I feel the need to break here at the end of my narrative, before getting back to the conclusion. For the next few years I have no memory of my own to recall. I do not remember arriving in Tambelon or my leaving it. The last thing I remember from around that time period was Pinkie Pie leaving me sitting in that cell after having declared we were on our way to Grogar. Since I have no memory of this period of time, but want to keep a cohesive narrative I will have to do my best to tell you what I learned about what happened while I was in Tambelon. Not only to me, but to the world in general. That was a very confusing time, and though many of you may know how this story ends, you might be uncertain of the details of what was happening in the final years before the fall.
From what I was brought to understand I was held in a coma in Tambelon. Due to me being unconscious the entire time I couldn't tell you anything about Grogar or his infernal land. What Grogar wanted with me was never revealed to any pony, so I don't know what he wanted with me either. It would seem it would have been simpler to kill me if he wasn't going to use me for anything, but as far as I know he never used me for anything. Of course with bothof us being immortals he likely felt no particular rush to make use of me when he had me in his domain, and almost certainly couldn't have anticipated that I would ever be freed from it.
What was going on elsewhere I can better relate to you, as there were plenty of ponies that let me know what happened while I was indisposed. Most of it was things that I would rather not have known about.
The conflict in Ocid intensified and spread. While they still had the focus stones for keeping Ocid safe via the hearts the area of infection spread far beyond the reach of that protective magic, and the stones had to be used sparingly to preserve their numbers. The Alicorns were forced in many areas to go into a full genocide of the infected regions in order to hold back the infection and deny the former ponies from making serious inroads into the realm. Every single last one of the Alicorns was called out of Harmony and were constantly on the battlefield. Despite the battles starting in Ocid that region was one of the few outer ones that suffered the least losses thanks to my magic. This didn't mean it wasn't under constant assault, as the invaders constantly tried to destroy the Crystal Spires in both Crystal Heart and the newly built Night's Heart. The city I had been living in was a constant war zone, and starvation was rampant within the region.
The hardest hit region by far was the one around Yazyakistan. The entire Yak race was all but exterminated in just the first few years of the conflict, with the few survivors migrating all the way south down to Klugia to attempt to escape the worst of the conflict. The technology that the invaders utilized was put to quick use and development by the Klugians in the south. With these new weapons they started yet another civil war, and with the military tied up fighting the new invaders was unable to suppress it, leading to Klugia effectively establishing themselves as an independent state on our southern border.
The Klugians were not the only ones who made use of the new technologies captured from the invaders. The Alicorns after countless thousands of years of suppressing technological growth let the best pony minds go to work at replicating the invaders' tech. Pony tech as a result was developing at a frightening rate after millennia of stagnation, and they created flying war machines and weapons that were capable of raining death and destruction on their enemies. The years of innocence living the same way our ancestors had for as long as our history had been recorded were now over.
Griffins were another race that quickly advanced in tech, independent of ponies; in particular their use of firearms. Within the ancient city of Griffinstone foundries for weapons were built quickly, and the Griffins became the primary producers of guns. However, most of these new weapons ended up going to Unicorns as the Griffins seemed monumentally stumped on how to better make triggers that worked for any other type of pony. There were some guns made that were more useful for ponies without ability to easily magically trigger them, but they were often awkward in their use.
The Dragons, as they did with most pony affairs, stayed largely uninvolved. The new weapons put an abrupt end to dragon dominance of the battlefield in the air, and their fighting in battles amounted to essentially suicide. They had never had particular love for ponies though. Despite the fact they made no attempt to stage their own rebellion like the Klugians they still took a certain amount of perverse pleasure at seeing such a strong offensive taking place against their pony overlords. The fact that more and more pony troops had to be pulled from their lands likely would result in their ability to take de facto inference again soon if things continued as they were.
This was the state that the Twilight Realm advanced to in the years I was held by Grogar. Ultimately it all didn't matter. The ponies would no doubt eventually overcome the invaders, and in short order put down the rebellion the Klugians, as well as any independence movement by the dragons if this was all that was going on. However, this was all a distraction meant to draw the Alicorns out from Harmony. In the midst of all this happening Pinkie Pie was at was at work on her true goal, driving Mera to destroy the Great Tree.
Getting Mera isolated was not something Pinkie had to make any effort to do. Mera had raged at Sunset for failing to protect me after my seeming death before her eyes. Her rage quickly spread to be directed at all Alicorns. She took her supply of focus stones, which was much larger than any pony had imagined it would be, and left them in the care of Peridot. She made it clear to all that she wanted Peridot out of direct fighting and taking her place charging the Heart with the stones or she would not give the supply over. Every Alicorn agreed to her conditions, and Peridot reluctantly did as well.
Her rage and hostility was not paid proper mind by the Alicorns. In their minds her being cut off from both me, and the focus stones of my magic which she had hoarded, effectively neutralized any threat that she might eventually present. As with most things with Mera's powers there were elements at work that no pony had understood at the time. Her constant exposure to me for years had changed Mera to where my magic was now hers as well. It wasn't something she had any need to absorb any longer, she now produced it herself. Pinkie Pie had doubtlessly been aware of this, and that is why she had left us in relative peace for several years; to let the magic permanently become part of Mera.
In the years that followed Pinkie, working in disguise and through agents, refused to let the hurt of my death subside for her. Pinkie also manipulated Mera into further developing not restraint of her powers, but the forcible use of them. Over the years Mera learned have to absorb power and memories from others at will. With this new fine control of her abilities she became a much greater threat as she could gain magical powers and abilities as rapidly as she had learned to fight.
The final push came over six and a half years after Mera thought I had died. Diamond and Tibia were still in Crystal Heart, despite the constant attacks. The house we had all lived in had been reduced to rubble, and they like many others were living in makeshift camps spread through the city. Pinkie had never lost track of Mera's location and sent a message to Mera saying that Diamond and Tibia would be welcome to stay in the Heart's Desire in order to have good and shelter, but the staff would need an immortal present to tolerate the presence of non-immortal guests. All Mera had to do was come stay in the hotel with them and they would be well taken care of, no longer needing to scavenge for food among the ruins or worry about sleeping exposed to the weather. Mera agreed to return to Crystal Heart and do what needed to be done to protect her remaining family.
Everything seemed alright at first upon the family's arrival. The hotel was as accommodating as it had been when we first visited it years before. All three were well taken care of, and all their needs and wants were met with enthusiasm. For Diamond and Tibia who had been living in a tent for the last three years and unsure when they would get meals it was a relief. Mera had not been as bad off, but she had been pleased that her parents were at least now living in better conditions.
Then one night Pinkie arrived in secret back at the hotel while every pony was sleeping. It seemed obvious after the fact that the hotel was a creation of Pinkie's necromatic magic, but that fact had not occurred to any pony without the knowledge that Pinkie was in league with Grogar. While all three were sleeping Pinkie had the hotel go "full The Shinning" as Sunset had called it. Diamond and Tibia were murdered by the spirits over the course of the night, and the spirits were not gentle. The spirits were not enough to overcome Mera as well, something Pinkie had been well aware would happen, but Mera found the remains of her parents while trying to get them to safety. While it was unknown exactly what the spirits had done their room looked much the way Rose Thorn's cell must have looked after Luna made an example of him.
As Mera cried in anguish Pinkie revealed herself to Mera at long last as the perpetrator of everything. Mera of course went immediately to try to kill the pink Alicorn and failed as miserably as would be expected of any normal pony, even an elite fighter like Mera, going up against an Alicorn. Pinkie then laid the seed for what she needed to Mera to do by letting it slip that Mera would have to absorb the power of something powerful, like the Great Tree, to overcome an Alicorn. Then Pinkie took off leaving Mera to try to gather her parents remains.
