With this chapter, the story has reached a critical point in it's development. I have decided to break up the current and future chapters into named 'Acts'. Also, this chapter, there is going to be a lot of new history and lore being thrown around, fair warning.
One more thing, I recommend Halo 4's song 'Legacy' as background music for the middle part of this chapter, especially the scene in italics. It really fits the theme of what's happening, in my opinion.
Act I Finale: Chapter 10: The Last of the Archons
"Greatness and power are often allied with defeat. It is how civilizations are shaped... some ideas prosper, others die. The quality of ideas has little to do with the outcome. It is personalities that matter. Pay attention to those around you."
-Ur-Didact, Halo Cryptum.
Gliese System
Planet Equis
Canterlot Imperial Palace, Library Wing
July 12th, 2551
7:30 AM
When the mysterious stasis pods had been shipped into the Capital from Aurora, the Ministry of Technology immediately went to work converting sections of the library wing of the Palace into a makeshift dedicated laboratory.
Bookshelves were moved to make way for diagnostic equipment, examination tables, the occasional holo-terminal and (if needed) equipment for post-mortem dissection analysis. Princess Luna had overseen the layout personally as soon as the morning following the Gala had arrived. At last, the mysterious beings would be revealed.
Celestia had asked for herself, Twilight and Dr. Anders to be present before the containers were opened. It would seem her majesty was counting on the stasis occupants to be friendly, but regardless she still had a group of guards with her, just in case. The two sisters were now waiting for the other two, before they could begin.
"Princess Luna! Princess Celestia!" The duo rushed towards the waiting monarchs eagerly.
Celestia smiled radiantly at them. "Twilight, Ellen! I'm so glad to finally see you two again!"
"We heard Luna was about to open the artifacts, we just couldn't pass up the chance to see it here!" Twilight said excitedly. "We still have all day to get to our regular business anyhow." Anders added turning to grin at her friend. The two then looked at Luna.
"Just what do you suppose are in these, Princess?" Twilight inquired.
"We shall see, Twilight Sparkle."
The midnight Alicorn did not explain further but instead looked to the group of workers standing patiently behind her. "Awaken the hushed casket."
"Yes your highness!" They said, echoing each other. A human interfaced with the stasis pod's controls while three earth ponies and two humans stood with pry bars waiting to force the pod open.
The panel beeped and the door began to open. But as expected, it had been sealed for so long that it needed 'encouragement' to open. The pry bars provided just that.
The door cracked open with a groan of protest and flash frozen air escaped with a hiss. It took several tense moments before the frozen, misty air gave way to reveal the being sleeping within. Not knowing what to expect, the Royal guards moved forward and trained their halberds, spears, and rifles tensely on container.
"At ease! Be still!" Luna shouted without looking at them. Her eyes were glued to the container opening.
Within the stasis casket, much to everyone's surprise, was unmistakably a massive pegasus stallion with a cyan blue coat. He was at least as tall as Luna. For a moment, he was still as a corpse. Then, movement. Twitching. He cringed his face in pain as his eyes opened to the light of the room, unprepared for it. Once his eyes had adjusted, he sat up, using his forehooves for support.
"It's a pegasus!" Twilight exclaimed, caught by complete surprise.
Rubbing his eyes with his right hoof, he look straight ahead in Twilight's direction. He saw the unicorn, and his eyes went wide. Looking around the room at everyone, his alarm grew. The Pegasus activated something on his strange armor with his wings in a stiff, but rapid movement, uttering a cry of effort as he did so.
This caused everyone near him to stagger back to the ground in a daze. He climbed out of the pod, half galloping, half limping, towards the stained glass windows near a block of shelves. He stared at them all, then at the entire room and its inhabitants, uncomprehending what he was seeing.
Quickly recovering from the force push spell, the guards moved to subdue the strange pegasus. His body began to sway as his vision swam before him and his head racked him with pain.
