Chapter 2: Seeing the Past: The Destruction of Appleloosa!
*More Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)*
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Soul Nomad and the Equestrians
Chapter 2: Seeing the Past: The Destruction of Appleloosa!
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"Where there is mystery, it is generally suspected there must also be evil". - Lord Byron
Canterlot Castle, Throne Room
The throne room was silent for several moments after Celestia's announcement. The ponies were stunned into silence from hearing the grim news.
"...Appleloosa...d-destroyed...?" Applejack asked as her eyes watered up. "...Ya mean..."
Celestia's face fell at seeing Applejack tear up. "I'm so sorry Applejack..." she said quietly.
AJ felt all the strength just leave her body and collapsed on the ground and began to sob uncontrollably. Her six friends looked on with sympathy at the cowpony. AJ was one of the toughest ponies they knew and to see her completely break down like this was shocking to say the least. Fluttershy trotted over and embraced Applejack.
"Shh... It's alright Applejack, it's going to be all right." She spoke softly, comforting AJ.
Twilight looked back at Celestia.
"What caused this Princess?" Twilight asked.
Princess Celestia sighed and looked at Twilight. "To be honest..." the Princess said reluctantly. "Neither Luna nor myself are sure Twilight."
"Maybe is was something to do with the meteor." Spike suggested.
The Princesses looked over at Spike in surprise.
"Wait." said Luna cutting in. "Thou saw the meteor as well?"
"We all saw it all the way from the Crystal Empire, Princess." Rarity added in.
"Twilight said she was thinking about it the entire ride back from the Crystal Empire." Spike told the Princesses.
"More like, I couldn't stop thinking about it." Twilight spoke up.
"Why was that Twilight?" Luna asked.
"I told Spike that when I looked at the meteor... I had this deep feeling of dread and terror..." Twilight said hesitantly.
"That's the same feelings the two of us had Twilight." Celestia said to Twilight. "I've never felt such a deep sense fear like that before in my entire life..."
Meanwhile, Applejack was finally beginning to get herself under control. She wiped her eyes, stood up and took several deep breaths.
"Feeling better?" Fluttershy asked softly.
"Not really..." Applejack muttered sadly. "...But ah'm gettin' there..."
The two of them walked over and joined the group while they were discussing the situation.
"Shortly after the meteor landed," Celestia began. "There was a number of explosions in and around the town."
"Plus, we also sensed a incredibly powerful surge of dark energy." Luna added in. "Not even King Sombra's aura was this dark..."
Celestia continued. "We sent out a large group of Royal Guards to survey the damage and search for survivors."
"Did they find any survivors?" Twilight asked hopefully.
"Only one." Luna spoke grimly. "He was trapped under the wreckage of a saloon. Two guards brought him back to Canterlot, and he was sent to the Royal Infirmary for treatment."
Applejack finally spoke up. "Maybe he saw what caused this."
The Royal Sisters exchanged looks again and nodded.
"I suppose we could ask him." Celestia said. "Provided that he's regained consciousness."
The nine of them exited the throne room and headed towards the Infirmary and hopefully, answers.
Canterlot Castle, Royal Infirmary
The Royal Infirmary was one of the earlier additions to Canterlot Castle. It was heavily damaged during the Changeling Invasion and had to be repaired over the course of several weeks. The Infirmary was mainly used for guards who were injured in training, or suffered injuries out in the field. At the current time, the only occupant of the ward was the lone survivor of Appleloosa.
The Mane Six, Spike and the Princesses entered the Infirmary and saw one of the doctors standing facing away from them. He was a pale orange unicorn with green mane wearing a white lab coat which slightly covered his Cutie Mark, which was a roll of gauze. He was holding a clipboard up with his magic and apparently was deeply engrossed in the information on it.
"Hello, Doctor Gauze." Celestia said.
Gauze Tape jumped at hearing Celestia call him and nearly dropped his clipboard. The doctor hastily turned around to face the group.
"Oh, Princess, you startled me..." he said sighing.
"How is he doing Doctor? Has he regained consciousness?" Celestia asked politely.
"Oh, you mean Dusty Spur?" Gauze asked as he looked to the clipboard. "Well...he's definitely seen better days." He flipped the paper up looking at the next one underneath the first paper. "We managed to patch him up to the best of our abilities, and yes, he is awake." He suddenly frowned. "However, I kind of wish he wasn't."
The group was rather surprised at hearing the doctor say that last comment.
"What does thou mean when thou says 'you wish he wasn't'?" Luna asked.
Gauze Tape sighed and looked up from his clipboard at the group.
