//------------------------------// // Dead Silence // Story: Dead Silence // by Silence //------------------------------// Silence stepped through the portal. The mysterious matter made her feel like she was submerging into a pool of warm water. She felt her hooves touch the rough, dusty dirt ground as she slipped her legs all the way through. She pushed down onto the ground, yanking the rest of her body through the exit of her mind. She pulled through it with ease and looked back up to try to catch one last glimpse of her mom. Much to her dismay, the portal had vanished, leaving no traces that she had ever been there. She focused her attention now to the environment around her and was momentarily stunned. The normal bright, cheery, playful nature of Equestria was completely stripped from the desolate land around her. It was now replaced by a dark, lifeless, arid feeling. She refocused once again on the task she had to complete. As dark as this place was, it was still her home and she was willing to fight to reclaim and return it to its full glory. She walked up to the usually open and guarded gates. The gates that she saw were nothing like this. They were rusted and dark with vines creeping up on them and intertwining. She placed a hoof on it and pushed slightly. A large creaking sound was heard and a shell of rust separated itself from the large entryway. The doors were slightly ajar and she slipped in between them. She was greeted by a horrible sight. The once illustrious, magnificent, popular city was now nothing more than ruined piles of stone, charred wooden remains, and seemingly lifeless. A feeling of emptiness started to creep into her heart as she took in the sight before her. How long had it been since she had disappeared from this world? Things were aesthetically different but the passages and alleyways between the buildings were still the same. She could see the castle in front of her. It looked like the average evil, corrupted castle that you would picture from a fairy tale or legend. The once white and gold stones were now a smoke grey and faded, sickly green vines rose and dived between the cracks in the stones. The aura that was emitted from the large structure was vile and dark. She could almost feel as if the hatred and power that Revenge harbored was trying to seep into her and pollute her. She shuddered at the thought, then proceeded up the pathway to the castle. She approached the courtyard in the middle of the castle. Much to her disbelief, this part was left unscathed by the evil, unlike the rest of Canterlot. The soft, bright, lively green grass stile stood, looking as if it had been kept care of this entire time. The large, old, wise oak tree still stood where it had, knowledge lurking within’ its crevices and leaves. She stared into its hole, the swirling bark acting as a hypnotic pendulum, attracting her gaze and controlling her thoughts. She snapped her sight from it and proceeded along the mossy cobblestone ground towards the Grand Throne room. The doors to the room looked different the usual polish, gold trimmed, mahogany doors the previously stood there. Instead, the doors were a sleek, onyx black, ebony color stone with a silver lining. Silence controlled her breathing and tried to keep her heart from pulsating so violently, for she feared that with how loud it seemed, Revenge might be wary of her presence. She nudged the door open ever so slowly, making her entry almost completely silent. She then slipped in and crept over to one of the suits of armor lining the walls. She slowly and stealthily took a sword belt and placed it upon herself, fitting it to her size. She then proceeded towards Revenge, trying to get close enough to incapacitate her without having to fight. “I was wondering how long it’d take you to escape from your mind. It’s been a few years here and look, with you out of the picture, I have once again reclaimed Equestria for myself. Beautiful what I’ve done with the place don’t you think? It has this sort of, dismal, vengeful feel to it. I personally think it reveals the truthful side to this place. It will show everypony that deep down within’ each of your sweet, harmless, loving hearts there lurks an evil. It just needs to be played with and egged on in order to reveal itself. Ponies everywhere will finally be able to achieve their full potential! We can create more havoc and destruction with the unbridled power of all of the pegasi and unicorns in this infernal place!” spoke Revenge with a maniacal twinge of happiness. She seemed to have this feeling like she was the villain in all of this. The air around her and thoughts in her mind seemed to have figured that by some twisted logic, she was in the right. Silence glared at her and watched as Revenge lifted herself off her throne and grabbed her blade from the side of the large, onyx, ruby encrusted throne. Her blade was a piece of master craftsmanship. The hilt was a dark grey that was almost completely covered by the red velvet the wrapped around it. The hand-guard was fashioned completely out of gold and resembled a spider web. The blade was a slim, shiny, smooth silver piece of work. A lot better than the steel blade the Silence had grabbed but she would have to make do with what she had. “Come on child! Attack me! I wish to end this engagement hastily so that I may continue ruling over what is rightfully mine!” spoke Revenge in a loud voice, almost as if yelling it at Silence. With that, Silence spread her wings and propelled herself towards Revenge. Silence held the blade across her body at a diagonal angle, the brilliant colors from the stained glass artwork above reflecting off her blade. Revenge