Silence in Equestria

The Sector II: Episode XXXIII

The truth hurts

Strange noise faded in from the black, as the annoying sound returned with. Eventually they both started to fade away as well as the static slowly retreated to the sides of her vision, revealing a white wall she was staring at, a ceiling to be correct.

Just a second later did a small pop-up screen covered her vision, as a strange voice was heard through the messenger.

"Huh? Oh God, finally. Girls! Girls!" she said "God-fucking-damn Mel, you scared the shit out of us."

"E... Emily?" she replied quietly in confusion. "You sound different."

"Irina, and there is a reason for that. Long story short your system couldn't handle the intensive fluctuation of your energy levels and shut itself down for regeneration. Some girl found you and you ended up there. I kept trying to contact you but you passed out for about a week." the now strangely clear-toned girl explained.

Silence took a look around as she slowly got up to do so, the first thing she noticed were the cable, that infused blood inside her. She was in a hospital, a hospital with blue walls dominating while the green curtains served as some extra color. She took a look out the window, and the first thing that caught her attention was the gigantic tower of the town hall, that had confirmed her current location.

"A week? Did I miss much?" she asked, scratching her heavy head.

"Yeeeaah, that. Should I start with the shit news or the not-so-disappointing news?"

No answer.

"Oh, right, you would listen to both anyway. So the average news are that our little heroines resolved a bunch of mess you luckily didn't have to suffer though. The shit news is... uh, how should I say." Irina hesitated.

"Your girlfriend got a bit of, um, "upgrade" that might cause you a tiny bit of a problem with your future plans."

"What do you mean?" the pegasus asked, when knocks interrupted their conversation. Shocked from fear Irina terminated the conversation as the door slightly opened, with an adorable purple face peeking in, Twilight Sparkle. Say the devil's name and she appears. As soon as she saw the awoken gray mare, however, her doubtful and bit sad face turned into surprised, which suddenly became adorned with adorable joy.

"Silence!" she shouted cheerfully as she opened the door completely with a wide, cute smile of a friendly face, her wings jumping to life from excitement.

Silence's smile did a flip as the love in her eyes instantly swapped with shock. She froze solid, her body became completely numb as she watched the lavender not uni- but alicorn gaiting towards her with a foxy expression.

"Yes, I expected this kind of reaction." she told as some of her friends slowly followed her inside, namely Rarity and Fluttershy.

Silence slowly raised her hoof to touch them, as Twilight slowly moved them towards her to aid in their contact. "I can guarantee it's not mere illusion."

Silence looked at the clock "Half past one. I remember, last time seeing you being taken away by Celestia." she added, trying to recall her memories with closed eyes, looking back at the clock once finished. "...half past one."

"It's not a dream either." giggled Twilight. "Though, I admit it is still hard to believe, even for me as well."

"We worried ourselves sick about you, darling." Rarity stated anxiously. "The doctors said your mind couldn't bear the stress and gave up a few weeks ago."

"Was that why you couldn't come to the trial, and the coronation, and the celebration?" asked Fluttershy with a worried voice, receiving a small nod as an answer.

"Silence, I appreciate your thoughts. You know we was a bit mad at first, when we didn't know about the events, but now, we're glad you're alright." Twilight continued, as she placed her hoof slowly on the bed. The pegasus' eyes however still wandered from her eyes towards her now closed wings again, which the purple had no difficulties in noticing.

"Still the wings?" she asked in a sly voice, followed by an adorable chuckle. She opened her left wing once again, letting the gray mare touch its soft feathers gently once again. After some seconds of playing Twilight closed them once again, with a little sentence to finish their visit.

"Get better soon." she told, with her friends nodding in the back.

"Will do." replied the gray mare, as her friends began to take their leave. However from outside, a conversation was heard, as Twilight didn't close the door completely.

"Visiting Silence?"

"Oh, yes, princess."

"I've got great news, but you should better see it for yourselves."

As the door opened, four strangers entered the room, wearing fine, long dress-saddles that covered most of their backs, but was short enough not to touch the ground. One of them was a zebra, with a short black bobcut, wearing a long, black saddle, while another behind her was an orange one with a braided pink-yellow mane and a cute baby blue bow, she wore an orange dress. The pony next to her was light pink, with a darker indigo shaded mane, and a necklace of a grey plus-sign and a white dress. The last one was an olive-coated one with a brown mane, she wore a brown piece to cover her back.

"Hey, Mel, glad you're back." the zebra whispered.

"Irina?" Silence said in shock. It was simply breathtaking that their voice, their movements, their look were all so real. Like a completely average pony.

"We got some mana and made a few cheaper hulls with the Core." the earth pony continued as they formed a half circle around the bed.

"Then it's a victory." Silence replied in relief as she allowed her body to collapse back on the bed. Quiet filled the room for long seconds, like in a funeral.

"Strange, huh? After so many years of war, defeat, and such... it's over, it's peaceful." Lisa said, as she could barely believe the events.

After long seconds of some more calm Silence let a small giggle escape her mouth "Yeah, and now we're disbanding.".

"Yeah, about that..." Martina said, giving a wicked look towards the others, who nodded back, taking off their dresses, revealing a black symbol on their backside. Not any symbol, but the exact same cutie mark as their leader had. Silence's eyes began to water by the touching gesture.

"Thank you for all you gave us, for guiding us in these last years, for showing us the light, for your generous sacrifices, for your kindness, for your honesty, loyalty, and for cheering us up when we were down." they said at once.

Silence opened her arms wide, as she attracted the others around, forming a huge, warm group hug.

"Nice run girls, I'm glad we did it together, we all deserve the retirement."

"Yeah, so what about you?" asked Emily "It must be awful you can't continue this black magic thing..."