"Stop! Grant him his space, He's just confused!" Luna shouted. Anders moved in front of the guards, holding her hand up urgently. "Luna's right, it must have been at least 100,000 years for us, but for him it's only been..."
"...a few minutes! We can all get out of here if we just get to one of the ships!"
"I'm sorry Archon Spectra. Admiral Thanaxes has already primed Sol Invictus for firing. We cannot sacrifice the remaining fleet, and no surviving warriors are allowed to leave this facility, even an Archon."
"Damn you Percival! Damn you to Tartarus! We can still fight, we swore to shed our last drop of blood to defend Equestria! And my friends' souls demand blood be payed for blood spilled in fighting the Forerunners' agression!"
The AI could only look him with stoic sadness.
"The Humans, San 'Shyuum, and Sangheili are all spent. We are without allies. The Empire, the Imperial City, and the Emperor and Empress are all gone as well. They have fallen, along with most of our military and colonies. Thanaxes will try to take as many Forerunners with him as he can, but we are lost."
Percival's avatar, a grey-coated pegasus wearing a crested helmet, gestured his wings to the stasis chambers. "Get to your pods before the enemy breaches this facility. I shall ensure all relevant data is protected for our descendants."
"What about the rest of the Imperial family? And the Elements?"
"The Emperor and Empress' daughters are safe, they were spared from the orbital bombardment. You need not worry about them. They have been entrusted with the Elements as well, for their future duties."
"Percival! Don't do this, I order you to unlock the door and let us out! You may have given up, but if I and my generals are to die, it is with our armies! Our loyal soldiers. Not in some cold sleep like cowardly foals!"
"Your friends' sacrifices shall be honored, in the coming Empire. Archon Spectra Dash, you and your generals, together with the royal daughters, are to be our living legacy as a civilization."
Spectra trotted to his pod, enraged at his inability to stop the inevitable. He paused to look at his comrades, now interred in what he was sure was to be their frozen tombs. With a deep sigh, he closed his stasis pod.
"When the next civilization rediscovers this place, Archon, the daughters will not remember all this. You will be the voice of our people."
"I, shall be more than that."
"Sol Invictus has been fired. Forerunner forces detected on the surface, preparing mega-spell bombardment."
Titanic explosions rung out far above him, shaking the thick, newly-formed ice and the facility within it. The vibrations were the last sensory data Spectra's body detected, before it passed into a deep, profound sleep.
The Pegasus held his hoof to his head for several seconds, before he fell to the ground on his haunches. He stared at them all wearily through piercing violet eyes.
Reluctantly the guards drew back from him, moving into a protective formation around Celestia, Twilight and Dr. Anders. "Yes, just keep your distance and let him get his bearings." Luna ordered again.
After several more moments of thick silence, Luna approached the Pegasus, getting a good look at him.
His body had fully thawed, revealing the color of his mane and tail. They were the color of a beautiful rainbow. Complete with his cyan coat, he closely resembled a certain other Pegasus Twilight knew.
He was equipped in a type of exotic armor, vaguely similar in design to what the Royal Guards were equipped with. It's pauldrons and chest piece consisted of sleek segmented plates that floated above the surface of his fur. In between the plates was transparent webbing, seeming to be for attaching extra holsters or pockets. The armor gleaned with small lights, indicating it had a working kinetic barrier system. His helmet was missing, having fallen off as he rushed from his stasis chamber. It had a mohawk crest much like the helmets of most modern soldiers.
He looked at Anders in disbelief. "Human? Hamanune? I thought your kind was killed off by the Forerunner at Charum Hakkor...Yprin, Forthencho and the others, they..." The Doctor was not sure how to respond.
Carefully, and ever so slowly, Luna got closer to him, catching his attention before he could finish. Then at last, she addressed him directly. "Who art thou...Pegasus?" He looked at her with a strange expression of recognition. His body now semi-calm, the ancient Pegasus responded.