sidestepped to the left and jabbed the hilt of her sword into Silence’s stomach. Silence was sent over the hilt, her limbs flailing frantically as she twirled through the sky and slammed into the ground. She struggled to get back up to her feet when she suddenly felt a hoof smash directly into her ribs. She felt a sharp pain surge through them and shock her body and she flew across the large room and slid into the wall like a ragdoll tossed across a wet floor. She began to rise to her feet when she realized how much more difficult breathing had become. Revenge must have broken or fracture one or two of her ribs. Shakily and with much difficulty, she rose to her feet and brandished her sword again. Revenge scoffed at the pegasus’ determination and stupidity. Revenge then lifted herself off the ground with one large beat of her wings, shooting her upwards like a cannonball from a cannon. She then peaked at the top and pointed herself towards Silence and shot down upon her like an arrow, her sword held in front of her body. Silence strafed to the left and pushed Revenge’s blade downwards, using her momentum to slam her face first into the hard granite floor. Revenge pushed herself up from the floor and landed back onto her hooves, regaining her posture. She then lunged at Silence, their swords clashing together. A set of bright orange sparks shot out from between the swords and a large clash like the sound of pots smashed together echoed throughout the palace. Revenge smirked as she knew that she had the upper-hand in this position. She was clearly stronger then her smaller adversary. She then used her magic and launched Silence backwards, throwing her towards the wall across the room. Silence spread her wings out, using them like a parachute, catching the wind and stopping her flight towards the wall. She placed her back hooves on the wall and shot herself off of it, gliding into the air and diving down towards Revenge with her back hooves forward. She landed directly on Revenge’s chest, slamming into it and ramming her straight into the ground. She then pushed her weight down and prepared to spring off of Revenge’s chest. She leapt but felt her back hooves being grabbed and she slammed face down onto the floor. She was then suspended in midair by Revenge’s magic. She stared defenselessly into the allicorn’s eyes. She knew this was it. She had come all this way just to lose. Revenge smirked as she began to see the desperation leaking into her heart. Then, a note fell out her bow and landed in the bottom of the magic aura that Silence was suspended in. On it was the beautiful script of her mother’s and it read,” The strongest power anypony ever has is their thoughts.” Then it clicked and Silence closed her eyes and thought of the happiness that she had gained from overcoming the fears and challenges of her mind. She heard a laugh come from Revenge. It was then followed by a quiet pinging sound. Silence opened her eyes to see that she was now on the ground and she was covered in the suit of armor that her mother had given her when she needed it in her mind. Revenged jumped backwards at the sight of the armor. “No! This is impossible! The last time I saw that suit of armor, it was upon… Wait, no, this can’t be. You, this tiny, weak, pathetic pegasus, are the daughter or the only pony to ever defeat me? You are the daughter of Peace?” said Revenge in a genuinely perplexed manner. She then wiped the shocked look from her face and spoke,” No matter! I will conquer you all the same! No matter how many items your mother may lend you to aid in fighting me, I am still much stronger then you will ever be!” With that, Revenge lunged forward at Silence. With her new sword, Silence deflecting the onslaught of attacks that Revenge was putting out. Each block was greeted by a satisfying “ping”. Silence could feel that Revenge was becoming wary and heard her mother’s voice in the back of her mind. “Strike now! Aim for the amethyst gem in the amulet that she wears around her neck. Once you have struck that, she will be banished forever and all the evil that has infected Equestria will be destroyed with along with her.” With that, Silence parried the next attack, knocking Revenge off of her feet and slammed the point of her blade directly into the amethyst within’ her amulet. Revenge shrieked as a loud, high-pitched screeching sound resonated from the gem. A large cloud of darkness engulfed the two ponies as Silence drove the blade deeper into the gem, watching as it split into more and more pieces. Then, with one final push, the gem shattered and pieces of it flew everywhere. Revenge’s eyes grew wide as she stared directly into the eyes of Silence. The dark cloud expanded and covered all Equestria in a midnight black veil. Then, it all imploded into a small colorful ball. The ball hovered in midair for a few seconds, increasing in luminosity and size. Then it exploded, releasing a large assortment of colors all of Equestria. The explosion was a mystical sight to see. Life was being restored to the trees and entire buildings were being rebuilt by the energy of the blast. The green color of the forests was breathtaking. It looked as if the Goddess herself was painting the trees with an emerald green paint. The life and color returned to the land, returning Silence to a place that she was now so thankful to have. She was finally returned back to her home after all that she had gone through on this strenuous, yet amazing adventure. She was greeted by something that had once seemed to mock her but now calmed her and filled her with an exceptional feeling of joy. She was engulfed by the ever familiar yet still sweet, dead silence.