Silence nodded gently "How ironic..."

"We still have the internal messenger, so we can keep contact, we thought about throwing a farewell party some time, when you get better." Lisa said.

"Alright, thank you girls." Silence said, staring at the ceiling as the curtains were drawn together, eliminating the light inside.

"Get better soon." Irina said, as they snuck out the slowly opening door, letting the pegasus get some sleep.

However, she just kept gazing into the void, for minutes, when finally rose up once again.

"(I know what I have to do...)" she said, opening the window and leaving the hospital.

"Twilight Sparkle?" asked Celestia in confusion.

"Princess Celestia?" the little alicorn asked back.

"Sister?"

"Cadence?"

A few more baffled questions later did the princesses found themselves standing together in the hall of the castle all carrying a small letter, with mostly the same text of emergency written on it, until the door opened behind, revealing a pegasus with grey coat and a brown mane.

"Silence?" asked Twilight in total confusion, that seemed as it can't be topped by anything.

"Uhm, guards?" ordered Luna in a puzzled tone clearly sounding in her voice.

Two guards rushed in from the sides, who were guarding the doors, however their hoof lost contact with the surface as they were raised from the ground by force so alien the alicorns suddenly felt a chill going down their spine, as their legs weakened, eventually giving up. The pegasus began to change, black spots of holes began to fade on her body as she walked closer and closer, with the guards in a faint black aura circling around her like dolls. Her green eye completely faded into the void, leaving a gigantic black cavity behind with a small sign of light showing from the inside as a pupil of a demon in the black night. She threw the guards away, who landed and slid on the floor, making the suffering of the princesses come to an end.

"I came to surrender." she said silently, as she shut her eyes and bowed down before the ones who just stood up. Everypony was in complete shock, mixed with various emotions lying inside, Celestia, though she kept her expressions at bay was completely baffled on how is this possible, yet she was sort of glad it did not become any worse. Luna's was filled with fear, fear from the unknown standing right in front of them, but she knew it's about to end soon... hopefully. Cadence's face turned all white. What sort of sick, twisted abomination she was looking at was a complete mystery, though inside she knew that this monster was in love with somepony way too much, and that somepony was the most shocked of all, if not frozen solid. Twilight's mind was unable to comprehend the happenings, Silence, out of all ponies? Shock turned into realization, which turned into sadness sourced from the downright betrayal of her very close friend.

Celestia recognized these feelings as she looked at Twilight from the corner of her eye, she knew all too well how does it feels like, yet she remained calm and still to make the newborn alicorn swallow the hard pills life may give. After long seconds of quiet, the pegasus stood up.

"Well... this came unexpected." the white alicorn noted. "In this case, follow us." she said as she slowly nodded at her sister and gaited behind the unidentified creature. They boxed in the pegasus, Celestia and Luna from behind controlling them, while Cadence and Twilight from the front, protecting the way from a possible sudden running act. Cadence however kept her eyes on Twilight more than on the road. She knew it must have been painful that her heart was shattered into tiny practices.

Eventually, they arrived in a strange, circle-based room, white walls decorated by the blue and yellow curtains of the Moon and the Sun. In the middle, a round-shaped table with a transparent orb embedded in the middle. Celestia placed pillows on both sides, while they lead the stranger to the other side of the room. Everypony took their place, like in an arena, Silence all alone on the left, while the princesses on the right.

"This is the Hall of Truth, as the name implies we use it to discover one's secrets." Celestia said in a serious tone as she closed the door. "Place your hooves on the orb!" she ordered, in such intimidating tone one would think again before messing with her, though Silence did so without a word. The other side followed her, with the Celestial sisters, Cadence and Twilight joining for last, charging up their horn, thus the orb as well.

"Who, are, you?" Celestia asked in the same tone as before.

"Silence, prototype unit and the first M.A.R.E." the pegasus replied. The orb turned green, for everyone's surprise, making them look at each other.

"M.A.R.E.? Could you explain?" asked Luna.

"Was everything you told me just a lie?!" cut in Twilight, with her voice indicating she was about to lose it. Silence didn't reply for long seconds, instead just stared at the orb. After a long wait she opened her mouth. "I'm sorry." she whispered.

Twilight released the orb. "That's all I wanted to know." she whispered as she turned around and kicked the doors with her front hooves, desperately trying to hold back her tears, without success.

"Twilight!"

"Cadence!" Celestia interrupted the rushing alicorn,shaking her head gently, but her words were not taken by the other princess.

"I'm sorry, but I have to." she replied, rushing after the other alicorn. Celestia closed the door after them, turning back to the pegasus who sat there still.

"M.A.R.E. stands for Multifunctional Artificial Robotic Equine." the gray one explained, regarding to the question seconds ago.

"How did you acquire black magic?" Celestia asked.

"This... is a long story." Silence sighed...

"Is Twilight here?" Cadence asked the guards, wheezing, tired from the chase.

"She rushed in crying, your highness."

Cadence slowly opened the door, walking in as she saw the little purple one fighting her tears on her bed.

"Twilight..."

"No..." she replied, hiding under the blanket.

"I know it must be hard, but I think she had a good reason." Cadence said softly, as she laid down next to her friend on the bed.

"She lied to me... about everything... I thought of her as a friend, if not more... I can't even decide if she loved me even or was just using me as a tool."

Cadence giggled as she took off the blanket, finding the teary-eyed mare underneath, and the sheets wet from the salty liquid.

"Of course she loves you, otherwise why would she be here?" she said, laying her left hoof on the back of the alicorn, gently petting her mane up and down. Twilight suddenly raised her head, her eyes opening wide as her irises grew big.

