My world was black. The moment my eyes became stone the entire world became a black void. Not unlike when Erica and I first arrived in the void, before we travelled through to Equestria. Just replace white with black. But that wasn’t the strangest thing. For some reason I could still hear, but the sounds around me weren’t the only thing I could hear. I could hear Erica’s thoughts and she could hear mine, but hers weren’t the only thoughts I could hear. There was a whispering, something was speaking, shouting really. I couldn’t understand it however, it was much too far away. My guess is that it was Discord inside his stone prison.

So my world became those sounds. First the sounds of Celestia apologising to us and then the shouts of her guards as they prepared to take us… somewhere. We heard our stone prisons being lifted, a faint whispering that sounded like Celestia’s thoughts but in a language I couldn’t hope to understand. The whispering thoughts surrounded us completely as we were lifted and when she let go the thoughts disappeared with them. I think it was the way her magic was working, like she was thinking exactly how she moved us and that’s what we could hear. Even know though the moment she let go I can’t remember what her thoughts were, as if they are beyond the capability of what a human mind can comprehend.

Erica is screaming, begging to be let go and I try to calm her but her distress is absolute. Nothing I think is reaching her, but I keep trying. If there is anyone who can understand how she is feeling it is me and I can’t leave her alone in her distress.

We are moving now, I can hear the wing beats of the pegasi carrying us and I can hear the air rushing as we move through the air. To me it’s calming and I try to send those thoughts through to Erica but I don’t think she can even hear them. Little by little the other voice is getting louder, obviously Celestia decided the castle was a good place to hold Discord. I don’t doubt that this world will follow the one we know and she will take him with her when she builds Canterlot.

Canterlot? Where is that my new friend? A voice whispers in my ear faintly.

Discord? Erica and I both thought, the voice as small as it was had broken through her shell of distress.

Yes it is I. Discord, the Lord of Chaos. And I must say in these past two years you have been able to cause such a great amount of chaos. I could feel it even here in my stone prison. I bet if you would have been allowed to continue I might have been released. Discord whispered further, getting slightly louder with each moment. But I can tell there will still be more. I bet little Lulu won’t be very happy about what happened here. I’m sure she will be possibly livid with dear Tia.

I could hear the laughter in his voice already. Soon it would be a powerful chorus as each moment we became closer and closer to our cellmate.

Discord! Can you get us out of here? Erica yelled in her thoughts.

Dear sweet Lucy, or is it Erica? I can’t tell with such a jumble of personalities in both of your heads. I’m terribly sorry but I have no more power in here than you do. If I was out it would be a snap I could practically hear the sound in my head. But as it is we will have to suffer the years together. Don’t worry though, I’m sure we will be ggrrreeeaaatttt friends.

I could hear Erica crying inside her mind, great sobs that her body was unable to create instead echoed from her thoughts. I went back to trying to console her even as Discord continued.

I must say though Shaun, your mind is so interesting. I can hear echoes of four minds in there. How is it that one brain can hold four minds? Surely it must drive you mad? Desmond, Ezio and Altair. Somehow you hold all these minds in perfect chaos behind Shaun and with so many restrained memories. You’ve only scratched the surface when creating your brotherhood. Ohh we are going to have so much fun you and I. But for now I will rest, bubye. I could hear Discord laugh as his thoughts slowly went quiet, then disappeared.

What did he mean Shaun? Erica whispered.

Our characters, they are a part of us. These bodies are not our own, apart from our faces, kinda. If we can believe Discord, we control the minds but the characters work in our subconscious. I thought, unsure of how true it is.

Erica went quiet as we started to slow down, the air we could hear moving past was getting quieter and the pegasi slowed their wingbeats. Then with a thump we landed, presumably at the castle. The moment we landed the unexpected happened and a loud voice broke through the air.

“SISTER!” We heard Luna scream in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “HOW DARE THEE DO THIS TO OUR FRIENDS!”

“Luna please calm down, I had to do this. They were training killers and murdering our ponies. Everypony was terrified.” Celestia said.

“NO! They were trying to make the world better! We know thee did not agree with their methods but they were working for the betterment of everypony in Equestria. Thee heard of their creed and how they would not harm the innocent.” Luna said. I think she may have been right next to me from how loud she was, even with the Royal Canterlot Voice turned off.

