Filly Fantasy- Requiem of Ponies

CHAPTER XI: CASSOPEIAC PHANTOMS

We looked at Silemn, and every bit of mystery remained to his ways. We saw he had the form of a draconequus, but his form was uniform and plain. What little we could see, his hands and feet, shone a metallic silver, which was presumably his scale colour. He was covered in a robe of blackened goat hair, the hood of which shrouded his face in darkness and shadow.

Silemn wore a smile and said, “I’m sure you are wondering why I have done all this. Bomb the show, bomb the shelter, turn the guards into pulpy ribbon, gore Celestia… Surely there must be a reason to this madness, hmm? What fun is there in telling my plans? I hold the power, and I don’t need to release it.”. Silemn then pulled out the long iron rapier from Celestia’s skull and licked off the blood. Silemn laughed and said, “You want some?”.

Rainbow said angrily, “We don’t care for your mind games. Either you stop on your own accord or on ours. Either way, you WILL stop doing all of this.”. Silemn quickly changed in his mood, as his eyes blazed with anger and his smile turned to a scowl. He walked up to Rainbow and slashed her across the face with his rapier, knocking Rainbow back and leaving a bleeding cut across her face.

Silemn said to Rainbow, “You filthy, petulant child… Don’t even dare try to give me orders, you mangled clump of rotted flesh and putrid metal. Were it not something that would hinder my plans, I would kill you where you stand. Do not test my luck, for your value is not irreplaceable.”. Silemn then spat onto Rainbow’s face, and walked back to the throne.

I said, “We aren’t children. Most of us are over thirty.”. Silemn sat down and looked at us with an irritated gaze. I was getting the feeling that Silemn was nowhere near thirty, and that he well knew our ages. I said, “If you’re going to talk to us, show your face. I’m not talking to someone I can’t see.”.

Silemn sighed and said, “Very well. I am a reasonable man, and can accommodate your demands, however rudely they are delivered.”. Silemn took off his hood to reveal his head and face, both draconic in form. There was almost a devious and menacing charm to his appearance. As far as draconequui go, he was far from hideous. I noted this, saying to Silemn, “I expected much worse, honestly. But it is the most destructive and most wicked who cloak themselves in false aesthetics.”.

Silemn said to me, “You are well read, child. But as you do not know me, you are not well read enough.”. Silemn paused, to make quite sure he had everypony’s attention, before continuing on. Silemn then proceeded to say, “The one you called Nightmare Moon… was not the first of Equestria to be banished. I was the first to receive such… honour.”.

Silemn continued, “Long ago, long before Celestia or Luna, I had extraordinary power. More power than anything else I knew of, of any species. I was more powerful than even Discord. The havoc I wreaked upon the planet was extreme. I hated ponykind, because they hated me. The cyclical hatred fueled my rage, and as it grew, I drew power from Equestrian Windigoes, who had long been feeding on the rage. The reason they could not defeat me is because the Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns feuded and bickered amongst one another over… mundane problems. However, they came to realize only the true power of their unity could defeat me and end their pains. When the tribes came to a conditional treaty, held together by a consensual disapproval of my actions, they worked on a weapon that could defeat me. The unicorns gave their magic, the Pegasi their Spectra, and the Earth Ponies their basic machinery. By some process, they used a calcinatory to create the Elements of Harmony. Their six leaders bore them, and used them to violently force me into the depths of an asteroid; one their astronomers believed would hold me forever.”.

Silemn continued, “However, that was not so. Nine years ago, the asteroid was struck by the Moon, causing it to hurl towards Equestria and become a meteor. The meteor crashed in the desert, destroying a place known as Dodge Junction. The impact broke the meteor and when I awoke, I stepped out onto the free soil. For millennia, I had been trapped in that stone hell, and when I breathed the fresh air, I felt a sense of power come back into my veins, after so long of an imprisonment. But I lacked the power of before… I was a mere shadow of what I was. For years, I had to rely on frequent Spectra injection for magical capability. So I vowed revenge… but since my original captors were long dead, I had to go for the next best option: Killing the current keepers of the Elements of Harmony. After some research, I learned everything about them… their historical keepers and their current ones. So you, Twilight Sparkle, and your friends… You, the 57th keepers of the elements… will die by my hands. I have seen two die, and that leaves four to go.”.

