Chapters Remnants: Rise of the Caesars
The planet known as Equis was not always the peaceful place that it is today, and it wasn’t only inhabited by ponies and other mythical creatures. There was one time where they lived with creatures that came from another world. They were called humans. They came to Equis by way of the Rainbow of Light to defeat the demon Tirek and free ponies everywhere. More eventually came from the Rainbow and began to live among the ponies, but one day they disappeared... Or so it was written. Like most things that are lost in history, the “Wise and Logical” always sum up what happened to them and they thought it best to say “Oh, humans slowly disappeared.” And they think they're so smart.
Nullus
Year, 999 ANM Equestrian Time.
One Day Before Nightmare Moon's Return
It was late, meaning that Bacchus was cleaning glasses and about to close his bar. It was a nice enough place; marble floors and counter, steel chairs and tables, newest models from a series that was made by some man's name that he couldn't pronounce (so you know it had to be high quality), and most of all, the best booze you can get this city. Whatever strange or rare drink you wanted, Bacchus’ had it. Bacchus heard the door ding as someone entered the bar, footsteps were drawing closer.
“Hey, place’s closed. Can’t ya read?” He said not even looking at who entered. He heard that who ever came in had taken a seat at the other side of the bar. The intruder said nothing, making Bacchus clench his fists. Bacchus quickly turned around to look at who had sat down with fire in his eyes, literally. He saw the man who was sitting by the bar. He was a middle-aged man who had a big grin on his face and steel framed goggles with blackened lenses covering his eyes.
“Chill out you grumpy old bear. You’re going to burn your brain out with those flames.” He gestured his fingers to Bacchus’ eyes. Bacchus couldn’t help but smile, with this the flames in his eyes quickly vanished.
“Faust. You finished that hit quickly. It’s only been, what, two weeks since I sent you out to handle the Octavians?” He then got a bottle from one of the many glass shelves that were above the sink and got the glass that he was previously washing and began to pour Faust a drink. “Speaking of which, did you get what was asked for?” Faust then took off his goggles to show his eyes that were completely made of a dark red crystal, except for black dots where his pupils would be. He picked up the shot and downed it.
“Yeah, and we should get paid a little extra this time. I’m thinking at least double...” Bacchus shook his head.
“You know that’s not my call. I just give you the jobs, and the higher-ups decide your pay anyway.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and shook one out. He then took a seat in front of Faust and snapped his fingers to create a small flame and lit the cigarette. He took a deep inhale of the synthetic tobacco and breathed out smoke to the side. Faust then set down a holodisk and pressed the button in the center. Various medical and biologic test results illuminated from squares that the disk formed around them.
“Well, we didn't just get the data. We got the product of their research too.” He then spread his arms out and pulled them together as if he was clapping and the holographic pages were then put together into a bundle and he gave it to Bacchus. He looked at the first file. It had a picture of a boy, no name, it just said he was thirteen and other medical garbage that didn't mean anything to him. But, the pages after is what disgusted him. There were videos showing various tests being performed on the child. Surgeries, various injections, and horrifying tests that would have killed any man within a minute. Then there were the X-rays. It showed that the boy’s entire skeletal structure was entirely composed of crystal.
“Fuck...” Bacchus said under his breath. He then took another puff from his cigarette. “How much did they experiment on this kid? No way that this extent of crystallization is natural like mine or yours.” Faust then waved his hand for a cigarette and Bacchus gave him the pack that he had. Faust then put one of the cigarettes in his mouth and leaned forward turning off the holodisk.
“Get this, the Octavians were in some real Inhumane shit. From what I could make from the files, they were trying to make artificial Caesars, and they had the audacity to use their own kid for the experiments.” Bacchus shook his head and lit the cigarette in Faust's mouth.
“Crazy fucks. Why would anyone want to make that?” He said in response. Faust then gave a deep puff from his cigarette.
“Well, they tried their experiments on at least a dozen others, they all died during the first testing procedure. But this kid survived a whole thirteen years of it.” He stared at the light above their heads, seeming lost in thought. Bacchus looked seriously at his friend.
“Two things; one, where is this kid and secondly, what abilities does he have? I don’t feel like going through all this,” he said as he motioned to the disk. “There must be at least four terabytes on these things of just medical files.” Faust gave a laugh.
“Reading might do you some good, Bach.” Bacchus just rolled his eyes and grunted. “Well, Luxie is looking after the boy, he came with us willingly. As for his powers...”
Bacchus raised his eyebrow. “Powers? As in more than one?” Faust’s face turned serious and he looked at Bacchus.
“I have never seen anything like it, Bach. This kid can do it all. I saw him tear a guy’s head off with telekinesis and beat another to death with pieces of the terra.” He stopped so he could take a puff of his cigarette. “When Luxie shut off the power, the magnetic locks shut off for the cell he was in too. The kid killed everyone he saw that was wearing a white coat. He even killed the Octavians.” Bacchus stared at his friend disbelievingly.
“This kid killed not one, but TWO Caesars?” His gaze then drifted to the holodisk. “And you said he came willingly?” Before Faust could speak another voice spoke for him and a toll came from the door showing that someone entered.
“Yeah, I did.” They both turned, the only shocked one being Bacchus. A teenage boy with no hair was standing in front of the doorway. He was wearing a ragged hoodie and no shoes. “They told me if I joined forces with them I could help put a stop to people like Mr. and Mrs. Octavian.” Faust gave a laugh at his seriousness.
“Ren. I thought I told you to stay with Luxie.” The boy, Rentus, gave a smile.
“Sorry, it’s just that this place is amazing!” He then turned to the door and gave a laugh. “The whole city is lit by a crystal ceiling! There are so many people around too!” Ren stood there, simply gaping in awe at the city. Bacchus gave a nervous laugh.
“By what you told me I thought that this kid would be some stone cold killer, but he is acting like some sorta five-year-old.” Bacchus whispered loudly. Ren, not offended in the slightest, heard what he said and just walked toward the bar.
“Well, until a couple of weeks ago, I had never been out of that lab.” His voice trailed off and he unconsciously shivered. “This is a whole new world to me and I intend to see every inch of it. Oh, and who might you be?” Bacchus felt rude doing this to a kid, especially one that could kill him if he wanted too.
“I’m Bacchus. If you’re hanging around with Faust over here you must already know about the Triumvirate?” Ren took a seat next to Faust and gave a nod toward Bacchus.
“My name is Rentus, call me Ren and yes, the Triumvirate is who Faust, and Luxie work for, so I’m guessing that you work for them too.” Bacchus gave a nod.
“You are well-informed. Yes, we all work for the Triumvirate. Our little ensemble is known as The New Age Caesars. You do know what a Caesar is right?” Ren thought for a second before answering confidently.
“It’s someone who can use special powers because of some sort of mutation, right?” Bacchus gave a nod.
“You catch on fast. Yes, this mutation is called Crystallization. Humans have been underground for so long that the crystal around us has started to change us genetically. Then people started to use these strange powers and shit.” Faust gave a loud laugh.
“You would almost say that it’s magic.” Bacchus laughed out loud at Faust’s childish guess, but Ren had a straight face.
“What’s magic?” Ren asked curiously. Bacchus looked at Ren with a smile, he was slowly getting used to the kid.
“Well, Caesars have only been around for about thirty or so years, so no one really knows how we generate power from Crystallization, but I don’t really care at all about that science shit.” He smirked a little after that, a perplexed Ren staring back. “But I can show ya somethin.” He then raised his hand a little and his eyes started to glow a faint yellow, then his entire hand engulfed itself in flames. Ren looked with wide eyes.
“So you can make fires at will? Huh, I thought you would have some sort of alcohol power or something.” Ren gave a laugh at his dumb joke. “I've seen what Faust's power is. He can shoot those "gun" things really well with those eyes of his.” Faust gave a sigh.
“My power is enhanced perception and reaction time, not just being able to shoot guns well, although I can do that without using my powers. It’s not just my eyes either, my brain is Crystallized too.” Bacchus gave a laugh.
“You forgot to mention that every time you use your power you go bat shit crazy.” Faust groaned and pulled a rusty revolver from a holster that was hidden in his trench coat and began spinning the cylinder.
“I don’t need my powers to be a good shot... and I won’t go insane just yet. That’s what these are for,” he said, motioning to the pack of cigarettes on the bar. His eyes began to glow a bright red and he slammed the cylinder back into the revolver and made a quick twist and pointed the gun at a table across the room. The chair that was at the table then fell down and a worried voice cried.
“Whoa! Don’t shoot! It’s just me!” Then a figure began to materialize from the darkness and it slowly began to resemble a female frame who was covering her face in fear. She then revealed her face showing watered grey eyes and short red hair. Faust then gave a laugh and started spinning his gun around, his eyes still glowing.