“It matters not Luna. You heard what we were told, letting them roam free would only bring chaos. I couldn’t let them risk weakening Discord’s prison.”

“Thou lie, dear sister. And thee do not even know it. Spewing the words of that fool will only cause thine downfall. We-We need to be alone and please, do not follow us.” Luna finished before we heard loud wingbeats as she flew away.

Once again we were surrounded in the thoughts of Celestia’s magic as we were levitated to a new destination. A garden or courtyard if the sounds of birds and wind through trees was any indication. There we sat, knowing that long years were before us.

But we would not be alone, every few days Luna would visit and speak to us. She would apologise for her sister’s actions and beg for our forgiveness. Erica would always answer, no matter how many times she came but after a year I stopped. It hurt too much to know how much pain we had caused the moon diarch. There was another also, it wasn’t Celestia, she couldn’t bare to face us. This one would walk by, stop for just a moment and then leave without ever saying a word. Each time the stranger would come I would ask who he was, why he continued to visit but of course he could never hear me. No one but Erica and Discord could ever hear me and they were always around, even if I could not always hear them.

Discord would constantly tempt us with knowledge, things held within the minds of our characters, but those memories were of no consequence to us. Many of them we already knew and others were unimportant to us. But he would continue, probably for no other reason than he was bored and he enjoyed having someone’s mind to play with.

I began to lose track of the days after a few years. After so much time it had started to lose importance. Being aware had become a curse, we were trapped inside ours and each other’s minds for years with nothing to break the monotony other than the occasional visitor.

That all changed however one day. On this Luna came but something was different, I knew the sound she made when she walked. I even knew the difference made when she came in her armor, this day however it didn’t sound like the approach of the Luna I knew. The shift of fabric, the muted clatter of weapons and the light step she made on the ground spoke to a different Luna. She stepped in between Erica and mines stone prisons and spoke.

“Grandmasters, I stand before you today not as Luna, Mistress of the Moon. These past years I have been trained in secret amongst those you left behind. Trained to move in silence and to strike from the shadows. I have become a blade in your name, one that is respected by her peers. Furthermore, I have been asked to lead my own forces against my sister. A duty that leaves me with a heavy heart, but I know that I must shoulder this burden. She has become a danger to our brotherhood, leading our country with force instead of compassion and must be stopped. So I stand here before you now and declare that Luna is no more, standing in her place is a name that will strike fear into her Templars and the one that guides her. I am now Nightmare Moon.”

With said she flew away, her wings beating almost silently through the air.

Erica and I stood in silence, neither wanting our thoughts to be heard. Until I broke it.

Did we? I thought.

Uh huh Erica replied quietly.

Shit, really? We created Nightmare Moon?

Ohh this is hilarious. Discord laughed. I mean I saw Nightmare Moon in your memories but I can’t believe that you guys actually created her. Nice work.

Shut up Discord! Erica and I yelled in our minds.

Ohh no, I’m going to tease you guys with this for years.

Erica and I could only groan, knowing that it would be a LONG time before Discord would stop with this.

The years passed on and Nightmare Moon was defeated, sealed in her moon by the Elements of Harmony. Celestia out of grief built Canterlot so she wouldn’t have to live in a castle full of memories of her and her sister and time went on. What we didn’t expect however was that while Discord was in fact moved from the castle we were not. Celestia for the first time came to our garden and spoke to us.

“I know that it was my actions that created Nightmare Moon, but it was your teachings that allowed her to gain so much power and so many followers. I cannot allow my citizens to be poisoned any more than they already are by your influence. So I will be leaving you here, to be forgotten. Order must prevail in the new world I am building and your creed will jeopardise it. I am sorry my old friends, but this is goodbye.”

With those final words she left and we were alone, truly alone.

Hey, hey Lucy. I thought at my best friend.

What Shaun? And it’s Erica, remember? She thought back with a hint of annoyance that I promptly ignored.

Eh, names don’t really matter at this point. Do you remember that time we were playing games on the work computers and they caught us so we had to escape Abstergo with me in the boot of your car?

