What Remains II: After the Fall

by Bateman66

A Silent Fall

A light breeze grazed across Alistair’s clothing and skin as his senses slowly returned to him. He found that he lay against something coarse and cold, with a dull light barely illuminating the room he was in. Struggling to his feet, he felt a stream of aches slam against the entirety of his back, nearly causing him to stumble back to the floor. Straightening himself, he slowly raised his body out of his momentary hunch and into its full height.

Another breeze pushed him, this time much more abrasive and intrusive to his nerves, prompting him to shudder at the sudden drop in temperature as he attempted to inspect his surroundings.

A thick night sky still hung over the world, the dull gray moonlight giving impression that not much time had passed since his arrival. However, it looked wholly different from when he last saw it. It was blacker, more outstanding to the eye, with the natural subtly being cast away for something that appeared deliberate in its own beauty.

Looking around further, Alistair could see that despite the clear view of the space above his head, a set of hexagonal walls surrounded him on all sides, comprised of holey obsidian slates that appeared to have been stripped directly from coarse volcanic beds.

“This is odd,” he remarked aloud, his voice echoing lowly through the open chamber as he appraised it. “Castle-like fortifications, but an open air ceiling. Interesting concept, but contradictory and nonsensical…”

“A shame that you have this sentiment,” called a faint voice from a distance away, the sound too amplified by the room’s structure.

“Who’s there?!” demanded Alistair as he immediately ignited his magic to his hands, a sizzling electric blue light sparking outwards from his closed palms.

His feet promptly spread themselves apart, evening himself into a fighting stance that had become second nature after years of practice.

“There is no need to react in such a way,” comforted the voice gently from somewhere in front of him. “I mean you no harm, Alistair.”

The boy quickly dissipated the magic from his hands while staring in bewilderment toward the voice’s origin. Although he only saw blackness in front of him, he looked upon it as a personification of the mysterious figure.

“How do you know my name?” he asked with a growing stiffness that poorly masked his discomfort.

“I know all that is of necessity to the welfare of Equestria, especially you, my dear friend.”

His eyebrows arched into a frown. “That’s quite a vague sentiment. And I normally don’t consider ponies I’ve never met before to be my friends.”

The voice chuckled. “The Commander was correct, you are devious one.”

“I try to be.”

“Step forward then,” said the voice with sincere invitation. “Perhaps you’ll find me more affable in the proper lighting.”

Clenching his fists together, Alistair took a few careful steps forward.

As he moved, seemingly on command to his advance, the dull moonlight shifted from its unfocused position and shined directly into the center of the room, fully illuminating the voice’s source while still keeping the outer edges of the area hidden.

It stood just a few yards away, cloaked in a swooping black-blue robe that gave it both a wizardly and unsettling air. It was an equine male in shape, with a ghostly white snout poking out from under a pulled down hood. From there, there was nothing else he could see, the figure’s specter-like presence seeming to bloom outwards in an ethereal light.

Alistair’s eyes widened in surprise. “W-What in the world…”

“I am not a phantom,” answered the stallion patiently, seeming to read Alistair’s unspoken thought. “Merely the effect of a certain spell, one that was self-imposed for my own benefit.”

“There’s a story to that statement,” Alistair noted.

“It’s a tale for another day,” the stallion answered with a wave of his hoof. “Perhaps once we grow to be a bit more acquainted with one another, I shall explain it to you.”

“If you wish to grow more acquainted you could at least begin with telling me your name,” he said with waning patience.

“Silver Eclipse,” replied the stallion.

“Yes, well then, Silver Eclipse,” he uttered the name with clear derision, “I don’t quite understand what is happening or how I got here in the first place, but my instincts tell me that you had your hoof in the equation. Is this correct?”

Eclipse nodded, a wry grin stretching across his shrouded face. “That is correct.”

“Then if you’d be so kind, could you please explain to me what the heck is going on here before I go and find out on my own? I’ve had quite enough of whatever game you’re trying to play.”

