//------------------------------// // Knowing The Past // Story: Tristan's New Life // by ShadowVoltstreaker //------------------------------// "Celestia. I think it would be in the best interest of everypony… if you told us what exactly we'll be up against in the future." "I didn't want to…. However, it seems that I have no choice in the matter." Her horn glew a soft yellow and a book appeared before her. Using her magic to open the book and turn the pages she stops and looks up at us before reading. "This book, is called Tarragonian History. Otherwise known as The Dragon's History, it was a gift from the Head Dragon, as a sign of peace." "In history there has been but one, cross breeding of Pony and Dragon. The Dragon Fafnir, was an ambassador of the Dragons and coincidentally the pony, Silent Rain, was an ambassador for the ponies. Nothing is known of how these two fell in love, but it is believed that it is because of them both being ambassadors, designed to promote better relations for ponies and dragons. Although their love was not forbidden they still had to endure the Insults from pony and Dragons alike. However after two years, they birthed the first half Pony, half Dragon offspring, naming him Slipstream." Pausing she took in a breath, "Slipstream was, at first glance any normal Pony, however he had an ability that he gained from his Dragon Half, which was dubbed-" "The Ardourian Veil…" I whispered. "Correct." She responded, after clearing her throat she continued, "The Ardourian Veil (see page 118 for description), was triggered by Slipstream's emotions. Rage, causing him to ‘activate’ it, while the opposite, causing him to revert to normal. Throughout his whole life Slipstream had been bullied and discriminated. Occasionally he would lose his temper, causing 'The Ardourian Veil' to appear. Because of this, the villagers saw him as a threat to the kingdom, and themselves. Even though both dragon and pony rulers saw it as a chance to better increase relations with the other, the citizens of both had taken it upon themselves to kill the parents and their offspring. However, on the day of the execution Slipstream was nowhere to be found." Pausing, she turns the page, "27 years later Slipstream returned to the village that killed both his mother and father, burning the entire village to the ground, along with anyone currently residing there, he continued to the Pony castle, believing that it was the rulers that ordered his and his parents execution. King Solstice and Queen Equinox hadn't wished to fight Slipstream however, he left them no choice." ~Equestria, Past~ Inside the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters in the inner chambers were three ponies; two were sitting in large golden thrones which were placed above a set of stairs, while the last was standing in the middle of the room, baring his teeth at the two. The ground underneath the pony had flames that were steadily increasing in size, charring anything they came in contact with. Regardless, the ponies in thrones were unflinching. "We have already told you. We wished for you to live in either the dragon kingdom, or the pony kingdom without harm. The citizens were the ones who took it upon themselves to kill your parents." King Solstice said. "And you expect me to believe that? Those weak foals who would do anything for their 'rulers' would go against their direct wish?" Slipstream said, his rage was overwhelming him, slightly changing his body. "It is the truth. If you do not wish to believe it, we understand." Queen Equinox told Slipstream. They must think I'm some kind of moron! No matter… I already torched that whole village and those inside it. Slipstream thought to himself. "However." Solstice began, getting Slipstream's attention. "You have killed an entire village and even a few of my most trusted guards. This alone is punishable by death." "What about those that killed my parents? Did they get some kind of punishment?" Slipstream slammed his hoof down, causing a slight tremor and a hole to be formed. "Yes. We had already executed those who disobeyed our orders." Equinox spoke up. "As I have said, you destroyed an entire village, an act that is punishable by death." Solstice said, the last word said with power. "But because we see it as an act that was not entirely your fault, we have decided to only imprison you until we see that you can control your powers." Equinox said, smiling at Slipstream. "We have?" Solstice responded, turning to his wife, slightly shocked. After she shot him an angry glance he looked back to Slipstream, "Yes. Yes we have." "Let me think about this a moment. Option 1: I kill you both and take control over Equestria and then move on and kill the Dragon leaders. Or, option 2: spend over a millennia in the dungeons trying to 'control my powers'." Putting his hoof to his chin he seemingly thought it over. An unnerving grin slowly formed across his face and his body erupted into flames. "I think I'll stick with option 1." "Very well. I have no choice then, even though it pains me to do so, I must stop you to protect my kingdom." King Solstice said, lifting himself from