Requiem of Darkness

by ChaosDragoon

Chapter 1

The desert sun beat down on the back of Twilight's head as she used her magic to lift up a canteen and took a sip before placing the cap back on it. She looked at the large crystal table in the middle of the desert and remembered what Celestia had told about the summits in the past.

Twilight looked up at Celestia as she smiled warmly at Twilight and then at Cadence before saying, "Since this is your first summit as royalty. I must warn you: there are things here that will shock you. Each ruler has their own way of thinking and on occasion will feel their opinion is right."

"How many Summits have there been?" Cadence asked.

"A total of five: when Equestria was considered a kingdom, when the Dragons began to invade other lands, after the great war between Equestria and the griffin kingdom, when Discord appeared in the world, and finally this summit," Celestia explained.

"But can we trust Chrysalis?" Twilight asked before she added, "She kidnapped Cadence and nearly took over Equestria. Then there was the ambush at The San Palomino Desert or the."

"It's fine," Celestia interrupted before she added, "she won't try anything while at the summit. The other rulers won't allow it and she can't afford to have two enemies at this time."

A large shadow flew past the ground before a large dragon landed a few feet away from the group. Its shadow loomed in the sand and dust it stirred up before it walked out from the cloud. It was a massive dragon with white scales and what looked like pieces of gold embedded between each scale. Its large wings folded on each of it's sided with long black spear-like spines starting from the back of its head to the tip of its tail. Its large amethyst eyes scanned each pony until it locked eyes with Celestia and grinned, exposing it yellow, jagged teeth. Its right arm rose up with hooked shape claws as it slammed down to the ground and began to walk towards the group.

Twilight cringed as her stomach churned with each step. The shockwave of its steppes was felt all the way into her bones however, Celestia didn't look scared at all. She simply stood tall as the dragon drew closer. It lowered its head to get a better look at Celestia. The dragon rose up and began to laugh.

"By my horde Celestia how you've grown since the last time I laid eyes on you," the dragon said.

"Drake, how have you been? You haven't aged a bit," Celestia said with a smile. Drake laughed again.

"Tell that to my aching bones and shedding scales," Drake joked before he looked to Luna and smiled before adding, "By the gods! Is that little Luna?"

"Hello, Drake. Have you been well?" Luna asked.

"How you've grown in the last thousand years. You're as beautiful as the night sky," Drake said. Luna blushed at his words. Celestia's eyes looked from Luna to Drake and she saw the large fussier that went from his wrist to his shoulder. Drake noticed and lifted his right arm.

"You see what these things did to me huh?" Drake said before he sighed, "I just wish Dagger was so lucky." Drake's happy demeanor was replaced by worry and sorrow.

"What happened?" Luna urged.

"My son stupidly jumped into the fray of the battle when one of the creatures game me this," Drake said as he lifted his right arm and continued, "That boy is very protective and tried to rip that creature limb from limb. However, he didn't see the three other creatures creeping up on him."

"Don't tell me," Celestia gasped.

"He's still alive," Drake said as he shook his head and explained, "However, the doctors say he'll never be able to fly or talk again. Those monsters ripped his wings to Saunders and tore at his neck. It was a miracle they didn't tear out his jugular, but his voice box is too damaged to repair."

"I'm so sorry," Luna said. Drake thanked her before he looked back at Celestia and noticed Twilight and Cadence and a smile formed on his face.

"MY, My Celestia. It seems you and that unicorn friend of yours really hit it off. What was his name, Star Swirl?" Drake joked.

Celestia's eyes went wide as her face flushed red. She quickly cleared her throat and said, "Yes, well." Celestia said as she stumbled over her words before she continued, "This is Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence. No relation to me."

Drake rose up and laughed again before saying, "I always knew how to ruffle your feathers."

"Aye, don't embarrass her too much Drake," a voice said. They all looked over at the griffin that had arrived while they were chatting. His fur was silver like iron and his right claw was missing an appendage, but the most jarring part of his appearance was the harness on his torso. It was attached to two mechanical wings and as they folded. The gears turned and spat out steam around his body. The pistons and cogs all worked to fold down his wings.

