The ship hummed and grumbled lightly as it moved into the upper atmosphere and towards the ark as they called it. Celestia watched with keen old eyes, but she still could not make heads or tails of the woman known as TaraShuShu. Even with her reaction to Twilight's words. It was almost haunting to realize just what had happened and why. Twilight's words echoed in her mind. "....Hes dead...." Twilight, with near panicked eyes looked down at the motionless form in worry. He was not breathing, nor was his heart beating. "Hes dead!... you... you just let him die!"
Tarashushu glanced across the landing craft at Twilight. "I apologize that you had to see Terahone die, he was a good man. A hero of our people, his son saved our galaxy three times, and my empire twice. He was my closest friend..."
Twilight resisted the urge to erupt into emotional turmoil again and stared back angrily. "Then why did you let him die?" TaraShuShu simply shook her head and Twilight growled angrily. "If he was so important to you then why?...you never let a friend just die...."
Celestia pulled a hoof over her shoulders and pulled her in. Twilight did not know the face that the woman wore, but Celestia knew it well. It was just one shade different from despair. "Twilight, be calm... I know for certain this will all make sense when we speak to this Patriarch..."
"You can feel it can you not?..." Celestia looked up at the woman who's face had not changed. "I can only just barely.... our race is not suited for feeling the emotions of others... but surely you with your abnormal power can feel the souls around us?"
Celestia stepped forward and bowed her head. Her horn gave off a very light glow. With her magic flowing through her all she could hear is the sad songs of thousands and the weeping of millions more. It wrenched at her heart. It was the voices of endless lost souls mourning the deaths of an untold masses. It was too much for her to bare and her eyes snapped open as her magic blocked the weeping voices. "..w..what is that?"
Tarashushu calmly spoke once more, Her voice still a little saddened. " I am Empress Tara Shu Shu...of the Nekomian empire... leader second only to the Goddess... one of three races that fled our galaxy in the ark. Those voices, they are the souls of those we lost, from within the hall of the fallen. Our races left in the ark on the golden crusade over a million years ago...most of that was spent in cryogenic suspension. We slept for hundreds of thousands of years, waking only when we believed we may have found the Monarch..."
"The monarch?..." Celestia's eyes narrowed, she was almost sure she could piece this together, but there was a bit more that she was not quite getting. She almost wished she would have taken Luna along instead of leaving her behind so the ponies of Equestria would not panic. "Monarch for a monarchy?, I assume he is one of your leaders?"
She shook her head firmly. "No... he is the goal of the crusade. Before the golden crusade the Patriarch and Matriarch of the Monarch's hand alone would send out crusades to search for the being that gifted them and their race with their power and their infinite lifespan...They launched 34 crusades before the Golden crusade was founded..."
"Wait you said you were fleeing..."
"Yes... Normally ONLY the Monarch's hand would go on these crusades but... our enemies were beyond count and we could only run. And so the Shardan built the Ark and it housed our worlds keeping them safe until we could complete the crusade..."
"Wait... worlds?"
TaraShuShu nodded pointing out the window as the ship rapidly approached the surface of the Ark. Passing through a massive gateway the sight of three planets and around two dozen moons, and one star within the center of the massive protective orb. With her power Celestia could feel the star pulsating. It was condensed and forced down to that size while maintaining its power to heat and protect the worlds that spun around it. Celestia could only dream of what kind of power or what level of technology was required to hold into place entire worlds like this.
"This... wh.. what is this?" Celestia turned to see Twilight who seemed to not be taking to the vastness of it all too well. "How ... th.. this isn't possible! The gravity of the outer shell alone should be pulling the planets out, never mind OUR planet... how is any of this possible"
"I do not know, I am just the empress of the Nekomian empire... It was the Shardan who put this together... and it was done before I was born..."
"Which planet is this Shardan on?" Celestia spoke calmly trying to give the area a calmer aura. Twilight was already at her limit for all this chaos, Celestia did not want her doing anything that she would have to dig the young alicorn out of.
"Not planet... mind you there is a difference between the Shardan... and THE Shardan...." She cleared her through and pointed to the center of the Ark at the small compressed sun. "THAT... is THE Shardan.... the 'other' Shardan are the metal giants... Their souls are encased within and they use the metal bodies to interact with the rest of the world."
Celestia took note of it, she had thought they were either some sort of magical construct or golem but this hinted at them being sentient. They were people, just like the others on this ship and on those same planets.
The ship rocketed forward descending into the atmosphere of one of the worlds. Though it did not land on the surface. Instead it made its graceful landing upon a massive castle that floated gingerly in the skies of the world below. The doors opened and slowly, Celestia stepped out, followed by Twilight who looked back at TaraShuShu who strayed back.
