Tempest Shadow felt her hooves touch earth at the same time her consciousness returned. Tired all of a sudden, she stumbled on the steep slope and spread her legs to stabilize herself. She blinked hard and took one deep breath after another, staring at the black rock.
“You’re just not used to it,” she heard Pinkie encourage, and felt a muted slap on her armored back. “Ow,” Pinkie mumbled.
Tempest knew what had happened. But she just couldn’t remember doing it. It was hard to explain.
“Everyone all right?” Twilight called out. “Spike, how are you feeling?”
There was no audible response. Tempest assumed he was giving a thumbs-up.
“Tempest, are you holding up okay?” Twilight asked next.
Tempest lifted her head. “Yeah. Just fine.”
The lava fields surrounding them remained runny and orange. But the air was noticeably clean, and the sun shone upon them all like spotlights. It was unusual, and Tempest felt strange under the gentle warmth of the sun instead of the oppressive and stuffy warmth of the volcano.
Rarity let out a laugh. “Guys,” she said, breaking into a smile. “We did it.”
It was done.
Tempest hadn’t nearly been in the group for as long as some of the others, but even she felt a burden lift from her shoulders.
“It’s over,” Noble gasped, sitting on his rump. His sword clattered beside him, and he put his free hooves to his cheeks. “It’s over.”
There were hugs and exclamations, but Tempest just felt too drained to celebrate. They saved the world. What next? Didn’t they have something to do? Tempest wracked her brain.
Then there came cheers and hollers that definitely weren’t from any of them. Tempest swiveled her head, and she knew the rest of them were doing the same.
Garble, Bedrock and his bear, and Reggie were coming down the mountain to their spot, celebrating way harder than they were. About a dozen other dragons were waiting at the peak, content to observe their saviors from a distance.
“You guys did it!” Garble exulted, spreading his arms. “You saved the world! You saved… well, us!”
“I knew you could!” Bedrock followed up. The bear roared; he was just an animal, but even he understood the feeling of relief.
“I... didn’t,” Reggie admitted gently, bowing his head. His steps were gentle and deliberate. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Don’t worry,” Fluttershy was quick to say. “I felt the same for a bit.”
“Look, we all ‘ppreciate yer thanks,” Applejack addressed the visitors. “But really, it’s not like this was somethin’ we deserve thanks fer. It jus’ needed ta be done, is all.”
“You can say that all you want,” Rarity disagreed. “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve earned at least a pat on the back.”
“One pat on the back coming up!” Pinkie announced, slapping Rarity. “You’re way softer than Tempest.”
Rarity winced. “Perhaps you should have taken that into account before knocking the air out of me, darling? Spike, would you be a dear and massage that part?” She looked around. “Spike?”
Spike, strangely, wasn’t by Rarity’s side. Instead, he was tremblingly approaching Garble. Garble was limply holding the Bloodstone Scepter, staring down at Spike and his new Element.
“So,” Garble said. “Got a new piece of jewelry, huh?”
The Spike Tempest was familiar with would have bowed his head in submissiveness. This Spike, though, stared back at Garble. “Yeah. And?”
“And…” Garble was unsure. He hefted the heavy thing. “Just… Well, it just doesn’t seem…” He sighed. “Fair.”
“So what?” Rarity snapped. This was the first time she had seen Garble since the Gauntlet of Fire. “As if fair meant anything to you for years and years before now! Spike happens to be a very strong and brave little dragon who has earned it all, and you treated him like dirt! Did that seem very fair? How about your little performance in the Gauntlet of Fire? Was that fair? And now he has everything, and you have nothing. That sounds fair to me.”
Garble sighed again and jabbed a thumb at her. “Is she always like this?”
Spike’s eyes shifted uncomfortably to Rarity’s indignant face, then back to Garble’s. There was a look of fear within those eyes, and he gave the tiniest of head shakes, begging Garble to not let him answer.
Garble’s eyes traveled to Rarity and back to Spike. He almost burst into laughter, but wisely restrained himself. “You mean she’s…”
Spike nodded tightly.
Garble shook his head. He weighed the scepter in his hands before shrugging and proffering it to Spike. “Well, Dragon Lord. Here you go.”
Spike’s hand hesitantly reached out for the scepter. But instead of taking the end, he pushed it back to Garble.
Garble’s eyes popped. They traveled down to the mark of the Dragon Lord that he held tight in his grip. “Wha…?”
“Dragons live a long time,” Spike said. “Longer than ponies do.” He turned his head to regard Rarity. “I want her life to be spent with me in Ponyville. That’s my real home.”
“Oh,” Rarity gasped, dabbing at her suddenly-wet eye.
Garble opened his mouth and closed it a few times, like a fish. “But… you’re the Dragon Lord. You’ve earned it! More than I have, at least. What, are you really about to give it all up?”
“For her,” Spike sheepishly said.
“He’s such a dream!” Rarity exclaimed.
"You can't do this!" Garble protested. "I-it isn't supposed to be this way."
"I'm the Dragon Lord. Well, was. I can do whatever I want. You helped me along the way. That's enough proof for me. I can trust you."
Garble blinked back something. "What about…" he started, trailing off.