Pinkie Pie did not relent on pushing Mera to insanity. Pinkie sent agents to attack Mera on a regular basis that had illusion spells cast on them to look like me. The attacks happened multiple times a week. Even when Mera slew the attackers she could provide no evidence of them as Pinkie quickly removed the bodies and covered up all signs of struggle. Mera began to doubt her own sanity in short order.
To my wife's credit, and the Alicorns discredit, she did lay aside her anger at the Alicorns to try to tell them about Pinkie Pie. She was dismissed as deranged due to grief. Even after she pleaded with Sunset and Starlight to look at her memories and see for themselves that she was telling the truth she was not heeded. The two empaths said that she could very well remember things that didn't actually happen if she was out of her mind. They stated firmly that there was no possible way this was the work of Pinkie Pie, and that she should go seek mental help. They were graceful about how they spoke to her, but ultimately believed nothing she said. She left the Alicorns with renewed hatred for them, and further determination to find a way on her own to kill the Alicorn that was the murder of both me and her parents.
So, this that was all that transpired before I became aware of the world again. When I at last l woke up a number of years had passed, and the final hammer-blow to the Twilight Realm was set to fall. All due to Mera's fanatically love and obsession about me, and her determination to have revenge for my death. If I had not existed none of what would come would ever have happened.
***
I opened my eyes with a great deal of difficulty. I wanted to cry out in pain because every last spec of me was crying out in pain. I didn't have the energy to scream, but I did manage to let off a whimper.
"Pearl? Was that you making that sound? Can you hear me?" Came a familiar voice; Hot Sticks was hear.
"Pearl's awake? Thank Flurry Heart!" Came another familiar voice, Peridot. "Will the other two wake soon too?"
The other two? What other two? I wanted to ask questions, but didn't have the strength to do it. I couldn't even muster the strength to look around. I think I saw the faces of Hot Sticks and Peridot looking at my open eyes, but it was far too blurry for me to be sure.
"I can't say. I can't even begin to guess what even happened to any of them. Pearl obviously went through something dramatically different than the Sunset and Shadow did. Whatever downed our two Alicorn friends is tied up with whatever is going on down south," I heard Hot Sticks say to Peridot.
"I hope Cozy gets back here with news of that soon, she has been gone nearly a week with us only being able to see the same smoke in the distance," Peridot grumbled.
"She had to cross Neosapian lines. I have faith that my apprentice can get through without being detected, but it takes time to do such things with stealth," Hot Sticks replied.
What was a Neosapian? Who was Cozy? The name rang a bell, and it took me some time to figure out where I had heard it before. Were they talking about Cozy Hearth from Tadpole? What was the innkeeper's daughter doing here? Where was here anyway? They said she had been gone a week; how long had I been unconscious?
"Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Pearl is completely back with us. It will take more time to get her up still. She has been likely comatose for years due to the constant injury inflicted on her by Grogar. I am going to sedate her so she rests some more, and let her magic do its work," Hot Sticks said.
Years?! I had been held for years?! I had been constantly hurt till to the point that I couldn't even wake up? I guess that is why I felt the way I did. How many years had passed? Why had they done that to me?
"Mer..a?" I managed to gasp out.
A long silence greeted me in response, making me fear the worst. I couldn't tell what kinds of expressions were on their faces, my vision was still far too blurry. The fact that they weren't answering was not a good sign though.
"Pearl, we don't know where Mera is right now. She..isn't right in the head right now. We would have brought her with us still to come rescue you, but we didn't know where to find her. She thinks you are dead; up until three weeks ago we all thought you were dead. Don't worry, now that we have you we will make everything right with her again. We'll also stop the Neosapians from transforming any more ponies into them. We are going to fix all of this," I heard Peridot say. She sounded close to tears.
"We need her to rest, you muscle bound oaf! Don't tell her things that will distress her right now," I heard Hot Sticks snap.
"She has a right to know," Peridot snapped back.
"Yes, she does, but only after she is well enough to deal with it. I need you to leave her be for right now and let me put her back to sleep so she can heal faster. She isn't going to go charging off to fix anything in this state. She shouldn't even be able to survive in this state, but I guess her magic is strong enough to maintain her. Get out of this room and leave her be," Hot Sticks ordered.
I wanted to protest, but next thing I knew I was getting injected with something. In a matter if seconds I unconscious once again.
***
I awoke again feeling much more refreshed, and no longer in pain. I blinked my eyes a few times to clear my vision. When my vision cleared I found myself in a place I never thought I would be in again, Hot Sticks' house in Starlight's Folly.
I was on one of the various room that Hot Sticks had kept patients in, the larger one that had kept multiple ones. I wasn't the only pony in here either. The next bed down from me had the unconscious body of Water Shadow in her Alicorn form. There was another bed next to her that looked like it had just recently been vacated.
My first thought after wondering how I got back here again was that I must be dreaming, because I couldn't think of any possible way that I could have ended up here. I remembered voices from before, Hot Sticks and Peridot. They had mentioned others; Cozy, Sunset, and Shadow. They must have been referring to Water Shadow when saying Shadow. Water Shadow was here, but where were the others?
I decided to not try to wake Water Shadow up. If she was hurt in some way it was best to let her rest. I needed to find the others. As I hopped down to the floor I smelled the distinct smell of pipe smoke coming from outside the room. That was a good sign, as that could indicate either Hot Sticks, Peridot, or Cozy Hearth. I remembered hearing Cozy Hearth was supposed to either be here or coming here, though was still confused about why she would be involved with anything.
I carefully made my way to the door of the room and heard several voices talking out in Hot Sticks living room. I picked out Hot Sticks, Peridot, Sunset, and another voice I was not familiar with. Maybe the last was Cozy Hearth and I was just not remembering her voice well, I never spent much time with her; it was a miracle I even remembered her name.
As I exited out the door into the hall all the conversation came to a sudden halt. I looked out into the living room to see all the ponies I had heard staring at me, though one was unfamiliar, a grey furred Pegasus mare with a purple mane and a cutie mark of a heart with a bandage on it. All were smoking pipes except for Sunset, and all watched breathlessly as I walked down the hall towards them.
"How are you feeling, Pearl?" Sunset asked, breaking the silence.
"I feel alright. A little weak, but not hurting. How did I get here?" I replied.
"That's a long story. A good deal of it we are hoping you will be able to tell us. Come in here and settle down before we get into that. You were in a state of near death for a very extended period of time, and I don't want you overdoing things just yet. We are going to have need of you soon, and we need you in your best condition," Sunset answered.
"How long?" I asked as I pulled myself onto a couch that the grey furred Pegasus mare vacated, and indicated I should take her place on.
"Over seven years," the Pegasus said as she sat down a little but away.
Seven years? I had been unconscious for over seven years!? How much had I missed?
"Cozy Care, please don't say things that will shock her just yet," Hot Sticks scolded the mare.
"Yes sir," the mare, Cozy Care, said contritely.
Okay, so it wasn't Cozy Hearth they had been talking about before; it was this mare, Cozy Care. Her name played at my memory too, but I couldn't place it.
"Do I know you?" I asked the mare.
"Um, not really. We met, once, a long time ago. I don't remember you specifically, but I know you met me from what others tell me. I was just a filly at the time so my memory is kind of blurry about the details of that day. You came through my village, to my grandfather's inn. Sunset taught me how to fly, and I remember her really well," the mare said almost bashfully.
