Of Laurels & Lace

by WritingSpirit

Lace

"No... no, no, no, no, NO!!"

In a fit of rage, his white hooves flared up, smashing through the stone pedestals with a loud, deafening roar. He slumped to the ground, the shattered fragments of rock sliding across the marble floor.

The crimson moon of the night shone through the cage-like windows onto his snout, the sight of it burning his chest like the flames that he had laid waste upon the palace.

"He moved it," the stallion concluded, brushing his disheveled mane aside.

"He moved it! He knew we were coming for it!"

"The world is shifting beyond the black seas of your fold, one which you find solace in your blindness" his deep voice burst from his true core; his words stinging unto the mind poisoned by avarice and pride.

"None shall seek for your pity, my friend. And I know t'is but a fact, for we are two souls in a frail body."

"LIES!!" he screamed at himself, wringing his hooves against the barbed corners of the Crypturris: the vault tower of the palace. Adamantly, he stormed down the stone stairs, hurriedly marching past the many artifacts that were held in high regard; the ones that he had chosen to ignore.

"He couldn't have known we were coming for it! I've made sure none of them knew about what I've been planning! Every step, every countermeasures, all accounted for."

"The Patriarch had predicted your arrival the very moment you seek for it."

He could feel his other presence trembling within, the filthy soul of light shifting with ethereal grace through the dark hallways.

"He knows that without what you seek, the technology that you possess would be of nothing but of the degenerate of the sediment beneath the graveyard stones."

"What I seek is what he does not expect!"

"Yet, ironically, he did. In his plane of obscurity, he did what your adversary couldn't: to remember."

"Harmony was torn at the time of her amendment," he shouted, facing his reflection in the mirror, or, what would be his reflection if it did not had a mind of his own. While he was growling with spite, the apparition merely sat down with calming silence, the sight of it only irritating him.

"Her memory was only clear the moment my orders were given. It was fated that she remembers all that there was."

"And yet, the moon shines a glowing red..."

"She wouldn't have known," he muttered back, gazing out at the crimson sky.

"She's been tossed so much in the effects of change that one teardrop of it would leave her crumbling into madness. Morteoro's vessel is failing."

"The vessel, you say?"

The stallion growled as his reflection chuckled, wearing a cunning smirk.

"What of the devil? Tartaric beasts are independent in nature; they don't need one such as us to lead them through their struggles."

"You're saying that Morteoro has the urge to defy me?!"

"I'm assuming, my friend."

"Remember your position, lowly beast," he snarled at the mirror.

"The mannerisms of your kin disgusts me. One such as you shall never break free of my bonds. Your will is strong, yes, but what happens when you finally succumb into the wastes of your heart?"

The reflection said nothing, immediately turning away.

"The shores of your head were calm for too long, my lad," he continued at the mirror, gritting his teeth.

"You came to me to seek my aid. You brought me upon yourself. And now, you shall return the favor."

"And what of our... oath, when I break free...... Janus?"

He flinched at the mention of that name... the one that had slaughtered his conscience in both light and shadow; the one many had called him before perishing under his bane.

"What of your crippled spirit?" it continued from within his head.

"Would ponies remember your name in their realm? Would they see that your debts to the world be repaid?"

"This world made my debts," he answered coldly, marching out of the Vault Room.

"And we shall see to it that it will be paid; when steel and stone collide in the echoes of the abyss. When the sound of crying mares and shouting colts fill the air and flames dance in the marrow of the land... when the suns of day burn out and the moons of night shine only the glow of black... only then our debts have been repaid. For now, however..."

"Our search must be swift, for I can no longer tolerate to wait patiently for the future I foresee in my head."

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The winds raged with a banshee's scream, launching its full assault against every pony and dragon huddled together in Fountain Square. Every bullet of snow pummeling throughout the town was relentless, though the March Of The White Departure, as some of the residents of Pendant Lakes has come to call it, was still progressing, with every single pony battling against the storm to clamber onto the reptilian backs of their saviors.