"Welcome... to the Ivory Citadel..."
Their heads turned to the source of the voice and their eyes picked out two figures. One short and one tall. Both with long pure white hair. The taller one was a male who's hair nearly reached his own ankles. He wore white and cyan blue robes. His face was something that appeared utterly ancient, but was not able to age. His every motion stirred the feeling of endless power, even the lightest of his breath was like the entirety of the latent magical field was wavering. The shorter one was female. She too had cat like ears, but what set her apart from TaraShuShu was mostly that she had a tail. Long and furry white like her hair. Though their power seemed endless and their souls calm, neither wore a smile or so much as an ounce of happiness in their aura.
The man's lips parted and he spoke again. "You are the leader of the sentient race upon the world we found then?... I am very sorry that we came so unannounced... We only came for one of our own.... and we now have him... you have my word that your world will be untouched. Though a great many of our people may choose to be buried upon your world, if it is something you can make arrangements we would be very appreciative..."
Twilight twitched near angrily. "Choose to die?... you are going to just let them die?" She glared at him
Unphased by her wrathful glare he spoke back in the same sad, near broken voice. "Yes... I have asked far too much of them to stay with me this far.... it would be downright cruel to refuse them burial upon their own accord."
Twilight was about to speak out again in rage but Celestia pulled her back a few steps and spoke in her place. "I apologize, we are just a little put off by this.... willingness to die and the ease at which you and those around you seem to accept this...."
He eyed her and nodded. "I suppose it is odd for those who have not experienced as we have... come..." He gestured calmly for them to follow as the two bipedals walked calmly, Though the smaller woman did not speak. "I am the Patriarch... this is... well as she is called... the Goddess..." She nodded firmly and he looked back at Twilight. "It is hard to explain... but I will do the best I can... Tell me young one... do you have any children?..."
Twilight shook her head firmly but before she could speak he continued. "How many of your own children.... have you seen die?.... how many do you think you could see die before you desired to rejoin with them?.... How many of your own children could you see murdered?...enslaved?...eaten?... raped?.... How many could you live through?..."
His voice raised as he stared down at her. "I am the Patriarch, the father of my race....there are now so few of my true kin that I have not fathered left I can count them on a single hand....Over 90% of my entire race was purged in the extermination wars... as the two great destroyers of our galaxy purged everything....Trillions of lives extinguished, enslaved, raped, burned, eaten. By the Dark Advent who knew nothing but to consume and breed.... then the great evil... the most tainted and demented race we have ever known. The race that chose its path of destruction and purging. The race that called itself Humanity... the Faithless race ... the very few that we have left have seen their brothers, their sister, their mothers and fathers, their children and their children's children destroyed for anything from a single moment sexual pleasure to something as painful as being to purging for the sake of purifying the galaxy of all non human life."
His voice calmed and his hands trembled lightly. He looked almost feeble. He clearly looked young but the way he moved was like that of a man who was at the end of his lifespan. "After a million years of war, death, and fleeing from a race that has forfeit the idea of morality, of right or wrong...after countless generations of pain and suffering at the hands of monsters, whether they were born monsters or chose to be monsters, we earned the right to rest, to die upon our own terms... I only asked my children to try and reunite us with our creator.... I cannot demand anything else from them... not after how much they suffered..."
His hand extended and a helmet drifted from NaraShuShu's hand into the Patriarch's waiting and open hands. "Every time we wake from our sleep and find a new world, a little more of my children seek out the final rest and I cannot deny them it." He stared at the helmet knowing full well who it belonged to. Mourning the loss of the man who wore it.
Twilight did not know what to say, even Celestia was speechless. They watched him look at the helmet with empty soulless eyes before passing it on to the Goddess who held it firmly and passed it on to another who took it back into the darkness with them.
Twilight opened her mouth trying to find the words "...D... Death is not.."
The Patriarch seemed to only take a single step forward, but oddly he was now inches from Twilight, placing a single hand on her forehead her eyes shrank and she fought the urge to vomit as he opened her mind to hear the voices around them. The thousands of souls weeping at their pain and loss, the thousands more waiting to join their loved ones. Stumbling back her eyes instantly watered in great pain and sorrow as she crumpled. "I do not expect you to understand.... you are a mere child.... I have lived a conscious life that is immeasurable even compared to her." He gestured to Celestia who did not seem very surprised that he knew she was rather long lived.
He stepped back as Twilight stared up at him eyes drenched in tears and pain. His hand moved and again an object floated to it. The carefully wrapped metal hand settled gently in his palm. He inspected the device and gave a sad sigh. Finally the Goddess spoke. "He is with us again.... all the crusades are accounted for...we must give our people the choice... we must honor the oath..."
