//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Only Time Will Tell // Story: Visionary // by Razorbeam //------------------------------// Aurus groaned and slumped across the desk, his forelegs stretching hopelessly for the far side as his muzzle pressed into the polished granite surface. The quill clattered down lamely, landing next to him as the magic surrounding it faded. He looked at the stack of papers being set before him with an expression of undisguised disbelief and horror. "How many more of these are there?" he whined, gazing at the pillar of parchment looming over him, and then glaring at the offending changeling who had condemned him to such a papery fate. Korrick just laughed, straightening the stack with his magic. "Welcome to politics. Lucky for you, this is the last stack. Sign these and you can take a break." Aurus muttered something very unflattering as he pulled a sheet off the top, holding it sideways and reading it without removing his cheek from the cool stone of his writing desk. "Expense reports..." he grumbled, noting the symbol for changeling currency marked at the bottom. "Well of course. The landslide destroyed quite a few homes, so there's the reimbursement for that. And then there's the cost of hiring the mages to repair the canyon wall..." "I could have done that one myself, and probably saved twice as much time as I'll spend filling out these forms," Aurus huffed, setting the paper down and closing his eyes. Korrick just chuckled to himself. "That's probably true, but you're in no condition to strain yourself like that. Anyways, the royal treasury isn't even going to notice the expenses. All things considered, the damage was fairly well contained. Why, when I saw you fighting like that I thought for certain..." Aurus just rolled his eyes and tuned out the old man's recounting of the battle for the umpteenth time. He scribbled his signature on the page lazily, permitting the expenditure listed there without a thought, setting that parchment aside and starting a new pile of finished documents. With a heavy sigh he prepared another one, getting into a steady pace of skimming the documents and signing them before piling them up. "Oh, I had almost forgotten," Korrick said solemnly, his sudden change from cheerful to serious catching Aurus' attention. The king sat up immediately, looking at his suddenly somber face with concern. "What is it?" "I know that you wanted me to gather the people, and I've sent out the summons like you asked. But before the ceremony tomorrow night, I was asked to give this to you," Korrick said quietly, passing a smaller piece of parchment Aurus' direction. The subject of this chat made Aurus' heart heavy. Tomorrow evening was Chrysalis' funeral, an occasion that any who desired to were welcome to attend. Aurus didn't expect to see many people gather for such a thing, even at his request. He didn't want the people to attend simply because he had asked. This paper was clearly no legal document. It appeared to be a hastily written letter, the changeling script showing a plainly obvious female tilt to the hoofwriting. His heart sank as he came to realize what this sad missive entailed, yet he read on all the same. "If you are reading this, then I'm dead and you aren't. Your battle with Gerd was a success, and congratulations are in order. Stopping that wretch is the crowning achievement of your life, and possibly the brightest moment in our people's history. It's strange, but I feel oddly at peace. I feel fulfilled, knowing that my training helped you to triumph over him. That somehow my efforts finally helped the people. I still don't regret what I've done, as that's simply who I am... but it's not who I've seen myself becoming in these recent months. Something changed, watching you selflessly throw yourself against the odds with no concern for your own life. It was so contrary to everything I once believed, and I admit I was intrigued. Though I'll never be remembered as a good queen, I've come to respect you as a good king. My time is long past, and I don't find any shame in admitting that, at the end of it all, I found myself changing. It's who we are as a people; we're born to become something greater than we were the day before. The people have seen it, I have seen it, and soon the whole world will see it too. I know that you will lead them well, and be the rightful king that our kind has always needed. In exchange for the training I gave you, all I asked was for my freedom. And now, at last, I have it. Thank you, Aurus, for holding up your end of the bargain. If there is a life beyond this one, I will be waiting there to greet you with pride. Regards, Chrysalis." Aurus didn't have the presence of mind to deny the tears welling in his eyes as they streamed lazily to the tip of his nose, dripping onto the letter and splotching its already rough appearance. "My lord...?" Korrick asked quietly, bringing Aurus gently back to reality. "Have you read this?" Aurus asked, his voice hushed with grief. "No, I haven't... Chrysalis gave that letter to me before we departed from Canterlot on our journey here. In the event that she passed on, her only request was that I give you this letter." He looked