Akouma's Junk Drawer

by Akouma

2: The Old Homeland: Prologue

Author's Note:

So, this was going to be the prologue for a story idea that stalled out fast, sadly. The idea went thusly:

The founders of Equestria, at least roughly as the story is told to us the viewers, were from... somewhere indeterminate before they founded Equestria. But clearly a different land. A different land which appears to go otherwise totally unmentioned in the show canon. Now, it's reasonable to assume that the mass emigration wasn't total. Whether by bad luck, stubbornness, or inability, ponies were presumably left behind. Unable to reconcile their differences, the windigoes froze the denizens of the ancient pony homelands alive, leaving them as a constant source of anger and hate for them to feed on, which is why when you go significantly north of Equestria it's a frozen wasteland hellscape. Cut to 1000+ years later, when this prologue occurs, and an archaeological dig manages to free to ponies in the ice. The story would have proceeded with Twilight being asked to survey the site and act as an interpreter since she canonically can speak Old Ponish at a rough conversational level. Twilight, wanting to bond with her new friend and have some help with interpreting, asks Starswirl to join her. From there, faced with the environment he had gone out of his way to leave alongside the other unicorn migrants, Starswirl regresses back to the way ponies were before the unification, causing tensions among both the ancient ponies and among Twilight and the archaeological crew. This would then threaten to destroy them all in the windigoes frenzy over new anger and hate to devour.

I might still try to continue this, but I doubt it. I know where I want to place the stops on this railroad, but not how to align the tracks to get there.

Tink. Sandy Gem did not care for this job. Well, she did like the work, just not where it was taking place currently. Her name alone should tell anypony that she preferred deserts to the frozen north, but somepony had discovered some pottery during a poorly advised ski trip, so here she was.

Tink. Her pick swung, cracking the ice beneath her. “Hey Sandy, any luck over there?” called one of the other archaeologists.

Tink. She put the pick down. “Gee, Buried Treasure, have you heard me yell ‘thank Celestia?’”

“Um, no?”

“Well how about ‘Luna’s wondrous dotted flank?’” Sandy didn’t actually think Luna’s flank was that wondrous, but it was a common enough expression.

“I get it, you haven’t found anything,” Buried Treasure said defensively.

“No no, I think we need to go over this just in case I do find something, Buried.” Sandy wasn’t even sure where this was coming from at this point. She liked Buried Treasure. They’d worked together amicably for years. But her frustration with her situation was boiling over at this point. No stopping it now.

“In the event that I find something in this Tartarus-forsaken wasteland, you will definitely hear me say something wildly inappropriate and disrespectful to our oligarchs. Basically, if you hear something that sounds vaguely sexual in the same sentence as a Princess’s name, assume I have finally found some damned piece that justifies this dig!” In the back of her mind, Sandy knew that this was absolutely uncalled for. She’d be apologizing for it the entire rest of the night. She’d probably even need to throw in one of her few remaining packets of cocoa because a warm drink would help smooth this over. But right that moment, she needed to be heard. She needed to vent.

“In conclusion, I have not found anything.” She picked up her pick and slammed it down into the ice between them. “And if you will refrain from asking going forward, then I promise you will be the first to know when I do find some scrap of evidence that anypony was dumb enough to live here!”

The cracks in the ice surrounding her pick radiated outward as she stomped. After a moment, the area rumbled, and the cracks gave way to an opening beneath them. Sandy Gem and Buried Treasure fell into the hole below, only to see several huts in what appeared to be a village square around them. The area beneath the ice was hollow. Only a few feet of ice and snow had separated them from their goal.

Their argument nearly forgotten, the two ponies dusted themselves off, and immediately went to investigate the nearest of the homes. Inside, there was remarkably well preserved furniture. A table, chairs, several cabinets. There was even food within, all frozen solid. The pair opened the door at the back of the kitchen, and came face to face with a pony, encased in a solid block of transparent ice.

“Luna’s wondrous dotted flank, this is big,” Sandy mumbled as she surveyed the pony in front of her. Had she been looking closer, she would have noticed the mystery pony’s eye follow her around the room.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Beware of Windigoes

No, Seriously, Beware of Windigoes.

If you're wondering why you can't actually look away from the sign despite having dismissed it, it has been hexed such that you physically can't until you've read and actually processed everything on it. There are windigoes here. You are excavating the remains of everypony who could not join in the Great Exodus. For your sake and others, please keep an eye on your emotional state at all times. And yes, this is a royal decree. I've fought strife-eating monsters in a world with almost no magic. I'd really rather not have to deal with them here.

—By Order of Her Harmonious Highness Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic and Friendship, First of Her Name, Who is Being Serious

(But yeah, my headcanon is that earth pony survivors of the Windigo Winter formed the Crystal Empire.)