"Lu...Luna?" He looked towards the Empress next. "Celestia... could it be? Harmony be praised! Percival was truthful, you are the Alicorn daughters! You survived the Fall!" He bowed at their hooves instantly.
"Forgive me, dearest sovereigns! We Archons tried our best, but we failed in our duty to protect your parents, the Empire, everything. Lost. The Elements.."
Both Alicorns looked at the Pegasus with absolute confusion, their eyes wide with shock. They were dealing with a being possibly even older than they were. "How do you know us, ancient one?" Luna demanded. "Of what do you speak? How.. do you know of our, our parents?" Her voice began to quiver with emotion.
"And...how do you know of the Elements of Harmony as well, Archon...?" Celestia
The Pegasus bowed a second time. "I, am the Equestrian, once known by the name Spectra Dash. I am..." He sighed sadly. "...was, the Archon of Fortitude. Together with my dearest friends, the Archons of Emotion, Compassion, Truth, Generosity and Magic, we wielded the sacred Elements forged by your mother, the late Empress."
"You wielded the Elements before us? How is all of this possible? I knew the Elements predated us, but never in this way." Celestia said slowly, her voice was like her sister's. Powerful emotions were surfacing that hadn't seen the light in millennia.
Sharing their distress, Spectra's voice nearly faltered as he explained himself. "The Ponies have an... ancestral memory, what the Forerunners called a 'geas', spread out among the four species, the alicorns, pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies. As Archons, we were unique in that, we could acquire and store the collective emotions and memories of all Ponies, and store them for indefinite periods of time. We could become living lexicons, as it were."
He held out his two hooves to the sisters. "If you two would just, just take my hooves in yours. I could share with you my own collective memories. Likewise, I could as well learn from you both what has happened to our people..." His throat choked up, holding back tears. ".. in the long centuries of our absence. What say you, my... lieges?"
Luna hesitated, but Celestia could already see the literal wisdom in such an action. "Very well, Spectra Dash. We shall take your hooves into ours. I trust it shall not inflict harm of any kind on anypony?"
Spectra shook his head firmly, despite the shakiness in the rest of his body. "You have my word, your Grace. There is no threat of bodily harm. But be warned, it is an extremely emotional experience, we will be in great distress when it..concludes."
The younger Alicorn ordered the Royal Guards to stand down, and give them all room. Twilight and Anders were standing there the whole time, struck speechless. The guards pushed them away from the three ancient Ponies.
As the Princess and the Empress approached the Ancient Equestrian, they grasped his hooves in theirs. The reaction was instantaneous.
Spectra's body lit up with glowing glyphs, his eyes glowed pure white. The sisters' eyes lit up as well. As the memories of the three circulated around, many emotions flashed across their faces. Some memories were so powerful, each of the three spoke about them out loud in their trance-like state.
The Archon grimaced almost painfully, as he accessed odd memories in Celestia's mind, memories that didn't quite seem to be her's. "Sombra? That bastard took over the Crystal Kingdom?! He and Chryse betrayed us all, the Emperor and Empress, your parents.. told the Didact our weaknesses... sabotaged our defenses, for personal gain..." Archon Spectra shook with rage.
"Mother...Father? I, I remember now, the times we spent, looking out over the city...watching the starships pass by, and playing in the gardens, learning magic, flying..." Celestia's ears fell flat, and her head hung low. Her expression was haunting.
Poor Luna was impacted even harder, actually reliving the memories. "Father? No, don't leave us! But we...we miss you! Mother misses you, why can't you stay? The Archons can fight the monsters on their own, please Father, we're scared!"
"Chryse...Queen Chrysalis? SHE CREATED THE CHANGELINGS?! Yes... I see now...unleashed the Flood samples on herself, thought she could control the Parasite with magic! That traitorous foal of a researcher knew the consequences. Then she tried to infect and conquer the entire planet... had to fire Sol Invictus on our own cities... purify the taint..." Spectra's rage subsided into a morbid dread.
