Prologue: Forsaken of the Sun
Prologue: Forsaken of the Sun
May the light of the sun ever guide your steps.
I fear for myself. Not for what may happen to me, but for what I may become. At what point does a pony stop being an equine? I cannot dwell on such things. My fate is what I will make of it, that I swore all those years ago. Yet still I struggle forward in a never ending cycle. What hope is there for a lost pony like myself when those who came before have fallen? Perhaps I am denied the only escape from this forsaken realm, the cold comfort of an unmarked grave.
~ Any clue to the writer has been marred by fire and ash
Silence envelops me, darkness surrounds me. An eternity stretched out forever. A moment frozen in time. Seconds stretch to minutes, to years, to centuries. The void surrounding me is complete, as endless as time itself. Yet something breaks the flow of the eternal. A slow hissing reaches my ears, causing them to twitch slightly as my mind begins to stir once more.. How long was I here? A moment, a day, an eternity? I do not know, I cannot know. I open my eyes to darkness, my heart begins racing in my chest... who am I? Where am I? The frantic thump in my chest provides no answers. My mind searches for the answers, even as I reach out into the darkness that surrounds me. The world is still, silent, save for my rasping breath and the pounding of my heart. I close my eyes once more, even as my hoof strikes something above me, close... my armored nose is nearly touching it, actually... I feel around some more, the walls surrounding me close at hoof... hard, cold... rough like stone. A familiar sound accompanies my movements, one that I remember but cannot place. A slight rattling noise, metal clinking... I focus my thoughts, banishing my fear to the back of my mind. Twisting, I bring my hooves to rest against the ceiling. Push... push! I strain, muscles starting to burn when I’m rewarded by a grinding noise, stone upon stone. The noise is nearly deafening after an eternity of silence. Encouraged, I press on, focusing on the task at hoof. With painful slowness, the heavy stone shifts, until a slender beam of light breaks through. I smile slightly, despite the ache in my legs. With renewed effort, the heavy stone lid gradually slips off the side, freeing me from the sarcophagus that had trapped me. I look up at the sun, a thin, pale thing. Who am I? Where am I?
Carefully, I clamber out of the tomb, metal plating and chains rattling from my armored form, my breath loud in my ears, echoing from within the confines of my helmet. The weight of the armor is spread well, the suit clearly designed with me in mind, or at least a mare of my size. The helmet is stifling me, too reminiscent of the tomb I had just escaped. With almost desperate determination, I rip the heavy metal object off, breathing heavily of the sweet, cold air. Raven black hairs drift in front of my face from my newly freed mane. I close my eyes once more, even as I shake the sweat from my face. The weight on my shoulders is a familiar one, one that I know well. The armor I wear is well made and sturdy, something an earth mare like me would appreciate. Functional and effective. But why do I know that? The sound of hoofsteps breaks me out of my reverie, my eyes snapping open as I see somepony approaching me. I start to raise my hoof to greet them, but stop before more than a whisper escapes my throat. Something here seems definitely wrong. The pony shambles towards me, emaciated to the point of being nearly skeletal. I swear I can hear his bones creak within his skin. Warily, I watch him, even as he gets closer and closer. I try to call out to him, to tell him to stay back, by my voice fails me, nothing more than a dry rasp escaping my parched throat. He’s almost to me by now, the rags covering him barely hiding his ghastly appearance, and revealing a knife strapped to his leg.
He lunges at me, even as I instinctively turn, an old memory fighting its way to the surface through desperation. He’s faster than he seemed, his shambling only bringing him closer before the swift and brutal strike towards my throat. Bracing down with my shoulder, I shove up and out, the shield strapped to my upper leg brutally shoving the knife up and away. My body responds, even as my mind recognizes the opening, the blade being parried by my heavy shield. Even as he staggers, I thrust with my free hoof. I feel a click in the gauntlet encasing my leg, a long, savage blade extending even as I strike. As long as my leg, the silvered blade punches through his torso as if he were made of paper, the shining blade severing his spine, even as I instinctively twist the weapon. I lean up next to him, feeling his blood run down my leg, sticky and wet, his body heavy against me. His wheezing, rasping body twitches limply, impaled on my blade before giving a sad little moan. My heart pounds in my chest as I whisper an apology to him. “I’m sorry.” I pull the blade back, letting his corpse fall to the ground, no longer held in place by enchanted steel. It was over in a moment, the rapidly cooling corpse laid out before me as the retracting blade slips back into its hiding place on my leg. I look at the body, a mix of sorrow and excitement rushing through me. The blood stains the ground, even as I watch it cool off. What had I done? It was simply... I shake my head. Necessary? Is it ever so? Perhaps... It was so quick, so instinctive. I didn’t even have to think about it. Was it truly so easy to take a life?
