Chapters Strummer Nightingale woke up slowly. He felt as if he hadn't moved in weeks. His blue wings ached, and his blue and black mane was covered in sand. He sat up, and viewed his surroundings groggily. He was on a beach, but he couldn't remember how he got there. In fact, he couldn't remember anything, not even his own name.
'where am I?' He thought. He looked to the left of him, and saw two other ponies laying in the sand. He wondered if they had the same problem that he had. He stood up and slowly walked over to them. But his hooves ached so badly that he had to use his wings to fly over to them.
The ponies looked like they were in bad shape. One of them had the same body color as Strummer, but had a dark blue mane. He also had only one wing. 'must've been some sort of accident' thought Strummer. The other one had a gray body, and a white and light-blue mane.
Strummer sat down and shook the blue pony, trying to wake him up.
"Hello? Wake up!" Strummer said, "Wake up!"
The blue pony groaned and lifted his head up and rubbed it with his hoof. "ughh, where am I? Who are you?" he asked, looking at Strummer while brushing the sand out of his blue mane.
"I don't know." Strummer replied, and went to wake up the other pony laying in the sand.
"About where we are, or who you are?"
"both"
When Strummer shook the gray pony, he woke up with a start, and bucked Strummer to the ground.
"where am I?" exclaimed the pony, obviously startled at being woken up in some strange place.
Strummer rubbed his stomach, which now had two hoof prints on its left side. "it's okay, we're not here to hurt you. Ouch." he said.
The pony instantly got defensive. "Pfft, you think I would be scared of you? You look like you just crawled out of a dumpster!"
"I wouldn't be talking if i were you! You look the same way, if not worse!" said the blue pony.
That shut the gray pony up. "Gah, whatever, i don't need you guys anyway!" and with that statement, he galloped away into the jungle, with Strummer and the blue pony watching in confusion.
"What's his problem," asked the blue pony, "we didn't do anything to him."
"Doesn't matter, we need to find a shelter, and then figure out where we are." said Strummer, wishing he could remember something. Anything. Then he remembered that the blue pony hadn't yet told Strummer his name, and hoped that it would help him remember something.
"What was your name again?" Strummer asked, "I didn't quite catch it."
"Well, that's because i never said my name in the first place," he said, "my name is Torrent. Torrent the Plotknight."
Strummer got a massive headache when he heard the name. He knew he had heard that somewhere before. 'I know I'm missing something important, but i just can't place it!' he thought in frustration, 'at least I'm getting somewhere'.
Torrent saw that Strummer was in pain. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked, "maybe you should lie down?"
"No, i feel I've done that too much already," said Strummer, "I know you from somewhere."
"But how do you know me, if you don't even know your own name? I mean, I can't remember anything either, but at least I know my own name." said Torrent, "Come on, we're running out of daylight, and who knows what kind of predators are on this island?"
Strummer thought for a moment. "yeah, you're right, we should go find some firewood."
'I'll get this sorted out later' Strummer thought, 'we need to hurry before it's nighttime'.
Strummer and Torrent trotted in the jungle, in search of dead trees that they could use for firewood. Torrent brought up that they had no way to start a fire, but they decided to look anyways. They had nothing else to do, so why do nothing? They spent about 2 hours looking for something they could use to help them.
When they were about a mile into the jungle, they found a clearing with plenty of dead trees they could knock down. They could use them for some kind of makeshift shelter that they would have to come up with.
When both of them were carrying large bundles of tree branches, they decided to go back to the beach and start building their shelter. They were just about back to the beach when Torrent was suddenly knocked onto the ground, spilling his bundle of branches all over the place.
"What the?" Torrent said in surprise.
"Oh, sorry, i didn't see ya there," said a voice, "this is not one of my luckiest days!"
Strummer looked at the pony who had bumped into Torrent. He had a golden body, a golden mane, and lime green eyes, and he seemed pretty cheerful, other than the fact that he knocked Torrent down.
"let me help you pick these up," the pony said, "It's the least i could do!"
