Marks of Babylon
Chapter 3
Illusionary Fortune.
The 5 of them arrived at Twilight's house only to see that what they feared was true. The spirit of chaos was oncve again restrained in his prison; Discord was turned back into stone.
"Oh no!" Twilight yelled, looking over the misfortunate marble. Stranger still, it looked almost identical to the way it did when the Elements themselves did it.
As if this alone wasn't bad enough, they were then greeted with a familiar sign. The same bright light that took away one of the three stallions last night came back and shone in the corner of their eyes, and from what it looked like some pony went in with it.
Only, for some strange reason, of looked as though they may have been FORCED in.
"What in the..." Rarity said, squinting her eyes to look closer at in with the other girls.
As soon as the distant light began to fade away, a flying carriage flew over head and a certain friendly face dropped down from it.
"Illiux!" She shouted as the light faded.
"Princess Celestia!?" Twilight shouted in astonish.
The monarch turned around.
"Ah, Twilight my faithful student. How are you dear?"
"I've been better." Twilight replied.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get here last night; I had a few issues with... Something important. Speaking of which, I trust by now you've become acquainted with my old "friends"?"
"If you're talking about who I think you're talking about, then yeah. I think I may have met one of the others. This one had a black mask with brown symbols. Also he had some western clothes on and a black cowboy hat. He said his name was-"
"Roranxoa." She finished for her, already knowing who she was speaking about.
Celestia then looked straight up and sighed. She made sure that she had every ponies attention before continuing.
"Well five of you are here, so we need only wait for Applejack before all is revealed."
"Um, your highness? Applejack is sort of..."
"Right 'ere!" A southern voice came from behind them, to see Applejack being carried by her legs lifted by Spike and her sister.
"Applejack!" Celestia questioned, seeing one of her elements covered in blood, plasters, and dirt with chain marks at her waist. "What happened to you?"
"Roranxoa, that's what happened." answered Spike.
She looked concerned, then sighed again.
"It should never have come to this." She looked sad as she pulled out something she was holding. It looked small, sharp and red, like a horn. It almost appeared to be connected to a hoof size ring.
"Very well, Marks of Babylon. If you wish to start a war with me and my ponies, then so be it!" She looked to face the eight of them.
"You will all need to hear the story. You see, as you already know, Equestria is made up of lots of different unique and special places. But of them all, there is one that is forbidden not by my order, but by my parents."
"Your parents!?" Twilight asked in surprise.
"Indeed. It is know as Babylon and is located in the very center of the world. It exists out of the cosmic balance of harmony and chaos. However, several millennia ago, that balance was tipped, and Discord, who is from that Babylon, was sent here to put it back together."
"So Discord's home is literally right beneath us? And it needs to be balanced to survive?"
"Correct again. This was when I had first met him at night in the royal gardens and we became good friends. Until that one fateful day when he was reminded of his reason for being there and stole the elements of harmony. When he did the Babylon regained some of its former loss and began to rebuild itself. But once me and Luna turned him to stone, it had crumbled again. So we had to make an important decision of who was going to suffer: my home, or his."
"So you chose yourselves? We understand." Fluttershy said to the royalty.
"I was truly sorry for what we did, but couldn't afford to release him at the time."
"That's horrible, but does that give them the right to destroy MY castle?”
"And because we were the ones who had turned him to stone, they were unable to break him out. Seeing as how he's now reformed in their eyes as well as our own, they no longer trust him, so they turned him stone, And we can't break him out because of that."
"So in a sense..." Rainbow looked depressed while saying, "...You could have saved them, but you chose not to."
"Wow!" Said Pinkie. "That was a really long story."
Rainbow Dash looked at her when she said this.
"That's nothing to be humorous about. This is a serious matter with several hundred innocent creatures having their home demolished because of this idol."
"Rainbow, that was rather sophisticated." said Rarity. "Especially for you."
"Perhaps, but this needs to be said. How could one remain calm when another has just reminded them of the suffering of their society, and your pompous pink peon just laughs?!"
Twilight picked up on these words. "Wait a minute. Reminded? Peon? Your not the real Rainbow Dash, are you?"
"Hmmm." Just then her voice became much deeper, much smoother, a hint of a German accent, and very familiar. "Nothing escapes you, does it miss Sparkle?"
"A Changeling?! Impossible!" She said, getting ready for anything.
"You're absolutely wrong." A bright yellow light then emerged from right in front of 'Rainbow'. "It's nowhere near impossible."
"AAHHH!" Twilight shouted as she covered her eyes with her legs, along with the others doing the same, save for Celestia, who just looked at it.
