Prologue 3
Revelations
A/N: WARNING: MASSIVE CHARACTER EXPOSITION. IF YOU PREFER TO NOT BE AWESOME AND KNOW THINGS ABOUT TRACE'S PAST, WALK AWAY NOW. On a side note, this is the final "introductory" chapter. After this, we get into the story proper and I can set up some freakin plot. Now, on to the story!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Did you say... dragon?" Celestia said slowly, her eye twitching almost imperceptibly. Lieutenant Iron Wall, normally a very stoic earth pony, quaked in his chain mail boots as he nodded in reply. Outside, there was another roar and a scream as the dragon thrashed around in the gardens below.
"Very well then. Evacuate the upper class housing and get every pony on duty in the gardens. We need to subdue the beast quickly if we wish to minimize casualties." Iron Wall saluted and, still shaking slightly, ran to give the guards their orders. The Sun Princess turned to her sister.
"Luna, please take Trace to your room and activate the safety measures. You still aren't strong enough after coming back from your punishment and I don't want you getting hurt." Luna nodded, then looked around, confused.
"One problem, sister," the Night Princess replied. "Trace left the moment he heard the word dragon." Celestia's eyes flew wide and she spun around, taking in the throne room. Trace was indeed nowhere to be found. She shook with fear. He would be killed! The dragon outside sounded positively ancient, and a dragon's strength only grew with age. Surely he didn't think that his short life-span had given him the knowledge required to outwit such a foe?
"Find him!" she cried. "I will not have anypony or anybody die on my watch, in my castle!" She spun, fury pouring off her in the form of heavenly fire. She galloped down the hall, and out onto the balcony at the end of the throne room. Snapping her wings open, she took to the sky in a graceful arc that put her eye level with the mountain of scales terrorizing the guards. Luna, quivering from seeing the rage in her sister's eyes, tore off deeper into the castle in search of the human.
Celestia took in the dragon with surprise. Its body reached nearly halfway up the castle walls, its neck arched so that it could take in the group of guards that was attacking it. Spears and magical barrages bounced harmlessly off his scales and he chuckled, a deep rumbling that shook the gardens. Switching to the Royal Canterlot voice, Celestia addressed the dragon.
"DRAGON, I AM CELESTIA, THE WELLSPRING OF THE LIGHT WORLD, SERPENT BANE, QUEEN WHO WOULD BE PRINCESS, M'SUL-KET-OM, AND OATHTAKER OF THE SEVENTH HOLD. ON WHAT GROUNDS TO YOU APPROACH MY CASTLE AND HARASS MY GUARDS?" The dragon turned to her calmly, one heavy lidded eye focusing on her intently.
"CELESTIA, THE WELLSPRING OF THE LIGHT WORLD, SERPENT BANE, QUEEN WHO WOULD BE PRINCESS, M'SUL-KET-OM, AND OATHTAKER OF THE SEVENTH HOLD, I GREET YOU," the lizard began. His voice being naturally powerful, he nearly outshouted the Princess by merely speaking. "I, SOKKUN THE EVERLASTING, SOOTHSAYER OF THE ANCIENTS, MASTER WYRM OF THE HIGH COUNCIL AND THIRD CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD, COME SEEKING AUDIENCE WITH THE ANCIENT. I HAVE BEEN STIRRED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CENTURIES BY ITS POWER, AND WISH TO RECEIVE MY OLD ALLY INTO THIS WORLD." Celestia's eyebrows lowered. Who was this Ancient he spoke of?
"SOKKUN THE EVERLASTING, SOOTHSAYER OF THE ANCIENTS, MASTER WYRM OF THE HIGH COUNCIL AND THIRD CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD, I GREET YOU. NOW, YOU SAY YOU ARE HERE TO VISIT THIS ANCIENT. WHO ARE THEY, AND WHY DO YOU NOT SPEAK THEIR HONORIFICS? SURELY YOUR SLUMBER HAS NOT LEFT YOU BEREFT OF MANNERS?" Sokkun snorted angrily, blowing several guards off their feet.