“Luxie! Don’t scare me like that! You know I don’t like surprises you crazy wench.” He then turned to Bacchus who knew that Faust was going nuts. “Bacchus! Thy needeth another beverage!” He then threw his glass toward the door. Faust then pulled the hammer of the revolver back and pulled the trigger. The bang was loud and the bullet went through the glass and the door, but thankfully the walls were thick so not many people would hear the shot. “Oops. Heh heh..” He then turned to Bacchus and took a long puff of his cigarette and the glow from his eyes slowly faded. “Take it out of the pay.” Luxie scoffed loudly at Faust's nonchalant behavior.
“What the hell Faust? You know we need to eat, and you’re wasting ammo doing stupid stunts like that!” Ren crossed his arms, confused at her outburst.
“It’s not really his fault, Luxie.”
Then her angry glare shifted toward him.
“And you!” She said walking over and pointing her finger at his nose. “You had me worried sick! I thought you wandered out and got mugged or kidnapped or something!” This made Ren agitated and he pushed her hand out of his face.
“I can take care of myself! I know how to fight if someone even tried to cross me, and why are you talkin’ to be as if you are older? You’re only like two years older than me!” Her hand then went back at him and she grabbed his nose between her fingers and began to twist and crush.
“That’s what I was worried about! I've seen what you could do and if the public found out you’d be in trouble, making US get in trouble!” She gestured with her free hand at Faust who was finishing up his cigarette and looking a little sickly. “Also, age doesn't matter. I've spent fifteen years up here, unlike you who has only spent two weeks!” Ren finally broke free of Luxie’s hold and started rubbing his now red nose.
“Not my fault those ass hats kept me in that lab for so long.” A grimace grew on his face and he turned back to the bar and sighed. “The bastards got what was coming to them.” Bacchus tired of the drama and arguing finally spoke up.
“Well, I’d better contact the higher-ups and say that you finished the job.” He stood from his chair and began to walk away, but Ren hastily shouted after him.
“Hey, if you’re a Caesar, where is your Crystallization at?” Bacchus gave a sigh and put his hands up in the air waving them.
“I got magic hands.” He leaned over the bar and gave Ren a close look at his hands. There was a faint shine on little hairs that were growing on the tips of his fingers. “I rub my fingers together and the Crystallized hairs create friction, which in turn create flames. There are some scientific reasons for some Caesars abilities, but you on the other hand...” He gave him smile. “You, and these files could change all we know about-.” Ren cut him off.
“There is no way in hell I’m letting anything like what the Octavians did happen again.” Bacchus then realized what they would do if they see the files. They would probably put him back in a lab just like the Octavians did. Faust then spoke up.
“Maybe we could get rid of the interesting stuff and say that the kid died like the others and make up some weird bullshit test that seems brutal yet worthless...” Ren turned to Faust looking at him unbelievably. Bacchus guffawed.
“You talking about withholding information? They would kill ya faster than your trigger finger. You were lucky killing two Caesars, but they have plenty more than us and they are twice as strong.” Faust looked at Bacchus with serious eyes.
“Come on Bach, how many times have I saved your ass? You owe me.”
“This is different! Ask me for free booze? Sure. Women? Anytime. But espionage?” Bacchus groaned, a moment later raising his hands up. “You know what, fuck it. I’ll do it, because I know you will just keep bitchin’ about it until I do.” He swiped up the Holodisk. “We are even for everything now. And you.” He pointed at Rentus. “Better friggen' kiss the ground I walk on from now on.” He then began walking toward a back room to erase the files about the success of Ren's creation and the artificial Crystallization. When Bacchus left, Faust gave a grin to Ren and gave him a light noogie.
“Well, welcome to the New Age Caesars.” Then Bacchus screamed from the back.
“They’re going to kill you and me, and Lux if they found out that you are keeping this from them. It be best if you didn’t have him along." Lux then spoke up.
“I’m not dying because of this twerp.” She said flicking her thin finger on his forehead. “Well, he can’t work for us, but putting him out on the streets to fend for himself would only cause more problems than fix them so, he can at least stay with us.” Ren smiled while rubbing his forehead.
“Aww. You do care!” Then Ren stood up and tried to hug Luxie, but she sidestepped him, making Ren fall onto the marble floor.
“Don’t touch me, dumbass.” She said looking away her face a little red. Faust laughed whole heartedly.
“You two are so cute together.” He then gave Ren a serious look. “You gotta keep on the down low from now on kid and I mean it.” Bacchus came back showing them the holodisk.
“There all fixed, I put it to where Ren died from the experimentation and new bull for the experiments. I set his name to something I made up, Archimedes Octavian, dumb sounding I know.” He looked at Ren.
“How’d you get the name Rentus anyway?” Ren gave a smile.
“Faust gave it to me, it means ‘Reborn’ in some language called Laggin’.” Faust got up from his seat and began to stretch.
“It’s Latin, and I found it fitting. He was reborn, he was no longer the same kid as when he left the Octavians.” He then began to walk toward shattered glass door. “Call me when you get the pay.” Bacchus shook his head, chuckling.
“Yeah, I’m getting a brand new door with that money.” He looked at Lux and Ren, who was still on the floor. “You guys better get out. Now.” He gave a smile and waved them off. They both nodded and Ren got up off the floor.
“Nice meeting you Bacchus.” Bacchus gave a nod and proceeded to clean the dishes that he failed to clean when Faust showed up. “Let’s go, Lux.” She sighed and led Ren out the door. Bacchus raised his head from his work and called after Ren.
“Hey, why did you join with Faust anyway, Ren?” Ren turned and smiled.
“He was the first guy who treated me like a person, not a test subject. He offered me a way out so I took it, and I promised that I would stop at nothing to make sure that what happened to me never happens to anyone else.” Bacchus smiled and waved them out the door again. Bacchus sighed.
“What kind of shit are these kids getting into?” Bacchus said under his breath as the two walked out of the door leading to the central city of New Florence. He looked at the holodisk that was sitting on the bar. He went away from his dishes and began looking through the files that were left. One thing caught his eyes. “Project TIREK? Hmm.” He spent a while shuffling through what files were left. “What are you planning, Magi?” He stood up and went to the back room where he said he deleted the files. He sat down on the desk where the computer was. Showing on the screen were the files of which he said he deleted. “I’m sorry Faust. I’ll keep the kid out of this, but this is something that needs to be done.” He then tampered with the files and sent them to the Triumvirate with the message that read.
“Here are the files Faust promised, but don’t mention them to him.” After about twenty minutes there was a response.
“Caesar Bacchus, these files are startling. They could very well be what the Magi have held back for so long, thank the Terra that they were not successful in their endeavors. We will greatly reward the NAC for this.” Bacchus typed back.
“Thank you, but what will you do with this information? Surely you can’t continue this research.” There was a pause, but then a response appeared.
“I’m afraid that is up to the Triumvirate to decide and I am certain that they will do what is best for both the people, and for this great faction. Glory be to the Terra.” The Triumvirate logged off. Bacchus sighed.
He wondered if he had made the right choice as he opened a new pack of cigarettes and lit one up.
Only time could tell what the choice would bring. For better or for worse, Glory be to the Terra. Bacchus thought as he watched the smoke fly toward the crystal lamp above him.
A short preview for chapter one.
Year 1004 Present Day, Equestria.
Twilight Sparkle was just finishing dusting her book shelves and Spike had went out on errands. She was running out of ink and spare quills so Spike offered to go get some, probably to get out of rearranging the shelves from alphabetical to genre. Twilight smiled a little. It’s just like him to do something like that. She had to open soon, not that she was expecting anyone to come in today. Suddenly somepony entered the room from the outside.
“Hold on, I’ll be with you in a second!” She teleported down from the ladder she was on to see who would've come to the library so early in the morning.
“About time Twilight! I was waiting for almost twelve seconds!” It was the only unicorn in Equestria who would walk on her hind hooves, Lyra Heartstrings. Twilight sighed.
What does she want now? She thought to herself as she forced a smile to her face. “What can I do for you Lyra? Need to check something out?” Lyra then got close and put a forehoof around Twilight’s neck. Here we go...
“You see, I’ve heard at Canterlot Archives there might be some logs on humans. Regular ponies like me couldn't possibly access those archives. But with your help...” Lyra trailed off, smiling innocently.
Twilight gave another deep sigh. “I can’t do that.” Lyra, refusing defeat, continued on unperturbed.
“Come on, don’t you want to know what happened to humans? There is barely anything about them here! You do believe that they exist right?” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Well, there is no evidence suggesting that they existed or that they do exist. Trust me, I've read every bestiary at least three times over," Twilight stated, pointing to a rather large collection of field guides and the entire Monsters of the Everfree 15 volume set on a shelf. "Even if they did exist, they did a really good job disappearing off the face of Equestria.” Then Lyra gave a loud groan and jumped in front of Twilight.
“Come on Twilight, you gotta be more logical than that. Nothing, especially another sapient species, can just disappear!”
Sometimes I wish I could just disappear...
