Fallen Stars

by Zachurra

Chapter 8 - Explanations*

The moon was already beginning to rise by the time Dante returned to the library. The main room was dark, the only source of light coming from a candle stand that Twilight had placed nearby as she read from a stack of books. She looked up at him and he gave her a quick smile. “Your eyes will go bad if you keep reading in the dark like this.”

“Actually, I’ve been waiting for you.” Twilight used her magic to shut the door behind him.

“Oh? What for?” he said, taking a seat across from her. She turned the book in front of her around and pushed it forward. Upon inspection he noticed that it was a map of Equestria. “You’re going to show me where you and War came from.”

Dante stared down at the map in silence. Finally he looked up, most of the good humor in his eyes being lost, “And if I refuse?”

“Then we won’t hesitate to rough you up a bit until you’re willing to talk.”

Dante turned to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack on either side of him. Rainbow put her hoof on Dante’s shoulder. Almost immediately his eyes turned from their regular brown to a deep black. Dante’s voice became deeper, almost demonic, “If you wish to keep your leg attached to your body, I expect you to remove it from me.”

Startled by his reaction, the rainbow pony took a few steps back. Dante closed his eyes and coughed into his hoof. When they reopened, they were back to normal. “I apologize, something was in my throat.”

Rainbow and AJ eyed him warily, despite his excuse. Dante ignored them, “Where I come from is of no importance. I’m here now, and so is War. When this town is safe, we’ll be on our way and you’ll never have to hear from us again.” He dropped out of his seat and began walking towards the door. “End of story.”

Twilight spoke up, “What do you have to hide Dante? Why won’t you tell us?”

Dante punched the door hard enough for the wood to break slightly before turning around and shouting, “Because it’s none of your damn business!”

“Calm down Dante, we’re all your friends here.” Applejack said calmly, risking a few steps towards the angry Alicorn.

Dante’s anger left just as quickly as it had arrived, and was replaced by sadness. “My friends left me long ago…” He closed his eyes halfway and stared at the floor for a few moments as memories flashed before his eyes. With a sigh he finally walked forward and sat back down in the seat across from Twilight. “You wanna know where I’m from? Fine. But remember that you asked to hear it.”

The girls nodded and took their seats around the table, watching Dante with interest. He sighed and waited a moment, and then said: “My brothers and I are Demons.”

The three mares looked at him stupidly. Rainbow soon fell out of her seat, laughing. “You? A Demon?" She took a few deep breaths to collect herself, "You’re joking, right?”

“Does it look like I’m joking?”

He was right. Dante’s normal good-humor attitude was nowhere to be found. His tone of voice was straightforward and serious. Rainbow still didn’t want to believe him, “But Demons are supposed to be scary looking and all that. You’re more goofy looking than scary.”

“Would you say the same if you were speaking to War? He’s a Demon too.” Dante left his seat and began pacing around the room, stopping every few moments to watch the moon as it made its slow journey across the night sky. “Demons aren’t the snarling, scary creatures with tentacles that everyone makes us out to be. In all reality, they look just like the rest of you.” He soon remembered that he was speaking to ponies, not humans. “Well, mostly, anyways.

“We Demons look, act, think, feel, just as everyone else does; two differences excluded. The first being the fact that we are capable of growing wings at will.” Dante raised his wings to help emphasize his point, “The other being that we are able to tap into the energies in our bodies and release them in specific ways. This is similar to the magic that the Unicorns here can use. By using our hands to draw what are known as Seals in the air, we are able to release the energy of our souls into a physical form. Under normal circumstances, War would have had to draw a Seal to create the shield that saved Ponyville from the Changelings. However, as we now have horns, the Seals are unneeded.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, interrupting his explanation. “What do you mean, ‘under normal circumstances’? Do you mean that you he wasn't a Unicorn before?”

Dante shook his head, “No. War and I were something very different when we first arrived here. He and I are what are a part of a race known as Humans.”

“Ain’t no race ah ever heard of.”

“Trust me, we aren’t that great all around.” he replied with a deadpan.

“Also, you said War was a Demon as well? And that Demons have wings?” Rainbow asked.

