• Published 8th Jan 2012
  • 13,235 Views, 209 Comments

Dying Embers - MrSpartan



What came before the country of Equestria? A tale of revenge and bonds of loyalty.

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Ancient Relics

The group of mares went down farther into the bowels of the cave. The tunnel had gradually changed to a simple one with stone steps once more. There were no gilded tunnels with precious metals to be found here. Fluttershy watched as Pinkie Pie happily bounced along.

“If you don't mind me saying Pinkie you seem like you’re feeling better.”

“Oh, I don’t mind at all!” The earth pony replied. “I do feel like my old self again. But I tell ya Fluttershy since I ate that cactus I’ve seen some thiiiiings mare. I mean like stuff you wouldn’t believe. There was just crazy crazy crazy in my face all the time. It was like I could see everything happening everywhere at once! I couldn’t even handle it and I’m usually the best with that kind of stuff.”

Fluttershy craned her neck back to put some breathing space between her and her party-throwing friend. “Well, uh, that’s, uh, nice. I’m just glad you’re feeling better again.”

“You know it!” The element bearer of laughter replied.

“Hush girls, I think the we’re entering the next chamber.” Twilight rebuked.

They shielded their eyes as they adjusted to the sudden burst of light. They all uttered one word in unison after seeing this newest chamber.

“Woah.”

If the last cavern could be described as big, then this one could only be described as gargantuan. The last area had been more wide than high to allow room for the statues of various followers of an unknown faith. This part of the temple, however, was the polar opposite. The ceiling of the cavern just seemed to go on indefinitely, perhaps it did. The walls of the chamber were also set very far apart but at least one could actually see where they ended. Eerie carvings of faceless winged beings like those outside could be seen on them with their arms raised. Four majestic waterfalls tinted the whole room a beautiful aurora of color with a calm blue being the most prevalent. Now, one might wonder where the water could go once it had entered the cavern. Wouldn’t it flood the whole place? Well it would, were it not for the obviously artificial grated hole in the center of the floor acting as a drain. Water pooled in and around the cavern floor as it waited to be flushed away to who knew where.

The six ponies forced themselves onward through the calf deep water. Onward to the exit they went, more cautiously then previously. Even Pinkie Pie trotted along slowly instead of bouncing about like a fool. No sound was made except the echo of splashing accompanied by the smell of mineral water .

There was a *click* and the sound of stone grinding against stone followed by Pinkie saying “Ooops”

They all stopped dead in their tracks. Twilight Sparkle slowly turned her head around like it was a rusty door hinge.

She asked her friend a very important question. “Pinkie Pie, what did you just do?”

The pink mare rubbed the back of her neck with a guilty grin glued to her face. The spot where that same leg had been now revealed a hidden pressure plate.

“Prooobably something I shouldn’t have,” She offered.

The room cavern started shaking like there was an earth quake going on as one of the many traps was set off. The four ponies unable to hover off the floor struggled to maintain balance.

“Consarn it Pinkie Pie! If we make it out of this in one piece I swear I’ll throttle ya!” Applejack yelled.

“HURRY!! We have to reach the exit before-“Twilight was interrupted by a loud slam amidst the rumble as their escape was cut off by a slab of some kind of rare crystal. “-that happens” she finished.

The steady beat of drums filled the entirety of the jostling room. Disturbing, deep voices came form the walls. “HO, HA, HO, HA, HO, HA”

The strong chant repeated along with the drums. The shacking was growling more violent and the speed of the music and chant was becoming faster too. Then it all stopped.

The six looked around in apprehension. “Was that all?” Fluttershy asked.

Abruptly an almost deafening chorus assaulted their ears. The four on the ground clutched their heads and rolled about in agony. Rainbow and Fluttershy soon followed suit.

“AAAAAAAAA! LIFE BEYOND DEATH IN THE SKYYYYY!

THE UNELIGHTENED DRIFT IN A SEAAAAA!

OUR SOULS WERE OOOFFERED HERE,

THIS IS WHERE WE ARE MEANT TO BEEEEE!

EVEN AS OUR FAMILYS CRIED OUT,

FOR US TO RETURRRRRRRRRN,

WE ONLY HEED THE GREAT ONES CAAAAAAALL!

WE ONLY HEAR THE REAPER’S SOOOOOOONG!”