Author's Note
And it's here! Me and RagnaKawaii (my co-writer) have been working long and hard developing a story and characters for Remnants, and now it's finally on FIMFiction ready for public viewing. Please (if you care to) write your positive or negative comments below, as we really do want to find ways to improve this as it goes forward.
Note: In case you're wondering, 'Nullus' is a Roman term that described their concept of zero, as Roman numerals have no zero in their counting.
Remnants: Rise of the Caesars
I
Twilight
Year 1004 Present Day, Equestria
Twilight Sparkle was just finishing dusting her book shelves and Spike had went out on errands. She was running out of ink and spare quills so had Spike offered to go get some, probably to get out of rearranging the shelves from alphabetical order into alphabetical by genre. Twilight smiled a little as she finished the job. It’s just like him to do something like that . She had to open soon, not that she was expecting anypony to come in today. But, living in Ponyville for as long as she had, Twilight knew that even she wasn’t prone to the ironic tendencies that events seemed follow. Right on cue, somepony entered the room from the outside.
“Hold on, I’ll be with you in a second!” She teleported down from the ladder she was on to see who was would come so early.
“About time, Twilight! I was waiting for almost twelve seconds!” It was the only unicorn in Equestria who would walk on her hind hooves, Lyra Heartstrings. Twilight sighed.
What does she want now? She thought to herself as she forced a smile to her face. “What can I do for you, Lyra? Need to check something out?” Lyra then got close and put a forehoof around Twilight’s neck. Here we go...
“You see, I’ve heard at Canterlot Archives there might be some logs on humans. Regular ponies like me couldn't possibly access those archives. But with your help...” Lyra trailed off, smiling innocently.
Twilight gave another deep sigh. “Now Lyra, you know I can’t do that.” Lyra, refusing defeat, continued on unperturbed.
“Come on, don’t you want to know what happened to humans? There is barely anything about them here! You do believe that they exist right?” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Well, there is no evidence suggesting that they existed or that they do exist. Trust me, I've read every bestiary at least three times over," Twilight stated, pointing to a rather large collection of field guides and the entire Monsters of the Everfree 15 volume set on a shelf. "Even if they ever did exist, they did a really good job disappearing off the face of Equestria.” Lyra groaned obnoxiously and jumped in front of Twilight.
“Come on, Twilight, you gotta be more logical than that. Nothing, especially another sapient species, can just simply disappear!”
Rentus
Sometimes I wish I could disappear. Ren was walking down the crowded streets of New Florence. He was wearing a simple shirt and long pants and his hair now reaching his back was in a ponytail. He didn’t exactly know what a “pony” was, but its tail must've looked like his hair. Ren was severely pissed off because both Luxie and Faust left for a mission and he got stuck taking care of the hotel room, and they had probably set the record for messiest hotel room in the Terra. They could have told me they were leaving instead of just leaving a note behind. The note simply said,
Dear Rentus,
We are leaving. Kay, thanks, bye.
Your dear, dear friend,
Faust.
P.S. Clean this shit hole up.
It took half the day, but he finally got it back into order and now he was on his way to meet with Bacchus for lunch. He always went there when he had nothing to do, and he always had small jobs that he could do to earn some extra Denarius. He continued down the streets as the monorails buzzed past until he reached a big marble building on the corner of a street. Above the tinted glass doors was a big neon sign which read “Bacchus’ Place”. Ren walked toward the door. As the doors opened, there was a ding. Ren walked in to see that the bar was surprisingly empty. The only person besides him was the bartender. The bartender turned to see who entered. It was a woman, in her mid-twenties, and had long blonde hair. Ren groaned. “Aww, I thought Bacchus would be here. Did he get the day off or something, Dae?” Dae gave a playful frown.
“Why, would you rather have him here instead of me, Rentus? You really know how to make a girl feel bad,” she laughed as Ren took a seat. Dae was a new Caesar assigned to the New Age Caesars about two years back. Caesars are managed in complete secret from the rest of New Florentine populace. If you saw a Caesar on the streets, you wouldn’t know it. Caesars disguise their powers in public and are completely unaware of who other Caesars are unless they are assigned to a group. When they are assigned to a unit, they stay with their team until they die. She cocked her head when Ren looked at her.
“What’s up, Ren? You’re not usually this glum.” Ren was startled that she could always read him so well. Her ability stems into her ear lobes and partially into the brain, the cerebral cortex to be specific. She could tell if what you say or even write is true or false, a fairly unique ability among the rest of the NAC. The Triumvirate said Dae could be a key factor in gathering intelligence, but Ren was always confused with her placement in New Age. Luxie and Faust were mercenaries, often sent out to finish jobs "quick and clean" as it were. As far as he saw it, they had no need for an intelligence specialist, but then again what did he know about strategy? He sighed and looked into Dae’s eyes. For some reason, every time she stared into his eyes the memories always came flooding in.
“Nothing really,” He thought maybe that he could avoid the conversation. But, the thoughts flooded in anyway. It had been five years since he met Faust and Luxie in that facility, blood covered and broken. He remembered in excruciating detail how he killed every single person in that place. The image of his mother, the words she said to him, played back in his mind repeatedly like a broken record.
“You were a mistake! A creation of science and crystal, you are nothing! DO YOU HEAR ME? NOTH-” It was that point she dropped down into a hole in the ground that formed instantaneously and she fell in screaming. There was a loud cracking, which was probably her legs, then the hole closed itself as fast as it appeared. She didn’t even have time to scream. His father stared in horror as he tried to fight back. He picked up a spear with his telekinesis that was with a suit of armor, but Ren used the same power his father had, except he picked his father's head from his neck. Blood sprayed throughout the room, and Ren’s face was unchanging, an expression as cold as the stone walls surrounding him.
They treated him as if he was an animal, not a son. They were not his parents, they were the Octavians. Ren, the true weight of what he done hitting him, rolled up on the floor and began to cry. That’s when he noticed a man standing in the doorway, staring at him with glowing red eyes and a cigarette in his mouth. That man was Faust. Ren had joined them as the New Age Caesars’ unofficial member ever since then. He looked at Dae who was now giving him a worried look. He silently cursed himself, knowing she always could read him like a book.
“Ren, you’re hurt aren't you? Something tells me that you’re more than just an errand boy for Bacchus. Am I right?” Ren turned his head and sighed. “Ren, you have to talk to me. I want to help you. You seem to be going through a severe case of PTSD. I can help, but you have to talk to me.” Ren shook his head.
“I don’t need help. What I need is someone who really understands .” He looked her straight in her eyes. "I don't need someone’s sympathy. No one can possibly understand. I know that I sound like some whiny kid, but it’s true.” Some customers came in the door and began to walk toward the bar. “I’ll leave you to your work.” When Ren started to get up Dae’s hand met his on the bar. He looked at her eyes, soul piercing as always and she had a sincere look on her face.
“I’ll come by later and maybe we can talk then, alright?” A small smile went across her face, he couldn't help but blush a little. He nodded and went out the door. He walked back to his hotel, all along the way staring at the crystal ceiling above him. When he got to the hotel named the Pitti Hotel he went on the elevator and went to floor twenty two, room four twenty nine, a number he has had memorized like the back of his hand. The room itself was plain. Well, after he cleaned it that is. He fell on the bed Faust usually used. The room had two beds, one for Faust and the other for Luxie, and Ren was forced to sleep on the floor. He wasn't exactly supposed to be there after all. But luckily, when they are out on their operations for the Triumvirate, Ren finally got to sleep on a bed. He fell onto it and stared at the ceiling, losing himself to his thoughts. Can anyone truly understand someone that isn’t even human? I’ve lost my humanity not by choice, but for “science”. His thoughts faded into dreams. But these dreams escalated into nightmares, like every night.
Luna
The Princess of the Night was standing on her spire of Canterlot Castle, the faint glow of her moon now washing over the capital city of Canterlot and the valleys below. She smiled as her duty was completed, now free to add her own spice to the blank canvas of the sky. Grabbing individual stars with her magic, Luna's imagination went wild as she conjured up another one of her masterpieces. After about five minutes of tinkering and perfection, she was satisfied, beaming at her work. Her smile quickly vanished when she remembered the cruel schedule of other less enjoyable royal duties that called for her attention. She began to make her way down to the courtroom for Night Court, descending the winding staircase of her spire. She sighed deeply on her descent. “I don’t know why I must do this when nopony even attends the Night Court anymore. Why my dear sister insists this is necessary, I do not know.”
When she finally reached the courtroom and sat on her throne, she scanned the room to find that her guess had been correct. The room was completely empty, even Luna's ever-loyal night guards missing. “I find it awfully ironic how we always have a lack of guards when we most need them. Perhaps my sister should put the draft back in order.” She imagined the guards had gone off to the barracks after finding the empty court schedule, no doubt making merry and binging on cider. In the past, Luna would have been furious with them, but at this point she didn't blame them. It had been months since a pony had come to the Night Court and that was just a dispute between two mares over a muffin. She sighed yet again and her posture slowly turned into a slumping one.
