Tales of the Abyss: Hymns of Equestria

by Genis94

Revelations

Luke sprinted out of the house in order to investigate the loud crash, with all of the ponies following him. Luke spotted one of the nearby houses had a gaping whole in it's side, with a massive beast being the obvious cause. As it turned around to get a look at its newly arrived prey, it's full form could be made out. This large creature had the body of a lion, wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion, with eyes filled with a desire to kill.

"What's a manticor doing way out here?" Twilight questioned.

"You know what it is?" Luke asked.

"I ran into one before, but I can't think of a reason one would leave the Everfree Forest, let alone come all the way to Ponyville."

"*ROAR!*"

"Looks like we don't have time to find out."

Without another word, Luke drew the Sword of Lorelei from its horizontal position on his lower back, and charged straight towards the formidable beast. The manticor bellowed once again in anger and began swiping its sharp claws at his attacker. Luke's experience in battle allowed him to effortlessly dodge the telegraphed attacks from his claws, but he forgot about another ability the beast had. The manticor quickly spun itself around, whipping its massive tail into Luke. The Swordsman of Lorelei was launched through the air and into the wall of a nearby house.

"Unh! Dammit! This thing's even stronger than it looks."

As Luke was still recovering from the attack, he could see the manticor looming over him with claws poised to kill. Just as the finishing blow was about to be dealt, the manticor howled in pain as a purple blast smacked into him. Luke turned to the origin of the blast to see Twilight huffing as her horn glowed with energy. Twilight's expression quickly turned to one of fear as the manticor began to get up and growled at his newest assailant. The manticor used its powerful legs to reach a full speed charge towards the petrified lavender mare.

"Wh-what do I do? I-I'm too scared to move!"

The manticor leaped high into the air to pounce his now helpless prey, but Luke had positioned himself in front of Twilight. As the manticor was just moments from tearing Luke to shreds, he focused his energy for the finishing move.

"HRRRAAAAAAAA!"

Luke unleashed his hyperresonance in a tempest around him, sending the beast off his intended course and back into the air. He then focused the energy into his palms as the beast descended in front of him, subjecting him to a powerful barrage of energy in the form of a hyperresonance sphere.

"Now... die!"

Luke separated his palms, releasing the focus on the energy and creating a powerful blast that sent the manticor flying in the opposite direction.

"*Pant* Are you alright?" Luke asked the still terrified Twilight.

"I-I think so... But you just... you just killed it!"

"Well yeah, it was about to kill you. I had to stop it."

*Phssssshh*

Both Luke and Twilight turned to see the manticor begin to fade into nothingness. The only remaining evidence of its existence was the property damage it had inflicted.

"What the! That's..." Luke began.

"Fonon seperation."

Everyone turned to see Asch leaning against the door frame with a pained expression on his face. He was now wearing his black God General uniform, which complemented his dark red hair. Some of the red designs on the uniform were still stained with his blood from when he was stabbed by oracle knight replicas.

"But how could his fonons have separated? Unless he was..." Luke trailed off.

"A replica." Asch answered.

"But that's impossible! We don't have fomicry around here!" Twilight insisted.

"Maybe, but it is still possible to create a replica through fonic artes. The drawback is that the replica is usually deficient in certain fonons, which will eventually result in death." Luke explained.

"You're not suggesting one of my subjects could have created this, are you?" Celestia asked.

"How could they? They would have had to have known about fomicry. This means it has to have been someone from our world. More specifically, someone who was at Eldrant and could have created a hyperresonance." Asch concluded.

"No... There's just no way!" Luke realized.

"What's wrong Luke?" Twilight asked.

"Asch... There were only six seventh fonists at Eldrant. Tear escaped, you and I are here, and out of the others only one knows enough about fomicry to have created a replica here."

"You know the answer as much as I do, but you just don't want to admit it either."

"Who is it Luke? Who are you talking about?" Twilight couldn't stand not knowing.

"Master Van..." Luke answered.

Everypony there gave an audible gasp.

"But that's impossible! You told us yourself that you killed him!" Luna said.