"The...Flood? Father always said it was the...greatest threat to Equestria, and the entire Galaxy. Humanity and its allies fought them alongside ponies ...wait, humans! We were allies...back then? How could I have not recognized James and Ellen as human instantly then? Has my long-term memory truly slipped my mind?" Celestia mused.
"Mother, what happened to all the Humans... the Sand...no...San 'Shyuum, and what about the lizard men with the funny jaws? If they're fighting with us, how come they aren't here with us anymore? What? What do you mean they are all too weak to fight now? Father always says we are too strong for the monsters to ever hope to win. I don't understand..." Luna murmured
Spectra murmured again, accessing the alicorns' memories of more recent history.
"Discord, he... He betrayed us as well. Yes, I recall now. Was the Imperial Senate nothing but vile serpents in our final months? ...Equestria, split apart by tribal warfare in the ages that followed... All that remains of the grand Imperial City is a ruined castle, overgrown by jungle, Everfree Forest? Night...Nightmare Moon? NO! That can't be either... By the Gods, Luna...how?! And now...modern Humans, UNSC? Fighting our ancient allies? San 'Shyuum, Sangheili...worshiping Forerunners? What kind of abomination is this so-called Covenant?" Spectra was coming out of his trance, and was looking at Luna with deep concern and sympathy.
Celestia began to follow suit as well. "Spectra...the other Archons, the Elements.. They weren't enough? Mother...she sacrificed herself to power them...in turn they powered this weapon...Sol Invictus? It...did not save the Old Empire, but it saved Planet Equis from the Forerunner Fleets... I see now. Our parents saved what they could, us. Oh Luna, Spectra, to think..we had forgotten all this..."
The Archon of Fortitude was now grim as ever. "The Emperor died with Admiral Thanaxes, fighting the Forerunner scum in orbit. The Empress, indeed died as you said. She gave her life so that the Elements of Harmony could hold power. On Aurora, I watched the other Archons, my best friends since before we had learned to even count, drop one by one as they gave their power. It was the power of our friendship they gave. The power they unleashed, though was too intense, and they lost so much strength, that could no longer even draw breath. I and Midnight, the Archon, and Element, of Magic, were the last two to live. My strength was beginning to fail, but Midnight used the last of hers to keep me alive. She, the last of my friends, my dear love, died in my own two hooves."
Breaking his grip on the Alicorns' hooves, Spectra Dash looked at Celestia pleadingly. His face was heavy with mourning, and every year of his vast age showed in the glimmer of his eyes. "You were both just fillies, it's not your fault for not being able to remember. It's all mine, and the other military leaders. We were so blind, so naive, to think that there weren't traitors in Equestria's midst the whole time!" He paused to sigh.
"As the species allied with our Empire dwindled one by one in our long war with the Forerunners, combined with the rise of the Flood, I suppose many of us grew desperate. And now our own races have payed the price, 110,000 years of it, for our mistakes. We took our allies for granted, we left them to die, even Humanity, in the end."
Spectra paused again, and then looked to Luna. The younger monarch was shaking like a leaf and sobbing. The memory synchronization had obviously been the hardest on her. Celestia moved to comfort her younger sister. "Easy, Lulu, easy now little sister, it's alright, it's not happening now, it was long ago... A long, long time..ago.." Much to Twilight's horror, Celestia's soothing voice actually cracked at that point. The Alicorn embraced her younger sister, and broke down into a quiet, but intense fit of sobbing.
The Archon hesitated, if only for a minute, before his fatherly instinct kicked in. He embraced both sisters in his wings. Tears streaming down his face, he ran his hooves through their flowing manes in an effort to comfort them.
"I'm sorry, so very sorry, Lulu, Tia. I tried to convince your parents to hide, to run, to do anything, but face the enemy. They wouldn't listen, they were too stubborn, and I was too prideful. They need you two together and strong, and I'm sorry too that knowing this put you in our current predicament, but it is necessary for the greater good. Surely as monarchs, you understand? You must understand, you had to know this should the Ancient Enemy ever rise again."