"YOU WOULD BE CAREFUL TO WORD YOUR QUESTIONS MORE CAREFULLY, SERPENT BANE. I SPEAK NOT HIS HONORIFICS FOR THEY ARE NUMEROUS AND IT WOULD BE REDUNDANT TO SPEAK THEM. HIS IS THE TITLE DEATH'S BANE, THE TRUE IMMORTAL, STARGLORY AND STARFURY, ANCIENT OF THE DARK, AND FIRST CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD. HIS HONOR WOULD BE MARRED IF I SPOKE THOSE TRULY, WHICH STAND TO NUMBER AS MERELY A FRACTION OF HIS TRUE NAME." Celestia's eyebrows soared back into her mane. Who was this ancient power that commanded so many titles that the most long-winded of species, the dragons, found it tiresome to speak his honors? Her surprise turned to fear when she heard a polite cough from below. Trace stood at Sokkun's feet, his arms folded patiently and the Lunar Princess dangling helplessly from his neck. After pulling on him once more, she gave up and flew to her sister, apologizing profusely.
"Tia, we are so sorry! The human has much hidden strength!" Celestia stopped her with a hoof, instead focusing on Trace.
"Trace Legend!" she cried. "Run away! This is Sokkun, one of the first dragons ever born! He would crush you beneath him, do not try to fight!" Trace didn't even turn to her as Sokkun lowered himself to the puny human. She began to rush forward as the dragon opened his mouth, boulder sized canines flashing in the sun, and... laughed?
"GWAHAHAHAHA!" Sokkun barked. "ANCIENT, IS THAT TRULY YOU?" he asked incredulously. Luna and Celestia's jaws dropped so low they appeared to have become dislocated. Trace turned to her, looking up with pity on the poor confused Princesses.
"I'm sorry Princesses, I would have explained earlier, but I feared the reprecussions of revealing myself so soon after arriving in your care. I wasn't aware that this was the Light World. Now, if you would be so kind as to back up a bit?" Still utterly lost, the rulers of Equestria flew backwards a few feet. Trace closed his eyes for a moment, then they snapped open, flowing with purple energy. There was a rush of wind, and suddenly storm clouds formed above the gardens. A whirwild spiraled down and struck Trace, causing a resounding boom that shook the castle itself. The vortex crackled with energy and a large shape loomed within it. Just as suddenly as it arrived, the storm dissipated, leaving the most massive dragon Celestia had ever seen sitting in its midst.
It was the size of a small mountain. The dragon's scales were a deep, almost soothing lavender with stripes of black extending from its tail to its shoulder blades, where a truly massive set of wings sat delicately furled against its back. Deep crimson eyes stared lazily out from its snout as it appraised Sokkun. The black dragon unfurled his wings and placed them on the ground before Trace with his claws turned up, a sign of subservience to a greater dragon. Celestia couldn't take it anymore. Her wings simply stopped moving and she sat down on thin air, her surprise tangible. Luna was in a similar situation, her eyes darting between the two behemoths. Finally, the dragon that was Trace spoke, its voice so deep that it was felt more than heard.
"SOKKUN THE EVERLASTING, SOOTHSAYER OF THE ANCIENTS, MASTER WYRM OF THE HIGH COUNCIL AND THIRD CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD, I GREET YOU. I HEARD THAT YOU HAVE COME SEEKING ME?" Sokkun nodded eagerly, like a colt who had been asked if he wanted a piece of cotton candy. Trace's muzzle lifted into a smile.
"WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" he asked. "GIVE YOUR GRANDFATHER A HUG!" Sokkun rushed forward and embraced Trace. Celestia and Luna, as well as the guards and the garden staff fainted dead away, the sight of two ancient dragons hugging being the final straw.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Celestia finally came to, it was night. She shook her head, then stood to find herself alone in the throne room. Almost.
"I'm sorry for the surprise, Princess," Trace said as he appeared from behind a pillar, back in human form. "As I said before, I would have explained earlier, but I wasn't aware that I was... well, home."
"And what exactly does that mean, Trace Legend?" The Sun Princess said, quite calm despite the previous situation. "I dare not call you human anymore. What are you, Ancient?" Trace sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"It would be easier if I explained this to everypony at once. Would you mind terribly if I asked you to fetch your sister, as well as those mares who saw me? Clearly they were important or they wouldn't have garnered your attention, so I'd like them to know as well." Every bone in Celestia's ancient body wanted to deny his request and send him away. He had proven himself untrustworthy and had practically lied about who he was! However, the Princess couldn't help but be curious. It's not every day that you see a creature of unknown origin transform into the mightiest dragon the two Worlds had ever seen.
"As you wish, Ancient." She bowed her head and summoned a spark of magic, which teleported a set of scrolls in front of her. Setting about with a quill she called up with a second spark, she began writing a brief summary of the events of the day and a summons to her faithful student.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER LIBRARY ORGANIZERS! YAY!" cried the three familiar fillies.
