((3rd Person))
Celestia awoke drowsily from her nap. The last few memories escaped her, but as she saw Twilight looking worriedly down at her, and Discord with his face in the tiled flooring, events quickly unfolded in front of her.
"Celestia, are you okay?" she heard Twilight call, the sound of her voice slightly muffled through the Princess' ears.
"Ugh... I'm-I'm fine, Twilight. Just a little dazed. Where's Shiro?" she asked, her speech a little slurred. She hadn't had a good thrashing like that in too long. On a more positive note, her sinuses were rid of the blocking that had signalled the dawn of a cold.
"He went to the vault to get something that belongs to him." Twilight replied.
"The arrogant bastard!" Celestia fumed as Twilight's information registered with her. She wobbled to her hooves and made track for the door, stepping over Discord who proceeded to groan as a result. Twilight blinked for a moment and scuttled after her mentor.
"Princess, wait! He gave me a message to tell you when you woke up." Twilight called over Celestia's shoulder.
"It'll have to wait. If Shiro finds out my password for the vault, he'll get the wrong idea." Celestia called back, running faster. Twilight struggled to keep up with the older Alicorn, going so far as to glide after her.
The two alicorns arrived at the vault door to find a guard passed out with his mouth cut open and a spear by the far wall. Celestia immediately figured out what had happened and sighed, calling a couple of guards over to tend to their fallen comrade.
Looking through the dome into the almost pearl white vault, Celestia and Twilight spotted Shiro with great difficulty, just sitting in the middle of the room, staring into space.
"Let me in, Shiro!" Celestia ordered. The white wolf turned his head and cracked his neck, the sound echoing to their ears, amplified by the large room. Almost as if that were the trigger, the dome of magical rings vanished, opening up the path to the vault. Celestia and Twilight both stepped through, the dome reappearing behind them. Twilight reamined a few steps into the vault entrance while Celestia went ahead, keeping a cautious (and although she wouldn't admit it) curious eye on her old friend.
Shiro stood staring into space, seemingly lost for thought. Celestia looked around to find each and every vault door opened, but what he was looking for was not among them.
"Don't worry, I didn't break your shit. But I never knew you were such a hoarder." he said, falling to his stomach in exhaustion. Celestia wasn't sure what to make of Shiro. He seemed sane at the time, then he knocked her out but didn't act weird when he couldn't find what he was looking for and she'd managed to catch him.
"What's going on, Shiro? This isn't you." she said. Shiro just huffed at her.
"What exactly did you expect? I told you that the old me was dead. I'm dead." he said as if scolding her. Celestia watched as Shiro removed his skull fragment of Shaiya, and then proceed to bash his head on the ground. She knew he'd hit it hard as her nearest leg was stained with blood.
"Shiro." she said as calmly as she could manage, but as he began to repeatedly destroy his face, she began to see just how much he'd suffered over the years. For a moment, she spotted something in his eyes. A wildness that she'd only ever seen in deranged wolves. His pupils had dilated. He then did something she knew he never would were he sane. He threw Shaiya's skull fragment away. Celestia caught it before it could hit the ground and chip away even further.
Shiro continued to surprise her by making a sound akin to a howl and a cry. The sound was more painful to Celestia than anything she'd endured before.
"Shiro STOP!" she tried.
"DON'T...CALL ME THAT!!!" Shiro suddenly belted, frightening Celestia speechless. "I'M NOT HIM ANYMORE!!! I'M NOT SHIROYAMI... I'M NOT EVEN HALF OF WHAT HE WAS... I'm just dead... and this is Hell. Spending THOUSANDS OF YEARS! Trying to pull myself back together only to find fragments of my memory still missing and friends in despair at the sight of me."
She didn't know what to do or say. Celestia had always been a selfless being, especially when it had come to Shiroyami; but to see the white wolf in this state just overpowered her anger towards him. She couldn't bare to see him in this state. Her mind raced with options she could take to end this quickly. She didn't want to forgive him, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be friends again but she did want to see an end to his suffering.