Now I remembered the name. This was Cozy Hearth's daughter that had asked Mera if her wings had been plucked of all her feathers. It had been over seven years after I left that village that the fighting had broken out, and if I had been unconscious for over seven years then that meant fourteen or fifteen years had passed since I had been in Tadpole. It was a bit surreal seeing the filly that had made Mera both smile and weep sitting before me a grown mare with a lit pipe held agilely in one wing.
"She has been under apprenticeship with me for a few years now. She does a good job. She isn't far away from earning her title as doctor, and being a good one at that," Hot Sticks said with some pride. Cozy Care puffed herself up proudly at the praise.
"I guess that explains the pipe smoking then, can't help but keep corrupting the youth, you heathen Unicorn," I said with a laugh. Hot Sticks didn't even look ashamed, but Cozy Care blushed, which was enduring. She looked a lot like Mera, if Mera was a pegasus with a purple mane anyway. I seem to recall thinking back then that Mera could have been her aunt by the looks of them.
"Did you want a pipe, Pearl? I don't mind letting you use mine. You have been a while without having a smoke," Peridot asked, holding up her pipe in offering.
"Not really, I think years without doing that has finally broken me of my addiction and I'd rather not dive back into it. Where is Mera?" I asked, remembering Peridot having said something about her previously, but unsure what.
Every one of them suddenly dropped their eyes to the floor and lowered their ears. My heart seized up in my chest as I saw their reactions. I didn't know what had gone on with Mera, but the way they looked indicated the worst.
"Pearl.. Mera is now probably the most important reason we needed you back right now. We thought that the main thing we needed you for was to combat the ailment. Well, and the desire to have you back of course. The news out from Harmony has completely changed our priorities that we had when we rescued you. We are still trying to figure out everything that is going on with her, but none of it is good. We will talk about her more in a moment, but we need to find out what happened to you first and how you ended up in Tambelon of all places," Sunset said carefully. She looked at me in a way that seemed she was unsure what to think of me, as if she was actually scared of me. I didn't understand why. Peridot looked especially miserable as she looked in any direction but mine.
"I want to hear about Mera first," I said in a lower tone as I got annoyed.
"Shortly, first we need to know that all is right with you before we deal with what is wrong with her. She is an enormous concern that we will address shortly, but for right now I need to know if I have another possible crisis right now with you. You have been in Tambelon for over seven years; I need to know why. Nothing that has been held by Grogar for any length of time I can let go unaddressed right away," Sunset answered in a restrained voice.
I glared at her for refusing to tell me right away about Mera. Something was clearly extremely wrong with my wife, and I had a right to know what it was. She did say she would address that though, so perhaps I was just being too defensive of my wife. I sat down and tried to remember what I could.
"I don't know what all happened in Tambelon, or anything about what happened in Tambelon to tell you the truth. The last thing I remember I was being held in a cell again, after you tried to rescue me from Tesla. I had been captured by.." I paused and my face turned dark as remembered who the perpetrator was.
"By who, Pearl?" Sunset asked.
"It was Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie was the Alicorn behind everything. She was the one that arranged for me and Mera to get together. She was the one that created the invaders. She was the one behind the ailment. She was the one that killed my mother, and the one that posed as a Pegasus stallion and sired me. She is also apparently the grandparent to Mera as well. Mera is technically my half-niece, let me tell you that was something to hear about! She said she was going to use Mera as some kind of weapon. She also said she needed Mera to think I was dead," I snarled, my hatred for the pink Alicorn clearly showing. All of my misery was at her hooves.
Sunset and the rest seemed extremely taken aback by not only my announcement but my venom for the Alicorn of Laughter. A knowing look passed between all four of them afterwards. What I had said was a shock, but it definitely made a puzzle piece click into place for them. Of them all Sunset looked the most unnerved by what I said, while Peridot looked almost relieved at it.
"Well, that puts some new context on the news Cozy brought us," Hot Sticks finally said as he let out a long breath.
"Pinkie herself told you all this?" Sunset asked in a quaking voice.
"She didn't just say it. She bloody damn gloated about it!" I yelled with rage just thinking about it.
"I knew it! Mera wasn't out of her mind when she said Pinkie Pie was to blame. Mera is no monster, Pinkie Pie was, and that monster got exactly what she had coming to her when Mera killed her," Peridot said with elation.
I blinked at this news, unsure if I had heard that right.
"I am sure you want to absolve your sister of guilt, but let's not forget what she did in the process of trying to take vengeance on Pinkie Pie. Mera is still beyond redemption herself," Hot Sticks said harshly to Peridot.
"Well, if the Alicorns had listened to her after that traitor killed my parents it might not have come to this. She was forced to take drastic measures to seek justice on her own," Peridot snapped heatedly back.
"Drastic? That is the term glyph use for what she has done? What she has done far beyond simply drastic. How many are dead or dying right now because of her? What is to become of all of us because of what she has done?" Hot Sticks shouted back at my sister-in-law/niece.
"All of you silence!" Sunset bellowed with the full Alicorn voice.
The room went dead quiet in the wake of Sunset's Alicorn magic fueled shout. The shout left Sunset looking surprisingly winded. I could barely notice though, as I was near ready to hyperventilate.
"What did Mera do?" I asked the Alicorn, afraid of what the answer might be after what I had heard Hot Sticks had said. I was afraid of hearing many things after all that had been said in general, but I needed to know.
Sunset looked at me with anguish in her eyes. She opened her mouth several times as if she was about to answer me, but shut it each time as words failed her. She finally shook her head sadly and turned to Cozy Care.
"Cozy, please tell Pearl, from the beginning all that happened after we arrived back in Starlight's Folly and what you saw when you went out to scout," Sunset said pleadingly to the Pegasus mare.
All eyes turned to Cozy Care and she seemed more than a little intimidated by being the subject of every pony's attention. after looking around the room once before she sighed, took along draw from her pipe, and looked at me.
""When we got out of Tambelon the Alicorns teleported us here. We were all dealing with injuries, and were all pretty badly shaken up by what we had experienced there. Sunset had said she wanted to have you well examined before taking you deeper into the Realm. My master was suffering from magical exhaustion, both the Alicorns had severe lacerations and gashes, as did Peridot. I was extremely exhausted myself, but I was the least injured of our surviving party; so I got to work setting up care for every pony here," Cozy Care began. She narrowed her eyes for a moment and then looked at Peridot.
"How did you heal so fast by the way? Wounds don't heal that fast. Even the Alicorns are still showing some sign of their injuries and they weren't as hurt as you were when we arrived, but you are now showing no signs that you were ever hurt," Cozy asked suspiciously to Peridot.
"Is this really important right now? Seems you are getting off subject right away," Peridot grumbled as she puffed away at her own pipe.
"Just answer the question for her, Peridot, and we can move on quickly. We won't dwell on it for now, but let's clear the air on all these things. I admit that I have wanted answers on that as well," Sunset said to the Crystal Pony.
"Fine then, I had been receiving more of the stones from my sister for years after Pearl seemed to have died. Mera told me she hadn't been hiding them from any pony, but she was able to make them herself now without Pearl. She told me to never tell any pony about it though; there were potential side effects from being exposed too often and too regularly to Pearl's magic, and and she didn't want that happening on a wide scale," Peridot said in barely more than a mumble.
"And I suppose I can guess what the side effect is now. Tell me, when did you run out of those stones?" Sunset said as if she already knew.
"Shortly after she vanished altogether, so I have been out for years. I know what you are thinking, and you are probably right," Peridot said as she looked towards the floor.
