Relics and Writeoff Stories

by FloydienSlip

Cluster W: Prologue - Signs of Life

Author's Note:

This was to be my magnum opus, a sequel to The Division Bell, my first story. I got the idea to write a classic adventure tale, something that would take hundreds of thousands of words to write, but one that would have character development, an interesting plot line, fight scenes, the works. I published this prologue and the following chapter in mid-April of 2013, with the promise of more to come. I had a few people on the site look it over beforehand before giving their approval.

And I just couldn't do it.

I'm terrible at planning things out. I prefer to write it as I go and make the necessary changes later. But for a story of this magnitude, it was impossible for me to do so. I still like some of the ideas I came up with (a curse that turns the party into seaponies, which force them to complete a large part of the journey underwater), but for the most part, I scrapped the idea entirely after writing a thousand words or so of the second chapter and sitting on it for seven months. Eurgh.

Enjoy (or not).

It was as though the sea had flooded Canterlot and was lapping at the sides of every building and street, save for the fact that it was not water, but ponies. Thousands of them, from all over Equestria, had turned out to witness Princess Celestia give a speech for the first time in a month.

It was unusual for her to remain silent for so long, and even more bizarre for her to not answer any questions pertaining to the wielders of the Elements during her day court. Though practically every other question was directed towards them, Celestia did not answer a single one, instead replying to the asking pony that they would find out in time.

"Welcome, dear subjects. Thank you all for being here today. I'm sure you're all wondering about our resident celebrities and their current state of being. Before that, however, I must get the formalities out of the way. Allow me to introduce my dear sister, Princess Luna."

The crowd roared its approval as the alicorn of the night appeared alongside her sister, blushing slightly. Celestia waited for the noise to die down before speaking again.

"Secondly, allow me to introduce Dis-"

A wild, evil-sounding laugh filled the air, cutting the princess' sentence short. Suddenly, the street below the alicorns turned to ice, causing several unfortunate collisions and mishaps, including one poor DJ who accidentally dropped her bass when a famous cellist skated into her head-on.

Celestia groaned and shook her head. Horn lighting up, she quickly reverted the road to its original state, shooting daggers at the creature hovering in the air beside her.

"That's not funny, that's just chaotic."

"And funny!" replied the deer-goat-snake-lion-eagle-lizard-bat-pony with a grin.

Sighing, Celestia gave up and turned her attention to the crowd once more. "Allow me to get straight to the point. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony are no longer present in Ponyville. In fact, as far as I know, they are not even in Equestria any more. That is not to say that they have... passed on, merely that they are not with us at this point in time."

Princess Celestia received several confused looks from the ponies in the crowd, who had taken to whispering amongst themselves. Attempting to further explain, she cleared her throat and spoke again.

"The bearers are not here. They are... elsewhere, currently."

"Does that mean they're dead?" asked a mint-colored unicorn that Celestia did not recognize.

The crowd let out a simultaneous gasp of shock and horror, their whispers quickly escalating into shouts. The solar princess flushed and raised a hoof for silence, before gesturing to the draconequus sitting nearby.

"Perhaps Discord can better clarify the situation," she said, casting a hopeful glance at the creature in question. Discord sighed and stood up from his seat, cracking his back as he did so.

"You owe me one, Celestia," he whispered to her before taking Celestia's spot at the podium.

"Hello, hello, ponies of Equestria. Formal introduction, yada, yada." He looked at Celestia, who was glaring at him. "What?" he asked innocently. "It's boring! Everyone here knows who I am! You made sure of that!" He cleared his throat and turned back to the crowd.

"Now that that's out of the way, let me explain the situation to all you ponies. Last month, Celestia received a letter from her precious little student, Twilight Sparkle. Element of Magic, and all that happy hoo-ha." Ignoring the annoyed looks from the princesses, he continued. "She wanted to let her teacher know that she and her friends were planning on leaving." He paused and spat the next word. "Permanently."

The resulting uproar from the crowd drowned out even Luna's attempts to make herself heard with her Royal Canterlot Voice. Shouts of distress and anger echoed around the streets of Canterlot, rebounding back to the noisy gathering and adding to the excitement and confusion. Several ponies, all pegasi, inadvertently started a fight when they bumped into Prince Blueblood and caused him to fall down into an open sewer grate. After the squabble was broken up, Celestia was able to make herself heard once more.

"First of all, you're not helping, Discord." The god of chaos cackled with glee, before noticing Celestia's icy stare. He quickly shrugged and adopted an apologetic look that disappeared when the princess turned her back.

"Secondly, I... honestly have no idea whether the bearers are alive or not. I can no longer detect their presence in Equestria, but I would not like to jump to any conclusions, as the evidence for either side is inconclusive."

"What do you mean, 'inconclusive?'" inquired a lavender blue pegasus with a golden mane, her eyes locked onto Luna's posterior.

