Believe in the Heart of the Moon

by HeartlessSpartan

The King

The King

The King had traveled over the mountains and through the forests. No beasts or spirits dared challenge him on his journey. There was an ancient power held by him and the creatures of the forests knew this. So the King arrived at the doors of the changeling castle with no resistance. The castle itself looked decrepit and overgrown with plants of the forest, and several changelings could be seen flying in and out of the broken windows.

“What brings a pony this far out all by itself?” A changeling asked menacingly as it landed between the king and the doors.

“I seek an audience with your queen,” the king said.

“No pony sees her majesty!” the changeling yelled as it leapt at the king.

Within the walls of the castle were too many changelings to count. All either resting or flying about. The inside of the castle was a maze of stairs, hallways, and doors going in every direction, even upside down. What the changelings resting inside didn’t expect was for one of their peers to come crashing through the wooden doors screaming and roll down the stairs.

The swarm of changelings paused and gawked at the splintered doors as a cloaked pony marched in and pulled away his hood. As the swarm began to cautiously creep towards the pony, the king unsheathed his sword and pointed it out as a challenge at the swarm covering the inside from floor to ceiling. Foolish and provoked, the changelings all leapt to attack.

Elsewhere in the castle the changeling Queen Chrysalis was lounging in her chamber when one of her minions reported through a magical crystal orb.

“My queen we have a situation!” The minion yelled.

“Then handle it!” Chrysalis simply replied.

“We’re trying my queen but this pony is swift with a blade, we’re dying!” The minion yelled.

Chrysalis suddenly became nervous and paranoid. In this age there is a set of world laws that is followed by all intelligent creatures, and killing without declaration or reason is highly illegal.

“Show me this pony!” Chrysalis ordered angrily.

The minion oriented its orb to show Chrysalis a scene that made even her feel sick. To make matters worse from how many changelings were already dead was how many more kept going at him and he wasn’t even tired. As the king fought it looked more like a cloaked shadow that often lashed out cutting down several of her minions in one fluid motion. Fighting like that doesn’t exist anymore. It scared her more to know who it was.

“Stop fighting you fools! That pony passed the trials of Knight’s Peak, he’ll kill you all if you attack him further, just find out what he wants!” Chrysalis commanded.

The changelings quit fighting and backed away from the king. He stood for a moment to let the green goo run off the tip of his blade before sheathing it. There was a pause of silence; it took some time before a changeling worked up the courage to speak.

“Why have you come?” a minion asked

“I seek an audience with your queen,” the king said.

“Show him in,” Chrysalis echoed through the orb; deciding that allowing this audience would be better than having her minions slaughtered.

A minion lead the king through the halls of the castle with the swarm glaring at him with angry eyes. When he arrived at the queen’s chamber Chrysalis was waiting for him inside. Even the queen’s chamber was decrepit with a gaping hole in the wall.

“If there was anything I feared most in this world it would be you showing up again,” Chrysalis said.

“So you’re queen now. I know when my own daughter lies to me about something as serious as a changeling attack. Seeing as you’re the queen, now I understand why she was still alive to wake me,” the king said.

“I had your child’s kingdom in my grasp and yet I let it go! All I wanted was revenge for you murdering my mother, but I couldn’t finish it,” Chrysalis snarled.

“I did not murder your mother…” the king was saying.

“You did!” Chrysalis shouted.

“… I killed her,” the king finished.

“Why? You didn’t have to if you just went with her! She needed you, her kingdom needed you,” Chrysalis said desperately.

“My wife needed me! My family, my kingdom needed me. I admit that your mother was right but she was desperate and full of greed,” the king said.

“Greed? Is it greedy to love someone? Is it greedy, to save your kind from killing the very things they loved just in order to survive?” Chrysalis asked.

“It was a lie, she turned against me and so I struck her down,” the king replied.

“Together you could have saved our entire species from being looked upon as monsters,” Chrysalis said sadly.

“Monsters that feed on love, that wish to love? Such lies; such deceit is what killed your mother. Monsters are what they were and monsters are what you will always be. I’m sorry for ever trusting her,” the king said sadly.

“She loved you Orion. I have never heard anyone speak so highly of their own killer. She told me much about you that I remember your name. You gave our species hope and then stabbed it in the back!” Chrysalis said, anger in her voice mixed with sadness.

“She was my friend and I trusted her; but she wanted me to abandon my family, my wife whom I loved. No, I couldn’t leave my family or my people even if it would have saved yours. I saw more to her than just a monster, but she proved me wrong herself,” Orion, the king, said as he turned away and made his way to the door.

“Is it monstrous to love someone, monstrous to protect your family?” Chrysalis asked.

“No, it’s just a damn good excuse,” Orion said as he raised his hood and left.

“Shall we kill him when his back is turned?” a minion asked Chrysalis after Orion was out of sight.

