The Requiem

by Onyxian

Awakening

Silence.

Blissful Silence.

Nothing can hear.

Nothing can emit.

Nothing can be seen, nor be shown.

Everything was nothing. An infinite expanse of darkness was all. All was asleep.

There was exception to darkness; light. A flicker of bright began it’s ascendance. It’s rebirth. It’s return.

This light burned through cell after cell, molecule after molecule, atom after atom, composition after composition. Nothing stopped it. The light had returned. The darkness had failed. Everything failed. All that was bliss and silence ceased. Noise, chaos, coincidence, sin poured throughout the remnants of space. It could not be silenced. It could not return like it had many times before and recreate the bliss. It was too late.

Cell after cell.

Molecule after molecule.

Atom after atom.

Composition after composition.

Death after Life.

GAAASP!!!

Scared and lonely did a reborn soul awaken. In the darkness of a solaced ship in a vacuum yet identified, the newborn quivered and shook violently inside a pod of scientific and successful purpose. She was no experiment, perhaps in her own view it was so; the pod was a cryo-chamber designed to keep it’s inhabitants alive for a reasonable amount of time. Like designs and readouts made before, it had finally been made to keep this soul safe from harm.

Still shaking from the memory of awakening, she slowly calmed her senses and began analyzing her condition, as any intelligent and responsible life-form would. Around her were fragments of frozen glass, no doubt only inside the pod. The ice was receding from it’s slumberous position, melting away, sublimation at work as she looked around even more. As the frozen shield began to disappear, she saw the room which she was detained in; a long, narrow hallway with pods identical to hers on either side, with an exit on the end.

She then pondered about the purpose of those pods, trying desperately to think of a reason. The flash-thawing of the pod had restrained her thinking-processes, it appeared that it would be a long time before she could think logically like she always had before. Never able to focus on one thought, she then proceeded to analyze more of her environment.

The detail of the hallways and structure became more clear; it looked like metal sheets covered everything, from pipes to wires to beams. Occasionally she’d notice a hole or two in those walls of steel.

Still unable to think of a reason why.

The room looked cold and metallic, with white decorated walls lining the surface. The air looked freezing, maybe even below 0 degrees. Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin. Which would be more appropriate?

Her first sentient, memorable thought burst unintentionally from her now thawing mind.

Beaming with joy within her, she then tried remembering why she was there, now that she could at least remember the names of scientific temperature measurements. Of course there had to be some logical explanation why she was in a pod in the first place, why she was even on a metallic structure of some kind, who she was, what her race was, where she was born...

…

Twilight Sparkle. 22 years of age. Born in Canterlot, Equestria. Species: Equestrian Unicorn, can exhibit magical powers through naturally-born accessory known as a horn. Worked as a Librarian for both Canterlot and nearby town, Ponyville. Assisted Princess Celestia in defeating her evil sister, Nightmare Moon, God of Chaos, Discord, Changeling Queen, Chrysalis, and Crystal Kingdom Tyrant King Sombra. Accepted as Celestia’s pupil as a child. Top of class accommodations. Constant tests. Princess Cadence and Brother, Shining Armor; married couple, helped defeat Sombra and Changeling Queen. Elements of Harmony rediscovered and used several times by the Mane Six, a group of friends who together vanquish all evil with it’s magic of friendship...

...and...then...there’s a name...

...Solaris...

...Solaris.

No immediate meaning to Twilight became evident. Maybe it was because she was remembering so much about herself. Flash-thawing was a process that proved rather difficult to not just the mentally unprepared, but even a ‘bookworm’ like herself. Constant thoughts and memories flushed into her mind, her brain turning on everything that had been laid to rest when, for whatever reason, she froze inside the pod. At first the memories and thoughts were unbearable; her embarrassment, her mistakes, what events scarred her. But over time, the good memories came. Times of joy and happiness. Times of peace, friendly competition, citizenship. Loyalty, laughing, sharing, trusting, loving...magic. She distinctly remembered magic being probably the most important of them all. She was, after all, a unicorn. The abilities of magic were natural for such specimen.

Then they stopped. Abruptly, too.

Why? She asked disappointingly. I need to know why I’m here! Why aren’t I at home, resting, having fun, playing games! Why am I here?!

...with a sigh, her anger dissipated from her mind. It was only fair. Besides, every so often she must embark on an adventure. And by the looks of it, this one looks pretty non-cliche and mysterious so far. Exciting and new experiences bring good fortune later on in life.

With a heave of her body, she pushed the glass window that held her upright in the pod upwards, instinctively doing so. Why? She didn’t know. It had happened before? Possibly. Then returns the subject of the hour: Why am I here?!

Feeling the crisp, warm air touch her bare skin, Twilight sleepily fell to the ground in lack of reaction. She could feel the air flow past her as she fell; the wind in her hair, the sudden instinct of holding your hooves out to stand in a normal position. It all seemed so harmless in her mind, how she thought of it. Innocently enough, it happened. And of course, the hooves came from her sides to catch her fall...

...except, it wasn’t her hooves that saved her.

As her body suddenly halted motion, her lower body still in motion towards the floor, she looked horrified at her hooves that were no longer justifiable as actual hooves. Instead, there lay pale, bare skin with thin stubs of bone and muscle sticking out from it’s palm. A light pink solid was implanted mysteriously onto the stubs’ tips. It looked like a dull, opaque glass that had been added along with already terrifying stubs of unknown use. She then quickly turned the new hoof around to see what else it had to offer. There lay real evidence that somepony had actually been surgically modifying her. Scars and well-covered stitches covered the palm, some longer than others. Lines ran through the borders of the stubs’ individual and connected parts. And the border between the seemingly harmless pale skin and the horrifying palm was somewhat of a transition. Whoever had done this must have had years of medical and anatomical education!

