<<372 words
Wedding Bells Part 1: Assumptions and Communication Gone Wrong3,245 words
Wedding Bells Part 2: Jitters2,785 words
Wedding Bells Part 3: 'Till Death Do Us Part3,000 words
Song of Ascension Part 1 (Rewritten): Weaver of Cocoons2,197 words
Song of Ascension Part 2: Mason of the Dead Forest2,222 words
Song of Ascension Part 3: New Digs3,660 words

Song of Ascension Part 2: Mason of the Dead Forest

Skyblaze’s POV

Suddenly, I felt cold. It was the first sensation that hit me after the blinding light faded from my eyes. Second was the smell; an arid, sour odor that permeated the air around me, almost enough to choke on. It wasn’t unlike the experience of getting caught in the smoke of a campfire, yet it had more of an ashen texture.

Strangely, the next sense that returned to me was my orientation; I was lying on my side, my legs splayed out on the ground. My face was in such a position that one side was pressed into the ground, the dusty earth filtering into my nose as I breathed. Given the thickness of the dry air and the particles running down windpipe, I started to cough as I lifted my head out of the dirt. It wasn’t welcome, but it brought my remaining senses back to me as I continued to drag myself off the ground and into a shaky stand. Something on my forehead itched but I ignored it for the moment.

I looked up... and gaped. Holy schist...

One thing was for sure: I was no longer at the wedding. All around me, shooting up from the dusty ground, stood dozens of dead trees, gnarled branches stripped of any green. Every tree was bare of bark, giving them a bone-white color that, even under an overcast sky, seemed to glow with its own light. A soft breeze blew, but there was no sound; no rustle of leaves overhead, no creaking branches, no whispering noise as the air flowed around the featureless trunks. Not even the chitter of forest creatures or the song of birds could be heard to at least hint to me that something still lived in these woods.

Dead. This forest was completely dead. My lungs began to clog up with the potent air once more, making my breathing heavy. Head swimming, I stumbled over to the nearest tree and leaned against it to catch what little breath this environment allowed me. The wood was cold, like stone. Where am I? I asked myself, staring up at the twisted branches of the canopy. What is this horrible place?

I entertained the idea of flying above the trees to get a better idea of my surroundings, but a closer look at the clouds revealed that the overcast was part of a fog that extended below the trees: clear and unnoticeable in the nearby area, but further out clarity diminished to almost nothing. Flying would do me no good if I couldn’t see anywhere beyond a half-mile or so. Even if I could, the lack of breathable air would make staying aloft a hefty chore. Maybe it’s the fog that’s making it so hard to breathe? I wondered.

I can’t stay here, some part of me ushered. I need to move. But move where? There were no distinguishable landmarks that I could see from the ground, and there was certainly not a path I could follow. With no view of the sun, there was no way of telling direction or keeping myself from going in circles.

Eventually, the heavy silence of the woods was too much for me to bear standing around wondering what to do. The itch on my forehead had gotten somewhat worse. Balls to it... Taking in as deep a breath as I could without gagging, I opened my mouth. “Hello?” I tried to shout, but it came out as a strangulated croak not much louder than my breathing. It echoed slightly, as if the forest was unaccustomed to having sound within in it. “Hello?” I tried again, with very little improvement beyond starting another hacking fit.

“You will find that speaking is much easier in this tongue.”

I startled at the sudden manifestation of perfectly clear Archaic words that echoed through the trees. Whoever spoke had a deep, powerful voice, masculine of course, and was nowhere to be found in the immediate area that I could see. Heeding his advice, I spoke again in Archaic. “Greetings, watcher unknown. May I--” I was interrupted by another coughing fit, my hoarse throat getting the better of me.

“No, no...” the voice reprimanded. “You speak from your throat, youngling. Go deeper than your body; forge the words from your soul and allow them to free themselves.”

Shaking my head, I glared at the forest around me. “Is this some manner of cruel riddle?”

“Speak as if you are singing. A Song is not needed.”

With a sigh, I closed my eyes and focused inward, toward my center. Taking deep breaths, I put my spirit into the words in my head and let them flow out of my mouth. “Greetings, watcher unknown.” I was surprised to find that the resistance from my oxygen-starved lungs had gone completely. “This was unexpected.”

“Such formal language,” remarked the stony voice. “Though it is to be expected of a Bard only just beginning to learn, I suppose.”

There was a moment of silence as I paused to concentrate on breathing and trying to get oxygen to my brain so I could think more clearly. When my mind began to clear, I picked my head up to continue our dialogue, but I was stopped by a new sound entirely breaking the morbid quiet of the forest. A rhythmic thumping sound; heavy hoofsteps pounding into the dusty ground with a leisurely pace.

It was then I saw the owner of the voice. From out of the thick of the trees, a massive gray stallion advanced toward me. His stone-like coat was stretched over a body of large, blocky muscles set high upon four tall, similarly-built legs, rising to twice my miniscule height. Immense wings hung from his side and a large horn extended from beneath a messily-cropped mane of darker grey, marking him as an alicorn. The only color on the alicorn that wasn’t akin to a stone wall was in his shimmering blue eyes and cutie mark--an image of a wooden mason’s hammer and a bell that looked to be made of white granite.

What the buck is...?

“Greetings to you, Skyblaze, Bard-Prince of Equestria,” the massive alicorn said with a voice as deep and stone-like as his body. He approached, looking down at me with a friendly expression. “I am Prometheus the Terfaust oud Terrus.”

As the unfamiliar Archaic words passed my ears, I tilted my head at him. “‘Terfaust oud Terrus?’”