As this painfully loud (and, as Pinkie would later point out, pretty bad) song rang out the water flow had increased. The waterfalls were now powerful jets of water and the cavern was filling up fast. Now they were being forced to use their forelegs to swim instead of cover their ears. At first Twilight and Rarity both tried to halt or dull the music but found it impossible to concentrate in order to cast anything. RD had recovered her wits enough to fly above the water again use her forelegs to cover her ears. She raced into action and tried to find another way out somewhere along the walls. Fluttershy cried and begged for the lyrical attack to stop, but sound isn’t exactly known for its ability to be reasoned with. Rarity was panicking and Pinkie was of no help whatsoever. Twilight, being the physically weakest was attempting to tell Applejack her current theory that she believed could save them but she kept getting a gulp full of water every time she tried.

Applejack was easily the strongest swimmer. She didn't need as much oxygen for her muscles due to her being both a hardworking farmer and that she was of the physically superior earth pony race. Because of this and how her friends weren’t making any headway she took it upon herself to search the only area they hadn’t, underwater near the drain. The liquid was still rising rapidly, there wasn’t much time before the group got too tired to swim or the chant knocked them all out and they would drown! AJ swam for all she was worth, fighting past the pain of the supernatural song.

She reached the grate. It had rather small holes that only allowed a measly amount of water to drain away. The earth pony saw a handle attached to an iron chain and grabbed it with her teeth. With water flooding her lungs she still forced her body to tug at the chain. Her vision was darkening and her lungs screamed at her for air when she pulled the chain far enough. The grate swung inward on a hinge. The water flooding the cave swirled swiftly down into the hole along with the farm pony. The mind crippling music was gone now and those on the water’s surface held on to whatever they could to keep from being sucked down into the whirlpool.

When the colossal cavern’s water level had finally dropped to its previous state the elements of harmony gathered back together from their spots. Rainbow Dash landed with a panicky Pinkie Pie and a rattled Rarity. Twilight had dug her hooves onto one of the openings where the jets of water where ushering though until she could teleport down. They looked around for their most timid and stalwart companions. They found the former first.

“I’m up here!” the mare had called from the edge of one of the wall carvings.

The five friends now only needed the element bearer of honesty, but were befuddled and could not locate her. The reality that their best friend had most likely sacrificed herself to save the others hit home. Their eyes watered, not with the remnants of the trap, but with tears. They hugged each other and cried for their friend.

“She was the bravest of us all!” Rarity balled out.

“I can’t believe she’s really gone.” Fluttershy sobbed.

“I never got to tell her how sorry I was for sneaking into her room at night and taking suggestive pictures of her then selling them to the colts in Cloudsdale for thirty bits a pop!” Rainbow confessed.

“Y’all did WHAT!?

The five ceased their group hug and poked their heads over the edge of the drain to see Applejack hanging onto the chain switch with her mouth still clamped down on it. She swung gently from side to side with her front hooves holding her hat to keep it from being dragged down into the pit.

“Applejack, you’re alive!” Twilight said ecstatically.

“ ‘course ah am” replied the earth pony “Now somepony help me up already.”

The lavender unicorn levitated her tired, soaking wet friend up. After a quick round of hugs the party finally moved onwards. AJ hung back for a second.

“Hey RD, come ‘ere.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

The strongest mare in Ponyville socked the fastest flier in the side.

“Ow! What the hay was that for?!”

“For taken pictures of me and selling ‘em! What do ya think?!”

Rainbow Dash looked everywhere except the orange mare’s face as she answered. “Right… Well if it makes you feel better, I did it with the others too.”

“That just makes it worse!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Don’t make such a big deal about it. I only did it once when I was reeeeally low on bits and I couldn’t afford food that week. Wont happen again.” RD explained.

Applejack gave her a suspicious glare. “It better not.”

The two moved to catch up to the others, Rainbow Dash thinking Okay, whatever you do, DON’T tell AJ about the photos of Big Mac you keep under the bed.

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Another dark tunnel, more nervous silence. Twilight dropped to her knees all of a sudden and gasped. Her friends were already by her side.

“Oh Twilight are you all right? What’s wrong? Tell me the symptoms you feel if you’re getting sick,” said the kind pink and yellow pegasus.

The magic wielder took her companion’s outstretched hoof to help her up.

“I’m fine Fluttershy. Just got the wind knocked out of me. Can’t you guys feel that?”

The purple pony was met with looks of incomprehension.

Rarity cleared her throat. “Well I do feel a tad light headed from all the background magic here but it’s been like this since we arrived.”

Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “It’s not that. Just now it felt like a massive force just shoved me down. Now it feels almost like we’re being watched.”

Fluttershy cowered at the idea of some invisible monster watching her. “W-watched by what?”

Twilight could only offer a look that said ‘I wish I knew’.

