There have been many myths and tales of ancient times, and many stories of the founding of our great land, but none that can amount to the Legend that is the alicorn. The greatest legend that has long since been whispered and shared over the fields and plains, each version distorting the truth of what it had first meant to be an alicorn, or more commonly known back then as a Half-breed.
Alicorns meant hardly anything to a world full of disputes and misdirections, even if it was them that were born to strike down the evil and control the very things that were foreseen as uncontrollable. But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? What’s the use of being a storyteller if you tell the end before telling the actual story? With that I take you back to the tale that time forgot: The Legend of Escalabray.
Helios Moon awoke to the sound of hooves banging on the roof above him. Every morning he would go through the same rigmarole: angry ponies would tend to the farmland and he would have to sit and listen to them stomping above his house all day. He supposed that was to be a big downside to living underground in a tiny enclosed space, well that and the fact that this space was so tiny that there was never truly enough space to wander about. But the simple truth is that he had to live away from everypony else, away from those that would only seek to lock him in their powerful magic for eternity.
It had never been seen before: a pegasus child born with the power of a unicorn's horn, or a unicorn child born with the wings of a flier. It was simply unheard of, it was chaos, it was discord. Any creature (such as he) that was born different to the other pony colonies was discord. There could be no other explanation for the matter. And all of those different beasts must be destroyed before they could have the chance to wreak havoc on their land which had not been discovered too long ago. So Helios hid, far away from the prying pony eyes and their deceitful dragon neighbours. He hid, yes, but he never felt like hiding. He knew his destiny was far more than just a giant hole in the ground. The Kingdom could be so much more than just this cynical paradise that he had known for so long.
For even before when he had lived above ground within that small cottage that his Nanny had dared to call ‘home,’ he had felt that something was being hidden from him that could never be told. Having to move under the Earth’s surface only made that feeling strengthen even more so. This life was just not right .This life was wrong no matter what type of creature you were, whether discord or not. His underground hovel could be described as quaint by a mole or a worm; indeed, they would probably relish in the idea of living in such a fine establishment, but Helios was a pony no matter what the other ponies categorised him as. He was a pony and he was proud to be so. And yet here he was living this life under compacted dirt and humus; not a life fit for anypony at all.
The cupboards in his hovel were bare of any food or drink, as they had been for many days now. Helios had not dared to step outside his area and go to find more. Usually he would rely very much on the vegetables that the farmers tended to above him; although he was against to the prospect of thievery and underhand behaviour towards other ponies, it was necessary for him to do this. It was, after all, the only thing he could do to make sure he did not starve. As desperate as he was, he never took more than was needed to satisfy his barest minimal requirements. He took no more and no less food than what was needed for him to survive.
Recently, however, he had not found any opportunity with which to leave in safety, for the ponies had become more wakeful than they had ever been previously in their searches for the food thief. In one of his last expeditions he was in worry that the young filly of the family had spotted him out of her bedroom window and he held onto the fear that one day they may find him in his squalid little lair and get rid of him once and for all. He had managed to gather enough supplies to last a couple of days, but food had fast run out and soon he felt the cravings that came along with these constant hunger pains. Yet he could still only sit and wait until the moment where it would be safe to gather some more, and wait he had to do. It had soon began to to feel like one of the worst decisions he had ever made. He was starving, but he could not leave safely until the Equestrian Search was over.
It had begun a few days hence, this great almighty search of the land. Once the Princess of the Unicorns had passed away and the two remaining leaders had become too weak to carry on negotiating terms on which the land could remain in peace, their chosen heirs had been placed in charge of Equestria. Unfortunately Princess Platinum’s cousin, Evergreen, had taken over the position of the leader of all the Unicorns. Evergreen had always had a problem, in that she had always had a burning hatred of all creatures that were unlike herself: Manticores, Dragons, Cockatrices, Ursa’s, and even ponies like Helios were not suitable to run free in any land that she, Evergreen, herself would reside.
The two other heirs: Eclipse and Torrent, were far too reluctant to rule the land in the first place; neither had the courage or determination to stand up to the prissy Princess and so both became pawns in the dictatorship of this dark mare. The dungeons had become both of their new home, and neither could escape no matter how hard they would try. For that was Evergreen’s greatest weapon against her new subjects, she had a dungeon and she was not afraid to lock you in it until the day you die , and the sad thing is if Evergreen felt you were taking too long to do so she would see to it that they found a way to hasten your eventual demise. Eclipse and Torrent had most likely only a few weeks left before the new Princess would find them extremely indispensable.
The dungeon was the place that Evergreen would deal with the ponies that she most despised, which basically accounted for any of the ponies that she had felt has done wrong to her in anyway; sadly this included her own serving maid who had simply chosen the wrong shade of eyeshadow for ‘her royal lids’. The other creatures, on the other hand, were not even considered good enough to be locked in the dismal cells; a much worse fate was concocted especially for them.
Evergreen had decided that anything that did not meet her new ideal was to be thrown into the deepest depths of the darkest place known to ponykind: the Neverfree Forest. It was said that this forest was the one place in the whole of Equestria where happiness could not be found and dread was the one and only ruler. A perfect place for all monsters like Helios.
Helios shuddered at the thought of the beastly place. He had lived in Equestria for far too long to even consider going inside the Neverfree; which is the reason why he preferred to be hidden rather than to go outside like he often felt he wanted to do. It was too risky, especially now that everypony was searching for the deformed beasts that they had identified him with. Indeed there were many tales that everypony had grown up hearing on dark nights sitting around a campfire. The tale of the Neverfree was far more terrifying than any other tale that had been whispered to young foals and ponies; nopony would even dare to go astray around the entrance of the trees and as far as Helios had ever known: everypony that went in had never come out again.
The hoofbeats started up again on the surface, becoming more and more prominent the more they checked over their property. It was time for them to work on their land as usual and yet still the angry ponies carried on charging over the farmland looking for any sign of discords that could be lurking nearby. The compounded dirt crumbled underneath the force of their hunt sending large clods of earth falling down onto the cave’s carefully carved table and chair, breaking and tarnishing them in the process. More mud toppled down into the tiny room, more mud than Helios had seen previously fall down. He slunk back against the wall trying to avoid gaining any injuries from the mudslide.
He had had mudslides before, he was used to some of the dry earth collapsing in on itself but never to the extent that he felt in fear of being buried alive. He did not enjoy the prospect of dying before his time at all. He hadn’t accomplished anything of what he had hoped. Hopefully the earth would stop falling and he could survive this ordeal; at least that is what he prayed could happen.
Cracks opened along the walls as the thundering hooves above grew louder and louder, feeling closer and closer to his home than ever before. The mud carried on falling down whilst he shaded his eyes from the light that was now flooding into the cave. He had not seen such bright light in such a long time, it was startling to his senses. He stood, blinking back the constant rays hitting his corneas. Even before he had had time to fully adjust to the brightness of the sun's beams, ponies jumped down onto him; knocking him to the floor as they tightened shackles to his front hooves and knocked him over the head with a blunt stick. The room went dark. He had finally been found.
It didn’t seem long before he awoke for the second time that day; still hearing the angry hoof steps of working ponies, except this time they stood around him in a circle rather than above. He stared around at his captors but they would not stare back at him; their gaze fixed blankly on the direction they were walking in. They all looked so dismal, almost like they were the prisoners and not him. If anypony should have looked upset it was the pony they had captured and yet he did not feel sorrow, he just felt sorry for the very ponies that had trapped him and knocked him out.
A large pony at the front pulled at the rope which was dragging the young half-breed along. He grunted at the heavy weight that he had been forced to shift, not enjoying the experience of his day as a pack mule. The red stallion took extreme pride in the way that he looked but now he had completely ruined any sense of style he had once possessed. So much for finally managing to get the mare he loved to marry him, he had no chance with his new bedraggled look.
A mare bounced beside him wearing a strange mystic cloak. She ruffled the stallion's mane, smiling brightly at his dismal countenance. He shrugged and flicked his tail into the young mares face, causing her to flinch and back away slightly; it was quite clear that this young unicorn was not exactly popular with the other workers, and yet they still seemed to acknowledge the lavender unicorn in whatever antic she was doing.She happily ambled around the pack of ponies, not caring much about their obvious annoyance in her presence. This was very boring for her when nopony would talk.
She stared around the large procession, seeking out somepony that she could actually talk to without getting looks of disdain or a flick in the face; her eyes rested on Helios. Helios, without him noticing it, had been spending an awful lot of time staring at this young bouncing mare; so now that he could actually see her moving towards him he quickly changed his gaze onto somepony else.
“You don’t need to do that. I saw you staring at me.” The lavender unicorn stared into the half-breed’s eyes, laughing at his hesitance. “You don’t need to fear prisoner, I’m not here to hurt you.”
Helios turned fully, braving a small glance in the young unicorn’s direction; she smiled and clapped her two front hooves together, proud that she had managed to encourage the colt to look at her. Now that Helios could see her up close she seemed far more powerful than he had thought at first glance. Her cloak was quite clearly one made with the finest threads that could be found in Equestria, and even her hair was styled in the most beautiful way possible. She was indeed a wealthy mare it seemed. He opened his mouth to ask her about her position here but the unicorn beat him to his question.
“I’m Marelin, adviser in training to the new Princess. And you are?”
“Erm...Helios Moon. They call me Helios Moon.”
“That’s a very pretty name.” The unicorn sighed to herself. “I wish that I could be like you, you know?”
Helios stared, puzzled at the mares last statement. He could not see how she would ever want to be like him; he was locked in shackles and being dragged along the floor, and he was a half-breed: the one thing that nopony in their right mind would ever wish to be, a monster. Marelin saw the look on his face.
“I mean that you’re not tied down with having to work with somepony you don’t like. Once you go into the woods then you’re free from anypony like the Princess, and I’m stuck...Stuck as her magical servant forever.”
