Epilogue: A New Destination
Pain was all the Princess of the Sun felt, but not for herself, but for her one and only friend she had made since awakening in this new Equestria. It was a given that her world was to be turned upside-down with where she had come from and how much she had lost, but Watcher had lost truly everything. His former friends had turned on him, his love and care for others had been scorned, and it had all culminated in the tragic death of a mare he cared about. Something Celestia still struggled to not feel guilty about.
“Got something on your mind?” asked Techorse, interrupting her thoughts, “Actually, dumb question… a lot happened today. Sorry.”
“I’m worried about my friend… He looked… devastated, and I can’t help but feel as though it’s my fault.” Celestia replied, following the green stallion further away from her friend. Still she couldn’t help but wonder what would Watcher’s reaction be if something had happened to her.
“I don’t think you need to blame yourself,” he answered softly, “but if you really feel that way, you should tell Watcher. Don’t bottle it up.”
“Right now, Watcher needs time to himself… but enough about my problems. I’m more curious about you? Why did you go out of your way to help a couple of strangers like us?” Celestia asked Techorse, trying her best to change the topic as she looked into the stallions blue eyes.
“I’ve been helping refugees The Order has been after for a while now,” he explained, smiling, “but I never actually stood up to them with my weapons before, until today. When I got the news that there was a ‘false princess’, and saw that they were going to brutally end two ponies’ lives over what was probably a hoax by the unicorn mages, I’d had it with them. I’m interested in bringing them to justice after all these years of tyranny.”
“So… Tell me honestly, do you think I’m the real princess or just a hoax?” Celestia asked nonchalantly.
“It doesn’t do me much good to not believe you,” joked Techorse before turning a bit more serious, “somepony had to do that second rising of the sun today, right? And now that I’ve actually met you in pony, I truly believe it. You’re everything that the old lorebooks said you’d be like.”
“It’s nice to know that there is at least one other pony left who still believes in me.” Celestia replied, smiling as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she looks away. “However, I’m not like I used to be… I could barely help anypony today.”
“I guess after being a Princess from the Old Kingdom, being a normal unicorn pony has to feel pretty limiting. I was definitely not expecting you to be in this form, but ever since my friends and I were little, we’d be told stories from our grandparents about how the old alicorn princesses would bounce back from just about anything. Chaos, Shadows… eventually they’d come through for the Old Kingdom, ” he rambled until he caught himself, “sorry, I’m going on. You did plenty for us today, trust me.”
“Yet I took my friend’s first love… And saw something change in him.” She replied as she looked down towards the ground.
Techorse had watched Stardust and her fighting, and knew that the mare had destroyed herself with her own spell. But the stallion doubted arguing self-defense like an idiot would help Celestia’s mood, so he just relaxed his expression and stopped her in her tracks to give her a chance to get it out of her system. The unicorn was refusing to look him in the eye, and he wondered if perhaps the stories of “The Warrior Princesses” destroying enemy after enemy were a tad exaggerated by his elders.
“This world’s way more horrible than the one you’re used to,” he said, still trying to get her to look at him, “and I’m guessing ponies have been telling you it’s ‘just the way it is’. Both of us know that’s a lie. The Order made it that way, and your friend just hasn’t accepted that fully yet.”
She remained still, tears welling up in her eyes again. Techorse couldn’t even imagine the pain.
“Watcher will forgive you someday, Celestia. I promise he will.”
“I hope so… And I hope he’s okay.”
Meanwhile…
Watcher stood still, staring at Stardust’s grave as his blank expression never changed, standing stoic as he continued looking, hoping that maybe his mind was playing some kind of trick on him, praying that this was some cruel joke, but he knew better. After all, his best friend tried to kill him, nearly succeeding as he ignored all of the wounds that were inflicted on him, no longer leaking blood, but still stung every time he breathed, but it was nothing compared to the loss of the mare he fell for so hard back at the academy.
