An old immortal wizard awoke to the sounds of laughter and cheers. His eyes were lucid of the surrounding shapes. However, the voices brought him joy. "Wake up, you stupid teacher! Be here and not on the bleachers." a little male voice yelled at him, pulling him off the chair. He groaned in annoyance at the little one's poor attempt to rap.
"Sting, leave him... be!" A slightly older male voice, but still young, came to his rescue. "Let him... rest." This one was the hardest to hear because of his harsher breathing.
"He's supposed to be teaching us, bro! Not fall low!" Sting shouted.
"Please, stop rapping Sting." Another voice interrupted. This one was a female voice, the youngest of them all. "Don't yell at big brother, Fiend."
"I'll do whatever I want. Little sister shouldn't taunt... back." Sting popped back.
"Maybe you should be taking music lessons instead." The old wizard cracked back.
"Starswirl... You are supposed... to be teaching us." Fiend's rage reached a boiling point, making him cough harshly. His little sister rushed to his aid, but he pushed her aside and pointed directly at the old wizard.
"Yes, but what is the greatest I can teach..." Starswirl laughed and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Tell me, my hippogriff students." He padded the hippogriff filly's head, making her huff and puff in annoyance.
Sting raised his hand, but it was clear he wanted to rap more instead of answering the question. Fiend sat down and grabbed his respirator, leaving him unable to answer either. The hippogriff filly sat down beside her brothers and didn't want to interrupt.
Starswirl waved at all three of them and held his hand out to the filly. "Slang. Please show your brothers why you are the smartest."
"No!" she shouted. "I'm not the smartest. I don't know the answer."
"But you are demonstrating it right now." Starswirl turned his attention to the board he had been laying against and asked again. "Fiend speaks with rage, Sting, out of a need for attention, but you, Princess Slang Night of the Three Night Siblings. You show this greatest talent through your silence."
"Fine..." she rolled her eyes. "Patience."
"Correct." The old wizard grabbed a piece of chalk to write out the answer. However, he stopped upon seeing his hand. Not a unicorn hand, by rather the claw of a griffin laid in place of his original limb. He waved his head back and forth, hoping it was his sleepiness playing tricks on him.
"Master..." Fiend called out. "Is... something... wrong?" He reached over the desk and pointed at the hand.
Starswirl was sure the image was only in his mind. Yet he had a sneaking suspicion that much like Celestia before him, the eldest of these new siblings under his ward could see what the others could not. Was it from his keen senses? Or maybe the hippogriff's constant closeness to death? Or maybe something else?
"Oh, it's nothing. Nothing at all." Starswirl hid his hand behind his back. "Shall we get into today's proper lesson...?" He paused, forgetting the subject until he saw the top of the board. "Oh, the politics between the hippogriffs, griffins, and kirins."
"I don't give a fuck about griffin brethren." Sting turned away, not even caring to rap.
"Don't curse in front of the master," Slang protested.
"No, it only makes sense." Starswirl was just as quick-witted with his students. "You are hippogriff royalty, after all. As such, don't you depend greatly on the griffins and the kirins for a trade of resources?" He turned Sting's opinion against him. He pointed as if expecting a barking from the hippogriff filled with poor attempts to rap.
"Mump, bump..." Sting mumbled random words under his breath.
"What was that?" Starswirl laughed and puffed a cup of chocolate milk right at the edge of Sting's desk, just out of his reach, ready to give it to him should he answer right this time. This was a classic case of mental reinforcement and reward. Unfortunately, such a thing only works if the student in question even knew the answer, let alone cared enough to give one.
"We all depend on each other." Slang stepped in, hoping to save her brother, leading to a sneer from Sting.
She had given the simplest answer, but it was the entire answer Starswirl wanted, so he expanded with another simple reply, "What do you mean by all?"
Again, both were at a stop. This time bribing them meant nothing, as neither flinched at the extra cups of chocolate milk or even the fluffy clouds of cotton candy. The room grew quiet as Starswirl waited for an answer.