"No, the least you could do was nothing," Torrent replied, "but thank you."
The pony paused for a moment, then said, "my name is Lance, what's yours?"
Strummer got another massive headache, and it looked like Torrent was feeling the same thing.
"Uhh, my name is Torrent, nice to meet you." he said, rubbing his forehead.
Lance flinched when he heard Torrent's name, but regained his cheerful posture quickly, "what's your name?" he asked Strummer as he helped Torrent pick up the branches.
"um, I don't know, I'm still trying to figure everything out." Strummer replied.
"well you could try looking-" Lance was cut short when the ground started to shake. The rumbling of the earth intensified, knocking all three of them down, once again spilling the branches onto the ground. "Awww, come on," Torrent said in despair, "we just picked those up!"
The shaking lasted for about ten minutes, and stopped as suddenly as it began, and everything went quiet.
"It sounded like it came from the clearing," Strummer said, "let's check back there."
They galloped as quickly as they could to get to the clearing, and were there before they thought they knew it.
"what the hell?" Strummer exclaimed.
The clearing that used to be in that exact spot was replaced by another white, sandy beach.
"Did we take a wrong turn?" asked Torrent, perplexed at the sight. Lance too was in disbelief, "I was here three hours ago getting my own wood, what happened?" he asked.
"i don't know." replied Strummer, as always. He was getting angry that he still wasn't able to remember his name, when the other two ponies could.
'Wait a minute.' he thought, and looked down at his cutie mark. It was a guitar. 'Wait a minute, how could i have forgotten my own name?' it was so simple, and the answer was right there on his flank. His name is Strummer Nightingale, and looking at his cutie mark reminded him of it.
Just as he came to that conclusion, his head exploded in pain, as he felt the worst headache he had ever felt his whole life. He fell to the ground in pain, waiting for the feeling to go away.
"Whoa, guy, are you okay?" asked Torrent.
"Does it look like he's okay?" snapped Lance.
Before Torrent could think of a comeback, the ground shook violently again. But this time, the ground beneath them crumbled, giving way to what looked like a bottomless chasm, and they all fell into darkness.
Stark Kairos gazed over the burning buildings of Canterlot as the sun set on the horizon. The shattered windows, crumbling roads, the smoke rising above the clouds, all of these details pleased him.
'Glorious' he thought maliciously. The invasion he had started 4 months ago had been more successful than he had thought it would be. After he imprisoned Celestia and drained her powers, Canterlot fell quickly, along with Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Las Pegasus. He had hoped to capture the other princess, Luna, but she escaped. And Stark hasn't seen her since.
'Doesn't matter' he thought, 'everything is going as I planned, I just... need to find it'
He had created wraiths using Celestia's powers to help search for the artifact he started the invasion for.
'Once i have it, nothing can stop me.'
Stark's thoughts were interrupted. "Sir," said a voice from behind, "they're awake."
Stark turned around quickly and saw his close friend, Lucid Coltmera. The stallion had piercing red eyes and a blue and black body, with a red and black mane. with his three horns (one unicorn horn, the other two were twisted spikes) and his wings folded at his sides, he looked fearsome.
"Lucid! It is nice to see you again, my old friend, how long has it been? 3 days? Man, that's a long time! What news have you brought for me?" asked Stark, delighted to see his friend again.
"Um, they have escaped from the Island of Dreams," Lucid replied, "It happened about ten minutes ago."
"Who? Oh, the ones from the Alliance! It's about time, it was getting very boring without a challenge. Where are they now?" Stark asked.
"But sir, they will start to delay our mission as they did before they were sent to the island." Lucid said, ignoring his question.
"That doesn't matter, They can't make up for the time they lost. More of Equestria is falling under my rule as we speak! It's not like they can take back four cities in a matter of days, now is it? Stop worrying, Lucid, lighten up, and enjoy the battles we are able to participate in. Or at least, the battles I get to experience, you just stand back and mess with illusions and nightmares. But, that makes you a very valuable asset."