“Easy there, old sport,” echoed a sly and familiar mare’s voice from behind him. “I know you can have a pretty sore temper, but try to show just a little ounce of respect.”

Blood running cool at the voice, Alistair turned around to see that a gray furred and lavender maned mare now stood behind him, a confident but friendly grin across her face. Her name was Shale Press and she’d been a thorn in Alistair’s side since his very first month in Equestria.

She, with the assistance of several other unnamed ponies, had tried and failed twice over the course of two years to harm and apprehend him for their own nefarious purposes, nearly carrying through on their first try but clearly not anticipating the resilience of Twilight Sparkle and a few other close companions.

“Shale…?” he said alarmingly as the color began to drain from his face, turning his fair skin a ghostly white that nearly matched the cloaked stallion. “How did you—”

“—Sneak up on you?” she finished with a smirk. “Easy, just have to move when you’re talking. I don’t know the precise statistics, but the brain gets quite distracted when conversing with another.” She shrugged. “Something with chemicals.”

Alistair crossed his arms clumsily, giving his best visual display of heroism as his mind slowly stopped reeling. “I know you’re not just here to enlighten me on brain chemistry.”

“You’ve gotten better,” she remarked cheerfully as she took a few steps closer to him. “You’re not even shaking this time.”

“I’ve gotten better at controlling my fear,” Alistair said flatly. “I’m not as frightened as I once was.”

“Really? Then how come you still—” she reached forward in a flash, and patted Alistair’s cheek softly, relishing at his startled wince to her touch, “—do this?”

“S-Stop that!?” he stammered while jerking his head away.

Shale giggled in delight. “I’m just messing with you, no harm done right?”

“Commander Shale,” boomed the ghostly stallion’s voice impatiently, “may we please focus back to the task at hoof?”

Shale’s expression immediately shifted into one of centered concentration as she dipped her head formally to the stallion. “Yes, my lord.” Scurrying over to the raised section of the floor, Shale quickly stood at Silver Eclipse’s side.

“As you may have figured out at this point,” Shale continued as if not interrupted prior, “Silver Eclipse and I share a common ideology in a sense, a dictating drive that keeps us closely in league with one another. And although we have different ways of achieving what needs to be done, we both have the same goal.”

“We represent a force of change in this world,” continued Silver Eclipse, “a powerful cabal of ponies united in our effort to extinguish the long troubled light of Equestria, and upon its ashes, establish a new order for all ponies to flourish properly in. The road has been harsh and filled with adversity, numerous setbacks and periods of hardship slowing our progress. But now, in these times of troubles, our opportunity of greatness has finally revealed itself.”

Alistair raised a queried eyebrow. “Are you plotting some political insurrection, a military coupe perhaps?”

Silver Eclipse grimaced, something close to anger appearing from behind the cloak. “I take it you assume I’m just some over ambitious Royal Guard general, a foolish old stallion with the childlike intention of usurping Celestia simply out of some deluded sense of superiority?

The boy shrugged. “More than likely not, what you’re describing would probably be adorned in bejeweled Guard armor with a fruit salad of self-appointed metals draped across your chest. You’re staying humble, I’ll give you that, but you’re still not divulging the entirety of what you are.”

“That information will be given to you once your loyalty is assured,” growled the stallion.

“Well, that leaves in a tricky position,” Alistair mused. “I’m expected to blindly obey a mysterious cloaked stallion with the promise that more details on whatever he’s trying to do will be supplied to me in the future.

Eclipse crossed his hooves. “Your insolence is impressive.”

Alistair shook his imploringly. “You misunderstand me; I meant no insult in the statement. I was simply feeding back to you my current standing on the unusual expectations you’ve thrust upon me. At no point was I insulting you, or the organization you represent.”

“I told you he would do this,” mumbled Shale just audible enough for Eclipse to hear it.

Glaring at Shale, he looked back to Alistair with equal discontent. “I still take it from your quick dismals that the subject of rebuilding Equestria no longer interests you.”