Instead, both siblings came to the attention of their eldest brother as the respirator stopped behind them. Fiend placed down the device and stood up. He stared hatefully at his brother, Sting, and answered for him. "The griffins need our gems for their wars with the pegasi, just as we need their gold to fuel... our machines." His breathing got worse, but he refused to stop. "The kirins need our fish to feed their dying race, just as we need their string for our bows and instruments." He raised his hand to Starswirl. "Isn't our master a prime example? Giving to us by the alicorns to ensure we are ready... for... for... that cursed centaur." He stopped against the wall and grabbed his respirator.
Hearing his words brought a great fear from within the heart of Slang as she finished what he was trying to say. "King Ixion." She shivered in place and hid deep within her chair.
This was enough to end their bickering as even Sting stepped closer and gave his sister a tight hug. "Don't worry sister. Our armies will defeat him." His annoyance and his attempts to rap faded. "He won't get what he wants from you."
Starswirl had succeeded in uniting their minds, but he never considered it would lead them down to these dark thoughts. The evil centaur's demands were known even to him. He wanted to comfort them, but he was just their teacher. He had no idea of the future that awaited her or her brothers.
The paths he would unknowingly lead them to. The sacrifices they made to keep their species safe. And the unholy deal that centaur offered.
If Starswirl had the faintest idea of that future he would had stop them right now, do whatever he could to change it. But it was a fate now. This was a memory of a past that had long come to past. Slang was the glue that kept the brothers in line as some of his greatest students... and when that centaur took her away from them... the two brothers became something else.
******
Back in the modern day, the memory of those events faded just as quickly as they appeared. Laying aboard the titan airship, the old wizard, Starswirl, woke with wicked thunder. He rosed up so fast that his sight refused to return. Everything was black as night, but from the feeling of his surroundings it was clear he was safe, but on the Titan Airship.
Starswirl could hear a soft humming sound, no, it was slowly clearing in definition, revealing itself to be music. A duet of voices humming a soft song. He didn't know why, but something told him that despite somehow surviving the fall, he was far from out of danger.
With his sight still gone and a growing fear of the sounds around him the old wizard was forced to rely solely on his sense of touch. Summoning cloud muffs for his ears proved his magic wasn't gone, but since it could help him see, it was clear his magic had been diminished.
All he could do was walk around and help the blood rushing to his head calm down, hopefully, then he could see. However, he could at least search for the source of the music. Something was wrong with it.
As he moved, he noticed that Lady Cat and Fredricson had not found him yet. As captain of this ship, Fredricson would have instantly noticed something wrong, the mere fact he wasn't here to help was startling. Starswirl would have to rely on himself.
Making his way to the hallway, he found it just as empty. His sight was now fuzzy enough for shapes, but the place was barren of life. No voices or footsteps, no sound outside of the strange music.
Soon enough, he reached the front and his eyes cleared enough to see the front door. He was unsure how he got so far into the titan airship to not be by the door upon awaking. He found it strange to only be finding it now.
However, his attention drew to the bodies of Fredricson and Lady Cat near the door. He leaned down and checked the captain's throat. A sigh of relief poured over him. Alive, in fact, both of them were as healthy as ever. They were just in a deep sleep.
This answered the lack of noise from ponies moving back and forth. But it didn't answer why they were asleep. He lifted them carefully in pillows of fluffy cotton candy and floated them to safety. The source of the music was unknown still, but it seemed to not be the source of their sleeping, or rather, if it was, the effects had long faded before he arrived on the ship.
It was at that moment; he remembered something that shook him harshly. So much so that he pressed the wall behind him as if the wall was moving toward him from behind. It was simply a trick of the mind, but what wasn't a trick was the faint chill of goosebumps crawling up his face.
Just before arriving in this place. Before having that dream of the past, or even falling unconscious, he was falling. He could feel the wind pressing against his face as if it was still happening. He had to slap the walls to tell himself he had already landed.