at Aurus with a sad expression in his own eyes, repressing his sorrow. "Once, not so long ago, she was a rotten changeling... But she changed, working with us to save the people. Changed for the better, and I don't need to read whatever is in that letter to know that. Whatever is inside it was meant only for you." Aurus nodded, folding the note and sliding it into a drawer carefully. It was the only item inside, impossible to misplace or forget. He rose slowly from the desk, his paperwork forgotten as he strode to the window overlooking the valley below. In the light of the sunset he could see the flashes of magic as changelings worked to heal the damage to their city below. "Look at it, Korrick," Aurus said sadly, his voice showing forced strength. "We're rebuilding because of her. If she hadn't acted then, my friends would have died... And I know for certain that I would have given up the fight in my despair. There wouldn't have been any repairs, or any recovery... only more destruction at Gerd's hooves," he said quietly, his long shadow behind him trembling gently from the hot tears he was holding in check. He could still remember her expression, that bloody but peaceful smile. Her faith in him to make good on her demise and kill Gerd. "She's a hero in my eyes, and I'm afraid the people will never know her that way. The people will never see the change you and I have seen. But they should be made to," he whispered, the breathless words a defense against the tightness in his throat. A gentle hoof on his shoulder urged the sharing of his burden of sorrow. "I know, my boy," Korrick said shakily, tears in his own eyes now. "As strange as it sounds, I miss her too." Aurus let out a heavy sigh, gazing out on the beauty of the life she had died to protect. "More than you know, Korrick. She may have been a terrible queen..." "But she was a wonderful friend." Aurus looked with shocked joy on the gathering of changelings crowded on the high plains of the desert, joining him in the open evening air to pay their respects. Here and there he could hear the people speaking quietly, recounting how they had watched the queen of old throw herself into Gerd’s attack to save those ponies that the king kept company with. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, were in attendance. It warmed his heart to see that he had been wrong, that the people had seen her sacrifice, her change. At last the time was nearing, and it was with a much lighter heart that Aurus began the ceremony. His voice was magically enhanced as with any gathering, but the somber note dulled his tone. Arrayed behind him were the friends that had accompanied Chrysalis on this journey, lending their silent support as Aurus began. “Brothers and sisters, tonight we gather to honor the life of my dear friend, Chrysalis Merkart. Though once she was selfish, she came to change for the better, as have we all. In a selfless act of courage she threw herself into the battle to stop Gerd from destroying my friends. Without her sacrifice, Gerd would have won the day.” His tone trailed off quietly as he openly admitted he would not have had the strength to continue fighting, had such a grim event come to pass. “She had nothing to gain, and everything to lose, yet she acted with determination and resolve. In exchange for her aid in preparing to face Gerd, I promised her freedom. In the end she claimed it for herself, and for us all. For my part, I choose to remember her as a hero; in all the years of my short life, I’ve never witnessed such bravery or selflessness. Though it’s far too little and too late, I clear Chrysalis Merkart of all accounts against her in T’rahk Enox.” He paused quietly, turning to face the stone altar behind him. It was raised tall enough for all of the assembled to see, yet the sunset-painted sky was still filled with changelings flying high to get a better look. “It’s the custom of our people not to bury the dead. The desert is too full of sand, we live among the drifting dunes. Our ashes go to find new land, in death we find a home anew,” he began, the simple rhyme an obvious intro into the ritual of passing for the changeling people, the cue for the assembled to raise their voices and join him in their final farewell. Their voices overwhelmed his, the somber, low song washing over him like a wave. “Out past the shifting sands of time, We send our sister ever west, The wind will be her steadfast guide, Into the realm of pleasant rest. We will remember ever-long, The legacy and life she left, With heavy hearts but pleasant song, She ventures forth with wishes blessed. Let where she lands be holy ground, Let water ever swiftly run, Let those before her loudly sound, The herald-horn of life now done. Someday we’ll meet our sister dear, Within the land of light and life, And share with her days without fear, Forever free from pain and strife. Out past the shifting sands of time, We send our sister ever west, The wind will be her steadfast guide, Into the realm of pleasant rest.” Aurus gazed with bittersweet eyes on the face of his friend, her eyes peacefully closed. Those who had prepared the body had made her appearance gentle, her forelegs crossed over her chest, wings folded