"Doctor Brineheart!!" Caduceus heard his name, immediately rushing across the plaza to a group in the corner. It was the fifth time it happened already, and he don't know how long they can stay here.

"Everypony stand back!" he ordered, quickly tending to the shivering pony lying in the center.

The doctor clasped his hoof, his senses tingling as he felt the slow pulse beneath the pony's wrists; one that would die down if he stayed out here any longer.

"Get him to the dragons!" he quickly said to some of the colts around.

"Their warmth would help him."

With a nod, the colts did as they were told, the doctor now only being able to watch helplessly, thanks to his burnt hoof. He let out a quiet, foggy sigh, before trudging back through the deep snow.

He glanced around the forsaken wasteland, blanketed under the treacherous white; how long does this have to last?

"Hypothermia again?"

"I'm afraid so," he answered the other doctor, taking a sip of hot water.

"These ponies can't last long in such conditions. We need to hurry things up before the storm takes us all."

"Consarn it, Macintosh!!" a loud voice suddenly burst through the air.

"You're saying it as if it was her fault!!"

"She has a foal, AJ!! Fluttersh'ah shouldn't simply run off like that, especially in dark times such as this!!"

The two voices grew louder and louder, with one trying to overwhelm the other, before a few ponies came by to stop them, the sight of the rabble only making Cleptius sigh.

"Even siblings are squabbling among themselves," he mused, stirring his hot chocolate.

"The weather has taken a toll on everypony."

Caduceus nodded in agreement; the fatigue on every single face in the crowd was already shining through. From the faces of mothers tenderly comforting their children or colts hushing their respective mares, everypony was worn out from braving out the storm.

"Where's the Princess?" he asked his friend, who gestured his head towards the fountain.

There, Princess Celestia was huddled underneath Jovern's wings, the loyal dragon already deep in slumber. Her eyes were red with tears, which started to freeze the moment the drops hit the cold, slate floor.

"I've never seen her this depressed..." Cleptius mused, his friend only crossing his hooves with a reply:

"You can't blame her."

"Ponies!!" a voice shrilled through the freezing air, the two doctors recognizing it to be Mayor Stencil's.

"Ponies sighted in the east!!"

The crowd soon erupted into a frenzy of mutters, forming a path as four ponies slowly marched across the crowd, with two of them carrying a fifth one on their backs.

Caduceus's eyes widened immediately at the sight, quickly standing up along with his friend.

"They're back..."

"FLUTTERSH'AH!!" Big Mac's voice hollered through the storm, the stallion galloping to hug the mare, his sister following closely behind. The two ponies shed tears at Fluttershy's return, the yellow mare's eyes nearly watering with emotion as well while her stallion scolded:

"Don't ya dare wander off again, ya hear? Don't ya dare..."

"I... I won't, Mac..."

The couple soon hugged again, though it wasn't long before both Rainbow and Octavia's stallions rushed towards them as well, giving their respective mares a tight hug.

"Did he hurt you, Dashie?" Soarin' asked first, the cyan mare immediately pouting at that.

"Not out here, Soar! For crying out loud...!"

"Celestia, Tavi, I thought I lost you..."

Crimson slowly hushed her the moment she started sniffling into his red coat, the stallion running his hooves tenderly through her black mane.

"I'm here now, alright? I'm here now..."

"LUNA!!" Princess Celestia's voice erupted through the plaza, the alicorn hurriedly rushing to her sister's side, with everypony making way for her. Twilight breath shivered, only able to watch painfully at her teacher settling right next to her. Her tear-strewn eyes started to water once more, her only viable action left being crying into her sister's cheeks.

Hesitantly, Caduceus passed through the crowd, kneeling towards Luna's hoof whilst raising it up as he wrapped his own around her wrist.

His eyes widened with relief and surprise. It couldn't be...