But, if he had landed, then how did he survive? That fall was several miles up, even an alicorn or pegasus with their powerful wings would have at least been in a lot of pain or covered in broken bones. A fall like that should have killed a unicorn, even one as powerful as him, and yet, here he was alive and just as healthy as the two shipmates he was carrying.
He noticed something even stranger. Upon arriving at the controls, he found the titan airship was on complete lock. Nothing could get in and nothing could get out. Only Fredricson knew the password and if he was out cold upon Starswirl's arrival, then who let him in?
How did the old wizard get inside and so far from the front door that he wouldn't even notice his allies out cold? How did he survive a fall that should have killed him? And above all, where was that music coming from?
Starswirl felt as if he knew the music wasn't connected to his survival at all. And if that was true, then somewhere deep within him, he knew how he survived. Or rather, his mind had blocked out how he survived. That was it, a blackout... but Starswirl had never had one before.
With some sort of answer to ponder on later, he left the two pilots at the controls and went in search of the music. What he had never once considered was checking the original room he woke up in. For if he had, he would have found far stranger answers.
A familiar brown spider watched the wizard carefully as he passed by each room. As the only one awake when the wizard arrived, only he knew the absolute truth. The spider turned his attention back to the room Starswirl refused to reenter. The old wizard walked passed the truth as if he couldn't see it at all.
As the brown spider wasn't part of Starswirl's mind, existing within reality, he was unaffected by these pauses of doubt and denial. This spider could see the horrors that Starswirl had left behind upon his arrival. He stared at the image with utter amazement and shock.
Claw marks and tail slashes littered the room. Each appeared to be from different owners and even different species. Yet the spider knew all these markings belonged to a single owner, of a species completely unknown to any of the past. However, as this spider was from the same future as Starlight and Twilight, it knew all too well, what species made these markings.
The brown spider held up its front legs and somehow cast a spell. All signs of the room's damages were fixed. After which, the brown spider returned to Starlight's room and its cage. Without giving any more remark on the matter, it pondered nothing and returned to its sleep. "It's far too early to orchestrate the master's plan. Besides, I've been feeling sick ever since we got that close to... the scythe."
******
Back in the Pegasus Isles, screams and terror spread across the skies as undead batponies and griffins clawed at anypony they could. It mattered not if their limbs quicken and quaked from the movement. These beastly images of the formerly mortal realm jumped from cloud to cloud with ease. They lacked the ability to fly but kept their native magic of cloud grip. Sure some fell off the edges but quickly climbed along the sides of the cliffs instead.
The pegasi soldiers fought as hard as they could, but the numbers were so numerous. And they have to be careful what to cut, as these zombies didn't care about simple or serious scars. Losing an arm was no different from a paper cut and even then the limbs kept up with their owners.
It was a horrible sight to see for the ifrits, and yet they never gave an ounce of shame to the fallen, instead, purely aimed at themselves. Sage knew this view all too well, remembering his former allies driven mad by his master's test of sanity. "To bring out the monster, right?" he questioned.
"Yes," Vanity confirmed. "While the alicorn was blunter with his mission than our master, it worked anyway." She pointed out to the pegasi. Some pegasi were at their rope's end, but much to the surprise of Sage, others were getting more vicious and cold in their kills. Few were afraid, but as time went on, many were beginning to smile.
"The pegasi are a warrior race indeed..." Sage turned back to Vanity and stared at her flaming mane. "Unlike our race of minds."
"It's why they fight griffins so harshly. No greater hatred than the denial of a reflection." Vanity narrowed her eyes at the jar of ashes tightly in her hands. Seeing its mirror fade with the rushing around. "Pegasi, Batponies, and griffins are like triplets fighting over the same toy. Even while under the control of another, the siblings won't miss a chance to one-up the other."
"Were you and your sibling like that?" Sage commented.
"Vanity," she repeated her name, "Annity and Xianity. We three were named after the god of darkness himself. Yet only one of us followed his teaching." She stopped against a wall, and rest, glad in seeing the fact the undead weren't after them. "Xianity died serving that lord to his last breath... I turned to my pills."
"And your brother... she found a new outlook."