Spitfire said, “What about me and my daughter? Why do you try to kill us? We never bore the elements, and it’s not fair to take your beef with the Elements of Harmony’s bearers out on us!”. Nothing changed on the face of Silemn, his actions and their consequence did not disturb him at all.

Silemn said, “Foolish woman, I do not want fairness in my world. The entirety of the races of ponies was my enemy… Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns all took place in my banishing. I will have my revenge, do not doubt me. I am no opponent like you have ever faced before. Your lives are a blink in my eyes… For in your years I am 15,000. An ancient plague of fire and smoke, one who chokes the world of light by the darkness he spreads with every waking step. You are no match for what power I can hold.”.

I asked, “Why have you waited to kill us then? Why not kill us now and be done with it? What value does keeping your bitter adversaries alive hold for you?”. Silemn did not answer; his emotion was neutral and withdrawn. As much as I tried to read him, his face was a blank page. He was clearly hiding something, and he clearly knew his way around deception, as his poker face was impeccable.

Rainbow got up and Silemn said, “Do you think you can behave now, sir?”. Rainbow snarled and said, “Let’s just end this now. We kill you, and we can be downing drinks in a bar by midnight.”. Within a blink, Rainbow had leapt across to strike Silemn with impeccable agility. And though Rainbow had become nothing more but a cyan streak of light in that moment, her strike was met in an instant with a parry by Silemn’s rapier.

Silemn said, “Do you really think I’m that weak? That I would be bested by a ragged pegasus who is far past her prime in every way?”. Silemn then swung his rapier in a sideways arc and flung Rainbow’s dagger into a wall. He then leapt, planted his feet into Rainbow’s throat, and kicked off, sending Rainbow crashing into the palace door.

Scootaloo, not surprisingly, rushed towards Silemn with her lance, giving her assault every ounce of power she could muster, power that meant nothing considering the perfection of parrying Silemn pull off with ease. Spitfire said to the rest of us, “I’m going to go help her! He’s way too powerful for her.”.

The moment Silemn was gaining an edge, Spitfire mixed and loaded up cerean spectra for a high level Haste spell and joined in the fray. Despite the onslaught, Silemn was perfect in every step, every guard, and every return. Then again, such could be expected from someone with millennia of life to practice with.

Applejack said, “Think we should help?”. I said, “Nah, I’d rather not get sliced to bits. I have a plan though. Rarity, prepare a Curaga for Rainbow Dash. Applejack, you and I will fire Thundara at the hilt of Silemn’s rapier. The shock should disrupt his focus for just long enough for Spitfire and Scootaloo to get some blows in.”.

As Rarity went off to help Rainbow, me and Applejack loaded up our Armariums with the vials needed for each of us to give a pretty nasty shock. I told Applejack, “Fire!”, and thunder erupted from our Armariums and struck the hilt of Silemn’s rapier squarely, causing him to drop it.

Scootaloo and Spitfire, despite their growing fatigue, used this chance to deliver some damage to Silemn. Silemn still tried blocking with his hands, but he messed up so frequently that he may as well have just taken the full brunt of the beating. Cuts and gashes soon abounded on him, as he was being beaten into submission.

The moment Rainbow was healed, she dashed toward Silemn’s sword as Silemn was about to recover it. Rainbow soon grabbed the rapier from the floor and tore across Silemn’s face with the blade in a single vicious swing. Rainbow stood over Silemn, breathing heavily, and said, “Now… now it will all soon be over. You will die, and Equestria will have peace. Without your bombs and sword and magic, you are nothing. You are a braggart, nothing more and nothing less.”.

