Town Hall. A building in Ponyville where various events are planned and decisions are made by a group of ponies in charge of many positions. But the one pony who holds the most important position of all, is Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville.
Mayor Mare is at her desk in her office looking through some files. She has a light cornflower bluish gray mane and tail with lighter streaks, a pale light grayish amber coat, moderate phthalo blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a tan scroll tied with a blue ribbon. Around her neck is a suit collar tied with a bushy dark green tie, and she wears a pair of yellow glasses.
Even though she focused on seeing the latest status the files contained, Mayor Mare's mind wandered a bit to Twilight Sparkle and her friends feeling down when they returned from the Crystal Empire. 'I hope they are not too sad,' Mayor Mare thought, 'Everypony's wanting to hear what happened at the Crystal Empire, though I know better than to press the matter further than Princess Twilight can handle.'
Just then, a knock is heard at the door, gaining Mayor Mare's attention. "Come in." she said.
A mare Pegasus enters the office. She has moderate cyan eyes, a light cyan mane and tail, a light gold coat and a cutie mark of three raindrops. She appears to be surprised. "Mayor Mare?" said the light gold Pegasus, "Princess Twilight is here."
Mayor Mare's eyes light up, "Oh? Has she decided to tell us what transpired at the Crystal Empire, Raindrops?" she asks.
"No," Raindrops replied, "but she has a stallion with her that's new to Ponyville and he wishes to directly meet you."
"A new pony?" Mayor Mare set down the files on her desk, "Alright. Tell them that I'll be along shortly."
"Yes, Mayor Mare." Raindrops leaves the office.
Meanwhile, in a hallway, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Zenith wait for the Mayor to greet them. From time to time, Rarity would take slow glances at Zenith, being entranced by his spiky mane, his smooth looking coat, and his lilac eyes. Zenith noticed Rarity watching him, and she blushed, quickly looking sheepishly at the ground. Applejack notices this and smirks, for she knows that the white Unicorn may have found her special somepony, Rarity just needs the right moment to make it known to the stallion.
The door opens, gaining everypony's attention, and Raindrops pops her head out. "The Mayor will see you now," she declared.
"Thank you," Twilight said.
As they enter the workplace, the mares temporarily halt their work and see Twilight and her friends. But what caught their attention the most is the silver coated stallion. Zenith looks around the workplace and at some of the mares, most of them glancing away blushing or giggling, and they whisper among themselves about the new stallion.
"Ahem!"
The mares are startled and see Mayor Mare giving a raised eyebrow to them. "Shouldn't you all be getting back to work?" she said, "I don't recall giving you all a break."
The mares gave uneasy glances to each other, and resume their work. Mayor Mare walks up to Twilight and her friends. "Greetings, Twilight," she greets the lilac coated Alicorn, "I hear there's a new stallion in Ponyville?"
"That's right, Mayor Mare." Twilight replied, "This is Zenith."
The silver coated stallion stepped forward and bowed, "Good afternoon, Mayor Mare." said Zenith, "It's a pleasure to meet the Mayor of this great town."
"Goodness! Friendly and well mannered?" Mayor Mare giggles a bit, "Why I believe you'll get along just fine with everypony here."
"My thoughts exactly." Twilight smiled.
Seeing Zenith being so polite made Rarity's heart aflutter again, and she blushed faintly while smiling softly. Of course it didn't go unnoticed for Applejack smirks at the white Unicorn, who in turn realizes that the orange Earth pony caught her in the act and glances away trying to hide her blush to little success.
"So, what is it you wanted to see me about?" asked Mayor Mare.
"I simply seek your opinion, and yours alone," Zenith stated, "on which house in Ponyville to move into."
Mayor Mare is a bit confused at the request, "My opinion? Well, normally we have one of our employees take care of that."
"With all due respect, Mayor Mare," said Zenith, "I know you don't make your position such a big deal, but it would be reassuring to witness you emphasising the importance of your role in this town. It doesn't matter if it's big or small, everypony here has faith in the pony holding the title of Mayor because they count on him or her to tell them what is best for everypony even in the most dire of situations."
