The Enchanted Necklace

Chapter 4 : Capital

The ponies were surprised when they saw the condition of Splosh. It was very run-down; they merely saw any well-made buldings around. The citizens usually work as farmers and live in small wooden houses. Even though Lagoon said that this was their capital city, it looked more of an abandoned village rather than a growing city.

Lagoon was surely very excited about guiding her guests around town. "Here is the library; it's not the best library, but everypony loves stopping around at times. Here's the school, where everypony gets some quality education for the future of their land, and ooh – look, the food court! We can stop here for a small break and to stuff our bellies up for a while!"

The four ponies quickly turned their heads to the direction where Lagoon's hoof was pointing. They were all dying to eat something, since they hadn't eaten yet from the moment they began their journey. Each of the four quickly took a seat.

Soon, a waitress with a ragged red apron approached their table. "Welcome to our outdoor food court. What would you like to have?" she asked, pulling out her blue notepad. It also looked old and dirty.

"Well, I would love to have some apple pie and some coffee," Lagoon said.

"Three cupcakes and some guava juice," Spectrum said.

"Chocolate cake and some chocolate milk," Mystery said.

"A dozen donuts and some orange soda," Shadow said.

"A bag of cookies and some water," Thunder said.

The waitress noted all their orders in her notepad. "Alright, we'll do all of them as fast as we can. Thank you for ordering," she said as she left for the kitchen.

A few minutes later, the waitress returned with all the food that they ordered. They were very glad to finally have a meal after the long, tiring voyage. After a while, Lagoon started the conversation.

"So... what did you guys do that you fell into the ravine?" she asked. The ponies looked at each other.

"Well... to make a long story short, we were just investigating about why Mystery's necklace was vibrating and glowing when she flew. It never happened before, so we were just curious and were eager to find out about it right away," Spectrum said.

"Do you know where we can find out about the legends and history of this kingdom? Like, the library, maybe?" Mystery asked.

"Well, unfortunately you can't hope much from the library; it might be an awesome place, but I don't think that it has all the information you need to find out about the necklace's magic. After all, I don't think that they will allow you to get any information about it."

"And who are 'they' exactly?" Thunder asked. When Lagoon pointed her hoof at the group of ponies walking on the street, he instantly realized the answer. "Ohhhh... right."

A group of Royal Guards were marching on the streets. As the guards came closer, the ponies scrambled into their houses and shut their doors tight.

"Follow me!" Lagoon said, dragging the ponies into the kitchen. They were all confused. "But why...?"

Soon they realized the answer. When they peeked out from the window, one of the guards was questioning two poor farmers. The farmers seemed to be really threatened and confused.

"But you can't! You just can't! We spent a lot of hard work taking care of these crops, and you can't simply take them away from us!" one of the farmers said desperately.

"Unfortunately we must, ma'am. And as a punishment from staying outside while we were on our watch schedule, the two of you are going to work for us for the rest of the year," the guard said.