neatly to her back, pressing into the cold stone below her. Her hide glistened with oil, awaiting the spark that would put her at last on the journey across the desert, into the fabled land of after-death. Aurus let the tears flow freely, their twin rivulets fighting for dominance between happiness for her and sorrow for himself. “Farewell, my friend,” he whispered to the corpse, conjuring a green ball of flame over his head. “Someday I will see you again, but for now the people need their king. Thank you… for everything.” He gently settled the ball of fire between her crossed hooves, igniting the purifying funeral flame at her breast. The blaze raced around her, the magical fire spreading due to the oil. Those arcane flames would need no fuel other than her flesh to sustain them, and the fire consumed her. Not fiercely, but reverently. They burned her away slowly with not a hiss or crackle, as if the very magic in those wisps of brilliant heat could sense the value of the body they devoured. The sun finally dipped below the rim of the world, and Chrysalis’ pyre took over the duty of lighting the night. A green glow bathed all of the assembled as they watched the first remnants of her being float softly into the night sky, sailing fast on wings of desert wind into the west. Twilight Sparkle gazed upon the castle that housed her beloved friend. Even after only a year apart it felt like ages since she had seen him. No matter the number of letters they had written to one another since her return to Ponyville she always missed him. Her five friends had laughed and chattered the entire trip back to T’rahk Enox, just as excited as she was to see their old friend. None more so than Applejack, who had made several trips on her own since then to come and visit her beloved Aurus. Their relationship hadn’t been diminished by the time they spent apart, but had rather been strengthened. It had served to temper their resolve and patience for one another even further. For his own part, Aurus made infrequent visits to Equestria on business with the Princesses. The capital of T’rahk Enox was now a destination available for travel via pegasus-drawn carriage, a small step in the larger crusade for peace. The transportation bureau of both nations had readily agreed to the terms, and flights to Equestria were just as common. Changelings and ponies were eager to experience the wondrous lands of their once-enemies first hoof. Aurus and Celestia had given speeches together in both nations, declaring the treaty of peace between their two realms. If there was throat that hadn’t cheered at any of those glorious occasions, their grumbling had been easily drowned out. “Can you believe it? Peace at last!” Rarity sighed, leaning comfortably over the wall of the sky-chariot and watching the sandy landscape below zip past. “It’s everything Aurus could have ever hoped fer,” Applejack agreed, looking around at her friends. “Jus’ last week him an' Luna were goin’ on about settin’ up trade routes an’ currency exchanges. I’ll admit I didn’t follow a bit of it, but I sure as heck know it’s good news.” The flight carried on until at last the chariot touched down outside the gates of the castle. The six friends disembarked, thanking their drivers and making their way with an eager pace to the guards ahead. The changelings stationed there smiled in sincere welcome, clicking and hissing up the wall to the gatekeeper. The gates swung wide just as Twilight and her friends reached them, a process they had been through many times. “Good afternoon girls. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” The changeling shifted his eyes to Applejack and bowed his head gently. “Except for you, your grace. If memory serves it was just last week you were here.” Applejack flushed as she always did. The guards were always so formal, and though Aurus reprimanded them every time they started using titles like that, it seemed that they simply couldn’t have it drilled out of them. “Now come on, Birk. We’ve been over this a hunnerd times,” Applejack grumbled, blushing even deeper as her friends looked at her with mocking grins. “Oh… right,” the guard replied, shifting his glance to the side in embarrassment. “I just can’t help it.” “It ain’t no trouble, but I ain’t ‘yer grace’. Jus’ Applejack,” she said, her flush fading as she and Birk once again came to that same understanding. “He always says the same thing. ‘Just Aurus’,” the guard chuckled. “It’s no wonder you two get along. Birds of a feather. Anyways, ‘just Applejack’, what’s the occasion?” Twilight spoke up as Applejack smiled at the little joke. “Aurus sent for us, saying there was something he needed our help with.” “Oh right, that business with the council… I haven’t been able to get much information about it; apparently Korrick, Morelda, and the rest of the new council members are under orders to keep whatever they’re doing quiet,” Birk grumbled. He didn’t sound suspicious, just curious. He trusted his king. “Well, when we find out maybe we’ll let you in on it,” Rainbow Dash put in, winking at the guard. Twilight shot her a dirty look that the rainbow-maned pegasus pointedly ignored. Birk chuckled and just nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Alright, go