"But, in this case, it's not true." The new voice said as a light came and flashed around and hit Rarity into the tree wall. When they all got up a several more of those yellow glass panels that Xoa used came out of nowhere. This time they were a lot longer and just taller than Celestia was. They surrounded him and rotated until they vanished. It turned out to be another one of the stallions that raided last night.
"You should be careful who you put your trust into, after you've met me, mein libeste."
It was the one with a black mask with yellow lines. He was wearing blue jeans with a light red thin hoodie over a green traced sweater over a polo shirt.
"Illiux." Celestia bluntly said. He took a slight bow before her.
"Celestia, you look divine. Why, for so many years, you haven't aged a day. Oh my apologies, neither have we. Simply honoring to see you again."
"... The pleasure's almost likewise." She said as he rose. "I see we're still up to out old illusion tricks."
"Rupolenics, dear. Rupolenics."
"What's it been? 1000 years?"
He raised his hoof to his chin. "1173, but who's counting?"
"Where's Rainbow Dash? What have you done with my friend!?" Twilight demanded to know.
"All in good time my lavender beauty." A voice behind her came. She looked behind her in confusion to see that he was standing behind her now, turned back to where he was standing and saw he was gone from that spot. She raised her hoof in shock at this, he saw it, grabbed it with one of his, and gently kissed the edge of it in a gentlemanly manor.
"I don't believe we've had the fortune before. So sorry. Illiux Lure. Illusionist, tailor, etiquette teacher, clothes designer, prep faction leader, Mark of Babylon Mistrust and light element of the Babylonians."
"Um..." Twilight said, looking confused by the mixture of his actions and the elegance of his behaviour. He let go of her hoof a second later, and got back up to look at her.
"From what I've been informed, you and the other Elements of Harmony have little to no information concerning us. I would love with all my heart to explain, however there are other concerns that require my attention. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off." He rose his hoof up to his face, revealing another of the glass panels appeared, before a bright light flashed before him. With that he was gone.
"What was...?"
"So now you've become personally acquainted with two of them." Celestia started after he had left. "They seem to know more about the powers of the Elements then I recall them doing. However, some good news is that they shouldn't know who ALL of you are. And knowing their lust for fighting, each one of them will come after one of you each. You see, the Elements of Harmony also wield some counteractions."
"Uh... You wanna go a lil' more into detail about them first, yer highness?" Applejack asked her.
"Certainly. Long before the Elements of Harmony even had their original owners, six other ponies had been chosen to wield powers of a different variety. They were similar to the Elements, but had very different properties and visual effects. As you've seen, they wear masks as opposed to necklaces, and are black instead of gold. Also their representing images are imprinted instead of crystals."
"Well, we've seen that already." Twilight reminded her. "What about the actual ponies wearing them?"
"Yes, of course. Well, similar to yourselves, they not only wear the masks with pride, but their magic is amplified by having them on. I'm, sadly, unable to give you their specific names and details due to... Promises." Celestia replied, think back to last night. "However, they will come after each of soon enough."
"So they're coming after us each, one at a time?" Rarity said as she walked back over to the others.
"They think of themselves as their own elements of harmony, but consider themselves Neo and superior to yours. These include Dedication, Faith, Honor, Knowledge, Respect and Acceptance. However, they also hold powers of disharmony of their own as well. These are Obsession, Mistrust, Fear, Worry, Destruction and Sacrifice. So once you find Rainbow dash, convince them to break Discord out immediately." Celestia finished.
"Um, your highness?" Fluttershy asked. "How long do we have? That is, if you don't mind me asking..."
"No time at all. Take a closer look at the statue and you'll understand why." They did just that at saw what she meant.
This time, Discord looked as though he was in pain. Suffering. Being hurt from the inside.
"You see, they are harsh beings." Celestia continued. "They believed that the elements of harmony had no balance between good and evil, so Discord was sent up to reset the balance. Now they consider him traitor."
"This is bad." declared Twilight. "We must stop them before anypony else gets hurt/taken. If we don't, then we-"
"Hey, sis?" Applebloom questioned, grabbing all attention. "Where'd Spike go?" The seven ponies looked around for him.
"He was here a moment ago." Said Celestia. "... Babylon."
"Spike!?" Shouted Twilight.
"Spiiike!?" Called Fluttershy.
"Darling!?" Shouted Rarity.
"Are ya' there?" Called Applejack.
"Bad time for a surprise!" Said Pinkie.
As if it was on cue, they all heard a scream in the distance. Not just any scream, his scream.
"SPIKE!!" they shouted in unison. Just then Celestia received a letter sent via dragon breath. It was like Spike's, but had numerous differences such as that the fire was purple, not green, the paper was black, not yellowish-white and was written in white rather than black ink. Celestia saw this and realised only one word: trouble. She began to read it out.
