Who is The Writer? Where did he come from? Why is he on Equestria? What is the Fire he keeps talking about? What is the Crown and Sword he seeks and where are they? The denizens of Equestria are about to embark on an epic quest to find the answers.
They called him The Writer. He comes from a system known as Dien. He is the ruler and protector of this world and has loved his people and served as their king for hundreds of years. But in the blink of an eye it is all wiped out. An old foe wields a weapon of ultimate destruction and burns all of Dien in mere moments. Not even the Writer can stop him. In a desperate, last ditch effort, the Writers friends create a portal through space and hurl him through it against his will praying that he will find a safe place to hide and that his survival will bring back the power of Dien. Lost, broken, and filled with a sadness and rage unlike anything, the fallen king crashes on a world called Equestria. The denizens try their best to heal the broken man but there is more to this king than meets the eye. With the help of the Elements of Harmony and many others, The Writer sets out to find a way to curb his wrath and bring his home back from Destruction.
This story begins, as some do, on a clear, quiet, peaceful night on a strange world filled with magic. We find six friends lying on a grassy hill, stargazing. They see a falling star and gaze in wonder at its brilliance, unaware that the star contained something that would change their lives and everyone else's lives on that world......forever. He was called The Writer.
Twilight had been looking forward to this night ever since she scheduled it at the beginning of the week. After a long week of shopping and studying it felt good to just lie back and gaze into the night sky. The fact that her five friends could also join her made it that much better. They were lying in the grass and stargazing together, finding constellations and generally seeing who could count all the stars in the sky. They had had a picnic together earlier while they were waiting for the sun to set, the remains of which lay behind them on a checkered blanket. On that blanket amongst the plates and silverware, lay a sleeping purple and green baby dragon. Snoring loudly, small puffs of smoke would escape his nostrils with each exhale.
"It really is a beautiful night." said the one called Rarity. Her eyes sparkled from the light of the stars as she gazed upward.
"I gotta admit this is pretty neat." said the pegasus Rainbow Dash.
"Thank you all for coming" said Twilight, "This is the best night ever."
Unbeknownst to her, it was about to get a lot more interesting.
Twilight suddenly noticed a flash of light in the sky and turned to see a brilliant falling star slowly making its way across the sky.
She gasped and the others noticing, spotted the star as well and each of them gasped in turn. Their faces were full of wonder as they stared at the comet.
"Where did that come from?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I don't know." said Twilight, who had gotten up and was now looking at the star through her telescope. "But it's amazing. I've never seen one of that size before. And its glow is just brilliant."
"It's like the most brilliant diamond in the universe." said Rarity wistfully.
"It’s beautiful." said Fluttershy in a soft voice.
The others stared speechless, even Pinkie Pie who only managed to whisper "wow" at the sight of the falling star.
Nearby in a small town other ponies were noticing the star as well, stopping in the streets or looking at it through open windows. Each one transfixed by the brilliant comet.
But far away, in a great city built into the side of a mountain, in the castle where the two Princesses lived, Princess Luna was gazing at the comet too. But her face wasn't one of wonder; it was one of confusion and apprehension. One of her guards noticed this and approached the princess.
"What is wrong, your highness? It's a beautiful night tonight is it not? The moon is full and brilliant, and would you look at that amazing falling star. I've never seen anything like it!"
"That’s the problem" said the princess.
"Whatever do you mean?" asked the guard.
"I don't know. It's just that that comet feels out of place, like......like it's invading my night sky. It shouldn't be there."
The guards face was one of confusion as he and the princess continued to watch the star in silence.
Back on the hill, Twilight turned towards her friends and said, “You know girls, it’s said that if you make a wish on a falling star it’ll come true.
Rainbow Dash sat up excitedly, “I wish we could all go on another adventure. It’s been way to boring around here and we need something exciting to happen again.”
The others all nodded except Fluttershy who whispered, “Oh….I don’t know Rainbow. You should be careful what you wish for you know? Uh but its whatever you want….”
Applejack put a hoof around the shy pony and said, “Ah come on Fluttershy. We jus want somethin exciting to do, it don’t have to be dangerous.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth then the so called falling star suddenly turned, altering its course as if guided by some unseen hand, and rocketed straight towards the planet below.
Back on the hill, Twilight noticed this through the telescope and said, “Huh…What’s it doing?”
The friends watched the star’s sudden change in confusion when suddenly Rarity spoke up, “Um girls? Is it just me or is that comet getting bigger?”
Suddenly a soft rumbling could be heard and the glow from the comet turned from white to a bright orange as it entered the atmosphere. The faces of the six friends changed from wonder to horror as they realized what was happening.
“Oh no,” said Twilight, “It’s gonna crash into the planet!”
“And it’s headed straight for the town!” cried Rainbow Dash.
Back in Canterlot, both Princess Luna and the guard gasped in horror as they witnessed the stars entrance into the atmosphere. Luna tracked the path of the comet and realized in horror where it was going to land.
She turned to the guard and said in a commanding tone, “Wake my sister and alert Shining Armor! It’s going to hit Ponyville!”
The guard paled at her words but regained his composure quickly. “At once your majesty!” he said before sprinting off.
Luna turned back to the star and continued to watch it’s decent. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop the star. She could only watch and pray for the safety of the town.
Back in Ponyville, citizens were starting to panic as they saw the star barreling straight towards them. Ponies ran through the streets trying to get out of the path of the meteor. Suddenly a loud explosion was heard and everyone looked up in shock to see the star suddenly break apart. Several pieces fell from the star and scattered over the planet. Two of these pieces landed not too far from the town in a massive forest. The star was now suddenly reduced in size but continued its path towards the town.
Back on the hill the explosion rocked the six friends and the noise woke the young dragon from his slumber. He sat up yawning and rubbed his eyes as he woke up.
“What’s going on you guys?” he asked lazily before turning his head and finding himself staring directly into a fireball.
He yelled as he beheld the comet, mere feet away from the top of the hill. Twilight yelled “DUCK!” as she grabbed the dragon and threw herself on the ground. The others followed suit as the comet rocketed overhead. The sound was deafening, the ponies covered their ears as they felt the comet barely miss the hilltop. Twilight, despite the sound and heat, managed to look up at the star as it passed over. Time seemed to slow as she looked into the star. She saw what looked like a fiery crystal, and inside…… “Was that a face?” she thought.
She could have sworn she saw a strange face inside but regardless of what she thought the comet continued its path towards the ground. It hit the ground and skipped over a river before hitting the ground again with a blinding white flash. It continued to slide along the ground tearing out trees and obliterating rocks that were unfortunate enough to be in its way. The sound of the impact rocked the town as buildings shook from the power of the stars landing.
It skid a good distance before coming to a slow stop on a path directly in front of the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. Behind it laid a huge trench and several fires were seen in the grass around it. At the site of where the comet stopped all that could be seen was a pile of earth and rubble and thick smoke. A soft light still seemed to glow from the spot where the star stopped for a few minutes and then faded out.
By that time, ponies were starting to gather around it, wondering what it could possibly be. Three ponies came up to it from the farm it had nearly destroyed, a big red stallion, an elderly green mare, and a small filly with a big red bow who hid behind the red stallion.
“What in tarnation is that?” asked Granny Smith. “Did that mail pony crash into the gate again?”
But the stallion remained silent, watching the pile in case anything dangerous should appear. Some of the braver ponies started to approach the site, trying to look into the crater. Suddenly he heard a voice from the crowd.
“Big Mac! Keep everyone away from that thing!” He looked and saw his sister, Applejack appear with her friends in tow. He and a few others started to herd everyone away from it, giving the six friends room to examine the strange object.
As the six friends slowly approached the pile of rubble where the star lay, Twilight wondered what could be underneath. Fluttershy and Rarity were hanging back, nervous to approach it. Rainbow Dash flew over it trying to see through the smoke.
“What do you think it is?” she asked Twilight.
“I don’t know” she replied.
Suddenly Pinkie Pie perked up, “Ooh ooh what if it’s an alien?! Then we could throw it a “Welcome to Equestria” party!”
“Pinkie ah highly doubt it’s an alien” said Applejack.
At that point some of the smoke had cleared away and Twilight, having gathered her courage, stepped towards the pile as she tried to see what was inside. Suddenly she saw something poking out of the earth and rubble. She gasped as it came into focus through all the smoke. The others heard and looked too, their reactions were no different.
“Ew! What is that?” cried Rainbow Dash.
It looked to Twilight like a strange hoof with five appendages. It was broad and hairless and looked like it could grab her whole face. The foreleg behind it was wrapped in some kind of strange black cloth. The hoof lay open and limp so she approached it and looked closer at it. She could see several scratches and burns on it. She gently nudged it with her nose wondering if it would react. As she pulled away the strange hoof fell back down, having not made a single reaction. For a silent moment, nothing moved.
Twilight straightened her head up disappointed when suddenly it moved. It stretched out as if reaching for her. She yelled at its sudden movement and shot out of the crater along with her friends. They watched as the the five appendages came together into a ball and try to move but found that it was unable to.
“W-wh-what is that thing?” stammered Rainbow Dash.
Everyone watched apprehensively as the hoof opened back up and slammed down onto the ground. A strange sound suddenly came from the rubble, it sounded like groaning or was it growling? Then the pile started to shake as something underneath began to heave the rocks. Then another leg exploded out of the pile. It too had a strange hoof that was curled in a ball. It slammed down onto the ground and the pile began to slowly move away as a shape began to rise up from the rocks.
It was rather large and they could see it was trying to stand on two back legs. As it started to throw off some of the heavier rocks it let out a rather loud noise, startling the ponies. Pinkie Pie stood up and pointed at the creature and yelled, “ITS AN ALIEN!”
At that point many ponies were starting to panic, some ran away and others hid as the creature continued to try and stand. Twilight tried to figure out what to do, should she cast a spell and knock it out or put up a shield?
Then the creature finally managed to shove off all of the stone that had lain on top of it and stood at its full height. Twilight stared at the creature, not believing how tall it was. It was at least 7 feet tall and muscular. It was clothed in the same black cloth as before around its chest, back and forelegs and its hind legs were covered in a strange, dark blue, dense looking material. Its feet were clad in a pair of big boots and its head was covered in long dark hair that obscured its face.
The ponies were frozen with fear as they beheld the size of the creature. It slowly started to stagger forward out of the crash site and approached the six standing before it.
“Don’t come any closer!” yelled Applejack suddenly.
The creature stopped a few feet before them and looked at her, she could see past the dark mat of hair were two intense pure white eyes that seemed to bore into her soul. She cowered under the creatures stare as it looked over each of the six standing in front of it. Rarity felt herself grow faint as the creatures gaze passed over her. Rainbow Dash shut her eyes when it looked at her and Fluttershy cowered down, covering her head and whimpering as the thing looked down at her. Then it looked at Twilight, as she looked into its eyes she suddenly started hearing something like……screaming and possibly crying but it was very faint. She looked over its body and was shocked to see it was covered in many cuts and burns, its clothes torn in many places. It was also holding its right foreleg close to it like it was broken and she could see blood was starting to drip down its face.
Then the creature turned to Pinkie Pie. The party pony’s face was one of no reaction for a few seconds before she stood on her back legs and started waving up at the creature with a huge smile and said, “Hi mister alien guy, nice to meet you! Please don’t eat us!”
The other ponies just stared at her, dumbfounded at her sudden change in reaction. But the creature did not say anything back. In fact it acted like it hadn't even heard what she said. Twilight noticed it seemed to be in a daze as it started to turn around taking in its surroundings. It stopped when it saw the crash scene behind it and the multiple fires that had started around the ditch in the ground. The grass was catching quickly and even a tree had gone up. The creature suddenly growled at the scene before it and to everyone’s surprise started speaking.
“Fire…” it said, its voice a whisper, “Extingues omne fire!”
