In Memory of Those Fallen
The following is a collection of stories of the heroics of my fellow Fallen, soldiers of the Tauran fields and heroes of the Equestrian world. While few are dead now and the stories I have begun to collect are of those who survive, in memory of our soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice, I wish to begin collecting the important events of the Fallen from as many individuals as possible.
Tonight, on the first night of our war with the minotaurs, I had the grim task of putting to rest forty-two fine soldiers, stallions and mares who did not survive to even begin to understand the world they landed on. For that, I wish to at least begin recording both their successors and the heroics that resulted from such early sacrifices. This task may be heartbreaking, it may be alleviating, or, ultimately, it may go forgotten to the epochs of time.
Nevertheless, seventeen thousand and twenty-one Fallen landed on this continent and I’ll be damned again if they die without some record to remember them by. These tales, while exclusively of the Fallen as Ray’s own actions are… magnificent and will one day fill a book of their own, will have no particular order. I won’t write a vast majority of them, as I have neither the time nor quill to commemorate the memory and actions of these heroes. The task will fall either upon them or surviving brothers and sisters. However, I felt it appropriate that, after everything done by the Fallen to support Ray, there should be at least some witness of their own hoof to the war.
Maybe it’s a foolish hope, but I have a dream that ponies will one day read these stories and remark on the heroism of my fellow soldiers. I want them to see that while this war certainly was the triumph of Princess Twilight and the Lordling Ray, the soldiers and individuals within the conflict were deservant to fight under and for such legends. I dream that one day, Risen Fallen will be able to read this accord of the struggles, battles, and lives of them and their comrades to their children. I hope desperately that the sands of time will not drift over this record, that the fires of war will not feast on these words, and that lessons can be learned by the heroics, failures, and resolutions of not just an army, but a nation.
It is tradition for us Fallen, even before we lost ourselves to Sombras evil temptations, to say our farewells long before combat so that the pains of loss will be alleviated quickly. However, as today has shown me, and as Ray has profoundly taught with his unique mysticism, good-bye is not the end. A record such as this, then, must be upheld and maintained by both blunt reality and traditional whimsy. As heartbreaking as the conflict that will shortly follow today’s first blood will be, I know that solace will be found by Fallen everywhere and at any time in these tales.
Fifteen hundred and some years has condemned us to these bodies of stiff, slick skin and hard, trained bones. It has also meant hard, trained hearts for far too many of us. For me, it was almost my death. For many, it was. I fear that, when disaster strikes and a lack of morale seeps through the mirth of rejuvenated purpose, my Fallen will lose the youthful life we have retained. After all, as Garish pointed out to me, if one as stubbornly depressed and removed as I could achieve true love before our renewal, then what reason should we have to lose hope?
As for the story I wish to open this anthology with, I’d like to recognize Rohan, the loyal captain of the Reformed Third Spear. While less a story of his battle, expertise, and death, I want to commemorate the traits he never saw in himself. In spirit, he was my brother, and even succeeded me in his woefulness once I met Ray and learned the truth of our cause. Still, he did as commanded without question and had undying confidence in everypony but himself. It was sad to watch, especially knowing how it felt. It’s even more saddening now that he’s gone, but I know that somewhere, he’s forgiven himself now that his purpose was fulfilled.
Rohan was always a strange individual, very active before we fell. After our condemnation and the damnation of the Fallen to the Harkening, he removed from himself the faults he knew we Fallen suffered. In the following years, he led the way in becoming a stoutly loyal, unquestioningly devout member of the cause for redemption. Somehow, he was able to not only rally himself to the proposed punishment from Princess Luna, but also devote himself to the Fallen in an attempt to invigorate them. Shockingly, it all worked. While Ray credits him with helping regroup the Fallen after the civil war almost erupted, he couldn’t know how the stallion reformed the very psychology of the Fallen in our first hundred years in the Harkening.
He was truly an admirable stallion and not deserving of his fate, but knowing him, he would have said there wouldn’t be any better way to go. Sticking with his Third Spear even after the adjustments and reorganization of the whole army may have doomed him, but in his eyes, I can only guess it was the highest honor. Alas, tonight when I put him to rest I said as much, to which the rest of his division agreed heartily. The stallion will be missed greatly.
I’d like to close this section with the names of all forty-two lost Fallen. I don’t expect to be able to write the names of every Fallen who will die in this conflict, but the ponies of Equestria need to be awoken to the ponies that died for them. I don’t know if any of the authors who will follow me will do something similar or if they know the lives of those listed better than I, but I can only pray to Luna that I might see this collection finished. Until then:
Agros; Husband of Sila.
Amaranth; Wife of Oskald.
Baula; Samarat’s brother, husband of Hylith.
Borden.
Bulwark; Father of Trinum. Wife long deceased.
Byle; Husband of Shrita.
Cal.
Camyle; Wife of Draulin.
Draulin; Husband of Camyle.
Eggbrine; Salma’s lover.
Endo; Brother of Espin.
Espin; Brother of Endo, husband of Cheri.
Garet; Husband of Amite.
Hanada.
Ilis; Husband of Shrodur.
Iris; Sister of Tayle.
Jarabum; Makyle’s best friend.
Katrum; Husband of Roma.
Lexor; Husband of Rami, brother of Jobi, Krotin, and Harit.
Menos; First Lieutenant.
Myre; Brother of Amite.
Myte.
Neighbor; Friend of the Harkening, youngest brother of Phranx.
Nihile.
Numer.
Oni; Husband of Lya.
Phranx; Died holding his brother.
Poarus; Emn-Hiata of Dorahn.
Rehi; Wife of Xanit.
Rohan; Captain of the Reformed Third Spear, buried besides his soldiers.
Rux; Half-brother of Umur.
Shrodur; Husband of Ilis.
Sibata; unknown lover of Arron.
Skander.
Slane Idrada; Husband of Anora Idrada.
Surn.
Tayle; Sister of Iris.
Thatcher; Died with three minotaurs on his spear.
Toran.
Tygre; Son of Honai.
Umur; Half-brother of Poarus.
Xanit; Husband of Rehi.
-Skalos, formerly Harbor Point
Author's Note
I knew this was a story I wanted to write basically as soon as I thought of the original Equestria's Ray of Hope. Unlike that story, it will be rated M and won't be so touchy-feely. There will be death and gore, there will be strong elements of sex and suicide, and there won't be a true structure to it. I don't have a rough draft for this story either, so I'm open to both write whatever I think of and (potentially) whatever suggestions, recommendations, or straight of inquiries of you, the readers.
