Discovering the Past

by Astral Star and Company

Chapter 25: Set In Motion

The six Elements of Harmony Bearers gathered in Twilight’s Library, solemnly regarding the scene outside. A steel wire fence and a small army of guards now separated the remains of Astral’s Estate from the angry public. Besides any new or visiting folk, every pony at least knew of the ponies that lived there, if they didn’t know them personally. Almost the whole town gathered at the gates, bombarding the guards with questions.

“Well girls,” Twilight said sullenly, attempting to strike up a conversation “We messed up pretty bad, huh?”

“I guess,” Rainbow replied “Am I right in saying that this little adventure didn’t turn out as we expected?”

“I believe so. Even Princess Celestia herself arrived here. I just wish the whole thing went under better circumstances,” Rarity remarked

“It’s not your fault, Twi,” said Applejack, shaking her head “None of us could’a known it would end like this,”

They paused the conversation at the sight of Canterlot’s newest prisoners. The scene outside did a lot to sting the nerves of all six. Verity went into the carriage first, being carelessly thrown in by a couple brutish guards. Astral went next, positively drenched in his own blood. None of them knew if he was even alive or not. Last went Honour Bound, his corpse held together by strips of flesh as a cruel looking hole worked its way through his body.

“Welp,” Pinkie murmured nervously, twiddling her hooves. Ever since the siege started she’s been way out of sorts. “It can’t get any worse, right?”

Wrong.

A dark cloaked figure burst into the library, kicking the door a good eight feet away. Rainbow reacted first, flying headfirst into the figure for a charge. The intruder nimbly sidestepped and kicked the rainbow Pegasus out the door, Rainbow’s own momentum lending it distance. Applejack dove in for a signature double kick. Her front legs were yanked from beneath her as the figure twirled all around the orange farm pony. Now encased in a pink aura, Applejack was swung twice in the air, and flung right out the door, hitting her rainbow friend on the way.

Pinkie Pie broke the rules of the universe, and grabbed her big blue party cannon out of nowhere. Before she could activate it, the stranger grabbed and shoved her inside her own weapon, launching the pink pony straight out the same door with a bang.

Twilight finally found the focus to wrap the intruder in her own magic, only to be rewarded by a return blast. The two unicorns clashed beams of magic as Rarity safely lead Fluttershy out the door. Twilight could tell when she was being beaten, and this was one of those times. The intruder clearly had an overwhelming amount of magical strength, easily pushing the point of impact away. The figure tilted her head to the left, sending the focal point of the beams into the roof above.

Twilight had no time to recover as she was pinned to the floor by the cloaked pony. Much to her surprise, the stranger cast off her own cloak, revealing a white coat, three toned mane, orchid cutie mark, a pair of sleek, black mechanical wings and some bags strapped to her back.

“Where is Astral Star?” she growled, pushing her hoof painfully into the new princess’ throat.

“In… The… Caravan…” Twilight gasped, gesturing weakly to the window

The mystery mare bounded up to the second floor, without the use of stairs. She stared intently at the prisoner caravan, now several kilometres away now. Following the path, she found its destination to be a tall castle, fixed to the side of an even taller mountain. She jumped back downstairs to confront the purple alicorn.

“Where is it heading?” she demanded

“Huh?”

Her inattentiveness earned her a gold throwing knife inches from her throat.

“The Castle on the hill north of here,” the mare clarified “What is it?”

“That’s Canterlot,” Twilight gulped

The mare nodded and bounded out of the library like some kind of cat or antelope. Now outside, the mare spread her black mechanical wings and ran her absolute hardest. Reaching terminal speed, orange symbols glowed along the edge of each wing. With a mighty flap, she took off, flying to Canterlot with astounding speed, a bright, neon orange blur in her wake.

As the mare flew away, Twilight noticed the gold knife that almost spelt her end. She recognised it instantly, it was a museum piece after all. However, this was no replica, and judging by the weight, and the way the knife warped on impact, it was solid gold too. There was only one time period that made knives so valuable and impractical. She’d been studying it ever since she was tasked with investigating the immortal three.

Engraved one the knife’s sides were the words:

“Mater Lumen, Pater Noctus,”

And on the other side:

“Veritas et Honora,”

-

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Verity sighed, struggling to comprehend the logic behind her brother’s plan “You want me to petrify you…”

“Yes,” Astral replied cheerily

“And you’re going to whack me over the head…”

“Yep,”

“With a frying pan?”