Again Marelin sighed, Helios could understand how she must feel; she felt trapped within the society, much like he had always felt trapped inside the depths of the underground. It wasn’t nice to feel trapped inside of somewhere with no way out and nowhere to go...no-pony to run to. He supposed that was the way that all creatures had to be, yet he just couldn’t understand why. For as long as he could remember he had been told that the world saw one thing as this, and saw another thing as that; nopony could ever truly decide for themselves what they were born to do, you were born to be afraid of everything. He drifted back to the ancient tales he had heard as a foal.
A sudden jerk on the rope made Helios take notice of his surroundings again. The Neverfree Forest stood in front of them, leering over everypony with weeping trees and painful cries of everypony that had dared wander into the forest before them. It wasn’t called the ‘Neverfree’ for nothing, and Helios was about to learn that the hard way. A large shove came from behind as a guard pushed Helios towards a heavy piece of stone which stuck out at an angle from the ground . The rope was untied by the unruly stallion and an older guard released him from his shackles. The guard then proceeded to kneel over the trapped pony, looking into his terrified eyes as he made a farmhand give him his sword from his armour. Marelin looked on, shocked about what appeared to be happening in front of her. She dashed in front of the half-breed just as the old guard lifted his sword to strike downwards.
“What do you think you are doing?” she yelled into his face. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”
“No missy...Queen gave me direct orders that a half-breed could not be allowed to live anywhere.”
“Well then don’t listen to her. It’s not fair.” Marelin desperately beseeched to the stallion’s good side; hoping that he could reconsider his actions before he did something he may come to regret.
“Rules is rules, and there’s no use fighting against ‘em missy. You could do with learning that ya’ self.” The guard pushed the startled lavender pony away, lifting his sword once more for a swift attack. He stared down onto the rock where his victim had laid just minutes ago but the young colt was gone.The stallion grunted in defeat, the Queen would not be happy about this. Not happy at all.
A shadow ran through the background heading for the centre of the forest; the furthest point from the ponies that had wanted to destroy him once and for all. Helios couldn’t stop running, he couldn’t let himself be caught any more. If he had to go into the forest he had dreaded all of his life, then so be it; anything was better than being killed by an unruly tyrant such as the Princess.That Princess would be the death of him, which is what she wanted anyway.
He galloped round corners trying to find some form of path that he could use to find his way to...somewhere. Anywhere would do if it was far away from the other ponies. He skimmed past a dark willow, charging so fast through the depressed landscape that his eyes missed a large branch which slid on the floor beneath him. He slammed down onto the floor, his breath shooting into his chest and pain searing across the leg that had been struck. Ugh, why did it hurt so badly? Pain, pain, lots of pain flooded across his newly wounded limb.
He turned over onto his back wheezing in agony as he held his bleeding leg to his stomach. A rustle came from the bush nearest to him, a sign of something moving closer and closer to the petrified pony. He tried to stand and run but only managed to move a foot before limping and collapsing onto the floor again. So this was it, he was finally going to lose his life forever; Evergreen was going to manage to get rid of the ugly spec in her beautiful land.
The rustle came again, much closer than before. Helios closed his eyes awaiting the inevitable to happen. A large knock fell onto his side as some sort of creature fell onto the floor beside him; he dared take a look to see a midnight blue colt lying next to him also holding a bleeding leg where a large thorn seemed to have scraped into one of his veins. Helios watched as the blue pegasus ambled onto his feet, bravely trying to ignore the pain he was feeling at the time. The pegasus seemed to blatantly ignore the other pony lying on the ground; in fact Helios wondered if he had even been noticed at all. He hoped not; ponies didn’t like creatures like him usually.
The other colt dragged his bleeding limb to the bush he had just fallen through, peering into the shadows of the darkness that lay on his old path.
“I had to run you know?” The pegasus turned to Helios with a look of dismay scrawled upon his face Helios had no idea whether he was talking to him or himself; hopefully not him. “I had to run to escape the guards.”
Helios opened his mouth to answer but not a word came through into the air; pain shot up from his leg causing him to grope down and hold the cut tighter It hurt so much. Why did it hurt so much? The Pegasus noted the half-breeds face, and pulled some leaves from out of a plant nearby and quickly gave them to Helios to put over the top of the deep cut. Helios looked perplexed. He didn’t know whether he could trust this strange liar, and he didn’t want to end up dead in the gutter from plant poisoning. The pegasus saw the terror written onto the white colt’s face, he smiled despite the pain he too was feeling.
“They’re Medicinal Mayflowers, they help heal cuts and wounds that you have on your body. I use it all the time when I hurt myself in jousts.”
Helios reached down and wrapped the shimmering silver leaf over the small wound, avoiding touching it properly with his hoof; he did not want to encourage more pain to run up over his body. The leaf surrounded his leg with a warm glow, dancing above the surface of the deep gash which burned into his limb; the pegasus was also getting the same show of light where he had placed some of the leaves over his own injury. The two ponies watched the pirouetting shades of colour twirl above them in awe. Warmth spread through their veins, welding the cuts together so that the blood could no longer pour.
Helios looked downwards, watching the path of light flow over him and away into the sun’s beams above. He carefully lifted the leaf off of his side and stared aghast at his newly repaired leg.But he had been injured hadn’t he? What had happened? How did it happen? It was extraordinary. The pegasus grinned at Helios’s amazement and sat down beside him on the floor.
“You’ve never been inside of the Neverfree before, have you?”
Helios shook his head, peering up at the strange pegasus colt. Nopony ever came into the forest, not without willing to become stuck in this horrible place...but...The other pony noticed his look of confusion.
“I’m Lotto Lancer by the way; a knight in the royal Pegasus army. Well at least I will be when I finish my training.” The pegasus shuffled to the left and stared into the dark trees in front of them. “I’ve been coming in here for a while now; I practice my fighting skills in here, you see. I’ve never been in this part of the forest though.” Lotto scratched his forehead trying to see if he could spot where he had entered from. Helios blinked and stared towards the young midnight colt.
“Why did you come this way if you didn’t know the way out?”
Lotto’s eyes swiftly surveyed the surrounding area; he leaned in close to Helios, barely even whispering his answer.
“I felt a presence. Someone or something was following me; I know it. If that stuck up unicorn Princess, or whatever she calls herself now, found me here I wouldn’t be able to carry on with my training. You can never be too careful around Equestria anymore.”
Helios nodded. Every word that Lotto had said had reined true for him as well, nopony was safe in Equestria anymore. Not even the guards and advisors were safe from Evergreen’s rath. She had to control everything, she had to be in charge, and she had to dictate everything that was done in her kingdom. Nopony could argue with her decisions without being locked in the dungeons with everypony else that could get in her way.
Lotto Lancer didn’t seem like the sort of pony who could be controlled, he was free to go wherever he wished; just as the pony Marelin had seemed to be with the guard ponies, and yet here was both of them admitting to feeling trapped within the society that had been created by the new ruler. Helios felt more sorry for them than he had ever felt for himself. Up until now he had always managed to hide away from the control of others, and he had always complained about it, but these ponies were all trapped with nowhere to hide and no option of where they may go next. It must have been an extremely sad time for them when the old Princess had died and Evergreen had been put in her place.
“Still, no use sitting around here is there?” Lotto gracefully pulled himself back onto his hooves “ We won’t find the way out in this spot will we?... erm...”
“Helios. My name’s Helios Moon.”
“Helios? Nice name.” Lotto bowed slightly to the puzzled half-breed, in mock humour. “Well Helios Moon, what do you say?”
“Say to what?”
“Helping me to find the way out of course...and in return I will...erm...I will” Lotto stopped to think. “Erm...What do you want Helios Moon?”
Helios blushed and turned away from the midnight pony. “I want...well...I want to be free.”
“You want to be free from the forest? Well so do I, so I guess we’re both looking for the same thing.” Lotto smiled to the other pony, not realising that he had completely misunderstood what Helios had been trying to say. Helios opened his mouth to correct him but stopped short when he realised that he could not spoil the happy attitude of Lotto with his selfish wishes. He nodded and both trotted off deeper into the depths of the trees.
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“That is not what I asked for,” the dark ember pony yelled at the guards that stood below her. The guards trembled at the sound of her earth-shattering voice, knowing that if they were not careful with what they said they would be another one of her victims to become eternally locked inside of her dungeons. The deep, dark dungeons of doomed souls, as they chose to call it.
Evergreen grimaced down from her pedestal at the pathetic excuses she had for soldiers. She had only asked them to do one measly little job by destroying the half-breed that had been spotted over in the distant fields. If they couldn’t even get that right what was the point of them? She had had enough of these moaning peasants that begged her to stop capturing the beasts and locking them up in the Neverfree forest. Well, now she wasn’t locking them up, she was getting rid of the horrid creatures once and for all; this half-breed was only the first test of whether it could be done or no; the most important one that had to be rid of. And now, these useless soldiers had failed that test. She glared down at the shaking ponies, thinking of what way she could possibly make them pay for what they had done.
“Please m’lady,” the old guard in the centre shuddered as her gaze fell onto him. “We was following your orders m’lady, but that young missy got in the way and then the half-breed got away.”
“Missy? What missy?”
“The odd one in the cloak m’lady.” The guard bowed his head, worried about what the Princess may do to him for speaking out of turn. Evergreen walked down the steps of her throne and glided to the door of the room.
“That foalish unicorn which my cousin’s advisor chose as her heir? I knew that she would be trouble if I let her out of the palace.” Evergreen stopped at the door and turned towards the worried guards. “Find her! Find Marelin, bring her back here and lock her in her room until I get around to seeing her. Do you understand that you nitwits?”
The soldiers all nodded, relieved that they had been given a second chance to not become trapped in the prison cells. The eldest guard led the way as they each grabbed their weapons and hastily hurried through the door beside them. They had been given a second chance and they had to abide by it this time, or else. Evergreen chuckled to herself. Finally everything was going to go her way, and nopony could stop her. She was the Princess, and she was going to rule ‘till death did us part.