Silence.
That is the immediate response to Zenith's statement, along with the wide-eyed looks from most of the mares, Twilight and her friends and Mayor Mare in the room. Despite the staring he is receiving, Zenith kept his sincere and smiling face. Eventually, sniffing is heard, and all eyes are on Mayor Mare, whose tears well up in her eyes as she smiles widely and her hoof is up to her chin.
"My word. That's the most nicest thing anypony's said to me." Mayor Mare lifted her eyeglasses up a bit with her hoof while wiping the tears from her eyes at the same time. "Alright. Follow me, if you please. I think I may have some suggestions that may be to your liking."
Mayor Mare turns around and motions the others to follow her. Zenith does so, and Twilight and her friends regain their composure and follow him, though they are still in awe of what Zenith said, mostly Rarity.
"Did you hear all what Zenith just said?" Rainbow Dash asked they followed Mayor Mare, "It sounded as awesome and deep as the Wonderbolts' pep talks!"
"Ah hear ya," Applejack agreed, "It was like a bunch' a deep red ripe apples used ta make the best apple pie."
"Or the best cider!" Dash added.
"What'd you think, Rarity?" Applejack asked the dumbstruck white Unicorn, and smirked at her state, "Hey, lover gal, ya there?"
"Huh?" Rarity snapped back to reality and sees Applejack and Rainbow Dash looking at her, the former smirking and the latter raising her eyebrow in confusion. "What is it?"
"Was that hunk a stallion's speech that inspirational?" Applejack stated, keeping her smirking face.
Rarity then realizes what Applejack was talking about, "Oh, goodness! Um, yes, I believe it sounded, pretty divine."
"Don't ya mean, 'very'?" said Applejack.
"What? What's up with Rarity?" Rainbow Dash questioned the orange Earth pony.
"Ya didn't notice?" Applejack leaned close to Dash's ear to whisper a little loud enough to her, "Rarity's got a crush on Zenith."
"Applejack!" Rarity hushed as her cheeks are coloured pink, "You shouldn't assume something so trivial!"
"Ah didn't assume, Ah figured it out." Applejack countered while shrugging.
Rainbow Dash then figured out what Applejack said to her. "Oh. I get it, sorta," she said, "Normally you'd woo other stallions, but I don't think this happened the other way around before."
"But he didn't do anything of the sort!" Rarity chided, "At least not yet, aside from looking presentable and being so well mannered and- Ugh!" Rarity rubbed her forehead with her hoof a bit, "Let's just save it for another time, alright?"
"Okay, we get it," Applejack chuckled a bit, "Ah did promise not to push this further."
Rarity simply looked ahead trying to get her mind on other things. But no matter how much she did, her mind simply wandered to the silver coated stallion walking ever so adamantly ahead of her.
Soon, they all are in a different room. "Here we are." Mayor Mare turned around and pointed to the large map behind her, "This map shows all of Ponyville presented in the most simplest of ways. From houses, to shopping spots, to entertainment stages, you name it."
Zenith notices a picture of a castle at the top left corner of the map. "What of that castle? The one stationed at the corner of Ponyville?" he asked.
"That's the Castle of Friendship." Twilight explained, "It is where me and my friends spread the meaning of Friendship across Equestria."
"Really? That must be a lot of responsibility to take on." Zenith said.
"Please! Twilight and her five friends, me included, represent the Elements of Harmony!" Rainbow Dash bragged, "There's no friendship problem in Equestria we can't solve!"
"Anyway, back to what we are talking about," said Twilight, "There's plenty of houses that are always available to new ponies, so whatever suggestions we have are up to you."
"Indeed." Mayor Mare agreed, "Whether it is nearby the lake or close to a group of trees, that house will be suitable to your standards."
Zenith then notices something in the middle of the map that didn't seem right to him. "Hold on. Where's that tree that had that library in it?" he pointed to the map. "It was where my granny and I went to stock on school supplies when I was young."
"Oh? The Golden Oak Library?" Mayor Mare nervously chuckled, "Well, certain circumstances happened, which resulted in the maps of Ponyville getting updated."
