• Published 16th Apr 2012
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Son of Eternity - Secrets and Lies



The life and legend of a naive and reluctant immortal in a new, beautiful world.

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The Morning of Pinkie Pie’s Birthday

Warm, morning sunlight bathed the once dark bedroom. As the light crept up the bed and onto Zack’s face, he awoke. He sat there for a minute, his thoughts were scrambled about last night's expedition and how he found himself in his bed. He slowly sat up and realized his shoulder was wrapped tightly in some sort of strong medical adhesive. With his hand, he pressed the wound and a sudden jolt of pain erupted from it. With that tension of nerves and feelings, he remembered the fight he was in, the pony he had killed, and only walking into his bedroom; that was all he could remember. He wondered how he even got this bandage wrapped around him. He looked up, seeing his new bedroom he had grown use to overtime and checking to see if anything was out of place. Zack was surprised to see Valiant Steed lying asleep in the corner of the room; he looked peaceful and if he wasn’t showing signs of breathing, Zack would have thought he was dead.

The stallion took a large, awakening breath through his nostrils and opened his eyes. He yawned and sat himself up, moistening his dry lips. He titled his head both ways to crack his neck, he had obviously slept on it wrong and was massaging it with one of his hooves. He looked up to see Zack staring back at him, with a questionable look on his face.

“You saved me last night,” Zack hesitantly said.

Valiant blinked, readjusting his vision before responding, “Yes. I needed help from Shining Armor though, but you almost didn’t make it. A few more hours with a wound like that and you would have been dead. You lucky son of a–”

“Thank you,” Zack calmly replied. Valiant was confused, he thought Zack would have made a witty, arrogant retort back, but instead, thanked him for saving him.

The stallion responded honestly, “You’re welcome.” He then altered the subject of the conversation, “You don’t need to tell me what happened last night if you don’t wish.”

“I insist on you knowing. I got stabbed by a thug, the same thug that threatened me and Pinkie Pie when we entered Canterlot on Maredi Gra. The only way to stop him... was to kill him.”

Zack sat up a bit more in his bed and added quickly, “I did it out of self-defense, honest. I didn’t know things would escalade... he wanted revenge.”

“I believe you,” Valiant confirmed, his eyes looking out of the sunny window, wondering if it really was the right thing to do. He looked back at Zack and questioned in a worry stricken tone, “What if Princess Celestia knows about this? You’ll be banished or executed for sure if this news turns sour in the public’s eyes. What if somepony saw you?”

“Someone did see me, or at least I saw one other mare looking out her front door towards me. I was cloaked then, and I ran into the alley way as fast as I could.”

Valiant’s face showed disbelief and worry. “Then it’s only a matter or time, Zack.”

Zack uncovered himself from the bed sheets and sat up from the feather bed. He grabbed one of his cloaks that was the closest to him and garbed himself, hiding his shoulder injury. He turned toward the silent pony and grinned, “I’m going down there and telling Princess Celestia the truth. At least I’ll be remembered as a truthful creature, accepting my own fate if I’m banished or executed.”

Zack opened the bedroom door and left it cracked as he exited. Valiant sat motionlessly, thinking about Zachary. He soon raised his head with a burst of inner justice and left the bedroom to at least help Zack’s plea against the punishment he might receive. If anything, he thought that maybe telling his side of the story would lessen the punishment.

__________

Zack entered the throne room alongside Valiant Steed. Celestia was near the end of the chamber talking with Twilight Sparkle. She seemed happy and carefree, like her regular self. She showed no signs of knowing what had happened last night. Zack and Valiant looked at one another, mentally informing each other about the odd situation by their facial emotions. Celestia turned to the two and began walking over to them, with Twilight skipping behind.

This is it...” Zack thought. He had prepared on what he was going to say to her, using certain words to try and make himself sound as guilt free as possible when telling her. His mind went blank as she approached the two while showing her causal and well known, ‘Celestia smile’. Zack had to wing it; his mind was at a total loss since his thought process was breaking under the weight of the situation. Valiant expressed zero emotion while in front of the Princess, still showing physically that he can control his pressing feelings in front of the regal alicorn.