“Garble,” Spike told him. “You’re the last of the royal line. I helped you get this far. Your father and sister would be so proud of you. Are you really about to push this on someone who doesn’t even want it? Or need it?”
Garble lifted the scepter in front of him, examining the lines in the crystal. “But-”
“I already made up my mind. Just take the darn thing.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t use my own words.”
“I can and I will.”
Garble's eyes sparkled as he looked into the head of his inheritance. "...Thank you." He lowered the scepter. “Are you ever going to come back?”
Spike took a moment. “Maybe. If Twilight doesn’t need me. Until then… think of it like you’re keeping my seat warm.”
“The Steward of the Dragonlands,” Garble mused.
“You can unite them in the wake of this catastrophe,” Spike encouraged. “You’d be best for the job. Everyone would accept you, especially after all that’s happened.”
After getting the hint, Garble hefted the scepter again. “Yeah. You’re right. A member of the bloodline is more legitimate than an outsider.”
Spike opened his arms and hugged Garble around the waist. Rarity made a strangled noise.
“See you,” Spike said. “Take care of ‘em.”
Garble gave him a gentle noogie. “I’d do a better job than you could.”
“Let’s not go that far.”
Garble rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Dragon Lord.”
Spike gagged. Garble and Spike simultaneously broke into laughter and patted each other on the back before separating.
"Good luck," Garble wished. He gave a dry salute while glancing for an instant in Rarity's direction. "You're gonna need it."
"Funny. I was gonna say the same."
Garble blew a dismissive raspberry. "Yeah, yeah." He turned around and squared his shoulders. "Time to get to work."
He flapped back up to the peak, brandishing the Bloodstone Scepter at the dragons who had watched the whole thing. "You all saw that? I'm the Dragon Lord now! So fall in line and listen up! We got a long run ahead of us! We gotta search and find survivors across the Dragonlands and build back better! Stronger! What are you guys waiting for, an invitation? Let's go!"
Rarity gaped with her mouth open for a while longer before whirling on Spike. "What have you done to that boy?"
"Worked my magic," Spike nonchalantly shrugged off. "What? It's what you were going to say."
Rarity, after a moment of flustering, squeed and gathered him into her arms. "What other marvelous surprises are you hiding?"
"He learned how to play the clarinet," Tempest drily contributed.
It elicited a laugh from some of them. Tempest inexplicably felt a sense of pride.
"Reggie?" Freedom Fighter was asking the tremendous dragon. "Can you help take us somewhere?"
"You are all very little ponies," Reggie brushed off. "Of course."
"Where are you going to take us?" Noble asked.
"There's someone I'd like you to meet," Freedom Fighter said. "I hope he's still alive."
The ponies assembled gave each other looks of consideration. What could it entail?
"I could stay here," Bedrock volunteered. "Watch over your friend." He regarded the body of Firestorm lying to the side on the mountain's slope. "He looks like he needs it."
Rainbow sniffed and turned away. Reggie arched his head to see what Bedrock was talking about, and his pupils grew to circles. "It's him. I gave him a ride here."
The ponies looked up to Reggie.
"Sorry I couldn't get you any peanuts. Whatever they are. I hope you can get some in heaven."
Now Fluttershy sniffed as well. Tempest remembered his joking review and her heart sank.
"Come on, girls," Twilight spoke up. "Let's find this friend of Freedom Fighter's."
As the rest of them straddled his back, Tempest privately wondered if this friend was a familiar one.
Reginald flew over to the Daughter's cracked and crumbled remnants, oozing lava from every crevice. He circled around the south side and descended gradually.
Twilight could hear him before she could see him.
"Right there," Fluttershy directed. She was nearest to Reginald's ear. "To the right. There's a pretty big ledge you can land on."
Reginald obediently hovered to the furthermost edge of the dropoff and settled down in a spiral. The creature trapped on that ledge was so busy crying and screaming and numb that he probably hadn't even felt the impact.
The Element bearers slid off Reginald's back and hit the ground. Twilight was the first to approach, and the rest of the bearers followed her.
Freedom Fighter was right. This was an old friend of theirs.
"No, no, no!" Malice was repeating over and over again. His long, spindly arms were pounding the ground and crushing dirt in his claws. "Father! Be with me! Be with me! Give me strength!"
He was crying, and between his sobs he shrieked his protests to the uncaring sky.
"We won!" Malice choked. "We won! They just cheated at the last second! They're evil! They lost! They lost everything!"
"It's because we lost everything that we won," Twilight spoke up.
Malice's bloody eye opened with a start and shot to Twilight. His mouth full of broken teeth grinded together, no longer caring about the liquid pouring from his jaw. "Graah! How dare you gloat in my presence?! You’ve ruined everything! You betrayed our father! You’ll burn in Tartarus! Ngah!"
"I'm not taking lessons on morality from you," Twilight deadpanned.
Malice's claw lunged for her, but Twilight was a foot out of range. Malice struggled, spitting and spewing flecks and globs of blood in rage, but his trembling arm couldn't reach her. Twilight coldly regarded him as he struggled. Finally, his arm lowered in defeat, and pounded the ground in newfound rage. Malice screamed at the ground once more.