"Aeolus?" Celestia questioned before she added, "What are you doing here? Where is your brother?" Aeolus walked over to the group and sighed as he took his place next to Drake.

"Atlas has unfortunately passed," Aeolus admitted as Luna and Celestia let out a gasped. Drake let out a heavy sigh just before Aeolus continued, "These things were ruthless in their attack and a church filled with civilians. Atlas did his best to protect them, but his group was torn apart. It was hard to differentiate his body parts with the others with the amount of blood covering the ground."

"I'm so sorry Aeolus. Atlas was a brave warrior and a dear friend," Celestia said.

"We all have been plagued by these creatures my friend. We're here for you and also to come up with a way to stop their onslaught on our lands and stop this bloodshed," Drake explained.

"I understand that,' Aeolus said before he noticed Twilight and Cadence and joked, "Some new princesses? How many does Equestria have now? Six?"

Celestia chuckled and shook her head before she explained, "Four actually and yes. This is Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight." Celestia pointed to each pony.

"It seems you all are getting along," Chrysalis said as she hovered down to the table. Her two back legs were wrapped in bandages and her exoskeleton was riddled with scars and dried up green blood. A changeling was under her right arm keeping her afloat because her right wing seemed to have been ripped off. The Changeling bowed to the group before it walked back and flew away.

Celestia ushered Twilight and Cadence to the table. When they were standing next to her she began, "As we all are well aware: our homes are under attack by creatures not of this world. These creatures have already attacked the Dragon Kingdom of Dragoon, the Griffin kingdom of Hippogriff, and the Changeling kingdom of Arachnia. They're now heading to Equestria."

"We know all this, just get to the point," Chrysalis snapped before she added, "You don't need to remind us!"

"Calm yourself insect, you know as well as the rest of us a summit needs to start with the issue at hand before we come to a conclusion," Aeolus argued.

"Oh I'm sorry I'm a little on edge after being attacked by these things," Chrysalis said.

"You must be calm in the face of danger for the sake of," Drake began.

"I nearly lost my entire hive!" Chrysalis yelled.

"I lost my brother!" Aeolus roared as he slammed his fist on the table. Chrysalis stepped back at his outburst in shock.

"Atlas is. Dead?" Chrysalis silently questioned.

"Yes you ignorant Insect," Aeolus growled before he ranted, "and I'm not about to let his death be in vain because of these devilish creatures!"

Celestia tapped her right front hoof on the table to bring everyone to attention and said, "As much as I hate it: Chrysalis is right. These creatures could be attacking Equestria as we speak so we must make this quick. We need to figure out why they're attacking our nations and what they want."

"Could it be they're seeing who the biggest threat is?" Twilight asked. Everyone looked at Twilight who continued, "It sounds like they're looking for the most formidable threat to them. Since they're only attacking then leaving. It makes sense that they're seeing who they would need to take out first before they can conquer the others."

"That's preposterous," Chrysalis argued before she added, "You're suggesting these creatures can think? What proof do you have?"

"It's not out of the question," Drake said before he continued, "We have no prior knowledge about these creatures and what they are capable of."

"Princess Twilight has a point. These creatures didn't attack in random strides. It was like they had a plan," Aeolus said to continue with Drake's point.

"So what should we do with this threat? If they're testing us to see who they should attack first, how would we know who'd they come after first?" Luna asked.

"We don't, but we also don't give them time to find out who among us they'll take out first," Celestia said before she explained, "We know their next target so we can battle them, together."

"Are you kidding me? You honestly think our nations can work together?" Chrysalis argued.

"What choice do we have? It's either fight together or be destroyed," Drake said.

"Agreed," Aeolus said before he turned to Chrysalis and added, "We must put all grievances aside and fight as one or do you want to see more of you changelings killed?"

Chrysalis looked around at the beings around the table before she gave up, "Fine, what do you need us to do?"

"Prepare for war," Celestia said.

Comments

[Grekoy]

I like it.