Chapter 8 - Omnia Perdidimus
Theme: The Beauty of the Beast - Nightwish
The world had long ago lost all semblance of color, its once lush and fertile lands now buried beneath the shifting snows of eternal winter; the land they once called home reduced to a frozen wasteland. For years they had wondered those wastes as living ghosts, never truly surviving, but unable to surrender unto death. Perhaps it had been that tenacity that had first called out to the Wise One, or perhaps it had been nothing more than some cruel act of fate.
But in the end they had survived, succeeding in trial after trial as they were repeatedly bloodied and beaten down before standing up to face their next obstacle; trials they barely understood but from which they refused to back away. At any time they could have surrendered as the others had and walked into the Embrace of Elysium, but they had never given in. Instead, they had cared for, protected and encouraged each other in hopes of finding that one moment in time to call their own.
Finally, that time was now.
Shielded beneath the magic of the Great Council, the three of them gazed into the endless storm, their sharp eyes and keen ears easily finding the creatures that danced and howled within it; the Wendigo. Creatures of fear and frost, remnants of the Discordian War that fed upon the conflict of its wake and stole the warm of harmony from the world, creatures that had preyed upon others and danced to the song of misery for as long as the three of them could remember. Today would mark the end of that time, however, as the hunters would finally become the hunted.
As one they raised their voices in song, a melody of exquisite but unnatural beauty unbound by the simplicity of rhyme or meter; a song that resonated with the very symphony of existence itself. For uncounted hours they sang, and through that song they drew away the hatred and disharmony that permeated the world. For uncounted days they feasted upon that hatred - gorged themselves upon it - until finally there was nothing left to sustain the beasts that raged impotently within the storms. As one they sang and as one they grew quiet to look upon a world of silent tranquility that brought tears to their eyes. Far in the distance they watched as the Wendigo fled upon the remaining winds for parts they neither new of nor cared about as they smiled in satisfaction.
Content with the power that filled them, they turned to face the Great Council, resting as the storm was finally broken; but rather than the pride and hope they had expected, they saw only a combination of fear and horror in the eyes of those who looked down upon them. As one they looked from the face of one Councilor to the next, only to have them each turn away immediately. Confused and unnerved by the action, they turned to the gaze of the one whom had saved them so long ago; but even his stern gaze showed no understanding or gratitude as he inclined his head towards the horizon behind them.
Winds softly wailing in their ears, they turned their backs to the council and looked upon the fields once more; fields covered in countless, unmoving bodies. So great was their surprise that they could neither move nor speak as they looked over that which they knew they had caused. So great was their horror that they barely heard the words that echoed behind them.
"My girls... what have you done?"
The soft click of the door latch echoed through her ears like a gunshot, jostling her mind free of the dream as she found herself darkness once more; once more disoriented and unable to remember where she was until she again felt a soft warmth pressing against her. Sometime after they had fallen asleep, she and Aria had shifted positions to where the taller girl was no longer holding her per say, but rather her arm laid loosely across Adagio's stomach while her head lay upon her shoulder, her breath tickling her skin with softly cooed snores. Jerking slightly, she pushed herself up on one elbow just in time for the door to open and allow a weak stream of half-light to fill her vision, causing her to look away.
"Adagio?"
Lifting her gaze, she blinked a second time as her eyes adjusted to the light and found Sonata silhouetted by it in the doorway; her bare arms wrapped around a thick pillow she clutched tightly against herself, her lose from its typical ponytail and a light blush coloring her cheeks. Their earlier conversation still fresh in her mind, Adagio felt she should have chastised Sonata - or at least demanded an explanation - for leaving as she had, but something held her back. Instead, she sighed softly and gave the girl a wane smile of her own.
"What is it, Sonata?" she asked.
"C-can... can I sleep with you two tonight?" she replied. "Please?"
All thoughts of refusing her fled as she listened to the desperation in that quiet plea and found herself nodding in response, motioning to Sonata to crawl in on the other side of Aria and herself. Pushing the door closed and casting the room into darkness, Sonata quickly followed her unspoken command and slipped beneath the covers. In response, Adagio slid her free arm around the girl's shoulders and winced at how cold her skin felt before drawing her against herself to let her head rest upon her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" she asked."
"No," came the reply.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
"Sonata..."
"P-please don't, Adagio, please don't make me say it," she replied. "I just... I just want you to hold me tonight, okay? Please?"
Adagio briefly considered pressing the issue as she normally would do, but feared that if she did she would only upset Sonata further in addition to waking Aria; and likely pushing them both away in the process. At length, she simply nodded and pulled the shivering girl closer, sighing as she felt her arm join Aria's on her stomach. Snuggled between them, she took a moment to bask in the feeling of rightness that welled up within her before closing her eyes and attempting to return to sleep.