Suddenly, a warmth starts to fill me, reminding me that until that moment, I had felt bitterly cold. The body in front of my hooves seems to... grow faded, pale. I take a step back... what just happened? The warmth that had touched me was only for a brief moment, the pale sun above providing no comfort. I pull my heavy helmet back on, looking towards a large building in the distance. I feel a pull towards it, as if something were drawing me there. Looking back, the stone coffin behind me has a crest on it, the same as my shield, an inscription etched with care beneath the shield. Here li- -- iend and com-... Worn with time, faded and obscured, I rest my hoof on the empty grave for what feels like an eternity, before finally turning back to the shrine behind me. What am I? Who am I? I look to the pale sky for answers, but only silence answers me. Silence, and the numbing cold that fills my body, chilling my soul. The sun above provides no comfort, the harsh and pale light shedding no warmth. I shift the shield to a more comfortable position, even as I start my journey, hooves pounding into the worn soil, armor clinking with each step. I will find answers. I must find answers.
Clink... clink... clink... my hooves continue to ring against the hardened dirt and stones, even as I flick my blade clean, blood falling off the enchanted weapon in crimson ropes. Several more of the pony-like creatures had attacked me, each falling to my blade. I can’t see them as ponies, not right now. My mind is in turmoil, regarding what I’ve done, and how easy it was for me to continue. Bloody dirt cakes against my armor, lives I’ve taken, each light extinguished bringing some warmth into my body... The coldness inside of me absorbs the heat with a ravenous hunger, dwarfing what small amounts of warmth it’s stolen. I don’t know why it’s happening, only that it is... Part of me relishes the warmth, desperate for more with a primal need buried deep inside. The rest of me recoils at the thought, knowing that such a path is strewn with bodies. The building looms over me, even as I approach it, something about it tugs at my mind... had I seen this before? I reach out with an iron shod hoof, pressing the steel gauntlet against the worn stones.
The world seems to twist somehow, and I feel like retching as lights and colors flash before my eyes in insane patterns. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” I look over where the voice comes from, seeing nothing. “One day, ponies will look at it, and know what we did here.” My head whips around towards where this voice came from... it seems somehow familiar? An armored mare stands at the base of the structure, her body completely covered in steel armor. The crest on her shield looks like the one on that was on the tomb... Wait, what’s going on? My heart thuds in my chest, even as she seems to turn and look right through me, the gleaming structure a monument stretching up towards the heavens, a gleaming white spire to pierce the sun, or so it seems from where I stand. “The Sunlink Shrine... to remind us where we came from, and where we are going...” My voice rings out, cold and hollow amid the ruins in which I stand. There’s no tower, no shrine... no gleaming beacon of hope. Just a ruined shell of past glories. Shaking my head, I push through the closed gates, the hinges creaking and straining as I force them open, rust falling from the ancient doors.
The cavernous room is dry and dusty, the taste of ancient mold upon my tongue as I disturb the dust that lies thick upon the floor. My steps are heavy, the sweet coolness of the silent shrine a brief mercy to distract me from what I feared lay within. Had the whole world gone mad? Or perhaps it was just I... But who was the mare behind the helmet, inside the armor? So much that was known before, lost to time. A name, such a thing taken for granted, until the time it is lost... I bark a sharp laugh, even as my hooves leave a trail through the dust and ashes, trotting through a forgotten ruin. I sit down next to an abandoned fire pit, the charred remains of the previous fire still lingering, a twisted sword impaling the ashes. The air is heavy with the smell of dust and ash, my presence stirring up the remains like a forgotten dervish. Reaching back into my bag, I pull out a small piece of flint, something I had kept with me for as long as I could remember. Grasping it firmly with my teeth, I strike it against my armored gauntlet, ancient scrapes showing where I’ve done this before. Flint strikes steel, sparks catching among the kindling, the old bonfire slowly starting to burn. The fire is warm, what little there is, even as I watch it for what feels like an eternity. Seconds, minutes, all seem to fade away, the fire continuing to burn despite the meager fuel available for it.
