//------------------------------// // Return // Story: Awakening Alicorns // by War Muffin //------------------------------//                                                      Awakening Alicorns                         Chapter 1. Life and Death- Return                  In the beginning, there was more than Celestia and Luna. The alicorn sisters were but a few among many that disappeared long ago during what is now known as The Great War. After the war, the alicorns were believed to be dead. After millions of years however, they have begun to return. Three ponies stood atop of a great tower that watched over all of Equestria.  “I don’t get it,” said a light red and white pegasus mare.         “Have we gone this way?” asked another grey stallion.         “I think so....” said the third, her green coat standing out against the night sky. “Hey Whisper, are you sure Clay said we would find them here?”         “Yeah, he said that we would find Life and Death here,” Whisper responded, her eyes glowing with anticipation.         “I can’t believe that seven of them have already made it back. Clover, do you remember what room Celestia said they would be in?” asked the stallion. “They should be in the main bedroom, if we can find it that is.”         The three began to back into the tower, their search for the gods of life and death growing evermore tiresome as morning grew closer. They had been tasked by Clay, the alicorn god of the land, to seek out the other alicorns that have returned to this world. “So Ash, what caused them to be, you know..” asked Whisper.         “It was back during the Great War, a time when 26 alicorns reigned over Equestria. Xavier, the alicorn of suffering, wanted the world for himself. He began a war to conquer all of Equestria, until an ancient hero gave his life to destroy Xavier and his followers. It was believed that Celestia and the others were killed during the fight, that is until Celestia and Luna were found 20 years later, and now nopony knows who won or what happened.”         “Hold on a minute, Ash,” Clover interrupted, “I think I hear somepony down there.”         “Think it’s them?” ask Whisper as the trio moved towards the sound of what appeared to be steady breathing. Sure enough, they soon found what they were looking for.Life’s glowing orange body and Death’s dark, bloody body were lying on the ground in the middle of a large bedroom. The shadows in the room followed behind the ponies as they neared the two sleeping alicorns.          "STOP WHERE YOU ARE!" A harsh, demented voice rang out from the shadows,"WHO ARE YOU?"          "We are the servant's of Prince Clay. We have been sent to retrieve Life and Death," Whisper said, her voice trembling in fear at the sight of the sleeping gods beginning to rise from their sleep. The three small ponies looked like ants compared to the towering alicorns.        "Please, we mean you no harm! We mean you no harm!" Clover had said. From where she stood she could see crossed scythes around a pony's neck on Death's flank. Life had gates atop the clouds for her cutie mark.         Death stared at Whisper for a minute before asking, “What are you?”         “Me? M m m my name is Whisper.”         “Not who, what. I've never seen a pony with just wings before.”         “Shit, I forgot to disguise your wings!” Ash said looking at her, knowing he made a mistake. They were under strict orders not to allow the two gods did not discover pegasi and unicorns until they made it back to Canterlot. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but we need to be going. Clay is expecting us back soon.”         Life had walked up behind Death and whispered something in his ear. After a moment, Death said, “She wants to know how far it is to, Canterlot was it?”         “Thats right. Its just a couple of hours north of here. We should...” He stopped as he realized Life was creating a ring of light around them. There was a flash, and when Ash could see again, he was in the castle courtyard. The royal guard noticed the presence of the new arrivals immediately. When Ash could see again, spears and swords were pointed at him from all sides. "Stand down. Its only us," he said.         "Ash, you know we have a front door, right?" asked Golden Strike, the golden captain of the earth guard. Her cutie mark was a two ruby swords clashing against a silver shield. Her mane looked like the sparks that you would see coming from metal striking stone. Her azure eyes showed that she was irritated at them for teleporting into the middle of the courtyard.         "I thought it would be fun to surprise you. You know, since you're supposed to be a badass whos never surprised," Ash came back.         "I thought we would have been more welcome than this. I am Death, lord of all things that have passed on from the world of the living. And this is my sister, Life," Death said," These three said that Clay is here waiting for us."        "So these are alicorns we heard so much about. Numbers 4 and 5 as I recall," Golden Strike said.        Life whispered in Death's ear again. "She prefers that you use our names. Those numbers are nothing more than curses."        "As you wish. Now if you would follow me, the others are waiting in the throne room."        "Lead the way," Death said as he and Life began to follow the massive earth pony. She was still small compared to the alicorns, but she was still much bigger than the others they had seen. They went through the pearly gates of the courtyard and down numerous halls. Life had noticed statues of ponies she had seen before. Celestia, princess of light, Luna, the ruler of darkness, and Clay, master of stone, stood along one side of the hall. On the other side stood the statues of the queen of lightning, Lightning ( who would've guessed?) and Sun, princess of fire. Life grew uneasy from the unmoving statues of her friends watching her. They had gone through a door at the end of the long hallway. The door lead into the throne room where the other five alicorns waited, all wearing armor as though they were preparing for a fight.       "Thank you, Golden Strike. If you don't mind we would like to speak alone," Celestia said.       "Of course princess. Let one of the guard know if you need anything," she said before turning around and leaving through the door they came in from.       "Its been along time since we last saw each other. What was it like where you were sent?" Luna asked       "To be honest, I don't remember much about it, I don’t even remember what happened during the war. All I remember was it was cold and we were following a silver light. After that, we woke up to a couple of ponies approaching us. They said you sent them, Clay?" Death asked the stone-clad alicorn. His mud colored coat was hardly visible with his armor on. On his flank was the image of a planet. His stone grey mane was cut short, barely passing his ears.        "That's right. They are my personal servants.When we sensed your return, I sent them to retrieve you. We were hoping that you would remember something. None of us remember anything either," he sighed.       "When you servants woke us up, something bothered me about two of them. One had the wings, and I could sense magic from another," Life spoke up, her voice soothing, yet at the same time it had the power to bring back lost souls that heard it.         "I have been doing studies of it since I made it back to this world," Lightning said, "So far all I've discovered is that they came into existence after the war. As for the cause, I know nothing.” Sparks shot out of her armor at the annoyance of not knowing something. She was suppose to be the group’s scientist, knowing everything about everything. Her electric mane began to whip back and forth across her maize face. Her cutie mark was a bolt of lightning shooting out of a test tube. “It seems that without us to keep the balance of nature, they had to evolve to survive. But something else had to have helped with it. It’s impossible for them to have evolved that fast.”         “It could have been Discord,” Luna said.         “Who?” Sun asked. There was a fire in her eye as she learned of a creature that could stand up to the forces of nature. The flames of compassion for what this creature could do made the fires she used for her mane and tail grew to extreme temperatures. Her mark was that of a flame arising from ancient weapons, as though they were being destroyed so they can never be used again. “You never told us about this creature.”         “That’s because he was defeated long ago by one of my faithful students and her friends. After Luna and I returned to this world, we discovered that an evil creature named discovered was torturing the inhabitants of Equestria. With him gone, we saw no reason to talk about it.” Celestia replied.         “Do you think he could have helped us bring the others back? Or restore our memories?”  Clay asked, intrigued at the possibility of something that could help.         “I doubt it. He was a being of pure chaos, more concerned with ruining the lives of every living thing he saw. And besides, he was defeated long ago, just like Tia said,” Luna replied, a frown forming over her face at the thought of how he could have helped them if he wasn't so evil.         “Sounds like this Discord fellow was one of the few things that could have been a big help,” Sun said. “Any other ideas on how to get our memories or the others back? I’m sure if we got Time back, she would be able to see what happened.”         “That would work, but you forget about what happens to her when he goes back in time. He would suffer from what happened to him then, so she would be banished and lose her memory as well,” Lightning said.         “Well, we can't just sit here and do nothing. Why don’t we go visit the battlefield where it all happened?” Death asked.         “Does anyone remember where it was?” Sun asked. The question drew blank faces from the assembled alicorns. None of them could remember where the battle took place.For all they knew, they could have already been there and not have known. She started hearing a rumbleing sound coming from Life and Death. “Sounds like you two are hungry. No need for you two starve. I’ll have some servants make dinner and show you to your rooms. We can discuss this more in the morning.”         Life looked out the window. She was right, it was getting dark. As she was about to look away, she saw something in the window. There had been a face in the window. “Who's there? she asked looking towards where the face was.         The others looked where her hoof pointed.”No one's there, Life,” Celestia said. Life looked again, but it was gone.         “I know I saw a face, it must have been listening!”         “Don’t you think we would have sensed it sooner? You can see the flow of life in the air after all. Or Death could have seen its deathly aura,” Lightning said, “Maybe you’re more tired and hungry than we thought.”         “Maybe you're right,” she said, but deep down she knew there had been something there, something watching. She silently vowed to herself that she would find the spy and bring ease to her mind.  grrrowl...  Her stomach started growling again. Whoever, whatever, that thing was, she would find it.  grrowl... After dinner that is.                 Fan art  (if you want), question, comments and other shit I don’t care about                 Send to warmuffin1@gmail.com