Soul's Requiem

Gene Splice greeted the alicorns as they returned to the lab.

"Mother what has happened?" Ironsaght said leading the group.

"I need Infinity to begin hacking the Javelin database. You and Temperance I need you both on stand by just in case," The three nodded and took off with Wildfire in tow. Gene turned to Celestia, Twilight, and Luna," Mr. Gem wishes to speak with you in the basement labs. Please follow me."

They went to the elevator and the earth pony punch in a series of numbers. They descended a moment later for quite some time until the elevator opened to reveal a long hallway with glass chambers on each side. Many chambers were dark. They came to one that was lit and they saw ember sitting at a table as a unicorn injected a strange glowing liquid into his foreleg. The door to the chamber opened and Gene led the bewildered alicorns inside.

"Ah yes there you all are," he greeted them in a grave tone as he rolled his sleeve back down," Come follow me I wish to show you something." He brushed past them and started down the hall," When we took a closer look at Cadenza's body we found something most peculiar. Her cells had began to show black crystal growths. They emitted mana similar to a specimen we came into contact with some six years ago." They stopped in front of a glass chamber with Cadenza's body suspended in an array of barriers. Most of her body sported black crystal growths that looked to be slowly growing.

"Why has she not been buried?!" Luna screamed as she rushed Ember. She slammed him up against the glass, cracking it slightly. For his part Ember looked unfazed by this and held up a hoof to stop Gene from sounding the alarm.

"My scientists needed to understand what happened when you three were sealed," He said in a calm voice," What happened to her also happened to her also happened to the Tree of Harmony."

Luna dropped him.

"The Tree!?" Twilight gasped, shock replacing her own anger," What's happened to it?"

"It withered and died," Gene said," And from the fact we found it petrified, some hundreds of years ago."

"It is why magic has all but faded from our world. I need to know what happened all those years ago." Ember said as he stood up, rubbing his throat.

"What happened is that my niece gave her life to stop an army of windigos from bringing another ice age to Equestria," Celestia seethed, flames appeared around her hooves as she stepped menacingly toward Ember," And you have seen fit to put her up like a trophy."

Ember matched the gaze of the angry sun goddess," You think I don't want to give her rest because I do but I needed answers. The world is in danger and the answers her corpse can provide us are essential."

"Danger?" Twilight asked. She steeped toward Celestia and placed a hoof on her foreleg. Celestia whipped around  but caught the smaller alicorns hard gaze. The flames around her died down some.

"Six years ago we made contact with a being from another dimension," Gene said," It emits the same mana we found that was foreign in Cadenza and that killed the Tree of Harmony." She pointed to the chamber behind the alicorns," That is what we are dealing with."

All three alicorns truend and saw the most gruesome sight. Suspended much the same way as Cadence was the corpse of a grey furless pony. It was easily as big as Celestia and it radiated a dark magic. Large clawlike gashes marred it's skin as well as several smaller holes.

"Two thousand years ago," Ember said as he walked up to the glass,"  You both fought a being known as Sombra. The magic he used is a mutated version of what this thing used. He had somehow managed to learn how to open a portal to this thing's realm to draw power from it until your fight with him. Ever since then that realm's tainted magic has leaked into our world at a steady pace, like a faucet dripping. This 'dark' magic as you called it is like a virus that has infected our world until it killed the Tree of Harmony."

"Dark Magic is the cultivation of hate and fear not form some other realm," Luna scoffed.

"Tell me Luna," Ember said," Before your fight with him did either of you know that dark magic existed?"

"No," Celestia admitted," He channeled so much hate into his magic we assumed that was how he created it and we had even learned to do so."

"And my theory is confirmed," Ember said as he walked to the elevator," I believe these things will make another appearance but this time in numbers beyond what we can handle but I have uncovered something that will help us fight them."

"Why not use your 'advancements?" Luna scoffed," You seem more than capable of handling the situation without our help."