The last sentence was much louder and startled the ponies. Twilights eyes were huge as she realized the creature could talk and had a language all its own as well as her language. She was debating whether to start asking it questions when suddenly the creature began to glow. The wind picked up and started to swirl around the creature making its hair blow around its face. The white glow from it became brighter and brighter until it burst and the creature became surrounded by lightning. The electric power coursed through its limbs and flew around its body. The sight before them terrified the ponies as they watched the creature raised its left foreleg and held it straight out. Its five strange appendages on its hoof shaped into a claw and the electricity began to head up its foreleg and to the tips of them where a ball of power began to form. When all the lightning had formed together in its hand and the wind seem to hit its climax, it unleashed the power upon the site. Great arcs of white electric power coursed through the air and ground and struck wherever there was a fire. It seemed to snake along the ground and jump up into the air at points like a living thing. The sheer amount of power nearly blew the ponies onto their backs. The light illuminated their frightened faces. Then the power reached the tree and coursed through the trunk and branches as it engulfed the fire and extinguished it. The whole tree was now lit up with the white power of the creature as was the rest of the crash site. The ponies were stuck in awe and fear at the sight; some even thought it was strangely beautiful.
When all of the fires had been put out, the lightning receded back into the creature and it was once again surrounded by electricity. It slowly started to turn and look into the crowd of ponies as if it was searching for something. The ponies began to back up as the creature looked over the whole crowd. Suddenly it saw Big Mac and stopped, a look of anger forming on its face. The huge stallion stared back as he pushed Apple Bloom behind him. The creature stared at the red stallion and every second they stared each other down the creature seemed to become more and more angrier at the sight of Big Mac. Twilight was trying to understand why the creature was acting this way towards the stallion. Was it the fact he wasn’t backing down or his size or maybe….
“His color…” she whispered. She realized the bright red from Big Macs coat might be driving the creature to such an angry state.
The creature suddenly spoke again, its voice dripping with hate and anger, “Destruction…”
“Uh oh” said Twilight. This wasn’t gonna end well.
The creature then moved the electric power back into its hoof and began to charge the strike it had made before. It then raised its foreleg again and pointed a single appendage at Big Mac. A ball of power began to form at the end of it, the amount of power causing the wind to whip around at blinding speeds. It was then that the ponies realized what it was doing.
“NO!!” screamed AppleJack, “BIG MAC!”
“SOMEPONY STOP THAT THING!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
Rarity actually did faint at that time and Fluttershy let out a scream as she cowered behind Twilight, hiding her face in her mane. Pinkie Pie’s face was pale as she saw the creature prepare to kill Big Mac.
“Mister Alien, don’t do it!” she shouted, but the creature ignored her.
Applejack, Rainbow and Twilight all started forward to stop it but it was too late. The wind flung them back before they could reach the creature. Big Mac just stared forward at the creature with a determined look. Then the creature reached full charge and pulled its arm back to fire at the stallion.
It roared into the air, “DIE!” and began to fire.
Suddenly Apple Bloom dashed out from behind her brother and tried to place herself in front of him. “NO!” she yelled.
The minute she did this, the creature stopped dead in the middle of its attack. It stared at the small filly, now noticing her for the first time. The power in its hand slowly began to fade and the wind was dying down. The ponies looked on in shock at the creature’s sudden change. It stared at the filly and narrowed its eyes as it tried to look at her. Then a small whisper was heard from it.
“Cindy?” it whispered.
The ponies were confused at this and didn’t know what to make of it but then the creature started limping towards the filly. Big Mac pushed her behind him again but the creature tried to look around him. Its behavior made Twilight so curious, what was it trying to do and why is it so interested in Apple Bloom. The wind had all but stopped and Twilight then decided to step forward and try to talk to it.
She approached the creature and stopped just a few feet from it and cleared her throat to get its attention. The creature stopped and turned towards her at the sound of her and stared at her with a peculiar look. Its head tilted a little in confusion as if just now noticing he was surrounded by technicolor ponies. The two stared at each other for some time and Twilight was starting to get nervous. No pony made a single sound as they watched on.
Then Twilight mustered her courage and spoke to the creature, “Umm….Hello.”
Before the creature could respond a bolt of magic hit it in the back and made it squirm in pain. The sudden jolt of magic caused its charged power to backfire and it was shocked by its own electric attack for several seconds as it screamed in agony before the light faded and it stood still as smoke rose from its body.
Twilight just stared in shock when a thunderous voice descended from the sky, “THOU SHALT NOT HARM OUR SUBJECTS!”
Twilight and the rest of the ponies looked up and saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna descend and land with loud thuds on the ground in front of the Twilight. They glared at the creature and readied themselves to attack.
“Stand back Twilight. We will handle this.” said Celestia.
“No your highness listen it wasn’t…” Twilight began but stopped as the creature, still smoking, took a shaky step towards them before collapsing on the ground in a smoking heap. It groaned in pain as it laid there and Celestia approached it and with her magic turned it over on its back and stared down at the creatures face.
“Alien creature,” she spoke, her voice taking a commanding tone, “Identify yourself and explain your actions.”
The creature said nothing for a while as it gasped for air and its eyes began to flutter close. Then it started to mumble a few words.
Then the creature’s eyes closed and its head rolled to the right as it passed out from the pain. Darkness enveloped its sight and all it could hear was the sounds of screaming and the roar of a furious fire……..
Doctor Magnum presents A FIMfiction original story Starring The Writer and the Mane Six The Wrath of the Broken Crown
Oh noble creature of grief and wrath, your beautiful rage shall light the path,
------------------------------- Ponyville Hospital A few hours after the arrival -------------------------------
"How's it doing, doctor?" asked Princess Celestia.
She was in the Ponyville hospital in a room that was designed to hold bigger patients but even so the "alien creature" barely fit on the bed. Its legs hanged off the end and were being supported by a table and its arms barely fit on the sides. They had a heart monitor going on it and the beeps seemed to echo throughout the building as all staff and patients had been evacuated in case it tried to blow up the hospital. An oxygen cord was strung along it's.....well they guessed it was its nose....the strange protrusion on the middle of its face that had two holes which they were pretty sure were nostrils. The creature breathed peacefully and its face was relaxed now that the pain had passed.
The doctor whom Celestia had spoken too turned from his newest and by far strangest patient to address the princess.
"Well your majesty, I can't be too sure on these readings as he isn't really anything I've worked on but we have managed to stabilize his heart rate and burns and stop a bit of his bleeding but after taking several X-rays I can honestly say I'm surprised this subject was able to stand let alone lift all that rubble that was on top of him when he landed."
"Why is that doctor?" she asked.
"Well as you can see in these first X-rays there are many broken bones and even a bit of internal bleeding. Both of his hind legs or the ones he was standing on had several fractures in them which is why I'm baffled that he could stand and walk. His left foreleg with the strange hoof is unscathed save for a few bruises but his right one was.....well at first there was no bone left. It looked like it had been pulverized to dust. Plus there were the incredible number of broken ribs and the shoulder and the nasty concussion he had here-"
"Doctor if I might interrupt?" asked Celestia.
"Yes princess of course." said the doctor.
"First off you say "he"? So I am to assume this is a male....thing?" she asked awkwardly.
"Yes highness judging from its physical appearance and amount of hair and muscle we believe it to be of the male sex. I doubt we would be willing to truly investigate that further. I'm sure you understand."
"Of course" she said blushing. "Also from the way you talked about his injuries it sounded like they have already healed?"
The doctors eyes lit up with a bit of excitement and said, "That's correct your highness I was just about to show you."
He then placed several more X-ray pictures of the creatures body and in each the princess could see that the bones were actually healing themselves, the fractures in the hind legs were closing together as was its concussion and it's ribs were slowly moving back to their original position and mending themselves, and the internal bleeding was all but gone by the third photo. But what astonished her most was where the bones of its right foreleg were all but dust she could see all the particles coming together and making brand new bones in the arm. She stared wide eyed at the pictures and said, "What does this mean doctor?"
"I wish I could say," he responded, "This is one extraordinary creature: it has power unlike anything I've ever seen, it's beyond strong and it has the ability to rapidly heal itself even able to create new bones from nothing. Whoever he is princess it's a safe bet he's about as powerful as you if not stronger."
The princess turned and looked at the unconscious creature and was surprised to find that she agreed. She felt that this creature could actually be stronger than her and that scared her. But maybe....
"Does he have a name?" asked the doctor.
The princess shook herself from her thought and turned back to the doctor.
"I'm sorry?" she asked.
"Well they told me he spoke to you. Did he give you his name?"
The princess stared at the ground, trying to remember what all it, no he, said to her before he passed out.
"Writer" she suddenly whispered.
"What was that, your highness?"
"He said his name was Writer" she said louder.
Both the princess and the doctor turned back towards the creature.
"What a strange name..." said the doctor thoughtfully. "Do you suppose that it's some sort of title or something. It doesn't sound like a name to me"
"I don't know" responded the princess.
She turned back to the doctor, "When do you think it will wake up?"
The doctor quickly turned back to the photos and said," Well by the speed of his healing and this is just a rough guess, I'd say he should be fully healed and awake in.....twelve hours give or take. Maybe even before he's fully healed."
The princess thought for a few moments and then nodded.
"Very well" she said, "Keep an eye on him and keep trying to figure out more about him. I shall return to Canterlot to try and find anything on him from my end. Princess Luna and Shining Armor will stay here to help and possibly talk to him when he wakes up."
The doctor was a bit surprised and seemed unsure about the fact that Celestia would be gone and Luna and Armor would be left here not to mention he had to continue studying the creature with very little protection. But he didn't question his princess as he was loyal to her and thankful for all she had done.
"As you wish, your majesty." he said with a bow. "I hope your search yields something on this creature."
"Thank you doctor." she said.
The doctor then began to escort her towards the exit of the building. As they left the room where the Writer was resting they found a nurse waiting outside.
"Good evening Nurse Redheart." said the princess.
The nurse blushed and bowed low. "Greetings princess Celestia." she said.
The doctor cleared his throat and said to her, "He is still asleep and healing rather quickly. Keep an eye on his oxygen levels but keep your distance just in case."
She nodded and nervously made her way into the room and shut the door behind her.
"Is she going to be alright in there with him?" asked princess Celestia.
"I'm sure he won’t wake up anytime soon your highness and nurse Redheart is quite capable of handling herself. I wouldn't worry too much."
She nodded and they walked the rest of the way to the main entrance of the hospital in silence.
As they walked outside they could see it was still night and they both nodded to the four guards who stood at the entrance. They bowed low to the princess before returning to their rigid stance before the doors to the hospital.
The princess looked into the sky and said, "I should hurry back to Canterlot. It’s almost time for me to raise the sun."
The doctor nodded and said, "Of course your highness."
He then turned and looked towards the town not far from the hospital.
"Do you know how the Elements are holding up? They were the first to interact with the creature I heard."
The princess sighed and said, "Yes, they usually are at the center of trouble most of the time. They are doing alright, they're just glad he didn't hurt anyone and I can tell they are all curious as to who and what he is and why he is here. I have no doubt they will all be present when he awakes as well."
That put the doctor at a bit of ease; he had known the elements for a while and trusted all of them, especially Twilight.
"Very good. I should get back to my patient. I wish you safe travels your highness." he said with a bow.
The princess nodded in kind, "Thank you doctor. I will be back soon."
She then spread her wings and flew off into the sky in a flash of light. The doctor looked into the sky after her in deep thought. He was wondering what all this meant for Equestria. But then he shook himself and turned to return to the hospital and his new patient.
----------------------------------- The Ponyville Library Home to Twilight A few moments later -----------------------------------
"Twily I don't care what it did, it's dangerous and I don't want you going anywhere near it until I know it's safe."
"But Shining it wasn't going to hurt me. I swear I almost had it calmed down and talking. Do you know what we could learn from it?"
Twilight and her brother Shining Armor had been arguing for a good solid hour. The other five friends were lounging about Twilights library and were content to just watch the spectacle. They were all curious about the creature from the stars but they couldn't help but agree with Shining Armor.
"Twilight ah know you're all curious and excited about that....thing but ya'll saw what it did out there and we don't know if it'll do it again when it wakes up." Applejack said in an attempt to reason with her friend.
"I don't care Applejack; I saw the way it reacted to me when I talked to it. Its intelligent and most likely just scared. It looked to me like it was in a daze from its crash and didn't know what was going on. If I could just get a chance to try and talk to it..." said Twilight.
"Twilight I've already told you I am not letting you or anyone else near that thing until me and princess Luna have had a chance to talk to it." Shining interrupted.
"You mean interrogate it." Twilight retorted.
Shining was about to respond when another voice cut him off, "Stop calling him an “it” and a “thing”. It's a guy."
Everyone turned to look at Pinkie Pie with surprised faces. Twilight approached and asked, "How do you know that Pinkie?"
The party pony looked at every one who was in the room.