Twilight Sparkle sighed deeply, burying her head deeper in her book, Starswirl's "A brief guide to eleventh plane magical fluctuations, volume 6." When Rarity and Rainbow Dash had said they wanted to spend the night, she had assumed they had another sleepover planned. However, Scootaloo had crashed while practicing flying with the rainbow maned pegasus and Dash of course felt terrible, deciding to make it up to her by bringing her along. Then Applejack had stopped by with Apple Bloom, who after seeing Scootaloo was injured, demanded she be allowed to stay the night to care for her fellow crusader. After some bribery by the Element of Honesty, Apple Bloom was allowed to stay and Twilight was three apple ciders richer.
That was when Rarity and Fluttershy had shown up with Sweetie Belle, who had been dropped off at the spa to tag along with her older sister as their parents took a cruise up to the Griffin Territories. Rarity, though she loathed having to bring her sister, had settled in quite nicely, acting as though she had told Twilight that the CMC would be coming the whole time. Fluttershy of course sat meekly in the corner, apologizing meekly and trying to stop the crusaders from destroying absolutely everything. Somewhere along the line, Pinkie Pie had shown up, claiming that it just wasn't a party without her, after which she promptly blasted Twilight with her party cannon. Spike had laughed.
So now, sitting in the midst of a sea of multicolored streamers, torn book pages and snapped quills, Celestia's prized pupil took little notice of the six identical letters that appeared with a belch from the baby dragon in the entry hall until one addressed to her landed on her head. As she read, her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Without a word, she looked up from her letter to see similar looks on all her friends faces, save for Pinkie, who was giggling for some reason.
Still unable to speak, the 6 mares gathered in the center of the room, followed by the three curious fillies and Spike. After a moment, there was a brilliant flash of pale sunlight, and the 9 ponies and baby dragon vanished into thin air, leaving only the wind to rustle the torn pages on the library floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia raised her head again after the spell was completed. Sitting in a circle before the throne room were nine ponies and a dragon. A minute or so later, the Princess of the Night walked in, still a little unsteady on her feet after fainting.
"I'm sorry to have called you all here so late," The Sun Princess began. "However, as you read in the letters I sent you, our friend Trace here has some explaining to do." She looked to the being standing beside her. "If you would be so kind?" He nodded solemnly, then took a few steps forward and away from the throne.
"Where to begin but at the beginning?" he said. "I remember my birth. Not to say it was a conventional birth mind you, I was created out of the Chaos of the Dark World around the same time Harmony was being created here in the Light World. In those days, I was in dragon form all the time. I didn't want to break it to you like this, but this form is actually an illusion. That is beside the point however. Harmony and I met one day as I was exploring the Dark World. Mind you, at the time the Dark World consisted of blackened flat planes and volcanoes, while the Light World was lush grass and mountains." Trace was interrupted when Twilight Sparkle's hoof shot up.
"Um, Princesses?" she began. "Not to be rude but... what is the Dark World?" Trace looked at her in confusion, then his eyes settled on the sisters.
"You have not taught your citizens of my home?" he asked, irritation creeping into his voice. "I put a lot of work into that place, Celestia." Luna, Twilight and the others scowled at such informality towards the Princess of the Sun, but she seemed to brush it off well enough.
"Of course I never mentioned the Dark World, Ancient," she replied. "Save for you, myself and Luna, Discord, Sokkun and the Council, no one knows where the World Gate is any more." The ancient human's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"How can the World Gate be lost?" he asked incredulously. "It's a four hundred foot tall purple glowing obelisk!"
"Equestria has shifted away from the Lands of Change over time, Ancient. We are actually in what you called Harmony's Teeth, the original mountains of the Light World." Trace looked thoughtful for a moment.
"That would explain why I couldn't seem to find any Mimics." Twilight looked as though she was about to explode.
"What is your question, my little pony?" the Princess asked. Twilight's eyes lit up.
"What is the World Gate? Why do you keep calling him Ancient? What are the Lands of Change? What is a Mimic? How-" Luna held up a hoof.
"Hold for a moment, Twilight Sparkle, lest we forget what thy questions are." Twilight stopped, looking sheepish but incredibly curious. Celestia looked to Trace, who shrugged.