“If I cannot do one duty, then I must go onto the next.” This one was more enjoyable, and in her opinion, more helpful to the ponies of Equestria. Dreamscaping. She loved going into ponies dreams and overseeing what makes everypony tick. This had been especially useful for Luna, especially while getting used to modern Equestrian mannerisms after her return. Her most important job was also her favorite one; the task of helping ponies all over Equestria face their nightmares and overcome their fears. She took one final look around the courtroom, making sure nopony was around. Luna nodded after a second, confident that nothing would disturb her focus. She closed her eyes and began to drift away.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself suspended in a familiar empty space filled with rows of picture frames in the form of a hallway with transparent floors and ceiling. The frames, which Luna had named dream portals, drifted around the hallway in an organized manner. She began to walk looking among all the dreams, some happy, some sad, as well as other things that she would have rather not seen.
“Now, what must take priority...” She scanned the rows of dreams and none really seemed to demand her attention. But then she heard a distant scream echo across the dreamscape. Alerted, she turned about to see where it came from. Only happy dreams surrounded her immediate vicinity. “Perhaps that was just a scream of joy.” A second scream reverberated across, but this one sounded like a cry of help from a small colt. She had no doubt in her mind at that point. It was a night terror. Her face shifted to one of absolute seriousness. Somepony needed her help.
She began to search for the right entryway, the hallway forking out into several wings which Luna had organized to represent the cities of Equestria. She poked her head into each one, trying to pinpoint the sound. Manehattan? Fillydelphia? Appleoosa? After several minutes of searching, she concluded that the dream wasn't coming from a normal part of the dreamscape. She looked everywhere, except. Her gaze shot down into the dark void beneath her and she saw a small shimmer of white light. Luna's brow rose as the pinpoint of light glowed, radiating out from the all-encompassing blackness. “Why would it be down there?” She flapped her majestic wings and dove down through the floor of the hallway to make her way to the shimmer of light.
As Luna reached the dream portal, she noticed something odd about the inside of it. The portal displayed an image of a large building, marked with big white letters on the side, "MEDICAL RESEARCH FACILITY." It didn't look too different from a normal hospital, except for the fact that the building was made entirely out of some sort of metal and it seemed as if it was in a cave, or perhaps underground. She had a sudden sinking feeling about doing this, but curiosity of the building overtook Luna's judgement as she entered the portal.
There were strange beings in medical uniforms, what she assumed to be doctors going in and out of the building. She followed behind a group of them. The door opened without any of them touching it. They were preoccupied looking at clipboards and talking among themselves.
Interesting… They have automagic doors here too. She thought as she followed the group through the doors. The interior walls were made from marble and the floor of marble tiles. The room was buzzing with assorted doctors running and speaking into small boxes. There were a couple of them at the counter. Luna guessed they were female, guessing the longer hair and the higher pitched voices. Then as she was walking with the group, two individuals stopped them.
Humans? How in Equestria did humans get here? They have been gone for thousands of years! One of her earliest memories was a human holding her as a foal. What the human looked like, she could not remember. It was just a blank face, and she didn't remember ever seeing it again.
One was a male whose hair was short cut and had piercing gold eyes. His attire was that of a business stallion, a suit with a blood red tie. He wore something on his forelegs that reminded Luna of the socks that were popular in Equestria, but there were slits where there were appendages were coming out. What were they called? Hands ? Next to him was a woman with brown hair and silver eyes. She wore stiletto heels on her feet and leather pants with a button-up shirt that was slightly open near the chest. The talking slowly died down when the man in the suit raised his hand.
“This is a red letter day, my brothers. With the stunning progress of subject seventeen, Project Tirek will soon be close to completion.” He stuck his arms out toward the doctors. “What will determine the time in which it will take however, hinges on you.” His hands closed into fists. “The dream that our fathers were striving for, and their fathers before them, will so be made real.” He stepped closer and put one hand on one doctor’s shoulder and one on another doctor’s. “You all are the most trusted and most talented physicians of the Magi, and so I trust that you will complete the operation with the utmost care and haste.” He stepped away from them. “The patient is waiting in operating room N-93. Me and my darling wife will be personally observing, so if you please,” He began to walk away from the doctors and he took wife’s hand. “Try not to kill the child.” As the couple walked away the doctors were moving down a hallway toward the left of them. Luna’s eyes widened, taking in the scene with complete disbelief.
Kill a child? What kind of procedure are they talking about? And what of this Project Tirek? Questions flowed throughout her head, but she knew that she couldn't get answers from standing there. She had to go further down the rabbit hole. She followed the doctors, until her surroundings began to shake violently, the building around melting around her.
The hallway had turned into a operating room, one that was bustling with activity. The doctors in their scrubs were surrounding a operating table and were commencing a surgery. Then there was a shriek of pure terror, it sounded as if it were a child. One of the doctors, stepping away from the table, cursed at the doctors around him.
“Damn it, the sedative wore off! This is the fifth time already!” One of the other doctor’s grunted in response, trying to hold the child down.
“Then up the dosage!” another doctor spoke up. The other rolled his eyes.
“We don’t have any left in here, dumb ass!” Then a voice boomed from the observing room that had tinted glass blocking her from seeing the people inside.
“You must be really squeamish around blood, ‘cus this isn't even the worst part. You should have seen it when they stuck the big crystal in my chest. Now that was scary.” At the sound of that voice the world seemed to freeze in place, the screaming ceased, the doctors froze in place, and everything was still. She turned slowly to see a creature sitting with its back against the wall of the dreamscape. She had assumed it to be male, based upon its voice. He had long hair that was hanging down and was covering sad silver eyes.
“Is this your dream?” Luna asked the man. He smiled.
“It’s not a dream, it’s more like a memory that is being replayed in my sleep.” Then the scene resumed and the screaming continued. Luna went toward the table as everything continued.
“Damn it, stop squirming!” One screamed trying to hold the boy down as they bound the child to the table. The child's screams formed from incoherent sputtering to words.
“STOP! PLEASE!” Despite the wails of the child, they kept digging into his marrow and inserting small crystals into each individual bone. Luna watched in horror and felt a presence beside her, she was shocked to see that the man was standing there. They were roughly the same height, he seemed to be, not all there, like he was half in this world, and half awake. He walked closer to the boy and turned to her and everything paused again. He turned to her.
“You not see it yet?” He waved her toward him, as she walked closer to examine the boy she studied every inch of his body. His arms were opened up, skin and muscle spread apart by small hooks, and the bone was open by very small slits. From these slits through further examination seemed to be sprouting strange shining wisps. They slowly wrapped themselves around the bone and quickly enveloped it. She was amazed, yet horrified. Her eyes shifted to the man and he was squeezing his arms tightly as he hugged himself. She understood immediately.
“That’s you, is it not?” The man smiled weakly and nodded. His eyes drifted toward her from his younger self as everything suddenly stopped.
“Took you that long to figure it out?” He walked around the table and turning his eyes back toward his younger self. He tried to touch the child’s head but his hand fazed right through. He quickly took it back and sighed. In dreams, especially, memory dreams, you cannot touch or interact with the surroundings, but it can be created. Then everything went back into motion. One of the doctors went to where the wisp enveloped the bone, and gasped.
“The Crystallization has already began to form!” He looked up at a room which was above them that seemed to be a viewing room, Luna didn't even notice it until a voice came booming from it.
“It does not matter until the surgery is complete. Continue, and try not to kill the child.” He said nonchalantly. She remembered the voice, it was the voice of the suited man. The doctor nodded and continued. The child continued to scream though, this time with all of his strength. They didn't notice that the room had gotten significantly colder.
“STOP IT NOW!” At that moment the boy started to glow and a radiant silver aura went around the boy. Suddenly, a huge icicle shot out of the boy’s left hand and went straight through one of the doctors into the wall. The doctor screamed and squirmed until the icicle exploded out of the doctor, ripping him to shreds and immediately silencing him. The other doctors stood silently and continued to work as non-surgery personnel carried away the remains of the dead doctor. Luna gasped as she saw the spectacle.
“Was that magic ?” Luna was able to draw the parallels almost immediately, specifically the aura which radiated from his body. The aura of his magic even matched his eye color, just like an Equestrian unicorn. The man looked at her oddly.
“Magic?” He laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t say that.” The scene then froze again a new doctor came to replace the other, even the blood dripping from the body that was strung. “Well, we draw powers through the crystal that is in our bodies.” He pointed to where the icicle spear originated. “If you look closely, the crystal is using my blood as a catalyst and shot it out. Although—” he scratched his head “—I didn’t do it on purpose, when you are young you can’t control your powers very well.” Luna began,
“Well, where I come from, the use of powers like this usually can only be harnessed by two species called unicorns and alicorns.” She spread her wings and put one of her front hooves on her chest. “I am an alicorn. Alicorns have the magical abilities of all of Equestria’s pony races. All alicorns are princesses of Equestria. There are four in total, including myself.” The man nodded and tilted his head. He noticed looked at Luna deeply and his eyes widened.
