Dying Embers

by MrSpartan

Epilogue

The ceremony was kept small and quiet. If the general populace (especially Canterlot) were made aware that the rulers of Equestria were hosting a funeral for a war criminal and killer the results would have been less then satisfactory. All those who had been captured were now free and repairs to the damages suffered in the fighting could begin. Unsure of how their general had wanted to be laid to rest, the humans opted for the oldest burial rite they knew. Illitheous’ remains were put into a miniature brass coffin. Normally the symbols of the departed’s gods would be etched onto it but they knew how he had felt about gods. The crusaders of fire paid their various cultural respects to the casket. Most also had to refrain from touching sense the adamantine golem wouldn’t let them get too close. It protected the coffin like a loyal dog who’s master had passed away first.

The bearers of the Elements of Harmony shuffled uncomfortably and with Twilight feeling especially guilty. These events would plague her thoughts for years to come.

"These thoughts would plague her"

Was what they did necessary? Absolutely. Could they have found a better solution? Maybe, if they had more time. Was what they did the right thing? …It was difficult to say. Luna and Celestia stayed respectfully quite. While Luna starred at the ground in deep contemplation Celestia forced herself to look at the funeral and commit it to memory. The princess of the sun was determined not to let herself forget this no matter how much easier it would be. A true leader bared the weight of her failures no matter how unintentional or indirect. The minor sun goddess planned to put in a new stain glass window in the Hall of Remembrance about the whole affair. This was an event that would be remembered by others as well as Discord’s reign or the reemergence of the Crystal Empire. She owed Illitheous that much, to keep his memory from being erased by the cruel sands of time.

"Celestia forced herself to watch"

After an argument over where he should be buried the once hostile crusaders traveled to the coastal bit of land located far north of Las Pegasus. It would serve as port for trade as well as transport for the few humans who chose to leave or attempted the grueling journey to bring back more of their own from their land of banishment. They would grudgingly honor the peaceful conditions set by Illitheous. So too would they do their best to rebuild. Alone, and away from any outsider interference, the humans did something that they believed, was right, even if Illitheous might not have approved. They did not pronounce their new land the Empire of the Black Dragon as the reborn government Illitheous had lived under and pledged his life too. Instead they dubbed their land the Illitheoun Empire in honor of the man who had refused to give up on his people, even centuries after his death.

After some time, back at the weather-worn tombstone in the Everfree where Illitheous had first warned Princess Luna, new words chiseled in equestrian had been inscribed along with the old. Altogether, the lonely rock now displayed:

Here lie the remains of Sir Illitheous, his wife Niava, 32, and children Paelias, 10, and Mika, 4. So too now lies his brother Ahdean, who fought for him and his memory.
Your sacrifice shall not be forgotten. -Love Luna
Luna carves into the tombstone.
THE END

Later...

Ending Credits

A tale written by MrSpartan

Edited by BookSmart and ProtheanBrony

Voice Actors: Christian Sekhanan as Illitheous Voice example
Anthony Skordi as the Demon
Dante Basco as Terran
John Rhys-Davies as Gua
Nicole Oliver as Princess Celestia
Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle
Ashleigh Ball as Applejack and Rainbow Dash
Andrea Libman as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie
Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity and Princess Luna

With special thanks to all the readers out there who tolerated my high jinks and ofcoarse Lauren Faust for reimagining an 80’s TV show for little girls into something amazing. See ya later Equestrian cowboys.

Comments

[dinoding]

so he's still alive?
Uh...Okay.

[MrSpartan]

This is the end folks. I had a blast writing this even later when I had editor and inspiration issues! ALL OF YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS NOW THAT IT'S OVER PLEASE! Feedback feedback feedback! Did you like a certain chapter most? Did the ending song seem apropriat with it's lyrics? How did you feel on Illitheous and Celestia? Thank you all for reading what was my first major story in writing of any kind. I went for a type of action packed dark mlp movie you would buy on dvd when writing this. Now that this major work of mine is over I'll be taking a long break but I'll also be working on getting my other story To Be Remembered into Equestria daily in the meantime. If any of you just want to talk or discus aspects of mlp feel free to ask me!
PEACE OUT GUYS.

[MrSpartan]

2468622 Pure rage never dies.

[gforce]

Well this story has been one heck of a ride, and its a shame to see it go, but i sense a sequel looming in the not too far off future.

[DualSoul1423]

A Ghost Rider-MLP Crossover?...
images1.wikia.nocookie.net/prettylittleliars/images/3/37/Impossibru.jpg
Adding to "Read Later" now.

[nightmaster0]

Great story. Will there be a sequel?

[reader of the night]

Ohhh this story has been fun.
One hell of a journey.
And, well of course there is that little pang of sadness that it is over, but also that feeling of ... i don't know how to put it in words but i feel good about it, that it is over, that the story is complete.

[Whitescorpion]

This was a really sort epilogue, needs more details

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

2468831
Nope. Just a guy who happens to look like ghost rider at some point.

[Whitescorpion]

quienganaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/GhostRider.jpg

Illitheous: There's a storm coming, Celestia. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

Celestia: You sound like you're looking forward to it.

Illitheous: Oh, you have no idea.

[Mehnlo]

My guess is it would be the demon coming back, Ahdean is truly dead, but the demon. . .

