Quietus
Twilight’s brow furrowed slightly as she frowned up at Apollyon. King? By what right? And how had he managed to intimidate the Princesses?
The unicorn’s breath hitched in her throat as she remembered what she had seen in the sky last night--or, rather, what she speculated she had seen. The supposed god standing before them claimed to be the incarnate form of Sagittarius A*, which fit perfectly with her hypothesis. But how could a black hole have a physical body?
No matter. They had to get to the Elements of Harmony and stop him.
But Twilight’s curiosity overpowered her sense of urgency as King’s voice boomed outward again, cleaving the air with its sheer force yet carrying an almost conversational tone, as if speaking in this volume took no effort at all for him.
“I have come to this world from across a vast gulf of insincerity,” he said. “It feels welcoming here, for it is warm and lively and energetic. I see much potential.”
The lavender unicorn’s head swam as she attempted to decipher the meaning of that statement. Apollyon’s black eyes scanned the crowd slowly, as if searching for a reaction. He seemed almost amused at their bewildered expressions. As the King’s gaze passed over Twilight and her friends, she would have sworn that he lingered a moment longer than was necessary.
He spoke again, more quietly now that he had the crowd’s full attention, and his voice seemed to hold a certain eagerness. “It is your honor, and your privilege, to fulfil your ultimate purpose within this month. This planet, Earth, has finally reached its prime, and it shall be my next repast.” The throng of ponies was quiet and staid. They seemed to wither under his gaze as the true implications of his words began to sink in. “It is, as should be reminded at these events, the way our universe works. Not only the Earth, but indeed the entirety of this solar system shall be consumed upon the arrival of Sagittarius A.”
Still, the crowd stood silent. Many faces paled, many eyes turned to the sky, as if they would be able to see their doom through the blue firmament of the daytime atmosphere. Twilight’s gaze remained fixed on the supposed King before them, her mouth curling into a partial snarl. Most of her friends were standing stock still, their jaws hanging limp. Fluttershy had become a trembling yellow and pink ball.
Apollyon seemed to disregard the general reaction of the ponies. A sickly grin and a gesture across the horizon. “And what a world this is. Standing here now, I can feel the abundance of energy and magic stored within this ecosphere. It will make quite a meal.” He turned suddenly and dramatically to the Princesses. Cadence made a reflexive move to curl in upon herself, but kept her composure for the most part and continued to shake in fear. “And to you three--but especially you, Celestia--I must congratulate you on a job well done. Without the tender care you took in raising this world, it would not have made nearly as worthy a sacrifice.” Celestia stood unfazed, staring defiantly back into his eyes. Apollyon frowned at this, but made to turn back to his audience.
Sacrifice? And he claims Celestia was not only aware of it, but helping to make it happen? Twilight was practically outraged. She took a step forward and prepared to shout up at the balcony in defense of her Princess, her country, her planet...
“We don’t appreciate your threats!”
That wasn’t her. A large, gray stallion hovered above the crowd, his face seething with anger as he shouted at Apollyon. “You aren’t our King, and you have no right to be here! Leave us and our Princesses alone!”
Staring almost quizzically at the outburst, his head tilted slightly, all emotion fell from the King’s face. His eyes flicked back to the goddesses before returning to the defiant pegasus. “Child,” he began, his words taking up a biting chill. “Do you not understand your purpose? These are the essential laws of this reality; it is only by my presence and my mercy that you or anything you know of exists. As you should be aware, there was once a time when the elements that compose your very being were formed in the heart of stars. You have come from beyond this world, and the time is nigh that you and all life on this planet be returned to it.”
The stallion huffed as his wings flared beside him. “We won’t let you! We can and will defend our world!” He looked down at his fellow ponies. “Stand up! Don’t let this coward destroy us! You all know what we can do--together, we can stop this!” Rather uncertainly at first, other voices in the crowd began to join in. With rising vigor, shouts began to ring out, an empowered unity in the increasing noise. The ground shook as the mass of ponies stomped its hooves as one.
Apollyon didn’t seem moved by this. In fact, he looked almost disappointed. After a moment, he decided that the interruption had stretched on long enough and slammed his scepter on the marble floor of the aerie, cracking it harshly. His eyes glowed stark white as he began speaking in an ancient, unknown language, deep and powerful enough to shake bones. His words hinted at the unimaginable weight of stars; the vast distances between galaxies; the white, searing heat and the empty, bitter cold; and at the core of the chaotic whirling, the black void solidified into a crushing, all-consuming darkness.
The crowd was still. The pegasus almost plummeted to the ground, having literally forgotten to flap his wings.
