//------------------------------// // Rebellion // Story: Shadowbolt: Origin // by Recovery15 //------------------------------// Chapter Five: Rebellion Starfire paced her room, nervous. Her mother had told her to wait in her room until she could finish the open court. For hours Starfire had pondered what she saw. Trinity stood by, not saying anything. She could tell Starfire was angry with her about the memory, but she couldn't do anything about that. Her hologram cut out when someone knocked on the door. Starfire's mother, Queen Nephthys, walked into the room. "Starfire, are you okay? Your little outburst scared me." Starfire sighed. "Yeah, Mom, i'm fine. I was just, uh, tired. It was nothing." Nephthys put a wing around her daughter, pulling her close. "Now Starfire, you can tell me anything you want. I won't judge you." Starfire paused, wondering if she should tell her mother about Trinity. 'Don't.' she heard trinity think to her. 'She might take it badly. Trust me.' In her already unstable state, Starfire forgot that Trinity was not a pony. "Trust you?! How the hell am I supposed to trust you, Trinity? You should be glad i'm not doing something worse than yelling, you stupid bi-" Nephthys ran out of the room, startled. Starfire and Trinity, realizing what had happened, were silent. "I'm so sorry, Trinity. Its just that, well, you embarrassed me in front of everypony in the court." Trinity appeared, her avatar appearing as if it had been crying. 'No. I shouldn't have shown you that memory. I wasn't sure if it would cause something like that.' "What does it mean?" Starfire asked. 'What does what mean?' "Memento Mori. It sounds like ancient Equestrian, but my lessons aren't that advanced yet." Trinity looked down and said, 'It means "Remember that you will die".' ________________________________________________ Several hours later, Starfire was awakened by loud yelling. She walked out to her balcony and saw flames rising from the Equestrian district of Batlantis. "Trinity, what do you think is happening?" 'Honestly, Starfire, history has given me two possible reasons. One is some kind of accident. The other, uh, never mind.' "Tell me, Trinity." 'Mass murder.' "Seriously, Trinity, where did you come from that would give you cause to think that?" Trinity remained silent. Starfire unfurled her wings and took off, heading for the flames. Almost immediately, a guard caught her and returned her to the palace. Starfire went down to the library, literally bored out of her mind. ___________________________________________- Twilight was scared. Twenty minutes ago, she had heard rumors of an uprising in another town. Apparently, a bat pony named Brown, his sons, and several slaves had raided an armory in Harpmare's Ferry. Not long after, fire began raining down from bat pony shock troopers currently attempting to suppress any slaves who fought. Despite their training, the troops were no match for the now well armed Equestrians who met them. Twilight had watched as members of the main guard flew in and began slaughtering innocent ponies. Twilight turned and ran towards one of the small alleys of the slave district, fire rushing around her. As she ran, though, Twilight heard a voice behind her. "There she is! That's the one corrupting my daughter!!" Then, Twilight knew nothing. _________________________________________________________ The next morning, Starfire awoke. Her first thought was that she was in the library. Then she felt her mother leaned up against her, stroking her head. "Good morning, Starfire. Slept well?" "Yes ma'am." responded Starfire. Her mother smiled, mentioned something about nothing to worry about, and left. Trinity appeared as soon as they were alone.'Something's wrong. I can tell.' "Oh, pish." replied Starfire, rising from the chair she was in. The library had several rooms filled with books, and for some reason, she was in the advanced history wing. "Trinity, why am I in this wing? I can't read these." 'No, but I can.' Trinity said, chuckling. 