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“I’m sure this must be the right way.” Lotto marched on through the forest with Helios following him close behind. They had been wandering around for quite a while now and they still hadn’t managed to locate the exit to the forest. The Neverfree was living up to its name alright, at this point Helios felt like he was never going to be free from this dank, depressing wood.
“We could go this way,” Lotto mumbled to himself as he searched for a path they could take. “Or maybe this way...but that would probably lead us even further into the woods..erm..” Lotto froze to the spot, leaving Helios to walk straight into him without realising that he had stopped.
“W..w..what?” Helios stuttered. Lotto put his hoof to his lips, signalling his fellow traveller to be quiet. He had heard a very faint sound from not so far away from where he and Helios were standing. Either the Princess had sent some guards into the wood to search for something (which would result in him being found) or some kind of dangerous creature had followed their scent to this spot (which could result in being eaten; a prospect that he did not wish to come true).
A twig cracked at their side and both of the ponies jumped. Helios flinched, worried that the guards could perhaps had come to finish off what they had started with him earlier. Lotto couldn’t just let an innocent pony feel so much fear, and he realised that Helios was very much afraid at that moment. He slowly grabbed a large stone from the ground and lifted it up into the air. Another crunch came on the floor from the opposite direction; then another one cracked at a side parallel to the latter. Lotto tried to follow the sounds but could only just make out one stalking on his left side. Without another thought about it he threw his stone in the direction of where the last sound had come from.
“OW!” a high pitched squeal echoed through the trees. Helios shot behind Lotto, terrified. A violet head peered through the bush, rubbing its mane with its hoof.
“What did you do that for?”
“Marelin?” Helios stepped forwards towards the young mare, stunned at how she had come to be there. Marelin smiled to the recognizable face of the prisoner she had tried so valiantly to save not too long ago. Lotto, realising that this was not a pony who was going to try and hurt them in any way, turned scarlet in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry Miss. I thought that you...well, I thought that you...”
“You thought I was a big scary monster coming to eat you.”
Helios chuckled as Lotto’s cheeks became more and more red. Marelin sure did like to joke around.
“Something like that,” he admitted. Marelin grinned and bounced up to the young pegasus, ruffling his mane with her hoof.
“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Lotto’s eyebrow rose as he shook his head in bewilderment. “Well, no, I never expected you would be able to; but you do realise it’s not very nice to circle somepony like they are your prey?”
“Circle? What do you mean? I was only on that side.”
The three ponies stared at each other as the realisation hit them. If Marelin had only been on one side...then who or what had been crunching on the other side? Helios shook as he moved backwards away from the trees, Lotto hastily scanned his eyes over the ground trying to find another rock with which he could throw, and Marelin gathered up as much energy as she could into her horn ready to strike down any creature that would attack her new friends. The trees whispered in the breeze, providing the only sound that could be heard in the silent wood. Lotto gulped and began to move forwards towards the plant life at their side. He separated a bush and stepped inside the thorny branches, carefully pacing himself so that he did not startle the creature.
He stared into the small clearing in front of him, spotting a shadow sitting on a large rock nearby. The shadow quickly turned its head, jumped to its feet, and aimed towards the opposite side of the space; away from Lotto’s search. Lotto ran as fast as he could, following the shadow whatever twists and turns it took. He narrowly avoided trees and stumps that blocked his path, still following this lonely shadow.
The shadow charged through a large crop of flowers, stumbling over a pebble as it did. A steep drop appeared by its side as it ran. Lotto began to run quicker, trying to catch the falling shadow before it tumbled too far off the edge of the drop. Unfortunately he made it there just in time to grab the shadows hoof and fall down the steep incline with it. Hit after hit appeared on Lotto’s side as he fell; each one making him groan in pain more than the last. This was now the second time today that he had somehow managed to injure himself. A very unlucky day for him.
Helios kept his eyes on the bush that Lotto had walked through, crossing his hooves that Lotto was okay. He had only just met this nice trainee, he didn’t want to lose him now. Especially since Lotto seemed like the only pony that had ever been inside the Neverfree before and survived.
A large thud came from a few feet away and a small mare appeared on the floor in a huddle. Helios twisted his head around just in time to see Lotto also shoot downwards and collapse onto the mare's back . The mare screamed and fell flat onto her face. Lotto rolled onto his side, still groaning because of the many bruises he had just gained from the fall.
The mare shook herself and stood up onto the spot, wiping herself down with her front hoof. Her blonde mane fell down around her shoulders as she flicked her fringe away from her large blue eyes. Helios’s jaw dropped. Why she was... she was beautiful. The most beautiful creature that Helios had ever seen in his life, and that was saying something for the underground dweller; he was so used to seeing things with an unappetizing look that you’d have thought that everything would look beautiful to him up here...But she was just amazing.
She gasped as she saw Lotto on the ground next to her.
“Oh my, are you alright?” Her voice soothed Lotto, and his bruises did not seem to cause him as much pain as they had previously. He turned over and shot up to his hooves, bowing to the radiant creature that he had been chasing. He felt so embarrassed about what he had done; he would have never done it if he had realised what a beauty he had been following. The mare smiled at both of the scarlet cheeked colts, giggling at how nervous they seemed to have become in her presence.
“Who are you?” Marelin stepped up to the new earth pony that had fallen before them. She didn’t trust her at all; though she didn’t know why. The blonde mare looked startled at the sudden entrance of another mare; she had not even been aware that there was another female around, let alone one travelling with the blushing colts.
“Are you deaf? Who are you?” Marelin grew agitated at the lack of an answer from the new pony. The earth pony could easily spot the agitation that came from the unicorn’s tone of voice; she had been well used to ponies speaking to her with that tone and she had never liked it, but had dealt with it in a polite manner. She curtsied to the crowd.
“They call me Grain.” She thought for a second. “Grainavere.”
“Grain-avere?” Marelin asked, not believing her for a second. It seemed strange to Grain that this mare could change her emotions so quickly; this was not often done by the ponies that lived down her way. Grain tried to think of the best way she could possibly explain why she was called by such a peculiar name...without being instantly called a liar.
“..Erm...well, I’m a daughter of a famous Lord and Lady.” Yes, that sounded kind of plausible. “They had to call me by something peculiar in order for me to stand out amongst the other upper-class ponies that wandered around the balls and galas.” Her eyes shifted from left to right; Marelin spotted the mare’s obvious lie straight away. She was no fool.
“You’re...”
“Amazing,” the two colts chorused together, finishing Marelin’s sentence with a word that she was not planning to use, though she had plenty of other words she had planned to use instead. The unicorn glared at the two colts, not liking the attention they appeared to be giving this other mare. She had been with them first; so it was only fair that she should not be ignored by her friends.
Grain laughed at the sight of the love struck colts.She loved the attention she was getting.
“Well I guess I’ll be on my way then.”
Lotto snapped out of his daydream and grabbed hold of the blonde mare’s hoof before she could walk away. He couldn’t let her leave and become lost in the wilderness all alone with nopony to protect her; not this innocent little flower. Marelin watched with disdain.
“Wait,” he said gently, “why not come with us? We are searching for a way out and...you’d be a perfect member of our little team here.”
Grain sighed and turned away from him, pulling away her hoof from his caring grasp. Her mind ran back through all of the things she should have been doing, should have done, and should have been there for. It was daunting to think about.
“I couldn’t.” She stepped forward away from the small crowd behind her. Helios followed and moved up to her side; she turned to look at him.
“Please,” he begged. His eyes sparkled through the night and into hers. She stopped and smiled at his eager young face yearning for her to be able to feel that way as well. She couldn’t see how she could go with these ponies, they were so kind and she was..well, that she couldn’t say; she had never known truly what she was, and she had never believed other ponies when they had told her. She was an enigma that would never belong. Yet here this colt was, this half-breed, wanting her by his side. She couldn’t deny the kind pony, she couldn’t deny him his helping her.
“I guess...I may be able to come with you.”
“Great,” Lotto said with a grin, grabbing hold of Grain’s hoof once more and escorting her away from Helios. Grain looked back at the young half-breed, half yearning to go back and walk with him, to talk with him and fall into his dreamy eyes once more, but to her dismay it was Marelin instead that went up to the colt and began strolling along with him. Grain sadly turned away and instead looked up to see the charming smile of Lotto facing her. ‘He is sweet,’ she thought, ‘but almost too good to be true in some way.’ She heeded to his gentle pull as he took her around the bends and turns that they used in order to find their way through the jungle like vegetation.
Helios watched the beautiful pony from behind; only acknowledging what Marelin was saying with a simple nod or a mumble every now and again. Marelin wasn’t stupid, she knew why both the colts were fawning after this other mare. She may like to talk and play about but that didn’t mean she was stupid; in fact far from it. She had been hoof picked by Clover the Clever (student of the great and mighty Starswhirl the Bearded) to be the next Unicorn advisor and this meant that Clover had chosen her because she was the most powerful unicorn outside of the royal family. This was a great honour indeed, and one not bestowed onto many ponies in the kingdom. Clover had trusted her, yet nopony else ever seemed to.
Every other pony Marelin had ever known in her life had resented her for her chatty ways; ignored her when she had tried to cheer them up and overall did everything they could have thought of to avoid her. After many years of this Marelin had quite given up on thinking that she could ever be the right pony to make friends and be a great and powerful unicorn like all of her predecessors. It was clear that she was not right for the job, yet the Princess Evergreen had followed on with what Clover had said and let her carry on being a trainee advisor. Marelin was quite aware that Evergreen had never liked her, like all of the other ponies she had known, so she was extremely suspicious of why she had been kept on to stand by the new rulers’ side.