"Alright, but we're getting off track here. I'll answer those questions, but then we're getting back to the story. First off, the World Gate. It has been there as long as the two Worlds that inhabit this dimension have existed. You see, Equestria is only one of the places that exist here. And while your nation overflows with life and greenery, the other side does not. It is a blackened land of fire and lava. The sky is blotted out by the endless streams of smoke pouring from the volcanoes and the snouts of various sleeping dragons. There is little to no vegetation, save for on the outskirts of the land, and around the area where the World Gate resides. There is no proper way to explain what it looks like, but the mechanism itself is an ancient stone tower, carved and covered in runes. The Grand Door that is created where the Gate is activated can take you to the other side of the coin, so to speak. That is the original land of the dragons, the Dark World." Spike stepped up and tugged on Trace's pant legs. When he saw the baby dragon, his eyes lit up so brightly they nearly shined with their own light.
"A hatchling!" he cried happily. "What can I do for you, little Skrllblekr?" Spike raised an eyebrow.
"That hatchling was raised here, Ancient," Luna quipped. "He doesn't know any Draconic."
"Oh..." Trace said in realization. He turned back to Spike. "Skrllblekr is our races name for children. It means 'one who is learning.'"
"Okay," Spike said indifferently. "But what I want to know is, how do you know all these things about dragons. I don't see any scales on you, and you definitely couldn't breathe fire with that mouth." Trace looked over to the Princesses. They shrugged simultaneously and urged him on. Sighing, Trace began to head for the door.
"Come with me everypony," he said waving behind him. "We need to go to the gardens."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EPIC TRANSITIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is everyone settled?" Trace asked. There was a murmur of affirmatives as the ponies sat down on the opposite side of the stretch of flattened plant life.
"Good. Now, Twilight this will also technically explain why your Princess calls me Ancient. Remain calm, and know that I will do none of you any harm." The ponies, save for the royal sisters, looked at each other in confusion. Before he could second guess himself, Trace transformed and stood before them in all his scaly wonder. Ten jaws hit the ground. Spike was the first one to react.
"Cool..." he said breathlessly.
"I'll say!" Rainbow Dash cried. "This is totally super awesome! I mean look at him, he's huge!" Trace grinned, which looked extremely disturbing in the half light of the moon.
"I AM THE ORIGINAL DRAGON, GIVEN NO NAME EXCEPT THAT WHICH I WAS BORN FROM, CHAOS." Trace shrunk back down to human form.
"My children, the other dragons, call me Ancient because that's what I am: just a really old member of the family." Spike still had stars in his eyes.
"How did you get so big?" he asked simply.
"I was born that way," was Trace's reply. "I can shrink myself to fit through doors and such, but no dragon ever grows naturally except when consumed by greed." Spike's face fell.
"So I'm going to be stuck this small for the rest of my life?!" he cried angrily.
"Not so much," Trace said.
"What do you mean?" wept the tiny dragon. "You just said we don't grow naturally..."
"Indeed we don't, Skrllblekr. You need to be given your growth by an elder dragon when you have been deemed worthy." Spike wiped his eyes.
"Really? How do I prove I'm worthy?"
"By performing a feat that could be considered extraordinary for a dragon of your size." Twilight's eyes sparkled mischievously.
"Would that include, say, standing up to a group of much older dragons in order to save a baby phoenix?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Oh absolutely!" Trace replied. "Are you telling me that this hatchling stood off against his elders and survived?" The mare nodded happily and Spike silently thanked her with all his heart.
"Well then, we can perform the ceremony right away!" Trace transformed again, only this time he remained the same height as his human form.
"Ah, this is more like it. Being scaly and still being able to look ponies in the eye has it's advantages." He looked down at the baby dragon before him. "Rise Spike, Honorless One." Spike raised an eyebrow, but walked up to the Ancient.
"By the Chaos that birthed me, the fire that tested me and by your deeds, you have been deemed worthy of greglsr. I bestow upon you the next of your bodies, and two Honors." Inhaling deeply, Trace breathed a storm of grey fire onto the baby dragon. Twilight began to run forward but was stopped by Celestia.
"This is what is supposed to happen, Twilight," she said calmly. The mare looked over the Princess' hoof, worry still plastered on her face. After a few agonizing seconds, Trace let up on the colorless flame. From the charred grass rose the body of a teenage dragon with purple scales. He was now as tall as Trace, his tail was a good four feet long and his green spikes had sharpened considerably. On his back, a pair of fully functioning wings sat furled up.
"Now is gone from us Spike the Honorless. In the grey fires of gregslr, you were stripped of life, and given it again. Now today is born Spike the Young, Third Blessed of the Ancient, Child of Two Worlds. I greet you." Spike looked at his new body in utter disbelief, which was slowly replaced with joy when he noticed he now had wings. He extended them, testing their dexterity and finding that they were more flexible than they looked. He let out a whoop of joy and jumped into the sky. He flapped once, twice, three times, then dropped back to the garden, making a small crater as he landed with a bang.