“No, I understood the statement he made here,” Chrysalis said.

“What would that be my queen?” the minion asked.

“Something he said to my mother, he said; threaten or harm my family again and I will personally ensure that there will be none of your kind left to be the monsters that you are,” Chrysalis said.

“My queen, it is not my place to ask; but what provoked him to devastate our kind so aggressively?” the minion asked.

“My mother kidnapped his youngest newborn daughter and ransomed her for him. He murdered my mother as soon as his precious filly Princess Luna was safely exchanged. The one thing more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose is someone who has everything to lose,” Chrysalis explained.

Orion had everything to lose indeed, if he had not lost it already. He had lost his wife, his kingdom, his friends, and perhaps even the love of his daughters. His past now seemed more like a history of violence and tragedy. What he was praised for then is now considered beyond criminal, even evil. He regrets none of it either; he only prefers he didn’t have to. There’s no changing what was done even if one returns to the past.

There is a balance to the world, a harmony that keeps that balance in place. That’s one thing Orion had agreed with Terra. With harmony in place, returning to the past to destroy evil or conquer the good, would only allow another to replace it. Orion knows this, which is why he never used the spell his close friend invented initially for the good of all. However the power held by this spell to return to the past would be easily prone to corruption.

As Orion left the castle he thought of its origin, and his past. The castle had once been the home for the guild of knights. A band of the greatest warriors the world had to offer for the good of the world itself. The guild had trained the best warriors for many years. However the guild held great power, and given time, power can corrupt the purest hearts. Orion and his greatest friend, a great wizard by the name Starswirl foresaw the corrupt path the guild was taking.

Together Starswirl and Orion overthrew the growing oppressive power of the guild. They claimed that the nobility of the guild had died and only the bleeding heart of corruption and evil. They gave the guild a warning to disband or be punished. Those who relinquished their power were free, but those who clung to it without mercy had paid their price. Starswirl cast a spell upon the once elegant castle, turning it into a terrible labyrinth. Those who held their power within the guild were changed into beasts and monsters reflecting themselves and remaining forever imprisoned within.

Orion recalled a moment with Starswirl the week after disbanding the guild.

“Look at this land my friend. Even with the guild disbanded there is no balance of harmony. No matter what kind or nation everyone is freezing and starving. What hope is there for any of our kind?” Orion asked, overlooking the frozen lands as far as the eye could see.

“It will take more than the undoing of evil to lift the ice from the land, and the coldness from our hearts. Perhaps maybe, the balance of harmony relies much more heavily upon the balance of every kind. We are all very much the same even if our culture views otherwise,” Starswirl said.

“A harmony amongst ponies?! Can’t be possible,” Orion said.

“Just as impossible as the rumors of an earth pony and a unicorn, working together to survive the trials of Knight’s Peak,” Starswirl stated with a smile.

“Build a new world, rule a new kingdom united by all ponies?” Orion asked.
“Indeed,” Starswirl replied.

“Yet, to rule such a kingdom would require balance. To be honest my friend we are not creatures of balance. We cannot take back what we’ve done and we cannot change what we are,” Orion said.

“No we cannot, but I have faith that in due time our kind will come together and overcome this cursed land when they are ready. Before then however, we have to prepare,” Starswirl said, planning in his mind.

“Prepare, how?” Orion asked, unsure of how to begin.

“Harmony relies on power, thus far we’ve managed good and evil, yet there is a much stronger power,” Starswirl mentioned.

“What would that be?” Orion asked curiously.

“The same power that convinced you the guild was wrong, the same power that kept you from turning evil, and the very same power that urges you to return home. Love Orion, you love Dawn and so you’ve chosen to protect her. Harmony, if ever at all, must be balanced by the power of love,” Starswirl explained.

“Create a kingdom with the foundation of love and friendship amongst everyone. Build a kingdom of peace, a land of freedom from hardship and evil. We may not be the destined rulers but we can certainly protect it,” Orion said.

“Found a kingdom that becomes a beacon of freedom for ages to come for all kinds,” Starswirl said happily.

“Yes, the Everfree Kingdom!” Orion said joyously.

“A grand name for it, I will put my apprentice straight to work on finding a suitable location once I have returned home,” Starswirl said.

“Yes, home, Dawn had wrote me in her letters of good news that we will soon have a filly,” Orion said with pride.

“You see Orion, now perhaps the rulers of Everfree aren’t the strangers we think they would be,” Starswirl said.

Orion had recalled this memory as he crossed the mountains again; the frozen peaks reminding him of the curse that once covered this land of Equestria. When he made it to the other side of the mountains he viewed the lush green valleys and numerous farmlands. Not too far off he could see a moderately sized town, and beyond that he could make out the shape of a city off the side of a distant mountain. He was amazed to see a waterfall flowing out of it and dispersing into the air as clouds within the valley. His daughter was right, Luna had said he’d be proud, and he was.