Pinkie Pie hopped excitedly. “OH, I feel like I’m being watched all the time! Except I never mind because most of the watchers give me a happy feeling in my chest but you’re totally right Twilight! Now that you mention it I can say I feel it too! It’s like when your daddy is watching you work and you mess up and you know that he knows but he doesn’t SAY that he knows it just eats at you so you want him to forgive you SO much but you’re nervous hewontbutyouwannatryanywayandthewholetimeyourthinkingthisyoufeellikehe’sreviewingyourentirelifeandjudgingyou!!! AMIRIGHTTWILIGHT?!”

Pinkie Pie had changed hues from her namesake to a dark blue as she had forgotten to breathe towards the end of her verbal assault.

Twilight was a little wide eyed when she responded. “Well…yeah actually. That’s exactly what it feels like. But you’re not a unicorn Pinkie, let alone one whose talent relates to magic.”

“Well of course I’m no unicorn silly! Although I bet I would make an amazing one, not that you aren’t but if I was I would be like the best party pony ever! I could just poof all the decorations on in a snap which is totally weird since we ponies can’t actually snap but the humans back home probably can. Oh do you think they came up with that and we kept the phrase out of habit after they left ‘cause that would explain a lot of weird stuff in equestrian, not to say weird stuff is bad like the human invasion because weird stuff makes things fun and I love fun! I’m all about fun, that’s why I’m Pinkie Pie!”

Taking a second to digest everything the hyperactive earth pony said, Miss Sparkle settled for continuing her earlier line of questioning instead of pursing one of her friend’s stray thoughts. “Uh, but then how can you sense that presence around us when Rarity, a unicorn like me, can’t?”

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I dunno. I’m Pinkie Pie.”

Miss Sparkle went stiff and her right eye twitched. Her other friends could tell this bugged her beyond measure. Twilight was a mare that needed things to make sense. She had come a long way in accepting the pink equestrian’s eccentrics but every now and again Pinkie would say or do something that made just enough sense so that it hinted at something deeper yet remained an unsolvable puzzle. Now was one of those times and it drove Twilight batty. Rainbow Dash steered the conversation back to the immediate situation. She patted Twilight on the back.

“Don’t stress it, she’s just being Pinkie Pie, you know that. Shouldn’t we get going and stuff?”

Twilight zoomed into Rainbow’s personal space and starred her straight in the eye. “But I NEED to know what she means.”

Dash was sweating while looking this way and that with a forced grin at Twi’s slightly creepy behavior. Pinkie interrupted the two in order to soothe her frazzled friend. She adjusted the purple mare’s head to look at her.

“Twilight, its OK if you don’t know everything. I know you don’t always understand me but believe me when I say its better that way.” The usually goofy equestrian’s hair darkened slightly in rare moment of seriousness. “Knowing everything isn’t so fun, especially about what’s GOING to happen. So just enjoy the moment and smile, despite the world trying to keep you from doing just that, ok? If you don’t the mysteries and less happy facts of life will drive you craAaAaAazy!”

Rarity, as well as the others, worried about Pinkie Pie. This was unusually serious and deep of her.

The white unicorn put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Darling, are you alright?”

The pink earth pony cheered up immediately. Her fur becoming brighter again and her smile returning from its ‘bitter sweetly philosophical’ sitting to its regular ‘life is amazing and I wanna hug you all to death’ setting.

“Don’t worry, I was just thinking too much just now instead of living in the moment.” She said.

“Only if you’re certain you’re fine,” Rarity.

“I’m alright as long as you all are,” Pinkie assured

“I’m sorry about over focusing Pinkie Pie. Let’s get that artifact, together,” Twilight said.

All of them looked at each other and put on determined looks of comradery. They knew they had to save Equestria from the humans. Not because they were aggressively taking things by force, not because of some ancient fault of Celestia or her parents. They had to stop Illitheous and his Crusaders of Fire because if they didn’t innocents who didn’t even know what was causing the fighting would continue to become hurt and homeless in the crossfire. They were who truly mattered.

“TOGETHER!”

Immediately after that Twilight felt a slight shift in the invisible presence that watched them. The shift was one of both approval and resistance. Their conviction was admirable yet their intrusion was viewed as an ambitious insult. Soon the six would discover just who or what these views actually belonged to.

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The last chamber was just as large as the others with none of the artificially crafted aspects of the last two chambers. Only the walkway and steps leading up to a massive pedestal-shaped structure up ahead showed signs of anything besides natural cave formation. To both sides of the flat walkway was a dark chasm that seemed endless. The path way was only wide enough for up to four of them at a time. The only light source came from a glowing white stone upon the top of the pedestal. It showed a dazzling display of illumination that would put even the brightest night carnival to shame. The mares, especially Rarity, eyes grew huge at the sight of such a clearly powerful and pristine jewel. Twilight snapped out of her revelry first with a shake of the head.