'I was curious, and merely borrowed your eyes for the night. It was quite fun.' "How did you do that?" asked Starfire 'Well, I asked you to come in here and read. All I had to do then was take temporary control of you while you slept. It wasn't traumatizing, I hope?' Starfire didn't feel different, so she just shook her head and walked out the door. ______________________________________ 'Latowee looked around at the carnage he'd caused. He had found a caravan of what appeared to be several equines with horns. Using his sword, he killed them, taking the horns as trophies. His actions had fired him up, and he took pride in the killings. Had they been his true enemy, he would have taken their whole heads. However, his journey was a long one, and he set off. He had a job to do. ______________________________________ Starfire immediately noticed the lack of Equestrians around the palace. There was no sign of Twilight anywhere. As she walked, she felt Trinity begin to panic. Confused, Starfire asked what was wrong. 'He's here' responded Trinity. 'He's here, on this planet. Oh I thought Captain Stone had ditched him two weeks ago.' "Who?" asked Starfire. Suddenly, she felt a familiar blackness overcome her ************************************************0000**************************** She was in a small cave, blue light streaming out of a small blue orb on the roof. She noticed the strange feeling in her hooves and realized that she was back in the creature from before. Her host's armor had changed. It was red, with a smaller gold visor around the front. On the ground around her host were several similarly dressed creatures, all dead. In its' hand, it held a triangular blade of energy that was pointed at the scariest creature she'd ever seen. Its' dark blue armor was scratched, and it held a similar blade. However, the other creature's weapon was orange, not blue. Her host spoke. "End of the line, 'Latowee. You're going to pay for killing my team, you sick bastard!" "It won't be so easy, 'Captain Stone'. My blade will find your heart, and you will join them in HELL!!!" it spat, swinging its' blade at Stone. For three minutes, they sparred, until the creature sliced off Stone's right arm. Screaming, he went down, clutching the stump that remained of his arm. A voice broke through his helmet as the creature ran. 'This is AI Prometheus, assigned to Recovery 15. He is down, I repeat, Captain Stone is down.We are at dig sight Alpha Two Bravo. Captain stay calm. Help is on the way.' **************************000********************************* Starfire awoke and sprinted down the corridor. Her mind was made up: tell Twilight about Trinity ASAP. Turning the corner, she ran into her mother, who was standing with several guards. "Starfire! Where are you off to in such a rush?" "Nowhere, mom." Starfire said, lying through her teeth. "Well, ok. I'm just going to wrap up some business, then I'll get dinner ready. And don't you worry. After this, no one will hurt you." Nephthys walked away, and Starfire continued running. She continued the search for hours, until she was too tired to move. Finally admitting defeat, Starfire walked down into the dungeons for some quiet. Once down there, however, she heard voices raised. "Death to the corrupter!" "Nay, damnation!" Curious, Starfire stealthily walked toward the source. Trinity kept telling her not to, but Starfire wouldn't listen. Arriving, she saw a large crowd gathered around one of the pit cells. Suddenly, she heard a panicked voice, so familiar it caused Starfire's fur to rise. "Please, no, d-don't hurt me!" yelled Twilight in fear. "My name isn't Trinity, It's Twilight Whisperer. I don't know what you think I did!" A cloaked figure stood above Twilight, an ax in it's mouth. It appeared to whisper something to Twilight, who stiffened. Then, it raised the ax over its' head and.. "NOOOO!" yelled Starfire, racing towards the executioner. She was so enraged, she didn't notice the faint turquoise glow that surrounded her. Her hoof made contact with the executioner's neck, making a slicing sound. Starfire stopped, her ears deafened by the collective gasp in the room. She looked and saw her father, a mixture of revulsion and fury on his face. Starfire looked at herself, and gasped as well. The armor, perhaps spurred by aggression, had snapped on around her. Looking at her hoof, she realized that the hidden blade within had snapped out. It now retreated into its' sheath, covered in blood. Turning, Starfire looked at the executioner, and froze. Its' hood had fallen off, revealing a gem encrusted crown resting on her head. Her throat, mangled beyond belief, made gurgling noises as she tried to speak. Finally she collapsed, unconscious. Starfire grabbed Twilight and ran, leaving the room full of bat ponies to mourn the loss of one of the most well known ponies in Batlantis. Queen Nephthys.