back to another side of the forest, he let out a sigh of relief, his hellscape was finally over he thought.
Agric approaches the caves exit, and then takes a good view at his surroundings. Agric is astonished at what he sees. There are mountain walls surrounding the entire forest valley. This makes no sense to him, because mountains have tops, so how could there be light here. He looks up, directly into the sun. He quickly looks back down, as he notices a clear water lake. It dawns on him how famished and tired he is, so he decides not to over analyze it, and just go get a refreshing drink of water.
As Agric climbs down to the forest, he notices there is an absolute stillness of this valley, there is no sound outside of the sounds he makes, the air is calm, and there are no other animals here. As he gets closer to the lake, he feels an almost magical presence around him, drawing him towards the lake. He arrives at the lake, takes a drink, and then his whole body starts to glow brightly, enveloped in a magical aura as he grows a horn. He has transformed into a unicorn! Agric is in awe, as his cutie mark appears to him, two stars swirling around each other. This is what he has wanted his whole life, to be able to perform magic, and study the way of the universe, which is a job only given to unicorns. He then hears a faint voice coming from the lake. He can't make out what it's saying, or even what gender the voice is, but then he realizes something. He can now carry Zyra with basic magic that doesn't even require an incantation, something all unicorns are able to do. He dismisses the voice and runs back as quickly as he can to see if Zyra might still be alive, and to make an attempt to save her. He runs back with everything he has in him, even faster than before, and after 15 minutes he sees Zyra's body laying there. She appears dead to him.
Agric exclaimed "NO!". Agric bends down crying over Zyra's limp body, when he hears a faint breath coming from her.
Agric shouts "She's still alive! You do not deserve your fate, with all that is in me I exclaim to the heavens, that I am unworthy of your gift, and if there is any justice you should live. Please, Please live.".
He continues sobbing. Agric makes a desperate prayer "I wish so much for your wounds to heal, I can't even imagine the pain you must feel, your heart is pure, so your body I will cure.". His horn lights up, as his magical aura engulfs Zyra. Agric then puts every single bit of effort he has into this, as he sees her leg starting to glow, he rejoices for a slight second, but his concentration breaks, as he falls to the floor unconscious. He has over exerted himself.
Agric awakes suddenly after some amount of time has passed. He finds Zyra aggressively looking at him as if confused, and violated. Agric instantly notices that not only did he somehow manage so save Zyra from what he was sure was certain death, but also that her leg is not back. He did not fully succeed in restoring her leg, it is a stump.
Zyra states "What on earth did you do to me!? Who are you and why did you do this?! Answer me now, or i'll hurt you!"
Agric is extremely confused, but comes to the conclusion that somehow the hour long blackout has given her short term memory loss, and with this excuse decides to reinvent himself, now that he has both the power and the opportunity to pursue his life long dreams of studying the world and magic in the big city. Agric panics as he is taking a long time to answer, and as he tries to think of a name he remembers his cutie mark and quickly declares his name.
'Star Swirl' quickly says "My name is Star Swirl, we were looking for unusual plants in the forest while chatting, when all of a sudden timber wolves attacked us, and they got you, but I fended them off and helped you to this cave for safety. I then performed a very high level magical spell to heal your leg and stop the bleeding, but it drained me of all my stamina as I passed out."
Zyra angrily responds "Why don't I remember anything then!?"
Star Swirl answers "Well you passed out from losing a lot of blood, so I assume you might have a bit of brain damage because it did take me a while to fend them off and carry you to the cave. I'm so sorry this happened." Zyra starts crying as she can still feel the pain of losing her leg. Star Swirl offers his shoulder as comfort.
Zyra accepts both the explanation and comfort remarking "Thank you, thank you so much. I'm so sorry I was angry, you saved my life. Would you please just help me back home.".
Star Swirl responds "Of course, but you'll have to lead, I don't know where you live." .
Zyra inquisitively asks "Wait, what? Then why were we walking in the forest together? Did we JUST meet?".