The princess of the sun shuddered before answering. "What remains of the bearers—which is very little, mind you—could be interpreted in two different ways. First, they may have perished in the rapids, which is supported by an emerald necklace recovered by Seapony Team 4 and several apples. However, the wielders may have also survived, as the seapony team was unable to find any trace of the Mane Six's bodies."

Celestia sighed, lost in thought. "There are a couple of things that neither my sister nor I can determine. The first was spotted on the shore near the river. A few shards of glass were located after Luna noticed light glinting off of the coast. The second is more puzzling; a plank of wood, cut in half, was found submerged in the mud of the river. Judging by the quality of the wood, it could not have been underwater for more than several hours."

Addressing the mare again, Celestia's voice took on a humble tone. "I'm sorry I cannot be of more assistance, but—"

The mare in question interrupted Celestia by snorting loudly and sitting up, apparently having fallen asleep.

"Land ho! I'm awake!"

Luna sidled up to her sister. "We... I... think it's about time we finish this, dear sister. Our little ponies are getting restless, and it is nearly time for... me... to raise the moon."

Surprised, Celestia glanced up at the sky, now light yet rich shade of indigo. Nodding in accordance, Celestia cleared her throat once more.

"My little ponies, it is getting late. I have no desire to further trouble you this evening, and I advise all of you to not be worried about the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Rest assured, the Elements themselves still remain here, in the royal vault. If necessary, and only as a last resort, my sister and I can harness the power of the Elements to thwart any danger to Equestria."

Celestia yawned and cracked her neck. "I officially declare this meeting adjourned. Thank you for attending."

As the crowd gradually thinned, Luna took Celestia aside for a moment. "You did well, sister. I must admit, I was doubtful of your capabilities to convince these ponies. Not to mention that blue lavender pegasus..." Luna suddenly giggled. "Did you notice the manner in which she-"

"Yes, Luna. It was a bit... disturbing, to say the least." Celestia rolled her eyes. "Nevertheless, I'm glad that you think I did alright. I was very nervous about the bearers' situation."

"Just remember," interrupted a male voice, "that I broke the tension."

"That is utterly untrue, Discord," groaned Celestia.

"I must agree with you, sister. It only served to agitate the crowd."

Chaos incarnate chortled with delight. "It did, didn't it? That's good, you know. I was becoming quite bored with your speech, Celestia." He smirked and continued. "And you know that every word I said was true."

"To a degree," admitted Celestia. "But you could have been much more... oh, what's the word...?"

"Diplomatic?" suggested Luna.

"Mature," said Celestia to Discord, who merely laughed and zoomed back inside the palace.

Celestia watched him leave, and a sigh escaped her lips. "I truly worry about his mental state at times."

Luna chuckled. "Fear not, sister. Though Discord is a... very unique creature, that does not mean that he has only malice and chaos inside him." She rolled her jaw before speaking again. "Think about it like this: If I gave you the power to eat as much cake as you want-"

"Luna!"

"-you might get a stomachache and view me as evil for casting this spell on you," Luna continued, ignoring the interruption. "But if I also gave you medicine to help alleviate your cramp, the two acts would nullify each other, correct?"

After thinking for a moment, Celestia nodded. "Of course. Continue, sister."

Luna smiled. "Ever since he was reformed, Discord has followed the same path. Verily, he occasionally gets up to his old tricks, but now he takes responsibility for his actions with usually nothing more than several complaints. Those two actions together show that while he is far from perfect, he is learning and gaining in mental stability.

Celestia blinked. "You're right, Luna. I should not focus on Discord right now." She sighed, thinking of six ponies, some of the best ponies and friends that she had ever met over the course of her lifetime. One by one, they faded away, revealing the night behind them. Looking up, she could almost make out their shapes among the stars.

"Is something troubling you, sister?" asked Luna, the slightest hint of concern in her face.

"N-no, nothing at all, sister," replied Celestia quickly.

Luna stared at her for a moment, then spoke again, a triumphant smirk on her face. "You've always been a horrible liar, sister. Tell me what is plaguing your conscience."

Defeated, Celestia slumped and sat down. "Though you may think me foalish for saying so, as you just told me otherwise, I do not believe that some of those ponies believed my story about Twilight and her companions."

Luna nodded. "Understandable, sister. Do you wish to discuss this more?" Celestia nodded, and the pair headed inside.

Neither looked back.

Comments

[LonelyBrony42]

This sounds like it would have been a promising start. Did the original story of "Cluster W" involve the Mane 6 in an epic adventure in a new world, trying to find their way back to Equestria? If so, they disappeared after jumping off the cliff in "The Division Bell," correct?

one poor DJ who accidentally dropped her bass

I see what you did there.

[Deathpony45]

Hoorah this is back dude glad you finally got around to it