"Well it was kind of obvious wasn't it? I mean you saw all that hair that was on his head and around his mouth. Not to mention the insane amount of muscles on him, I mean he must be some sort of weightlifter *GASP* or maybe a fighter of some kind like a soldier. Ooh, maybe he's like you Shining. And did you hear his voice? It was all deep and gravelly and tough sounding so it's obvious it's a guy."
She smiled widely as she finished and everyone just stared, their jaws on the floor. Twilight was the first to speak, "Well actually that does make sense if you think about it."
The others all found themselves agreeing and nodded. But Shining Armor just shook his head.
"Regardless of what its sex is, it's beyond dangerous and I don't think you should be near it at all sis."
Twilight huffed in frustration, "Come on Shining I'll be fine. I can defend myself you know?"
As the two started arguing again, Fluttershy turned to the others and asked, "I've been wondering, um, why do you think it, I mean he, tried to attack Big Mac like that?"
Applejack huffed and said in an angry voice, "Ah don't rightly know but I do know ah'm gonna give him a piece of my mind bout trying to shock my brother."
"Yea," said Rainbow, "And did you hear what it said before it tried to attack. It said "Destruction" and if you ask me it sounded like that's all it wants to do is destroy this place."
Rarity had a thoughtful expression on her face and said, "Well now darling I'm sure that's not what HE wants at all. He seemed in a bit of a daze so I'm betting the poor thing had no idea what it was doing. Not only that, but he stopped when he saw Apple Bloom, don't you remember? I wonder why he did that."
"Hey yeah!" said Spike, who was going through the library looking for any books that might have information on the creature for Twilight, "And then he said something that sounded like a name. Maybe Apple Bloom looked like someone he knew or something but it was still really weird." He turned back towards the shelves and moved to another section.
The girls all had looks of deep thought and they returned to the argument between Twilight and her brother to find Shining was getting a bit mad at his sister.
"Twilight for the last time, no means no. I am your older brother and a Captain of the Royal Guard and I say that-"
He was about to finish when the ground shook and the lights blew out and an unearthly scream filled the night......
---------------------------------- Canterlot Princess Celestia's room A few moments earlier -----------------------------------
Celestia had been through all of the books she knew to have information on otherworldly things and none of them mentioned a being called the Writer or a place called Dien. She was growing more and more frustrated as she threw a large volume across her room. She expected to hear a crash but nothing happened. Curious, she turned to see the book had been caught by none other than the Captain of the Earth Pony Guard, Harbinger. The old, indigo captain had a look of concern on his bearded face.
"My lady? Is everything ok?" he asked.
Celestia sighed and said, "I'm sorry Harbinger. It's just I'm so curious about this creature but none of the volumes we have on other worlds has anything on him. I've been searching for the past hour and have yielded nothing."
Harbinger walked over to the princess and set the thrown book down on the table as well as another older tome.
"I thought as much." he said, "I'm not surprised there wasn't anything in those books what with them being from the royal library. That's why I went and got this from the vault."
He pushed the book towards the princess, its cover was old and dusty and the bindings seemed in danger of breaking. The pages were brown with age and badly wrinkled.
"What is this captain?" she asked.
"It's an old journal that belonged to Star Swirl the Bearded" he said, "It contains his writings about his travels through space."
Celestia's eyes went wide as she lifted the old book with her magic and slowly opened the cover.
"I've never seen this book before. It must have something on this creature. There's no telling what the old wizard could have found."
She quickly flipped through the pages scanning for anything related to The Writer and Dien, even looking for things like Destruction and Fire. She kept scanning, finding nothing relating to any of them until she suddenly hit a few at the end that were blank.
"No..." she said, "That can't be it, there must be something here."
She was about to lose hope when in desperation she turned to the very last page and saw that there was writing. It looked like it was written in haste and only took up one page.
Celestia and Harbinger both read the page, their eyes wide at what they read:
Before I end this journal there is one more place I must write down about: I do not know what it is called but I do know there are three planets that orbit a giant sun in this place in space but whenever I would try to view it, I would be blocked by a great force of magic unlike anything I have ever felt. This magic felt older than anything in Equestria and much more powerful. I felt one time the people of this place and felt they possessed great power but on my fifth and last attempt to view it, not only was I stopped yet again but my mind was temporarily taken over. I saw a face that looked nothing like a pony, it was strange and unfamiliar. But it was its eyes that I will never forget; its eyes were pure white and seemed to radiate power. It’s very presence sent chills down my spine as I felt it could crush me without an inch of effort. It also spoke to me, I was surprised to hear it speak in our native tongue, it said something that sounded like "keep away" or "stay away" as I couldn't really hear it's voice very well but I got the message. My advice on if you ever encounter a being from this place in the universe is to treat it with utmost respect and care and if that being has eyes of pure white and unbelievable power.........than may Mother Creation help you.
Celestia stared for several moments at the last line, her mind just couldn't wrap around what she had read. If this being could scare the likes of Star Swirl than he was a bigger problem than she anticipated. She quickly turned to Harbinger who was still staring at the page and said, "Harbinger, I have need of you."
The captain shook himself and bowed, "Whatever you need my lady it shall be done."
"I need you to tell the guards to ready a transport for me back to Ponyville. I must return there before the being is awake. After you have done so, run as fast as you can to Ponyville and tell Luna and Armor that this creature is now a Class-1 threat to Equestria."
The captain's eyes went wide at these words and he grew a bit pale. "At once, your majesty." he said.
Celestia closed the book and began to pack it in a bag as she said, "You might want to tell Barricade and have her join you as well just in case."
"I shall your highness. Rest assured, I will-"
But Harbinger never got to finish his sentence as a mighty rumble shook the castle. It felt like the whole city was falling off the mountain. Then darkness enveloped them as dark clouds took over the sky. Both the captain and the princess were thrown to the floor by the shock. Before they could figure out what was happening, a terrible sound filled the air and trapped them in a fearful state unlike anything they had ever felt and Celestia immediately knew who it was....
---------------------------------- Ponyville Hospital One hour after Celestia's departure ----------------------------------- Nurse Redheart checked all of the medical instruments currently being used on the strange creature one last time: the heart monitor was working well and all his vitals were stable at the moment and his oxygen levels were nominal. She nodded in approval and turned to look at the creature. She was standing directly at the side of the bed and was able to get a close look at it. Its face looked fierce and had sharp cheekbones and a wide chin. Its nose was round and the brow was shaped low with trimmed eyebrows. It had a wide forehead and its dark hair was splayed across the pillow. She took a look at its strange ears, they were round and large and most peculiar looking. Its lips were cracked they were so dehydrated but its mouth was also surrounded by dark facial hair that covered its upper lip and chin and continued up its cheeks to its sideburns. But she also noticed that the face also looked old and tired, like it had been carrying a great weight for a long time yet at the same time handsome and regal like a general or scholar or……a king. She then looked over its clothing and noticed all the places it had been cut or burned through. She wondered what could have possibly happened to this being before it landed here. No doubt she would find out when it woke up though she was nervous about what would happen when it did. She wondered if he was comfortable when she saw him shiver a little, it was kind of cold in the hospital. She used her magic to pull a blanket over his body. It wasn’t nearly long enough for him but he stopped shivering nonetheless.
Having made all the final checks she then walked over to a chair on the opposite side of the room and grabbed a book she had brought with her to pass the time and sat down and began to read. Had she stayed and continued to observe the creature she might have witnessed its wounds on its skin suddenly close up and disappear in the span of only a few seconds leaving behind no trace whatsoever.
Soon the only sound to be heard in the room was the beeping of the heart monitor: *beep*…..*beep*…...*beep*
The steady sound calmed the nurse as it let her know all was right with her patient. *beep*…….*beep*…..*beep*…..*beep*
In his office, the doctor from before was taking several notes about the being currently in his care: the fact he called himself The Writer, it was apparently from a place called Dien, and its description and amazing healing abilities as well as the information that it might be more powerful than princess Celestia herself.
*beep*…..*beep*……*beep*…..*beep*……beep*
The nurse continued to read and came to a rather comical part in the book and laughed a little at it.
*beep*…....*beep*………………………………………….
It took a moment for nurse Redheart to realize the beeping of the heart monitor had stopped. Her heart began to fill with fear as she slowly looked up from her book towards the bed. She gasped at what she beheld: there standing up by the bed, looking down at her with pure white eyes, was the being that was supposed to still be out cold on the bed.
It was bending rather low due to the short ceiling which was designed for ponies and not for seven foot tall aliens. It stared at her with a look of shock and she stared back in kind. Suddenly it spoke, its voice only a whisper, “Non…”
The nurse was trying her best to decide what to do and started to stammer a little, the fear she felt as she looked at the creature now fully healed and awake made forming words rather difficult, “I…..I-I-I….um…uh”
But the being only turned away from her and started making its way towards the door of the room, all the while whispering, “Non….non…non.” It reached the door and instead of turning the handle and opening it, it balled its right fore-hoof up into a ball and punched the door sending it crashing into the opposite wall.
The sound shook the nurse from her state of fear and she ran towards the creature and tried to get it to stop, “Please sir you must stop this and return to your bed. The doctor still needs to take another look at you.”
But the creature just pushed her out of the way and started to stumble through the hall, randomly falling against the walls and forcing itself to stand backup. It still had to remain hunched over from the short ceiling. Its voice was growing louder and louder as it repeated the word, “Non! Non!”
The doctor heard the crash of the door from his office which was near the main entrance and when he stepped out of his office he was greeted with the sight of the strange being barreling towards him with a hysteric nurse Redheart in tow.
“Oh my word!” he said as he narrowly avoided being run over by the creature. “Nurse Redheart what is going on? Where is he going? Why isn’t he in his bed?”
“I don’t know doctor!” she yelled, “Just help me try to calm him down please!”
Both nurse and doctor tried to stop the creature but it was far too late as it crashed through the door.
A few moments earlier, Princess Luna was making her way towards the hospital. She had decided to check on the alien creature herself before she retired for a short nap. It had been a long night and she was incredibly tired but she felt she had to make sure the creature wasn’t going anywhere while she was asleep.
She was approaching the hospital entrance and could see the four guards her sister had posted to keep anypony from entering the building. She smiled at them and sighting her approaching the guards all started to bow. But they were interrupted when the doors exploded outward and a seven foot tall shape bowled through them and stopped right in the middle of the courtyard and stared at princess Luna.
Luna could not believe her eyes as she saw there standing in front of the hospital, mere feet from her was the alien creature that her sister had assured her would not be awake for a long time. She backed away apprehensively, afraid the creature would attack her but instead stopped as she noticed the creature had a look of utter shock and disbelief as he stared at her.
He raised his right foreleg and pointed a single appendage at her, it hanged limply and then it whispered at her, “Non….non.”
She had no idea what it meant as she watched him look around at its surroundings growing more and more shocked and…..afraid? No it couldn’t be afraid. Could it?
It continued to speak in its strange language, “Hoc non potest esse ..... nullus enim dominus amabo hoc non esse verum ...... permitte me somniare ....”
The guards had picked themselves up and were slowly approaching the creature with their spears ready to attack should he threaten their princess. The doctor and Redheart were still standing inside the hospital, watching with wide eyes at the scene unfolding in front of them. Luna decided to try and speak to the creature and maybe calm it down but as she was about to speak she felt a great disturbance: something was wrong in her night sky. The creature must have felt it too for he suddenly clutched his chest and groaned in pain. They both looked up into the sky at the same spot to see a star in the sky suddenly disappear without a trace.
At this point the creature seem to become hysterical as it started screaming, “NO! NO! PLEASE NO!”
This time it was in her own language and Luna was just becoming more and more confused. The creature was reaching into under the cloth that was over its upper body and was struggling to pull out what looked like an amulet of some kind on a chain around his neck. Luna couldn’t remember seeing that on him before but she could see it was circular and the size of its hand and made of what looked like gold and it had six jewels spaced along the edge and one large diamond in the center and it had strange patterns carved into the gold surrounding the jewels.
The creature held the trinket in both its hands and started to speak to it in its language, “Amoletum potestate habeo amicos, quorum vita Quaeso repraesentes tibi ostenderet crystallis Amoletum O filii et virtutis ostenderet. Monstra placere vivunt, ostende quod factum est.”
Almost immediately the amulet began to light up and flew out of the creatures hand to float in the air in front of it at eye level. The jewels shone and it suddenly projected several pictures in the air. Luna paled in horror as she beheld what the pictures revealed.