"Yes, she did." Vanity rubbed her hand on the jar of her sibling's ashes. "Annity, she was so much braver than me. I hid my secrets, and she exposed her's."
"Which is why both of you were forced to seek help from him... the wendigo."
"Lord Frost was good to us." She smiled boldly. "He was glad we were... monsters." His eyes winced, and she placed the jar of ashes down with a hard thud. "I thought it would be good to bring Annity here. Would this be enough to save her? Lord Frost said she could be so..."
"Useful." Sage sat down with her. He placed his hand on the jar of ashes too and remarked. "It's very strange. You and the three species here aren't the only examples of triplets."
"Really?"
"Well," Sage hesitated to place his hand near hers. "The current authority over the Pegasus Isles is also a former triplet. This middle child, as it were." He turned his attention to the permafrost pillars in the distance. "Commander Hurricane. Rumor is she once had two brothers... one died, the other ran away."
"Hmm, maybe that's the connection..." Vanity finally got tired after all the running. "Should we compare them to us..." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "As Annity is ashes."
"So too shall their family..."
*******
The hospital top blew up in a fury of power. Commander Hurricane made herself known on the battlefield with a bang. Flying out of the rubble just as quickly as it was made, thrusting Rainbow Dartz's body into another nearby building with enough force to leave massive cracks around the walls all around to the other side.
"Incredible, such power." Aitym's voice laughed from his host's mouth. "I expect nothing less from the strongest pegasus ever to fly across the sky." He pushed her back. "And no hesitation with that explosion charge, either--"
Hurricane stopped him with a swing of her crooked spear that nearly took off his host's head. "Who said I'll stop there?!" Her enemy dodged under the weapon and attempt to slash her with the bloody shard, but she swiftly kicked him between the legs. Grabbing him by the leg, she flew him along the walls of the other buildings, swinging him around just as effortlessly with one hand. She dropped him on the roof of the smallest building nearby. Landing herself directly on that leg with enough force to break it too.
"This is your brother's body?!" Aitym hissed. He twisted away in much confusion. How could she be so heartless?
"The body of a coward." Hurricane narrowed her eyes and twisted his broken leg. She laughed at his screams. "My brother is dead. He's been dead for years." She brought the crooked spear to his head. "Losing him again won't crack this cold armor--" She was stopped as the blood from the broken leg shot upward and into her shoulder.
"Foolish mare. This is your bother's body." Aitym snapped the shard-like blood off the leg and popped the bones back into place with ease. "However, as long as I wield it, the only pain I suffer is his alone." He swung the bloody shard across the jaw, making her bleed. "He is my arsenal, his bones are my shield and his blood is my weapon."
"Fine..." She spat her own blood in his face, making him wince with rage. Seeing her chance, she jumped forward and bash the blunt end of her crooked spear into her brother's gut. Lifting upward before he could even react, she swiped her fist across his face.
Hurricane laughed again and busted the bow of her weapon into his chest. Spinning away, she kicked him in the neck, cupping his throat between her heels. Falling away from him, she used the leverage of her leg to throw him over her.
Aitym forced Rainbow Dartz's wings into flight, despite the harsh motion. Feathers flew by him and he readjusted himself and crashed forward into her as she continued to flip. Much to Aitym's shock, she used the force of her own movement to land right on him, while he was in mid-flight.
The commander, as she always was, continued to take command of this battle, hooking the wings of her opponent with her spear and twisting the mind-control pegasus around until his flight was her's to command. She flew him up the same building they fell from and into two more buildings.
Reaching the area where Starlight and Clovis were, she crashed him into the tables. The unicorns were just as shocked by the wild event coming out of nowhere. Hurricane jumped back as Aitym slashed back. Her wings kicked the surrounding air, throwing her away from his attacks, but wasn't quick enough to stop the shard as it flew, tearing through her wing.
This attack threw Commander Hurricane into another pile of tables on the other side. Starlight and Clovis rushed over in shock and disbelief. They did not know what was even going on. Nor did they know who they were about to encounter.
******