Helios gazed adoringly to the pony in front of him whilst Marelin watched his face falling deeper and deeper into a dream. He saw her, the beautiful mare, sitting with him in their old age talking about anything that should pop into their head. It didn’t matter what the subject was, all that mattered is that they were together and nopony could ever tear them apart from their lovers hold. She would sit there talking with her sweet singsong voice, and he would listen to every word; adoration being the only thing that he could ever give to their love...They were in love, and they would be for as long as their life would last.
“I can’t do magic.”
Helios’ dream cracked open as he came back to reality to see a tear fall from Marelin’s eye and onto her silver cloak being pulled behind.
“What do you mean? You’re a unicorn.”
“I know. Not only that but I’m meant to be an all powerful advisor someday.” Another tear fell from her eye, following the same path as the other. “I can’t even do the simple spells without messing it up.”
Helios didn’t know what to say. He had never interacted with a crying pony before and by now Marelin’s face had begun to flood with tears. Helios looked towards Grain and Lotto walking up front, and then back to the distraught pony beside him. He bit his lip in thought before dragging the cloaked mare to one side and sitting her down on some small flowers. He sat down next to her and wrapped his hoof around her shoulders, hugging her close to his chest. The two ponies in front did not seem to notice and carried on walking deeper into the forest, leaving the others behind. Helios didn’t like to see them leave but he also didn’t like to not help a pony in need, especially one who had shown him a kindness like Marelin had.
Helios felt the warm tears flow onto his body and held the crying unicorn even closer. The wind whistled through the plant life that lay around the forest floor, playing a soft soothing tune for the two little ponies. Helios rocked the young mare back and forth, joining in with the wind's song using a slow hum. Soon Marelin had stopped crying and had fallen into the joy of listening to the tune. She listened in peace to the calm melody playing in front of her.
“What is that song?” she asked Helios sitting up and looking towards him.
“It’s not really a song.” He stopped his humming and let the trees perform their overture. “It’s the music of the forest.”
“Music of the forest? But plants and stuff don’t play music, it’s not what they‘re for.” Marelin didn’t get it, her books had never told her more than 'this was this' and 'that was that', nothing had ever said anything different to her until now.
“That’s true, it’s not part of what they are meant to be; yet they still do it,” Helios explained. “It doesn’t matter that they are dictated as to only doing one job, if you look you can see that everything...or everypony...doesn’t always act in the way they are meant to.” Helios hummed again, watching the many creatures scuttle around them, each busily doing their jobs. “And even if they do what they are supposed to it doesn’t mean that they can’t sing at the same time. It may not be their choice what they are outside, but inside, anypony can shine like the sun, moon, or stars.”
Marelin brushed her hoof over the tops of the flowers, feeling their leaves dance as she did so. The willows wept around them crying tears of joy, and even some timberwolves from in the distance could be heard cheerily howling towards their beacon of hope. It all looked gorgeous; even when the sky was turning dark the music did not change, did not miss a note or a beat. Marelin looked towards Helios. He seemed so happy sitting out here, so happy and so different from any other pony she had met in her life.
“So,” she began, “it’s like you then?”
Helios twisted his head around to face hers, tilting his head to the side in question.
“I mean that you’re a half-breed and yet you don’t act like the monster the stories about half-breeds’ would make you out to be.”
Helios stopped and stood up off the floor.
“That’s the problem with me, I’m just a story really. I’ve never been anything more than just a story that lulled foals to sleep...That’s my only destiny.”
Helios tilted his head down, upset at the fact that his life was indeed just a story, and this story could never have a happily ever after. Discords like him were never allowed to live happily. This was the way it had been for many years, and it was not about to change for a young half-breeds’ dreaming.
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The guards shifted through the leafy foliage of the disgusting forest. Sabres and swords sliced through any branch that may stand in their way, or would offer a threat to them. The same treatment happened to any creature who walked across their path, whether big or small they would find themselves thrown to the ground with a weapon to the heart; lives being ripped apart just so that the guards could find the one thing that would save their own lives from the torture of living in Equestria’s prisons.
“Come on stallions, hurry up!” The elder stallion called desperately as he watched his crew peer into all of the hiding spaces they could find. They had been looking for a few hours now and still they had found nothing; not even a clue as to what direction the pony could have headed. The Captain was becoming very desperate to finish with all of this. He hadn’t signed up as a guard in order for him to hunt down his species; he had done it so that he could protect the land and be a hero to his kind. He could not be a hero if he was forced to spend the rest of his life rotting in a cell in the underground.
“Quickly!” The guards pulled apart weeds and flowers, looked into cracks and crevices, searched high and low, but still they could not find their ‘prey’. A loud humming strummed through the air, finding its way to the soldiers’ ears.
“Do you hear that?” one whispered to another.
“I sure do. It’s coming from that direction.” A young green stallion pointed towards a large bush that stood not too far away. Slowly but surely the Captain crept forward with his guards and peered through the fronds of the large shrub. ‘Ah...there was the half-breed, and look, next to him.’
The Captain signalled for two of his guards to sneak around the other way behind the patch of flowers where the two ponies were sitting. The two guards moved swiftly through the undergrowth and disappeared from the Captain’s view for a short while, until reappearing again in the distance.
The Captain leered behind the bush, spying on the show that was happening in front of him. There was no use grabbing the mare while the half-breed sat there with her, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle, and his orders were to get the unicorn; not the half-breed any longer. A moment of opportunity arrived, the half-breed walked forward not looking about what was happening behind him. The two guards jumped out from behind the willow where they had been hidden, covered the mare’s mouth so she could not scream for any help and dragged her away before she had even had a chance to retaliate against them.
The other guards quickly galloped off to meet their comrades and help them with the captive; the Captain watched as the half-breed turned around and looked on with mere confusion. With a satisfied smirk he stood and went back along the path from whence he came.
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Helios was extremely confused. He was sure that Marelin had been sitting right over there; he had not heard her move at all, so where was she now? There didn’t seem to be a soul lying around the area apart from the plants that had to stay rooted to the spot in order to survive.
“Marelin” he cried, hoping to hear a reply come from not too far away. Maybe she had just walked a little further on...to find food perhaps. ‘Oh food sounds nice at the minute. I wonder if she might bring me some as well...No Helios, you’ve got to find her, stop thinking about food.’
“Marelin,” he tried again, only to hear nothing but silence. Even the music that the forest played so happily ceased to exist now. Panic grew inside of his heart. “Marelin...Where are you?”
“Helios.” A call sounded in the distance, and a pounding of running hoof beats could be heard along the floor.
“Marelin, is that you?”
Lotto and Grain ran through into the clearing where the unicorn had been sat before. Helios couldn’t help but look dismayed, even though he should have been happy to see Grain’s starry eyes again.
“What’s wrong Helios? We could hear you calling even from where we were standing.” Lotto moved towards the frightened half-breed, hoping to calm his friend down long enough so that he could explain.
“It’s Marelin.”
“The unicorn?” Grain asked “What about her?”
“She’s gone. She was sat right there and now she’s gone.”
“Well maybe she’s got lost in the trees.” Grain shrugged, half wishing that her idea was true, before vanquishing the mean thought from her body. She wouldn’t wish it on anypony to vanish like that, it’s just cruelty to think it. Lotto immediately tried to take charge of the situation.
“Okay, don’t worry we’ll find her...erm...let’s see,” Lotto pondered for a minute before pointing in a random direction. “I’ll go and look in that direction. Helios you go to the right side and Grain will go to the left. If we split up one of us is bound to find her eventually.”
The other two had no words with which to speak; all they could do was nod before running off in their respective directions to try and find their missing friend.
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“Let me go! Let me go!”
The sound of Marelin’s screams could be heard all over the palace as the guards struggled to carry her up the stairs to her room. She kicked out with her foreleg, striking the nearest soldier right on the forehead and causing him to stumble slightly as he moved. They hurried down the corridor and threw her into the room before she could injure them further. The door was slammed shut on the young mare and the Captain worked with his key to lock the door up tight as fast as possible; there was no way she could escape now. The Princess would be pleased with him.
Marelin banged on the other side of the door, yelling at the top of her voice; she was perfectly happy where she had been in the Neverfree Forest, and to be taken from it without her consent was pure and simple injustice in her view. The guards that had carried her heaved a sigh of relief, she had been heavy to carry for such a small mare; she should consider not eating too many daisies at dinner time.
Evergreen trotted down the hallway as elegantly as possible. The guards noticed her coming and got down onto their knees, avoiding the menacing glare of her ember eyes. She came to a halt just in front of the Captain’s head, holding out her front hoof to kiss, he aptly did so.
“I see you have brought our little pony home.” Evergreen stopped to listen to the pounding beat being punched on the opposite side of the door. “Good. You finally proved yourself useful Captain. I shall spare your trip to the dungeon.”
“Oh, thank you m’lady. Thank you, thank you.” The Captain began to kiss his leader’s hoof many times over, praising her for her forgiveness of his mistake earlier. Evergreen swiped her hoof away from his mouth, waving a servant over to clean his saliva off of her perfectly completed hooficure. She grimaced at the old stallion, bearing down on him with green eyes of discontent.
“You may go; before I change my mind. And that means all of you peasants. Now!”
Her bellow sent an alarm out to all of the ponies standing in the area. Every one of them scurried as fast as they could down the stairs, away from the dictation of the angry Princess. She chuckled to herself. Being in control was indeed, fun. A pity that her cousin had never utilised her full power to its best intent, if she had things would have been much more to Evergreen’s liking around here.
Her eyes turned to the door that Marelin had been locked behind. The unicorn had still not relented from her persistent drumming; somehow this amused Evergreen more.
“There’s no point fighting Marelin, you can’t get out,” she sniggered. The banging on the door stopped and Marelin’s pitiful voice could be heard through the thick wall.
“Evergreen, is that you? Can you please let me out? I don’t like being locked in here.”
“It’s a shame you don’t have a choice in the matter then.” Evergreen strode to the edge of the door and whispered into the lock to taunt the young mare on the other side. “At least not until you have been cured.”