“Good morning, Zack. And good morning to you too, Valiant Steed.” She directed her attention toward the stallion, “How have things been along the guard wall? It’s been a while since we last chatted.”

“They’ve been great ma’am! It’s been an honor serving thus far in your castle,” saluted the serious pony.

“Well I’m glad to hear that, keep up the good work!” She redirected her attention now towards Zack. His heart froze when he stared into that one visible eye of hers.

“And how are you doing this morning, Zack?”

He stammered out, “F-fine... ”

She tilted her head and gleefully responded, “Well isn’t that just, fine and dandy!” She walked between the two and proceeded towards the western courtyard, Twilight Sparkle still following behind her with a joyous, white smile. The duo turned towards each other, Zack’s face shown a stupefied expression, Valiant just shrugged in response.

“Oh,” Celestia turned back towards the two, Twilight skipped back and turned to look at Celestia. The duo became rigid again as she walked up to them. Her horn gave off a yellow surge of energy and a glowing, gold sphere appeared at her side. The sphere grew and then discharged into bright sparks, revealing floating pieces of parchment.

“Have you two heard of what happened last night?”

She levitated the papers over to Zack and Valiant, Zack took hold of what was realized now to be a newspaper. He lowered it so that Valiant could read the front page as well. The paper’s headlines read, “Most Wanted Stallion Found Dead Near the Fountain of Friendship Last Night!” Zack continued reading the sub articles. “Eye witness reports claim to have seen a ‘cloaked pony’ escaping the crime scene”. Zack took in a deep breath, having the relaxed feeling that of a large weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He didn’t know why the eye witness thought he was a pony, but he was glad that she did.

Celestia noted, “After years of looking for this one pony, he’s finally dead. The paper read that he died of a knife wound in the neck, which is very odd for pony murders. What's even more strange is that murders don’t usually occur that often here in Equestria.”

Well, that sure is interesting,” was the only words Zack could muster out at the time. Valiant remained silent and concealed his emotions once more.

“I wonder who that pony could be,” Twilight questioned herself aloud. “Whoever that pony was, she sure kick’s flank!”

“Twilight,” Celestia informed, “we don’t use that language!”

Twilight put her hoof up to her mouth and grieved, “I’m sorry.”

Valiant perked up after reading the entire article, “Well, whoever did that must have had good intentions on doing so!”

Zack concurred, “Indubitably!” He handed the paper back to Celestia. She used her unicorn magic to disappear the newspaper like she did to make it appear before them.

Celestia turned back towards the doorway. In the process of turning, she gave Zack a certain look that may have hinted to her knowing what really happened. Zack just gave a slight grin in response, not to truly convey that there was another side to this story, but just to respond to her guessing presumptions.

As she was about to leave the throne room with Twilight, Zack heard something shaking above him. Valiant noticed this too and looked up. They both saw that the chandelier above their heads shook a little. The decorative hanging chimed and swayed in an odd fashion; then something shook it again, increasing the rocking motion of it. Celestia stopped and turned, she heard it too and looked up. In an instant, the ground shook beneath their feet and hooves, dust fell from the ceiling and the room began to shake. Sounds of thunder echoed outside the castle along with distant roars and cries. Pieces of pottery, paintings, and chairs began falling over from the constant shaking of the castle foundations.

“What’s happening,” cried Twilight Sparkle as she hung on to Princess Celestia’s leg.

Valiant Steed yelled some useless information over the noise, “Canterlot hasn’t had an earthquake in a century!” Celestia knew exactly what was going on, this had happened before, a few millennia ago; a look of terror swept over her face and she bolted outside. The others quickly followed behind her, trying to keep up.