“Um, you want to get out of this place? I don’t really want to be here anymore, and I can tell you don’t either.” He looked around the room and stared at the observation room above that was splattered with blood. “There is nothing but sad memories…” Then a door sprung out of the ground and the man opened it. “This way.” He held the door open for her and she walked through she noticed that she was in some kind of bar, and that the man was staring at her flank with a curious look on his face. She blushed.
“And what are you looking at?” The man answered bluntly and closed the door behind him, the door then sank back into the ground where it appeared from.
“That tattoo on your ass. What is it?” She went up to him and gave him a hoof to the face, a little too hard. The man launched into the wall, which caused the stone to crack. He slumped when he hit the ground and grunted. Luna’s eyes went wide. Oops. Guess I really don’t know my own strength. She started to run toward him to help, but he grunted and stood up unfazed. As he was dusting himself off he went toward her with a frown on his face.
“What did you do that for?” He then went and sat at the bar. “Here I am just asking questions any normal person would, and you go and hit me.” He spun in his chair to face her. “You must really have a hard time making friends if you punch people into walls every time someone asks you a question.” She was hurt by this, as she had been reminded of that most of the ponies of Ponyville still thought her as a monster, even those who knew she had changed. It was saddening to know that half of the populace still had a hard time adjusting to her. She tried to show that she wasn't affected, but the man took notice. He patted her lightly on the back.
“Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it.” He waved his hand and a bottle from the counter began to glow a silver and float toward him, when it reached him he tried to grab it but it went right through his hands. He gave a laugh. “Well, I’d offer you a drink but,” He made his hands go through the bottle. “As you can see my hands aren't working.”
“I am a princess of Equestria. Even if you could make drinks, alcohol would cloud the mind and make it much more difficult to make important decisions.” The man scoffed and started to pour the clear liquid into the glasses.
“I could tell that you weren't used to seeing blood, and I don’t know what a ‘princess’ is it sounds like a really important job, and with that job you will be making decisions so you need to keep a level head. But I suppose what you saw would leave an impact on anyone.” He was right. Princess Luna had seen a lot of tragedy and even war throughout Equestrian history. In all of her years however, she had never seen magic used in such a grotesque way.
"But enough with all the depressing stuff." He pointed at the seat next to him. “Since you are in my head,” he said as he waved to a chair beside him. “Sit and take a load off, I command you!” He said as he raised a finger up waving it.
She made her way to the bar and sat with the man. She pulled out the chair by using her magic. The man gave a whistle. “So you can do abilities like Caesars.” He smiled. “Well, does this make us friends?” Luna looked at him questioningly. “Well -” The man began as he stared at his thumbs “- I know a guy named Bacchus and he said that friends sit and drink together here all the time. Soooo, are we?” He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged.
“I would suppose it would by that logic.” Then the man gave a smile and a whoop, and then he began. “So, as your friend I would like to ask you something.” He turned to her and pointed at her flank and laughed. “I’m sorry, what’s the tattoo for? Please don't punch in my face.” She sighed. What is his obsession with the mark? Is it really that interesting?
“It is called a cutie mark. It is a symbol that ponies acquire when they find their special talent.” She gestured to her cutie mark, a stark white moon over a black background. “Mine is the power of the night and all that it brings, hence the shape of the moon.” The man had a thoughtful look as he processed what she said.
“I’m sorry but, what’s the moon and night for that matter?” Luna was shocked and she slammed a hoof on the bar.
“How do you not know what night AND THE MOON are?” He sighed and scratched his head.
“You and I must be apart of two different worlds, princess.” Luna then stood up.
“Come. The moon should be out and and it is bright, so there must be no clouds. You should see the moon perfectly.” She stood quickly and trotted toward the door with the man following behind her. But when she went outside the bar she was utterly stunned. Instead of a night sky there was a solid wall of crystal that lit the city. Under the crystal sky there were towering buildings, larger than any building she has ever seen in Manehattan or even Canterlot, save the castle. Her jaw went to the ground. The man stood in the doorway and spoke.
“You really aren't from here, are you?” Luna looked at the man with a worrying gaze.
“Where am I?” The man walked toward and raised his hand to show the city.
“Welcome the the city of New Florence, second largest city in the Terra.” She then sat on the floor to the ground, awestruck. Ren continued to speak. “This city is, well, built underground. As you can probably tell.” She spoke not averting her gaze from her surroundings.
“How long have humans been down here?” Ren went beside her and sat on the side walk.
“The funny thing is, we don’t know.” He scratched his head. “It’s like everyone just forgot over the years. Not even my older friends know, and they are very well connected.” He looked at Luna intently. “I don’t think I asked where that Equestria place is.” She looked back at the man, his long hair in front of curious eyes.
“Well -” Luna began “- if we are underground, then Equestria must be right above us on the surface.” The man tilted his head in an incredulous expression.
“I know that’s impossible. There is nothing up there. I think Faust told me once that there was nothing but rubble and mist. It’s uninhabitable.” Luna rolled her eyes.
“Well, that is obviously untrue. The fact that I stand here is proof enough.” The human crawled toward her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. She couldn't help but blush again. “Wha-what are you doing?” The man chuckled, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
“Well, I can touch you, so you are real I guess...” He laughed a little, but for some reason the man’s aura sparked for a second. “You smell good, too!” The man said jokingly as he was sniffing her mane. She then gave him a shove that separated them, but he only laughed harder as he stumbled back. Luna brushed herself off and regained her composure. He looked back at her with a smile, yet there was still a emptiness to his eyes.
“So, I never got your name.” Said the man as he wiped a tear from eye from laughing and smiled at her.
“My name is Princess Luna. What is yours?”
“I never did tell you my name, huh?” He reached his hand to her as if he wanted to shake hands. “My name is Re-” At that moment everything froze and place and Luna's sense were snapped back to the real world. Suddenly she was back in the Canterlot courtroom, shocked at her loss of focus. Her face contorted in an furious glare, before screaming out.
“CELESTIA DAMN IT! ” The earth-shaking power of the Royal Canterlot Voice echoed throughout the halls. She looked to the floor in rage, only to notice the shadow of a pony standing over her. It was none other than her sister, Princess Celestia, with the added company of a grey pegasus with wayward eyes and a muffin on top of her head. Celestia’s gaze was infinitely intimidating, and Luna felt a wave of embarrassment throughout her body. “Oh.” Luna laughed nervously. “H-Hi, Cele.”
“Sister, I thought we agreed to not use such profanity in the court. Moreover, you were Dreamscaping when you were supposed to be hearing out the affairs of the Night Court.”
“But sis, you know that nopony even comes to Night Court.” Luna pouted cutely, Celestia smirking devilishly.
“Not so. You happen to have one right now.” She stepped aside from the grey pegasus that she knew all too well, Derpy Hooves. Derpy stepped forward, a chocolate chip muffin somehow perfectly balanced on top of her head.
“Miss Princess Luna, I can’t find my muffin! I think Bon-Bon took it, because I got the last one at Sugarcube Corner and I know she was eyeballing it and-” Luna picked the muffin off of Derpy’s head and put it in front of her face. Luna just looked at the mare with a deadpan stare.
“Is THIS your muffin?” Derpy gasped, eyes going straight in pure shock. Grabbing the muffin in a hoof, she took a large chomp and swallowed the muffin whole.
“How did you do that?” Derpy asked in amazement. “That must be why you’re a princess!” The pegasus then trotted out of the courtroom, a satisfied grin never leaving her face. Luna took another deep sigh and slumped in her chair.
“I do not know why I do this, sister. Nopony ever attends and when they do, it is over the most trivial of matters! Certainly you could have pointed out that she had the muffin on her head!” Celestia nodded and laughed quietly.
“It had to be you that told her, Luna. The court is yours at night and you know that I cannot gather those conclusions when the court is yours.” Luna nodded, grumbling something under her breath about stupid royal technicalities. Celestia said that everything was fine and went back to her chambers. After her sister was out of sight, she tried Dreamscaping to find the man’s dream, but the pinprick of light in the dark void had vanished.
If only I could have heard more from him... she thought to herself as she sat alone in the courtroom waiting forthe ponies that needed her council, yet she knew that they wouldn't come. All that kept her company was the memory of her human friend’s smile and his sad silver eyes.
Author's Note
No chapter preview this time. Ugh... So freakin' tired. Anyway, enjoy the first chapter of Remnants!
Remnants: Rise of the Caesars
II
Rentus
Ren woke up in a cold sweat and shot straight up. He was breathing hard and fast, now trying to make sense of what he had just seen.