*BUCK*
((1st Person))
I felt warmth engulf me. It wasn't the kind of warmth that made you sweat under the collar. Actually, it was somewhat familiar to me, though I couldn't quite place it. My eyes felt heavy, like they were weighted down by fishing weights. Regardless, I forced them open, the water creeping to the surface beneath. The recollection of that warmth hit me like one of Celestia's hard bucks. The warmth was her. She was by nature, warmer than any other living creature, her core body temperature matching that of the sun itself.
At that moment, I forgot everything. All I remembered was that one moment after we'd escaped the research facility. I'd proven myself capable of being the leader, as I was the strongest, and by nature, I was an Alpha Wolf. That night, Celestia had kept we warm, as had Luna. They'd tucked themselves at either side of me and slept peacefully. Now all that was missing was Luna.
"You're awake." a voice said from behind us. I craned my neck around to see a Lavender form out of the corner of my eye. Twilight.
"So it seems..." I replied, keeping my gaze towards her. "How long has she been here?" I asked.
"The whole time; two days now. Luna's had to raise the sun for once. Though she wasn't very happy about you taking Celestia away from her duties, I'm sure she was giddy on the inside, having the chance to do what Celestia did for a thousand years." she replied, eliminating any chance of small talk.
"And you?" I asked.
"What about me?" she asked.
"How long have you been here?" I replied.
"About an hour. I was hoping Celestia would wake up first. She needs to get back to her duties." Twilight replied. For such an intelligent pony, she was incredibly dense.
"It's night-time, Twilight; she has at best, nine hours left until she has to return to her duties." I said. Even out of the corner of my eye, I could see Twilight scowl at me. She was furious at me. "Did you want anything else?" I asked.
"Yes, an apology." she replied.
"For what?"
"Where to begin. You lied to me about your purpose in coming here, you fought with Celestia and Discord both, though Discord had it coming to him. You then broke into the vault and caused serious damage to one of the guards." she replied.
"I warned him not to touch the glyphs, he didn't listen." I stated.
"Be that as it may, that still leaves two things for you to apologise for." she retorted.
"You want me to say 'I'm sorry'? Too bad. I'm done apologising for things." I said, turning away from her.
"Then tell me what happened. I want the full story, you owe me at least that much." she said. She was right. The story needed to be told. Perhaps by telling it, it might trigger another fraction of memory.
"Fine. I'll tell you all I know:"
((3rd Person))
5000 years ago...
The group had just finished gathering their evening meals. The carnivores had hunted their food, making sure to steer clear of their comrades' respective races. The herbivores had gathered fruits, vegetables, berries, the like. They sat in a circle in a clearing within what would eventually be called the Everfree Forest. The nastier creatures had all congregated to that forest after having been driven to the edge of extinction thanks to the group they surrounded.
"Hey, Discord; sheep aren't relatives of your race are they?" Abbadon asked, his black fur covering the crimson sheeps blood on his maw. Discord snapped his head up in irritation.
"Does my kind look like sheep to you, Abbadon?" the goat asked irritably.
"Well, it's just that you make that strange sound and I figured there had to be a connection." Abbadon replied, a grin plastered on his face.
"Sheep bay, Abbadon. Goats bleat. There's a difference." Luna said, lifting up a berry and placing it daintily in her mouth.
"Can you believe; three million years and he only asks that question now?!" Discord complained, throwing his hooves towards his black comrade.
"Don't take it personally, D. For a jaguar, Abbadon's pretty slow in the brain department." a white wolf with black trimmings along his head said.
"Shut up, Shiroyami! I'm smarter than you." Abbadon declared.
"And it shows; that plan you had for frightening an Elephant by letting it step on your head and regenerating worked brilliantly... well, if it had seen you regenerate, it would have." Shiroyami countered, earning chuckles and snickers from the others, Discord included. Abbadon growled at him.
"What about that time I tripped that boar with my trap?" the jaguar defended.