“Stardust… I… I want to know… Did you choose Midnight because you liked him?” He asked, expecting her to answer, still trying to deny what happened. “I’ve always liked you Stardust, ever since you showed me and Midnight true kindness back when we all entered the academy for the first time.”
Tears ran down his cheeks, and a lump formed in his throat, “So why’d you have to go and die, huh?! Was rejecting me not e..enough?”
In that moment, he hated everything about his life, and his sadness tumbled into a blind fury, crying for himself bitterly. He couldn’t see it, but his horn crackled with red energy as he poured out his emotions. Shouting louder than he ever had in his life, the unicorn fired off a massive, unorganized burst of dark magic that streamed into the forest, detonating in a furious ball of destruction that leveled trees and consumed matter in a perfect sphere.
When Watcher looked at what he had done, the red glow around his horn stopped, and he quickly dried his tears. He had removed a good acre of woods, probably wiping out anything happening to be living there. The senseless destruction of nature didn’t guilt him so much as worry him… since when was he capable of such firepower in short order? Even the sword spell he seemed to be only vaguely aware of couldn’t do that! He ran away from the scene, and came to a babbling stream that helped keep the woods hydrated. When he looked into the water, he saw his tear-stained face, dirtied and hair messed up from the battle. Watcher went to fix himself with his magic, and when he did… he saw that his aura was now a crimson hue.
“... Just tell me… Would you have given me a chance?” He asked as tears dripped freely down his cheeks as he looked up to the sky.
Two days Later
“Well, as promised… Everfree City!” Techorse declared as he stepped out of the woods and onto the road just outside of the town, “Made good time, too. Took me three days to get to Small Pines.”
“Thank you so much for you help Techorse… We really appreciate this…” Celestia replied, turning towards Watcher as his stoic expression remained unchanged as he merely nodded his head.
“Techorse… I know we have only met recently and we are deeply grateful… But will you join us on our journey to find the other lost Princesses?” Watcher asked as he looked up towards the green stallion.
“You want me to come with you guys?” he asked honestly, “I thought we were just going to debrief at my place.”
“Please do!” asked Celestia, “It would be great to have another traveling companion.”
Techorse answered joyfully, “I’ll definitely go with you then. If it’s really true that the other princesses have returned as well, I want to be there for that! We should really stop by my workshop though, when we get a chance. We can load up on supplies.”
“Maybe in a while, we’ve got some other things to take care of first,” Watcher said, “but I’m glad you want to come along. We’re going to need all the help we can get out here, with The Order after us and all.”
“So now that we’re here, what’s first before we restock?” asked the inventor curiously.
“We’ll be visiting someone I never thought I’d see again…” Watcher replied, trotting ahead of the two as he looked down towards the massive city that was before him. “The only mare in the whole world who’ll help us… Umbra Black.”
“So you know Umbra?” he asked, “I’ve met her before, she never forgets ponies. I bet she would help us if you asked.”
“Yes, who is she?” Celestia asked.
“She’s… Someone from the academy that used to… fancy me. From what I’ve heard since she left the academy, she’s made a name for herself… Was even invited to join the council, but turned them down from what I was told. She’ll help us… Cause if she doesn’t… We won’t have anywhere else to hide from The Order.” He replied darkly as for a brief moment unaware to both his companions and himself, his eyes turned into a dark shade of crimson.
Meanwhile, within the Everfree City stood a large mansion at the very edge of the borders of the city grounds. Within the mansion an old grey stallion wearing a black tux, entered a large dining room, where a dark grey mare with a black shadowy mane sat alone, drinking her tea in silence as she watched the dark clouds begin to form outside from her window.
“Madam, Black… It seems as though the Order has sent out a kill order on your beloved? Shall I fetch for you?”
“Granite… You don’t need to call me Black… Umbra is fine. As for Watcher, I don’t need you to go look for him.” She said, as a smirk appeared on her face as her eyes lit up with excitement. “He’ll be coming to me.”
To Be Continued…