"She surrendered because she knew she would have to hurt you." Cadence continued. Twilight kept staring into the void, all the memories flashing back like small images in her mind, images of them watching the sunset, of the Running of the Leaves, of the chess games they played over and over again, when a spark glinted in her eyes. Cadence smiled, she knew that she succeeded in the very thing she is good at. Twilight rubbed her red, cried-out eyes to get rid of the salt that already harmed the skin underneath, making it rosy red.

"Let's go back." she said, her voice filled with relief, insight and a little bit of joy.

They reentered the door of the Hall of the Truth, where Silence was still kept, only to realize that it was all over.

"Feel better, Twilight Sparkle?" asked Luna with a little worry showing on her face.

"Yes... thank you." Twilight replied with a bit of a nod.

Even though they missed almost everything, Celestia however, summed up the results pretty quickly.

"We couldn't get much information, as most terms she used was foreign, but from what it seems, Silence is not from Equestria, in fact not from this very dimension. Can you confirm that?" she turned towards the gray one, who gave a firm nod as a response.

Twilight tried not to get carried away by the fact that interdimensional travels are real and possible, instead kept her mouth shut to let the alicorn continue.

"From what I understood, she and her allies ended up here in order to escape from a foe, and decided to seek a new life, is that true?" she asked for confirmation once again, receiving another nod.

"But... why?" asked Twilight in total confusion. "All this mess, only for a fresh start?"

"You'll think more than twice who and what you trust after time..." Silence replied in a deep tone, turning away with shut eyes.

"According to Silence, her.... 'clan', as she calls went through some unfortunate turn of events, making them lose trust in anything."

"So they had to sneak in unnoticed.... I see." Twilight finished, staring into the void for a few moments until she looked back to her friend "You were the creatures in the cave, the ones in the glass pods." she explained, pointing towards her.

Silence nodded with a little smirk "Can you guess which one was mine?"

Twilight gazed at her face for a long second, until a huge gasp tried to escape her throat, which she kept inside with her hooves, due to a small flashback of a pale, brown-maned creature in a black dress. She didn't knew what was frightening for a second, the fact that her friend was an abomination from another dimension, or that she was that exact one she actually had to touch. Though for the second thought, she just wanted to smack her head against the wall next to her for not noticing it.

"I take this as a 'Yes'." Silence chuckled.

"This explains the black magic as well." Luna added "Since they foreign creatures, their magic conflicted with the natural magic of Equestria."

"And harmed the organism of alicorns, whose system is much more sensitive." Cadence finished.

"It also answers  the heterochromia and the strange cutie mark, since you had little reference of the inhabitants." Twilight said.

"We could only observe a pegasus flying by and a zebra." Silence shook her head as she sighed.

"Zecora, that's why she warned me few days after we met, and why your cutie mark is so weird, because you based it on hers. It all adds up." Twilight threaded the needle, followed by a long session of tranquility, until Celestia raised her head, along with her volume.

"What have been done have been done, however." Celestia raised her voice, heading out from the room.

"A punishment must be made." Luna joined, as well as everyone else, taking their way to the throne room so enormous, so beautiful, adorned with the biggest stained glasses recording the history like a fragile tape, with the throne sitting it the very end, on the top of all stairs. The princesses walked up, Celestia and Luna in the middle, while the other two taking their sides.

"It is time for the final decision." Celestia said, as her voice echoed through the narrow corridors. A second later, the little purple one felt her old teachers soft feathers at the back of her head, just touching first, but gently pushing her forwards, until she got the message.

"M-me?" Twilight whispered.

"It is time for you to learn the responsibilities of a princess, Twilight." a gentle whisper replied.

"I... I..." Twilight hesitated as she stepped forwards. A decision had to be made, that ends in defeat no matter what. She kept looking back and forth, between the others and her friend, repeating that one little letter, from where she couldn't continue. It was them or her, either she banishes her outsider friend who made a bad decision at the beginning, resulting in possibly never seeing her again, or free her but likely to disappoint Princess Celestia and the others, in fact, even her princesshood might depend on the case. With sweating face, shivering body and stuttering mouth she spoke the last words that decided the destiny of Silence.

"I forgive."

Celestia closed her eyes, a tiny grin grew in the corner of her lips.

"You learned well, my faithful princess." she said in a voice ever so gentle, like a breeze in a warm spring day, making the purple one smile from happiness... that didn't last long.

"Maybe a little too well, even." she continued, as the beautiful, life-giving water of her voice suddenly turned into wicked poison, then fiery lava. But as the mind of Twilight comprehended the happenings it was too late.

"I hereby decree the banishment of Silence to Hollow Shades, for eternity." she shouted, stepping forwards as her words echoed along the room, as if a goddess from above have ordered it.

"The banishment is effective from tomorrow morning." Luna added in the same manner.

"You may take one item at will." Cadence finished, though her words awoken confusion in Luna for a split second, Celestia nodded in approval as she looked back at the broken princess on her left.

"Did you understand the conditions?" Celestia asked the gray one below, who nodded and bowed to her superiors.

"Then it is decided, participants may dismiss." Celestia said, though the only thing she achieved is making Twilight run to her friend for a talk as casual as between friends.

"And now?" she asked her friend anxiously.

"Choose something to bring, send back the keys to Blossomforth... and bid farewell to the others, I guess." She replied with a heavy tone in her voice.

"You have mere hours left here, choose your actions wisely." Celestia hinted from behind, as she gaited away with her sister. Noticing the room slowly fading into a more and more orange color, they decided to follow them to see something truly magical.

The Sun descended even faster than before, for she had to lower the Sun a bit earlier day after day. They gazed over the land of Equestria, where their home, Ponyville was just a smaller splash of yellow next to the enormous forest. Princess Celestia gladly allowed the two mare to share a final sunset on the balcony of her room, from where she was lowering the sun, while her sister raised the Moon from the tower in the other side of the castle.

