The Tale of Isla Nova

First Hunt

Silence was awoken from his daydream by a hoof lying on his shoulder, which was Solar's. Solar quietly whispered something to Silence, which unnerved him: "Hear that? It's coming from up on ground level."

Silence turned his head to the corridor leading to the top floor. Ever so slowly, he walked through the corridor with the company of the two twins and climbed out of the hole in the floor. He immediately recognized, to his horror, the white uniform standard to Keepers, which enveloped a gray stallion who was rummaging the upper floor for equipment or evidence or something. Luckily he hadn't noticed the hole in the floorboard. Silence snuck up behind him, trying to grab his neck, when he glimpsed more Keepers surrounding the house. Knowing that stealth was completely useless, he grabbed the Keeper by his shoulders and slammed his head through one of the nearby windows.

"WE'VE BEEN SPOTTED, GET YOUR PLOTS UP HERE!" he shouted at his allies. The two brothers swarmed into the room, Lunar with one of the hidden bows and a quiver of arrows. Silence grabbed the Keeper that he'd attacked and pinned him up on the wall next to the window, when Lunar sent an arrow flying straight into the officer’s skull, nailing him to the wall.

"Buck, kid, nice shot!" Silence stated. Lunar glanced out the window and dropped his bow, wide eyed. Keepers surrounded the house on all sides. Suddenly, the sound of two clicks came from right behind the door. Silence knew this all too well.

"GET DOWN!" he yelled, and he dove behind the bed in the corner of the room. The unicorns both fell to the ground for cover. After a few seconds, there was a small explosion from the hinges of the door and it fell inward. Keepers flooded the room before anypony could react. They dashed at all three of the rebels, flailing their stunsticks. Lunar let loose three arrows at some of the Keepers, but his rushed aim was too poor and the heads didn't pierce any armor. He went down in a small amount of time. Solar had cast a spell to protect Silence and himself, and dove into a group of Keepers. They fell backward, but one of them brought her baton down upon his skull and knocked him almost flat out.

The Keepers then targeted the Pegasus. They had all ran towards him, attempting to incapacitate him. Some of them had tried to grab him and hold him down to bind him, while one of them did his best to strike him in the head. Silence flailed his wings and forced his captors off of him, but the Keeper who had tried to hit him had done its job. Silence had fallen backward, and the other Keepers recovered and tried to bind him again. Silence bucked and flailed but he was nowhere near as strong as an earth pony, even though his physical abilities were far beyond that of normal Pegasi. As Silence braced for the strike that would knock him out and send him to the Factory, he set his mind back on one fateful day.

"Run Silence! You have to make it out! They're counting on it!"

"I'm not going without you! ASTRA! COME ON!"

And then he saw a vision... of a bullet ripping through his best friend's body as she ran for her life from the same ponies who were pursuing him now.

UNLEASHED

Silence slowly looked down at the ground, his face full of despair and suffering.

"Astra..." He whispered. In that instant Silence's head flew up, his cold, black eyes staring directly into the eyes of the Keeper trying to tie him up, who promptly burst into flames. Silence proceeded to break the magic binding him and slam another’s face into the wall, smashing his helmet in with his hoof. Silence turned to another awed Keeper. He picked the stallion up with both his hooves and choked him for several seconds, while another Keeper readied his baton and jumped at Silence. The Pegasus reacted by turning and throwing the Keeper he'd been holding into the one that tried to attack him, sending them both through the doorway. Another Keeper readied a suppression blast at Silence, but the enraged stallion quickly rushed and threw the Keeper head first into another's chest, impaling the latter with the beam-emitting horn atop the helmet.

Only one Keeper remained... the one who had struck him. He dropped the baton and fell to his knees, begging for mercy. Silence had none of it. Silence picked up the terrified Keeper and carried him over to the hole in the floor that led to the corridor. It was about a twenty foot drop. Silence was absolutely enraged at this... foal. He stared deeply at the Keeper.

"Look into my eyes." He spoke, his voice accompanied by a deeper, more menacing one.

The keeper died in Silence's hooves. Silence released his iron grip on the pony's throat, letting him fall backwards into the secret corridor.

Silence stood above the mutilated bodies of those who had dared to attack him and his friends. He would never allow any of his allies to come to any harm again. And even if it meant losing control of himself, it was worth the effort in the end. Soon after the Keeper fell into the hole, Silence fell to the floor instantly, his eyes flashing back from their black emptiness to their normal form. The secret door closed, encasing the dead body under the floorboards until nightfall.

"B-BY CELESTIA'S BEARD, how the BUCK did you do that!?" Solar said, obviously in shock and confusion.

Silence looked away as if ashamed.

"You... could never understand..." He said silently, almost depressed. Solar and Lunar backed away towards the door and dashed away to the town. Silence sighed.

They’ll be back. He thought.

As Silence turned to his fireplace and fumbled with a lone wire a scream filled the air around him, Silence turned as his roof collapsed under the force of a gray mare crashing into it.

“Ouch...I just don’t know what went wrong...?” she questioned herself. The gray Pegasus looked around the house until her eyes, at least one of them, fell on Silence’s stare.

“Oh, sorry about the roof, I was flying overhead when my wings got caught in something.” The mare explained. “I have a letter for a pony named Silence Freesoul.”

“Really now, well you crashed into the right house.” Silence said, taking the letter:

Dear Silence,

Please meet at my library tonight at 21:00 hours. It is of the utmost importance you attend. Bring any employees you have.

Love,

“Aunt” Twilight

P.S. Please give Derpy a 1 Jangle tip, the poor mare won’t run for any less in this economy.

As Silence read the note over he instantly recognized the lettering to be Ancient, though his mind had translated it rather quickly, confirming this letter was not a trap, seeing as how the language could only be learned by reading one of the three existing copies of its translation guide. Silence opened his bedside drawer and pulled out a small bar of gold; then gave it to “Derpy” who immediately hugged him.

“Umm, you’re welcome?” Silence spoke. Derpy released the hug, laughing nervously and flew out through the roof towards New Ponyville, then swooped downwards quickly.