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// Chapter 4: The Device 
// Story: Symphony of Destruction 
// by zeroxwolfx 
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Chapter 4: The Device


        Princess Luna flew in next to her sister, perched in the main courtyard, while Shining Armor galloped in behind her.  He knelt down beside Celestia, “Your majesty, what is your command?” asked the loyal unicorn.

        “I’m glad you have come my good friend.  I must ask you to draw all your forces at the base of the mountain, save for watch teams, that you must send to the eastern borders of Equestria, and receive hourly reports from them,” she turned to face her sister, “My dear sister, I am leaving you in charge of Equestria in my stead,” said the sun princess to her sister. 

        Princess Luna looked concerned at her big sister, “Princess Celestia… you are going to try and stop ‘him’ aren’t you?  Please my sister, let me come with, we will be stronger fighting him together!” she protested.

        Celestia looked down at her younger sister with a comforting smile, “Do not worry dear Luna, I will have the most magical unicorn in the land at my side!  And besides, I need you to keep things in order here in Equestria.”  Luna looked to the ground, she was still not comforted.

        Aardunkay interrupted, “Spike, I will leave you to contact the other dragons of the Silver Enclave, please tell them to meet Celestia and myself in the forgotten lands, as soon as they can.  I am entrusting you Carthanax to lead the Enclave should things go astray on our mission,” he said to Spike.  

        “Yes sir, I’ll head for the study tower right now and get the message to them!” said spike confidently, before taking off to the tall tower where he and Twilight used to live.

        Twilight, Aardunkay, and Princess Celestia made their way to the Canterlot main entrance, as they prepared to take off, Princess Luna flew in to follow them.  

        Princess Celestia turned to Aardunkay, “You two go on ahead, I’ll catch up with you in a moment, off you go!” she said to them, and Twilight hopped on Aardunkay’s back, and they took off into the morning sky.

        Princess Luna stepped close to her sister, and looked at her.  Her eyes were beginning to well up with a tear, “Sister… Tia… please, you don’t have to go…” said the princess of the night.  To the mare that had lived a thousand years, it felt like she had only just gotten her big sister back.  She, along with all the ponies of Equestria looked up to her for leadership, and for love.  Even inside of her heart, the aspect of magic, and an immortal being of the world, Luna felt that her sister brought life inside her.  She felt her love like a shining beacon for good.  

Celestia pushed herself forward against Luna, wrapping her hoof around her in a tight hug, “Be strong for me my dearest sister.  For Equestria will also need you to be strong for her.”

Luna pulled away from her sister, the tears threatening to overflow.  “But sister, why couldn’t you have left Twilight in charge and take me instead?”  Luna winced as she realized how childish her voice sounded, but she couldn’t stop now.  “She is perfectly able to run a kingdom; she has read books on Equestrian law.  I would wager that she knows even the most obscure of Equestria’s laws, laws that you have probably forgotten existed sister.”  Luna turned away, with her tears finally overcoming her and cascading down her face to fall onto the paving stones.

“Luna,” Celestia whispered in her ear, “You know that I must do this.  It is the only chance that we have to defeat him and save Equestria.  You know that.”  Celestia nuzzled into Luna’s mane, whispering softer.  “I’m sorry that I must leave you here, but I must.  There’s nopony else that I would trust with ruling Equestria while I’m gone more than you Luna.”  Celestia hugged her closer with her soft wings.

        Luna looked up to her sister, a tear falling as she sniffled, “But Tia… I’ve never been in charge; you’ve always been the leader.  Everypony looks up to you!  I… I don’t know if I can do it by myself…”

        Celestia lifted Luna’s chin with her hoof, and wiped her tears away, “Of course you can dear Luna!  You have the same strength that I do.  You have the same love for the ponies of Equestria that I do.  You are strong and capable just as I am, my sister.  If the worst should come to pass, you will make a fine ruler of Equestria.  Be strong for me Luna…” said Princess Celestia, as she hugged her little sister a final time, before she began to back away into the morning sky.
        “I love you Tia…” Luna called out to her, trying to hold back her tears.

        “I love you too Luna…” said Celestia, before she took off, flying off into the beautiful sunrise.  

Luna watched as her sister flew off to join the other two in the sky.  Tears began to fall from her face again, and onto the rough paving stones below.  Turning, Luna headed back to the Sun Court to start her new task.  I will not let you down sister.