Star Swirl answers her with some deception "Well, yes. I was just finished with my chores at the fa- I mean, I had finished cataloging some creatures for a study I was doing when I found you in the woods, and after we started chatting I was escorting you as we found interesting plant life , but we wandered too deep into the woods and timber wolves came... and well you know the rest."
Zyra cringes and adds "That sounds absolutely terrifying, i'll try to point out the way, but we are very far off course, i'm not sure I even know how to return home. Lend me a hoof."
Star Swirl reassures her "That's okay, I can help us return at least a little closer to your home, and then you can lead us back once you start recognizing things. I think the timber wolves shouldn't be a problem as long as we don't stick around too long.". They are walk for about 20 minutes with Star Swirl supporting Zyra to walk.
Zyra suddenly states "I remember this place, I think I can lead home. You sure don't look like a unicorn, if I had to guess i'd say I almost recognize you from a local farm."
Star Swirl ingeniously replies "Well, that makes some sense, seeing as my mother was a unicorn, and my father an earth pony. I mostly resemble him, but who I am is much more towards my mother's side."
Zyra responds "Oh, I guess that makes sense, but why are you out here in Ludile? Cataloging creatures you said? But you are so young, you are my age, how could you possibly know such advanced magic to be able to fend off timber wolves, and heal me? And why on would you possibly be doing such a demeaning task as cataloging creatures in the middle of no where if you are so talented, especially at such a young age?".
Star Swirl trying to think of an answer responds "Well you see, that is because, well, uh, you see, THIS IS A TEST! Yes, in order to advance past being in elementary magic education, you must perform a test proving you are worthy of becoming someone's apprentice, and cataloging creatures is just one of many tasks most apprentice's do on a regular basis. We work as helpers for a master, and when we aren't doing busy work they teach us advanced magic and how to eventually be able to do their job. However, I am very gifted, as you can see, so I am able to perform magic well ahead of my years."
Zyra not buying it says "But still, magic of this caliber isn't even described in books, I've read almost everything you can read about magic, and never have i heard of spells as powerful as you say you have perfor-"
Star Swirl cuts her off remarking "It looks like we are here, I better be off now that I have returned you safely. I am terribly sorry about the accident , but I really must be off."
Zyra wants to rest, so she says "Well, okay then, thank you again, bye!".
Star Swirl says after she is inside and no one is around, looking at the forest "Farewell." Star Swirl returns to his barn, the time is very late by now, and uses a potato bag as a hat as he walks in. His mom is still up worried sick about her son.
His mother half crying hugs him and says "Agric! You're home, I was so worried about you, what happened? You never come home this late, you know you are supposed to be home by nightfall!"
Star Swirl responds "Well you see mother, I was out in the forest and I met this girl, and we just let time slip away from us..."
His mother clearly delighted as his excuse says "Oh Agric, I'm so glad you are alright, but we will have to talk about this girl business in the morning, and WHY WOULD YOU POSSIBLY BE WEARING A POTATO BAG ON YOUR HEAD? Take that off at once!"
Star Swirl secretively states "Mom, I can't tell you please just trust me, I love you. I'm going to bed.". His mom swipes the bag off of his head revealing the unicorn horn. His farther then walks in being awoken by all the commotion.
His mother in total shock barely manages out "What... I don't understand.".
His father says from behind, towards both Agric and his mother who are in a line in front of him "What did you do?"
His mother quickly says "NOTHING, I would never betray you, I swear honey I love you, and only you." His father quite angrily replies
"WHAT? I was talking to Agric, What are you talking about!?"
His mother embarassed at what she said says "Oh, nothing, of course."
His father extremely furious at her implications shouts "WHAT!?".
Star Swirl, not being used to this kind of shouting between his parents, interjects "I'll explain in the morning I am so tired, please just trust me its nothing to worry about, I love you both.".
His father demands "I want an explanation for this RIGHT NOW.".
Star Swirl begging to go to bed says "Dad, IN THE MORNING, PLEASE.
