//------------------------------// // Marks Are Made // Story: Marks Of Babylon // by Phoxjes Rome //------------------------------// Marks Of Babylon Chapter 1 Marks Are Made. "So we're finally gonna do this?" "Yes, tonight is when we pick up where Vance left off. The traitor is as useful to us now as the fallen faction. Still, it was rather cruel of the princess of the sun to strip him of his free will." "'Bout bloomin' time in all. Been waiting to get me hooves dirty wit' them lot." "The princesses may have survived for this long based on their magic. However, provided they haven't any insight on OUR biographies, their time may be cut short. I shall identify everything on the spirits primordial data, so that I can replicate his defeat." "Yeah, yeah, science, magic, blah blah blah. While you're doing whatev, I'll go in and make 'em a little storm to get 'em gathered at the castle. You guys can take it from there, can't cha?" "We can. However, we must remember the objective is to warn the Elements of Harmony of our arrival. We have not been instructed to murder anyone yet." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was but a regular day in the peaceful harmonic wide wide world of Equestria as nopony was up to any thing suspicious. Well, almost nopony; we never know, a store could be being robbed right now, or a fire could be burning down a hotel. All of the mane six but Rainbow Dash were in the town at Sugar Cube Corner talking about their anything and nothing. When you've been friends for this many seasons years, the fundamental physics of string theory could be a veritable subject. But, as of right now, the ponies were discussing the events taking place at the sleepover that night. "You know..." Began Twilight. "It seems like years since Starlight Glimmer came about and ruined almost everything by taking away our cutie marks. Time sure does fly nowadays." "Yeah." Replied Applejack. "Even though it were only a fair few seasons ago. But it's all sorted now." "And what a craaaazzzyyy season that was! The 100th episode, five year anniversary, and time travel to past episodes." Pinkie Pie turned to the camera. Rarity then turned to sip her tea. "So, why do you think that Celestia called Spike away; what do you think she needs him for?" "If I know the princesses, it's probably something related to duties and courts, or it could even be about dragon biology, who knows? But regardless, he's away and he should be back tomorrow." Twilight answered. "And while he's away..." The others turned to Pinkie, only to have a loud bang and balloons and confetti blown in their faces. "It's party time for us!!" "Pinkie, please don't ever do that in our faces ever again." Twilight wiped the party decorations off of her. "You're right Twi; I should save it for tonight!" Pinkie said in excitement. "Not what I meant..." "Um... Where's Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy chose to speak up. "Teaching Scootaloo some more of her tricks." Twilight answered again. "1094th time this month." Applejack laughed. "Well, I mean, it's not like you can blame her; they are close like family. And we all know how much we love family!" Pinkie cheered. Their conversations continued for what seemed like hours on end, until Rainbow came down. "Rainbow Dash, how'd it go?" Twilight asked, smiling. "Fine. Er, Twilight, we've got a tiny problem." Rainbow told her in a nervous manner. "What?" "I know this is kinda outta the blue, but... There MAY be an scheduled and dangerous storm forming in the sky, and MAYBE it's heading for us." She pointed at the sky in the north. "A storm? coming to Equestria?" Fluttershy looked worried. "Not Equestria; just Ponyville. It's literally only heading in one direction." "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Twilight asked her. "Aren't you supposed to know about this?" "I wasn't told a thing, until I saw it. I even asked Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts. They got nothing either." "Really? This had better not be some joke of yours." Applejack warned. "It's not! The rate that these clouds are approaching, I don't know how I, or ANY Pegasus, could even catch up with those clouds, never mind play with them!" "What'd ya mean, you don't know?" Asked Applejack. "I mean, that I've been trying to move the same clouds over and over again to get this storm outta the way, but then another one comes in the same spot. It's like almost like whenever I move one, some pony else puts more in the same spot. I can't control them." "Um... Do you mean those clouds?" Fluttershy asked as she pointed to an incoming black storm approaching. "You two can argue later, right now we need to head for the castle and get ahead of that storm." "Agreed!" The two of them said in unison. Without wanting to waste another second, the six of them decided it was best if they head on back to the castle, hoping that everything they would need was there. They had to get a move on, as before they knew it, a heavy downpour began, and the whole town was soaking in a matter of minutes. The common townsfolk were on their way inside as well, as soon Ponyville went from its common population to looking completely deserted. Eventually, after approximately two minutes of running, they ended up at Twilight's home they immediately rushed in to avoid the freezing weather condition. "Hurry! In here! Now!" Twilight rushed her friends in as fast as she could. Once