"Strange... as if it would have been yesterday." Twilight told.

"Mhm..." replied Silence. "Remember when were gazing at the stars, back in Ponyville?" she asked.

It took Twilight a second to dig out the memories, but they were crystal clearly burned into her mind. "Yes."

"Am I any different now, that you know the truth?" Silence asked gently.

Twilight heard this before, in fact, she could recall it exactly without any difficulties. Her answer however needed much more time to form this time.

"Saying 'no' would be a lie, wouldn't it?" she asked back, with a slight sadness reflecting from her face. The Sun disappeared over the horizon in a blink of an eye, leaving only its orange mark left on the sky.

"I must go home now, there are things to be done." Silence said, Twilight following every of her steps, not only for these were the last together, but for she knew she is the only one who can stop her if hell breaks lose. They walked all the way to the train station like average ponies, booked their ticked like average ponies, waited and took the train, just like average ponies... despite all of them knew they're anything but average.

The train was a night type one, with sleeping commodities of eight in each carriage, however the one they traveled in was empty, only the beauty and the beast filled it slightly. The whole wagon was dark red, blue curtains on the walls in case someone would like some privacy, while some firefly-lanterns served for lighting. Twilight took the one on the floor by the door, while Silence chose the one next to it, to her right. The scenery outside slowly began to move as the train rolled out towards its destination, as the sky became more and more close to turn black. They laid down on the pillows, but couldn't feel like sleeping, instead, watched as the busy capital of Canterlot faded into the beautiful view of nature, just for a few seconds before a gigantic echoing sound roared from all direction, shutting off every source of light from outside. It was the tunnel that lead down the train on the mountain, thus it was pretty natural for them. Minutes passed, yet the silence between them didn't break, and the one with the exact same name decided to change in that as soon as they left the tunnel. She stood up on her fours and joined her friend in her bed, who still kept gazing outside the void.

"Do you think they'll forgive me?" she asked from behind.

"I don't know..." Twilight sighed, she still couldn't trust Silence completely after all that happened, and the sadness clearly was there, lurking in her words.

"Well... good night." Silence told suddenly, backing down from the bed with her eyes shut.

"Wait!" Twilight shouted, but for what reason she didn't know, in fact she herself was surprised the word slipped out from her mouth and after a second she added another one "Nevermind... Good night".

Silence chuckled, her eyes showing that burning love inside that unnerved Twilight so many times since they got to know each other "Sleep well, my love." she said in a voice of a sung lullaby, as she drew the curtains together and returned to her own bed.

The Sun didn't wait for long, and soon after their arrival, it already peeked outside to check on the sleeping equines. Silence didn't need much time to choose what she needed to bring as there was one thing left to do in her program. Her clan welcomed her at home with strange expressions, but she had to tell the truth, hoping for the bests.

"Silence? Shouldn't you be in hospital?" asked the zebra.

"I'm better, no need for that." she replied, with a sigh "Girls, I gave up... I told Twilight everything." she said.

"You did what?!" sounded the question collectively.

"I went there to Canterlot and surrendered... I had enough of this, just like you." she said, dripping of frustration. "Don't worry, you won't get any sort of punishment, it was all me after all."

The others stood in complete shock, but their worries soon made them speak up.

"What about you?"

"Banishment to Hollow Shades, I got some time to say bye to you girls." she confessed.

"Then you'll need this." the one with the braided ponytail told, holding the thing they were fighting for for so long: The Core. Silence took it and put it away for the time of a warm hug with them, one by one, when Twilight knocked on the door. It was time to go, time for the second big farewell. Silence put away the device into an old saddlebag and opened the door to follow her beloved Twilight. The others followed her all the way out to the street, waving and bidding farewell loudly for as long as they could hear. Twilight kept smiling despite the events happening kept reminding her that soon they'll part ways, but she knew Silence fought for them, to make them be able to integrate into this foreign society of Equestria, and for that even sacrificing herself.

The road towards the library was even longer than before, and the pegasus felt as if she would go to her execution. They opened the door, the one that lead them to the main hall of the tree she used to live in for a little while. Her friends, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack and even Rainbow Dash showed up, all invited by Twilight.

"Girls, Silence would like to make an important announcement, right?" she said, passing the word to the pegasus in a rather uncomfortable manner.

"Yeah, they let me out from the hospital and..." though she stopped as soon as she saw the alicorn's burning eyes. With a deep sigh she continued "...and I'm the cause of the whole black magic mystery.".

Her confession awoke a collective gasp in the ponies, except for Rainbow Dash, who simply made a cannonball into her own swimming pool of victory.

"A-ha! I knew it. I knew she was up to something."

"Rainbow we're not finished." shouted Twilight madly.

"But I am finished with her." replied Dash "Come girls, we have better things to waste time on." she added, sprinting out from the room.

"You know what I can't stand?" asked AJ "Two-faced liars. They almost took Twilight's most precious thing 'cause of you." she added harshly, leaving the gray mare with the closed eyes behind.

"Losing the trust of a friend is the easiest way to lose a friend... forever." Pinkie gaited past her, taking a huge roll of paper and pencil out from somewhere, looking for something, as soon as she found it though, she shouted back "Hey!" from the door, grabbing the attention of the ones around. The enormous roll of paper was held by her hoof high up, clearly showing a name: Silence. With a confident move the pink one drew a straight line over it, and rolled up the scroll like a yo-yo, going on her way.

"G-girls, I'm sure-"

"Let them go, Fluttershy, they were right." Silence stopped her, noticing the lack of negative feedback from the last two. "And you?" she turned her head around.