One by one, the amulet showed beings similar to the alien creature but all were shown dying horrible and brutal deaths at the hand of an unseen enemy. There were five of them that the amulet showed and the creature suddenly started screaming and tears were falling down its face as he watched his friends die in front of him unable to do anything. Luna was appalled at the deaths of the apparitions cast by the amulet. Then the amulet showed another being, it looked to be male as well yet it was a lot younger and shorter than the alien being. The creature stared at the young boy in the picture and Luna could see a similarity between the two and realized that the young one in the picture was the alien’s son. The being had a look of relief as he saw his son alive; he reached out towards the picture and whispered, “Son.” The young man seem to hear his voice for it looked up into the alien’s eyes with a look of hope. Luna suddenly noticed its hands were bound.
But before his hand could reach the apparition, everyone was shocked as a hideous and jagged blade suddenly erupted from the young boy’s chest. Blood sprayed everywhere as the blade was thrust through the young boy. The alien let out a yell as he beheld the gruesome sight and Luna started to feel sick. The young man just stared at the blade, its face was one of shock and pain as it beheld the sword that had impaled it before its head suddenly went limp and life left its eyes. Then the amulet suddenly became dark and shattered into pieces that fell at the creature’s feet.
No one moved and not a single sound could be heard as silence filled the air. A soft light started to appear from the horizon as the sun began to rise. Luna was stunned, she couldn’t move and she couldn’t believe what she had seen. She could just stare at the spot where the pieces of the amulet lay on the ground. But then she heard the creature speak, “No…”
She looked up at him and saw his fore-hooves were balled up again and he was shaking. “My son….not my son…” he said, his voice rising.
Then the wind started to pick up and the ground shook softly as the creature started to growl, an anger rising in its chest. Luna became afraid of what the creature was about to do.
His face was scrunched in pain and he shook with anger as he said over and over again, “No. No. No.”
He suddenly reared his head towards the sky and let out a roar and his eyes started to glow with a white hot fire. The ground began to crack underneath him and the wind swirled around the place he stood as he started to glow again but this time the white glow became mixed a little with black and red lightning could be seen. Luna knew she had to do something before this creature attacked anyone.
She approached the creature as rage continued to boil and overflow inside of it. He felt so much pain and anger and sadness and grief at what he had witnessed. His son was dead and there was nothing he could have done. He just had to……let it out….he had to do something. And he felt a scream start to form as he began to let loose his power.
Luna was just a few feet from him as she tried to figure out something to say when he looked at her and she reeled back as she saw its eyes. They were flaming white and tears were pouring from them and she saw not anger, but pain. Then he reared his head and forelegs back and let loose a terrible scream and its power erupted outward as blast of power swept out knocking Luna away. The guards tumbled over each other and the blast shattered every single window of the hospital. Inside the doctor threw himself over nurse Redheart to protect her from the falling shards of glass.
The scream of the creature was terrifying to Luna; it was so loud it rang through all the lands of Equestria. In the library the Elements all cowered and covered their ears as the scream pierced their thoughts and filled them with fear. In Canterlot, Princess Celestia was trying to make her way to the balcony as Harbinger fought with all his strength to fight the grasp of the sound. In the lands of the griffons, Gilda was gripping her father afraid to let go and he was holding her fighting to keep his strength as the sound radiated around the land. In the land of the Minotaur’s, all was chaos as the Minotaur people ran around snorting and howling with fear. In the desert the bison race were frozen with fear at the sound unable to move and even the great Chief Thunderhooves was unable to contain himself as he became trapped in fears grasp. In her hut in Everfree Forest, the zebra Zecora was on the floor gasping in fear, her eyes were wide and moving wildly around as she searched for whatever was making that sound. Then darkness enveloped the inside of her hut as all the lights went out and a shadow moved over her and her possession. She scuttled into a corner trying to get away from the darkness as it covered everything. She looked up and saw all her masks had changed from their usual smiling faces to ones of anger, hate, grief, sadness, and pain. Then a red glow appeared and she saw it was a mask on the opposite wall that stared at her with fiery eyes and its face was twisted in a sick smile as it appeared to be laughing at the horrible sound. Zecora covered her eyes and prayed for the sound to stop.
At Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac was trying to keep everything from falling over in the house as the earth shook and the sound of screaming filled the air. Granny Smith was comforting a crying Apple Bloom as darkness swept through the farm. Big Mac stared towards the source of the sound and darkness as a pillar of white power laced with shadow and red lightning erupted from where the hospital was located. He had heard that sound before and he knew it well. It wasn’t so much the sound but the feeling it brought, it was one of fear but also pain. He felt it when he saw his parents die at the hands of a chimera and he knew the alien from before was responsible and that something terrible had happened. This wasn’t just anger, it was pain. Pure and unhindered pain, it stabbed the heart and froze the body with fear as emotions ran wild through your mind. And everyone knew what would cause such pain, what that creature had now become. He was wrath. Personified.
In Canterlot, Celestia had made it onto the balcony and could see a huge pillar of power shooting upwards into the sky from Ponyville and black clouds formed from it and spread through Equestria, casting a shadow of darkness over the land. She knew the creature was responsible. She had to get there but knew she wouldn’t be fast enough but she knew somepony who was.
She turned to Harbinger and saw him standing with a determined look, struggling to keep his balance and his composure. “Run Harbinger! Run to Ponyville as fast as you can and try to stop this!” she yelled over the sound which was incredibly difficult.
The captain heard her though and only managed to nod and disappeared in an indigo blur. Celestia then focused on trying to get herself to travel to Ponyville herself.
Harbinger ran through the halls faster than anypony could see and he called out through the chaos, “Barricade! If you can hear me make haste to Ponyville at once!”
He prayed she had heard him and he raced through the main gates of the palace and out of the city towards Ponyville running faster than he had ever ran in his life.
Back at the hospital Luna was trying with all her might to resist the power of the raging creature. She couldn’t believe how long it had been screaming, taking in deep inhales and letting loose again with horrifying screams of grief and pain. She suddenly felt completely helpless as she tried figure something out so she could stop the creature. Suddenly she heard a voice behind her, “Princess Luna!”
She turned to see Twilight Sparkle and the other elements approaching her through the wind. She smiled gratefully and as they finally made their way beside her she sighed in relief, “I have never been happier to see you all! We have to do something!”
“We know princess!” responded Twilight, they had to yell to be heard, “We’re trying to come up with something now!”
“Where is Shining Armor?!” asked Luna.
“Here your highness!” yelled the captain as he came struggling towards them.
Twilight and her friends could finally see the source of the chaos and found they couldn’t even see the being through all the light and power but they could hear him and his screams made them cringe. Fluttershy had tears in her eyes as she heard the being’s scream of agony.
“What happened princess?!” said Twilight.
“I don’t really know! He just crashed through the doors when I was about to check on him and then he pulled out this amulet and it showed what looked like his friends but they were all dead and it showed another being killed! I believe it was his son!”
The others all became shocked at her words. Twilight turned to her friends and yelled as loud as she could so she could be heard, “We have to help him! Maybe if we used the Elements we can calm him down!”
Suddenly the light around the being faded and his screaming stopped. The others looked at the where the alien should have been standing but instead beheld something else entirely.
Its entire body was black and had cracks that ran up and down its body that glowed white. It’s strange hooves suddenly had long claws on them and from its back were two great wings that shone white. But its face was disturbing to say the least, its hair had turned into white fire and where once a face was now was what looked like its skull with razor sharp teeth and fiery eyes. It let out a roar, its voice warped by the power and sounding like a thousand voices at once. Its uncontrollable rage had twisted and disfigured its body into a being of pure wrath. Twilight somehow knew if they didn’t get him under control the power would destroy Equestria or himself or both.
She summoned her magic and in a flash of light her and her six friends now had their elements on them. Her five friends had their necklaces and she was wearing the Crown of Friendship. The creature saw them and perceived them as a threat, it didn’t really care if they were or not it just wanted to kill something, ANYTHING!
It reared its ugly head and loosed another howl that made everyone cringe in fear but the Elements got back up with determination, especially Fluttershy who saw the creature as something in extreme pain and she knew she couldn’t let it just suffer like this. She racked her brain to come up with anyway to calm it down.
Twilight turned to the others, “Hit it with your elements and see if you can get it to control itself!”
“HIM!”
“Whatever Pinkie!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she flew up and began circling the being of wrath. It saw her and summoned beams of power that surrounded it and prevented her from attack and began to charge for its signature strike. But Rainbow didn’t have to make a dive all she had to do was aim and fire, focusing her elemental power into her charm and a shot of power in the shape of her cutie mark struck the being in the head. It staggered and was suddenly filled with images of his friends, the ones who had always been by his side and helped him through tough times and felt that he must avenge them. It was his loyal duty to bring them back.
Then Rarity did the same with her power and the being staggered back as her bolt of generosity hit it in the chest. It suddenly remembered a hospital room and voices as the beings of this world rushed him onto a bed and started doing their best to save him from death. They had saved him and healed his wounds and he was currently raging about scaring them and destroying their homes. He felt a need to repay them for everything they had done for him. Then Pinkie Pie bounced up as if nothing was wrong and jumped up as she fired her element power right into the mouth of the being. It started to cough as the bolt hit its throat but then felt a slight tickling feeling and began to laugh a little, then a lot as pleasant memories of his friends and his world filled his mind.
The power around him began to fade and the horrible form he had taken was slowly turning back into his normal form.
Twilight realized it was working and turned to Applejack, “One more hit should do it. Finish it Applejack.”
She nodded and ran to stand in front of the creature and it actually looked like it was smiling at her. She charged up her power and was ready to fire and end this madness when Fluttershy thought of something: Applejack was the Element of Honesty. So when she hit him with her power then he would see the truth and that wasn’t really something he needed to know right now.
She ran at the cowpony in an attempt to stop her, “APPLEJACK NO WAIT!”
She tackled her friend but she was a second too late as the power of honesty hit the alien right in the middle of its forehead and it saw the truth…….and the truth was…..his world was gone and his friends were dead…..and he saw his own son die in front of him……everything he had built up and fought for was now gone forever and he couldn’t do anything about it because……because he was trapped in some random world in the middle of God-only-knows that was populated by talking, multi-colored midget horses that shot him up with their little shots of magic, all because of his friends desperate and crazy plan to throw him against his will through a portal to a random spot in space. AND HE HAD NO MEANS OF ESCAPING AND FINDING A WAY TO BRING THEM BACK AND HE WAS NOW REDUCED TO NOTHING AND HE HAD NOTHING AND HE WAS SO!GOD!DAMN!PISSED!OFF!
The ground shook again as power suddenly showed again in his eyes.
“Oops” was all Applejack could utter before the alien erupted again in a newly charged rage that was even bigger than last time. Her and Fluttershy were blown through the air and the ground began to explode out and the hospital began to crack and crumble as the being began to howl and scream again, “HUH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH HUH RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH HUH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAAAAAAAAAAAA HUH RHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
The sound almost made everyone curl up and submit to the fear that consumed them from the creature’s wrath.
“Oh no…..What do we do now?!” said Twilight who had no idea what should be done now to save the creature. Hitting it again probably would only tick it off more.
Suddenly she felt a hoof on her shoulder and saw Fluttershy staring at her with a strange look of determination.
“I have an idea” she said softly.
Twilight was stunned for a minute but then nodded and the other elements formed around her to hear her plan.
“You girls probably aren’t gonna like this but it’s the only way I can see us calming him down. Twilight I need you to stun it and make an opening for me. Rainbow as soon as she does so I need you to throw me as hard as you can straight at the creature.”
The others just stared in shock.
“Are you sure about this Fluttershy?” asked Twilight.
“What are you even gonna do when you land on him?” Rainbow inquired.
Fluttershy looked at the creature and felt a pain in her heart as she saw him scream in rage and agony.
“I’m going to give him a hug.”
The others stared with their jaws on the floor.
“Look we don’t have time for this just do it and this will all be over and we can help him!” she said fiercely.
The others were shaken out of their shock by the seriousness of her voice and they all nodded. Rainbow picked up Fluttershy and moved into a position.
“Please make sure you have a good aim on him.” said Fluttershy.
“Don’t worry. I won’t miss.” Rainbow reassured her.
