[PAGE 3825 - CHAPTER 11]
He struck while Galaxia was elsewhere. The sheer chaos blasted through the peace-loving society we had been building for a couple thousand years now. It was a beast that had a name: Discord.
I met him once. He and I met on the field of battle. Myself and a team of scouts whose purpose was to determine the creature's location while Celestia and Luna prepared the most powerful magic that Galaxia had gotten once upon a time.
From Equilibrium, the Queen harvested what we now know as the Elements of Harmony. Relics of idealism to some, powerful weapons in the hands of the worthy.
He struck like a hail of arrows. The torment he put on my comrades before destroying them entirely... It was horrible.
I was the last one. He turned to me, and charged.
I braced myself... but nothing happened.
He stopped.
"Frozen Waters," the chaos-based creature said. I knew the voice; it was as familiar as if my own father had come back to life and ask me if I wanted to play catch.
"Equilibrium." In all honesty, I couldn't believe it either.
"I have no quarrel with you... Rather, I was trying to tell you something." He looked regretful. "I don't remember..." he confessed. "That part of me is gone... I need them back-"
"Discord!" Celestia's soothing voice shouted.
Equilibrium- No, Discord- looked up at the sisters who stood before Discord in the place of the Queen.
"Ah, the little apples approacheth," Discord cackled, "You don't know what power you wield against me..."
Alas, Discord's reign had ended. He seemed to know it. After realising what had happened, I knew it as well. Both the royal sisters charged the magic in their horns. The Elements of Harmony were used as magnifiers of power, they both fired twin rainbows at Discord.
I flashed back to the destroyed mountain of Equilibrium.
"Frozen..." Discord pained himself to say as his skin turned to stone, "We are brothers..."
Kurgan's voice all of a sudden. I felt blinded as the spell completed. Discord's petrified body slammed into the dirt in front of me.
"Frozen!" Luna shouted as she pounced to me. "It's over!"
She was beautiful... but it's hard to look toward the future when it resembles the horrors from our darkest nightmares.
The night they finally erected Discord's remains as an almost twisted reminder to all ponies. The remains meant that this utopia was threatened by all fronts... Utter lies, says I. Utter lies, knows I. The only things that attacked first were the Rhinos. The only things that ever attacked first were the Rhinos.
"Frozen," she said one day, about five years since the Queen got back. Luna and I lay together on the hill where we first met. We both watched the evening pass over us. We watched the dome interior turn as slow as it does.
Deep down, I was afraid... The Queen just finished off Equilibrium. "Yes, Luna?" I asked.
"Are you the only one who enjoys the night?"
I couldn't answer that. Ponies hadn't developed a fad for night clubs yet. Everypony needed to sleep. What about the ponies whose jobs could only be performed at night? Do they crave the day? The only ponies who seemed to remain awake these days are dead hour shift royal guards.
There's only one aspect of the night I don't like, and that's the risk of accidentally waking up another pony with my activities. I may be immortal, but that doesn't mean I can be a rude jackass.
"I want more to see this," she said.
I replied, "There's not much to do in the night time, but that can change."
"How?"
"Fads," I suggested, "Adding things that somepony can do in the night time."
"Isn't the view of the stars enough?" She asked.
I told her about how simple life was back when we just beat the rhinos. Everypony was concentrating on reconstruction, barely any play. It was all an effort to develop the utopia we live in today.
That's what this kind of society takes: sacrifice. We bled on our tools as we finally get blocks in place. Pegasi flapped their wings until unconsciousness from exhaustion. Unicorns use their magic until entirely pooped.
We didn't build Equestria in a day. We're still building Equestria to this day, dear reader.
"Is that why mother visited the Zebras?" She suddenly asked as I was telling her about the initial build of Canterlot City.
My heart stopped. How did she know about the Zebras?
"Mother said she discovered natural medicines with help from the Zebras."
"This bothers you?" I asked.