"She still has a pulse, your Highness!" he exclaimed with delight, the white alicorn perking up immediately in disbelief.

"It's faint, but it's there!"

"Im... Impossible..."

Out of desperation, she suddenly cupped the doctor's hooves, her eyes literally sparkling with tears.

"Please, doctor, I beg of you! Can you help her?"

"I'll..." he began to stammer, "I'll do what I can."

"Though for a full recovery," he added, "she needs to be tended to in a hospital. I can't guarantee that she might survive through the storm however; it all depends on her now."

Princess Celestia turned to Twilight, the lavender unicorn giving her a hopeful nod, then back to her sister, her heart tingling with a slight spark of fear.

She crept closer to the younger alicorn, the crowd of Pendant Lakes watching with despondency at her every action. Wiping her tears away, she knelt towards her sister, whispering into her ear:

"Hang in there, Luna..."

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Patience, he told himself...

That's what he had learn throughout the numerous years of his life. Patience; the one thing he didn't resort to when he, at least his host, was still fresh in adulthood. And that by itself was already a long time ago.

Ponies came and went, lives lost and born anew... and yet his thoughts and theories remained as stagnant as the doors that was once the fear of many who had lived in the palace.

The marble halls he was in have been isolated. Forgotten from the minds of the common folk. It was once a Patriarch's haven; the room where his subjects, his townsponies, even his relatives would bow before his presence. Surprisingly enough, despite never being used ever since Ochre Palgiot stepped down from his kingly position, it was still kept in a clean state, as it was the jobs of the many maids wandering around the palace.

The air was musky with age, though he had faced worse. He let his senses guide him; every twirl of dust and every echoing wail of the snow outside the palace walls... he was surprised he hadn't became insane yet.

Striding across the room, dimly lit only by the four candles on the chandelier hanging at the distant ceiling over head, his hooves reached out for the stone handles, his eyes marveling at the sovereign throne of stone, shuddering the moment he touched the fleecy quilt draped over the surface.

He slowly trotted up the stairs, sighing with satisfaction as he settled himself onto the regal throne, his head held high with pride like the many Palgiots that had once tucked their hooves in the very same seat. He closed his eyes, imagining the events he had planned the moment he does the same on its sisterly counterpart in Canterlot.

The future is set. The plans are in motion.

The grinding noise of the massive stone doors resonated throughout the throne room, the stallion immediately opening his eyes as Harmony panted breathlessly, her hooves planted onto the surfaces of both doors.

She snarled for a moment, before galloping to the stallion, her blades sheathed at the side of her hooves. He held his anger back, instead speaking coldly:

"You're late."

"I had some company to deal with," she jeered back, brushing a few black feathers off her mane.

"Stupid birds..."

"And I assume you've done your job?" he asked, crossing his hooves dubiously.

There was no response for a moment, before she shot back defiantly:

"I didn't see you do anything, however. Your plans wouldn't work if I weren't there to help you in the first place."

"It will work even without your contribution."

The stallion rose from his throne, slowly descending down the stairs towards the now grimacing Harmony, the sight of her darkening glare making him chuckle in amusement.

"My seclusion is merely a preparation for the other plans I have brewed. One musn't be hasty when such delicate processes of deep thought are involved."

Harmony scoffed at that, the insolent tone behind it twitching into his hooves.

"Well, I was outnumbered five to one thanks to your...... 'seclusion'. Canterlot can't be destroyed! It's all over! Your plans have all failed!"

"And your witnessing of Princess's Luna's death?" he yelled back, slightly surprising the pink mare.

"You think that it was successful now, don't you?"

"W-well, of course!" she retorted, only infuriating him.

"I mean, how could the-"

"SHE ISN'T DEAD, MISS PERIDOT!!" he voice boomed, his temper exploding through the roof of his head. The powerful shout made Harmony recoil, frightened at his sudden tantrum.

"You've merely failed the duty, and a simple one it is, that I have assigned you to, and have the nerve to question my actions?!"