“The ‘World Mason,’ in this tongue,” he answered in Equish, his voice suddenly raspy as he was forced to speak through the heavy air. Prometheus coughed, the thickness entering his lungs. “I apologize for the atmosphere. Even the air about this place withers of life.”

“Yes, regarding that...” I looked around the dead forest. “What is this place? For what reason am I present? And by what means have I been brought?”

“This place...” Prometheus waved a hoof, indicating the trees and earth. “...is a small piece of reality that exists outside the world proper. What you see is my attempt to recreate an echo of the woods I once played in as a colt, eons ago. But as it does not exist within acceptable bounds of the universe, existential instability caused it to decay until nothing remained but the skeletons of trees and the ashes of foliage upon which we stand.”

For a moment, I thought I could see what the dead forest would look like in life: a lush canopy filtering streams of sunlight down into the flowering underbrush, with the chirping of unseen birds in the air. When the vision passed, I almost broke into tears at the shocking contrast. I turned back to Prometheus, who nodded as if he knew what I’d seen. How long has he been here in this horrible place?

“As for your being here, you are actually not,” the grey alicorn continued enigmatically. “I have conjured your essence and awareness, much like astral projection. Your body is back in the clearing, where it is undergoing the process of being burned away by the piece of Lady Luna’s immortal Heart.”

“WHAT!?” I exclaimed, forgetting to use Archaic. Oxygen-poor air burned through my lungs, sending me into a bout of hacking and wheezing. After the heaviness passed, I looked back at Prometheus. “So I am dying!? Why would I be dying!?!”

“Calm yourself, Sir Freescript, you are not in any immediate danger,” replied Prometheus, making a vague gesture with his hoof. “Your body was doomed inevitably, as ascension is not a gentle process. You are lucky your awareness is here, else you would feel a most horrible pain.”

“...so am I dying, or am I not?” I asked, still a little fearful for my life.

Prometheus shook his head. “You are simply going through the process of becoming a High Immortal: an alicorn,” he consoled. “A physical form is recreated when the process is complete, oftentimes altered from the experience.

“You see, to ascension can happen one of many ways, all of which you have personally witnessed to some extent. The first examples, Celestia and Luna, were born to alicorns, meaning their souls already contained an Aspect that gave them power over their respective parts of the world--Day and Night--and ascended when their Hearts grew to become an immortal essence. Alicorns like Twilight, Cadance, and myself gained their Aspect upon exemplifying what their Aspect represents, and their Hearts followed suit so they could become High Immortals. Finally, in the cases of Shining Armor and you, their Hearts are bound to the Heart of another High Immortal, imbuing them with the eternal life of an alicorn. It is in this last case that something unique occurs: they are either given an Aspect they most closely epitomize or a new Aspect is created if they do not resemble an existing one closely enough. This may even cause their cutie mark to change to better fit their Aspect.” After his long-winded explanation, Prometheus let out a heavy breath. Even without using his lungs to speak, the decayed air still wore on his body.

“Oh,” was all I could say to the speech. It all made sense, based on what Luna had told me of her knowledge of alicorns. A moment passed, then the alicorn looked at me quizzically. “I suppose my only inquiry remaining is...” I stated. “...what Aspect may be bestowed upon me?”

Prometheus hummed and nodded, probably expecting this question. “Only twice before has a Bard ascended to become an alicorn, Skyblaze Freescript,” he informed, peering down at me with his shimmering blue gaze. “Both have carried the same Aspect. As such, it is appropriate you be given the same courtesy.”

“Which is that? Perhaps the Aspect of Music or Song?” I wagered.

“No, no...” Prometheus shook his head, looking almost somber. “One day, Bard-Prince, you will determine the true nature behind the Songs and Tunes; what really fuels their power. But for now...” Stepping toward me, the alicorn bowed. Despite this, he still had a decent amount of height over me, but the submissive action made me uncomfortable nevertheless. “The Aspect you will be given... is mine.”

“Y...yours?” I stuttered, tilting my head. “Which is what, exactly?”

Prometheus rose from his bow. “With time, you will learn. It is better that you discover your Aspect on your own accord.”

“But what is the harm in knowing?” I asked, a little miffed at the secrecy. “Surely there is no reason for my being here if you weren’t going to--”

“NO! I will not allow you to make my mistakes! Still I regret knowing the nature of my power before I was prepared!” the alicorn bellowed suddenly in the Empowered Voice, the echo reverberating through the forest for a long while before fading. He let out a sigh, looking strained because of it. “I brought you here so that, when you do realize your potential, you would think of me, and remind yourself of the fate that same power brought me...”

As the initial startle the Empowered Voice gave me started to wane, I looked again at Prometheus and the surroundings, smelled the air of death and decay. Ashes beneath my hooves now felt coarse and cold. “I am...” I began, gulping down a snag in my throat. “I am wary already of the power I would receive simply as an immortal and Prince. Now... I am frightened.”

“Good,” Prometheus said bluntly. “You should. I wish you could have been spared the sufferance.” He gazed off into the dead forest for a moment contemplatively. “But I fear certain circumstances force my hoof. My Aspect will be needed, for the world’s sake.”

I blinked at this new piece of info. “Needed?”

“I’m afraid our time is spent; I can only suspend an instant for so long,” the alicorn suddenly said.

Before I could react, the tip of his horn flashed a blinding sapphire light at me. Dazzled, I flinched back, but found no purchase. I felt like I was falling, tumbling into an abyss. When the haze of blindness lifted, I found nothing but darkness around me; an infinite void.

“Remember, Prince Skyblaze,” Prometheus’ voice thundered from the dark. “Even in the darkest corners of the universe, there can be light.”

Author's Note:

*spinning around in a swivel chair*

BALLS TO YOU, HIATUS! I DO WHAT I WANT!

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