“Not at all,” he said inclining his head respectfully, “I still most definitely believe in your criticisms of Equestria. The internal disputes, lack of security, improper representation, and so forth. However, I still have important business to attend to back in Canterlot and little time to play whatever game your offering.”

Shale chuckled aloud, inciting a faster than normal glance from the boy. “I see that your stint with External Affairs has rubbed off well enough.” She took a step away from Eclipse. “But even then, I don’t truly believe that you wish to go back there.”

“Really?” he answered sourly. “And why do you think that?”

Shale had anticipated the conversation gravitating into this territory, the topic in question a highpoint on the boy’s conscious whether he realized it our not. It had prompted him down several paths, to his relocation to Canterlot, and more importantly, his meeting with her today.

Letting the select name roll off her tongue with a casual offhoofedness that would have made the title seem unparticular and of ill interest, she set the trap into motion.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Alistair’s expression almost immediately darkened with the mere drop of the mare’s name. A deep shadow seemed to cast over the entirety of his youthful face as his cooled expression twisted into one of thinly veiled rage. His mild and cultured tone as well became something of a dark contrast among its previous self, with a harsh vehemence sharpening the ends of his words.

“Don’t speak that name,” commanded the boy with a grave sting as a dark magical red aura began to fizzle along the edges of his fingers, casting a bloodied glare over his features. “Simply mentioning it leaves you at my short mercy.”

Shale looked to Silver Eclipse, who in turn looked back to her with a solid solid, notifying her that the situation was hers. Swallowing her fear, she took a few careful paces toward the fallen Alistair, speaking as gently as she could.

“I don’t believe you’ll do anything that you’re implying, Alistair. Your threats are hollow.”

“Is that so?” he said while raising a closed palm that now seethed in the dark red magic sparking off it. “And what makes you think that?”

She gulped once more. “Because you wouldn’t hurt one of your friends.”

The magic in Alistair’s hand immediately deactivated, as Shale’s words abruptly blindsided him.

Good she congratulated herself internally, now keep it moving.

“I know how you scratch around back in Canterlot. Your job, what you do. You hate it my than anything in the world. You were driven away by the one pony you cared for the most, and now you’re forever condemned to scraping out a menial existence among the politics that is tearing Equestria apart from the inside out.”

“Master Eclipse brought you here—we brought you here—to offer you a second chance. We can take you away from the world that has beaten you down, we can make you a part of something good, we can give a new purpose to your life. But most importantly, we can give you the one thing that has so long evaded you, friendship.”

Now finalize it

Taking a few paces closer, Shale placed her hoof atop his shoulder and looked directly into his eyes, still speaking in a gingered tone.

“Wouldn’t you prefer to stay here just for just a little while, just to get away from it all?”

Alistair’s body seemed greatly weighted as he quietly pondered the situation. The darkness from his face had greatly receded, leaving only a pair of glassy eyes that stared forlornly toward the floor. Wiping something from the edge of his eyes, he briskly looked away and nodded.

“I, um, think that sounds good,” he answered tunelessly, his tone wavering back and forth with each word sounding.

“Splendid!” proclaimed the stallion jubilantly with a single clap of his hooves. “This is wonderful news! You had me going there for a moment, my dear boy.” Bounding over to the still shaky Alistair, he clasped both his hooves onto the boy’s shoulders. “You’ve taken your first step toward a much brighter future, Alistair. And as a minor gift for doing so,” he reached into the deep folds of the robe and pulled out a dark blue jacketed book, “I’d like to give you this.”

Absently accepting, Alistair sullenly nodded in thanks.

“Now, Commander Shale will sure you to your quarters for the time being. While your there, I’d like for you to read the tome I’ve given you. I believe you’ll find it most informative.”

Understanding the implied command, Shale stepped forward and gestured for Alistair to follow. Wordlessly moving after her, the two exited through the darkened side of the hexagonal chamber, off into the great unknown.