"B-but.... but I... I don't understand!" she protested, backing away from him.

"The moon! The moon turned red!"

"The moon turned red... hah!" he sneered.

"The moon should burn out if that alicorn's dead!!"

"Well, how would you know?!" she retaliated, marching up towards his face.

"The only way you would've known instead of watching it happen yourself is that she told it personally to you!!"

The stallion began to respond, but immediately halted his words, his enraged expression contorted into one of traumatic shock; one that Harmony thought she would never have seen underneath his cold mask of merciless spite.

"She told it personally to you..." she repeated her sentence, her eyes widening in realization.

"You mean she... that you and her..."

"There was nothing of that sort."

"You and Princess Luna..." she began, unaware of his slight twitching.

"The both of you were-"

"Need I not make this clear?!" he bellowed, raising his hoof.

"There was nothing of that sort! And THERE SHALL NEVER BE!!"

*SLAP*

Harmony tumbled backwards onto the floor, slightly shocked by the stallion's reaction. Her head started to fizz, her world twisting and warping as he marched towards her, the pink mare cringing as he spoke coldly:

"Our journey ends here, Miss Peridot, for I can no longer seek for your cooperation. You are humbly retired from my services, unchained from my pledges."

Her eyes were still, though it had started to spring up small tears. The stallion's words started to drone in her head, and all she could hear were faint memories. Memories that she had decided to put to the past.

Memories of a happier time. Of a perfect world with imperfections.

"You know how I adore your crafts, Harmony..." a faint voice echoed, in her world of broken dreams.

"It still doesn't match the theme of the masquerade, you know."

"It doesn't have to, Winter," she heard herself reply. Her tone was much cheerful back then, much...happier.

"Sometimes ponies need a little innovation. After all, you know how I envy it when you're the one traipsing in a better outfit than the one I've prepared."

"Innovation, huh? Well, let's see how innovative you'll be when you dance, my little vixen~"

"W-Winter..." she muttered weakly with despair, dropping to the floor. Her head became clearer, her shoulders felt lighter, as if something had left her body, freeing her from the binds she was under.

"No..."

The white stallion merely raised an eyebrow, finishing as he stepped out of the throne room:

"I appreciate the help that you've given to me, and for that I'll ensure my blades won't hunt you, but I'll make this clear: if you ever dare rat out any portions of the plans I've saved, then I shall see to it that my gratitude will be forgotten."

With that, the door slammed shut, leaving the broken mare crying in the throne room. He guided himself down the hallways, though he couldn't help but notice his reflection in the window shaking his head.

"Your way with mares is rather harsh, I must say."

"She's starting to remember," he merely replied.

"Her dam is starting to collapse, and once it does, her memories will soon flood out and, like all floods, will be dangerous if they are not controlled."

"But you caused her to remember, Janus," the apparition told him.

"You've attacked the darkness out of her, and she'll recover."

"She'll recover, yes, but I have something to make sure she'll never become a snitch. I know you wouldn't mind, right? After all..."

Janus, as he was called, gave out a long, deep sigh, ending it with a morbid chuckle while marching closer towards the window, finishing his sentence:

"She did hurt your beloved, didn't she...?"

His apparition just turned away, forcing out a laugh of amusement from its owner.

"The town of Pendant Lakes; the history, the conspiracy and the memories, will be brought down by the Princess herself, and all of the town, as we know it, will fade into the light of naught."

"And Harmony...?" he questioned for dramatization, his reflection grimacing at that.

"Well..."

"Let's just say she'll be happy to see her beloved Patriarch again."

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"Everyone's waiting for us..."

Rarity could only agree with Pinkie's words, watching the silhouettes of a crowd seeking refuge among the apparent wings of the dragons in the plaza from beneath the blizzard.

The air around her was like shards of frost; every time she inhaled, the chill of it stung her lungs, nearly making her choke. Octavia did mention something about a storm coming from the beach once, though she never knew it would be this destructive.

