Silence in Equestria

The Sector II: Episode XVII

Home, sweet Home

"You're the best pony I've ever had, sweetheart!" confessed Silence as her lips gently pressed at Twilight's neck, but the unicorn pushed her away.

"No! You're a monster... a MONSTER!" screamed Twilight as she ran away, as fast as her hooves could.

"Wait! Twi..."

"SHUT UP! You also know what you are, and only the matter of time when she will find it out, if you continue this idiocy." a voice shouted at her, the voice of her clanmate, the one who she spoke to so often. Silence looked at her hooves, stared at those huge holes on her left hoof for a moment, then she slowly laid down on the ground, watching Twilight running away, as the tears started to pour from her right eye.

She woke up to the strange feeling that the place she was sleeping at was way too comfy. Oddly she didn't remember falling asleep, but one thing was sure: she is now in the library again. Seems like the entire scene was just a dream.

"Are you okay?" asked her Twilight.

"What were you doing out there? Were you drunk or something?" added Spike.

Silence's eyelids, especially the right were really red showing she surely cried a lot. She slowly but managed to get up and after a few moments she got out of her bed too. The pegasus kept rubbing her eyes, they were really irritating.

"Spike, could you leave us be for a minute?" asked the purple pony.

"Uh, yeah sure." he answered scratching the top of his head and left the room.

As soon as the dragon closed the door Twilight began to whisper something to Silence, but after the first word she stopped and pushed the door open busting the peeking dragon.

She tried again after closing the door again "Silence, I'm terribly sorry about the yesterday. I should have handled it in a better way.".

"Not your fault mistress mine, it was me who stepped over the line." apologized the pegasus.

"No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings." They hugged each other, gazed deep in their eyes for some moment and by getting this little problem behind they began to get down to their own business. And Silence's business needed much hurry, since Blossom was to move any time and she didn't even bid farewell to her. In all a hurry she decided to get a little something to her, and that little something got to be wild flowers, freshly picked from the Everfree forest. She slapped up a book to find one that's not dangerous at all and as soon as she did the pegasus dashed away.

Meanwhile Twilight packed up as she was to head to Canterlot for the same reason she messed up the library: information.

"Can I come in now?" Spike shouted from downstairs.

"No need for that, we're leaving." the unicorn answered. They ran to the train station and managed to catch one in the last moment. After a few moments of catching some air after the big rush, and now being able to speak normally Spike asked

"What's the rush, Twilight? You messed up the entire library yesterday and now this?"

"We need to find out what that symbol is." the unicorn replied.

"What symbol?"

"Did you even see Silence's cutie mark? I've never seen something like that before. It is all black and shows no sign of any special talent. It's just… there."

"Why don't you just ask her?"

"I did. She is really sensitive about the topic and doesn't want to talk about it. We need to find something Spike, that thing starts to really frustrate me." the unicorn said as the train left Ponyville.

Meanwhile Silence, with the flowers in her mouth hurried to Blossomforth, who - with the help of two stallions was already leaving the town with her carriage. Silence flew to her and gave her the flowers.

"Sorry for not being on the party yesterday, I was burdened with my stuff." she apologized.

"No, it's alright, you needed to pack up just like me, I understand. Thank you the flowers, it's so nice from you." Blossom replied with a cute smile.

"That's the least. Best wishes, we'll miss you."

"Aaww thank you. Bests to you too." she hugged Silence who suddenly came to realization as bells shouted up in a distance.

"What's the time?" she asked in panic.

"Um, eight 'o clock, why?"

The gray mare squealed up. She was late from work, a quick farewell and she dashed to the rock farm where Trixie and Inkie were waiting for her already.

"Was the party too long?" asked Inkie.

"Sorry… Inkie." replied the pegasus while trying to catch some air.

"Okay guys, today's schedule is simple. We need to grab these piles and roll 'em to that side, so we won't have to hurry when they come for it, okay?"

"Hah, easy task for Trixie. Perks of being a unicorn." Trixie bragged as she picked up five stones and carried them like they were feathers. The other two girls joined her too beginning to discuss meanwhile.

