• Published 7th May 2015
  • 1,046 Views, 148 Comments

Dawn Of The Silver Sun - Nameless Narrator



Too old for the orphanage Straw Basket grew up in, the hippogriff sets on a journey to become one of the fabled Royal Guards. Too bad things never work out as planned and he will end up facing forces which terrify even gods themselves.

  • ...
1
 148
 1,046

The End: What's Left Undone

Straw Basket felt light, floating in endless darkness.

"Well, well, my servant, I must admit you exceeded my expectations."

Out of the his inky surroundings, a familiar form of a pony made of stars and galaxies materialized.

"N...Nightmare?" he groaned, throat parched and exhausted, "What happened? Did we win?"

"Oh yes, WE won," the god laughed. For understandable reasons, Straw did not like it. His struggle to get up was fruitless, and Nightmare walked closer, touching his head with a hoof, "Oh do not fret, you have done well, and Harmony is no longer an issue, at least temporarily."

"Good," Straw breathed out, and closed his eyes. It was over, "So, what now?"

"Are you not worried that Discord and I are now going to be a bigger problem, unopposed?" a mischievous smile graced Nightmare's mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Is there anything I can do about it?" Straw asked simply.

"Of course not," the god waved its hoof, "However, we still have one final thing to sort out - your... reward."

"Reward?"

"Indeed. You have been instrumental in my victory, and I can be grateful, as difficult to believe as it is."

"I didn't do THAT much," Straw smiled weakly.

"On the contrary, servant. You ended the era of the primal alicorns, you rid us of the pesky magic thief, and your involvement destroyed the oracle, all that AND you ruined Harmony's best chance to take the world for himself. Thanks to you, the fight which has been going on since the creation of Equus is finally over."

Straw understood exactly nothing from what had just been said.

"Oracle? Thief?"

"Let me give you the short version, our time together is nearing its end. Blazing Light, the alicorn whose special talent was stealing the power of others got purified, his divinity taken away, and destroyed by Harmony. Scream, the alicorn of Lust, Void's lover, and the only pony able to consistently predict the future is dead. And the alicorn of Death himself, Void, struck a deal with Discord where in exchange for help he would leave Equus forever and relinquish his divine power. Trust me when I say, we will not let another alicorn gain their kind of power and knowledge ever again. It is too... bothersome. Ponies are much easier to play games with when they don't know who is pulling the strings."

"We... are not... toys..." Straw once again tried to get up, and once again failed.

"Of course you are. Don't get ideas above your station. We made you, and we can unmake you just as easily now that our greatest enemies are gone. HOWEVER, I am not going to do so. And thus we come to your reward for giving me time to recover and regain strength. You will survive."

"Something... something fell on me."

"Yes, Harmony's body, the solidified divine power of a god. You are currently being protected from being crushed by my power. I will make it so that the scattered stones of the shattered pyramid will fall in such way that it will shelter you from the impact. You will get out, bruised and battered, but alive. I will even go as far as to make sure you succeed in finishing your training. Being a Royal Guard, that's what you wanted before all went to Tartarus, right?"

Straw just nodded. He didn't have the strength to do more.

"You will return to your little village and find out that the orphanage has been taken over by few crooks using the orphans as cheap workforce. You, sadly, will not want to break the law by killing them and using their corpses to scare others who would ever try to do the same. However, you will now have friends with far less... scruples, and bad experience from being used. Your noble friend will pay a small sum to the guards sent to investigate the disappearance of the abusers to not look too hard for their corpses. You and the little pink filly who secretly loves you will return the orphanage to the hooves of old Bluewing, and after his death you will take over. Wild Bastion will grow, which will be a feat of your orphans proud of being raised there and loving the place more than any other town. Eventually, you will die, but you will have left your mark on the new city. My real reward, though, will be this - I solemnly promise that during your lifetime I will not exercise my influence, and you will live through a period of peace. I believe Discord will do the same just to spend time with his pegasus... friend. Is that not enough for you?"

"Peace. Well, thank you. I just wish you had not spoiled it for me," Straw chuckled weakly.

"Do not worry, you will forget all this when I leave your body. I no longer need your... sanctuary."

"Then... I guess this is goodbye."

"Indeed it is. I believe our... cooperation has been benefitial to both of us. I have learned a lot about you ponies. Had I known that before... perhaps I would have won already and wiped all your kind out. I am glad that is not the case. You are too... amusing to disappear."

"I guess that won't stop you from making our lives difficult."

"I am the god of Destruction, after all. What would life be without struggle, right?"

Thinking about everything that had happened to him after leaving the orphanage, Straw had to agree.

"One last thing, will... will I get a chance to spend time with Connie? And will it work out for Leo and Fortune?"

"Heh, that's up to you and them to work for, isn't it?" Nightmare grinned.

"I guess," Straw smiled as well, content and happy, "Goodbye."

"Goodbye, serv- Straw Basket."


Those seeing Void walking around his obsidian temple would never believe it was him. Gone were the black flames of his mane, tail, and wings, replaced by simple soft hair and feathers. Gone was the golden glow in his eyes reflecting knowledge, experience, and power beyond understanding of others, only yellow eyes looking curiously into the distance remained.

His power was fading, looking for an heir to alicornhood, as the alicorn said his goodbyes to souls of past's heroes who had chosen to remain with him and serve the world rather than passing to the great beyond. Not much remained before he would leave forever as well.

Two things, precisely.