“Cured? But I’m not ill.” Marelin banged on the door again, trying to prove that she could still move quite easily and was not ill in any form or way. Evergreen chuckled again.
“No Marelin. You’re mind had been poisoned by that evil creature, that half-breed.” Evergreen spat onto the floor in disgust; hating the taste of the word she had just uttered.
“But Helios is nice. He’s not evil.”
“You only think that because he has used evil magic to make you believe in him. He was trying to use you to get to me. What? Did you think he actually liked you? You know that the only friend you can trust is me Marelin.” Evergreen began to pace away from the door before turning to say one last word of warning. “And don’t you ever forget that again.”
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The night poured down onto the trees and bushes that Helios was pushing his way through, frantically shifting through giant mud puddles and thorny branches to find his new friend. He had never considered that he could have a friend before, let alone three. He had always been a half-breed ever since he was born; he could barely even remember what his parents looked like. A Nanny had cared for him when he was a small foal, down in a little house far away from the rest of the pony civilisation. Nanny Natty had died many moons ago, and ever since then Helios had moved and hidden inside of his little underground house, far away from those that would only seek to destroy him.
It was bad luck that he had been found, and it was bad luck that he had become lost in the Neverfree, but it seemed to be good luck that he had met so many ponies that didn’t seem to mind what he looked like.
He peered around his shoulder at his wings, spectating on how he had never even managed to fly a few feet in the air without collapsing down onto the floor. Marelin was not alone with thinking that she was not doing what she had been born to do; if Helios had not been a half-breed then he was not sure that he would be able to be just a powerful unicorn, or just a fast flying pegasus. Then again, he would never be one or the other, so it didn’t really matter if he thought about what it would be like.
An owl hooted in the distance, singing along to the wind’s music that had started once more. The smell of perfumed flowers swam through the air and up into Helios’s nostrils; it smelt beautiful in here. All of these scary tales Nanny Natty had told him about the Neverfree were so far proving to be wrong; the Neverfree felt just like any other wood he had come into, except more magical and free.
Grain sat on the branch of the tree, looking down at the white stallion with his blue flowing mane. He seemed so unsure about everything, so sweet and caring to every living thing around him. So different than every other pony she had ever met in her entire abysmal life. She smiled to herself, contemplating on the dream she had dreamt when she had first looked into his dazzling eyes, first heard his caring lilt, and first held his hoof for that one brief moment. Lotto was an extremely sweet colt as well, but he was so like all of the other stallions she had seen in her life, too unreal for her to actually believe that he was ever being sincere. But this half-breed was unreal in the sense that he was the most realistic thing around here, there was not often a time where Grain had had the pleasure of meeting a pony who had felt so real to her. She sighed and lay her head down on the branch; if only she could get the nerve to admit to more things about herself.
Helios stopped with a start, a noise had been alerted to his ears. The tree above him had...sighed? Could trees even do that? He knew that the Neverfree had contained many wonders, and that the trees could play soft music, but only with the help of some kind of force usually. Two leaves glided down from one of its branches and onto the floor in front of him. The moon, as if to help his predicament, shined its light down onto that very same branch where the leaves had originally grown. He saw Grain laying there, looking as mystical and breathtaking as he had thought she was when they met. He smiled to her.
“Grain. Are you okay up there? What are you doing?” he queried to the mare as she shimmied down the tree trunk to stand next to him.
“I thought that I might be able to spot the unicorn from up in the trees.” Grain tripped over a stone and fell into Helios’s outstretched hooves. Her eyes met his.
“But I couldn’t see her.” Grain became lost in the stars that shone in his iris, and Helios too fell into the deep blue that was the rims of the earth pony’s eyes. They stood like this for a while before either of them noticed that the other was doing it. They both blushed as Helios helped Grain back onto her hooves.
“So...I guess we should keep looking then,” Grain said beginning to walk towards a gap in two bushes.
“Eh..Yes. We should.” Helios pondered the prospect that he should perhaps go in another direction and not seem like he was stalking her in any way; he did not want to do wrong by the gorgeous mare.
“Are you coming?” she called to him. Helios beamed and followed at Grain’s heels, she did want him with her, he had got permission. They wandered on into the starlight in silence.
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Lotto briskly walked along the trail where he had found a group of hoof prints leading off to the right of the forest. He would not have found the hoof prints as anything of importance if it had not been for the little piece of silver cape he had found on a thorn near their start. The only pony he had seen wearing a cloak as well crafted as this was the unicorn that he had been travelling with not so long ago. It would be hard to believe that another pony with an identical style of cloak could have somehow wandered into the Neverfree as well.
It seemed like the ponies had known their way around the woods, although it helped that they seemed to have cut a very large line out of the forest that they could walk down. Even if the prints had been lost for a few minutes, Lotto would only need to follow the path of sliced trees and dead creatures to soon find them again.
In no time at all he reached the outskirts of the forest and walked down an extremely long road that led into the royal gardens. ‘That’s strange,’ he thought, ‘why would somepony have taken Marelin to the royal house? She doesn’t seem like a pony who the royals would want anything to do with.”
Lotto hurriedly ducked down behind one of the garden sculptures as a guard marched past where he had been standing. He couldn’t be caught here, only guards that had been chosen by the leaders themselves were allowed in the grounds of the palace, and he was only a trainee. He slowly lifted his head a fraction above the statue’s base, trying to spot where the guard was now. Thankfully he appeared to have only been doing a routine check and had not stayed long in the area. Lotto wiped his brow and tilted his head downwards to the floor.
Why, there were the same hoofsteps he had been following in the Neverfree, and they were leading up to a back door of the palace: the servant’s doorway to be precise. Well if he wanted to find Marelin then that was where he needed to be; he needed to get inside the palace, and quickly to avoid detection. He couldn’t be caught or there would be big trouble.
He hesitated slightly, wondering if he should go back and get Helios and Grain to come as well. ‘No, I shan’t get them into trouble as well. This is up to me now.” So, ducking behind every plant and statue along the way, Lotto sprinted to the palace walls.
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Helios and Grain were running. They could have sworn that they had heard a mare’s scream from not too far away, so they had ran; in the hope that it was Marelin and they could save her from whatever trouble she was in. They ran and ran, the mare’s scream getting louder the closer they got to the noise.
They came to an abrupt halt when they found themselves in a nearly bare clearing. The screaming had stopped. Helios scratched his head with his hoof, sure that he had heard the calling from the very place that they now stood, but then how was it that nopony appeared to be anywhere near. Grain too was perplexed about this.
“Maybe...maybe she’s gone into the forest again.” Thinking quickly she ran to a willow and hoisted herself up to the highest branch, trying to spot any sign of pony life; leaving Helios on the ground by himself. He glanced around the area, trying to spot any sign of a pony’s departure through the undergrowth. A stone at the far end of the clearing caught his eye. A sudden bright light filled the small space, emerging from the centre of the large rock, Helios felt drawn towards it and moved without even realising. The bright light rushed over the grass, dying the ground a majestic purple colour and seeped into the pores of Helios’s hooves. He lifted off of the ground, gliding over the newly coloured foliage underneath. The light poured through his body, filling his mind with the great brightness of the sky; his eyes lit up in a white shade and he lifted his head to the power.
Grain watched from the top of the tree, hardly believing what she was seeing. The colt below began to run through the air, quickening his pace so that he could reach the stone from which the power emanated. He reached the top and held out his hooves towards the dancing beams; a handle stuck out of the top of the stone and he took hold of it with his outreached hooves. The light danced around him urging him to pull the handle upwards towards the dark night sky. He did as they wished.
The handle that had seemed so small grew into a mighty blade of steel, submitting to the pull of the young half-breed. Grain covered her eyes to protect herself from the bright flash that commenced afterwards, opening them again to see Helios asleep on the ground. She panicked and jumped out of the tree to go to her friend’s aid, and found that Helios appeared to have gone.
No more was there that same small, white half-breed that she had seen before. Instead a striking young pony slept on the floor, his horn much larger than any other unicorns that she had ever seen, and his wings much larger than any other pegasus she had ever witnessed. The strange stallion opened his eyes and wobbled up onto his feet, blinking rapidly as he took in his surroundings.
“Wha...What happened?” A deep, soothing tone leapt out of his throat, alarming Grain to take a couple of steps backwards. She looked hard at this new pony, her mind taking in everything she saw. His eyes....His eyes contained stars just like...
“Helios? Is that you?” The tall stallion looked down at the mare, scratching his head in puzzlement.
“Well, of course it’s me. Who else would I be?”
“You don’t exactly look like you anymore.” Helios lifted the sword that lay next to his hoof, and looked at himself in the reflection. A startled yell shot through the air.
“What? But how? What am I?”
“It happened when you touched that sword. When the light swept over you.” Helios had no idea what Grain was talking about, he couldn’t remember him touching the sword, nor could he remember anything to do with a bright light. He could remember running. He remembered a lot of that, but everything else was a blur. He shook his head in the hope that his memory would help him recall everything that had just happened in the last few minutes, but he still could not understand why he had awoken as somepony unlike himself.
“Helios, look!” Grain called to the stallion as she bent down in front of the stone “Inscriptions.” The stallion wobbled over to the mare, still trying to get used to his new legs. When he got there he collapsed onto the ground in a heap; Grain smiled and pointed towards the etched writing carved into the brick.
‘Sword of Escalabray:
The Princess dies upon a teary throne,
A tyrant leaves the kingdom torn.
Then comes the light of the true heir;
The son of pegasus and unicorn.’
Grain turned to the stallion kneeling on the floor, her smile grew even larger on her face.
“Don’t you see what this means Helios?”
“No, should I?” Helios said whilst staggering onto his hooves again. Grain hit her head with her hoof, wondering how he could not understand the meaning of everything that had just happened to him. He may be sweet but he was certainly no detective.
“It means that you, Helios; you’re the rightful king.”