his throne and moving towards Slipstream. ~Equestria, Present time~ "The battle lasted three days, neither King Solstice nor Slipstream wanting to give in. The castle had been severely burnt and some of the stones even melted from the intense heat. Although he didn't want to do it King Solstice reluctantly gathered the rest of his magic and directed it at Slipstream. Even though his body now had flames protruding from his back and mouth, as soon as the blast connected with his body he seemingly evaporated and disappeared." Closing the book and letting out a sigh Celestia looked at me and Crossback. "So what did your father do to Slipstream?" I said. "He banished him to the sun. Where it was thought he would be burned alive, as cruel as it sounds. However, it seems that Slipstream has been living on the sun all this time, biding his time in wait for something strong enough to contain all his power." Celestia said, looking at me. "So he used me to aid in his escape after all? I thought as much…" "Yes, but as I said he needed somepony strong enough to contain him, that also means this pony had to have been storing immense amounts of hatred and rage." When she said that she looked concerned. "You haven't been harboring some kind of hatred for anypony have you?" "Besides you? Nah, I could never make you feel left out." “Honestly… Everypony has some kind of hatred in them. But I don’t really remember being all that mad until…” “Until?” Celestia pressed. “Until Dash drank all the cider!” I shouted in a whiny voice. Celestia and Crossback looked at me for a moment before shaking their heads, “Okay… well Princess, do you suppose we wait for Slipstream to come to us or do we find him?” "I do not want you all to search for him. I do not want any of my little ponies to get hurt." Celestia replied. "Couldn't we just use the energy that Blaze gives off as a sort of locator?" Crossback added. "Hey yeah we could do that!" I said, silently cheering. "No, if we were to use a locator spell directly on Blaze's other form he would be destroyed." She quickly replied, “And as I said, I do not want any of my little ponies to get hurt.” “Blaze isn’t exactly ‘little’.” Crossback mumbled under his breath. “Bro, my ears are large and floopy, I heard what ya said!” “Nothing beats a meat shield.” He shrugged. Turning back to Crossback I say, "That sir is a horrible idea and I cannot believe you would suggest something as such as that." "Ill just pretend you didn't say that." Crossback said, shaking his head. "All right then your highness, we will be taking our leave, thanks for all you've done." I said, bowing to her. "Think nothing of it Blaze, both of you have a safe trip." She replied, turning back around to go back to bed. "Want me to teleport us back?" Crossback asked. "Nope, were going to race back to Twilight's house." I replied. "Oh? You sure about that?" "Sure am. Come on, let's start at the castle entrance." I said, trotting towards the doors. "All right, you're on!" Quickly opening the doors I gallop to the entrance of the castle, opening the doors I look behind me for Crossback and notice he isn't there. "Where'd that dude go?" turning back around I see Crossback leaning on the wall reading a newspaper wearing reading glasses. Briefly looking up at me closes the newspaper and puts his glasses in his cloak's pocket. "I've been waiting patiently for you to get here so we can race." "I'm not even going to acknowledge that… Are you ready?" "Yeah, I just hope you are." "Hey, sir?" I say, turning to one of the guards. "Yes?" he replied, his gaze shifting towards mine for a moment. "Do you mind counting down for us to go?" He looked at the guard next to him who just nodded and kept a lookout, "Not at all... Ready?" Me and Crossback got into our positions. "Set?!" Our wings flared, exchanging a glance we both nod at each other. "Go!" We took off, actually blowing over both guards and blasting the doors to the castle open. I felt the wind whipping back my mane and tail, looking over to Crossback I see he's right beside me. Grinning I pump my wings harder trying to gain the advantage, looking back over to my side I see Crossback a little bit behind me and slowly gaining. Rainbow's POV "Blaze!" I shouted, flying towards him as fast as I could. No matter how fast I went he was getting farther and farther out of my grasp until he disappeared all together. Slowing down I look once more to where Blaze was just moments ago. "Blaze…" Behind me I could hear slow breathing and coughing, turning around quickly to face whatever it was I saw Blaze on the ground laying down, his fur was a slightly different color but I still recognized the stallion I fell in love with. Smiling happily I gallop over towards him, only to step in a warm liquid. Looking to the ground I see… Blood. Darting my gaze back up to Blaze I quickly move towards him and sit down next to him. "Blaze! Blaze!" I shout, shaking him. "Blaze!" I scream, I felt the tears drench the fur under my eyes. Hours seemingly passed while I tried to wake him. Slowly he opened his eyes and let out a cough. Relieved I smiled at him. "Hey Dashie…" Blaze said, his voice