I noticed something about Silemn’s blood, however, that told a very different story. He was not dripping blood from his wounds, he was dripping Spectra. Silemn’s mouth gained a very visible twitch, and the irises of his eyes went from a yellow to a deep sapphire in colour, and his scales darkened to a deep gray colour. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t good.

CHAPTER XII: SPEAKING IN FANCY

As Rainbow was about to kill Silemn, I yelled out, “Wait, stop! That won’t hurt him! He’s dripping Spectra… and where there are all the Spectra, there is Protect.”. Silemn’s transformation only grew more disturbing, as his muscles soon doubled in size and his robe tore off in the expansion. He no longer spoke, but only made pained grunts of rage and violent anger as his veins became prominent and the rainbow hue of his Spectral blood became slightly visible as the blood rose to the surface of his skin.

His robe now off, we saw the mountain of muscle he had become, clothed in some kind of white garb with gold parts to it. I asked Rarity, “Rarity, what is he wearing?”, and that earned the reply, “It is called an eodoric. It was worn as an ornate ceremonial gown of sorts by the ancient Neighyptians during religious ceremonies.”. I asked, “How did one get here, on him? Why this?”.

Silemn’s transformation soon finished, and he stood, an aegis of flesh and muscle, hard as steel, covering his body. His grunting and seething soon subsided, and he stood before us, staring in pure hatred at us. The wind grew cold and the air grew heavy as Silemn prepared to speak.

He then said to us in a deep, menacing voice, “Je suis ... Je suis un cauchemar. Vous les enfants pathétiques et stupide, combien peu vous comprenez de mes moyens. Pensez-vous que je mourrai avant bâtons et de pierres? Non! Je suis une puissance comme jamais auparavant!”.

None of us seemed to understand what he was saying, at all. None of us, except for Rarity, that is. Rarity said to the transformed monster before us, “Pourquoi vous battez-vous? Pourquoi avez-vous torturé les autres dans le passé?”. Applejack just said, “Too much fancy talk hurts my head…”.

Silemn looked at Rarity emotionlessly and said, “Je ne sais pas ... Je ne comprends pas ce monde. Il est rempli à la perfection, la compassion et la compréhension. Vous ne vous sentez pas les conflits, vous ne vous sentez pas en cas de catastrophe, et vous ne vous sentez pas la douleur. Par conséquent, je dois détruire ce monde. Je dois le refaire à mon image. J'ai besoin d'un monde de douleur, la douleur et l'angoisse ... parce que c'est qui je suis.”.

Rarity asked, “Mais vous devez comprendre ... qui n'est pas souhaité par tout le monde. Nous ne comprenons pas vos manières. Quelle valeur puis organisez-vous ici, si tout meurt?”. Silemn responded, “Il est tout. Tout dans mon cœur gravite dans cette direction. J'ai été formé et engendra un incendie, d'être ...”.

Rarity questioned, “Pour être quoi?”. Silemn responded plainly, “Pour être le meurtrier du monde.”. I asked Rarity, “What is the verdict?”, and earned the response, “He is crazy, and he wants to murder everything.”. Silemn stood still, apparently not able to understand our language anymore, not fazed by the things we had said.

Silemn lost his calmness, and soon boiled into senseless rage. He roared in fury, bellowing violently, “Je suis la bête par lequel cette planète enchaîné doit mourir! Je vais le libérer du cauchemar du sommeil de la paix!”. As he roared, he grew a fireball in his palm, and we watched as it went from Fire to Fira, Fira to Firaga, Firaga to Firaja, and finally Firaja to Flare.

As he prepared to throw it, Rainbow yelled, “Everypony, High level Protect, now!”, as she tossed everyone Spectra vials which we quickly loaded in. Despite all six of us combining High level Protect, the single Flare shattered it, but the Protect stood up well enough so that we were barely singed. As Silemn prepared another Flare, Rainbow shouted, “Out the window! This one is far more powerful!”.

As we leapt out the building, I could feel the destructive force of the Flare. I have no doubts the throne room was now a smoldering ruin. As we landed, we just kept running for our lives. Whatever we had awoken, it was beyond a nightmare. Silemn was an indescribable monster, and we knew if we stopped, we would die. I could not even bear to turn my head; I could only imagine the crackling fires I heard that engulfed the castle.