In shock, terror, and almost every other alternative word for the phrase ‘fear’, Twilight screamed bloody murder at what she saw, drowning out every other little aspect of what had been present while she did so. Her newly-reborn lungs shrunk, her esophagus scratched with broken air. She could feel her pupils contract and shrink as her scream filled the unexplored hallways. Her mind felt horrid, that somepony would EVER do this to another, that she was stuck with these freakishly-modified hooves forever, unless she was to find this surgeon or doctor and ask for it’s previous state. In her head, all she could do was tell her mouth to keep screaming; and maybe, just maybe, will her nightmare end, and so she will return to enjoy her life; with Spike, her friends, Celestia, and occasionally be a hero whilst sharing the power of friendship and how love conquers all.

But her ending never came.

She didn’t realize that before she had screamed, she was hyperventilating at the horrid sight. Unbearable to process such monstrosity, she shrieked. For just a brief period, and what seemed forever for Twilight, she laid there, screaming at the terror that had been inflicted upon her, for reasons unknown. Perhaps that was her adventure; to get her hands back, to get whatever had been stolen back, so she could return to Equestria, wiser than before.

On the subject, she decided that, despite her condition, she would stop shrieking horribly and observe what else had been done to her. Hopefully it was not as horrid as her mind had initially imagined. So she did. Her shriek echoing the narrow hall, and the metallic structure ceased her delaying voice, and silence once again reassured her solaced imprisonment. With hesitation, she then proceeded to see what else of her body had changed. Looking up her arm, she saw the pale skin going from her hoof to her shoulder, which equally terrified her, but not giving her the external reaction she had performed earlier. She saw that both arms had the same skin going up to her shoulders; she had to pull back a shirt that had been put on her, for reasons untold, for her to see the skin going even further then her shoulders; down her chest, all around her waist, around her neck. Her reactions soon became nothing more than curious findings that led to even more. No longer was she afraid. What used to be an abominated addition to her body became her body in total. She was no longer a mere Equestrian. Reborn, she was, as something new, in a world, possibly even a universe, where this species was created to flourish and expand into the stars as masters of their own domain. She should have felt lucky to be reborn, redesigned to take part in a new universe where she is god, where she is but a small part of a god-like race. Her horn was gone, hence the future adaptation of using the more effective weapon: the mind. Her ears were turned into round, complexly-shaped buds of skin and muscle, so in future-sense she would need to make use of her new ears. Her muzzle was completely wiped off; it was replaced with a flat basin that stretched from her nose to her chin, with her cheeks slightly more outward than before. Her eyes were smaller, and her only source of hair was the top of her head, where her mane previously had existed. Her hair still remained, perfect and unchanged as ever, with Dark Blue and Purple stripes coursing down, and not a single hair separated from it’s color.

If anything, she was relieved. It could’ve been worse. It could have been MUCH worse; like having only the body of a griffon to call home, or maybe a Chimera’s body. More or less, she was thankful the situation wasn’t very horrid after all. The images of those scars on her new hooves still lurked every now and then, though. And a reason for those opaque pieces of dull glass on her stubs had not been decided. Currently, it seemed as if it were used for protection. But that in itself was just a theory. Then again, everything was at this point; her location, her purpose, why she was there, who had put her in the cryo-pod. All a continuous mystery.

Now that Twilight had established what she was, it was time to see if she truly was alone, or not. But first, she needed to learn if her new body was accustomed to bipedal stances or quadruped stances. From what she ended up looking like when she first fell, her body’s accustomed to bipedal stances. She just needed to confirm that.

Mysteriously, with ease, she got up on two legs, perfectly balancing herself on her own two lower hooves. Her arms slightly waving to keep balance, she was astounded to see the simplicity of doing so; she rarely did as an Equestrian, so why would she be so good at it already. Apparently there was a period of time where she was already a human, and probably knew the answers to the questions that she is asking constantly. She must’ve had a reason to cryo-freeze herself...but what was it? Why was she put in there? More importantly, When?

As she thought, she then flinched in surprise as she chance-glanced at even more cryo-pods on the left side of the room. But it wasn’t the fact that there were pods there, the surprise was what was in the pods.

Memories of friendship flooded back, memories of endurance, good times, competitions, lessons well learned, obedience, secrecy, hangouts, parties. She remembered friends, companions who stuck out for her until the end, who believed in everything she said, and took not a word for waste. They were true friends.

...and they were sleeping, just like she was, in exactly four cryogenic pods.

Comments

[sierra_seven_]

[Regidar]

1638989 That's what I was waiting for!

[sierra_seven_]

1639007 YOU.

[Regidar]

1639013 Me.
fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/315/d/0/dem_hairs_by_regidar-d5kqhfw.jpg

[ToscoFarrax]

soo is this a crossover ?

[CodenameOne]

1639055 Hard to say; looks like it might be a Pony version of Halo 4 with its own spin.

Or maybe...the Precursors are humans and are like the Forerunners/Prometheans of this story!!

[ToscoFarrax]

1639557
ohh i thought that the precursors where the ones that created the forerrunners, the humans and the flood ...

[CodenameOne]

1639607 That's probably true, but what I'm saying is that this author might make the humans similar to the Forerunners in Halo and just call them Precursors. Basically I'm guessing that the humans are going to be like the Prometheans from Halo 4.

[ToscoFarrax]

1639638
encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT82G7vSP1Mx8Rk7BbDj9uxf3g3BWc3Sa3r_VFwWDodQ-DV0ZnO

[Ivory Crash]

This is not related in any way to the Halo franchise.

image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2012/14/1333382056-appleliar.gif