[OpalBerries]

2468624 Very nice! This was, indeed, one hell of a ride, an absolute fantastic read, I will definitely read this again in the future. I didn't really have a favorite chapter, though; I only read each chapter once, so I can't exactly remember all the crap that happened, but I'll be sure to read this again soon. I can't really say much about the ending song, considering I don't really like rock and metal, but it was alright. I felt that Illitheous went through a little too much trouble to get to Celestia, only to always have her teleport away or have some random occurance that would always allow her to escape, but that doesn't really matter, considering that she forced herself to remember what happened- as long as she has to deal with some sort of 'punishment.' Overall, the last chapter seemed like it was whipped up and thrown out there without a second look, considering there are quite a few spelling and grammar errors; it also felt like the ending, too, was just thrown out there; I kinda feel there is something missing, like a little more could of happened, but, considering the picture with a hand popping out of the grave and some pretty intense metal music, I see what you were going for, and I must admit you did a good job at filling in some of those 'gaps' within this chapter.

Regarding your other fic: You might want to get a proof-reader or someone really good with grammar and sentence structure, because when I read it a while back, I encountered a few errors in grammar and some spelling here and there, nothing too big, but since you're thinking about sending it to EQD, you might want to fix those, considering it's EQD and they probably go hard on grammar. I thought "To Be Remembered" was a VERY good story- something I Definitely haven't read; it really is something extraordinary and VERY provoking; I actually read it twice, which Is something I rarely do with stories. All my luck on getting that beast into EQD, hope it gets through, and hopefully you'll find a decent proofer; there should be a couple lying around; hopefully.

[DavidPony]

.........still think he should have won.......but I guess he won either way

LONG LIVE THE NEW EMPIRE!

I just cant help but think of all the little kiddies being born in that empire.....learning all about the great role model that their empire was named after:

[DualSoul1423]

2471472
Aw... Well then, I must complain that it is both a misleading title, picture and discription. If this is a sarcastic reply, then please, use italics next time; it's just easier that way. Either way, I am still goint to read it.

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

2473663
Not sarcasm. The main character, however, pretty much is ghost rider. Kinda. Ask the author.

[DualSoul1423]

2473908
Do you mean a Ghost Rider? 'Cause there have already been like, three, and I think making one more for a fanfic wouldn't matter. WHATEVER! I don't care! I will read it, 'arright?

[MrSpartan]

2701767 This was conceived and written way before that dlc came out.

[Mikkillerib]

2702845 wow. this fanfic was absolutely fanfuckingtastic.

[MrSpartan]

2703403 What site, where? I want to make sure nobody stole it.
2706228 I'm glad you liked it! Any overall impressions you'd like to share?

[Mikkillerib]

2710514 Im not 100% sure, but i think that it has been used for a picture for a fanfic here on Fimfiction or maybe i just saw it on a DA profile called MrSpartin. You may have to find out yourself, because that is the only things i remember about that drawing.

[Mikkillerib]

2710514 Well, the fanfic was incredibly exciting to read. A really good change of scenery from the usual human in Equestria fanfics. And all those references. By Celestia's glorious plot, they made me laugh, especially the cactus one. However, the chapters do have some typos that you may need to get checked. Its just the grammar nazi in me speaking, but get the typos fixed and you have a story ready to be published as a book.

[MrSpartan]

2710772 Oh well I AM MrSpartin on Deviant art so no worries. (yes I know it's spelled wrong but I don't want to pay money just to correct 1 letter in my name and it was too late before I noticed)
2710801 I'd hardly say it's good enough to be a book with some editing but thank you for the complement!

[Mikkillerib]

2713258 np. If there were a genre for fanwritten stories, yours would be amazing.

[mama13579]

Wonderful story.

[PantheraLeo]

This is definitely worth reading ... and not just as "I want to kill some time" kind of story ... this is genuinely good, well written and interesting story. Well done.
(And since I had started this rating thingy ... I feel obliged to write this ... This storys raiting is 7.9/10 internets)

Also ... first story where I was rooting for the "bad guys".

Afterthought: I think that humans should have killed the element bearers. Or just not be so easily defeated ... didnt felt right.

[LoneUnicornWriter]

I like the story, can't wait to finish it. :)

[MrSpartan]

3491107 Enjoy! If you want to, let me know what you think.

[Tue-moi]

Illitheous is one of the most bad-ass OC's I have read about, eh. He's a character of vengeance and I'm not one to enjoy OP characters, but he was such a bad-ass!

What we need now is a sequel to this awesome story, eh. Show these Pony-Xenos the might of HUMANITY! Though I didn't particularly enjoyed how the human warriors were easily beaten by the Elements of Harmony after they seemed to almost kicked their asses, and that one woman who couldn't will herself to atleast knock out Fluttershy bothered me the most, eh. Awesome story, eh.

The Emperor Protects.

[carrs88]

excellent story friend, just excellent vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/horadeaventura/images/0/00/Aplausos.gif/revision/latest?cb=20160426114906&path-prefix=es

[MrSpartan]

8503365
Thank you! Happy you enjoyed it and thanks for the comment.

[Tedious_Blizzard]

From the description and picture it looks like a Ghost Rider crossover

[Shadowblade019]

To hell with this, i want those Horses Dead!