"Oh don't expect us to jump into conclusions so quickly, darling, I'm sure you had a good intention to do so." Rarity replied with a manner of a real lady.

"You won't change in our eyes just because of that. It doesn't matter who you are, only what you're doing." Fluttershy added.

"Girls... I don't even know what to say." Silence replied, scratching the back of her head in disbelief, but eventually got the courage to say something she wanted to tell for a long time.

She targeted the unicorn with the ivory coat and with a gentle move, she raised her left front hoof with hers "Rarity, thank you for all the wonderful support, for the beautiful dress, for understanding me, I can't begin even repay all this."

"Oh, hush you!" she chuckled "It's my nature to help".

"Fluttershy..." the pegasus turned to the olive one "Thank you for sharing those wonderful moments, for allowing me to help, for-"

...But the confession was cut off by the bitter sound of the door being knocked on. It was a pegasus, a royal guard with a golden carriage peeking in from the background. It was time to go, the girls came together to a last group hug, before the purple pony princess lead the tamed beast out from her library. Celestia, Luna and Cadence all waited outside, to escort her into her final destination.

Twilight's heart ached more and more the closer they flew to Hollow Shades, a small camping place surrounded with an enormous forest.

"Thank you for caring about me so much." she said, the sadness foaming from her throat endlessly.

"It's what friends do." Silence giggled, hitting Twilight in that very spot she aimed at, her heart. Twilight clearly knew that though her mind agree with that, her heart wanted more than mere friendship, but ironically, she had to taste of her own, bitter pills this time.

"We're stopping here." ordered Celestia, putting the stallions in front to a halt. The princesses left the carriage with the criminal, guiding her forwards so a measurable gap created between them. The alicorns began charging their horns, with Twilight on last place. Though the misery was eating up her heart, she knew that this was a must. Their horns channeled the energy into sparks, that joined together into a multicolored piece of lightning aimed upwards. It later changed direction, scattering in the sky at a point, thus shaping a opaque dome before the sparks hit the ground, making the shell disappear visibly.

Silence, seeing the shell blinking in a distance turned back to see her beloved one last time. Twilight slowly floated towards her, as well as she began hovering towards Twilight as well, until she hit an invisible glass wall.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, we need to leave." Luna told. Twilight, after looking at the royal trio, took another look at Silence, to memorize ever bit of her gray skin, every detail of her brown mane, her ruby red and emerald green jewels, before her body slowly began to turn, forcing her head to follow it afterwards, but even then, she kept staring at her from the corner of her eyes, as her lips began to move to an encoded sign of the word: "Farewell.". She finally broke the curse and turned away, joining the other rulers.

The forest didn't seem to contain any kinds of danger, in fact it looked like a pretty average and friendly one. Silence gently landed on the ground, and began to walk towards the unknown, taking a look around her new home. With the Core just centimeters away from her and an old secret however she knew well that it's going to be a temporary look, for she planned her new home already. But for now she had to find a shelter for the night. After a few minutes, however she found a possible camp, an old, abandoned hut.

No glasses in the widows, one room, a disgusting rug, an old sofa and a cracked bed, all filled with mildew on the floor, as well as signs of nature's attacks. She threw the rug away to get some space and opened her bag, taking out the Core she levitated as she bit her hooves, creating two small wounds in order to get the blood flowing.

She placed her hooves on the Core, feeling its violent vibration that shook her very bones like an earthquake, and with all her willpower began to focus on it, as the blood slowly formed into cables, leading inside the device, while being engulfed by the dark gray aura of the machine's magic. The whole Core began to glow as the shell around opened up on its other end, revealing its bright orb inside, that began pumping a blue mist outside, like a flamethrower, turning from white to more and more dark the farther it traveled from its origin.

"(Whoa, that's new, I thought it'll shoot lightning like the first one.)" Silence though in her small surprise. Let she didn't stop concentrating. The blue mist grew bigger and bigger, but the object of her desire began to take shape, an orb. It slowly assembled from downwards, fading in really slowly. After several minutes the sphere's shape was clearly seen, and through the blue fog, it's color began to fade in, a somewhat lighter turquoise. The Core didn't stop until the construction finished, giving life to the object as it began to glow like the device that gave birth to it, with a small trail leading back to it, like some sort of magical navel-string. Silence was pleased, the Core seemed to work completely, now it was time to put the test unit to the test. She began concentrating again to create another one, while focusing on the other one's help. A second after her mind completely concentrated on the next orb, the newborn sphere joined in the construction with a similar way as the Core did. However, Silence's attention wandered off to the device, as it's glow slowly began to fade. With a quick thought she ordered her assistant to gather resources, making the light blue object float towards the sickening textile she tossed out from her way. A reversed flame, similar to the previous ones erupted from it, as the rug began to disintegrate into small, white pieces the orb sucked into itself like a vacuum, all in seconds, before rushing to the sofa to tear it into pure energy as well. The Core's lights blinked up once-once every second, but the energy decomposed by the orb quickly got used up in the construction. A shelf and a bed later, the second assistant was finished as well. Silence became a bit worried.

"(Less of a power-drain than the last one, but still....)" she sighed. "(Maybe I should try using pure mana as energy?)" she wondered.

As the day passed by, Twilight, exhausted by the paperwork they had done with Celestia decided to move back to her castle suite to take a small rest. However her mind was only chewing on the thought of one location: Hollow Shades.

Being a studious mare she dug out a scroll of a map of Equestria from her shelf, along with a compass and placed it on the table next to each other. "Hollow Shades... Hollow Shades, there it is." she mumbled, engulfing the geographic tools with her magical purple aura. She opened the window that served her light and stepped outside onto her balcony. "Let's see, Celestia raises the Sun from East, where Hollow Shades is from Canterlot..." she continued quietly, looking up to search for any celestial bodies, finding the Moon slowly raising over the horizon. right towards her direction.

