In all my years since I learned of my nigh immortality, I never thought I would die. Truly die, I mean. It was such an alien concept by now, I suppose I never expected it would actually happen. September was right to warn me about this. Either I would die or Platinum would with my sister. It was one thing to know about it, it was a completely different thing to actually go through it.
I wish September had actually warned me about what exactly would happen. We could have been better prepared. Maybe. Perhaps. If one could be prepared for the sheer madness that ensued after that fiend returned from the moon, that is.
Everything happened so fast. It was like blinking my eyes, and then... it was already over. I still struggle to comprehend what just happened in the last few moments I was alive. To think that Platinum... I certainly never expected to see... that, of all things. It was either letting that monster live or die while saving my loved ones.
I chose the only option I could. It was probably the only option available to any of us that would have done anything, anyway.
I died... so that my wives would survive. So that my daughters would be safe from Platinum... or rather, the monster that dared to threaten everything I held dear to my heart. I had to do something, and... I did. It was laughably easy to just... let go of my mortal body, using every last bit of my life force to annihilate that disgusting fiend. I poured everything I had into this one last-ditch effort, there was nothing left by the end of it. I was dead, end of story.
I did it so that the world may once and for all be rid of the Devourer’s influence. It was a sacrifice I gladly made. I couldn’t have allowed that monstrosity to live on for long enough to give it the chance to hurt my sister, Liz, my daughters, my subjects, and... the rest of the world. Reality itself, really.
It was the only option I had left, wasn’t it? I couldn’t think of anything that would hurt that damn... thing... in any way, only the death curse proved to be effective against it.
I couldn’t have just done nothing. In the end, it was a decision that had to be made. But... I didn’t even hesitate, did I? Everything felt so... hopeless, I just acted.
I wonder, though... was it selflessness or selfishness that drove me to do that? I... I don’t know. I don’t regret doing it if it meant Lulu was safe, but... I did act on nothing more than hatred, pain... and soul-crushing sadness. It wasn’t a rational decision that I made, I simply acted on my emotions like I always do.
Maybe Platinum should have taken me instead of Tia. Celestia would have come up with something instead of letting herself be driven by instincts and pain and rage. She wouldn’t have let her emotions get in the way like that. She wouldn’t have gone with the first thing that came to her mind, she would have found an actual solution, not this... this panicked attempt to preserve what little I could.
It doesn’t matter anymore, does it? For good or bad, I'm dead now and there's nothing I could do to change that. I don’t even know what I should do now, there was literally nothing I could interact with anymore. Being dead was... really boring, to be honest.
I wonder what my sister was doing, now that I wasn’t... there anymore. That's such a somber thought, isn’t it? I'm still here, contemplating things (like always), and all I wanted to do was to see my sister again one last time.
Luna will never get to see me smile back at her first thing in the morning, will she? She won’t get to kiss me, she won't get to say ‘I love you’ to me, she won't get to do anything with me anymore. The only thing she will get to do is to mourn my loss. I was such a bad sister, a terribly bad wife, leaving her alone like that. Liz, too, for that matter.
They don’t even get to bury me, do they? My body is nothing more than ash, dust in the wind. The only thing that remained of me was my soul. And the memories they had of me, I suppose.
I wish I could have come up with something, anything, to miraculously save the day. But... instead, I let my rage consume me. I let my emotions do what they always do when I was overwhelmed. They always cause problems when I need to stay calm the most. There's nothing else to it, really.
Maybe it was selfishness, after all. I didn’t want to see Luna or Liz sacrifice themselves like that, so I did it before they could. I made that sacrifice like the coward that I am... was, whatever.
Flipping flying penguins. I'm such a ‘good’ princess, aren't I? I didn’t even have it in me to laugh at myself for that. For once, I thought everything would work out exactly like I hoped it would, only for everything to come crashing down on me. I hope my sacrifice wasn’t in vain at least.
I suppose I should start from the beginning, shouldn’t I? Oh, sister... I hope you might forgive me one day. I love you. Always.
The castle was in a frenzy that day. I remember how Twilight was driving herself crazy about the prophecy, having found it in the book I left in the library by ‘coincidence’. It was meant more as a distraction, but a part of me hoped she would figure out a way to make it come true without me having to die. Despite having gone through the process of alicorn hibernation a couple of times in my long life, it was still an unpleasant experience whenever my mortal body suffered a temporary end.
My most studious daughter wasn't the only one caught in a nervous funk. While Sunset was trying to keep her sister calm, Cadance and Ruby were nervously making out like rabbits. I couldn’t really blame them for that (I had been pretty much doing the same thing with my wives over the past few days... or weeks... possibly months). Each one of them was equally as restless as Twilight in their own way.