Shaun, try to keep your memories in check please. That first part was us but the rest was Lucy and Desmond.

Whatever it sounds cooler like this.

I tried to act flippant but this had happened more often over the years than I would like to admit. My memories were becoming to warp from the amount of years we had remained alive inside out stony prisons. Sometimes I couldn’t even keep track of my name and Lucy’s, I mean Erica’s. At this point was I really Shaun anymore? I have spent untold years going over the memories of all the minds in my head. Somedays I would prefer to be Ezio, or Desmond, or Altair because it meant I didn’t have to be Shaun. The weak man that barely held together a life back on Earth. Over the years it just seemed easier to be someone else and so that’s what I became, but it wasn’t a perfect process. The memories were all mixed together, one flowing to the next with me playing the role of whoever was remembering themselves. I watched as Ezio while with family was murdered by Templars, I struck down corrupt leader after corrupt leader as Altair and I saved the planet as Desmond Miles. All of them men were far stronger than me and I wanted more than anything to become them, so in small parts I did.

Erica, I’m sorry for being so difficult. I know it can’t be easy talking to me when I could be someone else at any given moment. I thought to her apologetically.[/]

It’s ok Shaun, I know it would have to be hard. It’s hard for me sometimes not to let Lucy overwhelm me and you have three times that problem.

That’s something I have actually been thinking about. I’m not really Shaun anymore and I’m not really any of the other guys either. I think I should pick a new name, a name that represents who I’m going to become, not who I was.

At those words Erica was silent. I’m not sure how long she stood there, considering my words but when she finally got back to me her answer was not what I was expecting. Especially considering how often she had told me to come back to being Shaun.

You-You’re right Shaun, and honestly even though I wouldn’t admit it myself before I’ve been thinking the same thing. I’m not really Erica anymore, but I’m not Lucy either. I’m both and to go by one name just doesn’t feel right.

I sat there in silence again, considering what had been said. A name, it has to be special. Something that says what I want to become, something that speaks to who I was and who I will turn into.

Should be pick something together? God knows we have spent enough time together already. I thought to Erica.

Yeah! I used to spend a way too much time on Wikipedia looked at crap. At least now I could say that was time well spent. She thought back, suddenly sounding a lot more excited than I had heard in a long time. Ooh, we should be Keres and Thanatos, spirits of death, or, or maybe Jupiter and Shiva, gods of Judgement.

I laughed in my thoughts at Lucy Erica’s excited manner and the names she had picked.

Wouldn’t it seem a bit egotistical picking the name of powerful spirits and gods? Even if no one here would know what they mean. I thought to her.

I guess but who else would ever get the chance to walk around calling themselves the name of gods, and it’s not like we think we are anyway.

It still doesn’t sounds right to me.

Ohh alright. She huffed. Well how about Ashur for you and Aurora for me? They both mean new beginnings or something.

I stopped for a second and thought about it. We may be stuck in stone but being here, being in Equestria was a fresh start at life and even more so if we ever get out of these damn prisons. Maybe Discord will even let us out when he breaks out. We can start a new life as new people.

Inside my mind I smiled before answering. I actually like that.

Seriously? I thought you would think that was cheesy.

I probably should but it’s true. We have a new chance at life, one in a new world without all the crap we had to deal with back home. And if we ever get out of this stone we can actually do that.

Huh, you’re actually right for once. Aurora, Aurora, yeah I think I do like it. She thought slowly, testing the name before agreeing.

After that the maelstrom of identities became a little easier to deal with, the parts of who we were stopped fighting for dominance and started to piece together into the sum of a new whole. No longer were we Erica and Lucy or Shaun, Desmond, Ezio and Altair. We were Ashur and Aurora, new beings created from a sum of our parts. We still sometimes called each other by the wrong names but after several lifetimes it was sometimes difficult to break old habits.

With a new mindset, one born of hope we waited. We waited for the day we would finally be free.

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter done.
For some reason I started rereading a webcomic I used to read years ago and everytime I tried to stop reading I nearly had a panic attack wondering what was going to happen next.

Anyway... I finished reading it and then got this written in like 4 hours.
Hope y'all enjoy it.