"But can't you just use your power to defeat everyone? You have the power to level Equestria, and the rest of this world!" Lucid exclaimed.
"But that would ruin the fun of killing. I want to be able to feel my knives slash through the necks of my enemies. I want to feel their blood on my hooves. There is no fun in just killing everyone with magic. Now, answer my question: where are they now?" Stark was getting impatient.
Lucid was slightly annoyed at Stark's tone of voice, but answered in a calm manner, "They are currently in the middle of the battle south of Las Pegasus, you might be able to find them if you head there now."
Stark smiled wickedly,"Good, good, and what did you make them experience on the Island of Dreams? Spiders, monsters, torture? I want to know."
Lucid paused for a moment,"... Only the worst nightmare imaginable: the feeling of isolation, and not remembering a single thing about who you are, I felt it was appropriate for them."
The smile on Stark's face vanished. "Hmmm, not the kind of nightmare i would've wanted for them, but as long as they suffered, I'm fine about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to speak with our... Friend." and with that, Stark walked into the castle.
Lucid let out a sigh of relief. 'That was close' he thought, and looked over the burning city.
'Everything is going as planned'
***************************
Princess Celestia sat in a cell in the dungeons of her own castle. With her eyes closed, she tried to gain some of her power back. She felt weak after being defeated by Stark Kairos. Celestia chuckled to herself; he had only defeated her because she was still trying to recover from her encounter with the changeling queen. She has been sitting in this cell for four months, with very little food and water. She was constantly using the energy she gained just to keep herself alive. How could this happen to her?
'He caught me completely off guard' she thought bitterly. 'He walked in, disguised as one of my personal guards, stole my remaining power, and escorted me to the dungeons. A simple yet effective plan, that i should've foreseen.'
"Good evening, Princess!" Celestia looked up to see Stark Kairos, standing on the other side of the iron bars that imprisoned her. "I see that you are still trying to recover your energy to escape. But, unfortunately for you, that can't be allowed." His horn glowed, and Celestia could feel her energy being sapped from her body. She squeezed her eyes closed, and her breathing got heavier. It took everything she had to keep herself from losing consciousness.
Stark laughed,"You always have a remarkable amount of energy within you, it has come in handy when I need to do some dirty work." Stark became slightly more serious, "It seems as though your so called 'rescuers' have escaped the Island of Dreams. And you know what that means; i get to start looking again. You're not the only one I have the pleasure of taking energy from."
"You won't get away with this, Stark!" Celestia said defiantly.
Stark laughed again, only this time it was a fake laugh, "Oh, but I already have. You say this every single time I come down here to have a simple chat with you." Stark frowned, "I really wish you and Lucid would lighten up a little and have some fun for a change. I guess i better go. You were never really fun to talk to anyways, and I feel I should pay a visit to my old enemies that have returned" Stark started to walk away.
" You won't be victorious. They will rescue me. They will save Equestria, and they will send you to the depths of Tartarus.You haven't seen what my subjects are capable of!" Celestia exclaimed.
Stark smiled, "They haven't seen what I'm capable of either." There was a flash of light, and Stark Kairos was gone.
Strummer opened his eyes, once again to an unfamiliar setting. He sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was in a forest, but it was different than the one on the island. Here, the trees were bigger, and he could hear the wildlife all around him. He didn't feel tired at all, as he did the last time he awoke. And this time, he remembered everything. The war, Stark Kairos, the Alliance, Princess Celestia being captured, everything. He jumped up, trying to figure out where they were. He was going to have to fly above the trees to get his bearings.
Torrent and Lance had woken up at the same moment as Strummer, who were also looking around.
"How many times am I going to wake up in some random place?" asked Torrent, "This is getting ridiculous!"
"Well, look on the bright side," Lance replied, "did you get your memory back? Because I did."
Torrent paused for a second, "Yeah, I did, actually! But, where are we now? It seems like we're in the same situation as before, only we got our memories back."