"It doesn't seem right to me. Mother never was the kind of pony who's used to peaceful negotiations," Luna replied.
I paused for a second... Should I tell her the truth? Maybe she could spread the word before Galaxia cracked down. Celestia and Luna were old enough to take the place of the Queen if ponies everywhere made an outcry. The Discord incident proved that! What would that do to society?
I agreed, however: her method of getting me out was not to try to strike a deal with Kurgan Indrik. She brought down the power of the Celestia-damned sun!
I told her. I told her about the zebras I lived with for twenty years, I told her of Equilibrium and how Discord came into being. I knew I was threatened not to spill, but I didn't care anymore. My dear Luna definitely took it kindly... sarcasm does not work in the written word.
I couldn't stop her at this point. She's a winged unicorn, and I'm a battle-scarred earth pony. With a quick peck on the cheek, she flew off to Canterlot.
I couldn't stop her... I should have stopped her, but I couldn't.
---
Silver stood atop the stage of the Broncos. Everypony was applauding.
"Congratulations on winning Best Picture with your piece, The Exegesis of Frozen Waters," a familiar elderly pony said. The scriptwriter turned his head to see the face of the very stallion who turned the film industry into a competitive art form: Augustus Bronco.
"Tell us, how did you come up with such an entertaining fable full of life lessons and the most interesting speculative fiction since your last written masterpiece, The Last Earth Pony?"
Silver cringed at the mention of his most overrated script, but he maintained composure and told the truth. "I didn't. It's not fiction."
"Nonsense!" Augustus called with a smile, "But you are an excellent joker. Have you ever thought about writing comedy?"
Silver blinked. Something didn't feel right. "No... I find comedy easy to write, but difficult to write well... but I'm serious, Frozen Waters was a real pony."
"You certainly show your comedic chops, Silver!" he replied.
"Silv! Bro!" Gold galloped onto the stage and wrapped a foreleg around the scriptwriter's shoulder. "Come on, you can't possibly expect anyone to believe that that wild epic full of plotholes can't be fiction."
"But it's real!" Silver replied, "Kurt told me it was real!"
Ponies in suits faded in from nothingness. "Kurt is dead, Silver. We killed him and that Trixie friend too. You know how to kill them, don't you?"
Silver tried to reply, but he felt his tongue had suddenly swelled up and clogged his throat. He gagged in a vain attempt to get air down to his lungs.
"Silver! Greatest scriptwriter in the world! He is also a lunatic! He should be locked away. He's too insane to be a pony." Augustus Bronco announced like a soap box preacher.
Everything started moving in fast-forward. Silver could only watch between what slivers of air he could sneak through the swollen tongue. He watched everything turn to dust and crumble into nothingness.
"Lunacy and Genius are synonymous in art! Silver is the greatest writer in the universe! Hahahahahahhah HAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAA!!!!"
The building suddenly collapsed into dust. Silver barely remained atop what he could only recognize as a faded, decimated stage.
Then he could breathe again. He looked up as he gasped for fresh breath. An ice-coloured pony stood where the entrance to the amphitheater used to be.
"Frozen Waters?" Silver asked.
There was no face. The pony trotted down the sands and dust until stopping before the stage.
"Frozen! Is it all true?"
"Get up, Silver!" the faceless creature shouted.
"Wha-"
"Get the hell up!!"
---
Silver's eyes shot open. His heart was pumping at a dangerously high level- especially for a pony of his comparable health.
The wall in front of him was a dug-out cavern wall, with really reflective stones giving the majority of what little light was brought into the room. It was a cell, and the scriptwriter had no idea where he was.
He felt no akubra on his head. It was gone, probably dropped by mistake, or stolen. Frozen wasn't sure.
"About time," a battle-scarred pony said as he held a thick steel door open. "Welcome to your home for the rest of your life. Nopony knows you're really here; We've taken care of everything. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts... or at least until we deem you unable to compromise all ponydom has been trying to accomplish for thousands of years."