Twilight moved to the front of the creature and charged her magic. Luna saw this and yelled out, “What are you doing, you’ll be killed!” The creature saw her as well and attempted to shoot her with its power but the others were distracting it.
“Hey Mr. Alien! Over here look at me!” Pinkie yelled at it and made a silly face at the creature.
The distraction worked as the creature turned to her with an angry growl. Twilight saw her chance and fired all her power at the being. It struck its force field and managed to actually make it through and strike it in the chest sending it reeling. The field around it went down and Fluttershy yelled, “NOW!”
Rainbow flew with all her might at the creature almost creating a sonic rainboom as she dived at the being. She judged the distance and at the perfect spot hurled Fluttershy towards it, the momentum carrying her through what remained of the field.
At that point an indigo shaped stopped in the courtyard coming from seemingly nowhere only to witness the Element of Kindness about to crash right into what looked like a hideous monster. Luna yelled out as she watched helpless.
Fluttershy flung out her hooves as she prepared for the impact. She prayed this would work as she didn’t want to think what would happen to her if it didn’t.
The alien saw her coming and opened its mouth in a surprised yell as it tried to stop her.
He walks alone through long past years, With shattered dreams on silent tears,
No one moved.
No one spoke.
No one even breathed.
The wind was calm and the earth had stopped shaking. Any light that had surrounded the being was gone and all was strangely calm.
Fluttershy had her arms wrapped around his neck in a tight embrace and was holding on as tight as she could as she dangled from his neck; her back legs only came down to its waist.
The impact had jarred her but she managed to still grab on. She wished Rainbow hadn’t of thrown her so hard like that but she kept her word and didn't miss. The minute she had him in her embrace and activated her element, everything just stopped. The chaos he had thrown everywhere was gone and all was calm. He was still in the form of some monster but he was no longer yelling at least.
The thing that was The Writer was stunned by what happened. His face was one of surprise and his arms hung limply at his sides as he tried to figure out what was going on. Deep in his mind past all the rage and grief where the real Writer was hiding he tried to make sense of all this. What was this small pony thing doing? Was it......is it giving him a hug? Why is it doing that? And.....why did it feel good?
He felt a warmth spread from inside of him as small, pink butterflies began to appear around them and circle around, bathing him in a healing warmth. He felt calm and realized the small pony was healing him. He felt his rage subside and his grief slowly disappear as her power took away the wrath and brought him back from his place where he hid.
The Writer breathed out in relief as to everyone's surprise the monster began to disappear and change back into the real form they had all seen before. The wings folded back down and faded away without leaving a trace. A white glow enveloped him before fading and revealing the figure from before, the real body clad in the strange clothing. His hair died down and fell back on his head and face in long black drapes as well as on Fluttershy's who couldn't see past all the dark hair. She shook it off and looked at his face to see it turn back into the normal face of The Writer and he looked at her with white eyes filled with relief and exhaustion. She sighed in relief as well when she saw that it had worked.
Everyone just stared in surprise at the spectacle. Like a miracle the crazy plan had worked. The Writer looked at Fluttershy, still hanging by his neck and started to speak, "What..."
He was still trying to catch his breath and found talking rather difficult. What had he done? How long had he been screaming like that?
He tried to speak again, "What is this power?"
Fluttershy smiled a little and squeezed his neck in another hug and said softly, "It’s the power of kindness and sympathy."
The Writer couldn’t believe the power these small innocent ponies possessed, how a simple hug washed his entire wrath away. Then he remembered….
He looked down at his feet and saw the black pieces of his amulet and he remembered what he saw. A great sadness overcame him and he felt tears start to fall. His legs grew weak and he slowly began to fall to his knees. Fluttershy gave a small “eep” when he finally fell, the hard impact from his knees to the ground made her lose her grip and fall on her back to the floor. She stared up at the Writer wondering what happened when she saw his face, and there could not have a sadder sight. Tears rolled down his face as he tried to hold back his sobs, his throat going tight as he stared at the wrecked amulet and the images of his dead friends flashed through his mind. Fluttershy tried to stand back up and comfort him when an indigo blur grabbed her and rushed her back away from the Writer to where her friends stood. Everyone gasped when they saw Harbinger there standing in front of Fluttershy with a glare fixed on the Writer.
Luna was stunned to see the old captain, “Harbinger what are you doing here?” she asked.
He was about to answer when the Writer made a sound that drew everyone’s attention back to it. They looked on as it slowly reached down to scoop up some of the pieces of the amulet and hold them in the palm of his hands. His friends were dead, he just couldn’t believe it.
His friends who had been there for him his entire life and supported him through everything. Never once had they given up on him or left his side and they had taught him more in life than anyone else he knew. They had even sacrificed themselves to save him and make sure he escaped death. And they were gone forever; he would never see them again.
He tried hard to hold back his tears as he tried to get the other pieces of the amulet into his hands. He tried to stand back up when another image flashed in his mind…….the image of his son being executed right in front of him. And he could no longer hold it back.
The man who was known as the Writer, as a king, with powers beyond imagine and who had steadfast command and solid strength…….fell to the ground and cried.
He no longer cared about the ones who saw him or what they thought as he gripped the pieces close to his chest and let his tears fall onto the ground. He was bent over on his knees, his head brushing the ground as great sobs racked his body. He couldn’t get the image of his dead son out of his head. The one thing he loved the most in his life was gone, brutally killed in front of him. He just couldn’t stop grieving and he was lost again to the sadness that consumed him.
How could this have happened? How was it that everyone he loved and everything he built up since the beginning suddenly disappear? He had no idea how he was so helpless against the destruction that tore apart his world. That was something the Writer had never felt before and now it consumed him and drove him to the ground in despair: Helplessness.
The only thing he could have done was watch. He had fought harder than anyone and he had tried everything in his power to stop Destruction’s reign but it was all in vain. Time and time again he had been driven back in defeat by his enemy and no matter what he tried to do nothing worked, nothing could stop it. And so here he was, on his knees crying into the dirt. A once proud and fair and powerful king……now broken and defeated. All hope left him and only despair resided in his heart. He had nothing and was nothing and so he wept for all he had loved and now had lost.
But the ponies could not just stand aside and let him despair. They saw someone in desperate need of help, something they couldn’t ignore. Everyone felt in their hearts that they had to do something for the poor creature. Even the guards who lowered their spears and even Shining Armor felt a need to help the creature. Harbinger couldn’t believe what all had just transpired: he arrived just in time to see some monster raging about and Fluttershy fly right into it and then in the span a few mere moments it had changed into something else and was on the ground crying. What was going on?
He turned to the Elements and Princess Luna and said, “Forgive me but, what happened here? I don’t understand.” The elements were too concerned with the state of the being and so Luna was the one who answered him, “I don’t really know Harbinger but I do know that he had somehow healed from his crash and when I was about to check on him he came crashing out of the hospital. He was talking in this strange language and I couldn’t understand him. He pulled out this amulet and it showed other creatures like him and they were all dead. But then it showed someone else and it looked a lot younger and it too was killed. Before that happened though I heard him say something and it sounded like…..that was his son.”
Harbingers eyes grew wide as he took all this information in and he looked back at the creature and sadness filled him. He felt sorry for the creature and for once didn’t know what to do and neither could anyone else.
But then two figures stepped out of the hospital entrance, the doctor and nurse Redheart approached the creature and stood next to it. The doctor was a little scratched up from the glass that had fallen on him but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to just sit there and not help his patient be him a dangerous monster or not.
He put a hoof on the Writers shoulder and comforted him as did Redheart. “Im so sorry,” he said, “Please. If there is anything we can do to help you just tell us. We are here for you and we can help you.”
The Writer looked at him and tried to say something but couldn’t, he was grateful for the comfort he was given though. The elements then began to approach as well, this time no one objected. They formed a small semi-circle in front of the Writer and comforted him as well.
“We’re so sorry. We didn’t mean to make you any angrier. We were just trying to help. Is there anything we can do?” asked Twilight.
The Writer feebly shook his head; he was still bent over a little but wasn’t crying as hard as before. He thought to himself that he must have looked real pathetic to the ponies. He felt bad for his behavior since he arrived in this strange world. No doubt they were all afraid of him because he looked nothing like them and in their eyes he was a giant alien with scary powers. The fact that he had used some of that power to try and kill one of them probably didn’t help things either.
Much to everyone’s surprise he muttered a whisper, “I’m sorry…”
This was the first time he had ever actually spoken to any of them normally without any screaming or in his own weird language. Everyone was surprised to say the least and Twilight leaned in to say, “Um, I’m sorry but I didn’t catch that?”
The Writer looked up at her now and they were staring into each other’s eyes. Twilight found herself transfixed by the brilliance of his pure white eyes but she could also see so much sadness in them.
“I said, I am sorry.” He said to her, his voice a little louder but sounded hoarse.
“Whatever for dear?” Rarity asked; her worry for him more than apparent in her voice.
The Writer then looked at all of them and they too were struck by his eyes.
“For the way I have been acting since I came here. I did not mean to scare anyone when I landed and used my powers in front of everyone. I just have this thing with fire. Also,” and at this he turned to Applejack, “the red one is your brother is he not?”
Applejack’s eyes went wide with shock at his words, “Uh yeah actually” she said, her mind couldn’t figure out how to react to this.
“I see” the Writer responded, “Then I am very sorry for trying to….destroy him it’s just that……his color and size I mistook him for an enemy….please forgive me”
The Writer had to struggle to keep his demeanor as he still fought back the sadness. Applejack became very conflicted about all of this: on one hand he had tried to kill her brother which is something she would normally not forgive but his words felt so sincere and he wasn’t really himself then as he had explained. She felt he told the truth and couldn’t find it in her to deny him her forgiveness.
“Ah of course ah forgive you” she said, laying a hoof on his shoulder with a smile, “You weren’t you and nopony got hurt anyway.”
To say The Writer was surprised was an understatement; he had expected to be shown no mercy and be punished by the creatures. He wasn’t expecting to be forgiven for his actions at all.
“Wait what?” he replied, some of the sadness being replaced with shock and disbelief, “You mean to say, Orange One, that I am forgiven for my actions? Why? I…..I could have killed you all and…..not even know it….”
Twilight then approached the Writer and said in a calming voice, “Because we know, somehow, that you didn’t mean to do those things. When you landed you were dazed, confused, and quite possibly scared. We’re just glad you didn’t really hurt anyone and as for……whatever that was a few moments ago, we understand and we can help, we want to help. We all forgive you.”
Then she turned to point to her friends, “By the way, the “Orange One’s” name is Applejack and this is Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.”
She pointed to each of her friends as she introduced them and then at herself, “And my name is Twilight Sparkle.”
Such odd and unique names, the Writer doubted he would remember them all easily. These were the strangest creatures he had ever encountered and they had power that could stop his own. They would make fierce opponents and yet….
“You ALL forgive me? I do not understand…”
Twilight smiled as did the others.
But before they could say anything else, their elements suddenly flashed and a glow came from each of them. They looked at their respective elements in confusion.
“What’s going on?” asked Rainbow.
“I don’t know. I didn’t do it.” responded Twilight.
The Writer watched curiously as their pieces of jewelry they called Elements began to glow more before from each of them came a flying, glowing image of their elements.
They flowed smoothly through the air and pulsated in their respective colors. Everyone watched in awe and apprehension as the spirits began to circle around the Writer.
“What is this new power?” he asked as the one that belonged to Twilight stopped in front of his face. He straightened up on his knees and stared at the strange spirit of magic. Then the pieces of the amulet started to glow and rise out of his hands. He gave a startled sound as he watched the pieces fly above his head and the spirits of the elements began to fly around them. Then the pieces started to form together and when all of them had found their place and the glow seemed blinding did the elements fly into the amulet and a great beam of color shot into the sky. The power cut through the dark clouds and the light of day could be seen again as shafts of sunlight shined down upon the wrecked courtyard and illuminated The Writer and the six Elements in its warming light. The dark clouds began to disappear as a different wave of power swept over the land. It was one of peace and hope as the dark fear was swept away. Celestia witnessed this as her carriage sped towards Ponyville. She could not comprehend all that was happening and urged her steeds to fly faster.
Luna and Harbinger and Shining Armor stared dumbfounded at the scene before them. The Writer and the Elements surrounded by the powers of both like they were meant to be together. What did this mean?
