//------------------------------// // Interlude: The Voice of Living Stone // Story: Rekindled Embers // by applezombi //------------------------------// Interlude: The Voice of Living Stone Dear Diary, Ugh, that’s atrocious.  Do ponies really begin journal entries this way?  It feels so ugly.  Why would I address my personal writings to a diary, of all things?  They’re mindless, senseless, inanimate objects.  Let’s try this again. My dearest Fluttershy, Is it any stranger to be addressing my journal to a pony who’s been dead for almost seven hundred years?  I don’t think so.  I’ll dedicate this journal to you, Fluttershy.  You’re the reason for who I am now, and the pony I intend to become.  So where to begin?  How about recent history? The first thing I noticed when I ‘woke up’ was how much time had passed.  My first turn as a statue lasted a millennia, and my second a couple of years.  I could instantly tell that this one was different.  I wasn’t nearly as aware, in my sleeping state, as I had been before.  The trip through time left me weakened.  I am not the creature I was before; not even a tenth part of my power remains.  That means no more chocolate rain or cotton candy clouds (sorry Pinkie!).  No more detaching limbs, no more summoning humorous props ex nihilo.  Not that I feel very humorous these days. The world is a nightmare.  Equestria is a disgusting mockery of what it was before; full of hate and fear.  They call it the ‘Holy Equestrian Diarchy’. I know that things have a way of changing over the passing of time, but this is ridiculous. There is a religion now.  A cult.  They’ve twisted everything you all ever did into a dogma of hatred and fear.  And you and the others are worshiped as Saints.  I wish I were making this up. They’ve changed every part of your stories that doesn’t conform to their narrative.  You remember the problems Princess Twilight was having in Canterlot, after Rarity disappeared?  It looks like those political ignoramuses really went nuts with their ideas.  All their talk about ‘unicorns are dangerous’ and ‘unrestricted magic is a threat’ have become full blown religious imperatives.  They hate unicorns, and chop off their horns when somepony is born as one.  They’re told the unicorns go to ‘relocation colonies’ to live out their lives in peace separate and safe from the rest of the population.  It makes me sick. But it’s not just unicorns.  Once they got the population terrified of the magical threat of the unicorns, they could control all sorts of things.  They hate everypony who’s even a little bit different.  They hate ponies who don’t think the way they want, they hate ponies who don’t read what they want, who don’t believe what they want, and even who don’t love the way they want.  Any number of imaginary offenses, from ‘blaspheming the Diarchs’ (that’s Celestia and Luna, though it’s illegal to say their names out loud) to ‘public nudity’ (everypony wears clothing now all the time.  Weird.) to ‘sexual deviancy’ (that’s anything sexy happening outside of a heterosexual marriage) is punished with public humiliation, banishment, beatings, or even execution.   And the worst part of it is, they commit all of these atrocities in your names. And I can’t even say I’m entirely blameless.  If Twilight Sparkle were still around, maybe none of this would have happened.  And it’s my fault she’s not around any longer. I’m so sorry. I’ve taken the form of a pony.  It’s one of the last things I could do with my magic.  I’m a unicorn now, and I will be for the foreseeable future.  I don’t know if I’ll ever regain my old draconequus form, and even if I did, I don’t think I could ever be trusted with that much power again.  Not after what I did. But I’m a completely different creature now.  Sadder, more serious, more introspective, I guess.  But the spark of Chaos is still there.  And I’m going to bring it to Equestria.  I’m no hero, and I’m not saving the world.  I’m going to make the Diarchy burn for what they’ve done in your name.  Maybe, just maybe, real heroes will come along again and rebuild in the ashes I’ll leave behind.  I’ll be happy to help them. Don’t get me wrong; I’m never going to play the villain again.  I’ve learned my lesson.  But I’m too guilty in all of this to ever be the hero that saves the day.  I’ll do what I can to make them hurt, but leave it to others to rebuild. I don’t know how to end this entry without using the damned Diarchy’s system for dates.  Everything is based off of the supposed date of their founding, but even that is a lie, manipulated history from the date of Twilight’s ascension.  The year is 693 After Founding.  That is six hundred and ninety three years after Twilight became a princess. I am so tired. Journal entry dated 693 AF.