Princess Celestia burst out the front doors to the courtyard and looked up into the sky. The noises had grown much louder, the roars of whatever it was coming from the sky had grown tremendously. Twilight Sparkle and Valiant Steed followed Celestia out and gawped towards the blue sky in response to what they were seeing. Zack trailed behind and when he ran outside and looked up, he saw an extraordinary spectacle.

Thousands upon thousands of dragons encircled the skies above Canterlot. Their flapping wings created so much turbulence that it shook the ground. They came in all different shades and sizes and each roared differently in varying pitches. Some breathed fire into the air, creating explosions in the skies; they were almost doing this in a taunting way, seeing how close they could get to setting something on the ground on fire. A multitude of cries from the city could be heard. A large group on mares and stallions clamored to get inside the castle for safety, but the guards held the gate back and tried to secure the perimeter.

“Let them in,” shouted Celestia; the guards obeyed to her command. A flood of ponies ran straight for the castle, not even looking towards Zack whose body was slightly obscured behind Celestia's form.

Shining Armor galloped over to Celestia and quivered, “What are your orders? What do we do, my Princess?”

She turned towards him and commanded, “Just be ready, that’s all we can do...” Shining ran back to order his stallions what Celestia told him.

One dragon suddenly broke off from the circling thousands above and plummeted towards the earth. He was a very large dragon, one of the largest Zack could see. As the dragon landed in the courtyard, it quaked the ground beneath their feet and hooves and nearly every pony fell over; Zack held his ground and shielded his eyes from the dust the beast blew over the courtyard.

The old dragon’s head rose high and tall, it looked down at Zack with menacing eyes and opened its large wings. Zack was terrified at the creature’s mighty and ferocious looks. It was a dark purple dragon with blazing green eyes that struck fear into everyone's hearts. Its emerald green spines stretched down its head towards the end of its tail. Two, large curved horns were stationed on the sides of the dragon’s head. Its tail was like a mighty oak tree, and its legs were like powerful pillars of stone. Scales like shields encased the beast from head to talon, but his stomach remained bare.

The royal guards quickly arose and began throwing their spears at the beast and shouting, “Protect the Princess!” They did this while unicorn guards focused their magic together and blasted a couple purple lighting bolts at the dragon. The beast was unfazed by their weak attempts at attacking him, he just lifted his great tail and slammed on the ground, throwing the ponies back on their backs. The dragon lifted his head and roared in an explosive voice. The thundering cry made Zack press his hands against his ears so that it wouldn’t hurt him.

Once the dragon was silent again, he looked back down at Zack, who had stumbled up again and was slowly walking away from the terror inducing behemoth. Then, in a strange moment, Zack stopped trying to get away from the dragon. In that instant, the dragon spoke to Zack in an ancient tongue he had never heard before. The voice of the beast rang deep in Zack’s ears, and he seemed to be talking directly into his mind and to no one else. In that moment, he felt like the dragon was much more than just an animal. He spoke slowly and strongly, articulating every syllable so it left the dragon’s lips clear and concise.

GÔLÃGFÃBÖR PÊNÏNÊNÃ NÏNRÕFÃ

RÕÃG FLVÑRSÊÑÃ ÜGVÑÃG

The dragon took in a large breath and blasted a blazing green flame from its maw. The intensity of the heat blew Zack back, even though the blast was above him. It scorched the side of the castle, indenting something into the ivory palace itself. The dragon discontinued the flames and shot off into the sky, leaving behind only smoke, ash and dirt in its wake. The dragon roared once more towards the army of his kin and the others flew off behind the leading dragon–off into the mountains far beyond Canterlot.

Celestia stood up and checked to see if everyone was okay. Twilight was still grasping tightly to her leg, still shaking from the dramatic events that had just occurred. She turned to see the scorched wall of the castle. Zack arose after being knocked back from the ascent of the leader dragon. He got up and turned to see that the dragon left markings burned into the wall. It was some sort of rune language he couldn’t decipher.

“What is this, what does it mean,” he asked Celestia.