The final day of those one-thousand years was, at long last, upon us. Luna, Liz, and I were getting ready for the last fight we would ever have to enter against an opponent that could actually kill us (who was very much willing to do so, that is). And even then, I had the feeling that those would be the last moments I would have with my loved ones. The future... I realize now that day our future daughters appeared was only a possibility of what could be. Nothing was set in stone... some things could change, as much as I hoped they wouldn’t.
Remorse was at my side as I paced back and forth in the throne room, driving my wives insane in the process. There was one last thing I wanted to do before we would depart for the small town near Canterlot. We had chosen to hold the festivities in Ponyville for a simple reason. It was the closest place to our old home.
Nopony would get hurt if we battled against her in our old ruined castle, and hopefully, we would grant our daughters and their friends enough time to restore the Elements of Harmony to their old glory.
They weren't the only ones whose help I counted on, though. My little petal had brought her friends and teammates over from Remnant, as well. All of them were seasoned and experienced huntresses and hunters by now. They were professionals in their own right. Team Ruby, Juniper, and even Sun came as soon as my Rose Petal asked it of them (I feel like Team Sun was sort of like a third wheel to Ruby’s team and their sister team, but they were just as good at what they were doing... if a bit quirky from what I observed).
“Sister, would you stop with your infernal pacing?” Luna groused, watching me turn around for the nth time so that I could repeat the cycle of going back and forth between the many stained glass windows decorating many parts of our castle. I had lost count of how many times I had done so over the past few days (or how often she told me to stop, for that matter).
I glanced at her, biting my lip. I wanted to, but I was just too anxious to stop. I sighed, looking at the window in front of me, instead. In it, Luna and I were moving around Equis, ushering in day and night. It was the first one to have ever graced the throne room since we moved here. I wish it would show Tia as well.
The doors to the throne room opened before I could begin to pace again, unable to stay in one spot for long. Sunset entered, looking quite regal (and possibly the cutest she has ever been) as she walked towards us with the golden slippers over her hooves. The image was almost ruined as she just barely avoided stumbling over her own hooves, unfamiliar with the (somewhat) heavy shoes.
“Do I really need to wear those things for the ceremony, Mom?” she asked, giving them a disdainful look. “I mean, Cadance I can understand, she actually is an alicorn princess, but Twilight and me? I really don’t want wings if I have to wear these things all the time...”
“You are just as much a princess as your big sister, Sunset,” I said with a smile on my muzzle as I leaned my head down to give her a nuzzle. Besides, if she had wings, she would also have the superior strength of an earthpony (probably that of a particularly athletic one as well, should my guess be correct about what I observed of her future self). I doubt she would complain about that or having to wear shoes, then. Sometimes the chest piece could give one a really bad case of a crick in the neck when wearing it for too long, though. Maybe she had a point. It was a bit of an antiquated tradition, wasn't it? Ah, never mind that. “I... have something to give you, little Sun. I had meant to give him to you for a long time now, but I never found the opportunity to do so.”
Remorse floated over to my daughter and she gave me a confused look. “But... Mom, I can’t take your blade.”
“You can,” I told her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. I gave her a proud, yet vulnerable look only a mother could. Even if this was not goodbye, I would feel better knowing Remorse was there to protect her. “And I want you to. Just in case something happens. Take good care of him, will you?”
“I..." Sunset began, glancing up at me hesitantly. "I will,” my daughter said with a nod. “Why, though? Why couldn’t you just make a new one, instead?”
“I hope you will never learn the true reason, my darling Sun,” I told her, refusing to answer her questions. I didn’t feel like telling her that I had raised her to be my replacement since she was young. I couldn’t tell her.
Before Sunset could ask me further questions, my sister cleared her throat. "Summer," Luna reminded me and I gave my daughter one last nuzzle. Right. This was it. No turning back.
“Go now, the chariots are waiting,” I said, walking back up the stairs toward my wives. “We will see you shortly in Ponyville. There are still things we need to prepare for.”
Sunset looked torn between staying here with us and going back to Twilight and Yu’la to tell them that it was time to depart, ultimately deciding to go with the latter option to make sure her twin wasn’t causing a mess in their tower in her panic (which was more of a personal study rather than a bedroom by now, but who was I to tell them how to use their bedroom? My little petal was by far worse in that regard). Just before she departed, she muttered her own last goodbye to us, “Okay... I’ll see you later then, I guess...”
After the doors closed behind her, Luna gave me a look. “I hope you know what you are doing, sister.”