CHAPTER XIII PART I: WAR DRUMMING

We had been running for days for safety, but we found nothing but barren wasteland and desolation in the form of hapless deserts. For the first time in days, we had finally stopped at a town. One that wasn’t abandoned or destroyed, by our great luck, the little we had left. We were camping outside when the night had become cool, and the only thing that was uncomfortable was a mutually disliked silence. Nopony could figure out what to say after all that had happened.

Rainbow Dash leaned her back against a wall and said, “So, let me get rid of the white elephant here… How are we going to defeat Silemn? He’s far too powerful. What little we saw… we don’t even know if that is the full potential he has.”. Applejack responded, “Probably not. I reckon that even if we master Atma and Utma Spectra, we still won’t have nearly enough power to destroy him.”. Spitfire said, “What about the Elements of Harmony?”.

I said, “First off, we don’t even know where they are. Second, the bearers are broken up now.”. Spitfire said, “Hear me out, Twilight. Rainbow is still very loyal, as shown by the fact she’s so willing to fight to defend us. Twilight, you still hold the great power of magic, even if you do use an Armarium. Applejack has shifted a lot towards generosity as Rarity has shifted towards kindness. Scoot has become honest over time and that leaves me with laughter.”.

I said skeptically, “Explain how you remotely cause laughter.”. Rainbow Dash said, “Hmph… You ever see her clients after hours?”. Spitfire jabbed Rainbow sharply in the gut with her staff and said, “You’re eight feet away, don’t think I can’t hit you.”. I fired off a Shell spell and said, “Play nice… we’re in this for the long haul.”. I lowered the shell and said, “Look, we’ll need to get to somepony before we can get to some answers. That pony would be Luna. If anyone would know, she would. Now, I’m going to bed. I suggest all of you do the same, because we have a long day ahead of us.”.

CHAPTER XIII PART II: SEEDS OF REMORSE

Even though I said first that I was going to sleep, sleep was the last thing I seemed capable of doing. I kept thinking about everything: Silemn, the Elements, my friends, and everything else. Everyone else could sleep except for me. Well, almost everyone… Rainbow Dash was sleeping, but it sure wasn’t sound sleep.

I looked over and saw her moaning and thrashing in her sleep, like something in her dreams was tormenting her. I went over to her and starting viewing her dreams with my magic. I wasn’t too surprised when I found out it was a constant loop of all of Rainbow’s memories of the Wonderbolts show. I was worried about her, so five loops or so in, I decided to plant myself in the dream.

The world was smoky and hazy, covered with ash, but it felt like I was viewing the world as if a reflection in water: wavy and unstable. I walked around, in search of Rainbow Dash, and I eventually found her, having recently started crawling across the ground away from the wall. She looked terrified, for the first time in her life. She wasn’t nervous; she felt a deep pain and an agony inside her. I know… because I saw the terror in her eyes.

I walked up to her and said, “Rainbow, it’s me, Twilight. Everything is okay. I’m here now.”. Rainbow just looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Twilight… I’m so scared… I don’t want to die! I’m too young!”. I looked sorrowfully at her, knowing she was only a figment in a dream, but I said, “It is okay. I won’t let you die, not today, not ever.”. Rainbow clutched tightly to my legs and said, “I… I need you here. I don’t want to be alone.”.

Suddenly, I was ejected from the dream. The likely reason was because Rainbow happened to have just woken up. Rainbow said to me, “You need me, Twi?”. I said to Rainbow apologetically, “No, I just saw you having trouble sleeping. Sorry for that.”. Rainbow said, “It’s okay. At least you are someone who gives two craps about me.”. Rainbow took out a bottle of bourbon from her satchel and took a few swigs before she said, “You want some?”. I just shook my head to decline… I never was one to get jazzed about booze.