“What?” Helios fell flat down onto his face again. He lifted his head, spitting out the multitudes of grass that had amalgamated inside of his mouth. He usually liked the taste of grass but at the moment his taste buds were not in full working order, and he preferred not having food in his mouth during this moment.
“No. I can’t be the King. I’m a half-breed remember. Not a unicorn, not a pegasus. A half-breed.”
“Exactly. You’re both a unicorn and a pegasus. Who better to rule?”
Helios strutted around in a circle, still unsteady on his new hooves. This couldn’t be true, he couldn’t really be the King; how could he be heir to the throne when Evergreen had been picked by the old Princess? Grain noticed the look of fear in his eyes and stood in front of him, grabbing hold of one of his hooves as she did so.
“I believe in you.”
The stallion’s heart beat loudly in his chest as she held his hoof to her body. He gazed into her beautiful soft blue eyes, the dream of them being together flowing through his mind once more. She believed in him...She truly believed in him. Which must mean, she cared for him?
Grain stepped backwards, realising that the horn of the stallion had begun to glow brightly again. Helios looked up towards the light from the top of his head, both confused and startled as to what was going to happen next.
An image flashed up into the sky above them, and both ponies watched the scenes that played. The scenes from the palace.
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Lotto dragged his hooves along the floor. There was no use fighting with the other ponies hold; he had been caught and he had to accept that no matter what happened to him. He had been stupid to try sneaking past the door of the soldiers’ weapons room. He should have known that the main place the soldiers would go to hide from the Princess would be inside the one and only room they actually had for themselves in the palace. He had been foalish, far too foalish than a true guard would ever be. Maybe it would be a good thing if he was forced not to become a guard anymore; he clearly would never be able to amount to being good at it.
Evergreen sneered down at the blue Pegasus colt, who had been pushed down onto his knees by the two rough guards that had pulled him in. His head drooped to the floor, ashamed of himself, but Evergreen did not care; she would not give out pity to anypony that chose to break one of her rules. She opened her mouth to speak but wasn’t given a chance due to the abrupt opening of the large front door at the far end of the room.
Marelin strode up to the stairs of the throne holding a piece of paper in one of her hooves, and flung the sheet onto the floor in front of Evergreen.
“What...is...this?” Evergreen glared down at the angry unicorn. Marelin stood, unphased by the Princess’ attitude towards what she had just done. She had something to say and nothing was going to stop her. A young soldier ran in out of breath with gruel all over his front armour; he bowed at the sight of the Princess.
“I’m so sorry m’lady. I took her the food as you requested and she...well she charged past me m’lady.” The young stallion shook in fear, not even daring to see how the Princess had reacted. The Princess showed no emotions to the crowd.
“Take him to the dungeon.”
The guard fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face and his front hooves clasped together in prayer.
“Please...please m’lady. N...n...not that.”
The Princess stared at her hoof, not caring in the slightest about what punishment she had just doled out to the innocent stallion. Two guards rushed from the side of the throne, dragging the crying stallion away from the small procession and through the open door. The door slammed shut.
“Now, what did you wish to say to me Marelin?”
The cloaked unicorn hesitated slightly before continuing with what she had planned to say. She wouldn’t show Evergreen how scared she really felt. She had started and her better judgement told her that she must finish.
“I found these papers under the bed in my room. The room that used to be your room. You hid them so that nopony could ever find out the truth, didn’t you?”
Lotto stared at the lavender pony and then at the papers. If only his front hooves weren’t tied together, he would have reached out and read what they said. Instead all he could do was watch and wonder. He kept a shrewd eye on what the Princess’s reaction was going to be; surely she would not let anypony get away with accusing her of anything. That was definitely troublemaking worthy.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Evergreen looked at her hoof again, trying to avoid the gaze of the young unicorn that had so rudely accused her. Marelin did not take the hint; she had something to say and she was going to say it.
“This is the will of Princess Platinum...the real one, not the fake one that you put in its place.” All the ponies in the room gasped at her accusation and a loud clash echoed through the room as a servant dropped the tray with which she had been carrying the Princess’s cup of tea. Evergreen still did not show any sign of caring about what was happening around her; her hoof was far more important than what any other pony could say or do. Marelin grew angrier at the attitude the Princess seemed to be using over this important matter. It’s true that Marelin loved to mess around and have fun with other ponies, but this was important and every pony should treat it as such.
“Listen to me Evergreen,” she demanded. “The will states that Platinum chose another heir to the throne.” Every pony turned to look at the Princess again.
“Pfft,” the Princess spat. “What other heir? I’m her only relative, remember?”
“No, that’s not true and you know it.” Marelin turned to all of the other ponies. “The will states that the Kingdom would be left to the son of Platinum and...Commander Hurricane.”
Again every pony gasped. A son of the loud, rambunctious pegasus leader and the clean, well bred Princess of the unicorns? It was preposterous, absurd, ridiculous, and yet somewhat romantic in an odd sort of way. The servant that had dropped the tray beforehand clearly could not take any more of the newly released secrets and fainted to the floor. No pony in the room dared go to assist her, all keeping their eyes on their leader on her throne. She had stopped looking at her hoof and her eyes had turned onto Marelin with a fire so intense that the violet unicorn didn’t know how long she could keep looking at the dark mare. The Princess snickered to herself and trotted down the steps, forcing Marelin to take a step backwards in fear.
“So what if there was another heir? He wasn’t here to claim the throne, so rightfully it passed to me.”
“Yes,” Marelin carried on speaking as she backed away slightly, “you made quite sure that he couldn’t show up didn’t you?”
“You have no idea what you are talking about Marelin. You’re just a stupid filly who needs to learn a lesson...once and for all.” Evergreen’s horn lighted up; sparks flew up into the air around her as she prepared to hit Marelin with the most powerful spell in her arsenal.
“She’s right though,” Lotto spoke up from his position. Evergreen shot around to look at the impudent pegasus. Lotto gulped before speaking again. “I mean that the foal was born of two powerful leaders...a unicorn and a pegasus.”
“So?” The Princess bore down onto the tied up colt; her magic becoming even stronger as her anger grew more.
“So,” Marelin put in, “so that’s why you wanted the ‘half-breed’ destroyed more than any other creature in the kingdom. You found out years ago about why this son had not been seen by any other pony.”
“And why would that be? Come on, enlighten me.” Evergreen frowned, her magic still lighting up her horn in anger.
“Because...because Platinum’s child was born a half-breed; she was worried that her subjects wouldn’t accept him as their Prince because of it...so, she hid him away from everypony. That is until you purposely sought to kill him so that you could have the throne instead.”
Marelin and Lotto watched the face of the Princess, expecting that soon they would become even worse off than the guard that had been taken to the dungeon. They both held their breath in worry. The Princess remained silent, every pony in the room felt the uncomfortable stillness as they waited to see what would happen next. Slowly the Princess smiled and began to laugh; her subjects, bewildered about her reaction, also began to chuckle along with her. She waved her hooves in the air, still chuckling; her magic danced red flames across the room, and Marelin and Lotto watched its path as it circled around them.
“You silly foals! Guards!” Evergreen called. “Take him to the deepest cell you can find.” Lotto tried to struggle and kick out at the soldiers who grabbed him, but to no avail. He could not escape the tightness of their hold or slither out of the tightly knotted ropes that held his front hooves together. Marelin could do nothing but stand and listen to his pitiful screams as he was dragged out of the great doors and down into the dungeons. Evergreen now averted her attention onto the petrified young mare that had discovered the truth about her unjust takeover of Equestria. Marelin sought to run but could find no way out of the swirling scarlet magic that had surrounded her. Evergreen’s smile disappeared.
“Now it’s your turn Marelin.”
“What’re you going to do with me? Lock me up in the dungeon with every other pony that stands up to you?” Marelin stared defiantly into the eyes of the tyrant. This only resulted in the Princess chuckling again.
“Silly, silly Marelin. So young and so foalish. She actually thinks that I would destroy her or lock her away. Believe me if I could actually do it I would have done it much longer ago than this; you always did infuriate me more than any other pony.”
The Princess began to circle the young unicorn; her magic swimming in the opposing direction to her passive canter. Marelin opened her mouth to speak but no words would come. Red light clamped down onto her hooves, locking them together so she could not walk. It flew around the rest of her body, welding her mouth together and fixing heavy chains of pure light down onto her limbs. She could not even consider moving or speaking any longer; she was trapped in the dictator’s grasp. She mumbled cries through her fixed gag, but the Princess simply ignored them.
“You know Marelin, out of all the unicorns that Clover could have picked to become the next adviser, I had never once considered it could be you; nopony else had either...but I soon discovered that Clover had been right about you.” Evergreen hastened her trot around the gagged unicorn. “You were much more powerful than even I could have imagined. Thankfully I managed to break your spirit before you had the chance to utilise that power against me.”
Evergreen stopped. Her eyes became dark rubies in her head as the magical chains around Marelin squeezed her tighter and tighter. Marelin tried to scream louder but the immense pressure being forced upon her body and the gag wore upon her mouth ceased any kind of yell she could do. Her breathing rate slowed rapidly; her lungs losing almost every amount of air that they had contained and incapable of getting more in time to stop the inevitable. Marelin collapsed onto the floor; falling into a deep sleep.
The Princess released her magical hold and her eyes turned back to the dark ember they had been before. She beckoned for a guard to come to her immediately.
“I want her locked in her room, and this time you will not let her escape. Do you understand?” The guard nodded, anxious as to not get into trouble himself. “Well then, go you imbecile.”
After a quick salute the stallion hastily picked up the unconscious mare and carried her upon his back to the door and up the stairs. The Princess glared around at every other pony that had witnessed this startling event.
“Anypony else got something they would like to say to me?”
The ponies all shook their heads and a giggle appeared from Evergreen’s throat.
“Yes, I didn’t think so.”
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The picture died down, and Grain stared at Helios in bewilderment. That whole scene...it had been real, it had been happening right there in front of them but also far away; it had been so frightening.