"Yo Cel, baby, it's the sypher man! Got any time for ya ol' boy?" The others looked in shock that princess Celestia had just said THAT. She continued.
"Guess what I've just got my runny claws on. Give up? It's your old friend the Spike Meister. Now I've caught my handsome self some good 'nuf prey in the past few centuries, but this lil' dude's wicked! So if ya want to ever see 'im again, you and princess Lunatic best be rolling through the Babylon ridge tonight at mid. And don't bring any pony else.
See you there babe!
Lots of love, Xervint."
"There are tons of thing I wouldn't expect you to say," said Pinkie. "But I never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever thought she'd say THAT."
"Not my preferred dialect, no." Celestia folded the letter away and put it under her wings, before she signalled for the carriage to return.
"What should we do?" Twilight asked, as the sun princess hopped onto the vehicle.
"I know this may sound unideal for the situation, but you should let the Babylon come to you. If you try to find them by yourselves, you'll only make it easier for them."
"But, princess." Applejack spoke up. "If we just sit aroun', won't those guys jump us at the first chance they get?"
"Usually, yes. However, I know how the Marks of Babylon think, and they'll have too much respect to just finish you off in a single day or so."
"What about Spike?" Rarity interjected. "The poor dear could..."
"Myself and Luna must get to the ridge tonight. If they stay true to their word, then you'll see him again before tomorrow."
"But, how will you get there? You said that only a Babylonian can-"
"I have one waiting." She interrupted. "A pony with... Unique abilities, that came to myself and Luna last night."
"What? Why didn't you mention them earlier? We'll just get to Babylon with you."
"That, although undoubtedly helpful, would not be possible."
"Why not?"
"I gave him my word. My word that I would not do anything to assist you in this matter, unless directly invited to. I'm sorry, but I must be going."
"... Alright. But before you go, who was this pony?" Twilight asked, as the chariot began to take off.
"His name is Walker! You'll see him soon, I'm sure!" Celestia shouted, as she soon vanished from the scene.
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Night did eventually come round and they all stayed in Celestia's castle while she and Luna went to this "ridge".
"Alright then." started Twilight. "If they are going to stay here, then we'll need a plan for this upcoming war that the princess mentioned."
"Well, let's start by seeing what we already know." Said Rarity. "We know that they blame us for anything and everything that may have happened to them. We know they have Spikey wikey and most likely Rainbow dash too, and are keeping them hostage. And lastly we know that the princess knows more than us about them."
"Right! So first, it might be smart to-"
She went silent at the sound of fighting in the distance outside. It sounded more like someone was just kicking the others plot as opposed to actual fighting. It came closer and they sooner than later saw the cause as it crashed its way into the room.
When the smoke cleared, they all saw Spike lying down on the floor only hanging on by a thread. They wanted to help and were about to until, out of the newly formed hole in the wall, Illiux stepped in with some more panels around him.
"You are aware, dear boy, it does not have to end for you like this right here!" He shouted across the room. "Merely stand down and tell me WHO and WHERE miss Rarity is."
This grabbed all attention in the room as they all suddenly realized what was happening.
"I-I-I'll ne-n-eve-er tell y-y-y-yo-ou." He weakly said.
"Then I am sorry Junger Drache, but this where you leave us." He walked slowly to the barely conscious dragon.
Rarity wouldn't allow this to happen, knowing what he was trying to do. She was ready to stand and fess up.
"I-"
"I'm Rarity!" Shouted a purple Alicorn as she got straight up.
"Hmmm..." He said, until a yellow glow radiating out of the white unicorn's chest flew right into his mask. Fortunately, for them, he didn't see where or who it was coming from.
"And ponies insinuate that I'M a liar." The Unicorn said to them and fired another laser from his panel, knocking Twilight into the back wall.
"Now, let the fun continue." He grabbed Spike with his magic and readied his hoof to attack until a blinding light shone down from the ceiling and called his name.
"Illiux!" The deep voice boomed and he quickly released his grip on the young reptile so he could bow before the light. "If you're alive, we require you back at the ridge for immediate departure."
"How trivial." He said after it had faded and he had gotten up. "So this would appear to be farewell. But first..." he used the magic emitting from the yellow glowing horn to force himself and Spike closer to each other. He then slipped something in to his claw.
"Hold onto that for me, my boy." He whispered as he faded from the light again.
The five looked in relief that he'd gone, then back in concern of the fact Spike is just lying there almost done for as he dropped what appeared to be a key from his hand.
"We simply must get him to help immediately." Rarity instructed the girls, lifting him up onto her back.