"Wait... what oath?" Celestia felt a spark of emotion run through the air. With how immense these two's power was it was easy to pick their emotion out, especially since they seemed too tired to try and hide it.
The Patriarch frowned and stepped forward. "There were over 30 Crusades before the golden crusade... it has take us until now to find them all... and now that I have... I must follow through on my promise..." Before they could ask he answered the question they were afraid to ask. "My people reserved the right to perish once all the Crusades were found."
"Perish? Wait!... you are going to commit mass suicide?" Celestia's eyes shot wide and Twilight let out a shocked gasp as their stomachs churned. Celestia understood why they would decide such a thing but she did not want her world to become a mass grave for these poor lost souls.
"And what would you have me do then?... Force them to continue?...Take away the only relief they have?... We are ageless, we will continue to live under the bleak pain of our existence. It is in everyone's best interest for us to perish, our own included. We can only shoulder so much pain before we need to be saved from the pain. In the end its all the same, we were once a mortal race, but the cost of immortality is too great. We cannot continue like this. Not even the Neko with their short lifespans can continue. All they see, all they feel is pain and death. From birth to death, it is but a moment to us, a simple breath. But to them, they are born and feel our pain. It is not right to my people and it is not right to them to subject them to our endless pain." The Patriarch's face betrayed a hint of anger, but not at them. More so at himself for letting his people and his allies suffer for so long. "I do not want my people to die, I have served them for tall this time, protecting them and feeling their loss, shouldering their pain as best as I could for all this time. I do not want my people to die any more than they wished for their children to be destroyed by Humanity."
"Please... wait... Come with us..." Celestia looked up at the Patriarch. It was odd laying eyes on something taller than herself but it did happen from time to time.
"What?..." The Patriarch and the Goddess both glanced at her with a fair amount of confusion in their eyes.
Catching on Twilight stood up next to Celestia. "Yes... Come back with us, we too are without age. Not all of us but the Alicorns here, we guide and protect Equestria..."
Celestia nodded putting a wing over Twilight. "Indeed. We may not be as old as you, but I have lived long enough to fall into the same emotional trap as you, I have seen my closest friends live and die a hundred times over. I know what you feel, perhaps I cannot understand the scale but I know the pain. But this death is not the end, come... come with us, it may not be a paradise but joy, kindness, generosity, everything. We have harmony here. You are in pain, and what can resolve this pain may be in our hearts, we are willing to share if you are willing to try. You need not let your entire race perish... come and forget the pain, at least for a moment."
The Patriarch looked legitimately surprised. "I... I do not want to see my people die... but it is not my choice.... my people seek an end to their eternity, and I promised them that choice." He reached out and softly touched Twilight's mane. "I would love to reignite joy in the hearts of my people... I would die for a mere chance to bring the will to continue to them.... but, its' not always so simple."
Celestia was about to say something when she noticed him flinch. "They have already began..." His gaze fell upon the world they orbited.
"They feel the return of the last of our kind... I cannot deny them any further...." He looked back at Celestia, the pain in his eyes was without end.
His eyes closed and his voice rang out, not physically but through the minds of all present.
My children. The last of us has returned. We are complete, we are whole again. The destroyers of life cannot find us, and not a single soul is unaccounted for. I cannot ask any more of you than you have given. I am proud, proud of my children, proud to have been your father..... proud to have known each and every one of you for these thousands upon thousands of millennia. Your oaths are fulfilled your duty done your work complete. You have no obligation to stay, your loved ones are one short trip away, guided and watched over by their mother. I thank you all, you have done more than you ever needed to, you have given everything you ever were and everything you ever could. The past is an ugly scar over you, a scar you do not deserve, a scar you NEVER deserved. Do what you must, but keep in your hearts the kindness of those who struggled with us. The Qun Qun who perished in the first human war, the Shardan who stand watch even now, the Hequari who stood against the full might of the dark advent to allow the ark to escape, the Nekomian empire who stood as the center of joy within the council, within the galaxy. Without these brave souls we would never have succeeded, we would have been lost and broken. We go now, to perish on our own terms, our own way. Forgive me my children. I wanted to hold onto you forever, it is not my place, forgive this old fool forgive me, and goodbye.
His empty eyes stared now into the world they flew above, the skies alight with the power of millions flaring up and dying out. He fell to a single knee weeping. Celestia stepped up, she had no idea what to say but she calmly touched his shoulder.
"There is nothing I could do or say to express the sympathies feel for you."
There was a deep rumbling and the whirling and clicking of metal on metal as a great many Shardan many stories tall stood up beside them as if they had just been there from the beginning, they watched with soft glowing eyes that stared blank over their metal mask like faces The Goddess stood too beside them.