""I see. Mera's judgement on the issue was not misplaced then. That could have been a serious crisis if we had continued to use Pearl's magic on the whole of Ocid, and something that changes up our plans now. We will have to figure out how to address you now that you are apparently yet another immortal we have to deal with, but that isn't a high priority right now," Sunset said in a morose tone. She turned back to Cozy and addressed her. "That was an excellent observation and question on your part, but please continue with your story without any further detours."
"Yes, Sunset," Cozy said with a slight bow of her head. Then she went back to looking at me. "Anyway, almost as soon as I was done setting up an impromptu clinic here there was this ground shattering explosion that went up from the south. Not only was it loud and made everything shake, it also sent out a massive wave of magic that hit every pony like a sledgehammer to the head. Me, my master, and Peridot were very shaken by it, but the two Alicorns were hit far harder by it and knocked completely unconscious. Nothing anything my master or I could do could rouse them from their sleep, so all we could do was put them to bed along with you and hope they would wake on their own soon. A few hours after the first wave of magic hit us there was a second wave, though not as strong as the first one.
"We sat for two or three days just waiting. None of you were waking up. You were clearly healing from the state you were in when we found you. You really don't want to know what you looked like when we first found you; I didn't even think you could possibly be alive when I first saw you because of how badly ripped apart your body was. It looked like a pack of wolves had a free-for-all on your flesh. You healed just as rapidly, if not more rapidly than Peridot did. Still none, of you were waking and we didn't know what to do or what was going on. After my master was back to where he could attend to all of you himself it was decided that I would be sent south to try to find out what had been the source of the explosion," Cozy explained.
"I was very terrified to go off that way on my own, but it made sense. I am the only flyer out of all of us, at least the only flyer that was awake, and still alive. There had been others when we first set off to Tambelon but..let's not talk about that. Getting back to the point, I agreed that I should be the one to go try to scout what happened. The Neosapians had taken Yazyakistan early on and I was terrified of trying to cross past them, but thought that if I flew carefully through the mountains rather than straight along the pass I would be fine. It would be dangerous, but not as dangerous as running straight into some Neosapians. It turns out that dealing with all the snow and winds was all for no reason. When I got through the mountains I found that the Neosapians were in complete disarray. Tesla had shut down and all the mind control had gone away with him.
"I had to stop briefly to try to help them. They were all scared and panicked. None of them knew what they were or where they were, or how they had gotten there. Most of them didn't recall even ever getting sick. From what I gathered this was happening everywhere with them, and it happened right after that second lesser blast of magic, not the first big one. I don't know what to do for them all, hopefully the Alicorns can figure something out. I am pretty sure the war is over now though, they aren't going to be fighting anymore.
"Continuing on, I went further south. There was chaos everywhere, every pony was in panic no matter where I went. I soon learned the cause of the first explosion and the magical wave that had come out of it. Harmony had fallen, the Great Tree had collapsed. When the Tree went down all the Alicorns went down just like Sunset and Shadow did. Refugees from the city were spilling out into the surrounding countryside. From what I gathered from them there were more dead in the city than living," Cozy paused as she tried to hold back a sob. Every pony looked like they wanted to sob even though all but me had heard this already. It took several moments before she was ready to continue, and I was dreading hearing what she was going to say next.
"After many days of travel I finally reached the outskirts of what had been Harmony and it was worse than you could imagine," Cozy said, now openly crying as she retold the tale. "There didn't seem to be anything standing anywhere, and even days after the event there were still fires raging through the ruins and the sounds of ponies wailing in the distance.
"There were some survivors that clung to the outside of the ruins, and among those survivors was the Twilight Princess herself. She looked like she had been beat bloody, and that was actually what had happened shortly before I arrived. She had tried to go into the ruins to find more survivors, but Mera found the Princess while the Princess was there. The Princess barely escaped the ruins with her life," Cozy said, now looking directly at me.
"Why? How? Mera was never that strong. She was an elite fighter, but that doesn't give her the power to throw down hooves with the Twilight Princess and win. Why would she even do such a thing anyway?" I demanded.
"She is insane, and in possession of more magic power than any pony should be able to contain in their body after draining the Tree of Harmony. In the ancient days a pony would ascend to Alicorn with such power, but that is sealed. Your magic might somehow be keeping her alive despite the fact that the magic should be killing her, but she must be in constant agony beyond anything most could imagine. That alone is likely enough to drive her out of her mind, but she was not in her right mind when she sapped the magic from the Tree to begin with," Sunset explained.
"The Princess knew of Mera's presence and madness when she went into the ruins, at least according to the survivors I spoke to. The Princess didn't think Mera would attack her. Mera had been largely ignoring ponies in the ruins after she had murdered Pinkie Pie," Cozy continued her explanation.
"She murdered Pinkie Pie? You didn't mention that," I said with shock.
"I'm sorry, I skipped over that because I learned of it only after seeing the Twilight Princess hurt so badly," Cozy said apologetically. "Yes, she did murder Pinkie Pie. Right after the Tree fell and ponies were still unsure how Mera emerged from the ruins of the tree screaming for Pinkie Pie to come challenge her. They said you could barely look at Mera at the time because there was so much light from magic radiating off her, but her demands for Pinkie Pie to come echoed out over the entire region of devastation. Eventually the Alicorn of Laughter showed up a few hours later, even while all the other Alicorns were still unconscious she came as if she wasn't impacted in the same way at all. No pony was able to actually look at the fight because there was too much light and magic, but they all agree that when the chaos ended Mera stood victorious over the broken husk of Pinkie Pie."
"And if Pinkie Pie truly was the monster behind all of this good riddance," Peridot snarled. I could only nod in agreement to my kin.
"Mera remains in the ruins of Harmony. She won't let any Alicorn come into the ruins. A few others tried to sneak in after the Twilight Princess; they were all forced to flee for their lives. She is now getting hostile to just ordinary ponies searching the ruins for their loved ones as well, or at least that is what ponies are saying. Whenever a pony goes in they don't come out. There is no telling what she will do if she actually leaves the ruins," Cozy finished out her story.
"Which is why our new priority is for you, Pearl, to go into the ruins of Harmony and do what must be done. You are the only pony that may have a chance of getting close to her and putting an end to this before she starts moving her rampage beyond to the Realm at large," Sunset said in a grave tone.
"Surely Peridot could do the same," Hot Sticks interjected.
"Peridot might have the same survivability as Pearl does now, but she lacks Pearl's resistance to magic. Mera has command of unbelievable amounts of magic. From what was described earlier she is lashing out with magic and she could very well kill her sister with those lashings. Pearl is immune to magic most magic, with the only exceptions being her own and mind magic, she is the only good choice. Peridot can be a backup plan, but if it comes to the need for a backup plan we might not have any hope anyway," Sunset said in the same grave tone she had spoken just a moment before.
"You want me to kill my wife," I finally said. There was no question or emotion in my voice. Just speaking the words made me feel dead inside.
"She must be put down, for the good of all. The only ponies I have an option to turn to for this are you and Peridot, and you are the one that has the best chance of actually being able to accomplish the deed. There is no coming back from doing something like this. She deliberately and knowingly caused perhaps the greatest catastrophe that has ever befallen the Realm since its founding after the Time of Madness. I will not let the world slip into another such period. I am telling you now Pearl that if you don't do this she may be responsible for the deaths of billions. She already has the blood of thousands, perhaps millions on her hooves as a result of this slip into madness, will you continue to let her add to it so she will be remembered as the greatest monster the world has ever known? It isn't just for the good of all the rest of us, it is a mercy killing," Sunset said while looking me in the eyes.