"Enjoyed the party last night?" asked Inkie.

"No, I wasn't there actually… too much things to do." replied the pegasus as she turned back for another stone "How about you and your sisters?"

"Sisters? How do you know about Blinkie?" the earth pony asked in surprise.

"Pinkie told about her a while ago, but now that I think about it, I haven't seen her around. What happened to her?"

Inkie stopped. Her eyes were showing sadness and depression brought up by painful memories as she stared at the ground "She… left the family about the year ago."

Silence also stopped "…oh…my condolences…"

Inkie got surprised and looked at the pegasus in confusion "Huh? She's not dead. She just moved to Manehatten."

"Oh! Sorry, I thought…"

"It's okay. She usually sends letters to us so we can keep in touch… she works as a jeweler there." Inkie stopped again with now feeling even more depressed. It was just a guess but the pegasus knew what the problem is. Her sisters left one by one and found their special talents, but she stayed here.

"You don't want to leave the family too, right?" asked her. Inkie didn't answer, just carried on the work along with her sad face. It was clear now: she either stays or sacrifices her family for a better life. She knew the feeling. The depressing mood was changed by Trixie who shouted up from in front of a pile "Trixie demands a raise for this.". Inkie adorably rolled her eyes and Silence chuckled as they went back to work.

"Hey Twilight! Look at this awesome hat I brought." said Spike as she entered the library.

"Sssh, Spike! We're in the library." whispered back the unicorn. Twilight's mane was all messy and the wrinkles under her eyes were slowly started to grow bigger and bigger.

"Don't you think you should do a little break now." asked the dragon.

"There is no time to waste, Spike." she answered but as she saw the stripes burned into her retinae from the lots of reading she rubbed her eyes and began to moan. "We must find something…" the unicorn went back reading even though she barely could.

"Great job, guys. That's all for today." said Inkie as she wiped the sweat down her forehead. The workers got their payment and went home, or at least they were to, when Trixie suddenly turned back. She waited for a few moments, getting the things ordered in her mind, yet she turned back and decided not to do so. The unicorn and the pegasus went home, Trixie to her wagon and Silence to her brand new house.

"Hey Trixie. Do you want to move your hut to the backyard?" shouted Silence before Trixie went in her home. The unicorn shrugged and with her magic, she carefully put her wagon to the desired place, so it won't stand on the road anymore. The pegasus after the tiring day opened the door, walked in and was about to take a nap when she noticed that the cozy living room that was all furnished was now… almost empty. Only the two sofas remained and a little writing desk. Not being the picky one the pegasus laid down on a sofa and was to fall asleep when she noticed the little handle on the lower side of the furniture. The whole thing was unfoldable making it serve as a bed now.

"(Perfect, just the thing I needed)" she noted in herself with a smile on her face.

"My Princess Celestia…" prayed Twilight Sparkle to her highness "Give me a sign. A tiny help is all I need. I-"

"Uh, Twilight, shouldn't we just give up and ask her again? That's the third library you nuzzle up with this apocalyptic symbol nonsense."

"Don't be ridiculous! I didn't come so far to come home empty hoofed. If we can't find anything in the castle's library either, it is only because it doesn't exists." shouted back Twilight madly, all tired and messy… and a bit insane. The unicorn took down a book from the giant shelves that surrounded her and continued her hopeless search about the mysterious black symbol in Silence's flank.

Meanwhile the sleepy equine in Ponyville woke up for that disturbing feeling again. It was the change once again. She ran to the bathroom to give the gush out but something else also dropped. The bandage, soaking from the blood it managed to withhold so far gave up. Silence cleaned the basin and as she looked backed back up she noticed the sun slowly descending. It wasn't sunset yet, but she knew she slept for very long and something else was also kept interrupting her attention as she would have forgotten something. She kept pacing up and down the streets but couldn't find it out. The pegasus had no choice but to go home. On the way however a familiar character caught her attention: Twilight. Poor pony barely even stood on her own hooves, Spike had to take care of her not to fall.