"Right next to the boar cage. The thing flipped over and broke the gate, freeing all the others." more chuckles.
"What about that young Rhino?! I had him cornered!"
"Right between his mother's front legs. You came home with a horn up your nostril." tears came from the others as they laughed so hard.
"What about that other trap I made for a Giraffe? That one worked." Abbadon countered.
"On you." Shiroyami replied. Berries rolled on the floor alongside their owners as the bowls were tipped over. Abbadon kept quiet, settling with an angry glare.
"Shiro, leave him alone. It's not Abbadon's fault he has bad luck with hunting. And it's not as if it's all the time. He had a successful hunt tonight, didn't he?" a black wolf with white polka-dots said, snuggling up to Shiroyami.
"He did... then he waited until after he'd started eating to check and see if his kill was in any way related to goats." Shiro said. More chuckles ensued as the black wolf gave Shiroyami a stare as if to say that was enough.
"Honey." she began.
"Alright, alright. I'll leave him alone," Shiroyami said, returning to his own dinner, which he shared with the other wolf beside him.
"Thank you." she said, tucking in.
"With his bleating sheep." Shiroyami finished under his breath. Everyone present heard him anyway and burst into hysterics. Abbadon on the other paw stood up and stormed off in a tiff. All the while, the black wolf stared disapprovingly at her mate.
"I'll get him back." he sighed, standing to follow the black jaguar.
"Come on, Shaiya; you know Shiroyami was just teasing." Celestia said, turning to the black wolf.
"When you turn on your friends, it can cause conflicts that may never heal, no matter how much time passes. I don't ever want us to be broken apart, and if that means I have to kick Shiro into submission despite his role among us, then that's what I'll do." Shaiya replied, her cyan eyes passing over each and every member there. Chrysalis smiled at the black wolf, the black widow, digging into a mouse's carcass.
Shiroyami found Abbadon sitting on the edge of a cliff, looking up at the moon. He seemed upset, given that his ears were folded back, making him look like a black seal.
"Thoughts of our favourite Cobalt mare, Abbadon?" Shiroyami asked, drawing the black jaguar's attention to him. The feline huffed and looked back up at the moon.
"Hardly, you know I love only Shaiya." he replied.
"Hey, she chose me, dude. You know this." the white wolf defended.
"Of course I know that. What I don't know is why you have to single me out like that. It's bad enough that you got the girl, but now you gotta get everyone else?" Abbadon asked, looking cross with him.
"Don, it's Shiroyami you're talking to. I make fun of everyone from time to time. Remember Luna couldn't pronounce the letter 'L', so she kept calling herself 'Woona'? We called her that until she learned how to say her name properly. Tears were shed every now and then, but in the end, it was all in good fun." Abbadon didn't seem stirred by this knowledge/memory. "We've all been together for three million years, give or take a few hundred thousand. There's very little left to entertain us anymore, and making fun of each other from time to time just takes the edge off. isn't that what friends do? Crack a few jokes from time to time?"
Abbadon sighed and looked down at the forest below, the camp fire from the others glowing through the trees. "It's all well and good for you. You're flawless. No-one makes jokes about you." he replied. Shiroyami drew back from the comment.
"Not true, old friend. The girls have a little laugh amongst themselves. Chrysalis said I was whipped, now that Shaiya's with me. I'm not sure what that means, but-." Shiroyami was interrupted by laughter from the black jaguar.
"It means that between you two, she's the Alpha. Think for a moment, you wouldn't have come to see me now if she hadn't given you the stare, right?" he asked. Shiroyami considered his words for a moment before widening his eyes.
"Son of a bitch!" he said, staring off into space.
"I'm not sure how to comment on that innuendo." Abbadon replied. The both of them chuckled between each other for a moment before a sight caught their eyes.
"Shooting star?" Abbadon asked as it came closer.
"No, it's inside the atmosphere. Meteorite, possibly a comet." Shiroyami replied.
"It's gonna hit just beside the camp." Abbadon stated.