"What circumstances?" Zenith asked. He then sees Twilight and Spike looking a bit uneasy.
"It's kind of a long story," Spike said, rubbing the back of his head with his claw, "but to summarize it..."
...
"WWWHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT?!"
That outburst rang out inside the town hall, loud enough for the startled ponies outside and close to it to hear. Then, the doors flew open, and a silver coated stallion galloped out of there with a look of fright and concern on his face. He galloped straight ahead, and six mares and a little dragon followed suit.
"Zenith, wait!" Twilight called out, "It isn't that bad!"
"If he's that scared as a couple of pigs running around the barn, it must be so ta him!" Applejack reasoned.
"He did say it was his second time being in Ponyville!" Spike stated as he was riding on Starlight's back.
"Whatever the case, the poor dear's upset!" Rarity said, "We must console him as we do for each other!"
The others nodded in agreement and followed Zenith. Mayor Mare stepped out of the doors of the town hall looking ahead. Despite being startled by Zenith's outburst, she felt sorry and concerned for the stallion.
It wasn't long before Zenith ran out of the town hall, for he slowed down a bit and stopped in the middle of the town. Most ponies noticed him breathing hard and wondered what his deal is, though he paid no mind to it. Zenith looks down at the ground in front of him and sees that it is a little uneven with the rest of the ground. He puts his hoof on that ground. At that moment, tears welled up in his eyes. Zenith slumped down on his haunches and lowered his head. Soft sobbing and unsteady breathing came from the eyes and mouth of the silver coated stallion, which attracted the attention of most of the ponies around.
Twilight and her friends caught up to him and noticed him feeling down. Twilight then walks up to Zenith's side and puts her hoof on his shoulder. "Zenith, are you okay?" she asks softly.
Zenith slowly raises his head a bit as he continues his soft crying. "The Golden Oak Library," he said, trying to keep it together, "it was the first of many places that interested me. The many books that caught my eye, the atmosphere it brought forth, it was like a new world, one that I would set hoof on without a single doubt holding me back."
He then looks up to the sky, and Twilight sees wide-eyed to her concern that many tears flowed slowly down Zenith's cheeks. "To now see the empty space where it used to stand, it's like a piece of my heart got crushed by an unexpected and unseen force." Zenith sniffed. Spike went to his other side looking sadly at him.
"Still, I do want to know," Zenith looked at Twilight in a grief stricken manner, "who, or what, destroyed the Golden Oak Library?"
The other mares looked on in sincere sympathy for Zenith, even Rarity most of all. Seeing the silver coated stallion's sad face tugged at the white Unicorn's heart, in a guilty manner.
"Like Spike said, it's a long story," Twilight spoke, "and we wouldn't want to ruin your mood of settling in into Ponyville."
"That's alright," Zenith shook his head, "I have all the time in the world."
Starlight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity only gave each other uneasy looks.
Tartarus. A realm underneath Equestria where everything is unpleasant. It is where evil creatures and untamed animals are imprisoned, guarded by a three-headed dog named Cerberus. The realm consists of stone walls and stone pillars having long staircases leading up to a circle where various shackles and prison cages are placed for the imprisoned. The most highest pillar, where even Cerberus makes occasional watches at its base, is where the most evil creature is caged.
A weak and old centaur named Lord Tirek.
The centaur has light lime greenish gray hooves with amberish gray clefts, a dark cobalt bluish gray lower body and a dark sapphire bluish gray upper body, a dark grayish scarlet skin, an indigoish gray beard and tail, a pair of small dark azuerish gray horns on his head, and black eyes with light brilliant yellow pupils. He is wearing a silver collar around his upper body from his shoulders and has a ring pierced inside his nose. On his wrists are special shackles preventing him from harnessing his magic.
Tirek looks bored yet silently seething in anger of his defeat. "Curse that Twilight Sparkle and her friends." he said in a rough and low voice, "I wanted to absorb all the magic of the ponies and the princesses of Equestria and become the most powerful creature to ever exist." Tirek then holds two of the bars in front of him and grips them in anger, "But that wretched Alicorn and her pathetic subjects defeated me with this so called 'magic of friendship'. It makes me absolutely livid just thinking about it!"