on in. He and Korrick have been hanging around the royal library more often than not, so that’s probably where you’ll find them. Twilight and the others thanked him, making their way inside the castle. “What do you think this business is with the council? It sounds kind of… shifty,” Rainbow piped up. Twilight just shook her head, unsure of that herself. “I don’t know, Rainbow. But knowing Aurus, it would have to be very important to hide it.” “Is that what I think it is?” Twilight asked in disbelief, looking at the object floating in the center of the library. Tables littered with open books were almost equally covered in changelings who were poring over the tomes. Council members were running here and there, calling for specific volumes or passing notes to others. Aurus and Korrick stood in front of the floating gem, the two of them backlit by its glow. The sapphire crystal pulsed angrily, the bottom of its chipped and shredded surface stained crimson from blood. Korrick sighed, looking at Twilight and begging her to understand. “Unfortunately yes. This is the gem Gerd wore on his brow; Morelda had it removed from the body.” “Why is it here?” the purple unicorn asked angrily. That thing was a menace, a tool of evil! “Because we want to study it,” Aurus said bluntly. That set Twilight back on her hooves. “Study it?” Aurus nodded, pacing closer to his friend and joining her in staring at the glowing spike of stone. “Yes. We’re searching for a way to destroy it, amongst other things. So far all we’ve been able to discover is that any magic that doesn’t affect it or its wielder directly can still manipulate it… An example being wild magic. That’s how we’ve managed to suspend the gem like that. The floor directly below it is enchanted to negate the gravity of the space above it. Since this doesn’t actually affect the stone, but rather the area beneath it, it can’t absorb the spell.” Twilight nodded excitedly, getting swept up in the idea of research. It made sense that Aurus would be looking for a way to permanently remove such a powerful threat to the world. Frankly though, she was just hungry for knowledge. “That’s brilliant! That would explain a lot about your battle last year… but how does it work?” Korrick cleared his throat. “We have a theory that the gem can only absorb magic that touches itself or its wielder, and then only if it’s actually a spell. We think the gem converts the spellwork into raw magic again, basically undoing the spell and converting it back into energy. But in the case of the wild magic that Aurus used to defeat Gerd, there is no structure. Wild magic is raw magic, and we believe it’s impossible for the gem to absorb such volatile energy.” Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought as her friends stared dumbfounded at the gem, not really following a bit of the conversation. That theory would certainly explain a lot, and as far as anyone was concerned Aurus had already validated it. “What else are you trying to find out?” she asked, moving the conversation along. “I’d like to know who created it, and why,” Aurus said quietly. “Think about it, Twi. When somebody designs a weapon that works, they usually make more. Maybe even more destructive than the last model.” Twilight scowled as that thought rang far too true in her mind. Aurus nodded, noting her expression. “That was my reaction, too. If we can find out who created this thing, we might be able to locate more like it and destroy them before they can be found by men like Gerd. Changeling history is full of legends about various artifacts from our ages of magical ineptitude and civil war. But this gem is just proof that they aren’t all fairy tales,” he said quietly, his tone grim. “I need your help, Twilight. Gerd was just the first of many, I’m afraid. There’s no telling how many weapons like this are just waiting to be found by ready wielders. You’re the smartest pony I know, and if anyone can help, it’s you. The council has been working for weeks to translate our legends and knowledge into your language. I know it’s asking a lot, but I want you to stay in T’rahk Enox, and assist me with this” he said, his eyes pleading with her. Twilight thought to herself quietly. Just one of these things had been enough to give a changeling as powerful as Aurus a run for his money, enough to bring an entire nation under control. The Elements of Harmony were magical artifacts themselves, and there was no denying the power of such items. In the wrong hooves, there would be no end to the trouble it could cause the world. She nodded just once, a determined expression painted on her face. “I’ll help as much as I can.” Aurus hugged her tightly, grinning ear to ear. “I knew I could count on you!” he declared excitedly, laughing warmly and squeezing her tight. She smiled too, hugging him back. “You can always count on me, Aurus,” she replied kindly, falling out of the friendly embrace as it finally faded. Her expression shifted from happy to eager as she used her magic to bring a tome over to herself. “Let’s get started.” Applejack paced around the guestroom she always occupied whenever she came to visit Aurus. Now that the business with Gerd was