        In a flash of light, Princess Celestia caught up with Aardunkay, and landed on his massive back alongside Twilight Sparkle.  She looked to her teacher, “Princess Celestia, what exactly is ‘the device’?” she asked curiously.

        Princess Celestia hung her head in dismay, but she had told Twilight this much, so she might as well tell her the rest, “Ponies first came to the world four thousand years ago, Twilight Sparkle.  They lived together in peace and happiness, in a faraway land, on the other side of the world.  Somehow, darkness had crept its way into the hearts of the ponies.  They began to hate each other, and through their hatred, two separate nations of ponies were formed.  These two nations went into a massive war against each other that lasted for centuries.  They had built great machinations and marvels of technology, but they were all of them designed to destroy their rival nation.  One day, one of the nation’s built a terrible weapon, a perversion of nature that they would use to destroy to destroy the other nation, and end the war once and for all.  It did indeed end the war, but it destroyed both nations, and leveled the land, leaving nopony behind to ever be seen again,” Princess Celestia let a single tear fall from her eye at the thought of such a horrid memory.

        Twilight looked up at her teacher with sadness, “But if everything was leveled, then how are the evil dragons able to use the device, and how will it bring back Numinex?”

        “Once the device was activated, and it destroyed everything around it, it opened up a gate through the very fabric of space itself.  It was through this gate that discord was able to enter into our world.  I had turned myself away from the sight of the horrible warring ponies, and I thought that upon the device’s activation, it too would be destroy.  But I was wrong.”  Princess Celestia again hung her head with disappointment in herself.

        Twilight Sparkle patted the princess’s shoulder with her hoof gently, “I can’t imagine what that war must have been like, princess.  But we won’t let the evil dragons activate the device again!” she said with determination.

        This brought a smile to Celestia’s face, “That’s the spirit my young student, never give up hope!” she said, giving her favorite pupil a little hug.

        Over the next two days, they flew over the jungle, and volcanic areas of Dracolas.  Far off in the distance, Twilight could see the mountain that she and Spike had infiltrated earlier.

        “What are those lands like Princess?  I think Mr. Aardunkay called them, ‘the forgotten lands’?” asked Twilight Sparkle, as she tried to squint, and get a glimpse of the far off land.

        “It is a forsaken place Twilight.  It was the first time that I had ever in my life lost hope.  When I saw the great war that the ponies had waged, and all the bloodshed, I did not think there could possibly be hope for any good in in the world.  Luna and myself had sworn never again to raise the sun or moon in that place, and it has remained in darkness ever since.  Even in its emptiness, my sister and I had always had felt pain and suffering coming from that place.  I see now that it was because the device once stood, like a monument to the bloodshed, death, and hatred that the ponies of old had filled themselves with.”  Celestia sighed, and turned her brows in anger as she thought of the device.

        Another question was brought to Twilight’s mind as they soared through the humid air, “Princess Celestia how is it that the ponies of old could build such a device?  How is it that they could build something so… primeval, something so advanced?”

        It was a legitimate question, and the answer of which Celestia hardly had an answer, “In honestly, I do not know, Twilight.  But I do know that the device is cursed.  It is an abomination of the land.  It was built with such hatred and malcontent, that it can never be used for good,” she looked to her pupil sternly, “We must destroy it Twilight Sparkle.”

        Aardunkay finally flew over the jagged volcano, and there were no signs of other dragons.  Twilight assumed that they had all already left to guard the device, however, she spoke too soon, as off to their side, they could see a copper colored dragon flying towards them.  Twilight recoiled, expecting him to attack, but to her surprised, Aardunkay looked to him, and gently neared the other dragon.

        As they came closer, the other dragon came into full view.  He was a rustic, copper looking dragon that had whiskers along his muzzle.  He was perhaps half the size of Aardunkay, and he did not look like he was looking for a fight, “Aardunkay, master, we come to your aid!” cried out the smaller dragon.

        “Silverlight Malkendov, it is good to see you!  I see Carthanax has been busy coordinating the Enclave well enough,” Aardunkay said to his younger dragon friend.

        “We would not so idly leave you to your fate master Aardunkay.  I am but the first to arrive, there should be more to come as we near our destination,” Malkendov his head to look at Celestia and Twilight and bowed his head, “It is good to meet you Princess of Equestria, and you as well Twilight Sparkle, we shall be at your aid if the need should arise”
        Celestia returned the bow, “Thank you Sir Malkendov, your help is greatly appreciated.”