The light was also noticed by a pack of dark creatures, their red eyes glowed with hate and malice at the easily recognizable power. By their knowledge that power was supposed to be dead. They couldn’t believe their luck at being placed on a world that actually had their prey on it. The leader turned to his brethren and spoke in a sick and evil dialect and the horrid pack of monsters made their way slowly towards the place where their target hid.
The light had finally stopped and the now whole amulet slowly drifted back down into the Writers hands. He stared at it not believing that it was whole again. The gold glinted in the sunlight and the jewels glowed dimly. He wondered what this truly meant but he did know one thing, hope had returned to him as he saw that there might actually be a way to fix the past.
He stood up now and towered above the ponies as he held the amulet and looked into the sky with a look of determination. He vowed to find a way to bring all of his people back and destroy the one that had ruined it all.
At that point, Princess Luna approached hesitantly and said, “Who are you?”
The Writer looked at her and in a voice that radiated power and authority said, “I am The Writer.”
Millions of light-years away, in a place in the darkness of the universe where there was no world or sun but simply an empty and quiet place in the galaxy, a figure floated in the darkness. He was humanoid and bathed in light and soft shimmering tendrils of energy drifted from him. He had no face yet there was an intelligence there that was older than all things in the universe. He had no name but was known by many titles. And he was searching for someone.
As he reached out into the void he felt a faint, yet unmistakable wave of energy and he grasped on to it with a fierce, mental hold. He opened his eyes and said in a voice that had shaped worlds, “He is alive.”
Then he spread two giant wings and flew onward through the void……
A quick instruction on this chapter and others to follow. I will be putting music links in the chapters at points where background music would play. Make sure to open it in a new tab or window so as to not get sent away from the story. Repeat music as often as wanted until you reach the next music link and you don't have to listen to it through the whole thing of course. There will also be some picture links as well. This chapter is the first of three chapters including 5 and 6 that will span the journey through the Writers world. Thanks for reading and you better strap in folks. You are about to take a ride to a whole new world..... *****************************************************************************************
Amongst the wreckage he stands alone, Rebuild the kingdom, stone by stone,
He was finally alone, able to think on the events that had transpired a mere thirty minutes ago. About the images that he saw, the way he had lost control, and those powerful creatures that were actually able to stop him from destroying himself and then repaired his amulet.
The Writer sat alone in his hospital room; he had repaired the door, and now sat on the floor with his back against the wall, proceeding to look out the window towards the town, meditating about all that had happened.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 minutes ago -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Writer and the six girls all stared up at the whole amulet as it shone brightly in the air. The beam of light faded and it floated back down into the waiting hands of the Writer completely whole and unscathed and he then felt a strange sensation of hope. He also felt a sudden urge to be alone and meditate on what had happened and what it could possibly mean.
Everyone stared at the Writer as he towered over them all. Princess Luna approached carefully and asked, "Who are you?" The Writer stared back at her with his white eyes and said, “I am The Writer.”
He then turned and began to walk back to the hospital; the guards all moved out of his way nervously as he approached the entrance.
“Where are you going?” called Twilight.
The Writer stopped and turned his head to look back at her before answering, “I wish to be alone for a few minutes. There is a lot I need to think about, but first…”
As he spoke he laid a hand on the damaged building and light shone from the place where his hand rested. Then to everyone’s amazement, the building began healing itself; the cracks in the stone receding back down, disappearing entirely as shards of glass flew back up into their original positions and melded together without leaving so much as a smudge. He then turned back to the doctor who had accompanied him to the door now staring in wonderment at his newly restored hospital. The Writer slowly laid a hand on the old stallions head and light again shone from the spot. The doctor gasped; relief spreading throughout his body as his multitude of cuts healed and he was left without a scratch on him. Everyone just stared, mouths agape, at the power the Writer had while the doctor looked over his healed body and then looked back up at the Writer and whispered, “Thank you”
“Do not thank me. I am simply repaying you for the kindness you have shown me. I am sorry for wrecking your hospital.”
“Oh no it’s quite alright, you've more than made up for it.” the doctor replied as he surveyed the fully repaired entrance of the hospital.
The Writer then ducked past the doors and made his way back towards his room, Nurse Redheart and the doctor walking right behind him.
Suddenly a voice stopped them, “Now hold it right there!”
The Writer winced; he had been hoping no one would try and stop him and the voice sounded rather angry. He turned to see an indigo pony-as he assumed they were called-standing in the doorway looking rather displeased. He was wearing a handsome set of armor and a silver helmet with a tall plume that the Writer also assumed signified he was of a higher authority.
“You can’t just pull something like that out there and then turn around and walk away like nothing’s wrong! We need to know what that was all about and we also need to know everything about you and why you’re here. Princess Celestia will be here momentarily and you WILL be here to answer her questions!”
The Writer thought for a moment about what the stallion had said, he was right on one hand and he owed it to them to answer their questions; but he first wanted to think about the events that had just transpired. Suddenly an idea struck him and he actually smiled at his plan.
He turned to the indigo pony and addressed him, “May I ask who you are then?”
“I am Harbinger, Captain of the Earth Pony Guard and personal guard to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“I see,” said the Writer thoughtfully, “Well captain, it is an honor to meet you and I agree that I do owe you a substantial amount of answers and you will have them but I must ask that you allow me at least a few moments to gather my thoughts. I am afraid I am a bit distraught still over what has happened and, also, I wish to mourn for a while over the deaths of my friends and my son.”
The captain winced at these words and suddenly felt ashamed at his outburst.
“If you will permit me a while to be alone I will answer your questions. Thirty minutes should be enough if that is okay? Then I would ask that you send in this Celestia and I will speak with her first.”
As the Writer finished, Princess Luna came up beside Harbinger and said in a soft tone, “Of course you may have as much time as you need. If you need anything you should only ask and we will be there.”
The Writer actually bowed to the princess and said, “If you can spare it, I am quite famished and some food and drink might help me?”
The princess nodded and the Writer turned to take his leave but not before looking out to the six mares who were still standing behind the princess with worried looks on their faces. He gave a small smile and winked at them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Present time ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now the Writer was alone in his room thinking about what all of this could possibly mean. He scratched his bearded chin with one hand and turned his amulet over and over in his other hand as he stared out the window of his room at the sunlit town below. His long, dark hair was now bound back in a ponytail that went down past his shoulders. What did all of this mean? Was this a sign he was supposed to be here amongst these strange, magical creatures? Could they actually be the key to reversing the catastrophe that has struck his home and bring back his people?
He had to know more about these ponies before he could answer any of those questions as well as a few other things that needed to be taken care of first; like what had happened to a certain piece of headwear that he had lost and his weapons. But before he could even do that he had to show the ponies just who he was and where he had come from and to do that the Writer had the idea that a story was in store.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knocking at his door; he wasn’t upset by it, the ponies had kept their word and it was time to hold his end of the bargain. “Enter” he called and the door open to reveal Nurse Redheart standing there with a cart that had a large plate of food on it and a large goblet of water. The Writer heard his stomach growl in anticipation at the sight of food.
The nurse pushed the cart into the room and the Writer stood to greet the nurse. Out of all the ponies he had met, the nurse had been the most kind and understanding towards him and he found himself trusting in the white mare. He sat down on the bed as she pushed the cart over to him.
“There you are dear. I'm sorry if some of this stuff isn't to your liking we just put a bit of everything on here due to the fact that we don’t really know what you eat.” She said with a nervous laugh.
The Writer smiled at the nurse which seemed to calm her down and said, “It is quite alright dear nurse, I am most grateful for it either way.”
Nurse Redheart blushed at his words; she had never heard a more soft, deep and regal sounding voice. It rivaled the effect of the voice of Celestia herself.
He looked over the amount of food on the plate and noticed there was no meat. He wasn't surprised, nevertheless he still would have liked a strip of bacon or two but he didn't complain.
He took an apple that seemed bigger than the ones that grew on his world and shone with a most unusual sheen. He bit into it, taking out a large chunk and was surprised by how delicious it tasted. It wasn't like anything he had ever had in his life, the texture was perfect and the taste was indescribable.
He swallowed and turned to the nurse again, “I must say I cannot believe I have ever had anything more delicious in my life. Where did you get this apple?”
“Oh well that’s from Sweet Apple Acres, it’s the apple ranch just down the road. You actually crashed right in front of it when you landed. Applejack is the one who runs it alongside her family. They grow the best apples in Equestria.”
“Indeed they do” said the Writer, who was now feeling a little better thanks to the food.
It was funny really, he had expected himself to be beyond miserable after witnessing the deaths of his friends and only son, but after what those ponies did it was like all that was cast out of him and something was telling him that he had no need to cry. That everything was going to be alright in the end.
As he ate, Nurse Redheart looked him over one last time and found that not a single cut or burned remained on his body. His clothes were still ripped though, a problem she was certain could be fixed by a certain fashion pony. Then she spoke up again, “Um Mister Writer?”
The Writer grunted before swallowing his mouthful of hay fries which he found to not be as bad as he thought, though they could use some salt, and said, “Please, call me just Writer; it sounds weird if you say mister.”
“Oh sorry, um but I was supposed to tell you that the princess is waiting outside to talk to you like you promise, if you’re ready of course. She understands if you need more time.”
“Ah, of course,” replied the Writer as he finished his meal, “You can send her in now dear nurse. I am quite ready to uphold my promise and make amends for my actions.”
Nurse Redheart nodded nervously and walked back to door with the cart and the now empty tray. She opened the door and walked into the hallway out of the sight of the Writer. He heard voices and decided to magnify his hearing so he could listen,
“He says you can talk to him now your highness.”
That would be the nurse, then he heard a voice that definitely sounded like a ruler, “Is he feeling better than earlier nurse? Are you sure it’s okay for me to go in?”
This was certainly the one called Celestia he had no doubt and as he finished that thought another pony stepped in to his room. Except this one wasn't like the others, she looked more like the one called Luna except she was the complete opposite. Her coat was a brilliant alabaster white and she stood as tall as the ceiling, only a few feet shorter than the Writer. Her mane and tail shimmered and flowed with a huge array of colors almost seeming ethereal. She wore a gold crown and chest plate along with golden slippers on her feet. Her wings were large and magnificent and her horn glowed brilliantly. The Writer could not remember ever meeting a more awe inspiring and.....beautiful creature.
He stood as much as he could in the low room and bowed to her, "Greetings Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria"
Princess Celestia blushed at the sound of his voice; it was rather kingly and sent her in a flutter. She had never felt this from another being before but she quickly composed herself and bowed as well.
"And to you Writer, I am grateful to finally have a.....normal conversation with you at last."
"Ah yes you must forgive me for my behavior good princess I had no idea what I was doing and reacted most unpleasantly. I give my most humble apologies and will repay you and your subjects in any way I can." he responded.
Celestia was beyond flustered now, she couldn't believe how intelligent and flattering this being was. His words sounded so sincere, she felt incapable of saying no to his wishes.
"Good Writer, all will be forgiven and I know you did not mean to do what you did. In fact I am sorry for the loss of your son and friends. No one should have to bear that grief."
A flash of what seemed like anger passed across the Writers face before sadness took over again. He looked down at the amulet sitting on the bedside table.
"You are not the one to blame for their loss..... You weren't the ones who tore them away from me...."
Celestia grew worried for the Writer; she feared he would close himself off to her if he continued to think about what had happened. But she had to know all she could about him.
"Writer..." She began hesitantly, "I'm sure you know why I am here. I need to know where you came from and whether or not you pose a threat to my subjects."
"Yes I know this Princess," he whispered, an awkward silence filled the room for a moment before the Writer looked back up at her and said in a more clear tone, "I will tell you everything Princess but know this: it is something that cannot be told in words alone and so it is for that matter that I have decided to "show" you rather than talk about it. Before I begin I must ask you this: do you trust me?"
The Princess was a little startled by the question and thought to herself if this being was in fact trustworthy. She looked into the eyes of the Writer, into those pure white eyes that radiated power, and saw that there was no deception in them.
Finally, after much thought, she nodded and the Writer continued, "Then listen carefully, you must exit the room and close the door behind you. When you have done so, gather the six girls from earlier who fought with my enraged self as well as the other Princess and anyone else you wish to accompany you on the journey and then count to ten. When you reach ten, open the door again."
Celestia was beyond confused at his instructions, what journey? He talked like they were going to a whole different world altogether. But she needed to know everything about him and if this was the way he wanted to do it then she had to do it.
