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// Story: Sins of the Past
// Prologue: Creating the Monster
// Author: Star Seeker
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1100 years before the events of "Friendship is Magic
She strode through the halls, her armor clanking faintly as she went. The stones on the floor were so polished that she could see her reflection in it, the walls covered with tapestries of events that had happened long ago, some of which she had witnessed herself. The ceiling was a painting of a beautiful starry night. When she approached he door leading to the observatory, the guards saluted and opened the door. Her sister was already there, gazing at the magical projection of the battlefield. She looked at it too. It was an awful sight. There were no bodies, even though there were thousands of casualties, the only signs of the conflict that had taken place there was the blackness, the remnants of a huge magical power that had scorched the earth, burning anything and everything into ashes.
"So it is finished" said Luna as she approached the projection. It rippled slightly as it changed to another angle of the horrific scene. "Discord is imprisoned in stone and his army is no more". Celestia just kept staring at the projection. "Why do you look so solemn? Can you no hear the celebrations going on?" Her horn glowed, and the doors to the balcony swung open. The noise washed through the room, the cheers of ponies could be heard as Pegasus, unicorns and earth ponies alike danced, sang, ate and drank as they celebrated the end of the war and the end of the tyranny of Discord, the end of chaos.
"I am not celebrating because I mourn for all those who have perished in this senseless bloodshed" Said Celestia, turning to her sister. "And for the humans…".
"The humans chose their side" Interrupted Luna. She moved to the stand next to the bed and her horn glowed undoing the clasps that held her armor on as they floated onto it. "They took up their arms for Discord and they have played the price for their decision. The only one of their wretched race left is Discord's apprentice, the one that we captured at the start of this war, and he is still imprisoned in the crystal caverns."
Celestia stood up and walked out and stood on the balcony, the sound of the celebrations washed over her. " I know that but, did they really deserve extinction? I know what they did, and I don't think that I could ever forgive them for it, but it's because of us that…"
"SILENCE!" yelled Luna, who spun to face her. "We did what we had to do to survive, they were trying to expand their kingdom and".
"Don't forget" Interjected Celestia. " That this place was originally theirs. We came here here seeking refuge and a new home after our disharmony brought the frost spirits upon us".
"We settled here, built our cities and towns, built farms and roads". She sighed. "But you're right, enough of this dreadful topic". She walked back into the room, the balcony doors closing silently behind her, muffling the sounds of the celebration. "Now, let us go visit our prisoner".
The magical elevator rapidly picked up speed as it descended into the main chamber of the crystal caverns, but the riders hardly felt a thing. After 5 minutes, it slowed down and stopped with barely a whisper. They walked towards the magically sealed door at one end of the chamber, their images reflected on all sides by the mirror like surfaces of the sheer crystal walls. As they approached the door, their horns begin to glow and in response, the heavy bolts sealing the door started to slide across, responding to the combined magic of the two. The door opened without a sound. In the middle of the room, chained to the raised pedestal by the celestial bonds, an enchanted chain designed to suppress the magic of the captive. They glowed faintly, the runes engraved onto the steel moving slowly around the wrist cuff and the chain.
The human chained there had a unique physical appearance compared to the other humans Celestia had seen before. It was his face that attracted her gaze. The human has striking blue eyes, as blue as the sky on a cloudless day which shined with intelligence, and golden blond hair that seemed to glow by itself. His body was dirty after being chained to the spot for so long, he was lean and slightly muscular, about 5' 9 feet tall ad radiated strength and power. The most significant feature on his body however, were the markings that covered both his shoulders, the humans version of cutie marks. His were of an open book with an hourglass hovering above it, which was encompassed by a ring of fire, ice and lightning. This signified that while he was young, only about 17, he had mastered the arcane magic.
He looked up from his cross-legged position as they entered the room, his calculating eyes following them. Celestia had always been disturbed by how humans could sit like that. " So, my captor finally decide to grace me with their presence" he said. "So what news do you bring me? Free me and trade me for a captive Alicorn? Or have you come to taunt me like your sister over there" he moved his head in Luna's directing. Luna's nostrils flared. " I still question your motives for imprisoning me here, I have never harmed anyone".
"You were Discord's apprentice" said Luna. "We couldn't risk you running around out there". "Well, I COULD have apprenticed to you or your sister over there, or any other unicorn or alicorn, butt who's fault is that eh?" He said.
Celestia stepped forward. "You certainly have an interesting way of suppressing your fear. But I wonder how you would react if you knew that you were the last of your kind?".
He paled. "You're lying"
Celestia's horn glowed and the projection from the observatory appeared. It showed the final moments of the battle, of a colossal column of magic carving through the human forces as they fled the battlefield, leaving nothing but ashes. It then flicked to a scene of the human kingdom, which was emitting huge columns of smoke as it burned to the ground. Screams of dying humans could be heard as one of the towers on the castle had just collapsed, destroying everything beneath it. "Your kind has been erased from the face of Equestria, you are all that remains of your wretched race". Her horn stopped glowing and the projection vanished. "As the new ruler of Equestria, i now condemn you to imprisonment for eternity as the final punishment for your race. Her horn glowed once more and the Elements of Harmony appeared before her, spinning slowly. They stopped suddenly and flew to their respective owners, fixing themselves to their collars and tiaras. They shone and Celestia and Luna rose of the ground, their eyes ablaze. The human started shouting "No no NO". The Elements flashed and a bolt of rainbow light shot from them and smacked the human square in the chest. Nothing happened for a moment and the human breathed a sigh of relief, and then the crystal of the platform started growing over the human. He struggled and strained and tried to resist the growing crystal. As the growth reached his neck, he looked Celestia square in the eye. "You have just made an enemy of a lifetime. You cant keep me here for an eternity and i will get out, and when i do, i will have my revenge you hear me? I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!". The crystal covered his head and there was silence.
