Ch.2 Long After Death
Night flew over the horizon and everyone began to get tired, they decided to settle in a abandoned house that was located on the other side of the mountain. "Well, this is where we are spending the night so try to find someplace to sleep, and please don't worry about the events that occurred yesterday, let's just go to bed. How about we find a place that could fit us?" As they shuffled around to find a proportional area they all laid down and put themselves to ease knowing that each other was there as they snuggled close and soon they all fell into a deep sleep and the room fell silent and the only sound was that of the light rain pitter pattering on the roof and the drops that fell through the small holes in the ceiling and onto the floor.
The surrounding area was dark like the night sky in a busy city, dark and empty, Eclipse was the only one who was there… or she was, the room began to get inhabitants of the evil nature and resembled the dark republic soldiers. Eclipse turned to run the other way, but behind was a giant cloud of dark mist that only sparkled in the eerie blood red light that came off the creatures, the mist emitted a sound that rumble everything and began to charge her engulfing her in the mist. Inside was morphing, changing into a cave which seemed to fit perfectly with the creatures that began to fall from the ceiling and crawl off the walls. They looked as if they were spiders but not all, others matched snakes, Eclipses bolted out of there yet seemed to go nowhere and everywhere these creatures crawled and slithered and all she could do was run.
Everything began to light up as she ran farther and and soon everything was lit so brightly it looked like a blank piece of paper, but she kept running as fast as she could until she had found herself back home in the fields near Po-parta. Something felt weird probably because the only one other than her who was there was Solar who looked frightened as he looked back at Po-parta. Then one of the buildings exploded, Solar looked right at it and started to run to the city as the events played like it had that day. Solar ran back through the city and fire, getting severely burned, and cut by falling rubble, but he didn't seem to care about it and continued forward until he finally reached their house upon entering he was bleeding out from all his cuts and others were cauterized by the burning city. Limping along he walked inside, but as he went to the room they found their mom it was too late, the roof collapse and the ruble struck a fatal blow and all Solar could do was watch the horror.
Eclipse saw this happening over and over again as she saw Solar try to save their mother but all ended in the same thing and to make things worse he also died every time. Making up her mind Eclipse started toward Solar as the setting reset and before he could leave Eclipse launched herself into the air landing on Solar knocking him over and embracing as she did. "Eclipse where did you come from" Solar asked in a surprised manner, "I saw you trying over and over again, wanting to save mom" she replied as she slightly sobbed "and every time you tried you never were able too and it repeated once you died, it was horrible". Solar looked down at the young filly hugging her and smiled as he hugged her back. "Well you know that I would do that, but it can't be fixed now. but if I had the chance to you know I would" Solar added letting a single tear fall down his face as he held his sister closer.
Moving away from the subject of Solars dream they walked around as his fantasy began to liquefy filling the entire surrounding area, even the sky started to rain down in huge drops causing tsunami like waves that push the two at terrifying speeds to a mountain. "Solar grab my hoof" Eclipse gasped desperately trying to reach her brother who seemed to get farther every time she tried to lock her hoof with her brother. Solar tried to do the same but things began to get dark and the urgent feeling started make Solar spaze out of control as he tried to swim back up to the surface to breath once again. Then everything slowly faded to darkness, as it finally got pitch black something small started to resonate, a small orange ember began to chime as it was fully lit and flowed upward .Then instantly it got dark and all seemed lost in this magical fantasy of a dream that had seemed to become something else after some time had passed.
Waking up on a empty vast desert plain Eclipse and solar got up and addressed one another making sure they both were okay and then walked in the scorching heat finding a elevated platform. The raised surface had a long dark shadow fall across the land, "What is that doing there" Solar asked looking at the tall structure with curiosity , then as he looked at the top of the pillar there was two figures
"Why, why did you run off to the diamond forest, you could have gone home with your brother and save mother, but instead both ran away to the forest" a mysterious voice said,
"I didn't want to but it was the only thing I could think of at the time and",
"Excuses, excuses excuses. What about when eclipse was taken why couldn't you use your magic to save her",
"I was rushed and if I tried to save her, my brother would of had his emotions taken",
"More excuses, all you do is nothing, the only measurable thing you did was kill the enemy in the camp". As this was said his reflection began to morph into a more unique figure that of which resembled a brute like pony with fangs and other familiar features that they felt like they had seen this before but they didn't know where from. "You are worthless, I hopped my successors would of been more responsible but the saying pickers can't be choosers applies" the figure said as it became a different color. "But still I have to test you see if you ready", Suddenly the ground began to form a whirlpool of sand engulfing Solar and eclipse and devoured the pillar holding Lunar.