they were all in, she levitated some nearby towels and handed them to her friends. "Where did this storm come from!?" She called out to her friends, as the wind and the rain alone were almost blowing her away. The natural disaster only become stronger by the second, sooner practically flooding the town. While she and her friends were inside, about 100 ft. above her was someone that she was going to have a lot encounters with in the near future. He was in the clouds above, glad that his contribution to the plan worked. Without any one else in the world knowing he was there, he pressed his hoof up to his ear. "Hadad to Gibil. The targets have gathered in the spot, ready for your strike, over." An Italian-accented pony said into his ear, before flying upwards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well." Rainbow dash began. "This came about quickly. Any thoughts?" "You know." Rarity commented. "It's amazing how much work has been done to this place, looking back on it." "I know! Let's play something!" Shouted Pinkie. "How about... Truth or dare!?" "Sorry, we can't Pinkie." Twilight replied. "Aww, why not?" "Easy. Rainbow Dash is here. I'm not sure about you, but I don't wanna end up having to fill out an apology note for ponyville hospital, explaining why all their calender's have been turned into Daring Do and Wonderbolt posters." "C'mon Twi, let's play!" Applejack stepped in. "We do need to do something in order to pass the time." Fluttershy joined. "Oh... Fine!" She sighed. "Alright Dash, truth or dare?" Pinkie started. "Dare, obviously." "Okie dokie lokie! I dare you to..." She looked around for a bit, until she saw Owlowiscious eating his supper. Then the idea came to her head as she pointed at him. "Eat some of Owlowiscious's's's's's food!" "Seriously?" Rainbow asked her in a confused tone. "Yup! You could forfeit right now and I'll-" "You call THAT a dare?" She finished, as flew over to the bag, picked up a small hoof full, and scoffed it down. "Hah! She did it!" Applejack congratulated. "That's absolutely repulsive..." Rarity muttered under her breath. "Good; it's my turn. Twilight, truth or-" "Truth! Truth. Definitely truth. Absolutely sure. I pick truth." She cut her off, before the second option was even given. "Coward." Rainbow whispered. "What was that?" "Nothing. Alright, those guys from Ourtown: Double Diamond and Party Favor. Which one would you date?" "W- What!?!" "Looks like she found a way around ya, eh Twilight?" Applejack nudged her friend. "*gasp* Can I answer that!?!" Pinkie asked. "No, for two reasons: one, she asked Twilight and two we know who you'd pick." Rarity answered. "So Twilight?" Fluttershy waited for an answer. "W- Well, they both seem like really nice stallions. But Party Favor gave himself up when we were trapped, whereas Double Diamond technically was the reason how Fluttershy was able to find our marks. But altogether, I think Favor might be a little bit too much of a wildcard for me, so Diamond it is." "Yes, he quite the catch, wasn't he?" Rarity said, thinking back to him. "Heh. Rares, ya havin' any regrets?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. "Hey, while we're on the subject of stallions..." Pinkie started. Her story went on for a bit whilst in the cold dark rainy atmosphere outside a black outline walked slowly to the top of a ledge that gave him a good sight of the house. Lightning struck in the background so an extremely brief picture was shown of his true figure. He had a red color coat on his face which was barely seen underneath what appeared to be a a mask. Nothing else was revealed. He got a good enough view on the house when he took sight of twilight through her window. He carefully examined the infra red sight of Twilight's body. Some kind of strange red radiation flowed straight through his body as his hooves began to radiate a glow. The illumination at hid hoof then traveled above it, which created a floating aura of fire. "Condemn me, princess Twilight Sparkle." His deep quiet aggressive voice said. The fire instantly grew bigger as he pointed his single hoof at her castle. "And then I said "Oatmeal, are you craz-"" Pinkie tried to finished, but was cut off. "Pinkie, for the last time we've all heard the end of thi-aaaaaaAAAAHHHHH!!!" Twilight screamed as something hit her castle tree, breaking off a wall and causing several objects inside to become ignited on fire.. "WHOA! WH-Wh-what's happeni-" Before she could even say anything else another one hit the house, not as big as the last one, and followed by a few more each second. "RUN FOR IT!!!" Twilight then shouted heading for the door. The others came out quickly to avoid any further attacks, but this danger didn't make it easy for them. They bounced through the double doors, but then saw that the threat they just left was only the beginning. The corridors ahead weren't anything supporting their survival. The fires seemed to be seeping through the walls like some kind of liquid, destroying more of the inside of the castle. More explosions and fires bursts at out nowhere, looking like they were aiming at the girls, rather than random parts of the tree castle. "What's happening!?