"It is my wife. You can't ask me to kill my wife. There has to be some other way; some way to make her well again," I said firmly.
"And what way would you think that would be? She is dealing with powers well beyond anything she should ever been exposed to. If you take her word for it, and at this point I finally do, she has been tormented to the point of madness for years. Even if you got passed all that do you think she would escape Tartarus after what she has done? Better to die mercifully then spend eternity in Tartarus. Is that what you would have for her instead, Pearl? Because that is what her future looks like if she simply stops and tries to repent. As opposed to just continuing on a murderous rampage across the land. It is a hard thing to do or even consider, but this is the most merciful thing you can do for her. It is the right thing to do, and sadly the right thing to do isn't always a good thing," Sunset said putting the weight of the world on each sentence.
"I will go to her, but I am not going to kill her. I will fix this somehow. She's just angry and upset. Pinkie Pie is gone so she won't be pushed any more into doing anything like this. She isn't thinking, I can help her," I insisted as I fluffed my fur and spread my wings in defiance.
"When you see the destruction, death and misery she has caused you might change your tone. I am going to take you as close to her as I can, and then you will see that this is the only way. You can't let her continue like this, it is the only mercy you can give her," Sunset said with equal defiance.
"You are taking Pearl out to there?" Peridot asked.
"Correction, I am taking both of you out there and if Pearl can't do the job you will have to be the next option," Sunset said to the crystal pony.
"What makes you think I am any more willing than Pearl to kill my sister for you," Peridot growled.
"You are a soldier and you understand that sometimes sacrifices and hard choices must be made for the good of all. Yes, killing a loved one is not something taken lightly, or something you shouldn't anguish about. You can recognize that she is a danger to every pony and there is no other choice. Is your sister's life worth millions?" Sunset demanded.
Peridot didn't say anything in response to that. She just sat and glowered at Sunset before getting up and storming out of the house. The fact that Peridot had not shouted further defiance to killing Mera bothered me deeply though. Could she seriously be considering actually doing it?
Sunset looked back to me; all eyes were now on me again after Peridot's exit. Hot Sticks looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to speak. Cozy Care looked like I often felt, a mare out if here depth who just hoped to not get crushed by the greater powers around her.
"I don't have time to persuade you. I am taking you to the now ruins of Harmony and will let the sight of that convince you. We are going as soon as we get Peridot," Sunset announced with a tone if finality.
"You aren't going to wait for Shadow to wake up as well?" Hot Sticks asked in a shocked voice.
"Why should I?" Sunset said with a baffled expression. "She is not going to be able to lend any more aid than I will. The breaking of Harmony has left us both exceedingly weak. There are likely many Unicorns that have more magical power than us right now. What I am going to be doing is giving them a physical lift to there, as I can't manage such a teleport right now."
"Um, begging your pardon, but you might be overlooking something pretty obvious," Cozy Care spoke up with a squeak.
"And that is?" Sunset said with a raised eyebrow.
"Peridot is huge, and if you are that weak it is highly unlikely you can carry both of them that far. Even if you weren't weakened there would be no physical space on your back to carry more than Peridot. If she were a normal sized pony maybe you could take them both; as you are still stronger than any normal pony even in a weakened state. The fact remains it just physically isn't happening," Cozy Care explained, then cowered back behind the closest couch.
Sunset sat and blinked once or twice. Then sat down looking embarrassed.
"It seems stress blinds me to obvious things as well. I actually feel a little foolish right now for missing a fact that would have been obvious to a foal. I will have to take them down one at a time I guess," Sunset said.
"You are assuming I will go. You can't force me to do that," I said simply.
"I don't need to force you to make you go. You will go because this is your last chance to see Mera. If I don't get you down there I will turn to Peridot and I am pretty sure she will see reason and do the deed. Failing that, at some point all of the Alicorns are bound to recover at some point, and we still know how to collectively use our abilities to bind some pony in Tartarus. It takes numbers, not shear power, so we can accomplish it. You do not want that fate for her as I said. You want to try to reason with her, go ahead and try, but you will see quickly what needs to be done," Sunset affirmed.
I looked towards the others; Hot Sticks still kept quiet, and Cozy Care still looked like she would rather be anywhere else. I was left with just my own thoughts.
I wasn't going to kill Mera, there was nothing that could make me do that, and there was no question about that. However, maybe it was best I try to talk her down. She would listen to me, and she was doing all this because she thought I had been murdered. Well, at least that was the root of the reason she was doing this, there was whatever Pinkie Pie had done to her in the interim. If she saw I was alive and had come back to her she would stop this though. I knew there was nothing we could do to fix whatever she had already done, but she could help start putting things back together. It was just one single mental break. Yes, the consequences of that one break had been horrible, but this wasn't who she was. The Alicorns would see that she wasn't this monster once she had been brought back to her senses.
"Fine, I will go down there," I finally said to the Alicorn staring at me. "I am going to get her back to her senses, you will see. We can't fix everything that has happened, but we can try to do what we can to undo what damage we can. Mera is a good mare, she would never have done this if she weren't pushed over the edge. I can pull her back, you will see."
"I will let you have your fantasies for now, you will see the truth of the matter when we get there," Sunset replied grimly, before rising to her hooves and starting to walk towards the front door. "Come, I know this is extremely rushed, but time is of the essence. I would have preferred to have more time to find out what had gone on with you in Tambelon, but the ponies still in the ruins don't have that luxury of time."
"She just woke up from years in a coma and you are having her leave now? We haven't so much as done a physical on her yet, she shouldn't be doing this yet," Cozy Care protested, seeming to have gained a little bit of courage in the face of one of her patients overextending themselves.
"There is no time. We don't even have time to be having this conversation, or the conversation we just had. Many ponies lives are on the line now. Take came of Shadow until she wakes up and let her know what is going on when she does. Also find Peridot and let her know I will be returning for her if Pearl fails in this. We are leaving now though. Pearl follow me now," Sunset said with haste, and quickly exited out the door. I could only give a sympathetic gesture towards the concerned Pegasus as I followed after.
"Good luck," I heard Hot Stick say as I went out the door.
***
Sunset Shimmer might have been seriously weakened, but a weakened Alicorn was still an unbelievably powerful being. I had expected days to reach Harmony with me clutching to her back, perhaps taking breaks for us both to rest. The trip went a much different way than that though.
Despite claiming she was weak she could still fly faster than any Pegasus or Thestral I had ever heard of, and she had the strength to carry me while doing it and not slowing down at all. I was forced to latch onto her with my teeth, as that was the only grip on her that I was confident would hold. I drew blood with my bite, but she seemed not to notice or care. For several hours we flew, and by the end of the flight my jaw was extremely stiff from maintaining the bite.
I am pretty sure I didn't pass out during the flight. I closed my eyes for the entire trip, and I couldn't tell a thing about the countryside we crossed as a result. I just knew I was sore, angry, and more than a little terrified of falling to my death. With me not having worked my wings in years it was extremely questionable whether I would be able to fly right. If I attempted a glide from this height there was also no telling what I might come down on. I might as well have been an Earth Pony at the moment for all the good my wings would do me.
The first thing I did after we landed was roll off her back with a undignified thump to the ground. The second thing I did was spend a few moments emptying my stomach out of my mouth. It was amazing that anything was in there to hack up, but I suppose some pony had been feeding me while I slept. By the time I finished my fur was caked with vomit, and I looked as disgusting as I felt.