Why am I breathing so hard? Ren's stomach suddenly rumbled. Maybe the better question is WHY am I craving muffins? He thought to himself, he then scanned the room. “Oh.” He said audibly as he saw what happened to the room. Large lances of ice were sticking out of the ground and they were piercing through the walls, tables, shelves and even the ceiling. Ren hopped out of bed and put his hands on the ground. His hands started to glow the usual silver and slowly the ice sank back into the ground, but there were still rips in the carpet though. Ren then looked at the damage of the room and bit his lip. “Damn it, and I just cleaned this place too.”
He sighed and sat back down on the bed, falling back and putting his hand on his head. His thoughts focused on the creature that called itself Luna that invaded his dream. That couldn’t have been real. He then took his hand off his face to examine it. Yet I touched her. She was undeniably alive. I felt her heart beat. I could feel her breath. Ren suddenly realized how delusional he sounded. Vivid dreams were something he was used to after all. “Nah. It’s just a dream, it can’t be real.”
Then there was a knock at the door. Ren groaned.
“It’s open.” There was the sound of the door opening followed by footsteps.
“Wow, you sure did a number on this place didn’t you?” The voice said. Ren, still laying down, lifted his head to see the blonde woman standing in front of him.
“Is it that late already, Dae?” He said while studying her. She was hearing her street clothes, denim shorts that show most of her legs, and a tight shirt that had Bacchus’ logo on it, Ren set his head back down so he would not stare. It was a well known fact among the New Age’s that he never really did well around girls, especially if they were pretty. Dae gave a playful laugh and sat by Ren on the bed.
“It’s been a good five hours Ren.” Ren then turned his head to see the clock. It read eight-thirty Nox time. Ren sighed.
“It seemed like only five minutes in my dream.” She laughed and laid a couple of inches away from where Ren was laying. He couldn’t help but blush.
“Well, that’s usually how it goes with dreams, although dreams can be signs you know, the Gods could be showing you something.” Ren couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, then the Gods must be pretty weird showing me what I saw.” She rolled on her side using her arm to prop her head.
“Tell me about it, maybe I could interpret it for you.” Ren smiled.
“I honestly doubt you could get anything from it. It was a little abstract.” She gave him a little shove.
“Just tell me about it, errand boy.” She teased. Ren's resistance faltered after she dropped her little name for him. How could he resist?
“Well, in the dream I was-” Then there was a loud knock at the door, then a large man wearing a polo shirt and jeans walked in.
“I thought I would find you here, Dae.” The big man said. Dae got up and pouted.
“Aww, you always gotta come at the worst times Bacchus.” The man scratched his long, greyish-brown hair.
“Well, you left your post early." His narrowed his eyes at Dae. "Two hours early." His mood instantly shifted to one amusement as he noticed Dae sitting close to Ren. "Also, I didn’t know that you two have a thing.” Ren’s face turned a deep red.
“I-It’s not like that!” he stuttered. Dae and Bacchus both laughed. Dae walked past Bacchus and waved at Ren.
“You are gonna have to talk to me about that dream later, errand boy.” She walked out of the hotel room, Bacchus closing the door behind her. He waited a moment until he couldn't hear any footsteps outside, the smile fading from his face.
“What in the fuckin’ hell was that?” His eyes turned grim.
“Well,” Ren said quietly, confused at Bacchus' abrupt anger. “She said that she wanted to talk and she said she would swing by and then that just happened.” Bacchus sighed and sat on a chair that was beside a table next to the bed.
“I never thought this would be a problem, but now I guess I better tell ya. You know what Faust and little Lux do for the Tri right?” Ren nodded his head.
“They go and take out key targets for the Triumvirate that are linked to the Magi and they get any information they can, the Tri give them extra for that.” Bacchus nodded.
“They go in and they kill and take any files they can grab, there’s no need to know what’s on them. I give them the job, they go do it. Right?” Ren nodded, and Bacchus continued. “Then why in hell would we need someone who can gather info?” Ren thought of this before, yet he couldn’t think of an answer at the time. Bacchus took the silence as his answer. “The New Age Caesars specialize in one thing, kid. We kill and we steal.” He sighed. “I hoped that I would have proved it by now, but every time I get close I end up back at square one.” Ren shook his head.
“I don’t get it, why did the Tri send Dae here if she is useless to us?” Bacchus looked up.
“Well, the way divisions of Caesars work is they stay in their designated group until they die and their identities are kept secret from everyone else. You know, to keep Caesars on the downlow. But, if you are the only one alive in your division you are sent to another.” Ren leaned forward, becoming a little irritated.
“So she has been in other groups. What does that matter?” Bacchus slumped in his chair.
“Well, this wouldn’t be a problem normally. But, she has been in three other groups, Three . Intelligence gathering divisions for that matter. From what I could gather, these groups were all assigned to scout on Magi facilities to see if they could find anything. The people in her divisions were killed silently by Magi while she was elsewhere. Once, I can call it coincidence, two maybe, but three mother fuckin’ times? That is too suspicious to ignore.”
“If all of this is true, I still don’t understand why is she with us.” Bacchus shifted in his chair and straightened up.
“It means she is a potential threat Ren, so we had better be wary of her. If my suspicions prove true, we might have to do what us merc divisions do best.” Ren, shocked, rose to his feet.
“You can’t kill her! She’s innocent!” Bacchus stayed seated and looked up at Ren.
“It is a risk even having her around at all. She knows too much, and she’s learning more about us even as we speak.” Ren’s rage grew with every word.
“What could be so important about what she knows?” Bacchus’ hands began to glow a faint red, but the glow faded as soon as it began. He looked away.
“That’s Triumvirate business kid. I can’t tell you.” Ren’s body began to glow and then an icicle burst from the ground and almost impaled Bacchus through the throat.
“Damnit calm, down!” Ren then realized what was going on and sat back down, putting his head in his hands. The spike went back into the ground. Bacchus walked up to Ren and put his hand on his shoulder.
“You have to understand kid, she is a danger that has to be taken care of. She could cause a lot of people to get hurt or even die.” Ren shook his head.
“I don’t want that to happen, but she’s still my friend.” Bacchus gave out a sigh.
“Kid, that’s what traitors want you to think. Ever heard of a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” He tossed his bottle into a garbage can, there was the sound of glass breaking as in went in. “All I’m sayin’ is, tread lightly and don’t let her into your head, ‘cause literally she will get inside your head and sort through your memories like a filing cabinet.” Ren blinked, realizing something in the last times he met Dae.
“What would happen if you are affected by it?” Ren asked somewhat panicking. Bacchus thought for a second.
“Well, it would seem like random memories would just jump in your head for no reason, yet if you are resistant of talking about it it’s harder to see.” He shrugged. “That’s what her file said at least.” Bacchus’ eyes widened in realization. “Damnit kid, don’t tell me she trying something on you.” Ren shook his head.
“I don’t think she has seen the past. She keeps asking me about the past, so she couldn’t have gotten anything important yet.” Bacchus nodded and smiled.
“Good deduction kid. I seems like Uncle Bacchus is starting to rub onta ya.” He then got up and patted Ren on the head. “Don’t leave the room for a while alright? Faust and Luxie are coming home sooner than expected, Luxie called me to say that they were at their location already, so don’t worry you won’t be alone for long.” He looked at his watch. “Hmm, better get going, I’ll deliver some food to the place in the morning,” He walked to the small table beside the door that was unharmed by the spikes and placed some Denarius on the table. “That should cover it,” He stopped as he opened the door.
“I’m sorry about this Ren, I really am, but it’s just how it is. You know; the way the world is.” Ren nodded. Bacchus smiled. “Get some sleep kid, you need it.” Bacchus then left Ren with his thoughts. He layed on his bed, thinking.
Can she really be a traitor? She has been nothing but good to me. His thoughts flooded around him but it just made his head hurt.
“Oh, damn it all to hell.” He said he was tired of thinking about all this. It was too depressing. His thoughts then shifted back to his dream, and the alicorn thing named Luna. I did take an ability from her, guess it can’t hurt to try it out. A feeling of stupid spontaneousness overwhelmed Ren better judgement. “Imma try it out.” He then closed his eyes and thought of the ability he remembered Luna using. His body started to glow silver, he felt the room shift around him and then he fell on the ground hitting a hard surface.
He got up scratching his head. He looked around him and saw that the hotel room had disappeared and was replaced by large black void. He stood up. Then in front of him shot out a gold picture frame that had nothing in it. Ren confused stuck his hand through it, it passed right through. “I don’t know what I was expecting.” He then looked around at the blackness and closed his eyes focusing his energy, which made him glow silver. But when he opened his eyes the blackness remained. “Now I done goofed.”
Twilight
I can’t believe that I’m actually doing this. Twilight thought to herself as she walked with Lyra in the castle halls. Lyra couldn’t handle her excitement, so much so that she was literally hopping down the halls like a certain pink pony she knew.
