Eighteenth Principle:
A hero is always ready to protect his/her loved ones. Even form him/herself
Celestia guided Bright Spark and Luminositè through the infinite whiteness. And the two of them could tell that she was scared. And angry. But mostly scared.
But her anger was not directed to the two teenagers but to the Tree of Harmony.
Celestia trusted the Tree and thought that as long as it existed, Equestria would be safe. But when she died she learned the horrible truth about the Tree. That the Tree was only one of two faces, and its other face was responsible of her death. And all because it tried to force her godson into becoming the new Destroyer of Worlds.
From her point of view, the damn thing got what it deserved, but the kids would pay for what they did.
“Bright, Lumi, form this point you’ll be on your own.” explained Celestia when they reached certain point. “I’ll be at your side, but I am forbidden to intervene. Take care, and whatever it happens, do not get cocky. I’m begging you!”
“Take it easy Godmother, we’ll be fine!” assured Bright Spark, calmed as he was. He also seemed, happy. Really happy and unworried.
“Wi, Sa Majesté Bright and I can handle the Gods or whoever in charge to judge us.” said Lumi. And as Bright’s, her tone was also calmed and joyful. As they didn’t realize the kind of problem they were.
But Celestia didn’t have time to think about it.
Suddenly she felt a huge pressure coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Hundreds of powerful and oppressive presences made two teenagers to stay alert.
But when they realized that the emptiness continued empty, they relaxed.
Only Celestia remained tense, waiting for the trail to start.
Suddenly, a bodyless voice resounded all over the whiteness. “You seem calmed. Too calmed. Why? Don’t you two realize the situation you’re in? Why are you so relaxed?”
Bright shrugged. “You should have a mentality like ours to understand. You see, we never can stop thinking. All we see trigger our minds. We are constantly analyzing, calculating causes and effects.”
“And since there is nothing here, we can finally relax. I’ve never being alone with myself, and I find myself dark and twisted. Kind of amusing if you ask me. Emptiness is a bliss.”
“Let’s finish this!” sighed one of the voices. “You two managed to stop the cycle of life. The destroyer of worlds is now trapped, unable to recruit a new champion to end the current world for who know how long. Maybe eons. And, to make things worse, you practically killed and replaced its other half.”
“This is the first time in history, all the histories, we have to deal with something like this.”
Bright raised a hoof. “If you allow me to say something, we only act under provocation. We defeated the Destroyer of Worlds, but, is it really that bad? Is only natural for us living beings to want to protect the world we’re living in.”
“Yes!” added Luminositè. “Also we don’t blame the Bell for trying to recruit us after we defeat Monseur Chèvre. The little bell spent years trying to find a champion, I guess. But it didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and tried to force us to accept.”
Bright nodded. “It set a trap for us, but we didn’t fell, okay, we were willing to let that pass. But when it came and used our own technology to put our loved ones against us, and then kill my Godmother was cross the fricking line.”
Lumi hugged Bright Spark. “Not to mention it almost made this guy to fell into madness entirely. Was it really that hard to wait for another champion? We have no interest in becoming immortals, it could destroy the world once we were out of the scene.”
“We admit it, the destroyer of worlds overdid.”
“We would punish him, but you already did that.”
“We are forbidden to intervene in the mortal realm, but we cannot ignore what you did. You had broken the balance of the universe.“
“Let’s go straight to the point!” said Bright, annoyed. “What the hay do you want?”
“We cannot risk that you two make things worse, but rules are rules.”
“So we are willing to bend them for you.”
“What do you mean?” asked Lumi.
“For the first, and last time, we’ll interfere with two living beings. Bright Spark, and Luminositè Belle, we are willing to cure your madness.”
Lumi gasped. “You mean, take the ‘urges’ away?”
But Bright seemed more offended by the offer. “You mean take our ‘genius’ away?”
“No, your I.Q. will remain the same, but you will be able to feel like any other pony. Being able to have empathy, to make more than a single friend. To not to be feared by your own families.”
Bright crossed his hooves. “What if I don’t want to quit my madness? What if I chose to remain a sociopath?”
Celestia face-hoofed.
“Bright, stop! Don’t you realize they are giving you the chance to stop?”
“It’s okay Celestia, we’ll take it from here.”
“Think about it, Spark. There’s no Destroyer of worlds anymore. And he was the most powerful rival you would ever face. Then what? The only thing that kept you relatively under control after Grogar’s death was him. But he is no longer able to do anything.”
“You defeated a god, Spark. There’s nothing left for the two of you. Now you’ll eventually fall into madness. What do you think that would happen? No one can stop you now.”
Lumi put a hoof on Bright’s shoulder. “We’ll do the bell’s work even if it’s unintentional. Bright, I am a time-bomb. And as long as it doesn’t change, my mère is in danger. I would never do something to hurt the pony I love the most, so I’ll accept before it’s too late.”
Bright sighed. “You know this is a trick, right?”
“So? Sooner or later something will happen.”
Bright finally agreed. “Fine. Just do it quickly.”
Celestia put a hoof on his other shoulder. “I am proud of you Bright Spark.”