        With the company of new dragons that arrived, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia at last came over the great grey volcano, and into a far more desolate country.  They had entered a place long deserted by light, and life, the forgotten lands.  It looked although it was night, but the sky was covered with a constant dreary, dark-grey sheet of clouds that did not allow so much as a star or a single glimmer of light to be shone upon the land.  The air was cool, but not from a pleasant breeze, there was no wind after all.  It felt as if the desolation and nothingness of the land was trying to pull the warmth straight out of your soul.  Far beneath them, the earth was rocky, and barren without a single trace of foliage.  It was a dry, coarse dessert.  There was no life to be had in its soil, not which had been there for thousands of years.  In this land, there was such a vast amount of nothingness that it was like a great and terrible spirit in and of itself.  The past sins and darkness that had occurred here had formed their own aurora of regret, and hatred that was constantly staring at Twilight, Celestia, and Aardunkay.  It stared at them scornfully as they disturbed their restful nothingness, disturbed its endless loathing and wallowing.  It felt like going backwards in time, into a far more sinister period, the further they traveled into the forgotten lands.  The longer they would travel into this desolate place, the easier it would be for them to understand, how such a place could drive even the greater elements to madness.

        They would travel through the land of painful memories for two full days.  They would not know day from night however, as the sky, and the lack of light would never change.  Every moment they drew closer to their destination, the device.  By now, several dragons had joined them, and flew alongside the silver dragon, Aardunkay.  Twilight Sparkle hadn’t a doubt in her mind, that there would be a great confrontation between them, and the evil dragons.  She was honored to be a part of such an endeavor, of course, beyond all her fear, and most honored to be next to her beloved teacher when it occurred.  But her worries suddenly came back to her friend.  

        It would seem that Celestia would sense her student’s worries, she put a hoof around her shoulder, “What is on your mind my dearest student?” she asked.

        “I’m worried about my friends, Princess.  I… I wish they were here with me,” she said, but as she looked out into the land before her, she amended her statement, “But... I suppose I’m glad that they don’t have to see such a place.  I’d rather them not be in this kind of danger.”

        “But you feel that your friends give you strength Twilight Sparkle?  That is good, and they still can give you strength and courage my dear student, even if they are not with you,” she draped her wing over her student, “Know that we fight here to protect them Twilight.  And never lose hope that we shall see them again, hope is what sustains us all, hope and courage.”

        Twilight Sparkle looked out into the distance.  With the land so flat and barren, she could see for miles.  And at the princess’s words, she could see their destination far, far into the distance.  She could not see the device, but she could see a great multitude of dragons, and she knew that they would be close guarding it.  It could be miles, but she knew that confrontation was inevitable, and they would have to prepare themselves for a fight.  

        Aardunkay too would spot the dragons in the far off, “Prepare yourselves ponies, we approach our enemy,” the other Silverlight dragons flew in close to him, readying themselves to do battle.  

        From that moment, Twilight would have to endure the worst thing in battle, the miserable waiting.  For a full hour, her body was tense, waiting for something loud, and dramatic to happen.  But in that hour, nothing happened, and it was quiet, save for the gentle whooshing sound of the dragons’ wings.  Each second ticked by like a life age.  The anticipation was killing Twilight; she almost wished the blasted dragons would just strike at them already, so they could get the bloody battle started.  But she would have to wait for each unbearably long second, as they flew closer, and closer to the stage of their battle.

        The dark red dragon, Blood Talon, approached Aardunkay, hovering in the air, with several of his henchmen at his side.  Blood Talon hissed loudly at the silver dragon, turning his cruel maw up into a grin, “Ah, Aardunkay, have you come to abandon your foolish ways of weakness and mortality, to give in to the true nature of dragons?” he said taunting Aardunkay. 

        Aardunkay, and the other dragons were all hovering close to him in the air, hissing, and doing their best to look ferocious at the opposition that out-numbered them, “I have come to put an end to the evilness that dragons have been cursed with, young drake,” Aardunkay said to Blood Talon.

        The bloody dragon spread his wings wide in defiance, “What you would call a curse, is our gift, grey scale!” he looked upon the two ponies on his back, and grinned, “Look at this weakness you have taken upon yourself!  Cast off those lesser creatures, embrace your darkness, let it give you strength!” said Blood Talon as he tried to inspire Aardunkay. 

