//------------------------------// // 16: Making and Breaking History // Story: My Little Halo: Harmony Evolved // by Arcane Howitzer //------------------------------// Equestria Central Command (ECC) 30 January 2552 0700 MST Pupeii, Equestria Despite the day-long journey and having to wait outside for another hour to ensure that the sun and moon traded places on schedule, Celestia was truly amazed at her first look at the sole diamond dog city on the planet. Seemingly carved from the guts of the planet itself, the vast cavern was packed with structures that, in their prime, would have surpassed Canterlot for purposeful beauty. Columns thicker that the greatest trees stretched from floor to ceiling, the worn ghosts of ornate carvings still haunting the entryways to dwellings built into the stone. Travel ways snaked through the gaps on ancient supports, chipped gaps laying bear a crystalline core which pulsed dimly in places and stood completely dark in others. Is that what I think it is? A crystal rune across the entire city? How could they power such a thing? Even I would be taxed to keep it active! Venturing to the city’s center revealed more utilitarian sights. Forges powered by heat from the magma below bustled with thousands of stony-colored canines as well as a number of ponies overseeing the construction of more modern assemblies, acres of farmland grew various fungi and held strange beasts which resembled pale, stunted elephants, and in the middle of it all stood a mighty complex already caught in the throes of a technological overhaul similar to the one over gone by Canterlot Castle. The main difference was the speed with which the processes had advanced. Though the Canterlot refit had been completed within a week, work here was nearly three weeks behind schedule. The reason became obvious upon entering the weathered halls. Off to the side of the impressive antechamber, several ponies and diamond dogs sat around a large, card-covered table. “Go fish,” one of the dogs grunted, only to receive scowls from most of the ponies. “There’s no Go Fish in Texas Hold ‘em you idiot!” “Ahem.” The table visibly jumped as ponies whirled to attention. “Princess Celestia,” one of them said. “We were not told you would be arriving anytime soon.” “Consider it a surprise inspection,” she replied, eyeing them coolly. “One in which I am rather disappointed. Would you mind explaining why you and your people are not working, despite being weeks behind schedule?” “Ma’am, with all due respect, we don’t have anything to work with.” Celestia arched an eyebrow, inviting him to further explain. “The people in the Industrial sector are working around the clock to get production facilities up and running, but they’re still building the tools to build the tools to build the tools to make what we need here, and supplies from the Guam completely dried up last week. Until she gets back with more there’s nothing we can do.” He offered an apologetic shrug, but Celestia remained impassive. “And how are those production facilities coming along?” He relaxed slightly, glad to have good news to report. “Much better than we’d initially thought. The diamond dogs already had some fairly advanced workshops and knowledge of mass production and interchangeable parts. Once we showed them how our weapons worked, they just took off on their own. Various calibers of ammunition are already stockpiling, and we can expect the first of the old-style guns for the dogs and griffons to roll off the assembly line sometime next week and hoof-operable weapons next month.” “Good.” She nodded in approval. “Now, the real reason I’m here is that Elder said he had something to show me. Could you take me to him please?” One of the diamond dogs stood and motioned for her to follow before padding his way to one of the many arched passages leading deeper into the complex. Celestia obediently followed him through a maze of forking hallways, amazed the he never once glanced at a sign despite the seemingly-arbitrary twists and turns his path took. As the stone tiles passed under hoof, worn so smooth by time and padded feet that they often blended together, she occasionally caught sight of more veins of crystals pulsing brighter than the branches outside. In fact with every new gap in the covering the power shone brighter still, until, by the time she finally found Elder waiting in front of a massive steel door which unlike the others had not yet labeled, it was bright enough to light the halls without assistance. Noticing Celestia’s arrival, his wizened face lit up considerably. “Princess! Glad you could make it. There is much to discuss, much you should know about ally and enemy both.” “Well with a message as cryptic as yours was, how could I stay away?” she replied in a lighthearted tone, as close to a chuckle as she had come in weeks. “What do you want to tell me?” “Not tell, show.” Elder placed his paw on the door and pushed, the massive barrier swinging inward to reveal a brightly-lit chamber covered in all manner of arcane circles. “Will let Him do the telling.” Celestia was about to ask what “Him” Elder could be referring to, but the question caught in her throat when she realized that the room was not unoccupied. Six blue eyes regarded her curiously from atop three distinct heads, and three sets of sharp, erect ears shifted forward to match them. A coal-black pelt covered its muscular body, its immaculate sheen interrupted occasionally by vicious scars. The trio of long muzzles let slip no sign of slobber or fang, even as the awesome beast stood and turned to give the princess its full attention. “A cerberus,” she whispered