"We cannot express our regrets in words, nor our sorrow that you were exposed to this. There is very little we can actually do now." Her eyes shifted planetside and she breathed a deep sigh. "Not all chose their end, but it is unavoidable, the Monarch's hand has ended. They go now to reunite with the Matriarch. Her loving embrace awaits them."
A deeper calm wise sounding voice chimed in slowly. "We knew this day would come, but we knew not that such young races would be here to witness it.... "
The tallest of the metal giants looked down at Twilight who wore the same mask of horror and pain. She had just witnessed a mass suicide millions in number. She knew she could have done nothing to stop it, but she still felt like she should have been able to do at least something. "..w....what will you do now?" Twilight failed to hold in the raw emotion coursing through her as she addressed the Patriarch.
".... I am not alone, and it is my place as their father to protect what little children I have... I will stand until I am the last, but please... allow me time to mourn.... I am sorry you were taken up in all of this, please return to your world with knowledge that it is safe..."
Twilight hesitated but before she could speak Celestia's words rang out. "Come with us!.... all of you, This ark of yours served its purpose, and now it is just a reminder of your pain. Come with us, live out the rest of what you have right here with friends...."
The Patriarch stared as if he was unsure how to respond. The Goddess however smiled and kneeled beside him tugging at his arm to get him to stand again. "Come... we have had thousands of years of mourning, let us go with them. Your people are free and reunited with their loved ones. We won... look at them, we have drowned in despair for too long, let us bask in their warmth and joy. They are good and kind souls. We need them.... My people too need this joy. And we can give to them in return...."
His eyes panned over them all and with a single movement the Shardan already housed within bodies stepped aside allowing the Main shardan to reach out and possess the white citadel. "Go.... Tsaara....go and live for once... The Monarch chose you because you had the love of a father in your heart, you stood between that which you loved and cherished and that which desired to destroy it. You have served his will for thousands upon thousands of years. Now your children have grown, they have left.....They are where they need to be. YOU.... need to live for you.... just his once....live for you. Nara will be waiting for you on the other side.... she always has waited and she will wait for you until you go to her upon your own accord.... I have lived for millions of years, and I have seen no finer a man... nor more stubborn....just do this, for you...."
He looked up at the massive sentient star and shed his tears. Looking back at Twilight and Celestia. He smiled warmly and stepped forward.
"....That.... that is a lot to take in sister.....a whole lot..." Luna sat in her chair less than calmly. Having listened to Celestia's tale and read the decree she was writing.
"Indeed it is. But I am certain that Equestria will benefit and our new neighbors will be quite a boon to our culture. Only ten thousand Neko came.... and they all promised to keep an eye on their population, as well they mare taking up the space in the desert that nopony we know of CAN.... they are making use of bad land.... giving to us in return taxes, laborers, culture, and as they said... if ever it is needed, soldiers."
"But what of these Shardan?" Luna poked at her sister with a hoof.
"Oh they will live with the neko, save for the primary which is deconstructing the ark and setting their old words in orbit around ours. He will of course hide them, but he intends to leave them for 'discovery' by the ponies if ever they find out how to leave our world to explore the stars. Until then, he will guard and protect all worlds within his grasp, and if ever we perish, he will ensure that the sun continues to rise and set."
Luna nodded and let Celestia get back to work on her decree. Walking gingerly she found herself back in the throne room where 50 oddly pale white ponies with various specifically cyan colored cutie marks all stood. Most were Unicorns but one stood taller than the rest. He smiled warmly at the number before him but there was a great sadness about him along with a certain aura of joy.
"I assume you are our new friends?" A few flaps of her wings and she set down upon the stone beside the taller pony.
He gave a soft bow and smiled. "...Yes, I do hope we are not doing anything.... odd. We are quite unused to this..."
"No... nothing wrong, just... my sister told me you were immortal and endlessly powerful.... you look... almost... old and fail..."
He chuckled and stepped up. "I would hope so... I shed my power, with it I would never die, never see my precious wife again... never reunite with the rest of my race... lest I chose to end my life as they did. These few are all that is left. We are not much for deserts, so.... we decided why not? And as you can see, we took up a form your kind are quite familiar with and we now will reside here as ponies." He paused and stepped a little closer. "If ever you need more from us, just say the word, but until then... we will be busy dying the natural way."
His smile was warm and Luna could tell it was honest. She would welcome this, no matter how crazy the day was. Aliens coming to live in Equestria, New planets to worry about, immortals giving up their power, mass death. Even under the circumstances she was oddly at ease with everything. One look back at the now ex Patriarch and she could tell for now at least, so was he.
~~THE END~~