Celestia and Luna looked out at the ponies with concern, the latter fidgeting slightly at what had just transpired. The God King collected himself instantly, as if he had done no more than mutter a short, trivial phrase. “I will not tolerate such behavior in my presence! I have come to offer this world its honorable closure, and this is how I am repaid?” He cast a sharp glance at the Royal Sisters. Luna tensed under his gaze.
“I will not stand before such a tumultuous crowd again. This is the way of the universe, and nothing will change that. When I return, I shall be expecting a more welcome reception.” Apollyon spread his two sets of wings and took off straight into the sky. After a moment, his silhouette disappeared into the distance.
Conversation started up in the crowd, ponies coming to terms with the striking change in their perception of reality. Up on the balcony, a golden aura consumed the double door and swung it open. The Princesses filed into the palace one by one.
Twilight nodded at her friends, and they all gathered as close as they could. A spark from her horn exploded to a blinding flash, and the six ponies were standing on the aerie. The lavender unicorn caught the door as it was closing and stepped through. Inside, the three goddesses were trotting dejectedly just away from the entrance. “Princess!” Twilight called. “What wa-”
“Where have you been?” Celestia snapped without turning around.
Twilight paused for a moment, hurt. She then gave her lowest bow, her horn almost touching the floor. Her friends followed suit. “I’m so sorry, Princess. I... I slept in. Accidentally. I’m sorry.”
The alicorn sighed. “It’s okay, Twilight. Excuse me for that outburst, I’m not exactly having the best day.”
“Who was that?” Applejack asked, rising from her bow with the others.
“King Apollyon,” Luna said, seemingly confused that the question was being asked. “The black hole around which our galaxy rotates.”
“So you mean everything he said was true?” Rarity demanded.
“Yes,” Celestia confirmed. “Everything.”
“Well then, just open up the vault with the Elements in it, and we’ll take care of him!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed enthusiastically.
“No!” Princess Cadence cried, her eyes wide and fearful.
“We are afraid that the Elements of Harmony may not truly work... exactly as the legends describe,” Luna said carefully, taking a step forward.
“What?” Twilight’s voice held almost shattered disbelief.
“But we already know they work,” Pinkie Pie countered. “We used them two times!”
“You have,” Celestia agreed. “The Elements do work fine under certain conditions. The problem is that such conditions are rather limited.
“You see, the Elements of Harmony were created to keep balance not only on Earth, but throughout the galaxy. Each set can be used by a god, or a coordinated group of vassals such as yourselves, to defend his property from thieves, or his authority from usurpation. As such, it cannot be used against a heavenly body around which the wielder orbits, as that translates to greater authority. This is why I could employ them against my sister as Nightmare Moon, but she could not do so against me. The Moon orbits the Earth, which orbits the Sun.”
There was a short pause. “But what about the Virtues?” Fluttershy asked. “Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Magic?”
“Those are not exactly bad traits to exemplify when wielding the Elements,” Luna said. “They promote the unity that is needed for a party of mortals to successfully work together when using them. However, that is all that they do--the Virtues hath no real connection to the Elements of Harmony.”
“Wait,” Twilight said, directing the attention back to Celestia. “You said that they could be used against anyone who disobeys a higher god’s authority. If Apollyon’s in authority, doesn’t that mean that he could use the Elements against you?”
The Princess nodded appreciatively at her student’s cleverness. “Yes, he could. That is why we are doing as he says--why we were standing out there when he spoke. The Elements of Harmony are very literal with their judgement, so by treading carefully and exploiting loopholes we should be able to avoid conviction.”
“Doesn’t matter any,” Applejack protested. “If he’s got ‘em, and we can’t use ‘em, we won’t be able to stop him.”
“Apollyon’s gonna gobble us up and we can’t do anything about it?!” Pinkie screamed.
Celestia was smirking, though. Twilight recognized that look: the Princess was cunning and meticulous, with a plan for almost every possible occurrence. The unicorn imagined that that’s what she did with millennia of sparse free time--she spent it planning, obsessively, for any and every potential threat or danger. It was very rare that she shared these plans with anypony, or even hinted that they existed. But when she did, she smirked, just like that.
“There is a way to stop him,” she said coolly. The six mortals leaned in, and Princess Cadence edged closer. Luna seemed pretty disinterested, as if she had heard all this before.
“I have prepared for the eventuality of Apollyon’s return. In fact, I began preparations over three thousand years ago. That was when I realized that, upon this day, there would be only one force in the whole of reality able to save the Earth.”
“He’s a supermassive black hole,” Twilight argued. “The only thing more massive than that is maybe another supermassive black hole, and assuming the others are anything like him I don’t think you would be able to convince one to help us...”