"Spike… I'm seeing her again…" Twilight moaned.

"Twilight! Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Nah, she's alright, just overtaxed her strength… again." Spike replied as this would happen on a daily basis. Silence decided to help her and take her home. She took the weak unicorn and laid her on the bed as they arrived at Twilight's house, while the dragon fetched her some food.

The unicorn ate her dinner with time while the worried eyes kept asking her "Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you." nodded Twilight.

"I'll let you sleep, you earned a rest." winked Silence, then turned around and left the room. However as Twilight saw her cutie mark meanwhile her mind began to work again, making the unicorn let a despair-filled, frustrated moan out.

Spike however interrupted "No, don't even think about it! Take it easy Twi and try to have some sleep." he said and left the pony alone.

The orange sky started to fade to black, signing to the pegasus it's time to move out soon. Silence put her thoughts in order and called to signal for her clan members. As the first stars appeared she took her way to the Everfree forest. She traveled over the trees, the wild river, the cliffs and when she arrived at the secret ruins it was dark completely. She condescended to the entrance of the temple where the other clan members, the M.A.R.E. were waiting for her.

"Wow, nice. You look pretty convincing. You're just like the normal ponies, that's awesome." she complimented as she started counting the pegasi in herself "One, two, three… three only?".

The other mares looked all alike, grey skin, black curly mane, they even had the same cutie mark as Silence which she found really awesome. Only their eyes were different.

Suddenly one of them spoke up "Oh, I almost forgot. Here, it's a system update." she handed a little… strange chip to Silence. "You need to put it in somewhere, there must be something in that…"

"Let me get that for you." another one appeared from behind. However she wasn't the best-looking thing you could see. She had the same pattern as the others, however she had wires and plastic pipes coming out from her body, as well as four small, mechanical claws sticking out from her barely open mouth, like small fingers lining up next to each other ending up in her other parts. Two giant flexible, transparent plastic pipes were transferring blood from both her eyes ending up in her cutie mark. She grabbed the chip and after some search in Silence's mane she somehow opened up the pegasus' skull from the side where she had all the holes.

The disturbing biomechanical creature gasped "You broke the tank? And what does that crack looking for in the energy cell? I guess I told you it's a fragile device not a battering-ram." she shouted in anger. However her face was still, lacking of any facial emotions except a tiny smile, just like in case of the other's. Their voice was deformed as they would spoke through a phone or something.

"Just put that thing in already." the pegasus replied. The odd one placed in the chip and closed her head.

"Okay, that's done. Then all of us are here I see. So? These are the MARE?" she asked.

"Yes, as I told they lack of expressions but fine holders until we find a better hull." the disturbing pegasus replied.

"Great. The new headquarters I got has a basement so it'll be a good place to… stash stuff. How about the Core?"

"I… um… scrapped it." was the shy question sounding answer.

"You did WHAT?!" screamed back Silence.

"Hey, it was hopeless after creating all these bodies, I'm glad I could throw together this one in last place. So I scrapped it into pieces and built it in this one. Now it's some kind of repair drone-thingy." she answered, then turned away and added

"You should be at least grateful I got out the max of it.".

Silence sighed "Okay. Now what is this update thing you just gave me."

"Oh the update. Remember the data of that princess you sent a while ago? I encrypted it into a little program that needs magical energy infusion to be kept running. With that you can turn into a princess too, but only until you run out of magic. Though I don't think it can hold for long right now, but there is one way to find it out."

"Okay. I don't fancy the idea right now, though. These alicorns are like if they'd feel the black magic." she worried.

Silence opened up the now completely renewed control panel and ran the said program. Her holes showed up again and a black aura emerged from her horn deep inside her eye as the black magic flowed through it. Her body got covered in a light blue aura, that like a fragile cover scattered into pieces as Silence's alicorn form shown itself in full glory. The holes in her body remained the same while her horn was now sticking out of her left eye. Her brown mane was like Celestia's except the flowing. She truly was an artificial alicorn. However the whole thing lasted for two seconds, as she couldn't keep it up.