Before I even opened my eyes to look around I could smell the smoke. When I opened them I had to close them again because the large amount of smoke around me burned my eyes. I had trouble breathing due to my hacking, and the smoke was suffocating. Instinctively I pushed out with my magic to force the smoke away.
"Not enjoying your wife's work so far? I don't blame you. I wonder how Cozy even functioned in these conditions. This is as far as I will go. It is up to you to find her amongst all of this," Sunset said, before softening her voice. "Pearl, I'm sorry, but there is no other way. If there was a true other way to do this I would pounce on it, with no hesitation no matter how slim a chance it would work out. Mera is simply too dangerous. If I could send her away and think it would do any good I would. Of I thought she was capable at all of maintaining her sanity I would defend her to any that wanted to send her to Tartarus. I just don't see those things; she was an unstable personality before all of this and it is foolishness to think she won't fall to doing something like this again knowing that. There is something broken in her, and at this point putting her down is the most loving thing you can do for her."
"You are a real broken record. Do you know that?" I sneered.
"I am hoping if I say it enough you will take heed and listen. Don't let your wife continue to be a threat to Ponykind. Don't let her live indefinitely as a monster," Sunset said sadly.
"I hope you are put in a similar position as me someday and you have to be told the only thing to do is kill what is most precious to you," I said in a hard time.
"I promise you. After today I will never ask this of another pony again. But right now the Realm is potentially broken, our greatest weapon and defense is gone, I am coping with the betrayal of a friend I have had for millennia, ponies are dying, and many more will die if something is not done. I can't take it all to tell you the truth. I am forcing myself to make the hard decision because if I hesitate I never will, and the world will suffer for it. You need to do the same," Sunset said.
I didn't respond, instead I attempted to look around the area. My magic had made a little clearing in the smoke and it didn't take much effort to maintain that clearing. Unfortunately there wasn't too much to see. My little bit of clearing was just some dead grass, and the being the clearing was impossible to see beyond. It couldn't be this bad everywhere, otherwise Cozy couldn't have found anything down here. The Pegasus said there were some survivors on the outskirts of the ruins. I must just be in a location where the wind was blowing in the smoke cloud. In the distance I could make out some flickering points of light, which I assumed to be the still burning fires. What had caused all the fire? A tree, even the Tree, falling shouldn't start fires should it?
"How do I even find Mera in all this? Harmony is huge and I can't even see the area around me," I asked as I looked around at the smokey purgatory.
"She may very well find you. Be glad you can't see much, as the devastation is absolute. Just keep walking into the ruins and eventually you will clear the worst of the smoke. Once you can see a little of the lay of the land start making your way towards where the Tree had stood. Eventually you will come upon Mera, or she will come upon you. If you see ponies in the ruins feel free to help them if you can simply free them from the rubble, but don't tarry too long. If they are beyond your help just move on and focus on finding Mera. If you can deal with Mera others can come in to try to help whoever might still be alive here," Sunset instructed.
I just looked dejectedly towards the unknown. I was afraid of what I would find as I walked on forward. The smoke could be kept clear in a radius around me, but what it uncovered might make me wish I could leave it concealed beneath the smoke cloud.
"I will be leaving now. I must go fetch Peridot. I said I would have her in line as a backup and I meant it. This must be dealt with as quickly as possible. As soon as I get her here I will be sending her in as well," Sunset said quickly.
She didn't wait for a reply or say goodbye, she simply took off into the air immediately. I was left to fend for myself. I took a deep breath as I gazed still at the smoke and began walking forward to whatever horrors were to be revealed.
The first minute or two of walking was uneventful. All that was revealed initially was more of the dead grass that had been were I initially stood. Each step made a crunching sound as my hooves crushed the dead vegetation. Eventually the path that I walked brought me to what was clearly a road.
My best bet was to follow the road to keep on a steady path, but I was unsure which direction was the appropriate one to take me into Harmony as opposed to walking away from it. There was no sense of which way north, south, east, or west happened to be. I didn't even know which direction I was coming from. I was pretty sure I wasn't south of the city since Starlight's Folly was to the north. I was also pretty sure that I needed to go south as a result, but there was no telling which direction south was. Picking a direction to follow the road at random I began walking again.
After another minute or two had passed I came upon the first horrors of my journey. Laying in the road was a family of Earth Ponies, all dead. I assumed it had been a family at least. There was a stallion, a mare, and a filly. The mare in death protectively tried to shelter the the filly, and the filly had her muzzle buried deep in her mother's fur. They were so coated with ash that they all looked grey, and you might mistake them for macabre statues. They had apparently died to smoke inhalation as they went down the road trying to escape. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at the dead filly that the mare clung protectively to.
The discovery of them did give me information though. The direction they were facing was likely the direction away from the devastation, and that direction indicated the opposite direction. I turned away from the family that had failed to make it away and started back down the way I had just come.
As I walked back down the path I had just come I could see my past hoovesteps in the ash on the road. The disturbing thing was they were the only such tracks in the ash. No other pony had come this way since the ash had settled on the road, which meant that it had been likely days since any living thing had come this way. That family may have been the last to come this way.
I kept walking and more bodies were found along the road. All looking like the had been trying to escape in the same direction, and all with no sign of tracks leading up to them. I did my best not to look at the bodies, or to pretend they were just grotesque statues. They were nameless individuals. I couldn't even tell fur color, mane color, or cutie marks due to their heavy coats of grey ash. If I could pretend that I wouldn't go crazy myself by looking at them.
What had caused so much burning and ash? Sure there had likely been fires in fireplaces within the city that had spread when their structures had collapsed, but the level of ash and smoke seemed to go well beyond what they might be responsible for causing, no matter how much they had spread. It was like a volcano had gone off, but there was no magma to be seen.
Continuing my walk I started to see bits of broken walls and collapsed entrances to the sides of the road, indicating I was now entering into the city proper. I saw no freestanding structures from my limited field of vision. Every building seemed to have caved in. One such former structure had a large chunk of crystal that had crushed it, a seeming twig from the Great Tree. That twig was bigger than whatever that building had been.
There were now more bodies, in far greater numbers. There were Pegasi, Unicorns, Earth Ponies, and a few stray bodies of non ponies. I saw the bodies of animals in the street as well; birds, dogs, and cats. The cats and dogs were likely pets that had been kept, the birds may well have fallen dead from the sky. Everything had died, not just ponies; the animals and plants were just as dead. Still there was no stench of the dead, just the smell of ash and cinders. Again I tried to just pretend that they weren't actually the bodies of countless dead.
With a few more minutes of walking the thickness of the smoke started to dissipate. It didn't go away, but it got to the point I could start to make out more of my surroundings. What I saw took my breath away.
There were no buildings left. Everything was rubble aside from the occasional piece of broken wall that somehow escaped the fate of its adjoining walls and roof. Bodies were still everywhere to be seen, and every direction I looked there seemed to be dozens if not hundreds of bodies, and this was just in the small area that I could see. If the whole of Harmony was like this it was easy to believe that there were millions dead to this cataclysm.
In this distance I could make out light of still raging fires. It was a shock that there was still anything left to burn, and that the smoke in the air hadn't ended up snuffing the flames out, yet they still burned defiantly. There were some scotch marks around the area that I now stood indicating fire had raged through here as well, though ash covered much of that evidence.
The most imposing thing to be seen was the Great Tree, or at least the ruins of it. The entire base of trunk had uprooted from the ground and the trunk itself had collapsed across vast stretches of the city. Even in it's collapsed state it was a major landmark. I could make out that the roots had a scorched look to them, and I had to guess that the burning roots throwing burnt earth into the air was the source of all soot in the air. It wasn't just fire, it was dust and the ash of ground that had been incinerated. The entire city was covered in that ashy dirt, and it hung in the air like a dark fog over everything.