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying down the hall to open the doors in advanced. "I don't know! Maybe a dragon!?" Twilight shouted, using her magic to move all obstacles out of the way. "Oh no!!" Fluttershy whimpered, now even more afraid than the rest of the girls. "C'mon y'all, the exit's right there!" Applejack yelled, looking at the last set of doors. Without another second wasted, they burst open, and the six girls escaped to safety. Once evacuated the six of them looked at the tremendous burning before their eyes, as the princess's home was collapsing in flames, the rain not as horrific as it once was, which would've been better in any situation other than this one. The downpour didn't even seem to cool the flames, and the fire itself didn't look like a normal fire either. They just stood there observing the tremendous fire, before Twilight fired her magic at the blaze. However, this came to no avail; the magic hadn't even touched it. Now realizing that they couldn't do anything to help, the six just watched the disadter, questioning what the cause of this was. "Owlowiscious... The cutie map... My home... No... Not again." Twilight whimpered. "There there darling, we shall get to the bottom of this soon enough." Rarity said trying to calm her friend. "Gaze upon this cause!" A different voice shouted from above. They all looked up to see who it was. It turned out to be three different stallions wearing masks on a ledge above. The middle one dropped down and the other then two followed. The got a closer look at him as he approached them. He had a red coat on his fur, but appeared to be wearing clothes all over. They were black and leather. His mane appeared to be black as well. They couldn't, however, picture his face as he was also wearing his mask. The mask was black, and had eyes like a tiger, a beak like an eagle, and ears like a dragon. It didn't, however, cover the mouth so the wearer could still talk. In addition it had a small red jewel on the forehead. All across the mask it had red lines in the shape and direction that they were part of a bigger symbol. The red line was diagonal from the bottom left to the top right, and there was a big backwards C with the back of it touching the line. His signature seemed to be a cavalier hat completely black with a white lacy trim around the end and a white feather sticking out of the top. "Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. I have awaited the day when you and I would cross paths. However, I did not prefer it to be in this manner." He said to her when face to face. She felt scared at first after having half of her home wiped out, and by talking to a stallion who was just a little bigger than Big Mac, then puzzled by his words indicating that he knows her. "What you see before you is the result of an imbalance; your residence and stronghold falling apart, with your resources and memories dying with it." He raised his hoof to his face, as a small ball of the same strange fire emerged from his fore hoof, and she instantly became angered. "WHO ARE YOU!?! HOW DO YOU KNOW ME!?! AND WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DESTROY MY HOME LIKE THAT!?!" She demanded to know. The others backed her up. "You vile being! How dare you come near us to attack for no good cause!" Rarity shouted. "If y'all want ta scrap, then do this right 'ere an now!" Said Applejack, wanting to avenge her friend's property. Just then the other two dropped down to counteract their comments. One with a black mask with a yellow symbol facing Rarity, and the other had brown lines on it looking at AJ. "Please ladies, remain calm. We merely wished to release our anger out on the ones who caused our suffering so many, many years ago. I can ensure you with certainty that we are here for a good enough reason." Rarity's opponent said. "If anypony knows 'bout doin' a bad thing fer no good cause, then y'all would be more qualified than anyone in this lil' town ya call yer home. Nah, what we're doin' is fer a better cause than a worse; this fire outta restore a lil'." The stallion facing Applejack said. "If all follows as expected, then it shall. Now then, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna should be aware of our arrival. Otherwise, inform them that myself and my colleagues were here before we return, as she will likely find great interest in our return." The red stallion explained as the three then escaped using different elements; the red creating a fire wall which he walked through, the yellow had a blinding light behind him which took him away, and the brown had a hole in the ground forced open and he jumped through. "What in the name of Celestia just happened?" Rarity asked to herself out loud. "Those guys didn't look like much fun. Maybe they needed a party to cheer them up." Pinkie replied trying to shed some light on the problem. It failed. "They said something about revenge for their suffering, so maybe now they'll be satisfied and leave us." Fluttershy timidly said. "No." Was Twilight's simple statement. "You heard what that red guy said to us: 'before we return.' That must mean that they know for a fact they'll be back." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, as this devastation was taking place at this castle, there was a spectator at another castle, watching this disaster unfold. Princess Luna was standing on the edge of her balcony, feeling what was happening to the elements with her own magic. She began gasping and getting dizzy from the new sensation. Although she couldn't see too clearly what exactly was happening to the girls, she knew it was more than just a bonfire. She could feel them all in pain, which somehow caused her to be in the same agony. "Sister?" She called to the room behind her, thinking that it would somehow be able to summon her sibling to her quarters. Surprisingly, it actually worked, as the current ruler of the sun arrived to the same balcony. There were two guards behind her, holding spears upright. "You feel it too?" Celestia asked her, placing her hoof on her heart, knowing that Luna felt the same unwelcome sensation. "Yes, and I fear the worst for our young friends." Luna answered, looking back over the balcony to where the smoke was coming from. "They are all alive enough, I am sure of that." "That may be true. However, if they return then that might not be the case for too much longer." Celsetia commented. Luna looked at her, confused at that remark. "Oh? Doth thou know of these stallions?" "Of one of them, yes. As I recall, he had a somewhat close connection with a stallion named... Tetran?" Just then, Luna looked shocked, before turning away and blushing at that name. Celestia then looked out towards the Balcony again. 'Still, although Vance was held responsible, it shall not be his doing that they have come for him.' She thought, looking at the ground far below them. 'Twilight, I shall be there very soon.' Celestia made a quick U-turn and tried to run off, out of the room. "Sister? Where is your destination?" Luna asked. "I have to go to Twilight and her friends; if they haven't returned I can call them to order." She answered, looking in front of her again to the ponies that escorted her there. They saluted her as she looked at them. "Your highness." They said in unison. "Ready my vessel for Ponyville." "Yes, your highness." One of them replied. "I'm afraid that can not be done for you right now." The other one said to her, catching the other three's attention. "Oh? Whyever not?" Suddenly, his expression turned into a sly smile, looking like a predator. "Because that would violate my orders." His voice was entirely different, sounding older and more croaky. "Excuse me? Your order was to-" He raised his hoof, and a white flame emerged from it, before he flung it to the ground. "Stall you and allow my superiors to carry out their methods." The white flame began to multiply, and soon enough surrounded Celestia. They began to look less like a flame, and more like a wisp. "What're you doing?!" The other guard asked him, pointing the spear at him. The other guard didn't respond to him, and instead just looked at him with his smile faded away, then looked at the spear. Without a moments hesitation, something flew right out of his body, and into the spear, and he fell to the floor unconsciously. "What in the-?" The guard asked, as his spear began to levitate out of his hooves, and whacked him in the face numerous time. In a few seconds, he loss his consciousness as well, and fell down, as did the spear. "Who's thi-" Celestia said, before answering her own question. "Walker, was it?" "Indeed. You remember me. How flattering." The voice said to her, before a white figure began to form out of thin air. It looked like a pony, but his face was covered up by a scarf, a hat and shades. He also donned a black and white type attire to him. "Yes, I remember you. The last time I saw you, you were attending Starswirl's seminar on Ectoplasmic Fortification. I must admit that I wouldn't have expected you to have shown up to that; I assumed that you would've known about that already." "Never assume anything, dear girl. But yes, you'd be right; I only attended that to hear him share his thoughts." "Enough small talk, Walker. What've you done to my student?" "She and her allies have not met my acquaintance as of yet, however they will. I am unaware of what has happened from this distance. You, however..." The wisps around her began to inch closer to her. "I can not let go." "Sister!" Luna called out, walking up to her. "Who is this creature?" "Yes, my apologies." He said, suddenly disappearing into thin air. A second later he reappeared in front of her, tipping his fedora to her. "My name is Walker Soul. Your family and I are well acquainted." "Yes, we caught onto that." "Very good. Now then, back to you, Celestia dear." The sun princess looked at him, ready to fight. "Understand this, dear. I do not intend to eliminate you. At least, not right now. However, you must leave Twilight and her friends to settle this battle on their own." "And if I were refuse?" "Then I can make life very... Difficult for everyone." "Hmmm..." Celestia grunted. "Do not give in to his threats, Tia." Luna ordered. "'Tis only a bluff." "A bluff with much evidence provided to it." Yet another voice was heard behind Luna. They sisters turned around slowly, this time both knowing who this was. "I trust you have not forgotten me." Luna slowly walked up to him standing on the edge of the balcony, looking upwards at the tall, pitch black figure. "... Lunar." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ah reckon they took it rather well." The brown stallion said, as the three made their way over to some kind of broken temple made of rubble and ancient material. In fact, everything around them looked destroyed in one way or another. "They certainly could have taken our little visit a lot worse." The yellow pony was walking next to the tall one, not even looking away from their destination. "It matters very little about the reaction that they held at that moment in time, for what they may try in the near future is far more important to us, is it not?" The red guy told them, stepping into the temple. The three of them walked up the stairs, climbing to the highest point that they could reach, being careful not to fall through the damage and cracks that were scattered everywhere. "Now then, can we make this meeting brief? The rainstorm that Calsuricxs caused has made my hair..." The yellow pony ran his hoof through his mane softly "...Disturbing." "Yer hair, face and outfit is yer biggest priority, and ya wonder why some ponies don't know who ya are?" The Texan responded, as the three made their way to the top, walking towards something big and red in the distance, along with some ponies next to it. "Hmm. My priorities are none of your business, old friend. Even if they were, you'd know that my biggest priority is the lovely miss Rarity, and the lesson that I have yet to teach her. Surely she of all ponies would need to know this more than all of her darling friends." "Yer tryin' ta do her a favor, and expect her ta thank ya fer it? C'mon partner, ya know what those girls are like; they wouldn't thank ya if ya saved her life." 'It does not matter to me if they are grateful or not once we save their world. All that I am concerned for is that we are able to save them.' The red one thought. "To me, 'partner', I believe that my reason for going after miss Rarity has more logical sense than why you're trying to take on the Apple family." "Those ungrateful little ingrates cut me off; after everythin' ah did fer them, they woulda let ma best friend get put down. Ah just gotta make sure that they pay fer that." The brown pony looked at the Unicorn with the mask. "You already did THAT, mate." Some other stallion said, as he appeared from above him, Pinkie Pie style, and looked down at the three boys. "After you killed them off the show, and killed them off in another way. Bit much honestly, especially for someone like you." This pony was dark purple, with a brown mane. He had a mask on as well, this one black as well with purple marks around it in the shape of a backwards C with a sideways V attached onto the back. "As ah've already told y'all about 30000 times now, just 'coz ah was present at the time, don't mean that it were mah fault. Matter o' fact, ah tried mah best ta save those two." The brown guy said, as he reached up and pulled the purple pony down from wherever it was that he was hanging from. "I'll bear that in mind, mate. Anyway, his highness is waiting for us." The Cockney British pony said as they walked over to the large red figure. "Don't just "bear that in mind", ah want y'all ta accept it." The Texan told the boys, just before the four got on their knees in front of the being in front of them. "Did the Princess and her friends receive our message?" The large figure asked the boys, looking down at them. He was a lot more than just some kind of average royalty: he was a dragon. The red dragon was about 30ft. high, with its light blue wings spouting from its spine to the ends of the stand that it was placed on. He was on all four legs, which all had three black claws extending from each of them, as well as a blue and red tail. Additionally, there were eight spikes extending from its head, poking out from its skeleton, accented by the purple lines across its neck, torso and spine. "They did, sire. Their reaction was what you had expected, and they are all aware that we shall return to Equestria in time." "I see. You have yet to disappoint me, Phoxjes." He said to the 30 year old looking masked pony. Despite being complimented by someone who was clearly of a high authority, the pony did not smile in the slightest. "What's next, boss?" The purple stallion asked the dragon above him. "Now, one of you six Marks must go back up into Equestria in the morning, and continue to emphasis our point to the girls, and their friends. Well, that, and to keep them away from Vance. We can't risk him creating any more disharmony in the world than what we need, after all. Any volunteers?" Silence spread among them, before the Texan spoke up. "Ah'll go, yer majesty." He said clearly. "That's mighty supportive of ya, partner." The dragon said, mocking him. He then turned to see the pony in the blue-marked mask. "So have you replicated the power for Vance yet, Sandy?" "Almost, your highness." A mare's voice came from the strangely shaped mask. The marks on this mask were like the purple pony's, but backwards and blue. "All that's paramount as of now is to appraise and diagnose the magical viscosity of the harmonic connection paralleling the redi-" "Why don't you look up the word 'yes' sometime?" The dragon somehow said to her inside of her head, without having to open his eyes. "I think we'd all love to hear you just say that." "Your highness, will Vance- Or the creation we once knew as "Vance", know of our presence and/or arrival once we return to Equestria?" "I doubt it. If Dr. Expherient lost contact of him when he left, I don't see how he could stay in contact at all." "Good." The pony in red announced. "So then we are agreed on the plan for tomorrow: While the Elements, and any other Equestrians are occupied at the farm, we shall eradicate the spirit and prevent him from opposing us further." "Better git some rest, then." The Texan responded, walking away. "Ah'll be up a' the crack o' dawn, ready when y'all'll be."