The early morning in Canterlot was a beautiful sight, a warm palette of colors covering the sky and the birds were chirping.
And throughout all of it, Twilight Sparkle could barely stay awake in order to appreciate it.
The reason why she was awake so early was because this day was the day where the inspections of the various factories and producers was happening all over Equestria and since Twilight was now a princess, Celestia decided that it was time for her to learn how the procedure was done. She did have one of the Royal Guards with her that was going to show her the ropes as well as a clipboard with everything that she was supposed to check and everything that he should be aware of. The first location of the day was the Seaside Stone Quarry and it was especially important that she got to this place first considering that she wouldn't get another chance to inspect all the workers seeing as they all went to different parts of the vast quarry once they arrived.
When she spotted the buildings up ahead she shook off the worst of her sleepiness and put on a professional expression, it wouldn't do her any good to look like a sleep-deprived filly rather than the royal alicorn she was. As the carriage touched the ground Twilight spotted all the workers lined up outside the main office, she counted them as she approached only to discover one absent. She walked up to the earth-pony that seemed to be in charge.
"Excuse me Sir, but are you sure that all workers are present? I keep recounting and one always comes up missing."
The earth-pony turned over and counted them himself until he suddenly realized something and chuckled lightly.
"The one missing would be Gilgamesh, the 'King of the Quarry' as we like to call him. He is here, it is just that somebody raised the alarm about trespassers shortly before you arrived and he went to check it out."
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"The King of the Quarry?"
The earth-pony caught her expression and shook his head.
"He is not true royalty off course, it is simply a nickname. He is the strongest pony we have and he does have a good head on his shoulders so more often than not he has the last word in when it comes to official matters. It is a bit of a shame that you haven't gotten to see him yet, he is a sight to behold and one unicorn that tends to leave a lasting impression."
All sorts of images popped up in Twilight's head as she tried to put together a mental image of this mysterious pony, some more ridiculous than others. But she was knocked out of her musings when she felt the earth tremble beneath her hooves, she was about to warn the other ponies of a possible earthquake when she caught their expressions.
They were really excited, like they knew what was going to happen. She was about to ask them but the answer was pretty clear once she listened to the whispers that were echoing through the crowd. All of them basically said the same sentence, although worded differently with every pony.
The King had arrived.
She followed their line of sight to a large hill where an absolutely gigantic unicorn was seen on top of it.
No words could have possibly described the goliath that was walking towards her; he was bigger than any pony she had ever seen. His coat was the color of blood and his black mane swayed in the light breeze, his horn looked sharp enough to pierce solid steel and a cracked boulder was present on his flank. His yellow eyes, whether natural or through the lenses of the black mask that he wore, seemed to hold an incredible wisdom while still remaining fierce and determined. Tubes filled with an unknown yellow liquid connected his mask to both front legs through a pair of fabric-bands while a belt made of the same material was wrapped tightly around his stomach. His massive frame was both sturdy and powerful, yet it still remained elegant and graceful. It was a sight that Twilight wasn't going to forget any time soon.
"Greetings Princess Twilight Sparkle, I apologize for my absence from the inspection."
His voice was deep and heavy but it was also smooth and incredibly tired. Not the kind of tired that came with hard work but more the kind that came with a tough life with very little happiness. Twilight absently wondered why but decided to ponder that a later time.
"No harm done, it is uplifting to see that you cared more for the safety of the quarry than your image. By the way…"
"It was merely a couple of ponies who had gotten lost, I directed them to the nearest town. They were clearly outsiders as they didn't know that the area was off limits."
The pony had a calming aura that instantly put Twilight's worries at ease, a grounded confidence that came from years of experience. She smiled at him and he smiled back as they joined the others.
As she continued her investigation, her mind couldn't help but to wonder back to that unicorn when he left her to continue his work. There was something about him that made her want to know more about him and the history around him. She asked around but received little to no concrete answers, apparently few of the workers that had been around when he started was still around and the few that were refused to speak to her about the subject on the grounds that it "wasn't their story to tell".
She was however able to get a few glimpses from the rumor-mill that a pair of lunch-ponies was running. They were chatty and didn't mind sharing the local rumors, though with a warning that the authenticity was unclear.
He had arrived at the quarry as a runaway colt that was almost old enough to be considered a stallion many years ago, yet despite his age his flank had been blank. Nobody knew where he came from or who he was and nobody had apparently cared, in their eyes he was old enough to take care of himself and it wasn't their business if he had wanted to leave his home. Nonetheless, the unicorn had begun working and he had been pretty strong even back then. For no apparent reason, the manager of the quarry at the time seemed to really hate the young colt and made him work three times as hard as the other workers. This cruelty never extended to the other ponies so it was obviously not just cruelty for cruelty's sake. During one of these hard hours he had gained his cutie-mark, though this only infuriated the owner even more. After a time the owner had had enough of him and sold him to some kind of research-laboratory outside of Equestria, the incident landed him in hot water with Celestia when one of the other workers risked his job and livelihood in order to alert her to the deeds that had transpired. The manager found himself without a job and driven out of Equestria, he had refused to speak of why he had treated an innocent colt with such animosity and as a result nobody wanted him around. The missing unicorn remained missing for several years and many eventually believed him to be dead until he had been found exhausted and dehydrated not far away from the quarry. His appearance had changed drastically from the no doubt twisted experiments that had been done on him and the only reason they were able to identify him was because of the unmistakable cracked boulder on his flank. He had remained silent on the experiences that he had gone through during his absence and had simply gone back to work as if nothing had happened, though with a significantly lesser workload to let him recover from his injuries.
Twilight had been shocked over the events that had happened to the pony, even though she knew that many of them were most likely things that were blown out of proportion. But the ponies didn't seem to be exaggerating when they talked about the cruelty that had been inflicted on the colt, especially the older ponies. Twilight secretly wondered what drove a pony of any kind to commit atrocities like these, images of King Sombra flashed through her mind and she shivered unconsciously.
But she still didn't have all the puzzle-pieces; she still didn't know why Gilgamesh left his home and how he ended up in the quarry to begin with. He had been older than her when he had arrived so there was obviously more to discover. A part of her whispered that she should let the past be the past but her curiosity simply wouldn't let go of the matter. He was a puzzle and she loved solving puzzles.
Shortly before she stepped into the carriage right before she was to leave for the next destination, her eyes met with his and he gave her a knowing look that seemed to stare directly into her soul. Twilight stared into the ground in embarrassment and shame; he had known that she had asked about him. When she looked up again his eyes were a tad softer and he even gave her an almost unseen smirk, daring her to try and figure him out. She gave him a smirk of her own.
Challenge accepted.
As the carriage got further and further away, Twilight felt that this day had been more interesting than she had hoped to believe. And with a new friend that had a few secrets that he pretty much challenged her to try and find, she had a feeling that her life was about to become a lot more interesting…
So, what do you guys think? Yes, I know that I should update my other stories first but this plot-bunny just wouldn't leave me alone and after seeing some really excellent artwork of a pony-version of bane from The Batman and how another character that I had thought about often went well together with the design I couldn't stop myself from writing it. If you guys are curious to see the artwork that inspired me to create this story, check out the artist known as 13foxywolf666 on DeviantArt
Seriously, this guy's (or girl's) talent for turning characters into ponies is incredible and all credit for Gilgamesh's design goes to him.