"You're pathetic," Twilight said in complete disgust. "Too pathetic. Seeing you like this, it almost makes me pity you. It makes me want to stay my hoof and spare you, and you'll die a slow and painful death in the hot sun, infected, losing blood, starving, dehydrating, and waiting for scavengers to tear you apart."
Malice trembled, unable to move, unable to speak. He wasn't even able to look her in the eyes.
"But I'm more merciful than that." Twilight indicated the other ponies. "This will be quick. Maybe."
"Never!" Malice shrieked, doing his best to push himself away, but he was stuck, and all he could do was tug at his trapped body. "Not by the likes of you!"
"Hold him down," Twilight ordered.
Rarity's horn ignited. Crystal formed around his two exposed and broken legs, holding them spread-out on the ground.
Malice, wide-eyed, jiggled his arms, but all it did was make him hiss. He screamed as loud as he could, and at the end of it, he screamed again. He was evidently trying to block out what the ponies would say to him. But his voice was already croaky and weak, and it didn't take long before his throat became hoarse enough that nothing could come out. He shut his one remaining eye, unwilling to keep it open.
"Pale Rider," Noble Blade intoned, narrowing his dark blue eyes. "You and your people have desecrated the world our mother gave us. You shall pay the ultimate price."
"If you really think about it, though, you’re lucky," Fluttershy followed up. "We could be much worse."
"You're nothing to us," Rainbow put in.
"More beautiful in death than he was in life," Rarity commented.
"Ain't no excuse fer the things you've done," Applejack derogatorily noted. “Ain’t no cleaning up the blood you’ve spilled.”
“The world would be happier once you’re gone.” Pinkie was unenthusiastic, which meant unbridled fury.
“You’ve taken so many,” Spike whispered, his fist clenching. “Time for something to be taken from you.”
“You killed my friends,” Freedom Fighter simply said, looking down upon him with complete disdain. “Prophecy or no, the moment you decided to destroy my people, our nation, was the moment your fate was sealed. No longer shall their blood cry unto their eternal Mother for vengeance. Her terrible sword falls this day in measured wrath. I cannot in good conscience let you live.”
Tempest kneeled down to a hole in Malice’s head, where an ear was supposed to be. And she spoke the same words he had said to Starlight.
“How does it feel, Malice? Knowing everything you’ve done has been for nothing?”
Malice sobbed. Clear tears ran from his remaining eye and dripped into his open mouth. A cracked, broken, gurgling cry rose from his abused throat.
Noble Blade carefully, gently, rested the tip of his chrome-blue sword on his upper back, right between his vertebrae. “Here’s your mercy, Malice. I hate chopping off heads. You get to meet your mother whole.” His eyes drifted to the rest of him trapped beneath the boulder. “Well, as whole as that can get.”
Freedom Fighter gripped the handle of the blue sword, and Noble let go before hesitatingly resting his hoof on the pommel. Twilight’s hoof had beat him to it, though, and Spike followed suit.
Soon everypony was holding or even just touching part of the sword. United in purpose once more.
“Goodbye, Malice,” Twilight bid, not relinquishing her grip at all. “You're the worst creature I've ever met. But in a strange, awful way… I’m glad I met you. You made me appreciate what I took for granted. My life. My destiny. And my friends. Because you tried to destroy them, I want to have them even more now. All your dark works just drove me closer to the light.”
Malice groaned, taking ragged, deep breaths. Any moment now, he could be impaled, and each of his last words were in pain. “Nothing… brings lives closer together… than death.”
Freedom Fighter pushed down with all his strength. It plunged into Malice like a stick into water.
Malice stiffened, bulged his bloody red eye, and jolted up in place. “Oh…” was his involuntary sigh. Malice, after bending slightly up, slid back down. And as his lifeless head hit the earth, Twilight felt her heart bump against her flesh extra hard. Malice’s ugly and broken eye was wide open, unblinking.
Nopony moved. There was no sound but the wind and a faraway sizzle of residual lava. It was like they were waiting to see if it was genuine, if the spectre that trailed them across the world was faking it, and he’d rise up again in an ugly mass of bones and flesh to rip them apart in one swipe of his claw.
But moment after moment passed, and the abomination of nature did nothing, made no sound. Malice was truly dead, and it took time for some of them to accept that. Deep breaths were let out by many. Applejack’s head was bowed. Fluttershy was trembling, horrified by his grotesqueness but unable to look away. Rarity shook her head, while Noble’s expression was stone-cold.
“...So should we just leave it?” Tempest asked eventually.
“I don’t want a body,” Freedom Fighter answered. His eyes never left Malice’s remaining dead one. “I don’t even want there to be bones ponies can point to and say, ‘That’s Malice.’ He has no place on this earth. Let’s burn it.”
"Like anypony's coming here," Rarity commented, prodding the remains experimentally. "An open, unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere... It's too good for him. You're right, I suppose."
Twilight’s horn flushed pink. The crystals and rocks binding him to the ground fell and tumbled away. His body, and the remnants around him, floated up in a pink aura.
The ten Element bearers slowly carried Malice’s body to the edge of the cliff, refusing to even look upon his twisted, burned, broken, and bloodied body.