“Omigosh this is going to be great! We are going to learn so much stuff and then maybe we can figure out where the humans are or where they went andmaybewecanmeetoneandtheycanbeourfriendandwecanprocreateand-” Twilight intervened, cutting off the rambling unicorn.
“Calm down, Lyra. You're acting too much like Pinkie Pie, and quite frankly, it’s scaring me.” That incident last year with the mirror pool made Twilight remember that the world couldn’t take more than one Pinkie Pie. “And what was that about procreate-” Lyra suddenly pointed a door in front of them.
“Hey look we’re here!” There was a massive door that stood before them. It was decorated with a gold frame with etchings of books on them. There was also a small sign next to it that said Archives in case you couldn’t tell what it was. “Let’s go inside Twilight!” Yelled Twilight as she hopped toward the door trying to use magic to open it, but no avail and she slammed into the marble door. Twilight rolled her eyes.
“That’s what you get for not listening to what I said earlier.” Twilight helped Lyra to her feet. “The door can only be opened by alicorn magic, so nopony can look at important documents and other things except for us princesses.”
“Hey, do you think Celestia’s ‘personal collection’ is in here?” Lyra asked bluntly, actually pondering if the Canterlot archives hid them. “I've always wonder what human porn is like.” Twilight shot a glare over to Lyra. Lyra gave a nervous laugh. “I’m just kidding, jeez.”
If she finds anything like that in there I’m burning it on the spot . Twilight focused her magic and the door glowed a faint purple and with a loud creak the door slowly opened. When they stepped forward they got a better look of the archives.
It was quite literally books as far as the eye could see. Even Twilight, who can speed read about three books an hour, could never hope gain the achievement of reading every book there. Lyra stared in awestruck wonder as she scanned the vast collection.
“Where in Equestria can we find the human por-I mean books here.” Twilight began walking down the long halls of books and shrugged.
“Find the H section, don’t you know the Dewey Decimal System?” They wandered for what seemed like an hour before they reached the 12000 section which was myths and legends.
“My Celestia, why are there so many books?” Lyra asked tiredly having lost all her energy from the long walk. “This suuuucks.” Twilight, a little tired herself, answered.
“Well, you were the one who kept begging me to take you here. You're going to have to reap what you sow-” Twilight then, not noticing where she was heading slammed horn first into a tower of books which seemed to be twenty feet tall. The tower wobbled a bit before falling in front of them, landing with an echo-producing thud. There came a scream when the books hit the ground. Which Twilight and Lyra quickly went to the source of the scream. Under the pile of books came a muffled voice.
“Geb dah fubbin boks oufa meee pwease.” They quickly used their magic to push the books out of the way to see who was underneath. It was none other than the princess of the night herself Luna, looking quite agitated. “Thank you Twilight Sparkle and-” Her gaze went over to Lyra who was nervously laughing and waving her hoof. “Might I ask why she is in the archives?” Lyra then spoke before Twilight could answer for her.
“Well you see, Twilight thought it would be a super-cool idea to go into the archives to study humans and maybe find out more about them, mostly their reproductive system and-” Twilight slammed a book into Lyra’s face to keep her quiet. Twilight then spoke with her face red with embarrassment.
“Lyra wanted to see if there was any information about human’s here and I thought that this would be the best place, I was resistant at first but I finally caved and we will be leaving now, come on Lyra let’s-” Luna raised a hoof causing Twilight to stop talking.
“I happen to also be studying humans at the moment and I am in need of a certain book. I could use a couple extra eyes to help me.” Lyra shot up and nodded.
“Of course princess! We will help in anyway we can, right Twi?” Twilight of course agreed, what choice did she have? This could be a strike on her record or something, and she felt obligated to do so having knocked an entire tower of books onto Luna. After a couple of hours passed, Luna and Lyra were searching through the books as Twilight put them back in the order that they came, then they found what they were looking for.
This was an old leather and string bound book, about three inches thick, that’s titled. Remnants: A book of all things lost and forgotten. Luna smiled as she lifted the tome up with her magic and began to shift through the pages.
“What’s in it Luna? Anything good?” Lyra asked as Luna scanned the pages of the book. She gave a groan.
“Well, as you probably know, Lyra, it seemed as if humans just fell of the face of Equis and the books, the ones that we have access to at least, say this. I also have had no luck finding anything that says otherwise, but there are somethings that we might have adapted from human society that we might not even know, or some that we might not even invented yet.” She showed the book between Lyra and Twilight. “Look at this!”
The book showed what looked like a small box with numbers on buttons. It went on to say that this small machine could solve any mathematical equation, as long as you could punch the numbers in.
“This is impossible!” Twilight said audibly which caused Lyra and Luna to look at her and laugh a little.
“Oh, but there is more.” Luna stated as they shifted through the pages of the book. There were things that humans could talk to each other from hundreds of miles away, instinct mailing via a thing called the “Internet” which is said that it was the greatest source of information, more information than even the archives had. There was so much in this book Twilight wanted to take it and go into a thorough study of it, there was so much that she didn’t study about the world she went to in the mirror, but it was Luna’s book though. Luna sighed and shook her head.
“It still isn’t what I’m looking for though.” She said throwing the book aside. Lyra looked at her as if she was crazy.
“Are you in your right mind? This stuff is amazing! What could you be looking for that could be better than this?” Luna was rubbing her face, as if she was trying to stay awake. Twilight then noticed how tired she looked. She had bags under her eyes and she yawned loudly.
“Luna, how long have you been down here?” Twilight asked and she came beside Luna as she sighed.
“I came down here as soon as my sister rose the sun.” Twilight’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
“You came here without even a wink of sleep?” Twilight asked shocked. Luna just nodded and stumbled to get up.
“Maybe I should get some sleep before I have to get back to doing nothing.” She began to walk the path to the entrance. “Twilight, could you hold onto that book for me please?” She gave a tired smile to Twilight, as if she knew that she would want it.
“Of course she will! I shall also look after it, princess!” Lyra said holding the book with her magic. Then Luna stumbled her way down the hallway. Lyra then winked at Twilight. “Well, it’s not a human biology book, but it’s a start.” Twilight rolled her eyes. What could have been so important that she would miss out on her sleep, and for humans no less! The thought confused Twilight but she soon shrugged it off and began to walk out of the archives with Lyra skimming over the book she had acquired.
Luna
It felt like an eternity before Luna finally reached the stairwell to her room. She couldn’t believe that it was already four in the evening, was she really there for that long? The sad thing is, she couldn’t find anything about this New Florence or any evidence of humans living underground. Her thoughts began to wander as she ascended the stairs to her chambers.
Could it have been nothing? Then she thought back to when he wrapped his arms around her. She felt his sorrow, his childish joy. It had to be real. He had to be real.
By the time she reached her chambers she couldn’t think any longer. I had forgotten how tired this made me. She sighed dejectedly as she near the top of the stairs. Maybe I’m too old for this. Am I getting old? When she walked into her room the first thing she did was stare into the mirror. She gave herself a good long look. She had dark circles around her eyes and her mane was tangled and matted, she sighed. I hope nopony saw me like this. She used her horn to have the curtains block out the sunlight before flopping onto her bed and closing the curtains around her bed too. With the set of curtains combined it blocked most light and maybe now she could finally get some sleep. Maybe I could dream myself up a prettier look.
Sleep came quickly, soon after that dreams. This dream was more pleasant than the others, and the dream also fixed her appearance. She was at her courtroom, yet it was far more elaborate than usual and surprisingly filled with ponies. There was a literal line of ponies waiting to have an audience with her. She looked around and smiled. It’s good to be the queen. She finally felt as if she was a vital part of the kingdom other than just raising and lowering the moon, even if she knew that this all was just a dream. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it. She raised her hoof to silence the crowd.
“I will now take the first appeal.” There were hoofsteps and then a familiar voice spoke loudly.
“Luna, where the fuck am I?” Luna, shocked by the sudden interruption, took a once over of who would use such language. It was the human from the portrait, his hair still covering his silver eyes, and he was staring around at the courtroom.
“It’s you! Wah-How did you-” Ren smiled and walked toward her scratching his head.
“Well, you know how Caesar’s can use abilities kinda like your magic stuff? Well, I can kinda take other people’s and use them myself. It’s kind of complicated.” When he reached the throne he turned to see the courtroom as a whole. He gave a whistle. “Nice place by the way. I stay at a hotel room, and it’s nice but definitely not this nice.” The man’s gaze met Luna he gave a smile. “Sooo. Where am I?” Luna gave a cough and straightened up.
“I do not believe I got your name, Mr..?” He looked shocked and gave and oh.