“I hope so, too,” I answered softly, my gaze wandering back to the stained glass window. We could have it changed, couldn’t we? Once Tia was back, that is. It would be nice to have it show the defeat of Platinum, instead. A window to celebrate this day with the return of my sister, instead of a reminder that I failed to protect her a thousand years ago.
I wasn’t particularly attached to the thing, either, to be honest. Perhaps a change of appearance would do the throne room some good. It's been like this since what? A thousand years? I say it was high time to give it a bit of a facelift. But that could come afterward.
For now, though, we (hopefully) found ourselves for the last time in the one room that had seen increased use as of late. Our generals were chatting noisily away as everypony was getting ready to hold the celebrations in a mostly secure fashion within every major city of Equestria. Just because we would go to Ponyville for the duration of the festivities ourselves didn’t mean the rest of Equestria wouldn’t hold their own little get-together. They would also need to take appropriate measures to ensure nothing would get too wild.
Ponies really liked to party for every reason imaginable. I’d rather they keep everything on a reasonable level, lest I find Manehatten overflowing with soap bubbles again (I am still amazed that they managed that, to be honest).
Aside from the celebrations, we were also here to hear about what the current situation with the Storm King was like. We haven’t received a lot of news regarding him as of late. The last we heard of him, we learned that he was on a merry chase to retrieve a rather dangerous artifact, an artifact that had, in a turn of ironic events, been stolen from him after he had stolen it first.
Of all the things Abyssinia could have had in their royal treasury, I wouldn’t have expected them to keep a misfortune malachite in it (the fact that they hoarded milk of all things in it kept my expectations pretty low, anyway).
Why the Storm King wanted that blasted thing back was a mystery to me. Unless he was a masochist, I suppose. Nothing good ever came from one of those things.
“Your Highnesses,” Captain Shining Armor saluted us, placing his helmet to the side as he spotted us entering the war room. The Head of Intelligence and Swarm Commander of the Canterlot Changeling Hive were here with him, looking over the map of Ponyville’s surroundings. “We are ready to depart when you are.”
“That’s good to hear,” Liz nodded, giving Thorax and Pharynx an affectionate nuzzle. Those two had become her favorite changelings ever since they decided to work here with us and they were exceptionally good at what they were doing. “Any news on the degenerate ape chasing after his own doom?”
“No, My Queen,” Pharynx snorted derisively. “Our agents still can’t get a proper read on him and his forces. Even my best-trained soldiers fail to get close to them and they are by no means slacking off.”
“And our spies keep getting discovered,” Thorax mumbled, grimacing to himself. “I’m sorry, My Queen.”
Liz sighed, giving Thorax a tired smile. “It’s okay, Spymaster. It’s not your fault. Until we find out how they know what to look out for, nothing you do is a failing on your part. Try to mix things up as best as you can. It's the only thing we can do, even if it might not work.”
“My Queen? May I speak openly?” Thorax asked and Liz gave him a nod. “Could it be that a rogue is aiding them?”
Liz blinked, giving him a surprised look. “A rogue? We haven’t had a changeling defect in more than three hundred years. Probably even longer than that,” she said, frowning unsurely. “How do you come to that conclusion, Spymaster?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense to me,” he said, fidgeting anxiously. “I-I mean, I don’t think we have a traitor in the hive, so that’s the only option left, isn’t it?”
“What if it is her, Liz?” Luna asked, darkly. “You know she would be capable of defying us like that.”
“Ocellus wouldn’t willingly work with those she considers food,” Liz grunted, snarling to herself. “But at this point, I wouldn't put it past her. Damn that traitorous leech.”
“Now, now. Don’t let us jump to conclusions just yet,” I told her, enveloping her in my wings to calm her down. Her agitated buzzing was quickly reduced to the odd few chirps and I felt her purr against me. “Let us concentrate on the festival for now, okay?”
“Alright,” Liz sighed, nuzzling me softly. “You are right, there is plenty of time for us to worry about the Storm King later, this is more important for now.”
“I don’t see how some festival is more important than defeating our enemies,” Pharynx grunted, sounding a little bit pouty. It wasn’t that unusual to see him like that, Pharynx was kinda... a special case in the hive.
“Aww, come on, Pharynx!" Thorax nudged his brother. "Making sure everything goes as planned at the Summer Sun and Moon Festival is equally as important!” he said. “Not everything has to be about fighting.”
“It could be, though,” Pharynx shrugged. “Everything’s better with a good fight.”