Malice’s thoroughly destroyed remains hovered far over the stagnant pool of black lava. Once he had reached a safe distance, Twilight’s magic cut off.
Malice’s shell plopped unceremoniously into the thick lava and soon sank beneath the surface. Immediately, it started to bubble up and burst, throwing speckles of lava into the air.
None of the Element bearers said a word. Not a tear was shed on his behalf. The eventual breach in silence had nothing to do with him.
“Let’s do it to Firestorm too,” Noble suggested, somber. “He’d want this to be how he goes.”
Rainbow, after a moment, gave a small nod.
“We can’t take his body back anyway,” Applejack reasoned. She paused to swallow something. “Yer right. He’d like this.”
Nopony moved. They were absorbing his image, his countenance. If any eyes drifted to his fatal wound, they quickly reverted to his face.
They had moved Firestorm's body onto a flat boulder close to the edge of the lava lapping at the edge of the Son. Bedrock, his bear, and Reggie were respectfully keeping their distance.
“...Does anyone have any words?” Twilight asked, suddenly feeling much weaker in the knees than before. “This is the last chance to say goodbye.”
“Yeah.” Pinkie rubbed her arm up and down. “Bye, Firestorm. You were really funny. I... really liked you.”
“...Bye,” was all Fluttershy could squeak before she broke into fresh tears.
“You were a great pony,” Applejack commented, sighing. “Reliable feller. You were th’ life of us all.”
“I never imagined you’d go from an enemy to a friend so fast,” Tempest remarked once Applejack was done. “I’m glad I met you before you… had to go.”
“When I first met you, I was… apprehensive. I thought you were the most insufferable pony I had ever met,” Rarity related. She shook her head and grit her teeth. “I’ve never been so wrong in my life! You were caring, and compassionate, and I wish… If you didn’t see it before, I wish I could tell you now. I don’t hate you. Not one bit!”
“You were a real friend to me,” Spike spoke up. “You grew close to me when nopony else felt like it. We even fought together. I saved your life once before. I just wish I could have done it again!”
Freedom Fighter leaned over his head and caressed his cheek. “So ends the account of our companionship,” he intoned, bowing his head. “You lived for glory, you died in glory, and glory is your reward. Like the warriors of the past, you have joined the ranks of our Goddess. Find peace with our mother. Soar across the skies and dance among the stars.”
After he stepped back, Rainbow Dash flapped forward, crestfallen, limp, and thoroughly dejected. Her hoof traced his chest above his wound, up to his neck, then his chin, cheek, and lips.
“I want you back,” she eventually croaked. She pressed a bit harder on his chest and pushed a lock of his mane. “Please, just... come back! Think of the skies we could have flown in! The life we could have shared. You and me, against the world… if that sounds like heaven, then why aren’t you here?”
Firestorm made no movement.
“I don’t want to do this alone!” Rainbow moaned, hugging his upper body. A tear splashed onto his nose. “Not without you! There’s so much… Please…”
Noble Blade did not say a word to Rainbow. He simply came next to her and draped an arm around her shoulders, looking down. As Rainbow Dash openly cried, slumping to the ground, Noble’s turn came.
After struggling to find the words, all he could manage was, “I’m so sorry.”
He gently led an inconsolable Rainbow Dash back. It was finally Twilight’s turn to speak. She had been trying to come up with a fitting speech in the time the others had taken. After Noble’s had ended, she figured it was ready to go.
“From this time forward,” she spoke, “Equestria must remember that its salvation cost the best blood it could ever offer. Firestorm was a wonderful pony who... struggled in his own eyes. It is far better to overcome yourself than to conquer your enemies. Firestorm has done both, and he is an eternal symbol to us all.”
She lifted his body in a gentle aura, and it floated away, across the surface of the lake of fire.
“From one age to another your name shall go,” Twilight continued, her throat hurting. “Let it be known that... he was indispensable to us. His passion shall not go unremembered. It was... his love for us that drove him, and though misguided by an evil lie, he cared so much for us that he would do anything to save the world. Even if it meant losing his friend… and eventually himself. It is the highest calling of courage a pony can take, and there is no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.”
Twilight wiped an eye. “And now… his work is done, his journey finished. He can now rest from heartache and anguish. But I’m sure that... he’d rather be on this painful earth with us than in heaven alone.”
She knew that truth, but saying it out loud made her blink back a new wave of tears. She shook her head and concentrated.
Firestorm was slowly lowered onto the surface of the lava like he was sinking into a bed. Flames danced on the surface as he disappeared beneath it. Once his body was entirely gone, more lava bubbled and burst beneath the surface in splashes of flinging fire.
Rainbow Dash, her face initially bowed, buried her face into Fluttershy’s mane and wept bitterly.
Finally, it was time to go. There was now nothing tying them down to Mount Nevermore's remains.
The Element bearers, along with Bedrock and his pet, clambered onto Reginald's back. Reginald reassured them that it really wasn't a big deal, but Fluttershy suspected he was hiding more than he let on. Reggie was just humble like that. It was very honorable. But Fluttershy wouldn't say that to him.