long behind him it seemed like he was actually busier than ever. Still, he had never been bad about making time for her. She chuckled to herself as she recalled one occasion where she had actually helped to hide him when Korrick had been looking for him. No matter how true it was that he was a king, he was still the same man she had fallen in love with a year ago. The power hadn’t changed him like she had worried it would. The workload hadn’t depressed him or made him more serious. He was still cheerful, still playful. Still the boy-made-king that was only doing what he had to to make his people happy. Still, things had been weighing on her mind. T’rahk Enox was no further away by sky-chariot than Fillydelphia, but it was a world apart in more ways than distance. She loved spending time with Aurus, but the air here was too dry, the shifting sand to arid to her sensibilities. She was a farmer through and through, and every time she came here the only green she had to look forward to was the torchlight on the walls. She’d wrestled with the idea of asking him to move to Ponyville with her. After nearly a year and a half together, the idea that she might spend her entire life with him was becoming more and more solid in her mind. But every time she thought about it, she talked herself down. No matter how much he loved her, she knew she couldn’t ask him to leave. He was needed here, and it would be selfish of her to ask him to run away with her just so she could be happy. A knock at her bedroom door stole her from her thoughts, helping her realize that she had been pacing; a nervous habit she had developed by spending too much time with Twilight and Rarity. Sighing to herself to clear her mind, she put on a smile and called to her visitor. “Door’s open,” she chimed cheerfully, her grim thoughts forgotten as she noted the blue-maned head already poking through the crack in the door. “Are you decent?” he asked jokingly, his eyes clenched shut as he nosed his way into the room slowly. “Oh shush,” she teased back, wandering over to the door as he pushed himself in more fully, opening his eyes and letting the joke drop. The two of them nuzzled each other, a practiced and welcome embrace that always ended in a light peck on the lips. “I’ve missed you,” he said quietly, shutting the door behind him. “I’ve only been gone a week or so,” Applejack replied skeptically, looking at his loving expression like she didn’t think he was even hearing himself talk. “Yeah well, with everything that’s been going on with the artifact research it feels like years,” he groaned, wandering past her to the sofa and slumping down on it. She followed him over, laughing at his melodrama. “Ya really missed me that much?” she asked, running a hoof through his mane gently as he simply relaxed, his eyes closed in comfort. “Of course I did,” he replied evenly, smiling happily. “In fact, Twilight’s not the only one I want to stay in T’rahk Enox,” he added suddenly. Those words took Applejack by surprise. They were too in line with her earlier train of thought for her to consider them a joke. She stopped stroking his mane as his words echoed around in her mind, her brain looking for somewhere to make a conversation out of it without revealing her feelings about this place. “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly, looking up at her from his laying position and placing a hoof over hers gently, his eyes showing only concern. “It’s jus’…” she sighed, knowing that she couldn’t lie to him. “I love ya, Aurus. Honest an’ true, I do. But every time I come here, I miss the green on my farm. I’m used t' trees an' grass, sugar, an' out there all I can see is sand. Ain’t nothing grows out there, an’ it feels… empty,” she admitted quietly. Aurus looked at her sadly, following her gaze out her window which faced south across the desert. He just sighed sadly, nodding his head. “I know, AJ. This place isn’t anything like your home. To be honest, I’ve been afraid that you felt this way for a long time. Still, I had to ask. It’s hard on the days without you, Applejack. Worse at night,” he said with a shaky laugh, his weak attempt at a lewd joke failing miserably to alleviate the sudden melancholy mood. AJ went back to stroking his mane gently, laying down next to him. “It ain’t so far… We see one another all the time, an’ fer my part it don’t matter how much I gotta walk or ride t’ see ya. But I know the feelin’, Aurus…” she trailed off quietly, silently weighing her desires. “As empty as them sands are durin’ the day, it’s emptier no matter where I’m at iff’n you ain’t there,” she said quietly, turning his head and kissing him deeply, pulling him out of his sadness and worry with her passion. Aurus kissed her back in surprise, quickly melting into the moment. It faded slowly, the two of them unwilling to part that wonderful embrace. At last somehow they came apart, Aurus looking into Applejack’s deep green eyes, and seeing clearly all the love held within. “No matter how much I’ll miss the grass or the rain, I know I’d miss ya more. If me stayin’s what you want, then stayin’s what you’ll get,” she said warmly, hugging him tight and burying her face in his chest. “Because I love ya Aurus, an’ I reckon I don’t want t’ leave ya anymore. Not fer the rest of my days.” Aurus smiled, containing the happy tears forming in his eyes. He could feel Applejack’s running hot down his chest, and so he squeezed her more tightly, holding her lovingly. “I never want you to go, Applejack. I love you, too.” “I think I’ve finally found a way for you to destroy it,” Twilight said excitedly. Three years of research had finally yielded her the breakthrough she had been looking for. “Are you sure?” Aurus asked, his tone equally zealous. He looked from Twilight’s beaming face to the gem floating in the center of the library with eagerness. “Definitely. I’ve spent the last two months piecing together small portions of legends that reference gems actively. One thing that seems to keep coming up is about a stranger who carried a blue stone with him. The funny thing is, it doesn’t sound like the stone was ever meant to be a weapon. I think it’s an artifact from the pre-rune era, designed to absorb the magical energy from changelings to prevent outbursts of wild magic. There’s no name for the stranger, of course, but all records point consistently to him arriving from the south,” she finished, looking at the gem. “The strangest part is that this wanderer doesn’t seem to be a changeling at all,” she said, pointing to a reference in the tome she had in her hooves. “’The creature came upon the town, striking fear but giving no just cause for it. At last the people approached it, and in its talons it clutched a glimmering stone, which it held aloft. The people, sick from the power of the earth, cast forth as the creature bade them. And lo they were cured of their sickness, the might of the world cleansed from their flesh, making their minds whole’,” Aurus read aloud. He looked to Twilight for clarification, understanding enough to realize why she had thought that this stone was not a weapon. “Changelings don’t have talons, first off, and this is a direct translation. Whatever the stranger in the legend is, it’s not a pony or one of your people. Secondly, I believe that what we have here is the very same stone the stranger carried. He was using it to cure the people in your land by having them vent their extra magic into the stone. In the beginning I think changelings suffered from magic poisoning almost constantly, like you did after your wild magic experience in the valley,” she said excitedly. “This stone wasn’t made to be a weapon at all; it was a medical tool!” Aurus nodded, following her logic. “That may be, but I still need to destroy it,” he said flatly, his tone broaching no argument. “Of course. Just because it wasn’t built to be one doesn’t mean it can’t be used as a weapon. We’ve seen that first-hoof. And besides, the people can handle their own magic now. Over the centuries they’ve adapted, and even during the rune-era this stone would have been obsolete for its intended purpose,” she agreed, looking sadly at the stone. “Still, how ironic. A tool invented to heal was used to destroy.” “How do we undo it?” he asked solemnly, drawing her out of her mental maze of curiosity. “Right, sorry about that. This passage here explains that the stranger set up smaller stones in the villages of your people for them to use when he was not around. It says that at night he would come to the villages and drain the energy out of the smaller gems into this one. Once that was done, he had to enchant the smaller gems all over again, or so it sounds like,” she said, pointing to another page in a completely different tome. “It seems like if any of the stones have their energy completely drained, they simply become a regular gemstone. Up until now we’ve tried shattering it, but it wouldn’t work no matter what we did. But I think if the gem were completely empty, you would be able to destroy it once and for all. For anyone else it would be impossible, and even for you channeling that much energy will be dangerous… This gem has been absorbing the energy of your people for centuries, and there’s no telling how much is stored in there,” she said cautiously. “A risk I’m willing to take,” Aurus said grimly, looking at the gemstone. “If I can free our nation from the threat of it, so much the better. Still, it worries me. This legend only makes it clearer to me that there might be more of them, and the creature in the tale makes me nervous… What ancient and powerful neighbors might we have once had across the desert to the south?” he paused, sighing away his worries. “Whatever the case may be, only time will tell. For now, we’ll deal with the problem at hoof,” he said evenly. Korrick had often told him over the years that thinking too far ahead would only make the present impossible to deal with; sound advice that he still had to actively struggle to follow. Aurus reached out and grabbed the gem, numbing his mind against the hungry energy inside that sought to seduce him. It was not the first time he had handled the gem in the last three years, and his fortitude proved more than a match for the stone’s own will. Carrying it in his fangs, he and Twilight made their way out of the castle, heading for the sand-swept plains below. Aurus prepared himself, hammering out his rune below him. The