“Precisely,”

Verity slapped herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“How in Hades do you think that’s going to work? And for that matter, where’d you get the frying pan?”

“Oh, it will,” he assured her with a wave of his hoof “I summoned this pan last night. Apparently, the carriage only binds offensive spells and a couple others. Don’t worry though, I’ve already talked to Laetitias and everything!”

Verity’s face had gone several tones paler

“You didn’t…” she gasped. Oh Gods, please not her...

“I did,” Astral smiled “Now, if you don’t mind?”

Verity sighed in defeat. Well, at least I'm not on the receiving end.

“Fine, just be gentle okay?”

“Sure, sure,” Astral replied unconvincingly “On three,”

“1…”

“2…”

“3!”

With a mighty cry, Astral swung his frying pan right into his sister’s cheekbone. On contact, Verity’s eyes flashed a bright white, flooding the small carriage in its radiance. The gold Pegasus slumped to the floor unconscious, cradling a wounded, and possibly broken cheekbone. Astral Star was nothing but a granite statue now. His stance and expression portrayed indifference, much like his Weeping Angels. If any pony other than the guards were to open the carriage, they would dismiss him as a mere garden ornament.

The bright flash of light, and the simultaneous *clang* did not go unnoticed however. The caravan grinded to a halt as Captain Shining Armour and one of his non-descript lesser went to investigate the strange happenings. Opening the carriage, they found:

-A huge changeling cocoon

-An unconscious mare

-And a statue

Shining let out a big sigh as he gestured for the caravan to continue.

“Princess Celestia is not going to be happy,” he grumbled

-

The series of wooden carriages made its solemn journey through the city of Canterlot, and towards the Castle of the two princesses. The streets were quiet as the caravan went on its way. Many residents stared in curiosity, but most turned up their noses in disgust. The prisoner’s carriage broke off from the rest and headed to the castle’s back entrance, while half a battalion of guards scrambled out of the other vehicles to secure a perimeter. Celestia waited grimly in her castle’s rear hall. Two dozen guards stood on either side of her, spears levelled at the ready. A pair of guards trotted in cautiously and unlatched the obscene amount of steel and magical bolts on the carriage door. As the heavy wooden panel crashed into the floor, all gathered guards grimaced in anticipation of a battle to come. They were relieved to find only three harmless things inside.

“What is the meaning of this?” Celestia demanded “Where are the prisoners?”

Shining Armour stepped forward cautiously

“These are the prisoners, your highness,” he stated firmly “They have made plans for what I would assume to be their escape,”

“Then don’t take any chances. I want them in the most secure cell we have in this castle,”

“Of course,”

Shining went to instruct his fellow guards to remove the prisoners before a blue glint caught his eye. A glowing blue circle, smack bang in the centre of the cocoon, was slowing down. Numbers that flashed by at incomprehensible speed decelerated until only one number remained.

0

“Weapons at the ready!” he cried, drawing his own sword

The cocoon hissed as sliver cracks raced up and down its hard surface. Thick green steam rose from the shell as parts popped off through sheer pressure. All the guards drew their swords hastily and formed a loose circle around the offending object. As soon as they comprehended what was happening, the cocoon violently exploded, showering the hall in green slime and chitin. No sooner had it done so, was all hell unleashed.

Honour Bound, fully formed and very alive, leapt from the remains of his prison and descended upon the terrified guards. At his full size, he easily dominated all his adversaries, moving with uncanny speed and skill with his twin sickles. Captain Shining Armour managed to trade two blows with the monstrosity before being knocked a clear 50 metres away. Within seconds, he had decimated all his captors, and stood alone against the solar princess. Celestia regarded him sternly, and took up her steel, a gleaming gold halberd fashioned to resemble the sun. The giant changeling showed no remorse, only vicious intent as he struck with the speed of a snake.

Honour let loose two horizontal slashes with staggering force. Celestia could barely keep pace as her blade clanged and groaned under the assault. Seeing an opening, the white alicorn went for a thrust, attempting to impale her adversary with the spear point of her weapon. Honour stepped aside and swung one sickle straight down, impaling itself into the marble floor and taking Celestia’s halberd with it. With his other hoof, he jabbed the solar princess across the temple, then went for a low slug into her gut. Both hit perfectly as Princess Celestia collapsed backward into a winded heap.