Dante nodded, “Yes, such is why I am an Alicorn.”

“Then why is War just a Unicorn?”

Dante became silent. His eyes turned grave as he turned back to look at the moon.

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War watched the moon through the window in Fluttershy’s cottage. She laid asleep on the couch nearby, slightly curled up with a small white bunny that she had referred to as Angel. Noticing her give a slight shiver, he used his magic and grabbed a blanket from her bedroom and wrapped it around her, gently as to not awaken her. She made a small noise as she curled up more within the comforting warmth of the blanket.

War cared not for the chilly weather as it blew passed him. He was used to the feeling by now. He closed his eyes and tried to remember a time when he could actually feel warmth within his body. After what felt like an hour of waiting and wishing and straining, he failed to unlock such distant memories.

He closed the window quietly and moved to sit by Fluttershy’s side. He closed his eyes and waited for her to wake up, wishing to be in her company once more.

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“War and I are no normal Demons…” Dante continued. “We are very special ones. My brothers and I are the strongest of all the Demons in the realm. As such, we were given a title. We are known as the Four Horsemen.”

“Four Horse Men?” Rainbow asked, puzzled at the odd name.

Dante nodded, “Pestilence. War. Famine. Death. We were given these titles many many years ago. I hold the title of Pestilence, while War’s title is a given. The title of Death was given to a man named Horrus, while Famine was given to one named Vice. When we joined the Horsemen, we were also “blessed” with having to share our bodies with another soul.”

“Share your bodies? What do you mean?” Twilight asked curiously. She was obviously very interested in his explanation.

“Part of the reason we were chosen is because we come from a bloodline of powerful warriors. Because of this, the souls of every one of my ancestors are dormant within me. My people eventually discovered the power to awaken these souls. This was done so that we may become even stronger under the guidance of our forefathers. On top of that, our already-longer-than-normal lifespans were greatly increased. Normally, we Demons live to be about five or six hundred years old before our body simply gives up. I have been alive for a little over two thousand years now. Horrus is slightly younger than I, while Vice is nearly nine hundred." Each of the girl's jaws were close to the floor as he named their ages. His story didn't seem likely, but the way he spoke made it sound so legitimate. They could only conclude that he was either a very good speaker or he was actually telling the truth. "And War has been alive for nearly six thousand years."

“Seven thousand?!” they all exclaimed in unison.

“Doesn’t look very old though, huh? When our lifespans were extended, we were able to retain our youth based on our age at the time. Six thousand years is certainly far longer than any other Demon has lived, but he barely looks a day over forty.”

Dante paused to let the girls take in all the information. Twilight seemed to be absorbing it like a sponge while Rainbow and Applejack seemed to struggle taking it all in. After a moment, he continued, “I’ve seen a lot of good friends pass on while I simply stood there, stuck in time. My friends, my family… everyone I loved. All I had left were my brothers and the soul of my ancestor to keep my sane. The soul that resides within me is that of a man who was also a Horseman, a man that held the title of Carnage. In War is one known as Desolate. In Death there is Destruction. In Famine there is Anger. As our souls are the more dominant of the pair, we would gradually overtake these “guest souls”. Vice and I overtook the other souls, but left them enough to retain consciousness, as the two of you saw earlier. Horrus, however, refused the idea of being “lesser” in comparison to Destruction. He overtook the soul completely, leaving Destruction as nothing more than a memory in his own head. Destruction was a very powerful magister and excelled in the power of unleashing our energy through Seals. He now holds the power that Destruction once had when she was alive: the ability to look into the future.”

“There’s no way that’s possible!”

“Yeah, this is soundin’ a little far-fetched to me.”