Reggie took off the edge of the mountain, flew away from the lava-soaked ruins, and never looked back.
They flew for hours against the light of the sun. Many of the Element bearers were used to stuff like this happening, but Bedrock and his bear were fascinated. It was his first long-distance cross-country travel.
Fluttershy felt brave enough to look down from time to time. The face of the land was healed from Solaris' march. In some respects, the land looked even better than she remembered. Green sparsely populated the earth. It seemed darker. Richer. Less crumbly.
Their trip seemed to pass in a flash. Before Fluttershy could really comprehend the trip, Reginald was already touching down on the black beach.
Fluttershy blinked and looked around as the other ponies dismounted. The sounds of the swishing waves invaded her ears. The white foam of the water was colored unnaturally by the sun setting over the water.
"You coming?" Rarity invited, waving. "We thought we could stretch before the next leg of our trip."
"Oh. Yeah." Fluttershy buzzed off the dragon's back and slowly touched down on the black sand.
She trotted over to Noble's side, who was standing where the water met the land, and clung to his arm. It felt firm.
The two of them looked over the rest of the ponies. Pinkie was chasing Spike and Rarity in the water with loud splashes and squeals of joy. Twilight, Freedom Fighter, and Tempest were side by side, bending down to examine shells in the sand. Rainbow was sitting forlornly behind them all, trying very hard to not look at Noble and Fluttershy. Applejack was beside her with a comforting hoof around her shoulders. Finally, Bedrock was standing still in the waters ahead of everyone else, staring into the sunset.
The moment seemed frozen into her memories. Despite all the dark moments preceding this one, that moment, where they were all on the beach… it would very likely never leave her mind.
She felt Noble's hoof lift up and tussle her mane gently. It eventually settled into a caress down the back of her neck and finally rest on her back. It was soft and careful, and gave her goosebumps.
"Does this seem better than dying in each other's arms?" Noble asked.
Most definitely. Fluttershy could only nod and adjust a part of her mane behind her ear. "I was being silly."
"Sensible," Noble corrected. "I'm the silly one. Remember?"
She couldn't. Not at first, anyway. "If you say so."
Noble hummed. His hoof ran over her mane again, then purposefully brushed a lock the wrong way. He looked critically at it. "There's something about it…"
"What?"
"I don't know why," he admitted. "But you seemed most beautiful back then, after you went through so much." He ruffled it, making it stuck up. "It somehow works better if it isn't so smooth." Noble gathered a length of her mane and slowly ran it through his grip.
Fluttershy's knees wobbled. There was something about how he did it…
"When I saw you… all dirty and battered, and fresh from the fight… I knew you were tough. Tough as nails. And I love you for it."
Fluttershy shrunk her head into her shoulders. "Only in that way?" she teased.
"Well, truth be told, you'd have to try very hard to get me not to love you," Noble said. "I'll say it as often as you want me to. No matter how bad you feel-- And I've learned this too, don't worry-- there will always be somepony out there who loves you."
"Faust?"
"There will always be two someponies," he corrected himself.
Fluttershy giggled. Then she leaned into him and sighed. She felt very tired all of a sudden.
"Easy does it," he said. He straightened out the parts in her mane, and the gentle caresses on her scalp made her eyes droopy. "Hey. Let's prepare for the trip home. Where we can crash into a bed and hold each other in peace."
That really did sound nice. But Fluttershy just felt so drained. Couldn't they go and do it now?
Noble's lips touched her cheek, and she felt very warm there. Her hoof came up to rub it.
"I'll go and talk to Rarity about making some saddles out of crystal or something," Noble offered, already backing towards the sea. "Don't want you falling off."
Fluttershy nodded wearily, a grin on her face. At the end of it all, at least she had him.
She sneaked a look behind her. Rainbow was doing her very best to not look at her.
Fluttershy's heart thumped painfully. A strange guilt overcame her briefly. What if the roles had been reversed? How heartbroken would she be seeing Rainbow and Firestorm interact instead?
She knew how best to succor Rainbow since she knew how she felt. But would Rainbow accept her attempts?
As it turned out, Rarity loved the idea of a support made from crystals. Ideally, they would have used leather or rope, but this would have to do.
The crystal supports had been made without too much trouble. Rarity was able to perfectly tailor the mineral to fit the dragon's curve and the rear of a pony. Part of it was the flexible work material, and part of it was Rarity's extensive work as a tailor and seamstress.
In no time at all, there were ice-blue supports between spines on the dragon's back and neck. Reginald had been perfectly compliant, but Fluttershy couldn't imagine him any other way.
Fluttershy hovered up to her spot by Reggie's ear. The seat was far more comfortable than the scales of Reggie's back. But that was something she wouldn't mention to him.
“You coming, Bedrock?” Fluttershy asked, giving a small motion to the teenager.
Bedrock mulled it over for a few seconds. His head turned to regard the ocean’s crashing waves beneath his hooves. Then he shook his head no.
"What?" Fluttershy breathed.
"I… can't," Bedrock refused.
“But…” Fluttershy hesitantly began.