"This is so awesome!" he cried, still looking at all his new features.
"It is indeed, young one," Trace replied. "And being blessed by me, the father of all dragons, has some extra 'perks'." Spike looked up, surprise once again written in his features.
"You are now much stronger and faster than other dragons your size. You can also speak to me at any time with your mind, shrink back to any other size you prefer, and use Chaos magic on demand." Spike let out another whoop and danced on the spot. Trace watched him, a fatherly smile on his face, then turned back to the mares.
"You've witnessed something amazing today, little ones," the Ancient said. "Only Harmony and your Princesses have ever seen a dragon's rebirth ceremony."
"As interesting as that all was," Luna piped up again. "Perhaps you could return to your previous story?" Trace nodded.
"Yes I did get a little side tracked didn't I?" he said simply. "Alright, continuing from where I left off... right, the Lands of Change are next. That is the place where the World Gate resides, and also the first place I met Harmony. You see, I had discovered the World Gate long before she had, but I didn't know how to activate it yet. It was surrounded by greenery all the time, and despite my best efforts to burn or at least singe away some of the flora present there, my strongest fire would have no effect. Meanwhile, on this side of the Gate, Harmony was perplexed by the perpetual desert that surrounded her version of the Gate. It turned out that, due to the nature of the World Gate, whatever I tried to do to my side effected hers and vice versa. It was through these occurrences that we discovered how to travel between the two sides. We gave the lands the name Change not long after, simply because it seemed appropriate at the time." Trace took a breath before continuing.
"As for your last question, Mimics were the beings who inhabited the Changelands. They could take the form of any creature or plant, and fed off of the emotions that were directed towards them." Twilight's eyes widened, and Rarity swayed on her feet, looking faint.
"Changelings existed back then too?" she asked the royal sisters. Celestia nodded.
"They weren't always so evil though, my little pony. I think their recent 'attack' was an act of desperation. They are a dying race, Twilight Sparkle." Suddenly Twilight felt terrible for hurting all those changelings.
"As I was saying, the Mimics of the Changelands were led by my and Harmony's firstborn, a Mimic Queen by the name of Chrysalis." Everyone stopped, their jaws hanging open again. A dragon and a pony? Having kids?! That wasn't possible! Seeing the looks he received, he decided to elaborate.
"Oh, she wasn't truly our child. We created her as Harmony had created the ponies and I the dragons, except that Chrysalis and her brood were made of both Chaos and Harmony." A collective sigh went out in the garden.
"So what does the Dark World look like?" Fluttershy asked, prompting raised eyebrows from everyone. "Um, if you don't mind me asking..." Trace smiled kindly at the shy pegasus.
"Why don't I show you?" he replied, snapping his fingers. A small black cloud appeared in front of him, flashing with purple and red hues. Lightning occasionally arced around the edges, though it never escaped. Twilight was fascinated. She walked towards the cloud, examining it from every angle.
"What is that?" she asked.
"A viewing portal," Trace replied. He closed his eyes and focused. An image slowly flickered onto the clouds face, and the curious mare inched closer. Her nose was nearly touching the picture.
"How are you doing that?"
"This particular portal acts as a screen for my memories and... hey don't get that close!" Trace said. Startled, Twilight jumped, and for the briefest of moments, her horn scraped the surface of the cloud. Trace dove away as the cloud started to lose it's shape and expand. After a moment, it shrunk back down and vanished with a small -poit-.
"Huh," said the Ancient. "You know usually, unprotected interaction between Chaos and Harmony magic has some pretty disastrous results. I wonder if-" the rest of his sentence was cut off as an explosion blew the group to the ground. Before anypony or dragon had time to react, a black hole opened behind them and they were sucked in. A moment later, the hole closed up, and nothing was left to show they had been there save for the imprint on the grass.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ugh... my head," Trace moaned. A similar moan beside him revealed a small lavender mare holding her head. After a moment, she shouldered the pain and stood up, wobbling slightly.
"Where are we?" she asked. The land was cast in a perpetual night, though there was no sky for the moon to hang in. The ground was black rocks and shale, with no vegetation in sight. Everything was lit by a nearby river of lava and the glow of hundreds of volcanoes in the distance.
"We are in the Dark World... but not really," Trace said. "This is the Dark World from my time... we're in my memories."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to get done everyone! I swear I'll be faster with the next one! Anyway, enjoy!