While looking at the spectacle of the Tree I suddenly heard a whimper. I looked around my immediate area, unable to tell where it was coming from. A whimper meant a survivor though.
"Hello? Is any pony, or any creature, there? Say something so I can find you. I can help you get out if you are trapped somewhere," I called out, looking frantically, trying to find the source of the whimper.
No further whimpers came though. After several minutes of searching the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of rubble that I displaced in my search, and the sounds of the ruins settling further. I wondered if I had just been imagining the whimper. There was no telling if it had been my imagination or if it had been an actual whimper of a trapped pony. There was just so much that they could be trapped under here that I could search for days and not find them. I didn't want to think about how many bodies of dead ponies were still underneath the rubble.
So I continued on in my search for Mera, heading deeper into the ruins towards the tree trunk. It was hard to tell how much time passed. The world seemed to exist in an otherworldly state and I couldn't properly see the sun through the cloud of ash and soot the hung over the ruins. On and off I heard more sounds of whimpering, and once even the sound of crying. I stopped to call out and do a quick search each time, but again I found nothing. After a while I stopped trying to search when I heard the ghostly sounds of trapped ponies.
The entire area was extremely hot, but as I walked on I started to feel a different type of tingling sensation. It was hard to describe, it wasn't heat, but it felt like something was running through my flesh under my fur. It was like a compass as well, because it was tied to a very particular direction. If I walked away from that direction it decreased in sensation, but if I walked towards that direction it increased in sensation. After debating with myself about it for a little while I ended up trying to follow where the tingling would lead.
The path that increased the sensation led deeper into the city towards the Tree, a little off to the side from it. The feeling continued to grow to the point it became extremely annoying, but I continued on. The area that I was walking through had an even higher concentration of dead bodies than any of the areas I had passed through before, and I morbidly wondered if by the time I reached the area near the Tree itself I would be having to climb through the mounds of dead. It would be harder to shut out the fact these had all been living ponies only a week ago if it came to that.
An deafening scream suddenly went out from the direction that I was walking towards. Despite the volume I recognized the voice, that was Mera. I broke into a full run in the direction that the sensation had been leading me, now certain now that it was taking me straight to my distressed wife. I almost tripped several times over the bodies of the dead, but I didn't care, Mera was near and she needed me right now.
As I came into an inexplicable clearing in the rubble I was greeted by the sight of two things. First was Mera, and she was a terrible sight to behold. She was in her Crystal Pony form once again somehow, and she glowed with a harsh red light that made it difficult to look at her directly for more than a moment. That light spread out wisps of magic in all directions as she visible leaked magic on a large scale.
The next thing I saw was a large pink body with wings laying in the clearing; the body had no head, only a bloody mess where the head should have been. Looking at the blood and gore I could see scraps of silver metal crushed and mangled within. Pinkie Pie was definitely dead, you didn't survive having your skull crushed like that. I had no pity for her, but the sight of her body still made me feel sick.
"Mera!" I cried out to get my wife's attention as I came into the clearing.
She turned to me and glared. Her eyes were filled with suspicion and hate. She trembled as she looked at me, and licked her lips in an odd way, though I couldn't describe what was odd about it other than something seemed very off about the gesture.
"Your mistress is dead! Don't you see? Why must you all keep coming to torment me with my beloved Pearl's face? Haven't you hurt me enough? Shouldn't the monster being finally dead put an end to what she was doing? I just want to be left alone," Mera cried as she looked at me.
"I don't know what you are talking about. I am Pearl, and I want to help you. Sunset wants you dead, but I can help you get back to being sane," I pleaded.
"I am perfectly sane. Pearl is dead, and now that monster that was responsible for her death is too. Whatever she instructed you to do has no more meaning. Leave now and I won't hurt you. I have hurt so many ponies today." She looked at the ground with a confused look on her face. "Has it only been today? I don't know; it seems like more, but I can't tell anymore. Leave me in peace, don't make me kill any more ponies."
"Mera, it is me. Let me help you. You're confused, suffering, and in danger. I know you have done some horrible things recently, but they weren't your fault. You were driven to do all this, but we can do what we can to try to fix things together. I love you and won't abandon you no matter what," I pleaded once more as I reached a wing out to her.
"I want you to be Pearl. I really want that, but that's just a lie. I won't let myself be manipulated and lied to any more. If this is still happening and Pinkie Pie is dead, then some other Alicorn must have been in league with her. They all refused to help when I went to them, perhaps they are all in league with each other. I'll kill every last one of them and then maybe this will finally stop. I have the power. They can't do anything to me anymore," Mera said as she looked at me with hateful determination.
I realized then that Sunset was right. Mera was too far gone and it would be more merciful to end her than to let her commit any more atrocities and make a even greater monster of herself. I could not believe I was thinking it, but I knew it to be true. With tears in my eyes I tried to build up the courage to do what needed to be done.
She was still looking around with a confused and lost look in her eyes. I wasn't even sure if she noticed me role not anymore, or if she was so caught up in her delusions that she was no longer registering the world around her. She seemed to have lost all interest in me after I ceased speaking and she had given her response.
As I continued to watch the magic leak off her I realized that almost any other pony couldn't even get near her right now. All that power drifting off her likely would kill any other pony. It was so great that I could feel it despite my anti-magic talents. The only reason she was able to withstand it herself was she had my healing capabilities as well, and even with those she was in constant pain and agony at containing such a huge amount of magic. She didn't need to care about defending herself, she was walking death. Perhaps if she had some sanity left she could have brought it under control, or forced it all out of herself, but that wasn't happening.
Since she was not paying attention to me I looked around the immediate area. I saw on the ground broken shards of crystal from the Tree; one of them would serve what needed to be done. I reached down with a wing and took it shakingly up in my wing's fingers, glad that I had practiced over the years using my wings in such a manner. The shaking had nothing to do with weakness or not being adept at using them this way; I just didn't want to do this. I prayed to whoever would listen that something would happen that would make it so I didn't have to kill my wife.
"Mera, look around you. Can't you see all the hurt and death you have caused? I know you, you want to protect ponies. This isn't you, come back to me Mera, and we can fix this somehow," I pleaded again. Hoping that if I kept trying sooner told later something would get through to her.
She did look around herself as I asked, and my heart kept as a small glimmer of hope arose. Maybe I could still get through to her. My hopes were dashed as she turned her hardened gaze back to me though.
"This place deserved to fall. Those Alicorns were monsters that took my precious Pearl away from me. They were always watching me, always judging me, always threatening taking her away from me. All the ponies of this city? They bent down and worshiped those monsters and made their homes close to them. They also tormented my beloved with their jeers and prejudice. They didn't deserve to live," she snarled before her eyes unfocused again and she went back to her confused glancing about. It was as unnerving to watch as it was horrible to hear her utter such a thing.
I just sat there for many long moments, watching her. Again she seemed to have ceased to notice me after our brief exchange. It didn't seem see was getting any more focused. The thought crossed my mind that she could possibly just stay here forever like this, with me watching over her. As long as no pony came near they wouldn't be in danger if her. I could patrol the area and keep ponies away for their protection. Eventually she would bleed out all this excess magic and maybe something could be done for her then, even if it took centuries. I would be willing to do that for her if that was what it took.