He huffed, and added, "Besides... a hack scriptwriter isn't going to be missed."
The door slammed, flooding the rather large cell in darkness. The only light came from a cheap flickering desk lamp atop a metal box that was missing two sides to allow a chair to be tucked inside. There were two cots on opposing sides of the far room.
There was another pony in the cell. Silver stood up and approached the pony.
It's coat and mane were both a bright cyan, akin to ice. Silver looked at the pony's head and said "Hello?"
The head turned. The face was an abomination by pony standards. The eyes were hollow and dead, but they darted around the scriptwriter's features, as if the pony was not in fact blind.
Silver then noticed how defined the pony's features were. It was an earth pony with a physique that appeared to almost rival Kurt's once upon a time.
Even with all that and the thing's horribly jaded eyes, there were little to no wrinkles. This pony barely looked like he'd be seen in a Manehattan night club. "Silver?" he asked, squinting as he stared at the scriptwriter's mane.
"You're Frozen Waters, aren't you?"
The pony nodded slowly, then looked to Silver's side. "No," he wheezed through a dehydrated throat. "Oh Luna, no!"
Silver glanced to his side. His saddlebags were still there, Along with the book. He then paused, "Wait, how do you know my name?"
"No, it can't be you. Silver's been dead for a century," the dried-out pony commented.
"Wait, you mean my great grandfather Silver Mane?" the scriptwriter asked.
"Hell of a pony, that one," he replied, "But you look like him... What do you do?"
"I write," Silver replied.
"Nothing like the strong silver miner your great grandaddy was, eh?" Frozen coughed as a form of decayed laughter. "I'm sorry, my mind's been going..."
"I figured, reading your book."
"Yes... the book... I left it for him to protect... How did I do that again? Something about vents... lots of vents, before I was moved to this cell."
"Look, Frozen," Silver said, "There's gotta be a way out. You're immortal, right? You must have figured out a way."
"These servants of the monster are too good, and they pass their genes on well."
"But you can outlast them."
"Well, maybe... but can you?"
Silver stopped, and sighed.
"How far are you in it?" Frozen asked.
"About page 6000-something."
"Well, my advice is you make the most of what time you have left," Frozen said, "Chances are, they'll let you die here and let me suffer the agony of your rotting corpse."
Silver stared at the immortal in disbelief.
"Heh heh," Frozen continued, "That weren't a joke, though..."
The scriptwriter looked to the steel door, and his hopes for life were over. Sydney had proved a ridiculous barrier between Silver and his goals... but this door.
Silver didn't even know what time it was.
He pulled up the chair and placed the giant tome atop the desk. He stared at the cover for a full five seconds before prying the pages open and returning to his marked page.
As he read, he heard Frozen Waters crying.
"What's wrong?" Silver asked.
"It's nothing," he replied between sobs.
"It's always nothing," Silver commented. He tried to read, but his mind was too embroiled on other topics. For instance: illusion magic.
Real illusions, like a dream. Silver recalled the conversation with his older brother before the will reading. Eventually, Silver turned to the empty cot.
"Sweet dreams," Frozen joked.
"Says the one who can't," Silver retorted as he managed to refocus his mind back on the book.
As he read, a tiny slot in the door opened, and something... well, something slid through on a bowl.
"Food?" Frozen asked, "I haven't smelled a remotely related smell for a century."
"I guess it's for me then," Silver replied as he lifted the bowl with his magic. He hovered the makeshift meal to the immortal.
"You'd think immortality came at a price, like everything tasting like ash or something," Frozen commented before he picked out a piece of... whatever the hell the stuff was. It looked like dried balls of sweetgrass.
Silver brought the bowl to the desk and took one himself. By Celestia, the taste was that of a dried grape, minus the sugar, or general taste, and a texture three times as worse.
"I spoke too soon," Frozen laughed after he spat out the rancid piece of whatever it was. Silver found the laughter contagious. "But seriously, we can't have children."