"Let's make sure it doesn't hit it directly." Shiroyami said. Abbadon disappeared in a puff of black smoke while Shiroyami leaped off the cliff. He landed on one of his magic glyphs before it flipped facing towards the camp. Shiroyami was sent flying towards the camp at break-neck speed.
Fire lit up the trees around the camp as the comet touched down a few yards into the tree line. Sombra and Chrysalis had gathered between Celestia and Shaiya, with Luna on Celestia's other side and Discord on Shaiya's. Abbadon appeared within their shadows, becoming solid as his entire body escaped the shadows.
"See what it was?" the jaguar asked, stepping around Luna.
"The ponies said they could feel something inside the comet. It's evil, whatever it is. Sombra's not even speaking, he's in shock." Discord replied.
"Do we know what this something is?" Shiroyami asked, landing calmly in front of Shaiya.
"No. All we know is it's evil, as in pure...made of evil, evil." Chrysalis replied, jumping onto Shiroyami's nose and crawling up between his ears.
"Right... Well, let's take a look-see, shall we?" Shiroyami asked, dropping into a bolt towards the comet's crash site.
The scene was fairly impressive; the impact dragged along for a hundred metres, ending in a large silvery comet made of what looked like Onyx.
"A crystal comet?" Shaiya asked, examining the object more closely.
"Crysstal!" Sombra commented, leaning closer to look through it.
"Thanks for the input there, Sombra. Any idea what this evil is that you said you felt?" Shiroyami asked, turning to the ponies.
"Inssside the crysstal." Sombra spoke again. As if the words were a trigger, the blackness of the crystal comet shrank into the centre, leaving the object looking like a clear diamond. Something black and amorphous shot out one of the crystals' tips, becoming invisible in the dark of night.
"It's more evil than I thought," Celestia began. " The comet was acting as a seal for the creature, it's literally radiating darkness. This thing might be able to kill us." she concluded. There was a dead silence before the creature in the crystal made its presence known to the Immortals.
((1st Person))
Present Day.
"We followed the creature to an old warehouse that still stood strong. Some of us were afraid, others determined to stop it before it made a mess of our way of life. I myself was eager to get a good workout. We weren't prepared for what we saw." I said, shivering. Twilight had decided to take down notes as if she were writing my auto-biography. Perhaps that could act as a memory booster.
"What did you see?" she asked.
"It's hard to describe. It had a form, but at the same time it didn't. It was like a Changeling, but not solid, you know? Its form held aspects of things we all feared. It spoke to us, its voice, chilling us to the bone. The only way I could describe it would be to call it the definition of 'evil incarnate'." I said, shuddering at the memory.
"What happened then?" Twilight asked, seemingly unaffected.
"We fell." I replied plainly. " Abbadon and Sombra were the first to attack the creature, followed by Chrysalis, then Shaiya. Needless to say, they failed. That's where my memory gets foggy. The next thing I remember, I awake surrounded by fire and rubble. I realise that I ran, but I can't recall why. It was when I noticed Shaiya's skull that I lost all sense of sanity. And... here we are, you know the rest. I wandered for eternity, regaining fragments of who I was." I replied. Twilight was silent for a moment as she jotted it all down.
"One thing puzzles me," she noted. "You described yourself as having two black lines along your face, but you're pure white, all the way down to the colour of your irises. What changed?" she asked. It surprised me to no end that she seemed unphazed by the story, like it was no more than something I made up on the spot.
"The lines were a sign of my power. When I lost my mind, my full comprehension of my abilities was diminished." I replied, lying back down to rest my head on the soft white pillow.
"You're saying that the magic we've seen so far wasn't the full extent of your abilities?" Twilight asked.
"Right. My magic deals in force alteration. Currently, I can amplify whatever force touches the glyphs tenfold in order to make things stronger, I can then reflect the force of the blow back at the enemy. Theoretically, at full strength, lines and all, I should be able to do much more. I could turn the landing of a feather into a planet-cracking blow." Now, Twilight showed awe.