Falling through they landed in the market located in the south side of Atmist, looking up the sky was red from fire and the smell of burning wood flowed through the air. "Where are we?," Solar remarked,
"Don't know, but the architecture is very familiar, kind of resembles Atmist" Eclipse responded. Hissing noises blared throughout the streets as the Republic flew over them, the small group of ponies began to fire as they saw them but the lasers fazed right through them, "What now" Eclipsed complained as she looked at her brothers with confusion. Then a loud scream could be heard "You destroyed our home and murdered our mom, but it wasn't enough you had to get rid of everything else we loved, so now i'm going to get rid of you all!", this in itself was very disheartening due to its familiarity. "Okay it was strange to find out that were in Atmist and see the enemy but that was just plain weird" Lunar said as they began to gallop to an area where they could see what made that dreadful sound. Getting into view they saw the mass of energy surrounding three figures that stood where they did and matched them completely, "Do you think this is what he meant when he said test?" Solar asked,
"Well I don't know what having to see ourselves will prove" Eclipse respond. BOOM, the mass of energy around them collapsed and was followed by similar chain of events that happened yesterday, As they saw their nightmarish forms they jumped back in surprise, then the massacre occurred and they witnessed the horrors they had set upon the land. When they tried stop the carnage it only failed along other attempts to hide the horrific sight that unfolded in fronted.
As hours passed they began to fall deeper and deeper into insanity as they saw all the blood spill over the battlefield, bodies disintegrate, burned until they ash, and others got cut into tiny bits. After the bloodbath Solar, Lunar, and Eclipse watched as their devils descended to the ground, their energy quickly radiating out of them causing a small flash of light, but instead of the light fading away it grew brighter causing a shift in the space around them. Finishing the terrain was flat and plain, the walls were plain, even the sky was plain. Walking toward them their nightmare forms engaged them, then stopped in front of them, "Well now that you've seen your might, it's time to test your power". Stepping out from behind the nightmares the brute like pony walked forward but this time his voice was that unlike his appearance, it was sweet like silk and deep. "Wait so that wasn't the test, what was it?" Eclipse Wondered,
"No, it was an example to show what you're capable in your "majestic" forms" He responded
"WHAT!, so you decided to ruin us just as an example of our power, and how did that happened?" Lunar raged. Chuckling the smooth brute smiled wide as he was given the ability to explain something that he enjoyed, "Well if that ruined you my explanation will destroy, what happened that day was an outburst of energy caused by anger and made you as strong as an alicorn. Since there were three of you it was times three allowing you to massacre the enemy. Getting back to the explanation, when you turn into a nightmare your negative emotions take over, except for delight, and once you finish doing what caused you to change you revert back to normal".
"So you're saying we became… bad?" Eclipse remarked,
"Don't be absurd, you became an angelic figure of awesome power",
"But we killed all those bad guys, and the only real reason i'm concerned is how we killed them" Lunar mentioned,
"Don't worry about that, you were driven by anger and hate so after you changed you had the power to ,"Get rid of them" the way put it, so you let out your hate and had some fun"
"The more talk about how we murdered them the more insane you make it sound, hmm, by the way you never really told us your name" Lunar returned,
"Oh, how rude of me, my name is Star Dawn, and the way I said it was just me getting excited about being able to talk about my interest and pass my knowledge to my great grand children".
"WHAAAT!, so what you're saying is that we are saying is that you, a pony who we have just know meet in our dream is one of our ancestors" Eclipsed said shocked at what he had said
"Well yes, but when you say ancestor you make me sound old, and that I am but it the way it was surprising but true, I am your ancestor" Star answered.
"So while i was listening to you three converse I just remembered, aren't we supposed to take that test of yours"Solar reminded
"Of course, thanks reminding me boy" Star looked back at the flaming horses and swiped his hoof through the air, "Your test begins now, you must defeat your selves",
"What, that's insane why would we do that" Solar spoke frustrated with what had been asked,
"Oh, you think you choice", the nightmares began to approach them taking flight into the air, "And if you win you would have proven to me that you are stronger or wiser than your counterparts and will be perfect next time you activate it" Star smiled.