"Yeah," Strummer replied, "I'm gonna fly up above the trees to get an idea of where we are. Then we might-"
"Shhhh! do you hear that?" Lance exclaimed. Strummer stopped talking. It sounded like yelling and screaming. "It sounds like it's coming from over there!" he pointed to the right from where Torrent was standing.
"I hear it," replied Torrent, "it sounds like... a battle or something."
"I'm gonna check it out" said Strummer, "you guys stay here." and he flew above the clouds and headed towards the west.
Torrent chuckled "He really thinks we're just gonna stand here and wait for him to come back?"
"Well, he's out of luck if he's going to think that!" replied Lance, and they galloped in the direction Strummer flew.
***********************************
It didn't take long before Strummer was looking upon the scene. He looked at the fires erupting out of the ground, the arrows flying through the air, the makeshift bunkers on both sides of the clearing. and the stallions that were fighting each other, their weapons gleaming in the sunlight, their yells and screams were deafening. Except, some of them didn't look like ponies; they looked bigger, and had wisps of smoke rising off of them, they were as black as the night, with their red, soulless eyes and dragon-like wings. Strummer recognized them as wraiths created by Stark, the Alicorn that defeated Celestia.
Suddenly, Strummer was being pulled to the ground. One of the wraiths had seen him, and was pulling him down with its magic, its empty eyes staring at him. The wraith let out a high-pitched screech, and the other wraiths in the immediate vicinity looked over and saw Strummer, and began to pull him down with their magic as well. He desperately flapped his wings, trying to break free of the hold the wraiths had on him.
Suddenly, a plume of fire engulfed the wraiths. They screeched in pain as they were being burned to a crisp, dropping their weapons and falling down to the ground. the magical hold weakened and faded away, but Strummer had been flapping his wings fast enough that one of them popped out of place, and he fell to the earth. He hit the ground with a thud, and got the wind knocked out of him. He sat up, gasping for air and looking around. He felt lightheaded, and his vision was blurry.
Then a voice brought him back to his senses. "Strummer?"
Strummer looked up at a red unicorn with an orange mane. His horn had smoke rising off of it, and he assumed that that was where the plume of fire had come from.
"Firebolt?" Strummer said, still trying to catch his breath.
"How are you... Where did..." Firebolt looked awestruck at the sight of the blue pony.
"What? What's the matter?" Strummer asked, he had now caught his breath and was staring at Firebolt in confusion.
"you... You're supposed to be dead!" replied Firebolt.
"What are you talking about?" Strummer said, "We need to get out of here!"
Firebolt got over his confusion and helped Strummer off of the ground. "you're right," he said, "Crimson! where are you?" he shouted over the noise of the battlefield.
There was no answer.
"Crimson!" yelled Firebolt.
"I'm here!" yelled a gray pegasus who came flying towards them. He had a black spiky mane and tail, with red dragon-like eyes. His katana was dripping with blood.
"we need to get out of here! I found Strummer!" said Firebolt.
"Strummer? That's impossible!" Crimson replied, "We saw him get-"
A wraith appeared behind Crimson and swung its sword at him, but Crimson dodged it, and sliced open the wraith's chest with a quick swing.
"We can't leave now!" yelled Crimson, "We're winning!"
Firebolt looked worried. "But if Strummer is here, then that means..."
Crimson's eyes widened. "Buck, we need to leave, now!"
They started to gallop to their bunker, but were stopped by a voice behind them.
"Good evening, everypony!"
They whirled around to a sight they all dreaded. Stark Kairos, standing over the dead body of one of the soldiers, grinning wickedly, and his eyes cold and heartless.
Stark twirled his dagger in the air, it's blade menacingly sharp. "Look who's back in the game!" he said, " I was beginning to miss the quarrels we used to have, Strummer," he looked around, "but where are your 'friends'? Did they not want to join the party?"
Strummer stood motionless. He was trying to figure out a way to escape, and he needed some kind of distraction.
