Chapter Forty-four
Rainbow Dash
If I wasn’t fully alert before, I was now. I knew exactly nothing about Xekora, except that he seemed to have unlimited power and influence. He was constantly there to bring in people with power and reason to fight, as was evident by Trixie and Phil. While good humored, I could still sense something decidedly wrong about him.
That, and the fact remained that he was immortal.
He stood, cleared his throat and began. “A long, long time ago, all of reality was based around, lived and died according to, and was utterly tied to, a grand system of sorts. In this system, a world reaching it’s time would produce a certain number of children, destined to carry on and be the heroes of their world. The age of these children was always the same, but the units of age would often vary. In terms of the years Equestria uses, the children would be more or less thirteen years of age.
“These chosen children would be raised on their home planet as a normal child, raised only by a guardian who would find them as newborns, because, as you see, the both the guardians and the children would be direct products of the system itself, rather than a natural part of the world. The children would venture through a fantasy world, while, unfortunately, their own world would be left to die. Upon completing their quest through this fantasy world, the children would create a new world, and give life to it themselves. This was the grand circle of life, of destruction of one world and birth of another, with the system governing it all serving as the link connecting the two ends.
“However... Approximately six hundred years ago, something went wrong. A group of children began their quest. All seemed to be going perfectly well. However, something else made it through. Something that should have died with their old world. Something that proceeded to grow unreasonably powerful, and wreak untold havoc and destruction upon countless worlds.
“This being managed to utterly screw over their quest so hard, that the system itself crashed. Not only did their own world collapse immediately, but the system was ruined permanently, as what entity could possibly repair something like that? Other worlds began to collapse before their time- some from this entity's immediate influence, some from the lack of support from the old system- and untold zillion-zillions of people died. The governing forces of each individual world began to panic, and were willing to try anything to stop the destruction of all life. These governing forces, of course, were nothing short of Gods.
“Now, enter the grand world of Hyrule. My homeland, one with a bloody but heroic history of darkness being slain by the righteous hero. My world was nearing it’s own time when the system was destroyed, had almost reached the time when we would have shed our old world and be born anew, when the world began collapsing in on itself right in front of our eyes. The chosen heroes had not yet reached the time when they could save us, and things were looking utterly grim. Hyrule was running out of options, and were willing to do anything to save our lives.
“Now, before I go on, you should all understand something about me. Back then, I was a completely different person than I am now. The times I’ve had here changed me completely, but back then... I was, in essence, the bad guy. I was the one sitting on the sidelines, orchestrating events as I saw fit to throw the world into chaos, and seize power in the end. I was the ultimate king of darkness- at least, I would fancy myself to be- and I know that if I had been given the full chance, I could have taken over Hyrule and bring it under my own rule.
“But my plans changed when I witnessed what was befalling my world. It needed saving more than ever before, and I realized that I was the only one capable of saving it. I had been one of the heroes to create the world, and had used one of the artifacts of that quest to give myself the power to do so: the Quest Bed, a venture that would allow the user to elevate themselves to nothing less than godhood, for purposes of finishing their quest, and for ruling their new world afterwards.
“With this power at my disposal, I felt I could do what needed to be done. I made my way to the ancient control center of the world, the Tower of the Gods. Meeting me there was the other surviving hero of that world, the goddess whom everyone adored. Together, we faced off against the entity that was threatening our world. But it was a losing battle. We would surely have died. But another arrived, a woman from another session, who both banished the being to another corner of space, and gave us the answer to our injured world.
"She directed us to a meeting ground, where we found others whose worlds had been wounded, as well as those children from whose world this entity had come. As you can imagine, I was at first outraged, but that demon's actions were not their will. However, the being seemed to have one thing in mind: killing the remaining children from the world he had come from. We couldn't allow that. This entity was our enemy, and if he wanted these heroes dead, we would protect them. I made the hardest decision of my life that day. I left behind Hyrule, left it in the care of the goddess, and joined those heroes, to protect them personally.
"As for the worlds that had been wounded, something had to be done to save them. The remains of some of the wounded worlds were joined, to give support to one another, to form a complete world again. Is that what happened to the world of these heroes? Who can say? I couldn't, I wasn't in charge of that operation. All I knew was that I had traveled to a new world, and had to protect it, for the demon would surely return. And return it did. The surviving heroes were well-hidden, but I would take to the offensive. This conflict was not between the gods, not this time. You will remember this conflict as the Equestrian Civil War.
“I soon ended up allying myself with quite the interesting rag-tag group: a couple of knights and some civilians- though all six were formidable fighters in their own regard- two of each from Dusk, Dawn and Eclipse. But most interesting was the matter of two individuals the group was escorting and assisting in their various quests: none other than our dear Celestia and Luna. But, as you might have guessed, Celestia was a great deal less insane five-hundred years ago, and she’s been gradually losing her mind since.
“It seemed the sisters, both members of the fairly powerful noble House Apollo already, had come to the same conclusion I did, but in different circumstances: While their own world did not seem to be threatened (any longer, perhaps) by The Crash, the civil war was on the path to ripping Equestria to shreds. Something needed to be done to end the war quickly, and the two had discovered a way to do it. You see, the entity that had caused so much destruction was still working its influence, and the princesses knew that if it was removed, tensions would surely drop, and the nations would be at peace.