"I don't understand but I will do as you say. Just don't try anything funny." she said with a small smile before exiting the room and closing the door as the Writer said.
When he was sure she had left, the Writer put his hands together and started to rub them against each other quickly and light suddenly seeped from between them and a wind picked up from nowhere and swirled around the room as everything started to become fuzzy and the smell of salt filled the air as the Writer pulled his hands apart and a large book began to appear in his hands....
As she closed the door, Celestia was still wondering what the Writer was planning but she was interrupted by a purple shape that filled her vision.
"What did he say? Did he say where he was from? Can I talk to him now?"
When Twilight Sparkle was interested in something she made no effort to hide it, something the princess liked about her. The others were all standing around, equally interested in the Writer and eagerly awaiting her word.
"He has agreed to tell us all everything but he insisted that he show us rather than tell us."
"What does that mean?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I do not know but he told me to come and collect all six of you and Luna and also I want Harbinger and Shining Armor to come as well."
The captains both nodded but Luna looked confused, "Sister what are you talking about? What is he showing us?"
Celestia turned back to the door as everyone filed in behind her, "We'll find out in ten seconds."
Everyone looked at the door; they were either feeling apprehensive or excited about what lay on the other side as they all counted down.
Finally at the count of ten, Celestia turned the knob with her magic and slowly opened the door...........
And what they saw stunned them beyond anything they had ever seen before in their lives, for where the hospital room was before now was a beach. It looked like a simple cove with white sand covering a small, crescent shaped area with clear, blue sea water gently lapping against it.
Huge palm trees surrounded the cove making it seem more like a private spot, away from the eyes of the public, and the door they were peering through was right in the middle of it. There was a large sun above the water that bathed everything in a warm and calm light and the air felt so pure and the smell of salt filled their senses. The ponies were baffled by the sight not comprehending the fact that a beach was inside a hospital room. Then the Writer walked into their view and stood by the water’s edge and with a smile said, "Join me won't you?"
The ponies continued to stare frozen on the spot and the Writer waited patiently for their minds to fully process what they were seeing. He held out a hand and said, "It's a lot better once you step through the threshold. Come on, the waters fine."
Celestia was the first to come to her senses and took a tentative step onto the sand. She gasped when she felt it and whispered, “It’s real.”
She couldn't believe it; real sand on a real beach and the wind felt real too. She continued to step forward until she was standing next to the Writer and the water washed up against her feet; it felt warm and soothing and there was no denying it was real. She turned to stare at the Writer with a look of sheer wonder and said in a whisper, “How is this possible?”
The Writer smiled and, from seemingly nowhere, held out his hands to reveal a large book that lay open to reveal shimmering words and pictures that seemed to dance across the pages.
“This, my dear princess, is a Tome of Worlds and this is what it can do,” he waved an arm over the beautiful scene before them, “I am the only one who can write on it and from my words spring the power to see the moments that are written down. These are my memories and this is my world: Dien.”
By that time the others had made their way down to the water and all had looks of wonder and amazement. Celestia was so entranced in the beauty of the world that tears started to stream down her cheeks, “Writer…..I have never seen anything so beautiful. This world is amazing.”
The Writer smiled, “And you have only just begun to see it. Before we begin if I could have everyone’s attention, I must explain a few things.”
Everyone stood in a row facing the Writer and the sea as he walked through the surf looking all of them in the eyes.
“First……Who was it who shot me in the back when I first landed here?”
Everyone was surprised by the sudden question and nine heads turned to look down at Luna who was blushing and said, “That might have been me….hehe….sorry?”
The Writer smiled before a huge column of water shot into the air and then came barreling down on top of Luna who yelled as the water splashed down on her. She stopped when she noticed that the water was actually passing through her and she wasn't even wet much less being driven into the ground.
“PRINCESS!!!” yelled Harbinger and Shining Armor but then the water vanished and they saw that Luna was perfectly fine. They turned back to the Writer who had a smirk forming on his face.
“Apology accepted. Now as you can see while this place can feel real sometimes it can also NOT be real and that is all determined by me but rest assured you are not in danger of losing life or limb I promise”
The captains just gave him a hard look while Celestia was trying not to laugh at her sister’s bewildered expression at just having an entire ocean dumped on top of her.
Twilight and the other girls all came close to the water and Rainbow Dash looked up at the Writer and asked, “So you can turn the “real” factor on and off? How does that work?”
“Like this” said the Writer before reaching down and splashing her and her friends and this time they felt the water as it splashed on them. They all yelped in surprise and stood in shock for a while.
Then Rainbow Dashed yelled, “AWESOME!” before running out into the surf and diving into the water as she swam around in the warm ocean water. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight and even Fluttershy all followed suit as they dove into the waves and swam around, completely enthralled by the fact that they were at a real ocean beach while Rarity hung back and said, “No thank you I would hate to get my hair wet.”
Suddenly she was levitated in the air in by Luna who said, “Oh don’t be such a pansy.” before flinging both herself and Rarity into the surf with a mighty splash.
Rarity came up screeching, “AHH my hair!” while Luna came up laughing hysterically.
Rarity glared at her for a minute before leaping out of the water on top of her in an attempt to drown her. The others all laughed and joined in the fun.
The Writer was surprised by their sudden actions but laughed and looked on with an amused expression; these were quite the peculiar specimens. Celestia and the captains stayed on the beach and watched the spectacle as well. Celestia was laughing at the sight of her sister trying to escape a rather infuriated Rarity. She then turned to the Writer and asked, "What is this place exactly Writer? Where are we in your world?"
He faced her and said in a soft voice as he recalled his memories of the place, "This is my secret spot, the place where I would go to get away from the pressures of being a king. I am the only one who knows of its location and the only one who can get to it. Well I was the only one anyway, until now."
He turned back to the others who were now coming out of the water and all of them were soaking wet. The Writer smiled before snapping his fingers and, in a flash, everyone was suddenly dry and the water no longer felt real to them. They looked in confusion to the Writer who said, "The second thing that I was going to say was that even though it may feel real at times this place is an illusion and you must remember that at all times. You cannot lose your sense of reality here and it is for that matter that I will be keeping the real factor as you called it off unless I deem something necessary that you should feel."
The captains exchanged worried glances but said nothing as both of them were just as curious about this place as the others. They both silently agreed, however, to keep an eye on the Writer at all times.
Everyone gathered around the Writer again as Celestia asked another question, "You were a king? Then where did you rule?"
The Writer did not answer, instead casually pointing with his right thumb up and over his shoulder and everyone looked in the direction of his gesture and gasped as their jaws once again hit the sand, literally this time. For behind them past the trees they could see the top of a massive tower rising behind a white wall, its spherical shape rising into the sky past the clouds. It was made out of a black stone that shone in the sunlight with strange carvings and patterns etched into it. At the top were four straight, narrow spires that ended in points. The ponies stared at its huge size in shock and the Writer found himself laughing at their expressions.
"Hey," he said, "You haven't even begun to see my world. Now that you have had a taste of things are you ready to see the full picture? Are you ready to let me show you my world and experience the wonders of Dien?"
Everyone just nodded, still staring at the great monolith.
"Very well then," said the Writer with a smile, "You might want to hang on."
The Writer spread his arms and the large book hovered in the air before him as the strange letters shone brightly on the pages and the sand underneath their feet (and hooves) began to swirl around before a platform of sand began to raise them up into the air as if someone had taken a large shovel and scooped them upwards. It took a minute before the ponies noticed and each gave a startled sound and scooted together away from the edge of the flying platform of sand.
"Relax fellow travelers, there is plenty of room onboard our vessel and I have put up a field to keep you from falling," the Writer assured his passengers.
They all began to slowly relax save for Fluttershy who insisted on holding on to the Writers leg with a death grip. He looked down at her with a quizzical look and she blushed under his questioning eyes.
"I'm uh....s-scared of h-heights." She said quietly.
The Writer smiled down at her for he found the sight quite adorable and said in a reassuring tone, "You need not be scared, Shy One. I promise you I will not let you fall."
Fluttershy found his words comforting and managed to relax a little and move to where she could see over the side while still holding on to the Writer's leg. They continued to rise over the trees and as they ascended they started to see more of the white wall that surrounded the great tower and it appeared to hold more than that. The Writer directed the platform forward towards the wall and raised it suddenly higher over the wall so the ponies could then see what lay on the other side.
The size of it all was incomprehensible; it was all made of white stone save for a few features which were made out of a dark green element. It looked like the mix between a great cathedral and a castle; the center, which lay just in front of the huge tower, had a long entrance building with two great doors and pillars on the front and sides which then led into a larger domed structure with the dome made entirely out of the green stone, as well as the two tall doors, and inside the dome was a golden bell that looked like it could swallow a house whole. On either side of the domed center extended the rest of the castle which went all around the black tower with tall spires on the four corners with many windows and balconies. There were smaller buildings throughout the grounds, including one with several big doors instead of windows that appeared to be a storage place for something big. There was also a large courtyard in front of the cathedral which was a huge circle with paths branching off towards the buildings and to the massive gate of the wall which was the same white color and had a mighty wooden drawbridge. In the middle of the courtyard was a tall pole that had a flag flying on it; it was a cobalt blue flag with a golden, seven pointed star that held a four pointed white star within it.
People could be seen walking around the grounds and the ponies saw that all of them were of similar build to the Writer: very tall, some reaching nine feet and also stocky. Even the women were about the same size as the men but they had a more soft and slender shape which was enough to tell them apart. Some were extremely muscular and others were a bit obese while a few seemed lanky and not quite as strong as the others. They all had long hair, which they fashioned in different and sometimes extreme ways, ranging in a multitude of colors. Their faces all had the same strong look but some were more angular and others fuller; but what really stood out about these people was their skin because there wasn't just the regular tan look but some were colored in outrageous ways, some were red both bright and dark and others a dark blue and some orange. Twilight even swore she saw a male with purple skin carrying what looked like a giant wheel on one shoulder.
The clothes they wore varied amongst them, though most wore simple pants and boots made out of the same material as what the Writer wore as well as shirts that were usually short sleeved. A lot of the men wore jackets or long coats that brushed the ground as they walked. Some of the richer ones wore fancier coats with vests underneath and some wore hats with wide brims and others wore hoods but most did not wear any head gear at all. The women had fancy shirts with frills in the shoulders and sleeves and some just wore simple dresses.
After they had observed the people for a while, the Writer moved the platform up next to the great dome and the ponies could see out the gates. Below the castle and out the gates stretched a great city; it was all set on a long slope with the castle at the top and they could see that it was all arranged in three tiers and the buildings were all made of the same white stone with flat roofs at the bottom tier and angular at the top with a mix in the middle one. It was a huge city, probably a mile across and a good two miles down from the gates of the castle to the main gates of the city. On one side lay the same ocean as before and there were many piers that stretched out into the water and the other side had a massive forest with trees thicker than the buildings.
The Writer looked at his companions amazed expressions, smiled, and said, "Welcome to my home city of Nara. What do you think?”
They all struggled to find words to answer; Celestia made a few sounds as she tried to find her voice but the others found theirs first.
“It’s….” said Twilight as she tried to find a way to describe it.
Luna was having an even harder time than her sister, “I…..I can’t even…”
“By the stars….” whispered Harbinger but before he could continue though he was interrupted, “It’s freaking huge!”
“Rainbow Dash” said Applejack sternly.
“What?” responded her cyan friend, “It is! I can barely even see the top of this tower thing.”
The Writer turned to look at the structure, “Yes we Diens have a thing for incredibly big structures, for some reason. This tower, in your language, is called Heartguard and it is one of seven like it and the tallest. The place before it is called “Rex-Eir-Domus” which translates into The Kings House. It is made mostly of Moonstone as is everything else in the city but the green stone in the doors and dome is called Oricalum, which is a very rare element and it took years just to get enough to build the dome. The bell is called “Runi Yaoli” or “Dawn Caller” and we use it to announce the rising of the sun as well as to begin festivals and stuff like that.”
“And you rule from this building?” asked Celestia who had finally found her voice and was buzzing with questions as was everyone else. Twilight was jotting down notes quicker than the Writer could see but he doubted she had enough pages for all the things she would be seeing.