She focused even more on it after he had said that, trying to decipher the strange language or if it had any hidden meanings to it. After a short wait, she gave up and responded, “I’m not sure... it seems though I’ve seen this before, these runes are so.... familiar.”

__________

A couple of hours had past since the dragons left Canterlot. All of the civilian ponies were escorted out of the castle and Celestia, Valiant Steed, and Zack stood out in the courtyard where the runes were, trying to come up with an idea as to what it meant. It was about midday and the sun was bearing down on their heads. It was getting too hot to be outside so they decided to head into the dining hall, to have some lunch and cool off.

As they were eating in silence, still pondering about the message behind the runes, Twilight Sparkle entered the room with a large, leather tome on her back. She focused her magic to lift the brown book off of her and onto the dining room table. She cleared her throat and insinuated her ideas about the runes.

“So I found this book in the Starswirl the Bearded section of the library.” Celestia gave her a displeasing look, knowing that she wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. Twilight noticed and half smiled back.

She continued cautiously, “This intriguing book, ‘Lost Languages and Lore’ has a hoof written chart disclosing an alphabet similar to the one that is scorched on the side of the castle!”

Valiant Steed asked, “You’ve found this all by yourself?”

Twilight affirmed her knowledge with a boastful reply, “Yes indeed!” She flipped through the old pages of the book delicately with her hooves until she had come to a certain spot in the ancient texts.

Ah-ha! Here it is! The guide to ancient rune script known as–” She stopped and tried to pronounce it correctly, squinting her eyes trying to enunciate every letter correctly, “‘Olrûgênã’, or, in modern pony terms it says, ‘Ancient Speech’.”

“So did you go outside and see what it said?” Zack asked, desperately wanting to know what it meant. Twilight’s mood changed and her face showed a crestfallen appearance. Zack knew it was going to be something bad, he had deep wrenching pull in his stomach about it before she even entered the room.

“Well... I did... “ she said in a glum tone. “It read that... basically... well... “ she stopped, sighed, and finally said, “Bring the son or face war.” Everyone at the table turned their eyes towards Celestia awaiting a response. She sat there and thought for a moment, Zack wouldn’t have expected her to look so calm in a situation like this.

A war with the dragons, over whose son,” Zack questioned himself in thought. That’s when he put the pieces together in his head, "Why didn’t I see it before? The mighty dragon that scorched the castle walls, it was the same color and body as Spike's; Twilight Sparkle’s baby dragon is the son of that larger leader dragon!"

Celestia stood up and gave in to her opposing thoughts with sad remorse, “We will give Spike back to dragons. There is nothing we can do, either we face the massacre of our kind, or give in to what the dragons want.”

Valiant stood up, “She’s right. I was there at Dragon Peak when me and my scouts found the dragon egg inside of cavern close to the summit. We thought the cave had been abandoned, we haven’t seen dragons in those parts for decades. I guess we were wrong. I’m assuming that that’s where the beast will be, at the highest summit of Dragon Peak where the cavern is.”

“The question is,” Zack added, “who will take Spike back up to the summit of Dragon Peak?” The chamber was silent. Twilight was the only one expressing any visual emotion besides sternness. She was holding back tears, knowing that her pet, the one she received on the same day she became Celestia’s protégé and received her cutie mark was going to be taken away. She would have given everything to keep him, even her cutie mark.

Celestia looked towards Zack with an earnest look and announced, “Zack will take Spike up the mountain, alone.” Zack was taken back by what she had said, his shock soon turned into a growing ember inside his heart, his anger was stirring.

“How could you make me do this alone? At least let me take some royal guards with me!” She held her head high, subliminally trying to convey her dominance over him.

“I don’t want any of my people hurt. We agreed that you could only stay here if you performed some royal duties under me. This is your first command: Deliver the baby dragon back to his father.”

Zack’s exasperated, “This is unfair! You’re sending me to my death! You can’t do this!”