“Yes. As far as the Earth is concerned, Apollyon is the most powerful being in the universe.”
“But I thought you said there was something that could stop him,” Rarity said, bemused.
“There is. Outside of the universe.” Celestia’s eyes turned to the ceiling as if in veneration. “The Unmoved Mover, or Primum Movens, which inhabits the Hyperuranion located at the outer bounds of our reality.”
“The Mover is a myth, even amongst us gods,” Princess Luna added. “The stars are born from gas, and the planets from the stars, with a catalogue of innate knowledge of themselves and the universe around them--their name, their tongue, their being, and their purpose. Amongst all this, in every incarnate body, is the idea of a greater force that guides the myriad complex motions of the cosmos. And with it is always a name, which is exactly the same for every one of the divinities from the moment of their birth.”
There was a moment of silence as the mortals balked at the grandeur of this concept. Then Pinkie Pie started talking. “But she said two names,” she interjected.
“I simply gave you two different translations,” Celestia said. “In the True Language, in which you heard Apollyon speak briefly, the word is always the same.”
“How do you know It’s real if you’ve never seen It?” Rainbow demanded brashly.
“Unlike in mortals, instinct and intuition in gods appears to be completely accurate,” Princess Celestia explained. “It hasn’t failed me yet, at least. And in the four billion years since my birth, I have never once seriously doubted the existence of the Primum Movens, so I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that It is out there. It is only my best hope that It can be convinced to help us.”
“And how do we get to this Unmoved fella?” Applejack asked. The royalty present cringed slightly, as if using that name so casually was highest taboo.
“The entrance to Its realm lies at the edge of the universe, a gate set into the wall of reality, billions of miles away.”
“I repeat,” Applejack said, deadpanning. “How do we get to It?”
Celestia only smiled.
Stats
Page generated in 0.018 seconds
Total duration
997 users online
1,370,869 hits today, 1,870,739 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
My interest has been piqued.
This is very interesting. But for some reason, all I can think of is google.ca/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=ca&client=safari&tab=wi&q=galactis&sa=N&biw=320&bih=356#i=7
EDIT
image is supposed to be Galactus, eater of worlds.
1331518 Galactus was actually one of the inspirations for Apollyon. Also, Titan from The Immortal Game and a little bit of Dr. Manhattan. Visual inspirations were the zodiac associated with Sagittarius and the Biblical description of Abaddon's (also known as Apollyon) plague of locusts.
By the way, you may have already been told this, but the correct version of your name would be "Pax Equorum." Currently it means "peace horse," but I assume it should mean "peace of the horses" (like how Pax Romana means "peace of the Romans").
1331612
So meticulous
1331612
Meh, I know it isn't proper Latin, but I prefer how Pax Equus sounds. But you really seem to know your stuff, how much research did you do for the backstory?1331648Also, I wouldn't say meticulous, just knows his Latin.
The Doctor approves of this.
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m080kjltgS1r6k5s3.gif
1331702 I generally research for anything I write, especially when looking for inspiration. I wasn't sure what to make Apollyon look like, so I went to Wikipedia and looked up his namesake and his astronomical alignment.
Also, I don't know much Latin. I actually started fiddling around with another project today that had something to do with a Pax Equorum. And I'm pretty sure saying "meticulous" was meant to be an inside joke between us (he's one of my editors)
1331813
Well now don't I feel silly.
Heh, it's not very often that you see a fic with the level of attention that this one has. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.
1331877
Trust me, the attention to detail he goes into is mind-boggling.
1331813
No, I was legitimately questioning your motive of pointing out a name.
How do they get there? With the Lunar Banishment Cannon, of course.
1331877 Shouldn't be too terribly long. Maybe a week or two at most.
1331937 Like I said, because I started derping around with another project that just happens to involve that, tangentially.
1332343 Surprisingly accurate, actually. Well, one of the three words.
1332357
One out of three huh? I pick Cannon, because
Will read later. Added to said list.
EDIT: Btw, your source link doesn't work. I wanted that as my desktop background... XD
1332588 Perhaps.
1333972 Fimfiction screwed that up, not me... I don't think it's the right dimensions, but here you go.
1334079
Oh. And yeah, I'll have to crop it or something. Thanks anyways!
1334647
(1) Nope. Besides, for simplicity's sake, it's much easier to just refer to the planet as "Earth" when they're outside the atmosphere, plus it makes it easier to say why all of the stars in the sky are in the same position. Not that this is our universe, though. Obviously.
(2) Nope. Second-person singular (simple present). I did my research, I assure you--all of Luna's dialogue will be accurate.
1334703
[Looks at links] Hm...Well all right then, I stand corrected. My apologies.