"Anything wrong Twilight Sparkle? Are you lost?" Luna asked in a playful tone from her right. Her horn covered by magic as she brought the night. She didn't even know their bedroom were next to each others'. Luna flapped her beautiful wings gently, switching platforms for a more personal little talk. Twilight was too deep in her thoughts however, taking a few seconds to her to fall back to reality. The presence of the fellow princess however came in handy to ask confirmation about a theory she came up.

"Luna? Do you think Celestia chose Hollow Shades, so I can see her from here every time." she asked, her sound filled with the aroma of doubt, confusion and hope.

Luna chuckled hearing that, not only for she knew her sister all too well to be true, but for Twilight haven't learn her teacher's method so far.

"Sister always loved to share her wisdom in a subtle way." she said, which got Twilight thinking. After all, Celestia only gave small nudges in her studies all the time, even though she haven't noticed them at first. Could this be another one of those? The thought alone confirmed it for Twilight, warming her heart as a smile appeared under her teary eyes.

With a fluctuating voice she let another sentence out "Your sister is the most wonderful teacher in Equestria."

Luna gently pulled the other alicorn closer with a small giggle "I can agree with that, Twilight Sparkle.".

In a sudden, however, a small gasp was heard from the lavender, a gasp of a wonderful, jovial idea.

"Luna, can I ask you something?"

Silence progressed pretty well. She had six orbs by now and the ghostly old cottage she worked in have been completely dismantled. The night began to fall, and it was about time for her big finale. She flew high with the units and gazed over the place, seeing her new home in it. Her thoughts were ever so deep, as she knew the next thing she is going to do will be something she have been thinking of many times before, but refused to do so. Her head sounded a click, as the face opened up once again, with a small, black orb floating out from it. She locked her limb back where it belonged and stared at the pill.

So many times she held this little pill, but never she dared to take it. When her kind began to disappear, she refused to take it, when her closest friends were in trouble, she refused to take it, when entire homeland was being destroyed, she still refused to take it. Though this time was different, this time she knew she can't allow herself making this mistake once again. Her eyes gazed over the windows popped up in front of her eyes, as she ticked in small boxes next to small descriptions of acupoints, places where one can channel magical energy. She kept ticking them in one by one, as awful pain showed up in her limbs, her head and her chest, burning pain of expanding vessels as her acupoints opened up.

She placed the black orb in her mouth, tasted it with her lips, and then her tongue, feeling its strange aroma with all her mouth. She was still hesitating about whether to let the beast out or not, but her decision was clear.

"(I will not make the same mistake twice.)" she thought, crushing the matte black sphere with her teeth afterwards. A gigantic force unleashed in a split second, shoving the debris down her throat as her teeth cracked under its pressure. Silence, after coughing up the awful remains of the sphere began to feel its effect already, as her veins would begin to be filled up with flames, traveling all over her body. Not a second later she felt like burning alive. She grabbed the Core and began channeling the intense magical energy, as her body turned into its complete, real alicorn form in order to hold all the mana released from her secret weapon. She began forming orbs with the already complete ones, as the blue fume suddenly flooded all the scene around, decreasing the visibility to almost zero. The new helpers built up in mere seconds, jumping into action. The powered-up machine didn't want to waste any split-second, and assigned the tasks quickly as lightning to the assemblers. A few began decomposing the trees to free space to the ultimate plan, while every single other one began working on the building the M.A.R.E. dreamed of, the building that will change Equestria entirely, a fresh start, a blank sheet of paper, a new garden with new seeds, seeds that were being planted in that very moment to bloom later as many wonderful flowers. The Core never grew that brightly ever before.

Long minutes passed, when the burning sensation began to fade away inside Silence's body, which shocked her frozen solid.

"What?! No, not yet!" she screamed, with a groan afterwards. She could only hope this will be enough. Though her fury was not overwhelming at all, her disappointment was felt, as she expected more from it. Her eyes wandered over to her construct, a wireframe of a pyramid, that slowly, but continuously began to fade to black. She let out another smaller groan, and with a will of her mind she ordered most of the orbs to work on something different instead. They floated above the pyramid and from upside, the flames began to erupt into a point over the very top of the shape, slowly extending downwards. Silence allowed herself to wipe the sweat off her forehead and rest, as her body, most of all her head was aching. There was nothing to do left but wait until her small turquoise minions finish the job. She turned her head up, gazing to wonderful Moon, and the stars surrounding it. She still recalled that moment when they were stargazing with her beloved once again, which made her turn her head towards the city she was right now, when a strange thing caught her eye.

The stars began to slowly move, making out letters one by one on the western sky, letters that formed into a small sentence: "I MISS U."

Silence's lips began to move from the act, as she knew it truly was Twilight's message, striking a chord on her heartstrings. She put all units to stop production and began slowly moving them to a desired location.

"Luna, look!" Twilight shouted, as the small dance of tiny lights far away in a blue mist stopped, slowly forming a shape that filled the soul of the princess with so much joy her eyes slowly turned a bit of wet, a heart.

"Certainly heartwarming Twilight Sparkle." Luna chuckled, not even questioning the chemistry between the two that she felt from even such great distances. However one last thing was bugging her.

"I'm still a bit worried about that strange fume, however." she said, as she turned back.

"Trust me, I think she just makes herself comfortable." Twilight giggled.

"Well, good night, Twilight. I must watch over and aid my subjects in their dreams." Luna said as she returned the stars to their places, as well as she retreated to her own room on the other side.