“I said I wanted to see the ocean,” Bedrock maintained, not looking back at her. From Fluttershy’s angle, the deep-colored ocean from the sunset was reflected in his wide eyes. “I’ll explore the world. Go westward. But alone. I just… want to figure this out on my own.”
“Doesn’t want to have all the surprises ruined,” Tempest figured out. "I get it."
Fluttershy's lips pressed together tightly before allowing it with a gentle nod. "Well… good luck, then."
Bedrock sighed without looking at her. "It's so beautiful," he murmured. After blinking hard, he finally turned back to Fluttershy. "Thank you."
Fluttershy put a hoof over her heart. "Oh," was all she could say. She broke into a smile, and after struggling for words, she settled with, "Goodbye, Bedrock. You've made a difference in my life."
"You too," he said, distracted by the vivid color of the sun. "There was no one other than my parents… except you. You're all I have left now. The only one I can return to."
Bedrock gently lifted a hoof, pointing into the setting sun. "Hey… when I do cross the sea… and we cross paths once again… will my journey be at an end?"
If that was the case, Fluttershy wasn't sure if she wanted his exploration to end or not.
She instead directed her attention to her spot on Reggie and made sure she was secure. Behind her, Rarity was doing the same. And behind Rarity, Applejack.
"Are we secure?" Twilight asked.
A collection of affirmative sounds arose, which Fluttershy added to.
"Whenever you're ready, Fluttershy," Rarity encouraged.
But she wasn't ready. It felt strange to just head back, as easy as coming home from the market. Such trips would seem mundane now. Fluttershy wasn't sure how she could just go back to her life before.
She’d have help, though. Noble would be there to hold her on particularly bad nights. He was as bright as a star and could chase the darkness away.
All it needed was the word. They could go home. She could have everything she ever wanted. What was keeping her back?
Herself.
Not anymore.
"Now," she told Reginald. "Take us home."
Reginald nodded and spread his wings. He pushed against the ground, blasting Bedrock with air, and lifted into the sky with tremendous flaps.
The journey home would be relatively quick. But it would take a long, long time to forget any of this.
Bedrock watched the dragon swoop away and head into the west, into the setting sun. He tried not to follow the course with his eyes. But he sneaked a glance or two.
It only took a few minutes before the dragon was far away enough to be mostly indiscernible. Just a speck.
Bedrock adjusted himself so he was beneath the shallow waves. The cold water shocked his skin, then gradually warmed up. It wasn't long before a forceful wave knocked him in the face and sent him sprawling onto his back on the beach.
A shadow fell over him. The bear was bending down to sniff him.
"Hey, boy," Bedrock acknowledged, adjusting his sopping wet bowl cut and sitting upright.
He watched the speck in the distance slowly disappear. Bedrock's chest panged for them. He hoped they got back home safely. It was more than he had, anyway.
But he was free. Free to do what? Anything he wanted? Well, what did he want?
He wanted to know the world. Intimately.
And it would start with his transportation.
"Hey," Bedrock addressed again, scratching the tough fur of the bear. He tried to put his mind away from the other ponies. "Let's figure out a name for you, huh? How about…" He ran through the types of names he knew the alicorns had adopted. "Sizzle Streak?"
The bear made no response.
"I'm gonna go rapid-fire, okay? Um… Ember Shadow. FireFlash. SteelSteed! BileBiter? No. No, no, none of this'll work. You deserve better than that."
Bedrock lay in the receding water for a little longer with the patient bear, basking in the rays of the sun.
And in that moment, he got it.
"Ray."
The bear made a grumble.
"Yeah, I know! Short, easy. Reminds me of… a particular event. Ray who? Ray Brimstone? Ray Sky… Trotter? No." He sighed and scratched Ray under his mouth. "Just Ray."
Ray grunted. Bedrock assumed he was satisfied.
"Well then, Ray," Bedrock addressed. He lay there in the shallows feeling the waves wash over his legs. "I hope you're not averse to that."
Ray inexplicably nodded his head. Did he understand the language? Or just the inflection in his tone? Bedrock had no idea.
"Yeah. I know you do," Bedrock cooed, nuzzling the bear's cheek. He then readjusted himself. "Hold on. I want to stay here for just a bit."
He turned his head slightly and saw a shell right beside him. Bedrock lit his horn, and the shell drifted into his lap in a green aura.
It was a swirl of color against the black sand and Bedrock's grey body. The shell was pink and curled.
It reminded him of Fluttershy's mane.
Bedrock felt the pang in his chest return. His head lifted up once again. The speck was nowhere on the horizon. He was on his own.
The bear sniffed the shell curiously, then nudged it with his snout.
"Yeah," Bedrock said. He leaned back, starting up into the sky. "I miss her too."
But inexplicably, he soon grew a smile.
He spread his arms, and the warmth of the sun came upon his entire frame. "If we see her again, buddy… she'll like what we've done to ourselves. Hey. What do you say? The world's a big place. Wanna explore it?"
The bear grunted something and nudged his arm. Bedrock laughed--an unfamiliar, genuine feeling--and nudged him back. "Okay! Okay."
He levitated the shell off his lap and stood up. After a brief moment of indecision, he delicately placed it further up the beach where it would not wash away.