Rainbow also took out a greywheat stalk and used a touch of Fire to light it up. Rainbow laughed and said, “Armariums… piece of work, ain’t they?”. I asked her, “Rainbow, is there an unhealthy habit you don’t have?”. Rainbow said, “I don’t shoot up Spectra.”. I asked, puzzled, “Pegasi do Spectra as an IV drug?”.

Rainbow said, “Yes, they do. Because of the magical capabilities of Spectra, you can shoot up different types and, when you mix and match, you get some performance enhancement. All types affect all of your physical aspects, but some are better for individual aspects than others. I don’t shoot up Spectra because, as I’ve told you, I’m afraid of needles.”.

I said, “Let me get back to the topic of your dream… You have to realize one of these days it wasn’t your fault. You are tormenting yourself by replaying these memories over and over. It’s cruel to do that to yourself.”. Rainbow said, “I know. But I still feel guilt. Because I can feel compassion.”. I asked Rainbow, “Why were you talking to me in the dream? Didn’t you realize I was a projection?”.

Rainbow responded, “I responded because that dream is still a reflection of my emotions. Before the six of us joined up recently, I had been alone for seven long years. No one would care for me, no one would talk to me, and no one wanted to see me. I had become a pariah, trash thrown to the side in the oubliette of society as a relic of a forgotten golden era. Sure, I would see AJ plenty, but someone cleaning up my vomit doesn’t really count as care.”.

Rainbow finished by saying, “By the way, Twi… You don’t really have weapon skills, do you?”. I responded, “Honestly, no.”. Rainbow said, “Take a second Armarium then, you could use the extra firepower.”. Rainbow then mixed up some Spectra and cast a Sleep spell on herself, presumably to avoid the tumultuous dreams she was having.

I furrowed around in Rainbow’s satchel and did, in fact, find a spare Armarium. I attached the device to my free foreleg and went off in the distance to practice magic. I had this nagging feeling I’d need more than simple Firaja spells to defeat the horrible monster we had created.

CHAPTER XIV: SHADOWS OF PAST ERAS

When I awoke at the crack of dawn, I saw Rainbow and the others were already set to head out. Apparently, despite waking up at five, I had overslept. Everyone had apparently prepared well, considering massive amounts of spectra covered them, neatly arranged in countless belts across their backs and legs. Even their weapons were new, fresh, and upgraded.

I asked Rainbow, “Where did you get all this Spectra?”. Rainbow replied, “The only place you can get it: Cloudsdale.”. I guess I could have figured she’d get a mountain of Spectra sooner or later. After all, we went through Spectra like candy. I asked further, “Where are we going that we need all this?”.

Spitfire said, “This is a long term supply of Spectra. We haven’t exactly been using our supply efficiently. Truth be told, we are only heading for the mountains. According to some folks here, a royal chariot blew past this town and was heading west. Sure sounds like Luna, because it’s definitely not Celestia.”.

Once the preparations were finished, we started our way across the desert and towards the mountains. Applejack said, “I sure hope this isn’t a dead end. It’s no short trek to those mountains, and we’re going off rumors of a royal chariot, the passenger of which we don’t have a clue about.”. Applejack did bring up a pretty solid point. We are going off the word of ponies that live in a remote desert. For all we know, they saw a mirage and we are chasing phantoms. Still, it was our only hope for finding Luna as it stands.

The desert sun beat heavily on us, but some graciously applied Reflect from Rarity cast away most of the heat. Hours passed pretty quickly, but the mountains seemed like they were getting farther away. In fact, they were getting farther away, a fact I didn’t realize until we had been travelling for ten hours. I stated, “Hold up… we were a six hour walk away from the mountain range. Why have we been getting farther away?”.

Nopony had an answer, so I answered for them, “It’s an illusion…”, as I cast a High level Dispel from both Armariums, as well as using a failsafe spell with my own magic. Rainbow said, “That’s a tad bit overkill, Twi. You’re using far too much magic for a simple illusory barrier.”. I responded, “No, I’m barely using enough… I know who put up this illusion. This is an alicorn’s barrier It was Luna, using it to protect herself from Silemn, I assume.”.