“We finally found it girls! We just have to get that diamond and we can stop all the senseless violence back home! We won’t let anypony else get hurt. Single file girls! I don’t want anypony to slip and fall off.” Twilight ordered.

“GOT IT!” the other five said with a series of salutes.

They moved in line, slowly and carefully. Upon nearing the base of the pedestal a hunched over figure in a hooded robe exactly like the ones the various stone statues and carvings were shown wearing, colored brown, grew visible. It was heard to make out in the darkness if it intended harm of not so Twilight made her horn glow with purple tinted light to get a good look. She and the other bearers of the elements set their gaze on weird, elderly creature. It shielded its massive eyes with two of its thin arms. It was rather tall and lanky with every limb (two legs and four separate three fingered arms at its sides) giving a good impression of leafless twigs. Its neck was as long as its arms and legs. On it rested a human sized, hairless cranium with a pair of massive glassy black eyes that dominated its face. It had no nose or ears in a traditional sense, just tiny holes where they would normally be. Its lipless mouth showed the flat teeth of a vegetarian. The creature appeared ill due to its hairless pale skin. It was ghostly white and wrinkled like it had dried up riverbeds all across it.

He, evident by its voice, pleaded for the light to go out. “No light, no light! Stings the eyes it does.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry! Just let me…there.” Twilight ceased channeling magic into her horn.

The seven of them once more bathed only in the glow seeping from the brilliant artifact. They could all see each other but not the finer details.

The alien man half asked half rambled to himself. “What’s the word? What are the words? So long? No, not so long. Uh hello? Yes, that was it. Hello adventurers. Who might you be?”

The group broke out of their single file formation to greet the character. He seemed friendly enough. That he was the first thing that had showed any common manners instead of attacking them in awhile helped of course.

“Well I’m Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie. We hail from Equestria. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them but we are the current wielders of the Elements of Harmony. The fellow at the entrance said if we could make it past your obstacles we could take that magic item to help our world.”

The pasty old man seemed upset after hearing who and why they were here. He turned away from them and threw his upper arms about in a fit and rubbed his temples with the lower pair of arms as he whispered to himself.

“Not right, not right. Supposed to be the follower races or the next keeper. How long? Have to wait, have to keep waiting, can’t let its power fade. They need me, no one else can, have to stay, have to wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait.”

Fluttershy, ever the bleeding heart, fluttered over the old creature. “Oh you poor thing! You’re not well. How long have you been cooped up in here? When was the last time you slept?”

AJ leaned in to whisper to Twilight, her expression a mournful one. “Now Twi, I don’t like sayin’ this kinda thing about anypony but I’ve been around Granny Smith long enough to recognize when the apples ain’t all in the orchard no more.”

Twilight nodded. Fluttershy was still doting on the old creature but the rest of the group overheard Applejack.

The element of generosity crinkled her snout and whispered “Applejack! That is not a polite thing to say. Give the poor dear a benefit of a doubt. Anypony would be out of sorts after being stuck in here for so long with only a bedazzling jewel for companionship.”

The blond earth pony gave an apologetic shrug. “Just callin’ it like I see it.”

“Well crazy or not,” Rainbow Dash added “we can’t just leave the guy down here. We should take him back with us. Get him fixed up.”

Meanwhile Fluttershy was still trying to calm down the subject of discussion. She was petting him on the back and spoke in a soothing tone. “It’s ok now. Why don’t you just sit down and rest.”

“NO REST!!!”

Fluttershy peeped as the sudden outburst startled her. The other ponies now refocused on the odd creature.

“Can’t rest, never, not even for a moment! Have to be vigilant. Have to be. Protect the stone they said, guard it, care for it. IT is your life now they said. We’ll be back for you later. But later never came, never came, never came back. But swore to remain until they do. Have to stay. Staystaystaystay. No going back. They’ll come back,” the old watcher was sounding increasingly frantic.

Twilight stepped closer and asked, “Who? Who never came back?”

The thing’s huge eyes stopped focusing on his inner thoughts and honed in solely on the lavender unicorn. “Everybody.”

Fluttershy spoke up, “What do you mean by everybody?”

“All fell, all gone, great and terrible battles claimed so many. So many worlds burned to cinders and nothingness. Nothingness, gonegonegone. Apocalypses, Armageddon, the end of the eldest gods and their acolytes. So long ago. Can’t remember. They lost faith. No faith, no power. No power, no life. So few left. The Elder God still sits on its throne watching. Others gone. The first Angelus, Zeus, Isis, Talos, Bahamut, Gaia, Julianos…all gone. Angelus said they’d come back for us after the Daemons were gone but they remain, feeding on souls. I was no help then but I will be now. Just have to wait, have to protect, have to maintain. Just have to…stay…here.” By the end of his rambling he curled up into a ball and hugged himself. He just sat there and stayed utterly silent. The girl’s hearts broke at the pitiable sight. Twilight whispered a last question.