I knew that was not likely. Sooner or later the Alicorns would come, no matter how much I pleaded with them to stay away. At that point one of two things would happen. One they would bind her in Tartarus for all time; or two, they would all perish before her and Mera would become an even greater monster than she was now. She might even end up leaving this place on her own, and that would lead to untold death and destruction yet to come. I felt like sobbing as the fact became clearer that I had to take action myself, and that there was no bringing her back. Her body might be alive, but her mind was so twisted she might as well be dead already.
Eventually I got up and just started aimlessly walking around the clearing as well, as much a ghost of a pony as Mera was now. I kept a small distance from her, and she seemed to still take no interest or even notice of me. The world beyond what was going on in her mind right now was non-existent to her.
"What are you thinking of right now?" I asked after a while.
"She turned and focused on me briefly, before her eyes took on the glazed look again, but she did answer.
"I am remembering. I am remembering everything from my own life, but also the life of Pinkie Pie. I remember everything that she remembered. There is so much here, it is so easy to get lost in it. So much time, so many ponies, yet she remembered it all. It is maddening to try to take in. She hurt so much from it. I think I did her a favor by killing her. I want this all to go away, but it is stuck in me," she said in a mornful tone as she continued to gaze around at nothing.
"You are hurting, hurting more than I can comprehend," I said, more of a statement than a question.
"I hurt so much I want to die," she answered. "Are you here to kill me? Are you going to help me? I can't take this, I need to die."
My heart broke further as I nodded. I don't know if she even saw the nod, or even she even recalled we had just spoken with one another. She was caught up in her mind again. I gripped the shard tighter in my wing and the jagged edge of it cut into my flesh, but I didn't care or soften my grip.
"Let me help you then. Let me help you go.. see Pearl again. She is waiting for you, and longs for your embrace again. She won't have peace until she is reunited with you. You won't feel peace until you are back with her. Let me help you get peace," I said as I openly sobbed now.
"Please, reunite me with my precious Pearl. Screw all the Alicorns and any thoughts of revenge I might have against them. I just want to be reunited with my wife in death. The world isn't worth living in without her," she begged.
Crying, I came up to her and embraced her one final time. I didn't wait for her to get a read on my emotions though; I just brought the jagged shard of crystal down through her neck, impaling it. The sharp end went into my shoulder as well, but I didn't care of flinch.
A great blast of magic came off her, knocking me away. The entire area seemed to be nothing but red light as the life left the body of the most important pony in the world to me.
***
I sat crying for a long time after that. There are no words I can use to express what I had done. My wife was dead, and it was because of me. It was all because of me. I was a monster.
After finally pulling myself somewhat together I tilted my head as I considered what was going to happen next. I would have to act quickly as I would definitely have Alicorns coming soon after that magic blast. I decided that I needed to get to work at burying her and getting myself ready for those who would eventually come to check on what had occurred here. It took only a few minutes for me to put her where no pony would ever find her. I did some last minute preparations for the Alicorns imevetible arrival, and then I just sat and waited, cursing myself and crying like I had never cried before.
I don't know how much time passed with me laying there in my tears. The Alicorns did come though. It seemed a full turnout for them, and even Peridot had come along as well.
I remembered what Sunset was going to have Peridot do, and I supressed giving a glare at the golden Alicorn. She would get what was coming to her one day, but today wasn't the day for that. Today was not the day for that. Today was the day I needed to mourn my precious wife. I had done the worst possible thing today, and I didn't have the heart for vengeance right now to take justice for what Sunset had done. Peridot was still safe, that was a small blessing at least.
"Pearl? Are you okay? Where is Mera?" Sunset asked me.
I flinched at what she said, and glanced down at my pinkish white fur. I almost had forgotten it was there. I needed to answer Sunset.
"My wife is dead," I said as straight faced as I could. There was no lie in that, much as I wished there was. She was dead and it was my fault. I couldn't blame Pinkie Pie or any other pony, it was definitely my fault. My mind was clear.
"I'm sorry, Pearl. You know there was no other way. I know there is nothing I can say or do to make this better, but you do have my condolences," Sunset said with lowered ears and posture.
I flinched again at hearing her speak. It would take a long time I thought to stop flinching at that. I needed to take up another name. Mera and Pearl died in these ruins, and those names needed to be left here.
I just nodded back. I flinched again as she came over and embraced me. I let it happen. I could tell she had legitimate regret. Let her have her moment to show sympathy. As she released me she gave me an odd look.
"I can't feel any of your emotion. You are blocking me out. I wasn't aware you could do that," Sunset said as she gazed at me.
"She and I worked together on that training to block out thoughts. Don't you remember that? I don't think it is a good idea for ponies to know all that I am feeling right now. I am better at it than my wife was to tell you the truth," I quickly explained, again there was no lie.
Sunset seemed to accept the explanation and I let off a small sigh of relief that she didn't dig deeper to find out what was going on with me. That was not a discussion I was ready to have.
"So where is your wife?" Came the voice Starlight as the Alicorn of Empathy walked near.
"My wife is dead, and her corpse is put away so no pony will ever find it. She was so full of grief at the end. I know that she still loved me, but I ended up killing her. Please don't go looking for it, give her this peace," I pleaded. "She deserved so much more than this, and I am the worst abomination there has ever been for killing her."
The Alicorns all looked at one another, before turning and nodding to me. Twilight took the lead and came forward to address me.
"We shall respect your wishes. It is the least we can do. I can only imagine how much you are hurting right now, and nothing is going to make that better. All of the Realm is hurting right now, and I don't think we will rebuild here. There is too much death, too much sorrow. We will clear the ruins of the bodies that are easy to find, to give the survivors some closure, but Harmony shall never rise again, and these ruins will remain as a monument to our darkest momennt." Twilight said with as much authority to her tone as she seemed to be able to muster. It was clear that she had been greatly shaken.
"Do you want to return with me to Crystal Heart? We are still family you and I, and we both can help each other mourn. I don't know how I am going to cope with this," Peridot said with a tearful expression.
There was some temptation to that, but that would work for me. I shook my head no.
"I don't think I am ready to return to Crystal Heart, too many bad memories. Do me a favor though. Now that Pinkie Pie is dead her power over than bloody hotel is gone. Please burn it to the ground," I said with more than a hint of malice.
"You heard about Mom and Dad from Mera?" Peridot asked with lowered ears.
I gave a brief nod of my head. That was the easiest way to answer.
"I think I will take off somewhere secluded and low stress for a while. Maybe write down the history of the two of us, as a coping mechanism. I just want to be left alone. I killed my wife, there is no getting over that," I said with my own ears lowered.
"Pearl, I need to ask. Did Mera give any indication why Pinkie did what she did?" Sunset asked.
I knew the answers to that, but I couldn't give them. That would lead to uncomfortable questions. I would have to give a partial answer.
"Pinkie sold her soul to the Elder Gods, which Grogar is also an agent of. She was crazy, not just normal Alicorn crazy. She was bound by a contract to destroy the Tree of Harmony. I don't know why she did it," I answered. The last part was a lie, but not the biggest lie of the day.
"It seems no pony is immune to madness," Sunset said grimly. That was definitely the truth.
I didn't want to deal with any of this any more; it was simply too painful. If I stayed here I risked slipping into uncontrollable rage and I couldn't risk that. I made my goodbyes despite their protests that I shouldn't go yet, and left the Alicorns to sort out the dead. I had my own tasks to be about.
Somehow I would fix this. Somehow I would make this right. Somehow I would undo my greatest sin. Somehow my beloved wife would live again.
Pearlwort, Unintentional Villain
Chimera Wort
Story is contined in
Last Days of Ponykind