His father letting in says "Okay, but this better be good, and don't you think we aren't going to talk about that, honey."
Star Swirl then dashes up to his room. After waiting for his parents to go to bed, he writes a letter telling them that he is leaving to give live with a girl, and that they shouldn't attempt to come after him. He says he loves them very much, but he needs to move on. Star Swirl leaves the letter on his bed and sneaks down stairs, walks out the door, and runs towards the road to Ludile, the closest city.
Meanwhile in Justarce, we find a young pony with his mom in their home. The young boy is named Hope, and his mother Mare Tyra. They are both unicorns.
Hope asks his mom "Why is daddy never around anymore, mom? I miss him so much.".
Mare Tyra answers "He is defending us agianst bad people, I'm sure he misses you too.".
They embrace each other. An audile knocking sound is then heard from the door as Tyra goes to answer it. She finds two male earth ponies carrying a letter.
Hope comes to see what the matter is, as one of the earth ponies begins to read the letter, "Miss Mare Tyra, you are summoned to the army at once, by law one member from each family is required to serve in the war. Your son is not yet of age to serve. He shall be placed in the custody of Justarce.". Tyra begins to sob, as one of the earth ponies tries to console her, but she quickly regains her constitution as she turns to Hope.
Mare Tyra says "I have to go now but you must be strong, and always remember that me and your father love you more than anything. Justice is never easy, violence and hatred don't solve anything, they only bring about more violence and hate. Noone is born evil, they are made to be that way. I love you so much.".
Hope asks "Why do you have to leave? Why are they taking you away? Mommy please don't leave me!". One of the earth ponies then abruptly pulls Tyra away.
Mare Tyra yells "Never forget that I love you!". Hope tries to follow but is blocked by the other earth pony.
Hope screams "Let me through, please let me through! You can't take away my mom!".
The earth pony says "You can't see your mom anymore. You might not understand this, but the enemies don't stop coming, and so we can't stop defending either. I must take you to your new home now, you will be under the care of the state, and we will teach you to be strong.". The earth pony stars to take him away, when Hope hits him and tries to run. The earth pony spreads out his wings, that were hidden untill now, quickly catches up and throws Hope to the ground.
The earth pony angrily says "What you just did was a capital offense! If you weren't so young you could be executed for that, but we cannot afford to punish foolish children like you, especially not unicorns. You have so much potential, your father was one of the best worriors we ever had. Your actions disgrace who he was." Hope begins to cry.
Hope, sobbing, asks "My dad is dead? Why? Why would you take away my mom after my dad died? You are evil!".
The earth pony says "We must, every day our army grows thinner and thinner, and their's grows bigger and bigger. The very few unicorns we have we must use if we stand any chance at defending the fragile peace we have created for ourselves. Peace and justice are things worth fighting and dying for."
Hope responds "Why don't you let my mom decide that for herself!?".
The earth pony reprimands him by saying "You ignorant child, she has. Everyone who lives here came here to live in peace, but there is a cost to peace, and that cost is being willing to lay your life on the line to protect it. Your mother knew full well what would happen if her husband died. Do not be little your parents by throwing away the life your father died to protect.". Hope gets up and begrudgingly starts to walk with the earth pony.
The earth pony tries to lighten things up by saying "You will like your new home, there are lots of other fillies to meet, but you are special. You will train your magic and learn many things, from other unicorns. You will become very powerfull and respected if you complete your training."
Hope says defiantly "I don't want to fight.".
The earth pony responds "You won't be fighting anyone at the orphanage. You will be learning, all about the things we have learned from books, and you will learn all sorts of fun spells from teachers. That sounds like fun doesn't it?". Hope remains silent.
They arrive at the orphanage. It seems to be a very large castle. Hope walks in as he is handed off to another pony a few years older than him, who guides him around. He shows him the living areas, the kitchen, the back yard, and then he shows him to his room. Hope asks to be left alone and the other pony says someone will come for him in the morning to bring him to the 'school' before leaving. Hope gets in his bed and cries himself to sleep.