The centaur lets go of the bars and tugs at the shackles while he grunts in frustration, "If I ever get released from these bindings, I'll make Twilight Sparkle suffer much worse than what this realm did to me!"
Just then, a cackling and maniacal laughter echoes throughout the realm, alerting Tirek and making Cerberus taking position and growling. "Oh, I believe that will happen sooner than you think!" that voice declared.
Suddenly, a dark green aura envelops Cerberus who is surprised and caught off guard. To Tirek's shock, Cerberus is quickly flung towards a wall and crashes into it, so hard the impact knocked the three-headed dog out. Tirek then sees dark green smoke swirling in front of him outside the cage, and to his surprise, the smoke disappears to reveal a sight the centaur grimaced at it.
Before Tirek stands a thin Unicorn stallion whose whole body looks to be in critical condition, like this pony never attempted to take care of himself at all. Two of his hooves are cracked, his horn is crooked, his left ear appears to be ripped apart, his teeth are as brown as a puddle of mud, and there is no tail on his bottom. The stallion has a medium gray coat, a deep green mane on his head with a big very light green streak going down his other part of his mane behind his head, and dark green eyes.
"Oh, that was funny! Did you see that? That mutt was like, 'wut?' and then, crash! Critical knock out by a wall!" The seemingly unhealthy Unicorn cackled some more until he coughed a few times. Tirek looks at the pony in discomfort.
"And who are you to brazenly approach me, knowing that I am a danger to your kind?" Tirek asks.
The Unicorn then breathes normally and looks up to Tirek in a smug look, "First off, I am Ryzoth. Second, I have lost all faith in the ponies of Equestria due to some major things that screwed up my former life. That lands us on the same page, if you catch my drift."
"Then what do you want?" Tirek growled.
"Let me start over first." Ryzoth cleared his throat, "Greetings, 'Lord' Tirek," he said 'Lord' in a mocking manner that didn't go unnoticed by the annoyed centaur, "I am Ryzoth, and I am here on behalf of my master who is amazed at what you accomplished by bringing those ponies down to their barrels."
"And who is your master?" asks Tirek.
"If I told you it wouldn't be a secret, otherwise he'd do things of the shuddering sort to those who disobey him." Ryzoth explained, "But, what I can tell you, is that he wishes to make an alliance with you."
"I already had an alliance." Tirek stated, "Until I betrayed him by absorbing his magic."
"Don't get ahead of yourself there," said Ryzoth, "if you agree to be a part of my master's alliance, he will grant you the power to put those ponies in their place."
"Power?" Tirek raised his eyebrow as that word got his attention.
"Yes, power," Ryzoth repeated that word, "I'm sure you have somepony in mind that you want to finish off for ruining your fun. If you accept my master's offer, you can have a chance to get your revenge on those ponies. What do you say? Are you in, or are you out?"
Tirek ponders on the offer. For a long time he wanted revenge on the princesses for imprisoning him in Tartarus, and recently he wants revenge on Twilight and her friends for defeating him. If he accepts this pony's master's proposal, would Tirek satisfy his thirst for vengeance?
With a sigh, Tirek looks at Ryzoth. "Alright, little pony," he says, "If you can get me out of this cursed cage and these shackles, I will join your master's alliance."
Ryzoth squealed in a rough manner, which Tirek finds unsettling. "A wise choice you made!" Ryzoth said, "And duh! Getting you out of here is what I planned to do if you accepted my master's offer! And you did, so I'll be getting to it now!"
The Unicorn lit up his horn in a dark green aura, and a magic circle appears underneath the cage. "What is this sorcery?" demanded Tirek.
"Keep your skin on, I'm gonna get you out of that cage!" Ryzoth shot back, "It just needs some time to get through the magic the cage has whipped up. And considering that I knocked out that mutt, it would take less than an hour for him to wake up. So, I better get cracking."
Ryzoth then focuses on his spell. The centaur sighs impatiently.