“So you’ve come, accursed one.” I snap my head around at the voice, a sudden presence from behind me.
“Forgive my intrusion, I thought I was alone.” Already standing, I prepare to draw my blade, wary in these uncertain times, my body readily falling into a prepared stance.
The figure before me should be tall and regal, based on her bearing and size, yet she seems worn, pale beneath the cloak that shrouds her. Like a faded reflection or a lost memory of something once glorious, hunched and shriveled beneath an ancient cloak. “You are alone, accursed one... or close enough. Abandoned by the light of the sun, cursed to walk this forsaken realm... I’m sorry my child. If I could release you from this burden, I would, but you are the one who must walk now, who must endure.” She smiles, a pale muzzle from beneath the cloak. “But it was hard to recognize you, though I remember that armor. You cherished it so, didn’t you?”
I regard her for a moment... she doesn’t seem threatening, and I slowly lower my guard. “You know me then? Who am I? I remember darkness... silence... this is not the land I remember. Where am I?”
She turns towards me, her eyes hidden in darkness. “You don’t remember... you have lost so much through the years, haven’t you?” She reaches towards me, but stops as I tense. “Poor dear, a shallow reflection of the mare you once were...” Her horn lights up, a pale yellow glow illuminating my shield as she lifts it gently. “But see what you are...” With my helmet off, I’m able to see myself in the reflection. Dark and sunken eyes set against dry and dessicated flesh covered with a mottled grey coat, a creature of nightmares, a living corpse. I recoil slightly, my sword already being raised. “But it doesn’t have to be, you’ve lost yourself, but do you remember who you were?” She moves around me smoothly, slowly circling in. “Who you are... who you will be?” Her voice is gentle, tickling the back of my mind... It’s familiar, even though I can’t place it. She holds out a small, simple figure. A pony woven from sticks. Ugly, simple, yet compelling at the same time. “Take this... take your equinity back..” She chuckles slightly, even as she leaves the figure in the dust before me. “Use it, and touch the light. Recover who you were. I will guide where I can, Forsaken One. If you let me.”
Almost instinctively, I reach for the small figurine, picking it up in a hoof, looking it over. The more I look at it, the more familiar it seems. I look at the figure. “You called me Forsaken One... what should I call you?” Forsaken One... is that my name, or a title? I don’t know... The rest of the world seems to fade away as I focus on the figure in my hooves, even as it seems to call out to me, drawing my attention to it. It begins to crumble, even as I watch it. I feel a warmth starting to fill me, as my lungs rattle and begin to breathe once more. I begin to cough, dust and ash leaving my lungs as they begin to function again. In the space of a few moments, I can feel that my body is fully living once more, even as the figure crumbles to dust. How simple the sensations, breath, pulse, blood... yet how strange and foreign at the same time.
She smiles at me. Even though I can’t see it, I can sense it, feel it. “I am the Keeper of Sunlight... and I know what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling. That there’s nothing left. That all is dust and ashes. But you are wrong... there is hope yet, faded though it may be. But while ponies yet live, there will always be hope. Small, fragile... yet more important than anything else that may be.”
“She’s lying, you know. She does that. To every pony who comes here. To every cursed one that graces these halls.” A stallion I hadn’t seen before stands up from where he was sitting in the dark corner. “There is no hope, there is no future.” He looks at the cloaked mare. “I’ve heard it before... you were about to tell her that she can bring that hope. That she can bear the torch the relight the world.” He gives a cold and hollow laugh before sitting back down. “Yet here we are... how many champions have you sent out? And how many succeeded, oh wise Keeper.” His voice is filled with derision and scorn. “We might as well just lay here and die... at least it’s more peaceful here.”