“Ha, I thought you caught my name before I woke up.” He flipped his hair back and put it into a small ponytail with a rubber band he acquired in his pocket. “Rentus. You can call me Ren if you want, everyone else does.” Luna nodded. Finally, one answer down; a million left to go. Ren went to her sister’s throne and sat on it, resting his head on one arm and his legs on the other. “So miss Luna or is it Misses? Anyway can you please tell me where the hell I am?” Luna looked over slightly angered at the fact that he was sitting on her sister’s throne, yet she knew he didn’t know any better. She simply used her magic to lift him off. He was startled at first and then just gave plain look at her.
“You are in Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria, and you are standing inside of our great castle.” Ren raised his brow.
“Our? Are there more, what were they called, princesses?” Luna dropped Ren onto his feet. He then dusted the sparkles left from her magic.
“Yes, there are four princesses. Myself, my sister Celestia, the ruler of the Crystal Empire Cadence, and the newly crowned Twilight Sparkle.” Ren had a big grin on his face and started to giggle. Luna gave him a strange look. “What so funny?” Ren’s laughter then broke out and he fell to the floor. He then started trying to talk.
“Those…..Name’s are so….stupid!” He continued laughing, until Luna picked him up with her magic and flung him across the room, knowing from previous experience how durable he actually was. He phased through the dream ponies and pegasi and slid across the floor, eventually impacting the opposite wall. Sure enough, he looked completely unharmed, just like the last time.
“OW. That hurt!” He said waving his hands about as he was laying on the ground. Luna confused stood from her throne and walked across the floor.
“So, how did you say you got here?” Ren looked at her with a grumpy face.
“You fling me across the room and you want me to answer questions? I thought we were friends.” Luna rolled her eyes.
“Then how about since we both don’t know much about each other we ask one, give one. Deal?” Ren sighed.
“Fine, but can we go somewhere else? There are no chairs here except your thrones, and you got mad at me for sitting on them.” Luna gave a sigh and the room shifted into her bed chamber. Ren gave a clap. “Well, this castle is really well decorated.” Luna walked over to a couch that was surrounded by a couple of other chairs. She sat on the couch and motioned Ren to sit down. He immediately did so. His eyes still scanning the room, primarily the curtains, which had beams of moonlight cutting through a small part of it. Luna coughed and Ren’s focus was back to her. Maybe I can get some answers.
“So, how exactly did you invade my dream?” Luna asked. Ren took a breath.
“Well, as I said it’s complicated. Like I said before, Caesars have a special power…” Luna cocked her head.
“Power? As a singular one? I could have swore you’ve used many different abilities.” Ren gave a smile.
“That’s right. Most Caesars can only use one power. I can take other Caesars powers, but I can only know three at a time..” Luna was confused and Ren could obviously see it. “Well, you got a pen and paper?” Luna nodded. She then conjured a quill and paper complete with inkwell and set it on the table. Ren looked disappointed. “Wow, you guys sure live in dark times….” His hand glowed a faint silver and it picked the quill up and dipped it in the ink and began to write. “Sorry if it’s sloppy, if I try to touch it it would just go through me.” Then he was finished he set the quill down and gave a sigh. Luna looked at the picture which had a bunch of writing. She could barely make out what the four big words on the paper spelt out.
~~Ice~~ ----->Telekinesis------->Stone and Terra------>Dreams
Luna stared at the crude drawing. “So, if you were to learn another ability, you would lose the ability to use Telekinesis, correct?” Ren smiled and gave a nod.
“Yes, you got it. I know many, yet master none.” He leaned forward. “So now it’s my turn to ask you something. Where is this Equestria?” Luna thought for a second. If this man has been underground all of this life, it would be a really big shock to show him, yet… She looked over to the curtains.
“Open the curtain and see for yourself.” Ren gave a laugh and walked to the curtains.
“Alright, I don’t know if there is anything that I haven't-” Then he pushed aside the curtains and stood there staring into the night. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. Luna couldn’t help but smile. I wonder if I looked like that when I saw his city . Ren walked onto the balcony out of sight, and Luna slowly went over to see what her human friend thought of seeing the sky for the first time.
When Luna reached the balcony she saw Ren staring at the sky above him resting his arms on the railing. His gaze went all around him. He looked at Luna with a face of absolute awe.
“This isn’t real. It just can’t be...” Luna went beside him and gestured to her custom-made night sky.
“Is this acceptable for your answer?” Ren didn’t seem to hear her, for he was too busy trying to comprehend what the actual fuck he was seeing.
“There is no ceiling.. and what is that rock up there?” He raised his hand up as if he could touch the moon. “When I left the facility five years ago, I was introduced into the world around me. I was utterly speechless. I thought I knew what the Terra was like, but this?” He closed his fist and he sighed. “This is the surface, right?”
Luna nodded. “That space up there is called the sky, the big rock is called the moon. When the moon is out, it is called night, and when the sun is out, it is called day.” Ren looked at Luna who was now standing beside him.
“What’s the sun?” Luna smiled at his naïve enthusiasm. It’s as if I'm teaching a foal.
“It’s kind of like the moon, but it’s on fire.” Ren’s eyes shot toward Luna.
“THAT BUT ON FIRE?” He said as he pointed toward the moon. “That sounds so metal!” He looked around more. “Hey, is that a village?” He pointed to a small town in the far distance. Luna laughed.
“Yes, that town is called Ponyville.” Ren laughed again.
“More stupid names, seriously everything here sounds like it was made for small girls. No offense.” He said half heartedly. Luna just rolled her eyes, she was getting used to Ren’s rudeness, but like a child he does not know better. He is not accustomed to their kind yet. “This place is beautiful. There is so much vegetation here, it has a really natural beauty to it. Unlike crystal or rocks, they are still and not as, well, alive as plant life.”
“Are there a lot of forests and jungles where you come from?” Luna asked. Ren nodded and gave a smile.
“Well, we need oxygen to breath.”
“You need the sun to grow plants.” Luna said plainly. Ren looked at Luna.
“I thought you would catch onto this.” Ren said as he set his back to the railing and crossing his arms. “The crystals that are above a majority of the Terra give off a special light, this light can stimulate the photosynthesis needed to make plants grow. There are, however, some areas of the Terra that the crystals cannot grow proper life or there would be an overabundance of it. And as for weather-” He then turned his head to the horizon. “This place, it seems more natural and-”
As he went on comparing and contrasting the differences of plant life Luna stared and listened closely and stared at the human before her, and it seemed as if for only a moment. Rentus’ eyes didn’t seem so empty. A small wisp of something illuminated in those silver pools. Curiosity perhaps? There was so much that she still did not understand about him, or this “Terra” where he came from. Can a whole race really be thriving right under our hooves? Luna thought still staring at Ren. Eventually Ren stopped talking.
“Hey, you alright? Did I lose ya?” She shook herself to come back to reality.
“Oh, sorry what did you say?” Ren groaned and put his face in his hands. “I must apologize. It’s just difficult to believe that humans, a race that dissapeared of the face of Equis, turns out is living deep underground.” Ren gave a sarcastic laugh.
“First, not human, Caesar, and you think I believed this stuff at first? Some weird species that I have never heard of that comes to me in a dream and starts saying that there is life on the surface, which was said to have been uninhabitable? It seem awfully strange. You are lucky I got that power from you or else I probably would have believed anything.” Then an idea seemed to hit Ren and he smiled. “Hey how ‘bout this?” He went up to Luna and put his hands on her shoulders.
Why do I have a bad feeling about this? Luna thought to herself. Ren smiled and got close to her head, their noses almost touching.
“I am kind of stuck here, if you can teach me how to use this we can go into each other’s dreams right?” Luna thought for a moment.
“I guess that would be possible, it seems at least we are in the same time frame and if you were to have the patience to learn it.” Ren nodded.
“So maybe if we ever catch each other dreaming, say if you go into my dreams I can teach and show you around the Terra and when I go into your dreams you can show me your kingdom. Sounds fair, right?” There it was again, that spark in his eyes. Luna couldn’t help but beam with utter excitement. She couldn’t find any information from texts, even in the royal archives. What better way to find answers then from the source!
“I guess this could be both an educational and enjoyable activity. So I see that can be done.” Ren then wrapped his arms around her.
“Thanks Luna! You’re the best you know that?” Luna couldn’t help but blush.
Well, he just excited I guess . She patted him on the back and he jumped right up.
“So, let’s get started. How about showing me how to get back to my body?” Luna nodded and led him back into her bedchambers to demonstrate.
“The first thing you must have is a sound body and mind, then-” She went on explaining the basic elements of magic. He quickly caught on.
“Alright, so if I disappear you know why alright? It’s been good seeing you.” He gave a deep breath and closed his eyes. The silver aura flowed around and him and he faded from her sight. Luna was surprised.
“He catches on quick to say the least.” She was left alone in her dream. Alone with her thoughts. If there are humans and what Rentus is called, Caesars was it, right under the ground, what could they be doing down there? For a few moments she started getting second thoughts about all that was going on. Was this really a good idea?
Author's Note
YES! MADE THE DEADLINE! Oh yeah, and school's starting up soon too. Goody.