twelve-foot circle was merely a vessel waiting to be filled, to grow and gorge itself on the energy within the gemstone. Aurus could sense the gem’s fear and concern. It knew that Aurus sought to destroy it, and it held enough intelligence to struggle against that notion. But sadly for the once-proud tool of life the power it had consumed over the ages had corrupted it, mutated its own will and purpose. Though it sought to endure, it could complete no act without the consent of its master. Aurus’ will was far too strong to be swayed by the promises of power that the gem desperately offered him. He looked across the plains, wondering if his plan would work. If he could truly destroy this gem this way. But beyond that, he silently pondered his own secret mission. A hope against all hopes for the aftermath of the stone’s destruction, a secret design he had shared with no one. Twilight stood behind him, her silent support urging him on as he reached his ready point. With a sigh to stabilize his mind and body, he dove into battle with the gem. His mind clashed with that of Zarkoj, its own consciousness trying to deny him the energy he demanded of it. But Aurus had overcome wild magic and a demon, and he was no meager opponent. The stone’s will shattered and succumbed to his own, and at last the energy began to pour into him. It raced through him; he became the medium through which the magic leapt from stone to rune, a pipe from one jar of water to another, funneling the energy in. The rune grew rapidly, endlessly. The edges stretched far beyond Aurus’ vision, reaching out to the horizon. Its green border was obscured by the swirl of heat in the desert sun, a wavy emerald haze in the distance. Though he could not see the end of his titanic symbol, he knew that it only continued to grow as the gem struggled against him. The mind of Zarkoj grew more and more tired. At last Aurus could feel the feeble consciousness within fading away to nothing, the flow of energy trickling to a halt. The glow within the gem pulsed one final time, and then all light left its depths. Still holding the gem in his mouth, as he had through the entire ordeal, Aurus bit down hard. He channeled energy into his jaw, strengthening the bone and sinew for the task ahead. Slowly, his mighty muscles trembling with the effort, his fangs finally crunched through the powerful shell of Zarkoj, shattering the gem into myriad shards of simple sapphire stone. “It’s done,” he said quietly, looking down at his hooves and along the ground. He could barely make out the edge of the shield symbol in the distance, and he silently estimated that his rune must have been nearly fifty miles wide, or perhaps even more. As far as the sands stretched, so did his rune. “Now what?” Twilight asked, looking with awe at the sheer size of the rune, straining her eyes to see its edge. “This much energy will take a lifetime to bleed off. Absorbing this would simply kill you, there’s no way even you could survive it-“ she trailed off as she watched Aurus spread his wings and launch into the air, flying high. He zipped higher and higher, until at last he could see the outer edge of his creation, many miles away. Blowing sand obscured his vision, yet the line of energy was too thick not to be visible. Closing his eyes and concentrating hard, he pictured the destination in his mind as he landed thousands of feet below next to Twilight. He sighed with relief as the fire portal opened before him, its destination acceptable to the spell’s requirements. Like Twilight’s teleportation spell, the portal required more energy to use the further the distance covered, yet he knew beyond a doubt that the energy required to traverse such a massive distance would not even impact a rune this size as he drew from it. He gestured silently, ushering Twilight in and then following her. The two escaped from their sudden field of darkness as they exited the portal. The vast mountains of the north loomed in the beyond, and directly before them lay the line that marked the edge of the mighty rune. “Is this the edge?” Twilight asked quietly, awed. These mountains hadn’t even been visible through the haze of heat miles away from here where she had stood only moments before. “Yes. If I had to guess, I would say that this rune is covering nearly half of the desert… Perhaps even more,” Aurus said quietly, running over his plan one last time in his mind before committing to it. “What are you going to do?” she asked again as he pushed her gently out past the line. “You remember what Chrysalis said about the runes all those years ago?” Aurus asked with a nervous grin. “Of course. I even still have the notes,” Twilight said cheerily, sensing something exciting about to happen. “What happens if I leave this rune?” he asked with a small smile. Her eyes went wide as she caught on. She bounced up and down eagerly, reaching out and hugging him tightly. “Aurus, that’s brilliant! You’re a genius!” she gushed, letting go of him suddenly. Without wasting another moment, Aurus stepped past her and beyond the boundary of his runic area. “If a changeling ever leaves his rune, all of the magic contained in it will sink back into the earth.” Applejack and the remaining