“Marelin...Lotto. They’re both in danger.” Helios ambled over to Grain, still trying to get used to the use of his new hooves. “Grain, we have to save them.”
“No.” Grain shook her head, moving away from the stallion. “We can’t...we’re not strong enough. We’re just a mare and a half-breed that can’t even walk properly at the minute. We couldn’t beat that powerful unicorn.”
Helios crept forward, staring into Grain’s terrified eyes as he did.
“Grain, it doesn’t matter if we can, we’ve at least got to try.”
“Why? Why do we have to try?” Grain panicked, her head shifting around to find a place where she could run to. She didn’t want to go, she didn’t want to help; she couldn’t help.
“Because they’re our friends.”
“Helios, we’ve known them for less than a day.”
“So? You’ve known me for less than a day.” Helios stopped and looked pitifully into the blonde mare’s eyes. “Earlier you said that you believed in me, why should you not believe in me anymore?”
“Because...because she’s evil. She’d kill you; I don’t want you to die.”
“I may not,” he pointed out, trying as hard as he could to persuade the upset mare. She was his friend, surely there was no reason she wouldn’t help him save the others.
“I can’t risk losing you,” Grain shouted, tears flowing down her face. “I just don’t want to risk losing you. I love you.” Helios’s jaw dropped down in shock. The mare’s tears dropped slowly down her cheeks and onto the dark ground below her. “I loved you the moment that I looked into your eyes...The moment that you touched my hoof with yours. I loved you, okay, happy?”
Helios was speechless. She would not go because she didn’t want to lose him? She loved him? He searched for words in his mind but couldn’t find the right ones to say to her. Everything he thought of would only make her more upset. There was only one thing he felt he could say: the truth.
“I love you too.”
Grains tears slowed as she gazed upwards at the tall stallion in front of her.
“What?” she wept.
“I love you too. I have done since I saw you. You were so beautiful standing in the light of the sky...You still look beautiful to me now.” Helios moved forward and took hold of the crying mare’s hoof. “But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try and save the kingdom. Even if we don’t succeed; my love will always be there for you.” Grain blinked away the last of the teardrops to fall from her eyes.
“You promise?” she asked him. He stared down at her and rubbed the tears from her cheeks.
“Of course I promise.”
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Lotto banged his hoof against the wall, playing a small tune on the brickwork. The dungeon smelt horrible; all of the putrid gases of ancient rotting garbage and sewage leaked up into his cell, tainting his nostrils. He didn’t even want to imagine having to spend the rest of the week in this depressing prison, let alone his whole life. He sighed. Well, at least he had stood up for what he believed in, that had been a milestone worth fighting for. Yet still this did not conceal the fact he was trapped without his permission. He was even more worried about what had happened to the others.
Marelin had seemed so brave when she had stood up to the Princess. Perhaps not too smart standing up to her in the first place, but she had been extremely courageous and had stood up for what she believed was right without backing down. That took guts, more guts than even Lotto possessed. He would never have imagined that a weak pony like Marelin, barely behaving more than a foal at times, could have done something so wonderful. He hummed to himself; the tune he had heard in the forest coming into his memory. A whistle called through the dungeon, seeming to join in with his song. Lotto ceased with his humming and the whistle ceased as well. He shrugged, putting it off as a trick his lonely mind was pulling on him. He began his drumming and humming again.
The whistle echoed through the cavern, louder than last time. Lotto stopped his humming and instead whistled back. An answering whistle, exactly the same tune as his own, swept through to his cell. He repeated his whistle with another tune; again the answer was the exact same as his own, but where was it coming from? He could see nopony else around his cell; and nopony else in the cell next door to his own, so why was there a whistle?
A small clank sounded on the bars of his cage; a key fell onto the floor just inside of his reach. A key? A key? It did not take Lotto much thought to know what this meant. He quickly pushed the key inside of the lock, turned it and the door fell wide open. Glancing around the corner as he did so, he pelted down the corridors and up the stairs to his freedom...Now maybe he could save Marelin. That is, if he could locate where she had been taken.
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Evergreen watched as the guards came in one by one. She had called them for a routine check and to give them their next mission. Now that Marelin had been taken care of it was about time that they were told to go and finish their original job of destroying the half-breed. If that half-breed thought that he could simply sneak in here and take over her position as ruler of Equestria, then he was going to get a rude awakening.The position was already hers and she was not going to give it up without a fight; a lot of hard work had been done over the years of constantly having to suck up to her cousin, and she wasn’t going to let that go to waste. The kingdom was hers.
The guards all looked so revolting in their heavily plated armour; if she had actually cared about what they looked like properly then she would have changed their outfits when she had first been put on...oh, silly her...stolen, the throne. However she had to take care of other business before the aesthetics of her army could be changed. She looked down as the leader of the army came sloping in.
‘Oh great,’ she thought, rolling her eyes, ‘it’s that idiot they call a Captain. Well, once my plan is complete, he would be quite indispensable. I mean, nopony would really notice if he simply had a little ‘accident’ that brought upon his death, would they?' She sniggered at the thought of getting rid of the old stallion. Too old in her view; he only spoiled the land she was building; he wasn’t necessary; she could easily be rid of him. Yes, that would please her very much indeed.
Two young guards quickly shifted to the back of the large group, hoping that the Princess would not notice their tardiness and pull them to the front. It was a good thing that the Princess had a very short attention span and had started to look at her hooficure again; otherwise they would have surely been brought forward onto their knees. The great doors were closed behind them and the Princess focused her attention back onto the knights.
“Now blockheads, you’re going to listen to me and obey everything I say.”
“Yes m’lady,” they chorused back.
“You will not fail me like you did last time.”
“No m’lady.” They stared blank faced upwards at her. Emotionless to whatever orders they were given.
“You will go out there, find that horrid monster of a half-breed and destroy him for good ." She gave a satisfied nod and waited for the trained response.
“No m’lady,” two voices shouted before any of the other guards could answer. Evergreen lifted her head higher, looking for the impudent foals who had dared refuse her orders. Nopony had ever dared refuse her, and if they had they were duly punished before they could refuse any further. Her eyes drifted over the top of the procession before her.
“Where are you? Show yourself,” Evergreen sneered. “Or are you too cowardly to admit to your crimes?”
“No,” a tall stallion stepped forward, “I am not afraid of you Evergreen.” The armour the guard had been wearing was ripped off and thrown to the floor, revealing Helios lying underneath. Evergreen gasped and moved backwards a step. This was not possible; he could not be here, not like this.
“But how...How?” she stuttered. “It’s impossible. You can’t look like that...you...you never found the magic sword.”
“You’re right I didn’t.” The guards parted in the middle, making a path for Helios to walk through. “I didn’t, but I have now...and I’m not going to just sit back and watch you hurt innocent creatures anymore.”
“Oh yeah,” Evergreen gloated, her actions betraying her brave front as she stepped backwards on her pedestal. “How? You can’t beat me by yourself.”
“He’s not by himself.” Grain stepped forward, taking off her disguise and standing next to Helios. Evergreen tittered at them.
“Oh look, a scary earth pony. What you going to do darling, plant an apple tree? This is pathetic.”
“I find it quite noble.”
Helios looked around and saw Lotto standing in the servants’ doorway smiling with...Marelin? The cloaked mare and the pegasus strode forward, taking up their positions at the side of their other two friends. Evergreen held her composure the best she could; she couldn’t show her fear of Marelin now being with the team of ponies, that would only show weakness. She laughed but it didn’t sound true to the ponies’ ears, and it certainly didn’t strike anypony as horror inducing.
“So your team consists of: an earth pony mare, a trainee guard, a useless unicorn, and a half-breed. Please, there’s no competition. Or did you forget that I have an entire army at my disposal?”
“Not anymore you don’t.” The Captain stepped forward out of line, clasping his sword on his belt. “I see you managed to find the unicorn like I’d hoped young colt,” he nodded to Lotto. The midnight pony stared back in amazement; so this had been the whistling pony in the cells, the Captain of the guard himself. “Good, she’ll come in mighty useful at beating this ‘ere pretentious princess.”
Evergreen gave another one of her false laughs.
“There’s still only five of you compared to my entire army. You’ll never win.” The guards all looked around at one another and then back at their Captain they had followed so loyally over the years. The older stallion nodded to them. Helios watched as guard after guard walked up and stood by his side, wanting to finally get rid of Evergreen’s power over them and be free. Helios couldn’t help but feel smug about them joining his party.
Evergreen’s composure was losing its strength as she watched her soldiers go over and join her enemies. She stepped backwards, activating her magic and trying to create a shield around herself with it.
“Oh no you don’t,” Marelin cried, concentrating hard on her own horn. A beam of bright purple light swept over her mane and flew in the direction of Evergreen’s own red magic. Evergreen’s shield shattered into a million tiny pieces in front of her. She looked towards the angry crowd that lay before her, opening and closing her mouth like a fish; not able to figure out what she should do next.
“Well...” she uttered “I guess I’ll be going then. Goodbye...” She jumped off the right side of the throne stage, making a hasty retreat towards the open door of the servant’s quarters.
“She’s getting away,” the Captain cried, setting off towards the exit himself. Helios put his hoof in front of him before he could get there, causing the old Captain to halt.
“No. I have to do this myself.” Helios bolted out of the door, spotting the running outline of Evergreen up in front. He had to catch her; he had to stop her from hurting any other pony. His hooves beat upon the cold stone floor and air flooded past him as he ran. His wings outstretched, catching some of the air that drove past him, and lifted him up into the air. Soon he found himself flying higher, nearly up to the roof of the corridor, and there was Evergreen straight in front of him. He soared through the air above, landing just in front of her.
“Give it up Evergreen. It’s over.”
“Never.” She turned and began to run back the way she had come. Helios shook his head before activating his flying ability again. Evergreen kept on running even though Helios was so close to catching her; she couldn’t give up now. She couldn’t let this...eugh...half-breed beat her.