The world had long ago become tainted in swirled, impossible emotions, the land they had once sought to protect now as harsh and unwelcoming as the snows that once covered it. For an age they had sought only to survive to see the world reborn, willing to dance like puppets for the sake of that hope, only to have their strings cut at the last moment of the performance. Perhaps it was that naivety that had first drawn the Council to them or perhaps they had all simply been that desperate.
So many others had been with them at first, but each had given up over time; either unwilling to face the continuous hardships or simply unable to survive them. At the beginning they had pitied those who tried or died and prayed that they would find peace in Elysium, but that pity had long ago turned to envy. For so many years they had thought only to prove themselves, yet it had all been for nothing as their moment of triumph succeeded only in sealing their fate.
And now their time was running out.
Exactly what had gone wrong was impossible to say, but somehow in drinking the negativity that sustained the Wendigo they had also drunk the very essence of those they had been meant to save. Of course they plead innocence at first, for they had only done that which they had been created to do; and while none of the Council had stepped in to stop them, in the end their innocence had proved a poor defense indeed. But try as they might, the Council would not be swayed in their decision and as one, the three of them turned to flee into the wastes, their lithe bodies darting and dodging as the guardians gave chase with both magic and blade; while all the while soulless, unblinking eyes stared up at them accusingly from each living corpse they passed over.
In their minds, the Council had made them into monsters, even though they had only done what had demanded of them; and if they were to be cursed in such a manner, then monsters they would become. In the wake of their escape, they concealed themselves at the fringes of their recovering world for months, slowly learning to control and harness their powers as they waited for their opportunity to strike. At first it was small settlements, no more than a dozen inhabitants at best; but with each new victim the more powerful they became, and the more power the attained, the hungrier they became for it.
At first they took only a little power at a time as the first steps towards their ascension, but as their control over it grew they sought more sources and greater powers, hoping to eventually challenge the Great Council itself over their betrayal. In time, however, they became more brazen, targeting larger settlements and feasting openly as they spread the hatred and distrust, eventually forgetting that they had once fought against it and that once upon a time they had been the same creatures they now fed upon. In the wake of their rampages, it became like the Discordian War once again as the Wendigo howled in the distance once more, though they no longer cared to stand in their way.
No matter how powerful they became, however, they never once doubted that the Council would eventually seek them out, but by then it would be too late; they would be stronger than even the mightiest of the dying Alicorns and would wrench the mantle of rulership from their cold hooves to usher in a new age worthy of the Chaos Bringer itself.
In the end, however, it was not the Council that came for them.
Soft shudders and quiet murmurings slowly made themselves known once more as the veil of sleep was drawn away from her eyes. Held fast by delicate but powerful arms resting across her stomach as she breathed in the familiar scent of lilac and lavender; her head tilting first to the left, then to the right as she took in the sleeping forms that clung to her sides. Her own arms lay around each of their shoulders and on each of her biceps she felt the warm dampness of their tears splash lightly over her skin.
She briefly considered waking them, for if they were seeing what she had just seen it would have been a kindness to do so. Unfortunately she also realized that they would have needed to see what she had just experienced so that they would understand why things were happening as they had done. In the end she chose to let them sleep as she pondered what she now knew had not been a dream.
"I was wrong," she thought.
It took everything she was to admit that, even to herself, that she had been wrong about everything and that somehow the opportunity of feeding had finally revealed it all.
For decades they had survived in a world that was not their own by clutching at scraps while the banquets remained denied to them. She wanted to be furious, not only at whoever it was that had tampered with their memories, but at everything for so willingly allowing themselves to be transformed as they had been; yet she could no longer muster the strength to do so. Instead, she focused her thoughts on the girls that lay curled against her, watching them as her pulled them in closer to place a kiss on each of their foreheads before closing her eyes once more.
Sometimes, dreams existed solely for the benefit of the dreamer as they wove a beautiful fantasy and sought only to bring out the best in those who experienced it. At other times, they existed for no benefit at all save as a reminder of the nightmarish reality that brought out the worst in all life. Perhaps it was that realization that had first given them courage, perhaps it had been an illusion from the start.
From the beginning they had strove for nothing more than the approval of the one that took the place of the fathers they had never known. So many times they had pushed to the breaking point until not even tears remained. Everything had been for the ponies they had loved and the world they longed to save.
It was all they had ever wanted.