“Yes princess,” he answered, “From the main sanctuary beneath the dome and my living quarters are in the east wing. The flag as you have noticed represents my protection of Dien. The seven pointed star represents the crown which also has seven points and the four pointed star stands for the four worlds of the Dien system. Now as for the city itself…”
At these words he turned and directed the cloud over the gates and above the city, “Nara is arranged in three tiers down the hillside which it was built upon. In the past all that was here was the castle and a few houses but it has grown substantially over the years and continues to do so. The bottom tier is where the shops and inns are and in the middle is where the general houses and restaurants reside. The top tier is reserved for mostly the mansions of the rich and places for businesses as well as the school and hospital and courthouses.”
Twilight was writing down everything so fast the Writer swore he saw smoke trailing from her quill. The others were having a rather tough time keeping up though, save for Celestia and Harbinger.
“This is a rather interesting set up. Is the rest of your world like this?” asked Harbinger.
“Well some of the other cities are but I would rather show you those because I believe that words really cannot do this place justice, so I am barely going to talk from now on and let the sights do the talking for me.” replied the Writer, “The world we are on is called Dialga; which in the basic tongue means Diamond and also The First”
Then the Writer took them away from the city and he showed them the rest of the world: great oceans and massive mountain ranges and wide green meadows and mighty forests. They saw that the world was mostly made up of oceans with many islands that were spread throughout and they saw several cities along the way, but none of them came close to the city of Nara. The other cities were roughly the same size as Nara and they were either next to an ocean or centered around other towers like Heartguard. Along the way, they saw just how advanced the Dien race was as vehicles sped along tracks both on the ground and suspended in air; there were also many air vehicles that zoomed around through the clouds.
After they had seen all that they could the Writer suddenly steered the cloud of sand up and into the atmosphere of the planet and soon, they found themselves in the darkness of space. The ponies became nervous but the Writer assured them that it was all still an illusion and they were still able to breath. They circled around the gigantic sun for a while until they came upon another planet.
This one, where Dialga looked green and blue, was more of a yellow color caused by the massive savannahs that seemed to span the entire planet and could even be seen from space.
The Writer stopped in front of the planet which was considerably bigger than Dialga and said, "This is Sincostan, the Second, or otherwise known as Filthy Turned Pure."
"Why is it called that?" asked Twilight.
"Because long ago when this system first started we thought that Dialga was the only world here. But after we became more technologically advanced we discovered the other two worlds and began working on ways to travel through space to them. When we came to this world, we found it overrun with savage barbarians that were destroying each other and the land they were fighting on. In a great movement that I started, we were able to bring order and peace to the world one step at a time and it is now the most peaceful planet in the system with no wars ever happening on it and so I deemed to call it by a new name: Sincostan. It is a world that is deeply rooted in nature and holds it in the highest reverence with so many of the tribes that live here tending to want to live primitive and humble lives, allowing the wilderness to grow to amazing and spectacular proportions. Would you like to take a look?"
Everyone nodded excitedly and the Writer began the descent into the planet.
As they finally cleared the clouds the first thing that caught their eyes was the great expanse of grass. It spread for miles and there were some incredibly tall trees with branches that spread out like a great umbrella and small but deep lakes that dotted the landscape along the way; but it was mostly a huge, open prairie of tall, yellowish grass. The ponies were looking around when a sound like a loud trumpet sounded from behind and they turned to see a great, gray wall lumbering towards them. The Writer swerved the cloud out of the way as the beast plodded by.
It was maybe thirty meters tall from ground to shoulder and walked on four thick legs like tree trunks. Its wide head was dominated by two huge ears that flapped around and four long tusks that sprouted from its mouth which was hidden under an even longer trunk. As it walked they could see the ground literally shake from its great footsteps, while behind it walked several other beast just like it; some were smaller and some had no tusks at all. They made low rumbling sounds to each other and they were the most unusual creatures the ponies had ever laid eyes on.
But the other animals that walked with the beasts were just as strange; there were long-necked creatures, as big as the grey ones, that kind of looked like ponies except they were incredibly tall and had even taller necks; and alongside them walked beasts that looked like skinny cows with huge spiraling horns and great tusks. Many smaller animals of different sizes, shapes, and colors were amongst the pack as well, and when the Writer brought their cloud higher into the air they could see it was a whole herd travelling together through the savannah that was at least a thousand strong.
The rest of the planet was much the same with a few small forests here and there and even two oceans that lay on opposite ends of the planet. In one forest the Writer took them too, they saw a small village made of huts that looked like they were made out of the savannah grass and in the middle of it they saw a festival was being held around a great bonfire. People were dancing around wearing costumes that resembled the strange animals and stomping their feet to music that was being performed by odd instruments. Some were banging on great drums suspended by ropes and others were playing on instruments that looked like cellos from an orchestra; but the strangest ones were the people that stood on stilts that made them twelve feet tall and at the bottom of said stilts were feet with cymbal like pans on them and whenever they stomped it made a clapping sound that kept the beat of the music. The people sang as well in melodious voices that together made a primal and joyful sound.
The ponies then got a closer look at the people and found them to be a lot different from the ones on Dialga. For one thing, they were completely covered in fur and their faces looked a bit like dogs or cats with ears on top of their heads instead of on the sides; they were just as tall though and did in fact live rather primitive lives.
As they finished the tour of the second planet the Writer said to his passengers, “What did you think? Are you ready to see the final world or do you want to take another trip over this one?”
“Is the third world just as amazing as the others?” asked Celestia, who was beyond amazed by everything she was seeing and couldn’t believe something like this actually existed.
“Each world is equally beautiful and Wilgast is no exception,” replied the Writer who steered the sand cloud back up into space and directed it again around the sun of Dien.
Twilight then took a closer look at the sun and noticed it was at least a hundred times bigger than Equestria’s sun but didn’t seem as bright. She turned to the Writer and asked him about, “What can you tell us about the sun?”
The Writer slowed and looked up at the huge ball of light and energy, “Ah, well for one it is called Gigantum and as you can see is a lot bigger than your sun but it does not release as much heat as yours, so that is why the planets are closer to it in order to receive the necessary amount of light and warmth from it.”
They rounded the great sun and came upon the third and final world of Dien. It was roughly same size as Dialga; but strangely enough, it was a dark gray color and looked intimidating due to the dreary look of the planet and the multitude of storms that could be seen across the surface.
The ponies looked at the planet with a wary curiosity and Rarity was the first to speak on the state of the world, “Well this world looks quite um…….dark?”
She was struggling to find the right word to describe it without causing offense to the Writer. He, however, was not offended; in fact he had expected a worse response.
“I admit," he said with a smile, "that it does look like a complete opposite to the others; but I believe in not judging a book by its cover and sometimes you just are not looking at the cover in the right light.”
The Writer then directed the platform to the side of the planet between the light of the sun and the surface and as the light moved over the parts of the world where it wasn’t obscured by any storms, a brilliant show of lights suddenly glistened from the world like a great kaleidoscope of colors.
Everyone gasped as the colors bounced off the surface and filled their visions; the planet had turned from a dark empty rock to a glowing gem from the light of the sun and the ponies stared with wide eyes at the spectacle.
The Writer was enjoying himself as he showed off the wonderful quality of his final planet, “This world is called Wilgast which means Wealthy and it is the Third of the worlds of Dien. Those spots of color are the huge deposits of crystals that this world is famous for. The earth is rich with minerals and gems of all kinds. Shall we take a closer look?”
“Oh yes please!” said Rarity excitedly who seemed to be the most interested in the sparkling world.
The Writer laughed good-heartedly and willed the cloud of sand down into the atmosphere. As they broke through they were suddenly surrounded by dark clouds that spat out lightning all around them. Rain fell down with great speed and the wind was howling so loud it made it hard to think but they were not affected by any of this as it all passed through them harmlessly. The Writer kept the cloud moving in a straight, deliberate line to the surface; flying past the thunderheads at a great speed.
As they continued through, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck straight through Harbinger who jumped as he witnessed the bolt impale him. He was expecting to be shocked to death but instead, felt nothing and remembered what the Writer said about the real factor and sighed a breath of relief.
Shining Armor saw it as well and chuckled before calling out, “You alright over there?”
Harbinger recovered from his shock and called back, “I’m fine, just grateful that none of this is actually real.”
“Yeah, but it sure scared the hay out of you. I was afraid you were going to jump out of your armor.” Armor replied with a laugh.
Harbinger was about to make a comeback when they suddenly cleared the storm and the sound of the wind and rain stopped and all was quiet.
The sun was now able to shine down on the surface and illuminate the landscape that lay before them. It looked mostly like barren rock, save for patches of grass that grew in odd places and there were no trees but there were mountains everywhere they looked. A few of the mountains were simply made of grey rock but others were pure, glistening towers of crystal that shone in the sunlight in all kinds of colors. Great emerald towers and ruby cliffs shone with natural light as waterfalls cascaded down into wide rivers that snaked across the land. As they moved across the ranges they saw mountains with all sorts of elemental gems shining on them and even canyons with huge veins of gold along the side that gleamed in the sunlight.
Here, as it was on the other worlds, life flourished: great three-legged beasts with large crystal spikes on their backs trudged up the sheer sides of the mountains, grabbing the sides with hugs claws that allowed them to defy gravity itself. As everyone watched the beasts climb up the mountains, a melodic cry sounded and echoed throughout the ranges. A small shape flew by their cloud followed by several hundred more of what looked like small, colorful birds. Their plums were decorated in a rainbow of colors exactly the same as the crystal mountains and their songs were high pitched and beautiful like someone gently tapping a crystal bell with a hammer. They flew around in a flurry of bright hues around the mountains and alighted in various places on the craggy faces.
The Writer knew these birds and remembered how they usually flew alongside a certain other bird in the sky. As if on cue, a shadow fell over the land and a soft rumbling could be heard as the ponies looked up where the Writer was also looking to see something that, to them, looked like a giant, metal bird; but it was actually a transporter/mining ship used by the people of Wilgast to find and collect the ores spread throughout the world. It was rectangular and had wide wings with three small engines that never seemed to release any exhaust save a dim blue light. As it stopped over the canyon of gold and proceeded to hover in place, six ropes dropped down into the canyon and Dien's, wearing harnesses and helmets, slid down and swung onto the sides and started to dig at the gold with picks. The sound generated by the mining sounded like someone playing bells; much like the singing of the small birds.The ponies watched curiously as the beings jumped across the canyons collecting gold from the walls.
The Writer cleared his throat and began to speak, “This is a world that has the single, sole purpose of being a mining planet and forge world. Its amount of ores and elements are near uncountable and they all serve important purposes in Dien. The people here are actually from Dialga as this world was not inhabited by people when we found it; only the animals that had evolved to live in the planets thin atmosphere. Here, you have to wear special gear in order to breathe in this environment.”
The Writer pointed and the ponies saw that the men and women who mined the walls were hidden underneath thick suits with masks that had respirators where the mouth was located with blue eye lenses. The Writer then directed the cloud away from the range and sped across the sky until they reached the only flat land of Wilgast which was a small plain surrounded by mountains. Factories dominated the space with chimneys that reached up into the sky past the clouds and huge machinery rolled along carrying huge loads of crystals; there were also several launch pads where ships were landing and taking off for the other worlds.
The Writer stopped at the edge of the huge array of factories and foundries so they could get a clear view of the place. “This spot is the only place where we have been able to settle and set up shop,” he explained, “I was not kidding when I said this place was called Wealthy. While we do collect a lot of materials here, it always seems like the planet will never run out. We do our best to take care of this world as a way to repay all she has given us. For example, those chimneys actually go out into space and, with the help of some new-found technology, are able to empty its content into the vacuum of space leaving the atmosphere clean of any refuse.”
“I could never have imagined a place like this in the universe," Celestia said, speaking for all present on the platform of sand, "You have such complex systems and traditions; and you are all so much more advanced than us. Please show us more about you and your people.”
The Writer directed the cloud up into space and began a trek back to the first planet of Dialga as he spoke on the things still to be shown, “Well, now that I have shown you all the worlds, it is indeed time to give you a more detailed look as you have asked. I will show you how we lived and what we did and I will even introduce you to my friends and myself in this younger age.”
The ponies all seemed to grow excited that their tour was not yet over and was, in fact, going to get a lot more interesting.
“But,” the Writer finished, “The one thing I really want to show you is our greatest skill and our most passionate sport, where we are at our strongest. It is the one thing we Diens love more than anything and that we partake in with all our beings in order to protect those that we love.”
“And that is?” asked Harbinger, even though he somehow already knew the answer.
The Writer turned and said in a serious tone, “War….”