        Princess Celestia hopped off of the silver dragon’s back, flying a few feet closer to Blood Talon; she looked at him sternly, but spoke fairly, “Dragon Blood Talon, I see that you carry pain, and suffering deep within you.  The nature of your great father may have been that of darkness, but it is not the nature of life.  And you my child are your own life, your own being.  Look what the Silverlight have done, they carried evil in their hearts, just as you do know and where able to cast it out, and live pure lives.  Please, good dragons, I implore that you try, just try to look past the shade that has been cast over your eyes.  You can live a different life my friends!  You can let love into your heart.”

        For a moment, a look of shock came across Blood Talon’s face.  He looked as if he was about to say something compassionate, but then his faced turned into a wicked sneer, and laughter, “Ah ha! Is this how you face all your enemies, pony-lord?  With ‘love’?” the dragon took a moment to revel in his laughter, “Why in the great wide world would I ever abandon true power to the fallacies of pony-kind and weakness?  Love is an invention that you lesser races have invented to delude yourselves from knowing true strength in the world!  It stands before dragon-kin like a tribute to your worthlessness.  And with the coming of our lord, that statue will fall, and the power of dragons will reign supreme over the land!” said Blood Talon, making his entire clan roar in a rally around him.

          Celestia’s stare did not waver as the bloody dragon taunted her.  Her head dropped slightly, “Then you leave me no choice.  I will protect my kingdom, and all of my subjects in it.  Your device threatens my dearest subjects, and so I will destroy it.  And if you stand in my way, I will remove you from my path!” and with a look of anger, her head arose, and her powerful solar magic shone from her horn.  A beam of bright yellow magic energy shot from her horn, and struck Blood Talon painfully in the chest, making him fall to the ground, with a dismayed look on his face.

        In the moment that their shock wore off, the evil dragons roared, and charged towards their opposition.  Twilight hung on for dear life as Aardunkay sped forward with rapid beating of his wings.  As he closed on in a dark dragon, he opened up his maw, a flash of white coming from his breath, spraying the on-coming dragon with white hot flames.  The other dragon squealed out in pain, before it fell to the ground.  Aardunkay spiraled directly through the group of evil dragons, as he did, three smaller dragons flew in on his blind spot, threatening to swoop down and attack Twilight Sparkle.  As she clung on to the scales of Aardunkay, she aimed her horn at the swooping little dragons, shooting them with her bright purple magic bolts.  Two of them broke off their attack, diving away to attack the other Silverlight dragons.  One landed itself upon Aardunkay’s back, and poised his teeth to dig into the purple unicorn.  A blinding light flashed in front of Twilight, and Princess Celestia appeared, bucking the small blue dragon hard, making him fly off into the air, and plummet towards the ground.  

        Twilight clung onto Aardunkay tightly.  They were flying every which direction, and she could hardly tell up from down.  All around her, white, blue, and red flames spouted from the maws of angry dragons.  Twilight shot out her magic bolts rapidly, hitting a dark dragon whenever she caught one in her sights.  It was easy to tell the two dragon clans apart, as the Silverlight dragons usually were clean, and had smoother scales, and the dark dragon had ragged, torn scales, that were usually coated with blood, or other tribal designs.   The dark dragons also tended to be smaller, on average.  Despite their size, and their skill advantage, the Silverlight dragons were greatly outnumbered, and were having trouble just keeping a multitude of the young dark dragons from overwhelming them, and staying alive.  

        Up from the ground, a very angry Blood Talon flew back into the fight, “That’s it brothers, keep them occupied!” he roared out, jumping onto a Silverlight dragon, and digging his teeth into its neck.  Celestia was flashing around the battlefield as fast as she could, blinking in front of any righteous dragons in need, and sometimes creating a huge burst of energy, that would send the little drakes falling to the ground.  Blood Talon proved to be a ruthless and effective warrior.  He did not bother using his fire breath to fell his enemies.  He would often let them try to strike him with their flame breath, dodging in until he got in close, and bulldozed into them, tearing into their flesh with his fearsome teeth.  Many a great Silverlight dragons would fall to his ferocious maw.

        Celestia flew in a relatively clear zone, firing her powerful magic beans at the dark dragons she spotted.  Blood Talon rose up above her, and curved his wings downward, making him torpedo through the air silently behind her.  His claws arose, and his maw opened, poised to devour the sun goddess.  Just before he crashed into her, Malkendov arose up, tackling Blood Talon and causing him to be pushed upward.  