"He's awake but..." he paused. "Whatever happened at Appleloosa has apparently had an incredibly severe negative impact on his current psychological state."
"What did he say?" Rainbow asked her friends.
Twilight barely fought off the desire to roll her eyes at Rainbow's ignorance.
"It means something really bad happened to his mind." Twilight said to Rainbow Dash.
"Oh..." Rainbow said quietly. "I knew that."
Celestia looked troubled at hearing this. "How bad is it Doctor?" she asked obviously worried over the mental health of her subject.
"Well Princess..." Gauze began scratching the back of his head. "Let's just say Dusty's acting like he just saw something that crawled out of the deepest, darkest depths of Tartarus and leave it at that."
"That bad?" Twilight asked skeptical of the doctor's words.
"Yes, it's that bad." Gauze Tape replied returning to his clipboard.
"Bad er not, we need ta talk ta 'im." Applejack said.
Gauze looked up from the clipboard with a look of shock. "Wait, you want to talk to him? Now?" he asked disbelievingly. "You wouldn't be able to get one comprehendible sentence out of him."
"We believe that he may have some answers regarding what happened to Appleloosa." Celestia said. "It would be of great help if you could allow this."
Gauze looked around at the group and sighed. "I...suppose something could be arranged..." Gauze Tape said hesitantly. He turned to head down the corridor. "Follow me, I'll take you to his room."
The group followed the doctor a ways down the corridor, stepping under scaffoldings and around piles of lumber before stopping in front of a door with a window made a glazed glass.
"Well, here we are." Gauze Tape announced. He turned to the group. "I'm going to head in first to make sure he's alright. Just a moment please." He levitated a key from his pocket, opened the door and disappeared inside. Several tense silent seconds followed before Gauze poked his head out. "You can come in now, but don't make too much noise... or sudden movements."
The group entered the room slowly and gazed over it. The room was rather large, with a pale blue curtain dividing the room, hiding a bed where the survivor laid. Inactive medical machines sat in the corner and there was a window with an amazing view of a majority of the city.
In the bed near the window was the lone survivor of Appleloosa, Dusty Spur. He was a pale brown male earth pony with a messy black mane. He was wearing a crinkled blue hospital gown. Fresh bandages covered parts of his face, legs and probably his body as well under his gown. The thing everypony noticed was that his irises were shrunk to the size of pinpricks and they darted all over the room. He was rocking back and forth while hugging his hind legs to chest and muttering quietly and rapidly to himself.
Twilight cleared her throat and took a small step forward. "Um...Mr. Spur?" she asked. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and we-"
A quiet whimper from Dusty cut off Twilight as he looked around. "M-make...make it stop..." he muttered quietly.
Twilight retreated back to her friends. "Make...what stop?" she asked in a confused tone.
"The...the..." Dusty stuttered. "The...laughter...make it stop...!" He clutched his head as he tightly squeezed his eyes shut.
The group look on in shock as Dusty shuddered and whimpered. They looked to Gauze Tape for answers.
"Laughter?" Twilight asked. "Nopony's laughing."
"I told you." Gauze said almost matter of factly. "He's completely lost it. You're not going to get anything out of him."
"Isn't there any medicine or something of that kind that can calm him down?" Rarity asked.
"Well, I can use anesthesia, but it would kind of defeat the purpose of you being here." Gauze Tape answered.
"Well..." Applejack began. "What he doesn't need ta answer us?"
"What are you getting at Applejack?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Ya remember that memory spell ya used on us when Discord changed our personalities?" Applejack asked.
"Oh yeah! That spell!" Twilight said remembering the incident with Discord. He had used his powerful chaos magic to change her friends into the opposite of their Element of Harmony so they wouldn't be able to stop him. She had almost given up herself if it weren't for her Friendship Reports sent back to her by Princess Celestia. She had to chase everypony down and use the spell on them to remind them of the good times they had shared and reunite the group.
"But would it have the same effect as it did on us Twilight?" Rarity asked.
"Well, I think I can modify the spell so we can see his memories, and by extension, also see what happened to Appleloosa." Twilight replied. She turned to Gauze Tape. "If I could be allowed doctor." she added in.
"If it will help out with the investigation," Gauze said. "I suppose I can allow you to use this spell on Dusty Spur."
"You might as well use that anesthesia on him doctor." Celestia stated. "No point of having him hurt himself or others while Twilight performs the spell."
"Of course, Princess." Gauze replied pulling a needle labeled "Anesthesia" out of a nearby drawer. He slowly approached Dusty with the needle hidden behind him. "Now, Dusty, just stay still."
Dusty was too busy still quietly ranting about the apparent laughter in his head to notice Gauze stick the needle into his foreleg. Dusty Spur collapsed into unconsciousness once again in a matter of seconds.