“I’m not asking you to do this, it is an order, Zack!” He knew what she was trying to imply, she knew about the murder. Even though she never relayed on how much she cared, it was almost retribution for his foolish acts last night. Zack’s eyes intensified on Celestia; he quickly got up from his seat, turned drastically and made his way up the Western Tower to prepare for what was coming. The others sat there in an awkward silence; Celestia finally took her seat once more, finished her meal and left the dining hall.

__________

Zack prepared for his quest. Celestia, a week beforehand, had made him some dojo appropriate clothes. They were light, sleeveless shirts and some long, fitted pants much like sweat pants, but made with a different, thinner material. His tennis shoes that he still kept from when he was transported here were starting to fall apart and was in need for some new ones. He had made his own socks overtime, just pieces of cloth he wrapped around his feet; it wasn’t very comfortable, but it kept away blisters. He wrapped his feet twice in these handmade socks, preparing for the mountain climbing that he was going to attempt. Valiant had came up already and handed him a back pack designed to hold the baby dragon in. He then left to go prepare the chariot for Zack’s immediate departure. As Zack was about to leave, he noticed the purple filly standing in his doorway with the baby dragon riding on her back.

“Hey.” Zack’s response was cold, he didn’t mean to direct some of his anger on to the filly, but couldn’t help it at the moment, his mind was preoccupied on thoughts of his final hours left to live.

“I know you’re mad with the Princess,” she responded warmly, trying to impart her sincerity, “but, I want to come with you.” Zack’s thought process was blocked by this statement that he wasn’t predicting her to say.

Zack stated, “You know what Celestia said, I have to do this alone.”

“I want to sneak up there with you. I want to send Spike off properly before I never see him again.” Zack turned and looked out his balcony window, he could see the chariot preparing to leave for Dragon Peak below him. They couldn’t waste much time, they didn’t know when the dragons would return and start a war with the equines.

Twilight walked up behind Zack and persisted, “From what I’ve read, dragons are peaceful creatures... territorial sometimes, but peaceful. You shouldn’t worry too much, they may look dangerous, but they can be reasonable.”

She stopped to take a breath and continued, “Even though I care about Spike and love him dearly, I care more for all the other ponies in Equestria as well, good and bad.”

“Alright,” Zack gave in, “you can come. You just have to hide yourself somehow.”

She smiled and assured, “That’ll be the easy part, I’ve been working on a shrinking spell that works for an hour. Just hide me in the back pack you’ll be carrying Spike in. It has some side pouches on it where you can safely put me in.”

Zack took a hold of the bag and checked it out to see if she was right. He turned back to her and asked with a falter in his voice, “Are you sure you can do this?”

“I’ve practiced it multiple times... on Spike at least. But I know it will work!” She spread her legs a bit and took a firm stance as if she was about to get hit by a large object. She said with a forceful voice, “Stand back and take Spike!”

Zack did as he was told, he grabbed Spike off of Twilight’s back and took a step backwards, putting the baby dragon on his bed. She raised her unicorn horn high in the air, it gave off a few purple sparks before beginning to radiate a purple flare. The glow intensified and she began to sweat; her eyes closed and her knees bent a little. A bright purple mist began to flow from the tip of her unicorn horn and wrap around her body, the noise of the rising magical build up rang through the bedroom. When the brightly colored mist fully enveloped her body, a powerful light shimmered through the purple fog and evaporated it. In that instant, she appeared to be gone. It took Zack a couple of seconds to realize that the filly had shrunk down to the size of a golf ball.

“Down here,” Twilight squeaked, her voice warped by her new size. Zack bent down and gently picked up the filly. He walked over to his bed and placed her in the side pouch of the back pack.

“Good job on that spell,” Zack commended, “now just be quiet as we leave.” He placed the toddler dragon inside the back pack with just his head sticking out and made his way to the chariot. Celestia was waiting for Zack at the front doors of the castle. His mood soon changed when he saw that her’s hadn’t either.