When he came for them, he did so without fanfare or magic, nor with any bodyguards or any of his brethren as backup; just as he had in the beginning, he came alone. Aged beyond recognition, his grayed beard dragged the ground solemnly as world-weary eyes gazed upon them with an expression they could no longer understand. In another age they would have spoken to him and listened to his words, but that age had long since passed; and though they tried to fight him, even at their best, he was still too powerful.
Throughout their battle he had called out to them; empty platitudes they countered with accusations if not outright curses. For each spell they tried, he countered them easily but would not finish them when they faltered. As the hours stretched passed, they drew upon the Song of Creation once more in a last desperate bid to siphon way his soul; seeking to do on purpose that which they had once done by accident. But in their madness they had forgotten who it was that had taught them that song and that it was he who had first mastered it.
Even in victory the ancient stallion had shown neither pity nor compassion, only a kind of resignation for his actions as they stared back at him with undisguised hatred. AT the end, however, he seemed unable to end their lives and stayed his hoof, though whether it was out of mercy or some lingering sentimentality they neither new nor cared. Defeated and consigned to the void that existed somewhere between worlds, they floated in a sea of endless nothingness, their voices muted, their bodies broken, their souls dying.
In one breath they would rage impotently at the injustice of it all, only to plead for forgiveness with the next. In their prison, time lost all meaning, the endless void leaving them unable to see anything beyond themselves; and many times they sought to end their torment themselves, only to find that they could not. Eventually, they resigned themselves to the ennui of simply existence without hope of either death or redemption.
Yet from somewhere beyond the endlessness, another voice called out to them; sang to them in a sweet melody as they felt eyes upon them once more. There, in the furthest reaches of that emptiness, a swirl of inky shadow shout through with brilliant sapphire and gleaming silver beneath a halo of violet darkness stretched out before them. As they watched, they could not hold in the urge to feel terrified of that which they saw, despite the odd feeling of safety it instilled in them.
Somehow, it was the most beautiful thing any of them had ever seen.
"Do you wish to quit this place?"the voice asked. "Will you listen to our words if we offer you your freedom?"
Still bereft of their voices, they nodded in response for they knew the voice would not ask again.
"For many years we have watched you all,"it said. "While you have been wronged more times than can easily be counted, never once did you falter upon the dreams you strove to achieve; and in that we could never have been prouder of you, which is why your fall has wounded us so deeply. Yes, we know that you were betrayed, but we also know that you successfully escaped the fate that would have befallen you. At any time you could have shown the Old Ones that you were not that which they believed you, proven that your actions were of innocent ignorance rather than malicious intention; but in the end you chose to become the very monsters they called you."
The words cut deeply into them, and somehow they managed to look away from that darkness in shame as the voice continued.
"Despite all this, we do not believe that you are yet beyond redemption, and we can offer you the means to find redemption if you are willing. Be warned, however, that this quest shall be both long and arduous. Your suffering has shaped you before and now it shall precede your redemption. If you take our offer, in time, you shall find that which you desire most and earn the home and hearth that has always been denied to you; but until that time you shall wonder endlessly until you understand the truth you once failed to grasp."
Somewhere in that offer lay the stirrings of temptation, but with its similarities to that which the ancient stallion had offered them - and with his betrayal so fresh in their minds - they could not help but question the motives of that voice; even if anything would have been better than the nothingness in which they found themselves.
"You are wise to question our motives, but nothing we can say shall set your mind at ease, for we do not have the power to offer you a clean slate; not yet. If you accept our offer, you shall rise to heights unlike any you have dreamed of, only to fall to depths you cannot possibly comprehend; and when your bitterness has become more than you can accept, you shall seize upon an as yet unknown opportunity that will remind you of that which you have no forgotten... and in that moment you must make a choice. If you choose wisely, you shall fall into nothingness and emerge from it clean of sin or suffering to live out your lives as you have always wanted. If you choose poorly, you shall gain all you have ever wanted if not more, but you will never know peace or contentment as you live until time itself stops."
Once more, they could not help but ask what the voice wanted in return for this and in the distance they felt as if its owner had smiled at them.
"Unlike yourselves, I know my fate and in knowing my fate I am bound by it,"it answered. "Yet in knowing my fate I have seen yours as well, and if I can be offered redemption for the sins I have not yet perpetrated, so can you be offered redemption for those that you have already committed. All I ask in return is that you listen to a single prayer that I have heard every night for more years than I care to recall."
Whether it was desperation for freedom or the honest hope for something better - or simply for no other reason than they felt they had no choice - they found themselves agreeing to the terms the voice had laid out.