in wonder, having recovered her voice before her wits. “But I thought the only cerberus was guarding Tartarus.” Much to her surprise, the cerberus gave off a low chuckle weighted with bitter sadness. “So, Little Brother finally succeeded,” it said in a voice as ancient as the mountains, “and his is the name of our people. Such terrible jokes time plays on us all.” The next words to leave Celestia’s mouth she would forever remember as the worst faux pas she had ever had the misfortune of making. “You can talk?!” It laughed again, in true amusement this time. “Yes. Simply because one of our number is fled of his mind does not mean we are all mere animals.” “So there are more of you?” the princess ventured, still blushing from the embarrassment of her tactless mistake. “There were. Three, my brothers and I totaled. I am Freedom. The youngest, whom you have already met, was known as Guidance in his youth, but later took up the moniker of Dominion. Finally there was Compromise, the eldest and perhaps wisest of us. Together we built the Cerberan Empire and maintained it for nearly ten thousand years, until--” “The Nightmare came,” Celestia finished for him. “I’d heard that you had heard this tale before.” “Far too often for my own comfort, I’m afraid. It seems like I can’t turn around without finding a poor soul suffering from its cursed touch.” “Indeed, I have been forced to watch those same beings fall, and many more besides, without moving to intervene. Do not mistake me Celestia,” Freedom warned as the alicorn made to berate him for abandoning the world. “I would have liked nothing more than to confront the beast in open battle and cast it down as it so deserves. Each fallen kingdom it leaves feels like a betrayal of everything I sought to stand for, and each free soul cursed or killed seems as blood upon my own paws, but if such a battle could be won through force or treachery we would not be having this conversation.” “Did you even try?” Celestia questioned, not quite willing to admit that she was searching for some way to blame the ancient emperor for simply letting the cycle of torment continue. “Yes. When the Nightmare came for my people, it did so just as it did all others: by corrupting and possessing a leader and using him, her, or it to slay any competition it may face. Fortunately, Compromise sacrificed himself to allow me to escape and rally our armies against the threat. What ensued was ten years of brutal, futile warfare against the dark hordes which seemed to spawn from nowhere, but were in fact past victims twisted into machines of war. Every force we fielded was beaten back, every trap we laid failed or was simply absorbed by the opposing forces, and soon even our own fallen troops became fodder for the dark armies. “As it became obvious that we could only delay defeat we constructed the safe-haven you now stand in to house what was left of our civilization and attempted one final snare to remove as much of the taint as possible from the world; a spell so cunning and powerful that it tore away part of the Nightmare’s being as it fled, using it and the shattered remnants of my brother’s mind and soul as fuel and sustenance for the prison in which most of its horde remains trapped to this day. You know of the prison as Tartarus and the empty shell of my brother as its guardian Cerberus. You also know of the descendants of my people as the diamond dogs, though they bare only a passing resemblance to the proud soldiers and artisans I once knew.” “You managed to drive the Nightmare back and you let it escape?” Celestia shouted indignantly. “I had no way of knowing if it had more forces lying in wait. If I were to reveal myself at that point only to blunder into a trap then the entire war would have been in vain.” From the tone of Freedom’s response he had obviously been going over the same subject continuously for however long he had been down here. “By the time I realized the error the Nightmare had already recovered much of its former strength and would have needed no tricks to claim final victory. It was then that I set myself up as a watcher, scrutinizing and recording its every move and biding my time until an opportunity arose. “And if what you say is true, this may be our only opportunity. The humans claim we have two months at most to prepare, and there are still agents of the Nightmare at large in the world. The Elements of Harmony may free some from whatever curse binds them, but others will have to be imprisoned… or executed.” “Executed?” Celestia parroted. “But I thought you said they were victims. They need help, not a grave!” The great canine snorted a billowing harrumph before turning to one of the magical runes of the wall. “While it is true that some have been twisted beyond all hope, it is not they to whom I was referring.” He placed a massive paw on the rune, causing it to shoot out several sprays of color which each coalesced into a strange and terrible figure. “There are those who follow the Nightmare willingly in exchange for power, longevity, and other gifts,” he continued, regarding three of the illusion with open disgust: a red-skinned centaur, a decrepitly ancient ram, and a skeletally thin, pale, faceless stallion that seemed to fade and waver even as a still image. “They are the most dangerous creatures on this planet now that their master is gone, and they will be made even more so once it returns. This cannot be allo--” “I’m sorry for the interruption,” called a copper-colored unicorn, garnering the sudden attention of both great leaders, “but since the good princess forgot to take her comm unit, someone had to come tell her that