Celestia questioned Zack as he got closer to the door, “Where’s Twilight?”

He replied quickly and sternly, “Library.” Zack side stepped around Celestia and proceeded out the door. The afternoon sun glowed high in the sky as Zack hopped into the chariot with Celestia following behind.

She stopped to the side of the chariot and said with strange care, “Be safe.”

Zack turned towards the alicorn and snarled, “I can be safe when I’m dead.” Zack spun towards the pegasus ponies pulling the chariot, luckily one of the two happened to be Valiant Steed. Zack shouted, “Let’s go, we’re burning daylight here!”

The chariot took off and soared off of the mountains that held Canterlot. Zack could see Ponyville from how high up he was, he could also see the Everfree Forest and maybe the other woodlands where he found Pinkie Pie in, he wasn’t quite sure. Zack was holding on to the rim of the chariot as tightly as he could, hoping not to fall off from the amount of wind that was blowing against him.

He yelled over the howling gale towards Valiant, “How do you pegasus ponies do this?"

“We’re just use to it! Not much to it if you’re born with wings and hollow bones!” The chariot sailed over the eastern hills which soon formed into mountains; they began ascending further into the air as the Drackenridge mountain chain formed beneath them.

__________

The destination was in sight after around an hour of flying; Zack was worried about Twilight Sparkle and her enchantment wearing off. He periodically checked on her to see if she hadn’t fallen out. Spike was already fast asleep from the rocking motions of the chariot, which made even Zack a little tired. If it wasn’t for the dropping temperature from the altitude climb, he would have been fast asleep already with the baby dragon.

The sun was near setting and Dragon Peak was in the distance; it reached far above the cloud tops and was truly a magnificent sight to see. Snow had capped around the highest parts of the pinnacle as far as Zack could see, but the area where Valiant said they would land wouldn’t be snowy at all. They landed a little more than half way up the mountain on a flat, rocky platform that hung from the mountain itself, it looked as if this platform was designed for this one occasion that they would be landing on. The chariot hit the ground hard, but Spike remained fast asleep still. Zack slowly climbed out of the chariot and looked up at the scaling mountain, the cloud barrier was closer to him than he thought.

He turned and Valiant said, “This is as high as we can take you, our wings would freeze if we went too much higher.”

“How high do you think it is,” asked Zack. His head tilted back and eyes scanning the sides of the mountain looking for the easiest way to climb up it.

“I wouldn’t think too much further. It is the tallest mountain in the country of Equestria, but not the highest known mountain.”

Zack turned towards Valiant, his voice changed to a more lighthearted tone. He handed him the bits he received last night and said, “You need to go, buy the gift for Pinkie Pie, wrap it up and give it to her tonight, you can keep the rest... can you do that for me?”

Valiant smiled and said, “Of course, after all you’ve been through, I’d be happy to help.”

Zack put his hand on V’s shoulder and said, “You’re a great friend, V. If something happens, just know that you’ve made an impact in my life.” They gave each other a quick hug and Valiant and the other pegasus pony took off back to Canterlot.

Valiant yelled back, “We’ll be back in the morning, be here by then!” Zack waved in return and noticed something happening in his back pack. He took it off quickly to see that the same bright purple smoke that was apart of Twilight’s spell was emitting now from the bag. He took Spike out just before Twilight Sparkle grew back to her original size, destroying the back pack in the process. She stumbled a bit before firmly situating herself.

The purple filly blurted, “I think I’m going to be sick. Being small makes me dizzy,” she said, her voice quivering as she promptly fell over. Twilight looked up at Zack and continued, “Remind me never to do that spell again...” Zack smiled and nodded his head. He looked up at the ferocious mountain side, popped his knuckles and neck, and was ready to ascend Dragon Peak.

Author's Note:

The Olrugena language is translatable through this guide. Who knows, you might need to refer back to this in the future.

Submitted July 2012 - Revised October 23rd 2013