"We'll have to move silently but swiftly," Stellar's voice finally echoed, emerging from the hallways with a few revolvers. He and Spike had went off to find some weapons, just in case they stumble upon any of their enemies.

"The storm's getting unbearably freezing. It's already negative temperatures outside."

Spike soon ran in from behind, clutching onto four daggers: one for each of them.

"Got the best I can find," he hurriedly explained.

"These will do."

The butler reached for his back pocket, slotting a few bullets into his revolver before handing the other three guns to the rest.

Rarity hesitantly reached for it, swallowing a tense lump down her throat. Her shoulders relaxed only when she felt her hoof being held by Spike's claws, the mare sighing with relief at his presence.

Soon enough, their escapade quickly resumed, as they traveled through the passages of darkness, their guide the flicker of a flame contained in the iron hearth of Stellar's torch, in which he raised whilst they finally entered a junction.

"Left," Pinkie immediately spoke up, earning a nod from the butler.

"The hallways are an easy path to remember once one stays in the palace for too long," he uttered, ushering them towards their choice of passage.

"It's no proof that you're insane, however. At least, that's what the previous butler told me."

They soon turned left again, walking down their blind routes while their senses were raised, especially Spike's.

His scales resonated a low hum suddenly, with all of them, including himself, turning in surprise. He whiffed the air, detecting the faintest, most delicate smell of lilies... and the inducing scent of blood.

"Harmony Peridot..." he identified, paling in fear.

"Quickly!" Stellar hissed, prompting all four of them to hide behind the marble pillars.

All of them held their breath the moment the sound of hoofsteps echoed around the walls, watching as the mare slowly marched towards them, their blades ever ready.

Pinkie gritted her teeth; she could feel her hear thumping with hate, her heart trenched in rage. The mare that betrayed all of them. The mare that was responsible for all of this...

*sniffle*

Wait.

She paused, lowering her blade while her ears perked up. Did she hear what she had just heard?

The mare suddenly sniffled, muttering inaudibly, though it wasn't the words that stopped the mare from their ambush: it was her tone. What happened to her cold voice? What happened to her merciless shrill of delight, of her pride and dignified invulnerability that she had claimed to possess?

No, there was none of that. That wasn't what she was hearing.

She was hearing Harmony Peridot. The real Harmony Peridot.

"Pinkie," Rarity whispered, confounded as her pink friend rose from her hiding place.

"What are you doing?"

"Harmony!"

The mare whirled around and, before Stellar could stop her, Pinkie trotted from behind the pillars, her gaze fixated at her former friend. The reply from her was a sordidly unnerving silence; one which had made Stellar raise his gun.

Suddenly, Harmony grabbed the other mare by surprise, hugging her tightly while crying loudly into her shoulder. It literally knocked the wind out of Pinkie's throat, though she quickly recovered, now hushing her friend tenderly and carefully.

The rest of them immediately stood out from their spots, approaching the two pink mares in the center of the hallway. Their weapons were lowered only when the shivering one stammered, sobbing like a lost filly:

"I-I'm sorry...! I'm s-s-sorry...! He said he would hurt Winter... he said he would help me..."

Rarity blinked at first. Is it the Harmony Peridot she was looking on? The same one that tried to murder her, that harassed her, that escalated her and Spike's fears?

"He's coming!!" the mare suddenly gasped out.

"He's... he's coming...."

"Who?" Stellar pressed on relentlessly.

"Who's coming?"

"J-Janus..."

The butler and Spike could only exchanged baffled looks, though the other mares immediately knew what she was talking about.

"The pony..." Pinkie grumbled, gritting her teeth.

"The one that killed... that k-killed my..."

"I saw him in the ballroom, Stellar," Rarity spoke up suddenly, before turning to the dragon.