Around them the terrain morphed into a coliseum with an addition of a fake audience to watch them battle their familiar foe. Circling them the nightmares fired down, easily recognizing their power they began revolting back at the enemy, as the first shot hit them they became smarter in a tactical sense moving around the arena getting the upper hand. "This truly isn't fair, they have wings and probably are loaded with centuries of combat tactics" Solar assumed,
"What makes you assume that" Lunar questioned,
"The way they fought earlier, it resembled ancient combat, but let's just focus on fighting but just keep that in mind as you attack" Solar added. While fighting they destroyed the place with beams of energy and fought with great intensity as they didn't know what would happen if they were to lose. As time passed they had hit their doppelgangers with great skill they blazed through the tactics that they had memorized, but once they passed through them all they stopped attacking and started using more advanced magic to overrule the siblings knowledge and started to act like they had that night and hit them with fire, beams the could leave a clean cut, even going as far to use their fangs. Soon the fight reached its climax and the only thing left was the power and determination they had to win, then as they had been too weak to continue Earth flew in from above and landed in front of them raising a shield to stop the devastating rase from the attackers, "What's going on" Earth asked worried,
"Umm, well the only way to easily explain is for you to look them" Solar requested, looking over the beams she saw the nightmares, once she saw them she jumped a little and said "It can't be, he couldn't have come back, I thought we killed him" Earth whispered,
"Do you mean Star dawn our great grandpa?" Eclipse put in,
"Yes, and the fact that you know who he is only means your nightmare blood is active and thus he will try to come back and will use you three to do it",
"What wrong about him coming back, I know that he put us against each other but this a dream i'm sure he weaker than us" Lunar boosted,
"Wrong, he's far more powerful than me, and infact it took all the power your mom and I had to kill him" Earth pushed her shield back knocking the nightmares back, "Do you recall the story of purification"
"Ya" they all said getting up as they had regained their strength,
"Well that was us who took out the devil, or in this case Star dawn, and the reason Stellar didn't tell you about how we were the heros was probably to keep this from ever happening" Earth suggested "But let's talk later it's very bothersome having to hold your clones away", they nodded and began to fight the doppelgangers.
With the help of their aunt they were able to slowly weaken the enemy and finish them off causing them to disintegrate, then the tip taps of hoof sounded from the audience. "Well we did it, come out Star dawn" Eclipse yelled as she looked around the colosseum for him,
"hmm so it seems you have, so it seems, but you did it with the help of my… ungrateful granddaughter, i'm sure she already told you about me but the battle kept her from the entire story", Star said grimly. Walking over to them the land morphed into a large plain with little areas packed with trees, Star had disappeared with the previous terrain. Over the horizon a group of white hooded alicorns walked toward them a light glow radiating off them lighting the surrounding area as the sun began to set behind them. "Who are they?" Eclipsed asked,
"They are the Great Council of Light, they strive to free the land of all evil, but one of them did not feel the same and his name was Star, the mastermind behind all evil that you know today. Years ago me and your mom killed him to stop his reign of terror but unfortunately he lives on in you" Earth enlightened them.
As the council got close a shadow grew over them, they looked back at the shadow taking off their hoods, "The story of the beginning went a little like this, Star didn't like how the Council stopped all evil so he tried to use his power to trap them in a eternal slumber" as Earth began tell them as scene in front of them followed her. "But when he tried they struck him down and was removed from the council and trapped in stone for centuries, as they passed he awoke full of anger, he decided to become a nightmare. He rose a army thousands and led armies across the land until one day he found himself in love with a beautiful alicorn who had journeyed into the lands he had controlled. In time she to had fell for him as well and they had decided to get married, later came my father, Luminous Blaze, and sister, Aurora Glimmer who loved him as children but so had their friends who my father had been around when they saw them. But as they got older they hated seeing their father destroy the lands of innocent ponies, so they decided to leave him and leave to make a new start away from Star. While they ventured far into the old natural version of Nightreece they had stumbled upon a town where they saw earth ponies tending to crops and others were going around building up the city filling it with houses and stores. Entering the city they had been halted by guards who asked them who are they and where they came from, they responded with their names and that they ran away from their father Star. After they finished telling them their info the guards let them in but kept an eye on due to them being the offspring of a terrible stallion. soon after they arrived they decided to stay there and live out their lives as peacefully as possible. But once they had taken off the robes they had made while they journeyed everypony around, everypony gasped since they had never saw an alicorn up close and most hadn't even seen unicorns. Everypony gathered around asking them questions like what it was like to use magic and to fly across the sky and touch the clouds and if they really soft, this of course embarrassed them and they ran into a store. Inside they looked back through the windows to see where the mob was, lucky they had gone right past them, they moved away from the door and noticed the shop keeper who was very surprised to have to alicorns burst into her shop. She asked them what brings them to her humble shop, they told her about the group of curious ponies and that they were sorry about running unannounced, but she said was alright and asked what they had been doing in town striking up conversation, and they talked for hours. In the end they decided to eat dinner and spend the night, in the morning they left the house of the shopkeeper whose name was, Soot Sweep, your grandmother, of course as they lived in the ever expanding town that stood nameless they got married.