Her voice cracked a little. “Can you tell us anything about the artifact? Like what it is or how we use it?”

The old member of an unremembered race glanced up at her with glassy, distant eyes. “It is the Adamant of Order. One only needs to focus emotion into it and it will stop even the strongest of corruption. When taken picture home in your mind’s eye and it will take you there. Unless you have no home to go back too. Then you stay...here...alone.” He explained before going quite again.

After deducing the creature wasn’t going to explain any further the leader of the elements started up the rough stairs with her friends following behind. Once at the top all of them were stunned with the Adamant’s perfect beauty. Up close it was about the same size of a soccer ball and in the shape of a dodecahedron. Amazingly it was floating just off the little rock pedestal due to the colossal magical energy contained within its glossy surface. Miss Sparkle much like in the novels of Daring Do, slowly positioned her left hoof on the pedestal for support and the other to swipe it. She did just that. For a second nothing happened. The cut crystal just floated an inch off her hoof. She put it on her back to free her hoof up.

“We better get back home now.” She said.

“Oh I hope it’s still in one piece.” Spoke Fluttershy.

“Once we use this baby to defeat that Illi-err-skeleton guy we won’t have to worry about it.” Rainbow said confidently.

The air pressure suddenly felt almost painful. *Ruummmmmble*

“What was that?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously.

Twilight, Rarity and the member of a forgotten race all rubbed their heads. A sudden throbbing pain bothered them but Rainbow Dash wasn’t paying attention to that.

“I bet it’s another trap,” Dash said. “Let’s blow this place and go kick the humans out Equestria before it-“ She was cut off by the decrepit creature at the foot of the steps.

“NO! You intend to use the Adamant for war? It is only for learning, protection and the lifting of the veils of evil! You’ve angered Mitharu and the other survivors of order with un-pure intentions! Forgive them masters! They know not what they do!”

A legion of angry voices filled and shook the cave. So powerful were the voices of the last gods of order that dust and boulders fell as the underground structure started collapsing. “INFIDELLLLLLS!!! YOU HAVE DEFIIIIIILED OUR MOST SACRED TREASURRRRRRE! NOW YOU WILL NEVER AGAIN, SEE THE LIGHT, OF, DAAAAAAY!!!”

The pedestal burst into a pillar of white-hot fire! The cave’s once soft bluish hue was now a harsh bloody red that reflected the fury of the offended deities. The equestrians were blown down the stairs into a heap but immediately untangled themselves. Applejack yelled to be heard over the earthy crumbling.

“Twilight! Hurry up and picture home!”

“What?”

“The artifact! Use the artifact!” AJ repeated.

Twilight’s eyes lit up with recognition. “Oh right.”

The unicorn closed her eyes and the Adamant of Order glowed ever brighter. A swirling gray vortex with the sight of Canterlot on the other side congealed in front of them. Pinkie was the first to jump through followed by Fluttershy, Rarity and then Applejack. The element of loyalty hesitated and kept looking back and forth between the praying monk and the portal to her home realm.

Twilight coaxed her friend forward as beads of sweet stung her eyes. “Hurry Rainbow! I don’t know how long I can hold this!”

“But what about him?! If we leave him here he’ll DIE!” she replied while pointing at the four-armed being.

A huge chunk of rubble almost crushed the two mares.

“But if we stay here all of ponykind will suffer instead!” Twilight said.

Dash didn’t know what to do. Ultimately her loyalty to her friends, homeland, and the Princesses won out. She groaned then headed into the portal while combating the urge to look back. The lavender unicorn took up that task for her instead. She saw the robed figure with all four arms raised to the sky/ceiling.

“COME ON!” she yelled.

The place was falling apart. She didn’t want to leave him either but she was out of time.

The old monk didn’t move. “CAN’T, CAN’T! HAVE TO STAY, HAVE TO WAIT! THEY NEED ME! I BELEIVE IN THEM! THEY WONT ABANDON ME!

Twilight Sparkle struggled to hold back her tears. There was no time left. The entire ceiling fell down. The young mare jumped through the swirling portal and both vanished.

The old man’s black, glassy eyes reflected the avalanche of rock. As it raced to claim his life he whispered the last thing he had clung so desperately too.

“They’ll come back.”