Feudal Equestria

With the cloud city being so near Moonbeam finds it somewhat difficult to re-enter society. Besides, who would believe his story. A land on the edges of civilization, destroyed in a major assault, being the sole survivor, it all seems so ridiculous. His military expertise (i'm going to get somewhat omnipotent here) has been diminished since his long and harsh journey, something Maelstrom would have railed him for being so naive. Had he remained vigilant he would have noticed the slow and deliberate trailing of another pegasus. Moonbeam continues to stall in this spot for a moment, trying to find the best strategic move to integrate into this strange new world.

 

Ashes walked in the halls of the castle, and lost himself. He tried to go to the kitchens, and went downstairs, in the halls Snow had taken him earlier. He walked slowly in the halls, and always turned left when he had the choice, noticing the right turns, and making a mind-map of the basement. He didn't remembered where the crops-room was, nor the stairs. He was completly desoriented, confused, and started to feel tired. He was always a little hungry, and got used to it, so he didn't felt his stomach growling incessly. As he walked, he tought he heard hoofsteps, not so far away. Another pony in the basements? Maybe somepony looking over for him, who another one who knew about the 'farm'. He continued in the direction of the sound, all of his senses in alert.

 

Snow stopped at the sound of hooves coming from around the corner, she cast a quick tele-vision (what I mean by that is remote viewing) spell and locked around the corner to see Ashes. She breathed a sigh of relief as she ended the spell and came around the corner, "Hey Ashes, trying to find the crops-room again? Don't bother, it took me months to memorize the path to it when I first moved here and finding it took months of exploring."

 

Ashes almost had an heart attack when he recognized Snow. "Oh, don't sneak on me like this when i try to sneak on you! And no, i just wanted to find the kitchens and investigate something. I had stopped the lab from their useless researches on the synthetic food, and i maybe tought of something really interesting. But i can't spill it out: if it works, you'll finally be proud of the unicorns. It will involve the most advanced science, the highest philosophy of our noble clan, and the magic of your flowers. You'll see, if you can make it on the political plan with the pegasus and the earth ponies, as i'm sure you'll FINALLY arrive to an arrangement, we could maybe get rid of the lack of food. But it could take months of planning, and a lot of luck to achieve. Even if the risk is huge, i really believe in it. Will you let me work on it? Please?"

 

Snow sighed, "Fine, it appears that you have even more conviction with this than with the synthetic food." Snow then smiled a bit, "And this project might even acually be useful." Snow handed Ashes a map, "That's a map of the castle I've made from years of exploration, use it wisely."

 

"Thank you for all you've done, Miss. And if it really actually works, you'll be the first one to gain the benefits from this. You'll be part of history books. I can't explain the full project over, but it could unify the three races in a single country, someday. A world, filled with peace, happiness, and food for everypony."

 

Snow smiled, "That would be nice." she suddenly felt a small pain from the back of her head, but it soon progressed to the world's worst headache ever. She collapsed in pain, she knew exactly what was happening, so with what little strength she had she said, "Ashes, trust me, run. Run now! Run if you want to live!" she said between her teeth before continuing to twist in pain on the ground. Black areas rippled across her coat, and her eyes constantly shifted between red and blue.

 

Horrified, Ashes ran through the paths, the map in front of him. He couldn't leave her like that, but he had no choice. He continued to run till he arrived to the underground farm, and locked the door behind him. Panting, he went to one of the white flowers, and turned in ashes. A pale blue light emaned from the bottom of each ashes, and they vanished. All that remained from ashes was a light, not emaning from him, but illuminating him, coming from everywhere, and nowhere at the same time. He approached the flower, touched it, and it covered in ashes. He took them by magic, and covered himself with the new ashes. The light faded out, and the ashes kept themselves in place. Breathing heavily, tired, and worried about Snow, he falled in the flowers, and falled asleep instantly.

 

The evil pegasus Dark Light stood over the dead body of a unicorn in triumph, this had been the first time she had taken control in over a year and she was thoroughly enjoying herself. As she took off once more, and pain struck in the middle of her forehead. Soon, the wings disappeared and her body transformed back to a white coat. As Snow's eyes went back to normal, she felt dizzy, "Uh, I have to keep my guard up." she said to herself. She picked herself up and began walking towards the entrance to the castle, hoping to catch some fresh air.

 

"Hibiscus? What are you doing here!?" Snow exclaimed. Her horn glew and they appeared in her office, "Now, would you kindly tell me, WHAT ARE YOU DOIN HERE! DO YOU WANT TO DIE? I'm sorry for yelling but please just tell me."

 

Ashes finally emerged from his sleep, and tried to remember what happened. The memory of Snow, falling on the ground, and the pain he could feel in her eyes... He rushed to the door, unlocked it, and made his way with the map to the surface. When he arrived upstairs, he looked at the map. Except the basements, there was a scheme of the first floor, on wich he found Snow's office. He didn't knew what he was really doing, nor where he was going, but he felt like he had to go to the office. He walked silently to the office, and heard voices inside. He was still half-awoke, but he was sure to recognize Snow's voice, and the weight on his shoulders faded out. At least, she was okay. He approached his hoof to knock at the door, and hesitate. He also heard another voice, but couldn't indentify it. Maybe she was in the middle of something important. He sighed, and sat next to the door. Better not to bother her and wait till her meeting with the unknown pony had finished, before he entered and worried about what happened earlier.

 

"I grew it." Snow said plainly, "Its the same flower I stuffed in your mouth to cure that aweful case of poison joke. It has all the nutrients that a pony needs for a day and can cure just about any known illness. My father...." She drifted off, she never liked to talk about her family, I mean, come on, crossbreeds were rare if not almost nonexistent, and they almost never had very good lives. Snow was determined to try to keep her spot over the unicorns, for she knew it was the only thing preventing an all-out unicorn invasion.

 

Snow sighed, "I see you have realized what I truely am, my father was a earth pony and my mother was a unicorn. My father is Tremalius, the one I had you deliver the letter to, and also he first breed the flower that you hold now. And I'm pretty sure not too long ago on my family tree there's a pegasus or two thrown in, but my family has a history of being earth pony and unicorns."

 

"No, just me." Snow replied simply, "He taught me everything he knows about farming, and its because of me the unicorns haven't starved to death yet."