Then Bedrock and Ray turned away from the setting sun and headed north on their journey. Their prints in the sand were quickly filled.
Malice’s eyes opened with a start and a gasp.
Immediately, something was wrong. The inhale didn’t fill his lungs, and his eyes were strange. There were two of them, and they were round instead of narrowed. Those accursed eyes perceived where he was: in a white void, destitute of all interest. The white blinded him, making him blink and squint.
He looked down, desperate. There were hooves, the color of bone, standing out from the pure white surrounding him. He craned his head. Malice had a tail and a mane behind him, black and short. Malice began to hyperventilate, circling in place, but no air came into him. He didn’t need it.
He was already dead.
“My son.”
Malice froze. That voice. It struck him to the heart and bolted his hooves to the ground. His entire being began to tremble.
“Turn and face me.”
Malice squeezed his pony eyes shut. “I can’t.”
“You will.”
Malice slowly, hesitantly, turned his head around, and the rest of him followed.
Her.
“Mother,” he breathed.
“So it isn’t whore-goddess anymore?” Faust asked, definitely not expecting an answer.
Malice felt something churn inside of him. Without Solaris, and in Her presence, Malice felt completely exposed, peeled back like an apple. Shame and anger immediately bubbled inside him, crashing inside his head.
“I know what you’re going to say,” Malice croaked out. “You hate me.”
“I love you,” Faust refused. Her dark red mane flowed behind her ears. “Even at the end, I wish to help.”
“No, you don’t!” Malice insisted. “Pity isn’t love!”
“Do not presume to know the mind of your Goddess,” Faust warned, a spark in her violet eye. “You had every chance to return to me. For all premortal life, my hoof was always stretched out. For all your time on Equus, you rebelled. You gave yourself to perdition and the works of evil. But my hoof was always stretched out. And here you are, at the end, refusing me when you need it most. But my hoof is stretched out still.”
“Why would I return to you?” Malice asked. “All you would do is make me suffer for my sins! Beaten me with stripes before allowing me into your precious kingdom!”
“I would have forgotten them,” Faust refused once again. “And you would have been born anew to forge a new path with the consequences of your actions. Your sins would have been swallowed up in the pain I faced when you left me. Hate me all you want. It won’t stop me from loving you.”
“Mother…” Malice started, then paused. “I… can’t. I love my father more than…”
He couldn’t finish. Was he really about to say that in front of Her?
“My husband is gone as a result of his own choice,” Faust said, a choke in her throat. “He used his liberty to enter captivity, the same as you did. There was a time, Pale Rider, when you were among the most faithful of all the original Element Bearers. But you have put your Father’s will above my own. You have rejected me, and I must now reject you. But once more, my son. Pale Rider. Humble yourself and come unto me.”
“I thought I already was humbled,” Malice said. He couldn’t stop himself, and the more he talked, the more indignant he became. “You took everything away from me. You cast me down to Tartarus, imprisoned my father, trapped me in that horrible body! You took my birthright and gave it to a foal. Your servants disfigured me, stripped me, crippled me, and killed me! All over a disagreement, a difference of opinion. I’m not going to look up to you as my savior. Why should I thank you for anything?”
Faust sighed, bowing her head. “Is this final?”
Malice’s feelings of overwhelmingness in Her presence melted away, replaced by a seething anger. “No, it’s not. I’m far from done. I refuse to say you love me. I suffered so much pain in my life, and you weren’t there! I looked up to father because he was willing to go to any length to give me strength, give me power! All you do is lounge in heaven and manipulate ponies like chess pieces. You pay for nothing; it’s always about how your children rebel. Ever think they might have a reason? Here’s your answer, mother. I’ll never look up to you for anything. I don’t need your acceptance.”
“You don’t deserve it either,” Faust whispered. Her eyes were wet, on the verge of spilling over. “But I offer it to you one final time. Please, my son. Come unto me.”
“Then don’t stoop down to me. I’ll never go along with your stuck-up offers. Never! If following you is the only way I’ll have peace, I’d rather go back to Tartarus!”
It was designed to hurt, and from what Malice could tell, it worked. A single teardrop fell from Faust’s right eye, but it didn’t impact the surface they were standing on. It just kept falling into infinity.
Malice actually felt a sense of pride at that. Making a Goddess cry was an ultimate display of power.
Faust’s wet eyes blinked as her head came up. They then narrowed by a millimeter. “So be it.”
Immediately, Malice dropped as a sudden spike of agony shot through his entire body. He screamed and thrashed, scrabbling for something, as pain of every sort erupted on every part of his body. He curled in place, feeling it rip and tear him apart.
A scalding heat pressed into his flanks at the same time a pang erupted between his legs. His black mane and tail detached and fell away into nothingness. His entire back felt ripped away all at once, then burned over the raw skin. His tongue was cut out, and his mouth filled with hot blood in a matter of seconds. Hot whiplashes caught him across the face, immediately disfiguring him, and hundreds of lacerations immediately came over his entire body, curling around his right arm. His left arm severed itself completely.
His brain seemed to split apart and boil from not just the overload of pain he felt, but also from his own thoughts: of self-loathing, pity, shame, and overwhelming anger.