the Guam just returned. Should we go ahead with the plan?” Looking back to the foul beings which willingly follow her sworn enemy, a plan sparked in the solar princess’s mind. “No,” she said. “First tell them that there are certain foreign powers that need removing, for the good of the world of course. Then we can move ahead with our preparations.” * * * * * * * Castle Midnight February 1, 2012 8:00 A.M. Local Time Hayseed Bog, southeast of Equestria Exposions rocked the ancient battlements, shattering gargoyles even as they made to engage the metal ships which were suddenly descending on Tirek’s looming fortress. Stone and black ichor rained onto the courtyards and balconies, and the rumbling reached even the deepest sanctuary. As the ships landed and loosed their equine cargo, mighty golems activated only to fall, their stone and steel no match for high-velocity projectiles and explosive missiles brought to bear on them. From his throne, Tirek watched stunned through arcane mirrors at the destruction which had befallen his home so suddenly and completely. He saw the great doors of the castle, built and enchanted to withstand a dragon’s rage, buckle in a powerful blast and shatter before a second blow. He witnessed the first of his traps, both magical and mundane, claim but a handful of the intruders’ lives before being rendered impotent by their cunning. By the time they reached his throne room, he knew only one thing. It was over. Though he roared black flame at the invaders, he knew he could not win. Though he spat dark curses at his fate, he knew he would not survive. Though he did not feel the bite of their arms, he felt death, his most hated foe, take its long-overdue toll. And so, Castle Midnight, which had stood for uncounted millennia as a bastion of hate, fell over, burned down, and sank into the swamp. * * * * * * * The Black Forrest February 1, 2012 1:00 P.M. Local Time Far south of Equestria Fear. Long had Der Groβmann relished in it. Never had he thought it would turn against him. When the strange ponies appeared in his domain, he thought it a chance to ply his sport once again. Weaving illusions of sight and sound, he led them in circles, haunting their steps from just beyond sight to soak in their terror. The first warning should have been when they did not succumb as they should have, but there had been many a brave knight who showed similar nerve only to break at the sight of his supposed quarry. He simply revealed himself in all his unnatural glory, exerting his maddening powers to warp them into proper submission. And they shot him! Feeling true pain for the first time since his pact, he took one look at the unflinching faces before him and fled. Now running through the forest like the ghost he made himself to be, with only a thin trail of foul ooze leaking from the wound to mark his path, he could hear pursuit from all sides. He had not known there were more parties stalking his wood, and he could only weave around them in desperation. Suddenly, he broke through the brush into a glade he knew all too well. This was the clearing he would drive his victims to before finally ending them, the grass was still stained with their blood. The sound of rustling shrubbery made him whirl first right then left, then in a full circle, shadowed figures meeting him with every turn. He was surrounded, cornered in his own killing field. And so the Pale Hunter became the hunted and died in his own trap, consumed by the very thing he sought. Fear. * * * * * * * Across the world, similar scenes played out. Unaging tyrants and foul relics fell to the storm of steel, ancient cruses were lifted at last, and for the first time since the Nightmare first formed at the dawn of the world, there was true peace. Unfortunately, everyone knew the peace would not last and they swiftly set about preparing for the coming war. * * * * * * * Covenant Assault Carrier Crucible of Faith 14 February 2552 1900 MST Orbit above Jericho VII, Lambda Serpentis System Fleetmaster Arga Quramee smoldered in his command seat. Despite knowing the Prophets’ word to be unquestionable, he resented the position he now occupied. Not the title of Fleetmaster, of course, for there were few honors which could have matched it. It was the planet he was tasked with guarding, already rendered lifeless by the assault fleet which had taken it years ago, and the Jiralhanae clan he had been placed in command of. Oh he was sure the brutes (a fitting term, despite originating from the verminous humans) required oversight, as they represented one of the few “traditionalist” clans to survive the species’ induction into the Covenant, but to have his own Sangheili outnumbered nearly three-to-one by the savages seemed a deliberate slight. His wishing to join the great armada in its assault on the recently-discovered human homeworld (For how could a planet as heavily defended as the probe reported possibly be anything else?), where he would place his own mongrels on the front line to die, was interrupted by a beeping console and an announcement from one of his command staff. “Contact, Fleetmaster! We have detected human frigate exiting subspace in the system. It appears to be… alone.” Excellent, Arga thought. An opportunity to exercise my frustrations. “Charge the plasma cannons. We shall deal with the fools per—“ “Sir, incoming hail! It’s coming from the human ship!” Even humans couldn’t be so foolish as to try to surrender, could they? “Humor them. Perhaps they will let slip some worthwhile information as they plead for their miserable lives. Not that they will receive mercy regardless of their offerings.” Turning to the