"Because last time this thing leveled a city on it's own," Ember's eyes bored into Luna's," It took everything we had to bring it down."

"How powerful was this thing?" Twilight asked.as she gazed at the creature, fascinated.

"It is on par with each of you in terms of magical strength," Ember placed a hoof on the panel and the elevator slid open. He stepped in," We have never dealt with an enemy this strong before and neither have you."

"We believe you are mistaken," Luna scoffed," Clearly you know not of Tirek."

Ember turned slowly toward the alicorn with a blank look before turning to Gene Splice," Dr. Splice please bring up the record accounting to the attack on Fillydelphia in 657 AF please."

The lime mare pulled her holopad out and started tapping the screen rapidly. She handed it Luna. Luna rolled her eyes and humored Ember and read the article that was on it.

'Fillydelphia Attacked by Strange Beast

Yesterday evening a creature similar to a minotaur was found attempting to drain magic from the recently built magic reactors. Power was drained from half of the old city and power has yet to be restored on some streets. The creature had stated a threat against Fillydelphia, its inhabitants, and Equestria as well. This threat was met with lethal intent by the Equestrian military. The old city had been evacuated and an aerial assault, led by Colonel Sparkplug, was initiated against the beast. The first sweep of fighter ships brought the beast down with minimal damage to property. Colonel Sparkplug had refused to comment on the assault only stating 'he was doing his job nothing more.' Unfortunately the reactors were heavily damaged. It has been estimated that power will be returned by the end of the week.

~Typed Point

Luna looked up at Ember who still wore a neutral expression," Is that the beast your referring to?"

Celestia took the device from Luna and read it herself. Luna gritted her teeth," This is a ruse surely. You can not honestly expect us to believe your military was able to bring down that monster."

"Oh believe me it is," Ember said, raising a hoof," The military brought the beast down with a barrage of Pulse missiles then hit him with a barrage of regular bullets The whole encounter if I did my research correct that is took a little over two hours and that included the evacuation."

Celestia looked up with a neutral expression,'Yes this confirms it they haven't needed us. they dealt with him easily and without our aid.'

Twilight looked up with an look that screamed 'not amused'." I met him in combat myself and we traded magic bursts that exceeded well over sixty thousand gigajoules of magic energy and your telling me that the military, our military that even at the time when we were in power had the benefit of powerful spell craft couldn't defeat Tirek, was able to miraculously bring him down.

"If I may," Gene said, cutting," At the time of your rule ponies were filled with a natural magic and if the reports are accurate this Tirek could absorb any type of magic. He wouldn't have been able to absorb magic from ponies when he attacked Fillydelphia because there was simply nothing there for him to absorb. Not only that but the magic in those reactors at the time held little mana. The only reason the military met him with lethal in the first place was because Equestria had only recently been in a war with Talonreach, one of the Gryphon countries."

Ember nodded," Basically he wasn't able to absorb enough magic to make him a walking powerhouse."

Twilight looked back at the article, still trying to believe what they were telling her. Luna stamped a hoof down," Then prey tell how you can't take this threat down yourselves."

Ember sighed," Because this threat has it's sights set on the world. This has been marked as the end of days and if you are still the ponies I know you are then you would do anything to stop this from happening."

Twilight lowered the device and focused her eyes on Ember as he debated with Luna. His eyes held a conviction and honesty to them that seemed familiar. The analytical part of her mind noted several quirks as well. A familiar twitch of the left eye, a slight bending of the back left limp, a gritting of the teeth that happened in three second intervals, and the air warping slightly with each breathe Ember took. Finally the lavender mare spoke," Who are you?"

Ember looked at her, surprised at her sudden question," I have told you I am Ember-"

"No your not," Twilight insisted, taking a step forward," At least not who you truly are. It's an alias isn't it? What I want to know is how?"

"Twilight Sparkle, why would you think this pony would give us a false name?" Luna asked.

"That's a good question," Twilight said as her amethyst orbs bored into Ember's green," Well Spike I'm waiting for an answer."