Twilight took a last look at the heart below, before joining the land of dreams as well. "Good night, Silence." she said, before leaving the balcony, and with a yawn and a tired swing of her wings, she made herself comfortable in her bed, falling asleep quickly.

The morning greeted the alicorn gently, but early, as her room was facing to the east. She rose up from her beautiful dreams, stretching her wonderful body as she let a small yawn out from her mouth. With her hooves, she rubbed her eyes to motivate the for opening up.

"What a nice sleep." she said in herself as she leaped out from her bed, gently gaiting to the small mirror to brush her mane. She picked up the brush and the mirror and began working on her beautiful manestyle.

From the mirror, the outside scenery reflected, which got her thinking about Silence again. With a smile she headed outside to says "Good Morning" to her friend, but what she saw took her breath away.

In a distance, where yesterday the moving message came from an entirely different object emerged, a huge, dark grey pyramid, with strange, translucent, light green, glowing wireframes of leaf-like things forming some sort of dome over it, rotating around its centre extremely slowly. What in the wide world was that thing? She rushed back to her room, dropping all carried object on the floor. She left her room in a rush, when from her behind, a voice called her.

"Princess Twilight!" it said. It was Celestia, with a serious tone in her voice "I guess you also noticed the pyramid." she added.

"Princess Celestia-"

"Go ahead. We must know if she is up to something, and you're the only one she truly trusts." Celestia replied, even before the alicorn could ask anything, shocking Twilight, who staggered back for a moment, but nodded, rushing out from the castle to see what is happening in Hollow Shades.

As Twilight landed in front of the enormous building almost as tall as the Canterlotian castle, her thoughts gone wild. What sort of power could summon such a gigantic obelisk here? She stepped closer towards the gigantic metal door that was adorned by a steel ring, that began to rotate, sliding the two parts of the device a little after. A familiar face stood behind the door: Silence.

"Si....lence?" she said, barely being able to recover her mind from the shock, though deep inside, she saw that coming.

"Welcome, sweetheart. Come inside." the machine greeted her, leading the way though a small aisle into an enormous room with extreme simplicity, built-in lights provided some visibility inside the completely empty, circular room. A pair of pegasi flew by them, as well as well as another one in a distance, landing in front of a door that slid up, allowing her to leave the hall.

"It might be quite obvious from me to ask, but, what is this place?" Twilight questioned in curiosity and amazement.

"This, dear is my empire, and my new home." Silence explained "This is the Hall, surrounded by the Outer Ring that lets us travel between the floors. Come let me show you." she added as she took a turn in her direction to her right.

"Empire?! What do you mean? In fact, how did you summoned all this in one night?" Twilight quizzed her friend who gave a small chuckle as the door slid open in front of her. Another few pegasi flew by, all grey like Silence, hovering slowly without flapping their wings, one had even a very strange type of wing and definitely traveled faster than the other ones.

Twilight had even more questions piling up in her mind, but being a considerate pony she waited until her friend shoved that specific thing she wanted. They entered another door, with the label "Control Room" over it, finding a small, see-through portal inside between the four walls, with a strange, liquid energy flowing inside it, like between two glass panels. Silence flew through it, but Twilight hit her nose into it, like some sort of glass window.

"Be so kind and grant some access to Twilight here." the gray mare asked an unknown pony hooked up onto gigantic wires that levitated her in the air. Twilight only saw her silhouette as the screens faded her vision, along with the portal's light play.

"Understood." a strange voice answered. "Profile created, access granted."

"Try now, Twilight." Silence asked her, and for the second time, the alicorn managed to pass through the blue object.

"Feel this, sweetheart? This vibration?" she asked, as she stepped closer to her beloved. Twilight did actually feel something vibrating in the air, shaking her bones gently. She nodded as a response.

"This is The Core, the device that has the power of a God. A device that decomposes structures to pure energy, and constructs something different from it." Silence explained.

For Twilight, this was completely unbelievable, her mind just couldn't grasp it despite all the evidence around her, but for some reason, this didn't really surprise her much. After all, Silence was nothing but an alien from another dimension, wrapped into the form of an Equestrian equine.

"Aaaalright, sooo you're saying you made this all by yourself, with this... 'Core' thing... in one night... or were these guys here to help already?" she asked.

"I know it must be difficult to comprehend, but trust me you'll believe it after you see it yourself." she explained, as she put her hooves on the back of her friend. "Obsy, I'll modify the energy sources to the storage room for a while, could you take Twilight to my room please?" she asked her assistant.

"Understood." she replied, as the cables detached from her body. She turned around, revealing her face. She had a gray skin similar to all other ponies', and a dark blue mane that she wore in two bangs on the side and a front style similar to Twilight's. "Follow me, Twilight Sparkle." she asked the alicorn, leading her to yet another portal that made them end up in a sort of cozy living room, that somehow was still a bit too dark to the tastes of the princess.

Windows allowed the lights to enter the dark grey room, that had a white, king-sized bed located in it's side, facing towards the wall. The dark blue carpet, however game a somewhat better atmosphere to the bedroom. A black shelf and a wardrobe, as well as two, blue sitting pillows around a small table decorated the room, giving some extra facilities. From the ceiling, lights seen at the hall were placed to provide light when the night arrived.

"Thank you, Miss..."

"SSU-01 Observer. Mother provided detailed information about you Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle, which I recorded in the system. You have no reason to be afraid of possible difficulties in the future."

"I see, thank you Observer."

Silence arrived back, with a strange armored orb she levitated.

"Is that is?" Twilight asked. She excepted something else, something bigger and more powerful-looking, after all, it was a 'device with the power of a God'.