"That's why I was there, Spike! He wasn't planning to destroy Canterlot: he was using all the chaos as a diversion for him to obtain the technology of the Dreamscape Machine. And he escaped... under my watch..."

"There was nothing you could've done, Miss Rarity."

Stellar raised his blade warily, before continuing:

"We are facing an old enemy; one as old as the world itself that he had been forgotten through the stories, myths and legends of the past. The technology that he had attained will be the forefront of what might become his dominion over the Equestrian world, and nopony will be safe under his rule."

"Harmony," Pinkie called her shaking friend.

"Do you have any idea why he might need it for?"

"I... I-I don't know..."

Harmony's breath was shivering with fear and despair, though she continued, trying to recompose herself:

"He m-mentioned... Luna... he knows something about them... he... I just..."

She broke down again, prompting her friend to console her once more. The rest could only watch as they sheathed their daggers, slightly relieved that they have won over a new adversary from the enemy.

"We'll have to evacuate this place before it comes down. She'll have to tell us anything she knows about this... Janus pony, after our departure." Stellar said, before asking:

"Will you extend your cooperation with us, Miss Peridot?"

"She will," Pinkie answered with an affirmative nod.

"Won't you, Harmony?"

The mare gave a nervous but determined 'yes', which was enough for the butler. The group soon resumed their journey through the resounding corridors, the various echoes flitting all around them only further amplified the forbidding, reclusive atmosphere of the now vacant palace.

It was unnerving; the chaotic symphony of the howling snowstorm, the traipsing drips of water and the aging groan of rotten wood. Stellar always whirled around once anything particular reaches his ears, his blade ever ready.

It wasn't necessary, however; a few more turns and they finally reached the main hall, their eyes opened wide as the colossal doorways of the palace, inviting them into the thick blight of snow obscuring their view.

"We made it..." Spike said breathlessly to Rarity, the two smiling with relief at each other.

"Fool...."

The cold, booming voice immediately halted them with fear, the five of them all glancing around in panic. Everything turned darker, blacker with time as the voice continued, the ponies recognizing it to be the tyrant's:

"One must know not to make friends with the enemy. The enemy that you have all resorted to hate. She took the lives of your friends away, did she not? Friends that you have adored before their untimely passing."

"Don't listen to him!!" Harmony protested, trying to defend herself as the rest of them turned towards her, prompting her to shout again:

"He's trying to poison your minds! He's trying to lure you over to him!"

"Such an unfortunate liar..." the booming voice cackled mockingly at the mare's attempts.

"Seeking for mercy in the friends of those you have slaughtered.. how will you pay them? The answer is clear, is it not?"

"Pinkie..." she stammered first, her friend staring at the floor in despondency.

"P-Pinkie, please... pl-please forgive me..."

Stellar did the same, his mind dueling over the two choices that were given to him; the two choices that were given to every single one of them:

Kill or be killed...

"Harmony was never at fault!"

The sudden voice practically took every other pony (and dragon, especially) by surprise, the latter all turning to Rarity whilst the white mare clenched her hooves tightly onto her blade.

"You were the one that ordered for their deaths," she yelled back spitefully.

"You fed her lies... forced her towards the brink of insanity and back, and shattered her mind. She's not a killer, much less a fighter herself, yet you made her murder all these ponies. You made her do all these horrible things."

The voice gave back a sigh, before speaking:

"Always a stubborn one, Miss Rarity. One that never ceases to amuse me. However..."

There was a slight pause, the mare holding her breath once he continued:

"Haven't you forgotten that she was your demon? The one that you were desperately trying to fight back; the one you had never wanted to become? She tried to murder you and your beloved dragon, didn't she...?

Rarity wanted to object, but they were true, her mind told herself.

She turned to Harmony, who was practically on her knees, her eyes filled with tears of sorrow. She has to pay back for all the troubles that she had caused to her and Spike, a part of her said, and now she's given a chance.

The mare looked up again, silently yet desperately shaking her head. The sight only made the white unicorn bite her lip, before stifling a hefty sigh.