Gauze disposed of the used needle and turned to Twilight.
"Alright Miss Twilight, time to perform that spell of yours."
Twilight nodded and ignited her horn. "Alright, here we go." She fired a small pink beam of magic that struck Dusty in the forehead. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a white mist began to seep from Dusty ears and began to form a large cloud in front of them. Images began to appear within the mist...
Appleloosa, three and a half hours earlier
The group saw that the image that appeared was that of Appleloosa from Dusty's point of view. He was sitting at a bar drinking cider and having a conversation with another pony.
"Ah'll tell ya Dusty," the other pony said taking a sip of his cider. "Makin' peace with the buffalo was one of the best things ta ever happen ta Appleloosa."
"Eeyup." Dusty replied taking a sip of his cider. "All thanks ta them six ponies from Ponyville."
"Hey!" Pinkie exclaimed happily hopping up and down. "They're talking about us!"
"Even to this day, they were still talking about your accomplishment there." Celestia stated with a smile.
In the distance they all heard a voice in the distance calling out to somepony.
"Well howdy!" the voice said.
"Who was that?" Dusty asked uncaringly.
"Eh, probably just Braeburn welcomin' some tourists er somethin' like that." Dusty's bar mate replied, casually taking another sip.
The group heard Braeburn talking again.
"Welcome ta AaAaA..." He trailed off. "H-Hey, what are ya'll doing with that?" Braeburn asked in the distance. "What the-?!"
Before anypony could ask what was happening, a massive explosion erupted in Appleloosa. Dusty and the other patrons in the bar were thrown to the floor as the windows shattered from the force of the explosion. As Dusty slammed into the floor, the image blurred slightly before clearing up.
""Sweet Celestia!" the bartender exclaimed. "What the hay was that?!"
"Ah don't know..." Dusty could be heard saying. "But ah'm gonna find out." He stood up and began staggering towards the door.
More explosions rang out through the town, partially drowning out the screams of terror and confusion. The sight Dusty and the ponies watching saw then was best described as just pure chaos. Many of the buildings were on fire and some of them collapsed already, with a majority of the townsfolk running around in a panicked craze. Other more slightly calm ponies were carrying small water buckets in seemingly futile attempt to douse the inferno that was once their home.
Another explosion happened nearby and an unfortunate pony was tossed through the air, slamming into the ground and tumbling to bloody crumpled heap in front of Dusty.
Rarity couldn't handle the scene and ran to the trash can in the room and emptied her stomach at the grizzly site of death. The Mane Six and the Princesses could only look on in sheer horror as the gruesome scene continued to unfold.
Dusty turned to head down the street and saw a group of four stallions point in a direction down the street.
"There it is!" one of them yelled.
"Ah see it!" another one shouted in response.
"What are we waitin fer? Let's get it!" a third one shouted.
The group unleashed a battle cry and charged down the street at whatever was apparently was causing this disaster and disappeared from sight.
Dusty galloped towards where he saw the group head off to, and as he approached he heard the sounds of fighting, another explosion, and screams of pain from the stallions. Dusty turned the corner only to be stopped dead in his tracks. A pile of flaming debris spanned across the entirety of the road and it didn't look like there was anyway around it.
Through the flames he could see barely make out something, something that filled him with dread. It looked like a bipedal creature of some sort and it was holding one of the stallions by his throat in front of it. It raised it's other arm and revealed that it was holding what looked like a broadsword before stabbing the blade through the stallion's stomach.
The Mane Six gasped and gagged in horror at the show of brutality while Celestia and Luna looked on with shock.
The stallion was casually tossed away by the figure who looked around for more ponies. Seeing none the figure leaped high into the air and grasped it sword with both it's appendages and pointed the blade towards the town. Dark energy began to gather in the sword.
"Oh, that doesn't look good..." Dusty muttered fearfully before turning and galloping back the way he came.
He didn't go more than a dozen steps before the figure unleashed the power built up in the sword in the form of a wave of dark power that slammed into what was left of Appleloosa. Dusty was tossed by the wave through the air and crashed through the roof of the saloon before coming to a stop on his back facing the ceiling. Loud cracking sounds echoed through the bar as the ceiling began to give way.
"...No, no, no, no, no, no...!" he muttered quickly and fearfully while holding out his hooves in a vain attempt to catch the ceiling as it finally collapsed on top of him.
Buried under the rubble, neither Dusty nor the ponies watching could see anything. They heard several more explosions rang out throughout the town followed by screams of pain and terror and then finally, silence. A horrible, bone-chilling silence.