Silence nodded, wrapping her right hoof around around her friend's neck "It's already charged, here, hold it." she said, giving the powerful device to Twilight. The vibration became even more intensive, as she felt the wicked-strong magical aura erupting from its inside.

"Think of something, something simple, I'll help you create that to see it's real."

"Ookay, how about a book?"

"What kind of book?"

"A red one, I guess?"

"Good, now focus on the book as much as you can."

Twilight shut her eyes to imagine the book for a moment, and as she reached full focus the Core began to glow, emitting its dark blue mist.

"Here, let me help." Silence joined to the alicorn, as the blue mist began to gather up in an area in front of them. A few seconds later Twilight took notice of something.

"I see it, I guess." she said, increasing her concentration of the object, until it faded in completely, with the mist dissipating into air as the red book fell to the ground. Twilight couldn't believe it. She walked up to it, took it up to observe it from all directions. It was just too... alien to be true, but it was.

"This is.... this is impossible." she repeated continuously, as she couldn't take of her eyes from the creation she have done. "How?" she asked.

Silence giggled, taking the book out from her friend's grab and gently levitating it onto the shelf "Thousands of years of research of magic and science."

"Science?" asked the alicorn.

The machine walked up to the window and gazed through it's glasses, over the forest. "You know, I knew a girl who said that magic and science are all the same, because it's essence is to look for the root off all things, to understand and advance."

Twilight got thinking for a second, as the thought gave a warm feeling in her heart, it was true after all, for she spent years of her life finding answers to all things, to obtain knowledge and use it for the good.

"...she was much like you." Silence added, as she backed away from the window, and jumped on her bed, where she collapsed with back down, staring at the ceiling. Everything came to a stop for a second, before she made one more painful confession.

"...I'm going to die Twilight."

A shiver went down the body of the princess as she heard those words. She turned back quick as lightning to walk up to her friend, who continued.

"The Core tore my acupoints into pieces, I can feel my system getting weaker and weaker."

"B-but why?! Twilight asked in complete confusion. "Why would you sacrifice yourself for all this?"

"I wanted back those old days, when my nation was active and alive, I just wanted to rule again, to lead something, it is my job, my destiny to control... do you believe in destiny, Twilight?" she asked.

Twilight took a look at her wings, observing them with good care as the answer formed in her head "Yes."

"You're not wrong, dear. You know, they say a great power controls our future, something we cannot see, or feel, or communicate with... but in my view, that power is not that far as it seems." Silence explained.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Princess Celestia, I'm sure if she doesn't teach you a thing or two you wouldn't be here." Silence chuckled. In a way, she had a point, since Celestia was the ruler of Equestria, thus could control the future of its citizens, like in some kingdom-building tabletop games she used to play as a little filly.

"Observer is having a destiny too, you know, once I'm gone she will be the one who continues my job." she added, turning her vision from the black ceiling towards the princess.

"Don't be so worried, sweetheart, death is not the end, we defeated it hundreds of years ago. It is nothing but a mere obstacle for us, like a phoenix who changes renews her body from ashes. But that's a long road from here." the machine added, seeing her beloved's sadness. Twilight didn't reply, just awaited for more, when the pegasus jumped up, grabbing her hooves.

"However, when I'm gone there is something I would like you to do." she said, with confidence and trust emitting from her orders. "You have to destroy The Core."

Twilight, unraveled from the things heard shouted up "What? Why?"

"We can't let the past repeat itself, Observer is just an emotionless construct, ponies' lives are nothing but mere numbers ands statistics to her, just the way it was to Cryan." she explained.

The princess's soul filled with fear, thinking about what would happen if such power would go to evil hands, Silence made the right decision.

"I'm too addicted to it to do it myself, I can't get myself to make this decision. You, on the other hand, are pure, free from the corruption of this awful power. You will do it for us, won't you?" she asked.

"I will." Twilight confirmed, gently placing her limbs on her friend's. Although she had not have the faintest idea of who or what this Cryan was, she suspected that it must have been a key reason of her being forced to leave her land. If such thing would have happen to Equestria, things would never be the same. However, she was yet to find out what was that, and there waa one way to do so. Though as her mind came through this detour she didn't notice it was one of those moments again. Seconds later did she realize they were deeply wondering helplessly in each other's eyes, while holding hooves like two lovebirds, which's realization she let known of my a gasp and a sudden move of her hooves, making her friend giggle loudly.

"You're so cute, my love." Silence complimented with a scorching passion.

"You know, Silence, I think I know for these strange feelings about you." Twilight explained in a sly manner "You're like a good horror story, whereas every fiber of your mind wants you to stop, you just can't look away but read on."

Though this was a below the belt hit for her, Silence pretty much expected another friendzoning and resented with the thought. In fact, she even decided to it to her advantage.

"So, would you like to hear that story?" she asked seductively "It is long enough to keep you entertained for a long time."

Twilight awkwardly took a step back with a big, strange, yet hilarious grin, but she knew her friend was only teasing for the sake of fun. Though the opportunity was too great to let it go, as she now had a chance to get to know about Silence's past, knowledge about alien magic and technology and almost everything she could imagine... hopefully.

"Well, my time is limited, but I promise to give you a visit, say, once a week if you need company." Twilight offered, which made the pegasus really happy inside.

"I'd be so grateful. Thank you." Silence bowed her head to the princess, forming a huge grin with her mouth. "So what would you like to hear?" she asked, gently calling her friend to the bed with her hooves.

Twilight went into it and joined her friend on the furniture "Maybe your past first, that would be great."

Silence sighed because of the thought of ripping old wounds up once again, but for her princess, she didn't want to hide anything. With a resentful and somewhat sad melody in her voice she began.

"Well then, let me tell you the tragedy of our land, the land we only called: The Sector..."