"And I got stabbed to death by oracle knights. There's some kind of force in this world that's holding our fonons together, and has kept us alive. It was even keeping that manticor alive up until Luke's second order hyperresonance neutralized it." Asch explained.

"So it's some kind of new fonon?" Luke asked.

"Not a bad observation, replica. That actually does make sense; a new fonon could fill the gap between our separated ones, holding us together."

"And that could have worked on Master Van..."

"If that bastard Van is making replicas around here, then it means we can't just head home so soon. If he had his way, he might actually be capable of creating a replica world. I'm going to investigate, so I'm not staying here any longer."

"But Aschy! You're still really hurt!" Derpy tried to convince.

"It's nothing! It doesn't matter what you say. I'm leaving and I'm going to kill Van. He won't escape me this time!"

Without another word, Asch took his sword and began walking towards an unknown destination. Derpy hovered there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Finally she took off after Asch out of her concern for his safety.

"We should head back to Canterlot. We will alert the guards to be on the lookout for this 'Van Grants'. If he is threatening the safety of our subjects, he must be stopped." Celestia proclaimed.

With that, the royal sisters took off and began flying back to the mountains.

"What should we do now? How can we find your master?" Twilight asked.

"If he's making replicas, he would need a secluded location full of subjects he could replicate, with facilities to build up his forces."

"I think I know where he might have gone, but we're going to need help if we're going after him."

"Yo, Twilight! If you need help, just ask the best flier in Equestria!" A familiar voice called out.

Rainbow Dash swooped down from the skies above and landed stylishly in front of the pair.

"Oh it's you again. Rainbow Dash, right?" Luke asked to confirm her name.

"You did good to remember my name, because it's going to be on every billboard soon enough."

"How long have you been here Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"I saw the whole fight! I've done some crazy stuff, but what Luke did was completely off the charts insane!"

"Well then, maybe you'd be willing to help us out. We're going to stop the guy that made that thing." Luke said as he saw his opportunity.

"If it means watching more awesome fights like that, I'm in!"

"Well, that's one element down, four to go." Twilight said.

--------

"It seems our replicas our working excellently. Even though they are made through fonic artes, the appear to be more powerful than the ones at Eldrant." A blonde woman stated.

"Yes Legretta, these replicas will prove themselves useful. With the power of this world, we can finally overturn the Score by creating a replica world." A tall man added.

"And all of these worthless creatures will die too. They'll all know the pain of being thrown away." A masked boy said.

"Hold your tongue Sync. We will not simply destroy the inhabitants of this world. We will use the power here to free every world from the Score. Once we are done here, no longer will any creature have to live their life shackled to the Score! *Cough!*"

"Commandant you must not strain yourself yet. Almost all of your fonons were rebound by this world's unique one."

"Yes I know. Once I have recovered, nothing will be able to stand in my way."

--------

"So let me get this straight. Y'all are telling me some manticor 'replica' trashed up the place, and that you want to go to the Everfree Forest to look for where the thing was made?" Applejack asked.

"That's right Applejack. Luke and I need the help of everypony we can get." Twilight confirmed.

"And you're alright with this Rainbow Dash?" Applejack turned to her friendly rival.

"Duh! Luke's totally awesome! He's got moves that, if he could fly, would get him into the Wonderbolts for sure!"

"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened to that tree before, but Twilight says that we need your help, so you have to believe me when I say: we need to stop Master Van." Luke tried to convince the farm pony.

Applejack squinted her eyes and took a good look at Luke, rubbing her chin as she pondered on what Luke had just told her.

"Alright then partner, Ah suppose I can leave the work to Big Mac while Ah'm gone."

"You actually believe me? I mean, I know I told you to, but I didn't think you would so easily."

"Well, I can tell ya ain't lyin'. As the element of honesty, I know a yer tellin' me the truth."

"Hey, didn't you mention something about elements when we convinced Rainbow to tag along, Twilight?"

"Yes I did. You see, my friends and I are the wielders of a powerful magic called the Elements of Harmony. Rainbow Dash represents loyalty, Applejack is honesty as she already told you, and I represent the element of magic."

"Well, if you say we need it I guess it can't hurt to get them to tag along. Who should we go for next?"