        “Push them back! Get to the device!” roared out Malkendov.

        Aardunkay, Twilight and Celestia heard his cry.  Aardunkay, with Twilight on his back sped further into the forgotten lands, into the thickest part of the dark dragons.  In the distance, they could see a faint glowing on the ground.   This glowing was surely from the device, and so Aardunkay sped towards it, dodging his way through hoards of dragon as quickly as he could.  Celestia made her way slowly towards them, keeping an eye on the fighting Silverlight dragons, and blasting their foes off of them when she could.  Slowly but surely, they were making their way forward in battle, and were pushing the wicked drakes back.

        Malkendov smiled slightly as he saw the progress, but as he looked away, a great red claw gashed across his face.  The claw of Blood Talon had struck him, and would have done so again, would Malkendov not have dodged in time.  Blood Talon roared ferociously at him.  The blood red dragon was still slightly bigger than him yet, and used his size to intimidate him.  Malkendov shot fourth liquid hot metal from his breath, but the red dragon soared up into the air, dodging the blast of heat.  Malkendov tried to counter.  Instead of waiting for an attack, he followed the bloodied dragon, and struck him in his side with his spiked tail.  Blood Talon cried out in pain, and suddenly changed trajectory.  His claws sunk into Malkendov, and he began to dive towards the ground.  With his claws ahold of Malkendov, Blood Talon slammed the copper dragon into the ground.  Then he dug his teeth into his neck, rending the life from him, and finishing him off.  

        The blood dragon looked up; he could see Aardunkay and Celestia nearing the device.  He flew into the air, and sped past the battle, charging for them as fast as she could.  With his eyes wide with bloodlust, and anticipation, he cried out, “DO IT! DO IT NOW!”

        The Silverlight dragons where nearly atop of the device.  The battled raged on above it, and the tides had turned.  Now the dark dragons were fighting to simply stop the Silverlight from advancing forward, using any and all tactics necessary, no matter how dangerous. 

        Suddenly, something happened that made all the dragons, and ponies stop in their tracks.  A heavy pulse was felt, coming from the device below.  Another pulse resonated.  A look of panic struck into Aardunkay’s eyes.  Without waiting for the other dragons to react, he reached onto his back, taking Twilight Sparkle in his claw gently. Then, like lightning he sped through the air, and took Celestia as well into his other claw.  He had already gotten past the battle, when the other dragons realized what was happening, but it was too late for them.  A circle of light came from the device.  The light, was raw destruction, raw power, that was slowly growing, and enveloping everything that it touched.  Both Silverlight, and dark dragons where swallowed up inside the blast, and lost forever.  The blast wave was coming out at a tremendous speed, and it was catching up to Aardunkay.  He knew that it would overtake him, but he would not die, without knowing he did everything he could to save his two greatest comrades.  In a last ditch effort to save them, Aardunkay threw the two ponies forward, with all of his might, using the power of his own momentum, his throw, and Celestia’s frantic wing power to speed them forward.  Twilight was shaking, hardly knowing what was going on at all, as her teacher grasped her firmly in her hooves, and flapped her wings has hard as she could, to escape the blast from the device.  Celestia would fly nearly a mile from the ring of devastation, before she finally lowered herself to the ground, and turned around.  What she beheld even shocked the spirit of the sun.  It was a large dome of pure energy that had radiated from the device.  It swallowed up earth, air, and flesh alike, destroying everything.  This is what had happened to the ponies long ago, this is what they created.  No Silverlight dragons had survived the blast.  Although he had saved the princess, and Twilight Sparkle, Aardunkay would too, be incinerated to dust by the device.

        “No… Aardunkay…” a tear came to Twilight’s eye as she beheld the loss of her friend, “He sacrificed himself to save us.”  Twilight Sparkle had another horrible realization, “Princess… we failed.  What’s going to happen now…” she asked amidst her sorrow.

        The Princess was battle worn, and looked towards the dome of destruction, that was only just now beginning to recede, “Now, you must return to Equestria Twilight Sparkle.”

        Twilight suddenly realized that the princess had said ‘you’ and not ‘we’, “Princess I don’t understand.”

        The princess looked down to her pupil for a moment, and then back up at the receding energy, “I must stay here Twilight Sparkle.  I must stay here, and face the Lord of Destruction.”



To be continued with, Chapter 5: The Return of Destruction