"But you'd have to multiply that by three-hundred-billion to the hundredth power!" she exclaimed, stirring Celestia.
"You're talking to an Immortal who spent three million years as the leader of a group consisting of the spirit of Chaos, the sun and the moon, shadows, shape-shifting, crystals and harmony." I replied. Twilight was speechless for a moment.
"Wait, crystals?" she asked.
"Sombra." I said. Twilight gave an understanding expression that suggested the answer should have been obvious to her.
"You said Harmony, who was that?" she asked.
"Shaiya's real ability was the manipulation of Nature. She created the Everfree Forest as our own personal hunting grounds. But she had another ability that didn't come from our Immortality or any genetic modification. Shaiya brought harmony to us all, even at the worst of times. It was her that reminded us that we were a family. Abbadon and I often fought for her affection, and when she chose me, she managed to calm Abbadon down so he wouldn't disrupt the peace we had for so long. You could say she was the glue that stuck us all together." I said, recalling the good times (the ones I had in my memory at least).
"Did she create the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked. I pondered the idea for a moment.
"I don't believe so. If anything, she might have been the foundation of the Elements. I imagine after the others escaped the creature, they banded together to create the Elements in her memory. You'd have to ask one of the others." I said.
"On that note, what exactly happened to the creature? Where'd it go?" she asked.
"I don't know. I never saw it again. Didn't even hear of it since that day. I figure it must have survived off of the others' torment and when they escaped, it starved to death." I replied.
((3rd Person))
Twilight closed the door behind her, leaving Shiro and Celestia alone to sleep for the night. Her friends were there waiting for any news. They grew worried when Twilight fell to the floor in a heap, shock and fear planted on her face the likes of which nopony had ever seen.
"So, did you get the story? How bad was it?" Rainbow Dash asked, leaning in close to examine her friend.
"I wish I never asked. I've got so many more questions but I'm afraid to ask, because his past terrifies me. I'll never look at Celestia or Luna the same way again, even Discord will forever be something for me to fear." she replied. The girls did not want to hear that.
"What's going on, darling?" Rarity urged.
"Shiro left some things out, but it's pretty obvious that Celestia, Luna, Sombra, Discord, Chrysalis, Abbadon and Shaiya were captured by this strange creature and tortured to the brink of insanity. It altered not just their minds, but their appearances as well. Seems only Celestia and Luna managed to retain their sanity, Luna only retained it to a certain extent." she replied.
"Wait, the princesses were friends with Discord, Chrysalis and Sombra?" Dash asked, shell-shocked.
"Yes. Discord was a goat, Chrysalis was a spider and Sombra was a pony, just like the princesses before the creature tortured them all." Twilight replied.
"Maybe Shiro was tortured too and the others just can't remember him being there?" Fluttershy suggested, the thought making her physically sick.
"No, Shiro remembers running away. He doesn't remember why, his loyalty to his friends can't be called into question, even now. Something in his eyes tells me that there's a logical reason behind his leaving them that even he doesn't know about. On a cheerier note, turns out we have Shaiya to thank for the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said, changing the subject, happily.
"Shaiya created the Elements?" Rarity asked.
"No, but the others, not including Shiro, created them in memory of Shiaya before they parted ways." Twilight replied.
"Ya got that from a wolf who's crazier than Granny Smith when the Timber Wolves start a-howlin'?" Applejack asked, sounding sceptical.
"He seems to have good moments and bad ones." Twilight said.
"Ah think he's makin' it all up just ta get some sympathy. He's probably lyin' through his teeth." Applejack declared.
"You didn't see him, AJ. No sane creature does what he did." Twilight said.
"What'd he do?" Dash asked.
"Bashed his head repeatedly against the floor of the vault. I heard his skull crack from all the way outside." she replied. The ponies shuddered at the image that gave them.
"So what do we do, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking like her mane was on the verge of drooping.
"W're going to try and bring Shiro back to his old self. We'll start by helping him make up with Celestia and Luna."