"Yes, she did tried to kill me and Spike," she began, holding her breath.

"Yes, I did say I never wanted to become her, but she wasn't responsible for all of this. Nopony except you were responsible for any of this. Even if she did do all these deeds, I will bring myself to forgive her, because I know now..."

"That my darkness is not evil, as with all of our darkness, because the darkness in all of us is what makes us different. To me, darkness is never an evil part of us" she finished, giving Harmony a grin. The rest of them started to do the same, agreeing with her words as well.

"Rather, it is the part of us we misunderstand. The part of us we neglect that makes us whole."

There was a pause of silence, the group waiting for a response, which came abruptly yet softly:

"In the end, you all resolve to help her. To join the side of the enemy, when you know that forgiveness never brings life back... an astonishing mistake, I believe."

"One you all have to pay."

Suddenly, the palace doors started to move slowly, the butler immediately galloping the moment he had a glimpse of its movement. He tried to pull it back open, to no avail, as their only exit became sealed with a powerful blast of air.

The rest frantically went to his side, watching him while he frantically jiggled the knobs.

"We're locked in!" he quickly shouted.

"Palgiot Palace: once a haven for the royalty and the aristocracy. A symbol of power throughout the northern states of Equestria. A stronghold of independence and welfare, as well as a structure of eternity. Now..."

The loud voice of Janus laughed maniacally, the walls rebounding his unnerving tone of morbidity around the room and throughout the palace as he finished:

"It will be... your cage. Your coffin..."

"Your tomb of black, prepared for the consuming white."

Immediately, the floor beneath them started to crack as a large ravine slithered throughout the room, splitting the room, not to mention the group, into two, with steam spewing from its dark crevices.

"Rarity!!" Spike yelled, clutching onto a pillar as he tried to reach for his lover's hoof. The tip of it managed to graze itself against the point of his claw, though the ever-growing chasm between them immediately severed their thin connection with ease.

"Spike!!" Rarity could only scream back, the land beneath her descending downwards into the darkness, the dragon already a few feet above her. She clung tightly onto the sides of the fractured tiles, ignoring the slight sting of pain at the tip of her hooves.

Pinkie and Harmony were with her, all of them hopelessly watching before the shaking ground stopped, the catalyst of fear spurring them to unsheathe their blades.

"And so, the fun begins..."

In a swirl of black and white - the glaring radiance forcing them to shield their eyes - emerged a pony, the one they call Janus, neither filled with color nor emotion, with so far only a smirk at the separated legion. His singular blade was long, yet thinner than the spine of a cactus, the tip almost as if dissipating into the air itself.

"Now then," he spoke coldly and tauntingly, beckoning them towards him.

"Who wants to play~?"

Comments

[WritingSpirit]

Chapter 73

Supposed to be done an hour earlier, but there was a blackout
Anyways, next chapter will finish things up, then it's the epilogue!!

[Fury of the Tempest]

So... his name is finally revealed... Janus...

Good to see Harmony back, so... is that what happened? She remembered the bad, but not the good?

[MasterSpike]

Finally.

[Pia-chan]

then it finished in the first part xP

[WritingSpirit]

1799555
The bad. I guess you could call it the lies as well.

[Fury of the Tempest]

1801967
So the lies was what had her at the start? Or was their memory play even before that?

[WritingSpirit]

1804515
The lies started just before Harmony joined the Voyagers, which was right after leaving Pendant Lake since she and Winter got together

[Fury of the Tempest]

1804541
And continued throughout?

[WritingSpirit]

1804567
When Janus talks to her, yes.
Like Winter mentioned, she was once cheerful, but started to become hostile the moment she starts to believe about everything he was saying.

[Fury of the Tempest]

1804588
So he really is a powerful manipulator...

Still calling him Kane.

[Mocha Star]

Wow, so much has finally happened.
I can't believe what they did to Luna!