As the did so, the very edge of the darkness began to shift and coalesce before them, the strands of violet and silver transforming into pinpricks of ink and fire that slowly drew towards them. Reaching out, they each selected one of the approaching glimmers, only to find a perfect ruby upon their claws as they did so; and inside each one, a song of redemption called out to them through a swirling cacophony of chaos. The chance they were offered was nearly impossible and they knew it, but in the end it was still more of a chance than they had ever known before.
All around them the darkness spread across the nothingness as they felt their consciousness slipping away. In the distance, a beautiful blue star called out to them, drawing them somewhere strange and new as they felt their bodies changing once more. Then, almost as an afterthought, they too heard the prayer of which the voice had spoken.
"Forgive me, my girls, I beg you. Find it in your hearts to forgive this foolish old stallion..."
The words rang in her mind as clearly as if someone had spoken them right in her ear, the desperation and self-loathing that filled them shocking her awake even as their revelation froze her in place. On either side of her, she felt the others awaken as well in response and even in the darkness she could see the pain, fear and confusion that filled their eyes. For so long they had thought that everything had begun with their banishment, yet somehow there had been more to it than they could ever have imagined.
"Adagio?" they both asked in unison.
"Girls..." she whispered.
As if their minds had joined together, they each wondered who that voice had belonged to, though none could recall ever hearing it before and there had been no face - pony or otherwise - to associate it with; only an unbridled and otherworldly energy that none of them could deny. Deep down, they wondered at its words and wondered if they had finally suffered enough to earn the reward they had been promised. Unfortunately, no answers came to them beyond the realization that the energy they had taken was already beginning to dissipate as they instinctively knew that dawn was growing closer.
Looking between her companions, Adagio studied their faces silently as they stared back at her expectantly as she shook her head. In the end, whatever they had once been, they were now sirens; nothing more and somehow nothing less. Their origin and purpose may not have been that which history had painted it as, but for better or worse they had become the very monsters that others had feared and there was little they could do about it any longer. Yes, they could each feel the tattered remnants of harmony that wafted through their memories from their feeding, but beneath those fragments the only thing that remained was their hunger; and like a ghost within in their song, it would never find peace.
Somehow, however, it seemed so far beyond unfair that they could only experience such clarity by sewing hatred and as she looked between the eyes that stared back to her, she thought once more; had that voice been cruel simply for the sake of cruelty, or had it really meant to offer them what it had promised? Try as she might, she could still find no answers. But more than that, there was the voice that had uttered that desperate prayer, a voice they all knew all too well.
"What should we do, Adagio?" Aria asked quietly.
"You heard it too?" Sonata replied.
Pulling the girls closer, Adagio stared up into the darkness as she rested her hands atop their heads, a single tear escaping her eye as she contemplated her response. Everything she was urged her to throw that prayer back into the ether were it belonged, to rage against the very notion of forgiving the one that had condemned them to all of this; but everything she had been urged her to realize just how special that prayer was and how much the other voice had risked to carry it to them. Casting one more look to each of her eternal companions, she leaned down and kissed them on the forehead once more before nodding softly.
As one, they nodded back to her.
In the years since their banishment they had toppled small empires, seduced both men and women of irreproachable virtue and sewn strife in lands that had never before known war; but never once did the dray any satisfaction form their efforts. But as they lay in each others arms, without though to reward or recognition, they finally understood a moment of contentment and peace. Thus, rather than speaking or trying to make sense of what was going on, they instead luxuriated in their shared embrace as they began to sing.
The song, a lullaby as simple as it was ancient, echoed around them, soothing the last of their worries as their voices rang softly. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, or perhaps it was simply the knowledge that they would forget their actions upon waking, but as the song ended, they each nodded to one another silently. Shifting once more, Aria and Sonata rested their heads upon Adagio's breast as her hands rested upon their heads, tears softly falling down their cheeks as they lay there.
Staring up into the darkness, Adagio spoke for all of them before finally surrendering to what she hoped would be a dreamless sleep.
"We forgive you, Starswirl."
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6794859
To a point, yes.
6794994
Never understood why people would exclude Sonata from such relationship, but will see. First two chapters look interesting.
Dang this is a good tale.
6810669
Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This was an extremely well thought out and amazingly paced short story. It was beautiful seeing the dynamic relationship between the Dazzlings and I enjoyed reading this with all its descriptive glory out for everyone to see. Thank you for sharing this with us!
6814183
Thank you for the compliment and the vote of confidence. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!
Well played.
I award you a moustache.
6842825
Ahh, thank you for the mustache
Glad you enjoyed it!
It was very nice story. Sequel would be nice.
7842255
Thank you :) I may revisit this at some point of I get a good idea, but for now I'm afraid it's a stand alone story.
Likewise I still have others I need to finish. But again, I thank you!
Very good story.
9747150
Thank you very much!