Years had past and soon enough I was born in the Our little house that they had on the highest hill, life was great and it only got better, your mother was born five years after me and she was… she" Earth began to shed tears as memories of the past rose up " She was the greatest sister I ever had and i'm so sorry of your loss. We grew up reading the few magic books we could afford and practiced a lot, but one day he arrived, Star Dawn, he walked up to our home after he destroyed the city, he looked around, his disgusted by how pleasant the house of his son was. Walking he yelled for my father who ran up behind shooting wildly at him while he faced the other way, but he had already anticipated his attack and blocked with a shield that he effortlessly erected behind him. They fought for a short sad moments before he tricked my dad into killing his wife, and that monster did it while Stella and I watched from our yard in plain view thanks to our house being burned to ashes, my father was the one suffered the most since he was then who did the deed. Luminous fell to the ground as he was shocked that he, the beloved father of two, killed his wife, but Star was all to happy with the situation, he even laughed at him, he truly was horrible. Then walked over to my dad and cut off his head and picked it up and yelled his battle cry as he finished one half of his mission, his army screaming back. Flying in from above Aurora landed in front of us looking at him angered along with tears flowing from her eyes as she gazed upon the head of her brother, she began to cursing at him furiously as she powered a beam, as she shoot it hit the floor blowing dust and wood chips into the air. With the time given to us she quickly grabbed us and flew off away from the city as fast as possible. In matters of minutes we reached her house that was placed away from town, the instantly we landed she pulled us inside and powered her horn brightly, then it shout out through the roof and exploded into a dome that covered the entire house making it invisible. Then there was a dead silence as we all sat in her living as we tried to gain some ground on what had happened and what was to happen.
Time flew by after that day, life was grey and we spent most of our time training and learning new spells so we could get strong and defeat Star, and every day we practiced harder than the last to learn not to get used to a certain difficult. Once I turned sixteen Aurora gifted me armor that had magic engravings that increased my magic power greatly and gave me the power of two, and the same happened as Stella came of age. Then one day as our aunt left home to go gather some ingredients for a special dinner as she did regularly, but this day was different, when she left she didn't come home, nor did she ever again. Forced to fend for ourselves we left home and went off to find Star and kill him.
Finally, after years of training and searching out in the open we found him, he was going around as usual destroying land with his army of brutes, but this time it would end in the battle of purification. We had been planning this for years and to finally put it to use made use quite giddy, but of course we tried to restrain ourselves from getting too excited. Once we entered the battlefield we didn't waste any time and flew straight to Star, and as soon as we arrived in front of him we began to battle. Avoiding his minions we teleported to an arena that we made only for this fight, and the arena was the exact same colosseum he put you in. But of course it was for totally different reasons, and the stakes were much higher, if you lose you die and as the story goes we won but not before he had inflicted us with battle scars", Earth gestured to the areas where she was hit and the room grew to darkness . "As we finished we went out finally got our lives back and Stella made you wonderful kids" Earth said as she went over and gave them a warm hug.
Then as the room was silent it turned back into the colosseum and Star walked out from behind the gate that would hold a lion or warrior. "Now you know who I am, but better late than never some like to say, but as you wake up remember that i'm a part of you and so any actions to stop me will only lead in damage to you, farewell Solar, Eclipse, Lunar next time we meet how it be uninterrupted. For you Earth Switch of Atmist, you had so much potential, but right now isn't really the time you should be waking up and minute" Star said as he walked away into the darkness of the cage, and before they could do anything they arrived back where they had fallen asleep. "That was very weird, having to go through all of that in one night" Eclipse spoke with mixed feelings, "Indeed but it's best not to talk about that outside the your dreams. Now then how about we have breakfast.