Synopsis
A traveller to a beleaguered merchant city becomes involved in a strange plot when his curiosity takes the better of him. What mysteries lie behind the lit window of the Tower of the West?
Story Notes
The story is based in an era several hundred years before the MLP:FiM episodes, at a time when Luna was still locked on the moon and Celestia had a very hands-off approach to governing the country. Equestria is finding its hooves, slowly modernising itself, and pushing at the edges of its boundaries. The tension between it and its neighbouring countries has started to come to a head, particularly on the borders with the Gryffon Kingdom. All out war is inevitable.
Author's Notes
This is a short story; part of a potential series based around a character who travels from place to place as a soldier of fortune. This particular story is a test piece designed to see if the concept works as part of the ponyverse, and as such the underlying tale borrows from stories about events around Europe in the 1900s. The series, whilst set in an arena of war and strife does not focus specifically on the violence (although there is some), but rather on the way that our main character manages to appear somewhere as a mere observer, yet polarises events to such an extent that outcomes and destinies have been changed by the time he leaves.
The "Saggar's" isn't the full name of the café. It's short for something which only makes sense in one city in the real world, and where inspiration for this part of town came from.
Of course there technically is no such speed as "Ramming Speed".
It felt a bit rushed, if that makes sense, but overall I liked it. 7.5/10.
6851460 Glad you liked it!
I can see what you mean. It's really just meant to be a short story; a bit of a test, so the pacing is fairly quick. Fingers crossed I get some time to write something a little more extensive and slower-paced.
Just realised I hadn't actually given you the like you deserve for this, so here it is! Some very good world-building here, as I said elsewhere, and some overlong sentences aside it's pretty readable as well. The pace is a bit fast, especially near the end, but overall it's an interesting, and rather different, take on the pony world.