’BANG’
Evergreen tripped over something and crashed into an open door. She moaned and staggered and then fell to the floor: unconscious. Helios landed behind her, confused as what could have happened to stop her. He felt sure that that door had been shut the last time he had flown by. Lotto peered around the outside of the door, grinning at Helios before stepping out into the corridor with him. Marelin and Grain wandered out from the small cracks in the wall they had been hiding in carrying a line of purple glowing rope.
“Well,” Lotto said, “I think that plan went quite nicely. Good rope making Marelin.”
Marelin smiled and zapped the rope with a stream of purple magic, causing it to disappear from both mares’ hooves. Helios looked on, both puzzled and irritated.
“I said that I had to do this myself.”
“Yes,” Grain admitted, “but that didn’t mean that you couldn’t be given a bit of help.”
As angry as Helios was about him not being allowed to catch Evergreen alone, looking around at the happy faces of his three friends eased him. He relented and gave them a smile back. Evergreen lay on the floor: still breathing but not awake. The Captain swung his head around the door.
“Excuse me sir, but should we not take m’lady to the dungeons now sir?”
Helios stared down at the sleeping dark pony. She had made every creature suffer and for that she deserved a punishment far worse than just sitting inside a large cell for the rest of her life. But, yet, Helios did not want to destroy her as she had tried to do to him; he did not want to act or behave in any way that she had ever done. He nodded to the old soldier.
“Yes, that would be best.”
The Captain ducked his head back behind the door and two guards wandered out into the corridor to take Evergreen away where she could no longer upset anypony except for herself. She would not be missed by anypony; that was definitely sure.
For a moment all the friends could do was look at each other and smile; still trying to take in all that had just happened. What with their trip in the Neverfree, the captures of the two ponies, and then the defeat of the dictator of Equestria, they had no idea what felt like dream and what felt like reality. Marelin turned to Lotto and pinched him on the shoulder.
“Ouch! What did you do that for?”
“Just seeing if you were awake or not,” the mare shrugged.
“Well if I’m dreaming, then I never want to wake up.” Helios and Grain stared into each other’s eyes and blushed.
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The music struck up in the great hall of the palace. Ponies of all shapes and sizes stood in the congregation patiently awaiting the ceremony to start, with joyous looks spread upon their faces. This was going to be a good day for the land, a good day for everypony, and even a good day for every creature that now resided in the Neverfree Forest. The ponies had considered leading all of the creatures back into Equestria and out of the woods but it seemed that the beasts actually liked their new home and so they were left alone to live quite happily.
Helios too had found that he had not hated the Neverfree as much as he had always thought he would as a foal. In fact far from it. If it hadn’t been for his trip into the Neverfree none of this would have happened; he would not be doing this right now. He was proud to be doing this right now; overjoyed being the only word he could use to describe his feelings. This was such stuff as dreams were made of.
The choir began to sing their cheery melody and the entrance doors swung open. The ponies all turned around to watch the stallion walking up the red carpet to the throne. Helios marched forward, head held high and his teeth shining like the moon when he smiled. A red, flowing cloak fell behind him as he walked; Escalabray gleamed in his jewel encrusted belt, lighting up as much as it had done when he had first discovered it in the stone. He stopped near the front, holding out his hoof to the new knight to have joined his personal army.
Lotto grinned and shook the hoof he had been offered, bowing his head to the soon-to-be ruler of Equestria. Marelin too was offered the young Prince’s hoof, but refused to shake it. She reached out and pulled both Lotto and Helios in for a large group hug. Lotto and Helios coughed and spluttered from the tight grip of Helios’s new personal advisor, and then Marelin stopped and released them both. Helios smiled and moved onto his last friend.
Grain curtseyed to the tall Prince who stood before her. Helios shook his head and grabbed hold of her hoof, staring into her deep blue eyes and reaching out his head and kissing her tenderly on the cheek. She turned red and shyly smiled towards the half-breed.
Helios released her hoof and glided on his hooves up the stairs of the throne It was time.. He turned and faced the procession, bowing to Eclipse and Torrent who stood beside him. They in turn, repeated the process to the young stallion, before handing over their flags to the pony that was leading this procession and taking their step down off of the throne. It had been decided by them that there was only to be one ruler of Equestria; the pony who was a part of every single one of their equine groups: pegasus, earth pony and unicorn. It was about time that the three leaders became one.
The representative leader of the ceremony took hold of the crown that stood by the side of the golden chair. He held it into the air, speaking ancient words to the watching crowd to announce the crowning of the new ruler. He moved the crown closer to Helios’s head as he spoke and then with one last word the crown was atop the head of the new King of all Equestria.
“I dub thee King Alicorn. Everypony will rise for the national anthem of our new ruler.”
The choir struck up again and the audience held their hooves to their chest, singing for him. Helios, now pronounced as Alicorn, held his hoof to his heart too and closed his eyes. He prayed that he would never wake up from this dream, if it was one. At this moment in time everything felt perfect; the destiny he had felt for himself had finally come true. He was to rule over the land that his Father and Mother had helped rule together for so many years. It was perfect.
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Helios looked around the small gathering after the ceremony, trying to spot where Grain was so he could ask her a very important question. Lotto and Marelin stood at the feasting table laughing with the elderly ponies that had once been the leaders of the land themselves. Chancellor Pudding Head seemed especially to be enjoying talking with the two young ‘whippersnappers’ as he called them. Even Commander Hurricane had a smile on his face. Helios, Torrent and Eclipse had debated over whether or not the elderly pegasus should be told about the son he’d never known he had, but decided against it. It was best to just let him live the rest of his life without being told the shocking and possibly disturbing news. It was best if he thought that Princess Platinum had had a son with another pegasus she had known.That was the simple and kinder solution.
Helios soon spotted Grain stood on the balcony outside of the room. She looked as beautiful as ever stood there; making what he was about to do even more special to his heart. He wandered over to her and looked out to the surrounding area. The Neverfree stood out in the middle and the mountains at the back outlined the backdrop of the scene.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” he said, startling the mare whom had not seen him coming.
“Oh King Alicorn.” She curtseyed to him. “I didn’t see you coming sire.”
“Please, my name’s Helios,” he shook his head. “I’ve decided that I shall only use the term alicorn to describe what I am. It sounds much nicer than half-breed don’t you think?”
“Yes sire.” Grain turned away and looked at the scenery again. Helios followed her gaze and leaned on the railing of the balcony.
“I’ve also decided to change the name of the woods. There’s no point calling it the Neverfree when we’ve found it to be one of the freest places in Equestria.” Grain nodded, barely even looking at Helios as she did. “I’ve decided to change it to the Everfree Woods. Do you like that name Grain?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Helios beamed, proud. Now was the time where he would ask the most important question of their conversation. He bent down onto one knee, holding a jewel encrusted box aloft. Grain turned to him; her mouth dropped open.
“Grain...I love you so much. Would you do the pleasure of being my Queen?” They each stared into the other’s eyes, waiting for the answer to come. A single tear dropped down Grain’s cheeks and she turned to look in another direction, avoiding Helios’s gaze.
“Helios, I can’t marry you.” The stallion sunk down onto his other knee, distraught at what he had heard. She couldn’t have just said what he thought she had said; no, they loved each other; they wanted to be together right? Grain still refused to turn around and confront Helios face to face.
“I lied to you Helios. I lied to all of you: Lotto and Marelin as well.” She sighed, another tear falling from her eye. “I’m not an upper-class pony like I said, I’m a servant at another house not too far away. And my full name’s not really Grainivere, I made that up so that you wouldn’t have any way to find out the truth about me. And....and, well..” A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought about what to say next. ”I was only in the forest because I wanted to think over some things.”
“What things?” Helios could barely muster enough courage to ask his question. He was so upset at what was happening here.
“You see the Lord's son had just asked me to marry him...and I wanted to think over whether or not I really wanted to.” She paused and turned around to face him. “And then I met you and everything became so complicated. I found myself falling for you the same way I had for him...but then...well...Helios?” She took hold of his hoof, helping him to stand up again. “I do love you...really...but I loved him first. I have to go back to him. You do understand don’t you?”
Helios peered into the eyes of the pony he had loved so much. She was so beautiful...and so free. Helios didn’t want to upset her anymore than she had already seemed to be. He nodded to her, not able to say what he really felt. He couldn’t take away her happiness to comfort his own selfish desires; he loved her far too much to do that. Grain smiled and gave him a large hug, letting go after a minute or so.
“You’re a good stallion Helios. Someday you’ll find a mare that will love you even more than I ever could. I promise.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running off into the room to ask for a carriage ride back to her home. Helios held the cheek where she had left her final mark, the last remnant of the love they had shared together. He watched the scenes from up above as she gave him one last wave before stepping into her carriage and the guards taking her away from him...forever.
Lotto and Marelin appeared by his side, patting him on either shoulder to show that they were there for him and that they were sorry he had not got what he wanted. Lotto looked wistfully after where the carriage had exited, he too knowing that he had missed his chance with the beautiful earth pony. But that didn’t matter anymore to any of the ponies; even Helios couldn’t help but smile at his two friends. They gazed towards the back of the view, the mountains standing high, and were glad that soon they would be living up there watching from above.
Beforehand Helios had gathered some builder ponies and had sent them to the tallest mountain to begin construction of their new town. He had hoped that Grain and he could have lived up there together, but at least he’d still have his new town; his ‘Canterlot’ as he had decided to call it. It was to be a city of hopes and dreams, where nopony would ever feel like nothing, everyone could be happy and joyous. It was his, and it was where he belonged.
Helios beamed his magic up into the sky and the three friends stood together watching as the sun fell over Equestria and the moon lifted up into the night sky. Everything was as it should be he supposed. The Legend of Alicorn and Escalabray had been born.
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NEXT TIME: The Legend of the Mare in the Mere.