Void hated lies and deceit, but understood their necessity, and these days he knew a pony who was similar to him in that and many more respects. A pony who suffered as much as he had in the past, burdened and haunted by himself more than anything else. However, he wished for the pony not to hurt more than he already had. Sometimes, though, sometimes what one wished was not the correct choice. The difference between said pony and Void was that the alicorn of Death had the experience of ages to make the right choice without emotions clearing his judgement.

Actually, he did not.

The correct choice would have been not to strike a deal with Discord, and do everything in his power to fight against Harmony, but he did not want that. Ponies like him had only once chance to be truly happy, and his disappeared with Scream. He could have helped himself, but he simply wished to see his beloved more than he wished ponykind to thrive. A life without Scream wasn't the life for him, not anymore.

Still, everything worked out.

He would have his 'retirement', and the world would continue. The gods would have their playground once again, and ponies...

...ponies would have to fight against impossible odds, over and over.

Void knew Scream was selfish, but not evil. She would not have wanted this, but everything she had done led to this outcome. Which meant there was something he had overlooked. Just to be sure, he used the remains of his power to locate her. The echoes of Scream's power came from one expected direction - a place where dead alicorns went to live their final wish, their paradise. However, there was a second trace, a trace coming from his Final Sanctuary. That meant Scream had chosen the successor to her divinity, but...

...the pony was dead.

Why would she do that?

He let his senses follow the divinity's trail, and stopped, staring in utter disbelief at the soul in question. Void burst out in mad laughter, finally realizing Scream's plan in its entirety. He gently hugged the mare's solid spirit, and with astonishment acknowledged that Scream knew him more than he knew himself. The final thing left to do, the thing he believed to be his doing, was simply just one of the events Scream's plan made happen.

The gods thought they won. And they did.

But... for how long? How difficult would it be to use their power and games against them?

Void grinned. It was not for him to find out, not anymore. The age of his stewardship was over. All he had to do now was pass the torch.

Once more he let his divine senses look through the world of the departed, and found a spark of power so similar to him it hurt, and so weak, so woefully weak it felt nearly gone.

"Young one, I had not lied when I said you could don the mantle of Death one day. After all, what is Death but Hope for those who have nothing left? Their Final Sanctuary, their only chance at ending their suffering. Do not forget, however, that final means you have to exhaust all other options, live through all possible experiences before taking my... your true path. You are my final chance, my Hope, that this vicious cycle of suffering will finally end. I... I only wish I could be there to lead you. The son I never had... no, the younger me I could impart my wisdom upon before it repeated my own mistakes."

Void shook his head, his power and knowledge leaving for its new host.

"But hey, it is not all just work, right?" the avatar of Death smiled, "After all, Scream understood who the next alicorn of Lust had to be if we are finally to grant ponies, griffons, and the other sentient races their freedom. A pony who would complete you and grant you strength just as Scream did for me. Unlike us, though, you... you had heart large enough for more than just one other."

An area in front of Void transformed into a window to a frozen landscape where a white griffon and three ponies dug through large chunks of rubble from a collapsed stone structure.

"After all, what is true love? Love... genuine love is when there is a single soul in two bodies," Void chuckled, "In your case, three."

The vision disappeared with the last remains of his divinity fading into his chosen heir. He looked curiously into his reflection in the black rock of his... not his anymore, he corrected himself, temple. Alicorns combined the traits of all pony races due to divine power, but each of them was in heart like only one of them when the gods' influence was removed.

Earthponies, strong, proud, tough, hard-working, and tenacious.

Unicorns, curious, driven, inventive, and a little bit... imbalanced.

Pegasi, protective, sacrificing, loyal.

Thestrals, the embodiment of extremes, from traditionalists to ones of the loosest morals.

He had no doubt what Scream would be when he saw her again, far away from this world. Void spread his wings. He knew himself well enough to understand his inner nature. He had had eons to figure it out.

Feeling a tug deep inside his body, Void knew his time was over. There was nothing more left for him to do. With a deep breath, he stepped through an appearing glowing portal, and disappeared from Equus forever. He had left behind all he could to give the next generation the tools to grant ponies their true destiny.

To destroy the gods and earn their freedom.


Cromach, drenched in sweat, pushed away a huge chunk of rock remaining of the collapsed pyramid. Violent coughing from underneath lit a smile on his face. Harmony's remains had melted into the ground a while ago, and only the remnants of the shattered sacrificial temple littered the area.

"Straw!" Connie, telekinetically holding the closest pieces of masonry from crumbling again, yelled.

Fortune pulled the hippogriff out from the rubble while Leo helped Connie keep the largest of rocks away.

"Hi, guys!" Straw groaned between coughing up the loose dust of the ruins. Barely able to make his legs move, he asked shyly, "Can I ride you again, Connie?"

The unicorn levitated him on her back.

"In more ways than one."

"I like... learning new things."

Cromach sat down in the snow.

"Let's leave the rest to the guards, guys. I..." few tears fell melted the snow under him, "I need a drink."

"We are so sorry, sir, if we didn't-" Connie started, but Cromach stopped her with a raised talon.

"Do you... do you sometimes feel you get one big chance, the one real opportunity of your life to be happy?-"

They couldn't stand to look at the crushed griffon, slowly breaking into sobs and trying to wipe his eyes with no result.

"-I blew it."

Comments ( 5 )

It took me an embarrassingly long time to catch on, but i finally caught why the alicorn of wind is also the alicorn of chili... damnit xD

11661363
If you're looking for depth, I have nothing to offer :rainbowlaugh:

Having read it, now i can guess who's replacing scream and void xD... just can't atay fucking dead huh?! XD

11663633
Real gamers never die, they're just waiting for a respawn.

11663641
I'm keeping that one!!!

Login or register to comment