“You know this is a punishment, right Godmother?” asked Bright. “They are planning something. I can’t figure what but they’re definitely up to something.”
“Bright, come on! You can trust the gods!” said Celestia. “Right?”
But the gods proved Bright to be right.
“You are too clever for your own good Spark.”
“My own good? You mean your good.” said Spark.
“Don’t worry, after we cure your madness, we’ll do nothing to you.”
“Most likely you will be the ones who’ll decide your own punishment.”
Bright looked at Lumi. “Are you sure you want to trust them?”
“Is not like we have any choice. If they can bring us here, they can do anything to make us accept. Just like the Tree.”
“But this time they won’t underestimate us.” sighed Bright Spark. “Fine, fine, just make sure to make it fast.”
“As you wish.”
A white light surrounded the two geniuses, as they vanished out of the divine plane of existence.
“Spark is dangerous, he really is. It is a relief that he ended up accepting.”
“What are you going to do with him?” asked Celestia.
“Nothing. As we told Spark and Belle, they will be the ones who decide their own punishment. Now it’s only a matter of time.”
“I give them ten minutes. Maybe half an hour.”
Bright Spark and Luminositè opened their eyes, only to realize they were at the Castle of Friendship right in front of their mothers.
“Bright Spark!”
“Luminositè!”
Alicorn and unicorn hurried to hug their children.
“Are you two alright?”
“We were so worried about you. Right after they chopped down the Tree, you two just disappeared and, aren’t you two in trouble with the gods or something?”
The two teenagers exchanged a worried look, and began to shake uncontrollably.
“What’s going on?” asked Twlight.
Bright looked at Twilight and Flash. “Mom… dad…”
Flash approached to his son along with Twilight, as Rarity hugged Lumi.
“What’s going on?” asked Rarity. “There’s something wrong?”
The girl was crying. “Mère… they… they… they cured our madness. They…”
“What do you mean with ‘they cured your madness?’” asked Twilight.
Bright Spark shook his head as he tried to process the new emotions overflowing him. Guilt, regret, and more guilt. Everything was new for him. For the very first time, Bright was looking back at everything he had done under a new light.
“They said it was necessary, that we will becoming the new destroyers of worlds if we continued like this. And now…”
Twilight smiled happily. “Bright, that’s wonderful! Don’t you realize? Now that you are a normal pony, we can start over. I can start teaching you about the Magic of Friendship now that you are able to understand it.”
Lumi fell on her knees.
“Luminositè?” asked Rarity, worried.
“No… I cannot stop thinking in everything we’ve done. The villains we foalnapped, torturing them to exhaustion. I enjoyed their pain and suffering. What kind of pony I was?”
“We forced Catrina to hang herself!” said Bright. “What is this feeling? Why my heart hurts and feels so heavy?”
Flash wrapped his son under his wings. “Bright Spark, what are you feeling now is the weight of guilt. But we are here to help you bear it until the end. Right Twilight?”
The Princess nodded. “Of course, I’ll teach you how to deal with past mistakes and accept the weight of your actions. From now on, you’ll be my number one priority, my son. I’ll take a break from my Princess duties to take care of you, I swear.”
Same for Rarity, “Lumi, you and I are going to take a long vacation. Three months at least. We’ll travel around the world to talk about us, and nothing but us.”
The two teenagers continued sobbing uncontrollably, until Bright broke the family embrace and turned to a drawer.
“I knew they were up to something. Very well, let’s finish this.”
He pulled out a jar full of metallic marbles.
“Mixed fruit smoothie!” he commanded to his robots.
The machines brought him what he asked.
Then Bright put one of the marbles on his mouth, and swallowed it with some help of his smoothie.
Once he was sure he swallowed the marble, he turned to Lumi seeming doubtful.
“Sorry my friend, these are the actions of a coward. I don’t know what you’re going to do but, I think this is good bye for now.”
Lumi shook her head. “No Bright, you are right. There’s no way we can live like this. Dollies, tea!”
The tiny androids brought her a fresh teapot and two sugar cubes.
Lumi elegantly dissolved the sugar in her cup of tea and then took a tiny sip to help her swallow the marble.
“What are these?” asked Rarity, looking at the jar.
Bright turned to his parents and hugged them.
“I love you two. I always have. Even if I didn’t tell you that often. I’m so sorry.”
Lumi also hugged Rarity and nuzzled her. “Mère, this is goodbye. I am sorry, but you must understand, we have too much blood in our hooves. Too much for a normal pony to live with. Luckily for us, we weren’t normal ponies. Until now. This was their plan all along.”
“Bright, what are those things you swallowed?!” shouted Twilight, paling.
“Explosives.” said Bright, turning to his robots. “Don’t let anypony follow us until it’s done.”
Six machines towered over the terrified ponies, as Bright and Lumi went to the other room, and locked the door.
“Are you sure about this?” asked Bright.
“Wi. There’s no other way. But before we do it, let me kiss you.”
“Lumi?”
“I always liked you, is no big deal.”
Bright sighed, but smiled. “Together until the very end.”
They kissed and finally Bright took a remote from his pocket.
And after exchanging a last look with his best friend, he pressed the button.