Soon, the Reflect and the barrier shattered, to reveal we were at the top of the mountain. I noted, “The reason why it was going away was because we were going up. The illusion attempts to dissuade the intruders from continuing on by making them believe they are fighting a losing battle. It is clever, in that it seems logical and innocent. Now, let’s go in.”.

Before we could move, we heard the sliding of a bolt and the cock of a rifle. The pony holding it said cryptically, “Two rings in an eternal dance of dusk and dawn battling for light, the pillar of fire never scorned and the stone temple in the icy night. What is the answer to the riddle I pose?”. I responded, “The Sun and The Moon.”.The rifle lowered and the pony said, “Come in, your ways determine your fate.”. When we entered, we came to find out that the cryptic pony was, in fact, Luna.

CHAPTER XV: THE LENDARIO EXPLAINED

The seven of us sat around a fire, silence remaining as me and my friends waited for Luna to speak. Luna’s ways were always mysterious, but a sense of seriousness that was less common in Celestia had always shrouded Luna. Luna’s reclusive nature allowed for her to devote herself to studies, studies that would now be something that could come very much in handy.

After a while, Luna broke the silence and said, “This creature… Silemn… is not a being of this planet. Unlike it seems, he is not, in fact, a draconequus. He is something far more powerful: A Lendario. Several thousand years before the birth of either me or Celestia, there existed a planet known as Loas. Loas was deep within the outer reaches of the galaxy we inhabit, in an area that remains mysterious and bizarre to this very day.”.

Luna continued, “Loas was a dying planet, because of the Hay’zhhm, a group of Lendario that grew in power by consuming the magic, matter, and energy of the planet. They ruled in tyranny for many millennia, but their power indeed came at a cost. When a certain Hay’zhhm started drawing power from the eight suns of Loas, he started to make the stars unstable, and all eight stars went into a violent supernova. Every single one of the Lendario on Loas died, but one Lendario, one that had been cast into space as punishment for a deed of his that now is lost in history, survived. That Lendario, the last Lendario, was named Oyekhyym in the tongue of the Lendario. In our words, he is named Silemn. He was far from the most powerful, but he was still more powerful than anything we know of.”.

Luna concluded, “The state you saw him enter at Canterlot is the natural Lendario transformation when their lives are in grave danger. However, they can only stay in the state a second for every year they are old. In Silemn’s terms, he was in this state for about a sixth of a day. However, it is certain that another near death experience will thrust him right back into this state.”.

Rarity asked, “He told me he exists to be the ‘murderer of the world’. What are his plans? Why does he wear an eodoric, something long abandoned in Equestria? What can stop him?”. Luna simply motioned for Rarity to be silent, as she prepared to answer the unicorn’s questions.

Luna explained, “The eodoric is the traditional wear of the Lendario, simple as that. It is in his culture. As for his plans, he wants what all Lendario thirst for to the point of complete destruction of everything around them… power. He wants to draw the power from the Elements of Harmony in full, and consume the Sun and the Moon. He wants everything… so that he can become a god. He has the Elements, but he must take the blood of each of you… you, who have embraced the Elements and exhibited their properties. There is only one way to stop him without the Elements… send him hurtling into the Sun. The only weakness of the Lendario is stardust.”.

Applejack cut in, “That’s fine and dandy, but do explain how we are supposed to send someone that powerful that far away?”. I explained, “An Ultima cannon. There is a cannon in Manehattan that was used centuries ago in a short war as an anti-zeppelin measure. If we can load that to the brim with Utma Spectra and lure Silemn towards it, the ensuing blast should propel him far enough.”.

Rainbow said, “If we’re going to do that, we will need all the Spectra in Cloudsdale. Ultima in that caliber will take several rainbows worth of Spectra.”. Luna stated, “That may be a problem… look outside.”. We walked to the edge of the cave, and saw Cloudsdale in flames, slowly plummeting to the earth before erupting into a fireball.

END OF PART THREE