four friends of Ponyville rushed outside, doing their best not to trip over their own hooves as the ground shook mightily. In the distance they could see strong winds swirling, green lightning dancing between the streams of sand they kicked up. “Oh my!” Fluttershy squeaked, taking off to avoid being toppled by the vibrations in the ground. “What’s happening?” Rarity asked in a panic, sprawled out to try and keep herself upright. “This is great!” Pinkie Pie cheered, her voice vibrating as she skidded along the ground, the force of the earthquake shaking her along to some unknown destination at a snail’s pace. A fire portal opened up nearby, dumping out a very shaken looking Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes were wide and her mane was sticking straight out to one side as if frozen there, her tail in a similar state. Aurus followed behind her, equally disheveled. “Aurus, what the hay did you do?” Applejack shouted over the roar of the wind. “Oh you know, just the usual!” he shouted back, laughing nervously. Not far away a resounding crack split the sound of the gale, drawing their attention. Water gushed out like a geyser from the cleft in the stone beyond, flooding the desert around it. The ground below their hooves began to glow green, brighter than the lines in his rune and covering every square inch of the stone. “Ya broke the derned ground, ya ninny!” she hollered, stumbling closer to him as best she could, and scowling fiercely all the while. “Just trust me! I’ve got a good feeling about this!” he replied, watching the events unfold. More geysers sprung to life in the distance, the winds sweeping aside the dunes. Inside some of them lurked the husks of long-dead trees, petrified and preserved, serving for centuries to hold the sand in place. The winds swept the surface of the desert clean, revealing the sandstone beneath, glowing green with power. Magic took hold of the water spewing forth from the ground, gathering the individual streams into larger rivers. The powerful streams carved deep trenches in the stone, drifting towards each other. Where the rivers collided they formed lakes, digging deep bowls in the rock before racing on as a new stream to claim some other dry portion of the sand. Overhead, clouds began to gather, bringing rain to add to the torrents. Where the rain struck the green glowing ground, grass began to spring up. The trees, dead for ages, began to shed their rocky exteriors and grow again, their branches reaching high to claim the rain for themselves, leaves budding and then exploding into life. The energy of the ages reformed the land with water and wind, bidding grass to grow, soil to become rich, and rain to fall. The earthquakes stopped as thunder echoed above, lightning flashing and lighting the amazing sight of new growth with its green glow. The winds died, piling the sand into rolling hills that the inexplicably powerful magic converted into stone and dirt. Those mounds of sand became grassy knolls, sprouting trees of their own. It went on for hours, the magic altering the world around them by sheer force of energy. When at last the sun finally came back and the storm subsided, trees and tall grass stretched where once there had been nothing but sand. The sound of roaring rivers and the quiet slosh of lakefronts greeted their ears on the wings of a damp breeze. Aurus couldn’t hold in his smile as his friends stood, awestruck and gazing up the completely changed landscape. T’rahk Enox was a dry wasteland no more. “The magic of our ancestors once turned this land to dust… And now that same magic has rolled back time, turning the sands into soil, the stones into trees, and bringing water and life back to this place. This is what true wild magic is like; the magic of creation,” he whispered to his friends, his own tone hushed with awe as he gazed upon the forests and meadows beyond. He could feel the lush grass under his own hooves, could feel the lingering magic there bidding the land to survive, to grow and flourish. Applejack looked from the land ahead of her into the eyes of her lover. This mighty creature who had slain demons, forged peace, and returned life to the dead land she had called home for the last three years. “Green enough for you?” he asked with a chuckle, giving her that same warm smile he had been giving her for all their time together. She broke into a run, her heart and eyes too full of happiness to speak. She barreled into him, and the two of them went tumbling across the grass, holding one another tight, laughing like giddy children. Applejack's hat went tumbling away on its own, forgotten in her elation. Their roll came to a stop a short distance from their friends, who were looking at the loving couple and sharing in their joy. Applejack ended up on top of the living pile, smiling happily. She kissed him roughly, deeply, her gratitude and amazement overflowing in that moment of passion. She pulled away suddenly, looking at him seriously. “Marry me,” she said, the statement neither a question nor a command. Just a fact, something she knew would come to pass. Aurus chuckled, stroking her cheek gently and kissing her again, more lightly this time. “It would be my pleasure.”