After the silence, they heard something. It started quiet and then it started to grow in volume. It was laughter. An insane, deranged laugh that sounded like someone who belonged locked away in the padded room of a mental asylum.
"...heh heh heh heh heh... heh heh ha ha ha Ha ha ah Ha ha he HA HA HA HA Ha he HA heh Ha HA...!"
And it kept going for several seconds before dying out. Then once again, silence. Dusty was terrified and exhausted from the ordeal. The group could see his eyes begin to flutter in a desperate attempt to stay conscious, but in the end he fell into unconsciousness.
Several more moments past before something else began to happen. Even in his unconscious state Dusty hear could something else. It was several voices shouting out.
"Check over there!" one of the voices yelled out.
"Nopony over here!" called back another one.
Dusty's eyes shot open. Whoever they were, they were his only chance at survival.
"H-Help...!" he called out weakly. "Help...!"
"Did you hear that?" one voice asked.
"Yeah it came over there by that wreckage."
The sound of a hooves coming towards him filled his ears. Several knocks were heard on top of the wreckage.
"Anypony there?" a voice asked.
Dusty's heart soared at hearing the voice of a potential savior.
"Y-yes...!" he called out as loud as he could. "Help...!"
The voice could be heard calling out to the others.
"Hey!" it called. "We got a live one under this structure!"
The sound of several sets of hooves came towards the wreckage.
"We got to get this thing off of him!" the first voice called out. "Everypony grab a part of it and get ready!"
The voice coordinated the others to other parts of the structure. From what everypony could see from Dusty's point of view, several sets of white hooves grasped under the roof.
"Ready?" the voice called out. "1, 2, 3, LIFT!"
Several grunts and groans of exertion were heard as the structure was gradually lifted off of Dusty and he was removed from under the roof. From his view on the ground, he was looking up into the faces of at least ten Royal Guards. The guard had a variety of emotions on their faces ranging from shock to pity.
"Alright..." one of the guards, apparently the leader of the group, spoke up.
He pointed at several different guards in succession.
"You two, take him to the chariot and return to Canterlot. The rest of you are with me for recon." he ordered.
The leader turned to another guard. Dusty was beginning to lose consciousness once more. He was able to make out one last comment.
"Take a letter. We've got a lot to tell the Princesses..." he said grimly.
Back in the hospital room, the white mist faded away as the ponies continued to look on in absolute horror.
"W-What did... we just s-see...?" Fluttershy whimpered.
"...I-I don't know Fluttershy..." Twilight stuttered out fearfully.
"What was that creature?" Rainbow asked. "That weird thing with the sword?"
Applejack growled, clearly angered at the lack of details.
"That didn't tell us nutin'!" Applejack said angrily. "All we know 'bout it is that it walks on two legs 'nd it's got a sword."
"Patience, Applejack..." Celestia began, her face plastered with a mixture of understanding, and righteous anger. "Whatever that creature is, it's the one who caused this catastrophe, and it will be brought to justice. Nothing gets away with harming my subjects."
The girls had never seen Celestia this angry before, except for their first encounter with Discord in Canterlot Tower.
Luna spoke up as well. "We should send a note out to the guards, so they know what to look for."
"Good idea Luna." Celestia replied and grabbed a blank piece of paper from an open drawer. She levitated a quill and began to write.
To: The 114th Battalion
We have partially discovered the identity of the destroyer of Appleloosa. Be on the look out for a bipedal creature wielding a sword. From what we were able to deduce, the creature is extremely dangerous and seems to able to wield a strange form of dark magic. Aside from the general details, we have no further information to provide about it. If it is encountered, attempt to subdue it. We want it alive for questioning, if reasonable possible. If that fails, you cleared to use lethal force as a last resort.
From,
Princess Celestia
The Princess, satisfied with the note, rolled it up, placed her royal seal on it and engulfed the scroll in blue flames, sending it to the guards.
Celestia looked out the window towards the desert and sighed.
"I just hope that scroll reaches them before that creature does..." she said to the group.
The Mane Six remained silent, but as for Twilight, there was only one thought on her mind:
"What are we dealing with here...?"
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Pretty intense.
So much emotions.
You know you don't see much soul nomad fanfiction and fewer with the devourlord in it great job I hope you continue this..
4253340
Thanks for your support. In response to your statement, on FanFiction.com, there's only about 79 stories about Soul Nomad. About 16 of them mention Devourlord Revya. About 3 of those are male Revya. On this website, there is (as far as I know) only 2 Soul Nomad stories: Mine and another one being a MLP version of Soul Nomad with Twilight as Revya and Gig being fused to her soul by Celestia.