Luna looked up at Celestia. " At last, we can go celebrate". She touched the ground and the Elements disappeared. Celestia tapped her shoulder. "Not just yet. First, we have to make sure that no pony can ever use the power that we used of that battlefield. We seal the weapon away, and then we can go celebrate".
During the events of "A Canterlot Wedding"
"The Elements of Harmony are out only chance now" whispered Celestia, as she lay on the floor of the main room. "Go to the tower and get to them before the changelings can". "Don't worry Celestia, we'll get there as fast as we can" said Twilight, as she and her friends started running towards the doors.
Down in the crystal caverns while this was happening, another event took place. A ripple of yellow light went through the chamber as residual energy from the blast that hit Celestia depleted her temporarily of magic. As it touched the formation in the middle of the chamber, a strange thing happened. Two identical sets of glowing runes appeared inside the crystal. They grower brighter and brighter until suddenly, they disappeared, the magic sustaining them dissipating. There was silence in the chamber again. Then a faint sound came from the formation in the middle of the room, the sound of fracturing glass. It got louder and louder until suddenly. CRACK. The Crystal shattered and large chunks of it went flying across the chamber. A kneeling figure remained in the spot where the crystal had been. The figure collapsed onto the platform, not use to supporting his weight after over 1000 years of imprisonment. The figure sat up slowly and looked at his shacking hands and, even though he had been trapped for so long, he started laughing, loud and maniacally. "Oh Celestia, I told you so. You couldn't keep me locked up forever. Now it's time for my long long awaited revenge".
One year later
Luna woke with a start. She looked around, but couldn't figure out where she was. She sat there in the darkness and thought, what had she been doing before this? She remembered she had just changed with Celestia on the balcony of the observatory to watch over the night, and that she had heard a strange noise behind her, and when she turned there was a figure that looked kind of like….
"Oh look, the guest of honor is awake" came a voice from the surrounding darkness. She spun on the spot, looking for the owner of the voice, but she couldn't see anything, which was strange, because she was able to see through the dark anywhere else. "Oh, you can't see me? How rude of me, let me help you with that". There were hoof steps in the darkness. Suddenly, the place lit up brightly. Luna covered her eyes, which had yet to adjust.
'That's better, can you see me now?" the figure asked. She looked, her blurry eyes showing her the outline of a figure that…
"Oh no" Luna breathed as she realized who was standing in front of her.
"Ah, so you Do remember me. How nice of you to remember the one you imprisoned for over a thousand years" he walked towards her. Luna stepped back, and stopped as her flank hit an invisible wall.
"You like it? I remembered this place from all those years ago when Discord taught me everything he knew about magic" He walked slowly around her, not stepping within a meter of her.
"Why have you brought me here? What is the purpose of this room?" shouted Luna, spinning so that she was always facing him.
"I will answer your second question first" He paused. "What do you know about magic?".
Luna looked at him, dumbfounded. "What. Have you forgotten after all those years in confinement? Magic is a form of energy that unicorns and Alicorns possess and can manipulate at their will."
"Good, Good. Now how does the cutie mark relate to the owners magic?"
"The cutie mark represents the special talent that that pony has, and this is usually what they're best at doing with their magic"
"Close, but no cigar" He said, stopping and looking at Luna. "While cutie marks DO represent the special talent of that pony, it works differently for unicorns and alicorns. Think if it this way, you've seen how how powerful Twilight Sparkles magic was just before she got her cutie mark, how it raged and did whatever it felt like doing. What a cutie mark does for magical beings, is seal their magic up so that they can only use it for the tasks that their mark represents" He stopped, waiting for it tot sink in.
"How do you know about Twilight's test to get into magic school? That happened while you were imprisoned"
"My body was bound to the crystal prison, but my magic allowed my mind to wander free" He started walking in the opposite direction. "Now back to my previous topic. Did you know that it is possible to steal another beings magic?". Luna looked shocked. "How do you know this? That knowledge is forbidden."
"i was alive all those years ago when it was discovered. When sufficient energy is directed at a magical beings cutie mark, the cutie mark of that being will begin to destabilize, and if someone can act quick enough, he can drain the magical powers out of that being, causing the cutie mark to look like it has shattered" He smiled, an evil smile full of malice and contempt. "To answer your first question, i have brought you here because this room has been designed to exactly what i have just said". He smirked. "And once I have finished with you, i will go after your sister". He laughter, loud and maniacally.
Luna was terrified. "What could you possible want with our powers?".
"I'm going to do two things with your powers. First, I'm going to bring back my race from extinction". Luna cut in. "How can you do that? Your race was wiped out".
"That's a surprise. And secondly, I'm going to lift the seal on the weapon and then you and your sister can look on, helplessly as I once did, as I burn your civilization to the ground".
Luna was horrified. "You're a monster"
He spun to Luna, his face deadly serious. "That's the thing about monsters, they're not born, they're made. You created this monster, and now this monster has come back to rampage". He walked over to one side of the room, a hole panel appearing before him. "Now this won't hurt….much". He pressed the button.