That wasn’t him! What was happening?
No mortal could tolerate that amount of pain all at once. They’d either black out or die. Malice, however, felt all the intricate, little details of the pain all at once. It was expertly condensed, and it felt much longer than it actually was.
But at least it was all over. Nothing more was happening, right?
He opened his eyes, expecting puddles and pools of blood beneath him. But instead, he was just as whole as he was before.
He lifted his left arm in astonishment. It felt like a phantom limb, like it was gone to sleep. Every movement was agony, and he could barely lift his head up to meet Faust’s eyes.
“That was the Unforgiven’s agony,” Faust coldly said. “All his anguish is now yours to share. Forever.”
Malice, despite the excruciating amount of pain surging through him, came across one thought. Is this it?
“No,” Faust said.
Malice’s heart lurched. No.
“How many of my sons and daughters have you ripped away from their world, Malice?” she asked, barely above a whisper. “How many bodies have you piled upon the earth in your quest to turn over my creation to a tyrant? You knew me perfectly well. But you gave yourself unto perdition, disowning yourself from my family and committing whoredoms in my sight."
Malice, though by all appearance unharmed, got to four hooves with a titanic struggle. The white void was becoming fuzzy and fading away, replaced with the utter blackness of interstellar space.
Malice looked around in terror. Wherever she was sending him, it wasn't back to Tartarus. Tartarus at least had light. This was a place of absolute darkness.
Malice, blinking back tears, slowly met eye contact with his mother. It physically hurt to meet her face, but Malice could not tear his gaze away. Faust held all power. Malice was helpless. And the weight of his rebellion at last weighed upon him fully.
"This is only the beginning of your torment. You will pay until your hot blood pours from the sky, melting the mountains into mud and thickening the oceans into slop, until it paints layer upon layer on countless worlds, until it extinguishes the fires of Tartarus. I am Faust, and no rebellion or sin will save you.”
This wasn’t Tartarus! This was worse! How could there be? How could he ever…?
“Please, mother,” he wheezed. Rivers of tears poured from his red eyes. “Forgive me!”
“How dare you?” Faust whispered, narrowing her eyes further.
The pain doubled. Malice shrieked and fell once more, thrashing around in utter despondency. This time, the pain was from every pore, utterly paralyzing him. The last traces of white from the void were replaced by darkness. Faust shone like a star, but Malice’s light was dull and burnt out.
“You have held me up to shame me,” Faust condemned, stamping her hoof. “Hated me, fought me, defiled me, and slain my servants. And only now, after endless, insistent, stubborn refusals to follow me, after your entire life, death, judgment, and the first taste of your payment, do you reflexively ask forgiveness, in a vain attempt to take advantage of my boundless mercy. Your repentance is not genuine; you clutch onto your sins like a money-grubber and hold them to your chest. You dare mock your Goddess this way?"
“I thought… you... loved me!” Malice cried between shouts of pain.
"I love you, my son, which is why I set forth righteousness and its opposite. There must be a condemnation of sin; if not, I hold no power. And sin has no place in my kingdom because rats hate living in a clean house. They much prefer the garbage. So I am delivering what suits you.”
His back was arched, trembling. Much as he hated to admit it, She was right. He couldn't bear being in Her presence any longer.
“Please! Mercy!” Malice shrieked.
“You don’t know what mercy is,” Faust replied. “You never showed it.”
Her hoof indicated the dark heavens. There was a darker spot in the distance, a tear in reality. Everything leaned towards it.
“Since you refuse my home, that will be your home,” Faust explained.
Malice’s pain subsided for a minute, and he could sit up to see it. The black hole chilled his heart at the very sight of it.
“This will not be endless,” Faust promised. “But it will take a long time.”
“What do you…” Malice asked, his voice much higher than he would have liked. “How long?”
“Billions of years. Perhaps trillions. Your mind cannot comprehend the length of your agony, and your head cannot grasp the intensity. But rest assured, there will come an end--at the death of the universe itself. You will be released several hours before then, and you will at last inherit the lowest of my kingdoms, receiving a single ray of light in the presence I will establish after the end. For surely, all things must end, but my power is endless, and all souls must become like me, as they once were.”
Malice squeaked, falling on his face and quivering. It was even worse than he could have ever imagined. And he still ended up in Her presence eventually, though he would be as far apart from her as two stars? It was the ultimate insult.
"Now go, my son, into the rest prepared for you."
"You can't do this!" Malice exclaimed, scrabbling at Faust's hooves. "Spare me!"
"You put your faith into another God," Faust told him. "Call on him for deliverance. If you dare."
"NO!" Malice exclaimed. Struggling, he got to all fours. "I-I'll kill you myself!"
It sounded pathetic even to him.
Faust tilted her head a few degrees. "Go."
And suddenly, the orientation seemed to lose all semblance of footing. Malice tumbled helplessly through the heavens, flailing each of his limbs despite the pain shooting through him.
"Father! Mother!" he cried as he fell. The mouth of the black hole drew ever closer. "Please!"
Faust's quickly-fading look was one of pain.
Could that pain possibly be… real?
Of course not. Malice knew it.
He passed the singularity.
He fell forever.