Fo:E - Rolling Bones: The Death of Serenity

Fallout: Equestria - Rolling Bones
The Death of Serenity


A long time ago, before the great war, before the age of Celestia, when Equestria was not but a utopian fever dream; Nightmares and Daemons plagued all the lands, feeding off the fear and flesh of any who crossed their path. Nightmares are not the only type of dream, however, and so too were there beings that sought to protect the mortal creatures of Equis.

Serenity was the most powerful of these champions. First of the Alicorns, she embodied both the Unity and Harmony which she wished to provide her ponies. This she did by standing guard over the shared lands of the equines. She held back the chaos and terrors that threatened the land, allowing those guarded beneath her wings to flourish, unabated and undisturbed.

Her power was so great that it stifled even the Daemon Discord. Try as he might, he could not touch the land of ponies. After a time he grew bored his failures to influence such a small portion of land and contented himself to the rest of Equis. It was not until the unicorns took hold of the sun and moon, forcing them into a steady and stable rotation, that he decided enough was enough.

Marshaling himself, Discord approached his nemesis. He came as a but a babe, nigh on powerless in her realm. “Serenity!” he called out, his voice bouncing with laughter, “Why do you wear yourself so, protecting these creatures? Surely you can see that your efforts but dam the river. Would it not be better to cut it’s flow at the heart?”

Serenity looked down upon the chimeric daemon, for he was small in her presence, and said, “You take me for a foal, Chaos? Were I to leave my post for but a moment, you surely would act to undo my works. Begone, I have not time for your prattling!”

A bloody gash appeared upon his chest which he gripped tightly to stem the flow. “You wound me with but your words! Do you not trust me? I grow as tired as you of these lesser Daemons and Nightmares; they know nothing but violence. There is no fun to be had amid the dead!” The wound closed as he grew to match her height. Extending a taloned paw, he continued, “I would of course accompany you in this quest to rid the world of these brutes.”

“A foal’s quest it would be! I can no more end a Nightmare than I could you.”

“Too true! Too true! I do not propose that we do anything of the sort. Stooping to their level, tsk. But! But there is another option. One, I believe, you would find most appealing.” Clapping together his mismatched limbs, he pulled them apart to reveal a box, a cage filled with moaning shades. “Death is not the only way to stop a foe. We could build a cage for them, a prison from which there would be no escape.”

There was wisdom in Discord’s words. For as powerful as she was, even Serenity had limits. Her ponies were already growing, filling what little land they had with the cries of newborn foals. Though she could hold her watch unfaltering, she would soon enough reach her limits and the ponies would be forced to step out from beneath her wings or stagnate within her shadow.

Serenity could see it, a world free from the Nightmares and Daemons, where she could rejoice with her ponies as they spread and prospered. Still, she did not trust Discord, chaos was his nature, wild and fickle. Even assuming his words were genuine in the moment, there was no promise that they would remain so in the next. Not even goddesses are immune to the whims of wishes and dreams, however.

Discord’s claw extended once again and found Serenity’s foreleg placed within its grasp.

A prison for Nightmares and Daemons could not be a thing of walls and bars. It took the combined power of Order and Chaos to cut into the very fabric of reality, to open a passage into a new realm. A realm of naught not but fire and ash. Where acid fell like rain and filled the air with toxic fumes. A world where even Nightmares would find no rest and Daemons would burn and curse.

Once opened, the hole could never be truly closed, the threads seared and unmendable. A door was crafted, a great Gate. Of Iron and gold, blood and bones, both Discord and Serenity sacrificed of themselves to ensure the Gate would hold, never to be opened from within. To guard from without a protector was needed, a loyal guardian to ensure none foolishly tried to free those trapped within. For this task Serenity chose a creature that lived side-by-side with her ponies, a companion of ferocious loyalty.

With their prison readied, protected from within and without, Serenity made her final preparations before leaving her ponies once and for all. She did not trust the Daemon Discord and so made ready for the betrayal she felt was all but a certainty. Gazing upon her ponies she found two whom she believed represented the best of them. Touching them with her magic, she marked them. Was she to fail or fall, they would be raised, the first of her foals, sisters charged with leading and protecting her herd.

Confident in her decisions, Serenity and Discord began their hunt. Together they tracked and captured Nightmare after Daemon, banishing them forever beyond the Gate. Many fell before their combined magicks.

The betrayal came just as Serenity had known it would.

Within the depths of a sweltering jungle they hunted down a Nightmare of pure cruelty. It made its home in the rivers and lakes that provided for the locals. Hidden from sight, it waited for the unwary to venture too close. When a poor creature wandered within its grasp it would leap out to snatch them, dragging them beneath the waters to a slow and agonizing death. There it would use its black magic to draw out the suffering, keeping the captured creature alive long past its time. It fed not on the flesh of its victims, but the terror and hopelessness they felt as the dark waters filled their lungs.

Unbenounced to Serenity, Discord had made contact with the Nightmare and a plan was hatched between them. Discord knew that they could no more kill Serenity than they could be killed, nor could they banish her beyond the Gate. No, Discord’s plan was far more insidious.

Coming upon the Nightmares watery home, Serenity wasted no time in confronting it. Discord, however, waited, allowing the two others to fight.

The battling spirits laid waste to the jungle, trees burning and rivers boiling in the wake of their magicks. The Nightmare fought with a focused viciousness, its dark magicks assaulting the alicorn’s very essence. The Goddess of Harmony’s power was too great, however, and the all the Nightmare’s efforts were for naught.

Just as the end was in sight, the Nightmare barely able to stand, Discord struck. With paw and talon, he grappled the worn and spent goddess. The Daemon held her, focusing all his vast powers to the sole effort of stopping her own. Weakened as she was, Serenity could only watch as the Nightmare rose.

Without her powers, Serenity could do nothing to counter the dark magicks assailing her. A spirit can not be killed, but they can be cut and divided, split into their constituent parts.

Six stones of granite were torn from the ground and placed at her hooves. Vessels to contain her, to all but remove her from the world. Her spirit was torn asunder and locked away within the crystals hidden inside the stone.

In her last moments, as the final piece of her soul was being rent from her very being, Serenity turned to her betrayer and smiled.