Retrieving his twin sickles, Honour Bound joined them hilt-to-hilt, creating a double ended scythe. With vicious intent, he spun it quickly in his magical grip. With his makeshift circular saw, he prepared to end the life of the defeated alicorn below him.

“ENOUGH!”

A deluge of sapphire blue chains shot up from the ground, binding the giant changeling. His spinning scythe was wrestled from his green aura by another calm blue one, and discarded out a nearby window. Princess Luna walked into the fray, a deadly expression on her face.

“I will see no more bloodshed!” Luna cried “Stand down, or I will make you!”

Honour snarled his challenge at the blue alicorn and spat on the ground in a show of contempt. Luna responded accordingly, and channelled for a powerful spell. Celestia woke just in time to see her sister’s laser sail right for her giant foe.

“Luna, don’t!”

But it was too late. The beam burst apart in a shower of sparks as blue lightning cascaded across Honour’s body. His normally green eyes and wings shifted to a glowing sky blue. He growled as cobalt lightning filled his mouth and the air around with the smell of ozone. With barely a pause, he spat out the streams of potent energy. Luna erected a barrier just in time to see it shredded like paper under the onslaught. Curiously, the lightning did not harm her. She only grimaced as the electricity arced over her body before dissipating. As the last of the energy emptied out, Honour Bound collapsed in exhaustion.

Celestia got up groggily, using her Halberd for support.

“Are you alright, sister?” she asked

“I should be asking you the same question,” Luna pithily replied “That’s the first time I’ve seen you so beat up in eons,”

“Sadly, this is not the first time I’ve been bested today, but hopefully it will be the last,”

Seeing as all the guards in the room are down for the count, the two princesses took it upon themselves to escort the new prisoners to their cells. Celestia levitated Verity’s unconscious form to her left, while magically dragging Astral’s statue to her right. Luna, with great effort, pulled along Honour Bound using the same spahirre chains that were used to defeat him. Strangely, his eyes and wings were still an off blue since the battle, a big difference to his normal emerald green.

A short while later, they arrived at the prison wing of the castle. Despite its name, it looked no different to a hotel. Albeit, a hotel with magically reinforced walls, one-way windows, electric laser bars and a whole host of things that wouldn’t look out of place on a space ship. Honour’s cell was specially prepared for a giant changeling of his fighting strength. He was strapped into a heavy plated suit of armour, blanketed in every inhibiting enchantment in the Canterlot Archive. Luna’s magical chains were traded for real, thrice-tempered steel ropes. His hooves were welded to the floor, wings chained to the ceiling and mouth clamped shut, he was all but harmless now.

Astral, now being a statue, was carelessly tossed into a non-descript padded cell and was chained to the floor. Verity, though unconscious, was the only pony to fully comply and was given a cell that bared a startling similarity to a Canterlot luxury 5-star suite. The huge room sported a queen sized for poster bed, fully stocked bathroom, kitchen, lounge area and dresser. A unicorn wearing a lab coat and carrying along a clipboard approached the two princesses.

“When would you like to start interrogations?” he asked

Luna went to answer, but was quickly shut out by Celestia

“Immediately, start with Verity. I want her in the interrogation room by 10 o’clock,”

“Yes, your highness,”

Celestia dismissed the unicorn with a nod, and left her sister’s side. There had been some rough points, but now, everything was going according to plan.

“Almost there,”

Elsewhere…

In a land beyond Equestria, beyond the frozen Crystal Mountains, something is stirring. For centuries, they have slept, lulled constantly by the songs of the earth. Their sweet, harmoning rythms kept captive these ancient creatures. As a startling flash of pink light arched through the sky, the first of many awoke.

Long has it slept, imprisoned by sounds long forgotten, the spirits of ancient times yearning for peace between creatures. It stretched its serpentine body, hearing the sounds of falling rock and dust. The dull glow of its spiked tail, eyes, spines and crest grew brighter. Four eyes opened blearily and took in the sight of its home for the first time.

The creature looked up to see darkness. All around it, not a single spark illuminated the black fog. It could not see, yet something was still clear. It could see life, the spirit threads that bind the soul to the body shone toward them as an eerie green hue. It saw that of its brethren, and the ponies far down south. Through some animalistic compulsion, it knew where to go. Its brothers and sisters, though asleep, knew it too.

It was time to awake from their slumber, and do what they have strived for. Their entire purpose now lay within reach.

The time had come, to extinguish the light.