“To attain power enough to destroy this threat, the sisters made a pact to do whatever it took to protect their kingdom, and soon found exactly what they needed: Another Quest Bed had survived on this planet, and fell into their possession. With the system long dysfunctional, and Equestria nowhere near its time to die, it was clear the bed did not work as it might have. However, after extensive research, we discovered that it would support one unorthodox function: the Dual Godhood. By accepting the ultimate light and darkness and taking each others' lives, Celestia and Luna both ascended to godhood with this one bed.
“There were both some limitations and advantages to this method of godhood. Celestia embodied the ultimate light, and Luna the ultimate darkness, and neither could be killed save for by the other, with the ‘Heroic or Just’ rule still in place as well. This isn’t to say only Luna could kill Celestia or vice-versa, but that only an equal opposite power could. At the time, this made no difference, but today I know Luna’s power has waned severely, while Celestia’s has grown, and Luna stands no chance of defeating her sister alone now. However, if one of the sisters is killed... the other becomes mortal once again. I know what it sounds like I’m suggesting, but no: I do not advocate killing Luna to weaken Celestia. While this would in theory work, I believe there is a better way.
“But to get back to the topic, I watched as the two soared to immortality, seized two of the most powerful weapons in existence- the Blades of Light and Dark- and faced off against this startlingly familiar entity. He took no real definitive form, but brandished the third in the set: The Blade of Blood. Together, along with the six warriors and yours truly, our team successfully brought this being to its knees, and it was sealed away permanently. History would remember nothing of this entity, save for one name recorded by me... Discord.
“After his vanquishment, Celestia ended up ascending to the throne after the current king was slain in battle, and for a time tried to bring the three countries together to hammer out a treaty, but Discord’s damage was lasting. Soon she herself began to fall victim to his chaotic ways, and her attempts at peace soon morphed into a startlingly successful conquest. Luna, retaining her own reasoning, attempted to raise a resistance force to stop her sister, and the six heroes raised arms once again to her aid. I however, remained on the sidelines, having accepted and immersed myself in my role as immortal historian. What happened next is history: Luna’s resistance was obliterated, the young princess sealed away indefinitely, and the six warriors were slain, never to be remembered again by any save for their one remaining friend.
“These six heroes, however, did all start families in between the battles, and their blood carried on through the generations. And now I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that their ultimate descendants... are you six, the Elements of Harmony. That of course extends to all the brothers and sisters you all have, as well as a few other distant descendants dotted around Equestria, but you six are clearly destined to follow in your ancestor’s footsteps and challenge the Queen once again. This is your next objective form me: you will someday be directed to the final resting places of your ancestor, and you must learn from them to become powerful enough to do what must be done.”
Xekora finally paused, letting his words sink in. I had no doubt that his account of events was the accurate one I had been searching for, and was glad I could see what had truly happened at the end of the war. Never before had I heard of any Discord or six heroes, but I suppose it made sense Celestia would cover them up over time. I did have my doubts about his claim that the six of us were tied by blood to these mysterious warriors, as I had no evidence either way. Still... If we were descended from an ancient hero, I’ll bet anything that Ultraviolet knew something about it. I’ll have to remember to ask him about it the next time he decides to bum around in my head.
“Anyway...” Xekora sighed, stretching. “That’s really all I have for you... I’m pretty sure we can find a way to use the Elements of Harmony to bring down the Queen, but we’ll have to keep looking for it. So... did we have anything else do do here today?”
No one elected any further information, and everyone seemed generally tired. The sun was on its way down, and we’d all done nothing but sit around in the woods all day. I could guess that the others felt the same way, and was about to suggest we all head back home, when someone else spoke up first: “You know, I do recall someone mentioning Rainbow Dash over there singing. I dunno about you, but I think I’d like to see that myself.”
I turned to face Phil, who wore a smug expression on his face. He had already showed off with his fancy flying earlier, and now he was calling me out on singing. It was clear this guy wanted a challenge out of me. Once again, while still a bit annoying, I could see something of myself in this ‘Human Phoenix’. I smirked back at him and stood.
An idea began forming as soon as I was on my feet. “Fine. But first... Xekora, I saw some instruments inside your hut when I was poking around this morning... Mind if I borrow that drum set?” I turned slightly to confirm that my plan was already falling into place, with Applebloom already trying to back out. “No, Applebloom, that’s the deal. If I’m singing, you’re playing the drums for me. Can’t sing with no music.”
“If you’ve got a guitar in there, I can play that.” Scootaloo offered excitedly. A few minutes later we had set up the instruments off to the side and were doing a bit of a practice run. Applebloom was, of course, still as good as ever at her post: it was in fact Applejack who had picked up a few tricks to it from her over the years. Scootaloo could play his chosen instrument well enough, though took a bit longer to get warmed up.
After a bit of conferring, we decided unanimously on a song to play, and took only a moment to get ready. The guitar, held curiously backwards by Scootaloo and played with his left hand, began with a soft rhythm, and drew the full attention of everyone in the clearing. I cleared my throat silently and began as soon as the arc began to repeat, an un-contained smile on my face:
“I’ll take these storms away,
Start, a brand new story,
I’ll make it through each day,
Singing death or glory,
Lord, won’t answer me,
I, won’t let it bring me down...”
Applebloom’s drums began in the background at the beginning of the next verse:
“And though these clouds are grey,
That I’m living under,
I know I’ll be okay,
With, the rain or thunder,
I hear it calling me,
I’ll go marching to the sound...”
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Psst. Imma be out of character for a minute and give you the song.