Stark frowned, "It doesn't matter if they're not here," he said, "I still get to kill you. You have no weapon, and you're probably weak after awakening from the Island of Dreams. The perfect opportunity for me to solve a few of my problems!"
Stark gripped his dagger and started to advance on Strummer. He walked slowly, savoring the fear he saw in the three ponies' eyes.
Firebolt stepped forward. "Enough!" he exclaimed, "No more games!" fire flew from his horn and engulfed Stark. The fire was blistering hot and could've killed anything it touched. It lasted for what seemed like minutes, and Firebolt, who ran out of energy, stopped the flow of his magic and fell to the ground, panting.
But when the fire died down, Stark still stood there, a shield of magic surrounding his body. He laughed hysterically, and looked straight at Firebolt, with a menacing smile on his face. "You really thought that would work?" he said, and threw his dagger into Firebolt's shoulder.
Firebolt yelled in pain, as he gripped the dagger, trying to pull it out. But it stayed in his shoulder, his blood gushing out of the wound. Crimson swung his sword at Stark, but he parried it with his horn. Stark kicked Crimson in the face, knocking him unconscious. Stark pulled his dagger out of Firebolt's shoulder, and continued to advance towards Strummer.
"This is too much fun!" said Stark as he swung his knife at Strummer. He dodged it, but a gash appeared on his face. He panicked as he tasted the blood that flowed out of the cut.
This seemed to make Stark ecstatic. "It's not very often I miss, but it's a thrill when I do!" He said, "I just wish I-"
Stark was stopped when a morningstar smashed against his face. The impact was hard enough to throw Stark to the ground.Strummer looked over at the pony he recognized as Mordekaiser. The black pony with dark crimson eyes and a thousand scars that riddled his body had saved Strummer.
"Go!" he yelled, "Now!"
Stark stood up, and felt his face with his hoof. The strike had made three deep cuts on his face. "You're going to wish you hadn't done that." said Stark, with an edge in his voice.
"Strummer? Where are you?" Torrent's voice echoed around the field.
"Torrent! We need help!" yelled Strummer. He picked up Crimson, and was backing away from Stark and Mordekaiser.
Torrent and Lance ran up to them, and saw Stark, Mordekaiser, Crimson, and Firebolt.
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Lance.
"I need you guys to help Firebolt! He's hurt!"
Torrent and Lance rushed over to Firebolt and helped him stand up. He moaned in pain, and his face was getting more pale by the minute.
Stark slashed at Mordekaiser with his dagger, but he parried it and swung at Stark with his morningstar. Stark knocked it out of his hand and dug his dagger into Mordekaiser's side, The knife cutting through his armor like butter.
Mordekaiser grunted in pain as Stark kicked him to the ground. He raised his knife to deal the final blow, But Lance kicked the dagger out of his hand, and bucked him in the face. Stark growled in anger and tackled Lance with his hooves at his neck, strangling him. Lance choked as he fought to pry Stark's hooves away from his neck.
'I have to do something!' Strummer thought to himself. Then he saw Crimson's katana lying on the ground and picked it up. He looked at it, then at Stark, and held it above his head, and swung the sword with all of his energy at Stark.
Stark howled in pain as the sword cut from the base of his neck down to his stomach. He let go of Lance and staggered back, gripping his bleeding side. Then he saw Strummer holding the sword, with his blood dripping off of it.
"Next time," he said, "I won't be so easy on you." There was a flash of light, and Stark was gone.
Strummer dropped the sword and looked back at the other ponies. Crimson had regained consciousness, Torrent and Lance were applying pressure to Firebolt's shoulder, who looked pale as a cloud, and Mordekaiser stood up, gripping the spot where the knife had got him. The wraiths were retreating, and the warriors were cheering in triumph. But Strummer felt only dread, the experience with Stark was horrifying, especially since he didn't have a weapon to defend himself with.
"We need to get Firebolt back to headquarters" Mordekaiser said, "Heaven will know what to do."
Strummer looked at Firebolt, then at the bodies of those who died in the battle, and then he remembered just how terrible war actually was.