"Don't worry, as you use your magic more often your limits will be pushed as well."

"Yeah… okay. Everything is ready I see, let's roll out. Though it'll be a bit of problematic to get this much blood for us four."

"Yeah… about that…" said the strange pegasus, lowering her head looking at the ground along with the others "Our hulls are standard, working with electricity, not blood…"

Silence was shocked, her eyes shrunk "Standard? Not blood? Are you throwing your vampirism away? After all we've went through?!"

"Look, the fourth generation was your dream, not ours. You're living this dream right now, but for us, it was enough. I hope you understand."

"Yes… yes I do…" Silence said with a depressed tone, however she turned back to serious afterwards "Let's get moving then." she suggested and the five biomechanical lifeform headed to their new home.

"By the way, we'll need a nice name. Choose one, something that'd fit." she suggested.

"Spade Queen" said the blue eyed one.

"Orison" told the other one.

"How about Vision?" suggested the third, grey-eyed.

"Mercy…" told the fourth, the creepy one.

"As in acronym?" asked Silence.

"Yes, MERCY: Mechanical Electronic Repair-"

"You didn't change at all." chuckled Silence "Okay, that's the spirit. I hereby name us the MARE: Mechanical Artificial Robotic Equines. How is it?" she suggested as a new name of their alliance.

Everyone nodded and the five pegasi moved to Ponyville. Silence opened the door of her house as fast as she could

"Quick, inside!". Everybody ran in. Silence also was to do so when she noticed Princess Celestia's shadow in the window of Twilight's library. She quickly dashed in hoping it's not what it looks like and showed the clan their new home down in the basement, which was empty in the moment.

"Twilight Sparkle!" said Celestia in a very serious voice "Wake up, Twilight Sparkle!". The unicorn slowly opened her eyes, but when she saw the royal leader herself she jumped out from her bed from the surprise "Princess Celestia! I-".

"No, my apologies that I had to wake you up so late. However this information allows no delays." continued the princess as she started to pace up and down in the room. Twilight remained silent.

"We alicorns are blessed with the ability to sight the dark forces in case something is coming. We can perceive the disturbance in the flow of magic. Recently the flow has been broken, Twilight Sparkle."

"Broken?" asked the unicorn.

"Black magic. Both my sister and I felt its eruptions recently."

"Black magic? Like the one King Sombra used? The one you taught me?"

"No, my student. King Sombra distorted the crystal magic to shape it for his own taste. This is much more different, this is much more… pure. One can't born with such an ability inside, this is something one have to learn." explained Celestia as she leaned towards her student.

Twilight looked at her own cutie mark then back to her highness "Princess Celestia I'd never-"

"I know. Even though that seems like the only possible reason I trust you wholeheartedly. However, I advise you to be careful. Not everything is what it seems like." told the princess in a serious voice as she let a small pink heart-shaped bubble out from her horn, that slowly traveled towards Twilight, but exploded with the roar of a manticore, scaring the life out of the unicorn. "

If we can't find out what causes these eruptions… I don't know what's next." she added as she walked out to the balcony "Take care, my student." she advised and flew away in the night sky.

Twilight yawned and almost went back to sleep, but when she saw the bed Silence used to sleep in she changed her mind.

"(Is this still here? Uh, let's bring you back where you belong.)" she thought, picked up the bed with magic and went to put it back in the stash. However as she arrived and wanted to do so the bed accidentally leaned forwards making the sponge fall out, and something else. There were two old books hidden under them. Twilight was confused at first but when she saw what kind of books they were her blood ran cold. The books filled with the powerful, feared spells of black magic were laying just a step away from her. The unicorn's body was shaking from fear and confusion. What should she do now? Scream? Run? Tell it to Celestia? No! Keep it away! Keep it hidden!

However, there was an even more powerful force inside the mind of the Element of Magic. A force mightier than confusion and even fear.

It was curiosity.