“I assure you that it is true. Horrus is able to look up to twelve point three seconds into the future, granted he exerts himself. War, however… he was not lucky like the rest of us. War’s second soul, Desolate, was the embodiment of what his name represents. He lived long before Carnage or Anger or even Destruction. But they all knew the horrors that came with Desolate wherever he went. Carnage once told me that some people didn’t believe that Desolate was truly human, but rather a force. A force that overtook the minds of men and drove them to do the unspeakable. War has struggled with Desolate for control for as long as I’ve known him. Every now and then, Desolate will take control and…”

Dante sighed and looked away from the group. His voice was shaking slightly, “I remember being sent on a mission with War once… back when I first became a part of the Horsemen. We were to establish negotiations with a rebelling faction and ensure that things came to a peaceful conclusion. Although our king was often ruthless in his decisions, we were told to only use force if absolutely necessary. After all, what is the purpose in being a king if all your people have been slaughtered because of insubordination? Anyways, things were going relatively well… until Desolate decided to wake up. War’s body began to change, and soon Desolate had full control… he destroyed every last one of them even though they had agreed to the terms we gave them. By the time War was able to regain control, the secluded village that the faction was active in was nothing more than wasteland and dust…

“To stop such a thing from ever happening again, War cut off his own wings… He secluded himself only to the three of us. We were the only friends -- the only family -- he had. Well, Vice and I were, at least. I always had the feeling that Horrus never did like us very much… Vice looked up to War as if he were an older brother. I was pretty happy with our “distant cousin” kind of relationship. Over time, War simply stopped talking. Every now and then, when he’s alone with one of us, he’ll speak a few words. It was like he was afraid of himself… he is afraid of himself. Afraid of what he might become with that monster locked up inside him. After a while, Vice and I were able to understand what he wanted or was trying to say just by being able to look into his eyes."

He waited another moment before speaking again, this time more directly towards Twilight, “The reason that War does not stay here during the night is so that he can be by himself. He doesn’t spend nights sleeping, he spends it mediating, trying to keep control of his body. That’s why he moves so slow, and why he always seems to be tired. In all honesty, I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to sleep again… Hell, I’m still not entirely sure how the man is still sane when he’s got a monster eating away at his heart.

“And as for how we got here… all I remember is the four of us being together, and then there some kind of blinding light… next thing I know, I’m in a hole in the ground surrounded by a bunch of freaky looking things that wanted to kill me. I made my way around for about a day before being found by the royal guards. They brought me to Canterlot, where I explained my situation to Princess Celestia and Luna. I agreed to help them in their war with the Changelings on the condition that they help me and the others get back home. It was she that turned me into what I am now. Soon after we found War, and then were relocated here.”

Dante left the room to go to the kitchen and get himself some water. Half because he was thirsty from all the talking and half because he was unsure of whether or not the girls would truly believe him or not and just think he was psychotic. He could hear whispers from the other room followed by the door opening and closing. Dante decided to pour himself another glass. After downing it quickly, he returned to the dimly lit room. Twilight was alone in the room, using her magic to replace all the books she had gotten out.

“You don’t have to believe me.” Dante said. “Just remember that you asked to know about who we are… and well, now you know.”

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The vines in Madora’s bed chamber opened up as Chrysalis walked through. She bowed before her mother.

“I assume the assault on Ponyville was a success?”

Chrysalis did not raise her head, afraid to meet her mother’s eyes. She said nothing, much to Madora’s irritation. “Do not tell me you failed.”

“It appears,” she said, a hint of fear legible through her words, “that the ponies were more prepared than our scouts had let on... The Changelings you had placed under my command became trapped within a magical sphere and were… crushed to death.” She had a hard time uttering the last few words.

Expecting nothing more than Madora’s wrath, Chrysalis kept her head low. Strangely, nothing ever came. Reluctantly, the formerly powerful queen opened her eyes and saw that Madora had no signs of anger on her face. In fact, she almost looked pleased. She looked up past her daughter, “It appears you were correct in your assumptions. Your former friends appear to be just as powerful as you said.”

Chrysalis turned towards the dark corner that her mother was speaking to. From it, a dark coated Alicorn with a black mane approached her slowly. On his back were two sheathed katanas and his eyes were covered by a black blindfold. “Indeed. My brothers appear to be well accustomed to their new bodies.”

Author's Note:

Changed some words to make it flow better, as well as a small extension to a few paragraphs in Dante's explanation.
Thanks for reading!

Note: Changed War's age from seven thousand to nearly six thousand