"Easy. Let's go have a word with generosity."

--------

The first half of the element bearers and the Swordsman of Lorelei made their way back to Carousel Boutique. Luke opened the door to see Rarity busily carrying around an assortment of black fabrics.

"Hey Rarity. What's with all of the black? You usually design things to be more colorful." Twilight said.

"Oh, I just had a stroke of genius thanks to Luke here. Strange... wasn't your hair longer when you showed up today?"

"You must mean Asch. What was he doing here?" Luke asked.

"Well, I saw him walking down the street with Derpy Hooves, and I couldn't help but admire that dark outfit he had on. Oh, it was simply ravishing! But when I got a closer look at it, there were these three gaping holes in it and some red stains! I simply couldn't let him walk about with his attire in such a horrid condition, so I fixed and cleaned it free of charge. Although, now that I look back, I probably should have noticed the difference considering he was carrying his sword in his right hand, while yours is positioned to be unsheathed by the left."

"Pretty observant..."

"That's Rarity for you. She's always goin' on about her fancy clothes and what have you, but it has given her a mighty keen eye." Applejack explained.

"Oh, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are with you too. So what brings you all here? I know it can't be about placing an order if those two are here."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash asked angrily.

"Ahem! Rarity, Luke and the rest of us need your help. Luke's old master is apparently in Equestria and is planning to wreak havoc by creating an army of replicas." Twilight got back on task.

"Oh my! That sounds simply horrendous!"

"So you'll help us out?" Luke asked.

"But of course! Let me just go upstairs and pack some necessities."

Rarity trotted up the stairs leaving the others to await her return. About half an hour later...

"What in tarnation is taking that pony so long?"

"That's it! I'm heading up there and-" Rainbow Dash was interrupted.

*Thump!*

A massive trunk was set down near the base of the steps.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting. It took quite a bit of effort to get everything to fit."

"Rarity... what did you pack in there?" Twilight asked with a clear hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Well, I packed in my makeup, robes, sleeping mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, my best wilderness outfits-"

"I thought you said you were only packing a few essentials?" Luke spoke up.

"Oh but of course! It's absolutely essential that I look fabulous!"

Everypony besides Rarity face hoofed.

"Okay... just bring it along..." Twilight said with her hoof still pressed against her face.

"You sure about having her bring all of that?" Luke asked.

"Do you want to wait and hear her whine while she tries to justify everything she packed?"

"Point taken. So I guess we'll go and see Pinkie pie next?"

"Yes I-"

"Ah ha! I knew you'd be here!"

Standing at the door was a pink mare with her saddlebags already packed.

"Well that was convenient. Pinkie Pie, Twilight says that-" Luke began.

"Oh I already know that silly!"

"You do?"

"Yeah! My tongue swelled up, my eye got itchy, and I sneezed three times."

"And that means?" Luke asked incredulously.

"It's probably her Pinkie sense." Twilight deduced.

"Yep! It means that there's going to be a super duper adventure! I got everything packed and started looking around for you as soon as I could."

"So I guess that just leaves Fluttershy?" Luke figured.

"Yeah, she lives just outside of the Everfree forest, so naturally she should be the last one." Twilight confirmed.

--------

"No! Go away!"

Fluttershy was holed up inside her house with the door locked.

"But Fluttershy, we need your help on this one!" Twilight begged.

"No way! The forest is scary enough, but you want me to help stop some super scary human?!"

"Can't we just force the door open and bring her with us?" Luke suggested.

"Uh... when Fluttershy doesn't want to go somewhere, she can be pretty... convincing." Rainbow nervously answered.

"Fluttershy, if Master Van isn't stopped, he'll make replicas of all the animals and force them to serve him. The originals could die!" Luke exclaimed.

*WHAM!*

The door slammed open with enough force to create cracks in the wall. Fluttershy was fuming with rage filling her eyes.

"He... will... PAY!!!"

"Whoa! This can't be the same pony from the other day!"

"I-I guess that means she's coming." Twilight concluded.

Comments

[Dirty Bit]

Hehehe, I always love incentive moments