was scratchy and slow but he was alive, and that's all that matters. "D-don't talk, were going to go get some help ok? And then you'll be perfectly fine." I said, looking out into the vast nothingness that I failed to see before. Grabbing my hoof he said, "Nah… don't worry about it…" Turning back to him I shout, "What do you mean don't worry about it? You'll die if you don't get some medical help!" "I’ll die anyways Dash… we both know that." He chuckled a little before coughing up a little blood, staining his fur. "No don't say that! You're going to be perfectly fine! And then we'll go home and fly around, and you can take the best spot in the couch and and-" I was cut off by him lifting up his hoof. "No.. we won't. Don’t delude yourself love.” "No! we will! You just have to stay with me!" I shouted. Blaze closed his eyes and let out another heavy cough that splattered blood. "Blaze?!" I squeaked out. "Hey Dashie…" he said, slowly opening his eyes and smiling. "Do you remember… how we first ran into each other?" blood was slowly starting to trickle out from his mouth. "Of course." I choked out even though tears were staring to pour out again. "It was when you first came to Ponyville… I was practicing a move for The Wonderbolts… and I lost control and crashed into you. And I woke up on your chest…" "Yeah… and I called you… sunshine." He started to laugh but quickly choked and started coughing up blood. "Oh no… We have to find some help and fast!" I said, "Is anypony there!?" I yelled as loud as I could. Yet, my only response was an echo that carried over. "Don't worry about it I said… I already know that I'm dying… and there isn't anything… that can be done about it." "No don't say that, you're going to live ok? You are!" I said, the tears now dripping into the blood at the floor. "Dashie… I'll always love you…" "I love you too Blaze now please, be quiet so you don't bleed out." I pleaded, trying to prevent the inevitable. "Remember…” he said in a low voice. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear any words. “Wh-what?” He smiled at me and raised his hoof to my face, “I’ll always love you.” his hoof dropped to the ground, his chest lowered one last time… and then nothing. Fortune's POV It's been a few hours since Blaze and Crossback went to go see the Princesses; Scootaloo woke up an hour or so ago and has been waiting next to Rainbow for her to wake up, or for Blaze to come back, whichever happened first. To consume some time we decided to clean up the library and eat whatever was on the table. Most everypony left but me, Twilight, AJ, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and the CMC members. Now we all sit and wait in a circle on the floor, besides Scootaloo and Rainbow of course. "I hope the princesses can do something to help.." Fluttershy spoke up, breaking the silence. "I'm positive that they will Fluttershy." Twilight replied. "Are you sure there wasn't anything in your books Twilight?" Rarity said, looking over to Twilight. Twilight lowered her head and let out a sigh "Yes… sadly there was nothing in them, me and Night even triple checked to make sure…" "Then all we can do is sit and wait for Crossback and Blaze to come back, either with good or bad news…" I said. "I have to say… I was actually kind of scared when Blaze just… changed like that." Night commented, we shuddered at the memory. "Remind me again, when did he change into… that?" Twilight said, even though we told her about ten times. "Like I said before… while we were standing outside the cave getting ready to go in Blaze started acting strange, so I turned around to see if he was alright… his eyes were pitch black and he looked like he would destroy anything in his path. Then when we were inside the cave and Gieremund had said he killed Rarity, Blaze's body started to slowly change into what you saw a while back." I said, tired of repeating myself. "I thought so… but something doesn't add up here…" Twilight said, putting a hoof to her chin. "Whatcha mean?" AJ said, a little curious. "Well think about it, why would Gieremund lie about killing Rarity… it's almost as if he was trying to get Blaze to turn into… that thing." We were all shocked, none of us had even thought about it. Why did Gieremund want Blaze to change into that thing? And what exactly did he say when Blaze had his hoof on his chest? All of these questions rebounded off the walls of my mind until they were interrupted by a loud 'Boom' echoing through the library. Grasping my sword I looked at each of the ponies around the room and anything around, unable to find anything capable of making that loud noise. Next thing I hear are two sliding sounds coming from behind the door. Quickly getting up and moving towards the door I put my ear to it, listening. "I beat you!" a familiar voice said. "Don't fool yourself I beat you!" another familiar voice said. Opening the door I felt a smile cross my mouth. Blaze is back to his old self, besides his coat being a slightly darker shade, and he has Crossback in a hold giving him a nuggie. After seeing me Blaze lets Crossback go and gives his smile, "Hey there Fortune, we're back."