I look between the two, the Keeper having fallen silent, the stallion laying his head back down between his forehooves. The Keeper moves further back towards the rest of the Shrine, the sounds of chains clinking beneath her cloak. It’d be so easy to give in, to give up. I breathe in the musty air, full of age and dust. I walk over, my hooves leaving a trail in the dust as I go towards the stallion. “It doesn’t have to be that way, you know...” He doesn’t seem to pay me any attention. “If we don’t do something, then who will?”
His voice sounds tired, the weight of his cares seeming to press him down. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing will change. And there’s no we. But, if you want to die sooner, then ask the Keeper. She’ll tell you what to do, I’m sure of that. She’s very good, you know, at telling others what to do. Yet she never leaves this place either. I wonder why that is...” He seems to be unresponsive, and I don’t feel like bothering him any more... yet I can’t help but feel sad for him, even as I turn to leave. “Wait a minute... this might help you, if you choose to go out there.” He’s holding up a piece of paper, a rune etched on it. “They say those who wear this can find unexpected help in times of need...” He chuckles a bit. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen it work before, here in the ruins of Canterlot... but who knows? And you’ll need all the help you can get. After all, you’re looking for the Great Ones who shaped our very world... and you don’t even know who you are.”
I don’t know what to say to him, his voice that of a pony defeated. “Thanks...” That’s all that escapes my throat, even as I back away from him. A vicious part of my mind tells me to end his misery and steal his lingering warmth for myself. My hoof rises, ever so slightly, yet it’s enough to fill me with shame. You weren’t really going to do that, were you? I find that I can’t answer myself. Am I the sort of mare to do that? Was I? Will I be? The question haunts me as I approach the Keeper. Now that I get closer to her, I can see her a bit clearer. The mare is tall, very tall, even as she’s shrouded in cloth and shadow. She watches me patiently, and I can feel that she knows what I was thinking, what I am thinking, yet she says nothing. She does not judge my weakness, even as I approach her. “What do you need?”
“The four lords of Equestria... you must return them. Not as they are, but as they were. Each one has been lost, yet each one is necessary to restore this realm.” She looks me over critically, judging me harshly with unseen eyes. “As you are, you cannot fight them. You must be stronger, but I will guide you...” She raises a hoof, letting me catch a glimpse of a white coat, even as she conjures a small portal. “This is the Crystals Mines, deep underneath the ruins of Canterlot. It’s ruled by the Hag. You must avoid her, for you’re not ready yet. Yet you must still fight, remember your old skills. Become who you once were.”
“You know more than you’re telling me... don’t you?” I feel my anger rise slightly as she just turns away from me. “You’re keeping something from me...” Lingering in the air is my unasked ‘why’. She doesn’t respond, just shuffling off amid the rattling of chains.
“Focus at the fire. Bring your mind to bear on where you wish to be. I have opened the way for you. Gather your strength. Defeat the Hag of the Crystal Mines. Only then can you begin to find the truth of this world...” She shakes her head slowly, sadly. “I wish there were more I could do, young one... but it is not for me to do so.” She turns to face me. “The fires are the doors and your hope, yet also your doom... remember that. Think on the fires, think of your destination, let the heat fill you and take you there. Fill the empty vessel of your soul.” Her voice is a whisper in my ear, a thought in my head, as if she were a part of me, a shadow in the corner of my mind. “Beware the guardian, for he watches his charge with jealous zeal.”
I watch the fire, stare at it for a long moment, for an eternity. “The real quest has yet to begin, Forsaken One...” The fire fills my vision, thoughts of the Crystal Mines filling my head. “You will die, and die, and die, yet you must continue on. Yet you must strive forwards. For it is not your place to die a final death. It is your blessing, and your curse. Embrace the darkness, but do not let it consume you, Forsaken One...” I open my eyes once more, light gleaming from crystals surrounding me, the others no longer in sight. My journey had only just begun.
Author's Note
Well, it's been nearly an year, but here's a new story! Thanks everyone for your patience and for reading!