holo-display as communication with the lunatic humans was established, the fleetmaster was visibly shocked by the sight awaiting him. The figure on the screen was composed almost entirely of billowing black clouds through which walls and consoles covered in drying human blood could be seen. The only definite features visible were a pair of piercing azure eyes and a mouth grinning with teeth like obsidian razors. Somewhere outside the field of view, a human could be heard screaming in torment, though the wails quickly subsided into mere whimpering. “Greetings,” the dark creature hissed, the noise somehow striking a chord of fear in the warrior’s heart. “I have come to you, at great personal risk I might add, to enlist your aid. You see, a particularly bothersome foe of mine has recently allied itself with the humans you so detest, and I find myself in the unpleasant situation of being unable to resolve the situation on my own. You, on the other hand, lack only a means of finding your new foe, means which I possess.” What blasphemous cretins would dare stand against the Holy Covenant, much less alongside the humans?! Indignation overcoming his fear, Arga narrowed his gaze at the specter. “Lead us to where they hide, that they might know the error of their heresy.” The black grin widened further, revealing more vicious fangs before winking out of sight beyond a severed signal. “Broadcast to all ships,” he ordered. “Do not fire on the human ship. It contains valuable cargo, and I will take the hide of anyone who damages it.” * * * * * * * Since the docking ports on human and Covenant vessels would require significant alteration to properly mesh, the Safe Haven was allowed the unique status of being the first human vessel to enter the hanger bay of a Covenant Capital Ship whole and unmolested. Gravity tethers seized the frigate and moved it to directly above a large embarkment/disembarkment platform which currently housed an impressive honor guard led by the fleetmaster himself, though in truth they were present to engage their strange guest should any deception be suspected. Tension was high as many present wondered what could possibly warrant suffering a human warship to survive, let alone enter this bastion of the Prophets’ will. As the frigate’s rear platform reached the floor, however, many actively gripped their weapons and some even took hesitant steps back. The dark cloud, far more menacing in person than any video could have conveyed, drifted purposefully up to Arga, roughly dragging a figure hardly recognizable as human. Flesh suffering from every conceivable condition, from horrid burns to chipping frost to festering rot, hung in tattered strips from bared sinew and bone. All of its limbs were bent at painfully unnatural angles in far more places than they had joints, and the ribcage had somehow been completely removed, offering the morbid sight of human biology at work. The face was scrubbed down to a gleaming skull, though the eyes, for some reason, remained untouched and gazed back at the sangheili with what he could only guess was some forlorn hope. That the creature remained alive in such a state had to have been some twisted miracle, doubtless orchestrated by abomination which now held it, and he found himself pitying it as the epitome of physical suffering. “By the Prophets, what is that?” “A prisoner,” the aberration replied as if saying it were some mundane insect. “He’s yours if you want him.” Arga strode up to the tortured soul and, drawing his energy sword, lopped its head off in a single clean stroke. The bloody organs shuddered to a halt. “We do not take prisoners,” He said, channeling through the words his disgust that anything, even a blasphemous pest like the human, would be made to endure such suffering. Still the thought of the glory of having his own world to burn, and of removing an ally of the humans’, outweighed his caution in dealing with the monster which committed such depraved violence. After all, he could always kill it once its usefulness ended. “Now, lead the way to our enemy, and we will be the instruments of their holy destruction.” * * * * * * * Author’s Notes: A new writing process was implemented about half-way through this chapter, allowing me to complete it in a single day. Is it better than usual? Worse? Pretty much the same? Does the faster update make up for it? Personally, I rather like the results. I’ve never actually seen any of the older generations of pony, so the only thing I know about Tirek is what he looks like, his status as a Big Bad, and the fact that he lives in some place called Castle Midnight (he does live there, doesn’t he?). Credit for the little bits of Slender Lore goes to FIMFiction author Journeyman, who offered it in a comment on the ninth chapter of his wonderfully dark Minecraft crossover, My Little Minecraft: At the End. The name and location given here are, supposedly, those of the actual, original legend. Yes I know there are other sources to find that information, but that is where I found it, so that is where I shall direct credit. Also, sorry if the description of the poor nameless captain was a bit too much for you. Hell, it was too much for the elites, but I like to consider it a defining character moment for both the Nightmare (as if you need more reminders of that thing’s character) and Fleetmaster Arga. Even fanatically genocidal alien glory-hogs have standards. Very loose standards, but standards all the same. Thank you all for your feedback, and for sticking with me for so long. Soon we’ll get to the part that inspired me to write this tale in the first place: the Battle of Equestria.