Reluctantly withdrawing from the two, Spectra waited for them to collect themselves and give a response. To the ancient pegasus' surprise, it was Luna who looked up at him first. She stared at him, peering right into his soul.
"I have just one question for you, Archon of Fortitude. One important question. Did...did Mother and Father die honorably? Are their souls at peace?"
Spectra returned her steely gaze. "They died with more honor than a trillion scores of the Didact and his Forerunner soldiers combined, Lulu. Your father exacted revenge on the Forerunners who had convinced our own to betray us, just before he and the Admiral were swept away by Sol Invictus' detonations along with the enemy armada."
"Your mother, without her sacrifice, we Archons would never have been able to use the Elements of Harmony to power the weapon and end the battle. I would say their nobility and honor rival that of the Gods themselves, my lady. If they could see your new Empire today, Ponies allied with at least the Humans once more, their hearts would swell with pride, I'm sure. Because it would mean the Forerunners had failed, and we had indeed won in the end. Yes, I think they are at peace."
Luna nodded at this, seemingly satisfied. Spectra turned to Celestia, who had finally regained her usual wise, calm countenance. "All of this information, what are we to do with it all? I'm not even sure how our subjects would react to all this..this history. I must admit: For the first time in a very long time, I'm left almost speechless, Archon Spectra Dash."
"We'll take it one step at a time, and reveal it to society bit by bit." He looked over at Ellen and Twilight, who had watched the entire thing, never drawing their attention away. They now stared back at him, as confused and concerned as the guards around them. "I understand you are going to the Human world, Reach soon, yes?"
"Actually, that's correct Spectra." Celestia replied.
"I see. When you meet with the leaders of these... modern Humans, I wish to reveal our history, at least to them and your empire's military leaders. First though, we must awaken my two generals from stasis. They shall help me to explain all this to an audience that was not actually around when it all occurred."
Princes Luna moved immediately, catching the workers' attention. "Get to work opening the other two containers!"
Spectra turned to face Ellen and Twilight again. He finally addressed the both of them directly for the first time. "You there, you are the Unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, is that correct?'
"Yea...yes." Twilight stuttered, still dazed by what she had witnessed.
"And I understand, that you are not only the Empress' prime student, but also the wielder of the Element of Magic?"
At the mention of Celestia, Twilight regained a bit of her usual demeanor. "Oh yeah, that's correct. What about it though?"
"I need you and your five friends with me at Reach when I explain vital things in more clarity to your leaders and the Humans." He peered over to Anders. "I will need you with as well, Doctor. " He said simply. "Now, let's wake up my two comrades, I yearn to see them for the first time in over a thousand centuries." Spectra declared.
Anders merely nodded, while Twilight replied, "You know, Spectra Dash, my friend Rainbow Dash is going to flip out when she meets you. You seem like a perfect male version of her." For the first time that day, Spectra demonstrated that the ancient Equestrians were capable of grinning, for a large toothy one now dominated his facial features.
"Actually, Twilight Sparkle, our similar appearance is also part of what I'm going to be talking about -very, very soon."
Writer Trivia: This chapter was heavily inspired and influenced by Javik the Prothean's parts in Mass Effect 3, Vulcan Mind-Melding from Star Trek, and the Halo books Cryptum, and Primordium, as well as the Halo 4 terminals.
Thanks for reading!
*I've decided to go with my original concept and name the planet Equis, while Equestria will refer to both the continent and country on the planet, as well as the entire empire. There are also other, smaller continents and countries on Equis as well, that will play a role in the story very soon.
Also, the version of this story on FIMFiction has a picture of Celestia and Luna's parents, the Emperor and Empress mentioned, at the end of this chapter.
Update 7/25/13: Over 2000 views and counting, wow do you guys amaze me! I honestly never thought the story would get this far. Thanks for your support! Act II, Chapter 11 should be out in just a few more days.