'I hope I've made the right decision,' thought Tirek, 'otherwise this pony's master will pay for crossing Lord Tirek.'
At an open grassy field, Twilight, Spike, Starlight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Zenith are gathered around nearby a tree. Twilight has explained to Zenith what happened to the Golden Oak Library, and the latter has a mixed expression on what he has been told.
"Let me get this straight," Zenith rubbed his forehead with his hoof solemnly and looks back at Twilight, "This centaur calling himself 'Lord Tirek' escaped Tartarus and absorbed all of the ponies' magic, and while he was after you, he blasted the Golden Oak Library to smithereens, and you and your friends avenged it by defeating Tirek with the magic from a chest that later transformed into that castle which looks similar to that library?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it, if you don't want to bring in all the details." Rainbow Dash confirmed.
"It is sad that the library that I considered to be home is gone," Twilight said, "but my friends helped bringing in the roots of the library and decorated a part of the Castle of Friendship, so that it would feel like home."
Zenith narrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the ground. "Well, taking away magic is one thing." he said, "But taking away the right to learn? That centaur crossed that line by destroying that library." Zenith looked back up, his expression softening a bit, "Thus, he is not worthy of being called Lord."
"What do ya mean by that, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"There's been moments in history where creatures and beings that do bad things are granted titles and epithets." explained Zenith, "But doing evil things while you have a royal title is sickening. What Tirek did is no exception."
Rarity's eyes widen a bit at the opinion Zenith gave, and her cheeks flushed faintly pink. But she recomposed herself and cleared her throat. "Well, that's an interesting way to look at things," she stated, "but I believe we have enough gloomy thoughts floating about, wouldn't all of you say?"
"That's right. We're here to make Zenith feel welcome in Ponyville." Twilight smiled, "And that first step is to help Zenith find a house to move into."
Then, a gurgling noise is heard, loud enough for everypony to hear. "What was that?" Spike looked around alarmed, "A Parasprite horde?"
That gurgling happened again, and all eyes are on Zenith, who looks at his barrel and feels it with his hoof. Blushing, Zenith scratched the back of his head with his hoof. "Sounds like my tummy's rumbling." he chuckled, "Guess walking all the way over here can whip up an appetite."
Seeing the silver coated stallion being flustered in that manner made Rarity's cheeks flush pink again. But this time, she smiled softly, for seeing Zenith like that made him...cute.
"Well, it's nearly lunchtime, so finding a house can wait." Rainbow Dash declared, "Wanna hit a restaurant?"
"Actually, I'm in the mood for any kind of apple recipe." said Zenith, "I read that Ponyville got founded when a group of Earth ponies found a way of making a special kind of jam. But the name of the place where it happened fled my mind, to be honest."
Applejack's face gleamed in happiness. "Well, look no further, sugarcube!" she exclaimed, "Ah'm a part of that group that built the Sweet Apple Acres farm, so if it's apples ya like, Ah'll treat ya to plenty of my Granny's recipes."
"Can we come along?" asked Spike.
"The more, the merrier!" Applejack responded.
"I see nothing wrong with that." Twilight stated.
"Then lets head to Sweet Apple Acres!" Rainbow Dash declared.
They then walk to the destination of the farm. As they walked, Starlight noticed something...familiar about Zenith. It seemed to her that his whole figure matched the silhouettes shown in her visions she abruptly had.
"Starlight?"
"Huh? What?" Starlight noticed Spike looking at her worried.
"Something wrong?" Spike asked.
"Uh, it's nothing." Starlight shook her head reassuringly.
"If you say so." Spike responded, still worried for his friend.
Rarity at that time kept her gaze at Zenith. Sure his face having that flair of happiness and politeness made her stomach flutter like butterflies, but Rarity is concerned that Zenith is still sad about what happened to the Golden Oak Library and is attempting to hide it.
Maybe once they are done giving Zenith the welcoming event, Rarity can show him the roots hanging from the roof of the throne room. That's the thought Rarity had as she and her friends lead Zenith to Sweet Apple Acres.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Sorry for making you wait this long. I was busy helping my family
set up a new home for my sister. Enjoy. :)