“Right...” Thorax said, awkwardly standing next to him as Pharynx got lost in his own little world. I gave my wife an uncertain look and she just shrugged back, totally unconcerned by how her Swarm Commander was behaving. I won’t ever understand changelings, will I?
“Should we go over the emergency protocol one last time, Your Highnesses?” Shining Armor asked, ignoring his counterpart in the changeling hive as Pharynx rambled on and on about how fighting a tatzlwurm was anything but pleasant because they always know where you are. Well, he wasn’t wrong about that, I guess. They basically see you by feeling the vibrations in their surroundings. It is also kinda hard to reason with them due to their... less than stellar hearing.
Luna shook her head at our Captain. “I don’t think we need to. I trust you are capable enough to take care of anything that might come up during the festivities in Ponyville, Captain Shining Armor,” she said. “We will meet you there shortly. We still need to go over a few things, first.”
“But, Princess, you’re supposed to...” Shining Armor began, no doubt worried about us traveling without a whole contingent of guards. I didn’t have it in my heart to tell him that they would be next to useless, trying to protect us. I’d rather he keep the ponies of Ponyville safe than worry needlessly about us.
Sometimes I think he’s even more of a worrywart than our old captain.
“Do not presume to argue with us, Captain,” Luna reprimanded him, shutting him up rather fast. “Your duty is to the ponies of Equestria first and foremost. We are but servants to their needs, do you understand? We require no protection, we are very much capable of looking after ourselves.”
Shining Armor sighed. “As you wish, Your Highness,” he said, picking up his helmet. “I will give the order to our troops to move out, then.”
“See that you do,” Luna nodded, leaving the war room with Liz and myself in tow.
Once we were out of earshot, Liz let out a whistle. “You could have been less of a bitch with him, you know?” she commented, giving Luna a grin.
“Shut up, Cuddlebug,” Luna muttered, glaring playfully at her. “I’m not in the mood to argue with him over who needs to protect whom. Not with Platinum about to return in a few meager hours.”
“It’s okay, Lulu,” I said, brushing a wing gently against hers. “I know we are all agitated enough about that. At least you didn’t get too snippy with him.”
“Anyway, where to now?” Liz asked, giving us a quizzical look. “The only thing we really needed to do was to let Summer do her questionable sword inheritance thing with Sunset and tell the guards to move out, right?”
Ugh. That sounded way too degenerate, saying it like that. I really need to teach her some manners, don’t I? Stupid succubus.
“You don’t honestly think we are going to confront Platinum without taking our armor with us, do you?” my sister shot back, raising a brow at her.
“To be honest, I forgot we even had armor,” Liz replied, rubbing her neck sheepishly while muttering to herself about how we never used it anyway. It wasn’t even that hard to forget since we... well... never used it due to us having no need for it. Our bodies were sturdy enough to withstand pretty much anything a mortal could throw at us.
Platinum was an entirely different matter, though. I'd rather have some layer of protection, useless as it might prove itself to be. The last time we fought, I did end up with a hole in my side.
Anyway! We arrived in our personal vault deep within the castle after a minute or two of walking silently through the less-used hallways, hidden beneath multiple layers of spellwork to hide it from prying eyes. Luna touched her horn against the door, and after a quiet thrum of moving gears and bolts clicking into place, the display cases of our battle armor were revealed in all their glory.
Liz took out the helmet with the faceted glass protecting the eyes, giving it a scowl. “This brings back memories...” she said. Gently, I placed a wing over her back, giving her a smile as she floated the leg guards out next.
My ‘battle armor' wasn’t too much to look at, since I was rather familiar with it when I turned into Fallen Star. We had kept the old pieces from when we had been taken against our will to the alternate reality by the shadowy creatures, only adding wing guards and a horn blade to it. Anything else would slow us down too much and offer next to no actual protection against what Platinum could do to us.
To be honest, no armor in the world could actually do anything for us against her, but it was... comforting... to have it there with us. Besides, it had the added bonus of making us look quite imposing, standing against her with our armor on instead of confronting her without it (which would probably taunt Platinum enough for her to take exception with us for ‘daring’ to not take her seriously, making her unpredictable, and thus, far more dangerous than I would like).
Celestia’s sword floated out next, weighing heavily in my magical grip. It would be ironic to use it against her, wouldn’t it? For a thousand years, this blade hasn’t seen the light of the twin suns. Today, that would change. In just a few hours, everything would change.
May the stars shine brightly today, for it would be the darkest day in a millennium.
I stepped out of my regular regalia and into the one that would hopefully see me come out of this alive and well at the end. Once this was all over, I hoped that I would never have to use it again. But that was only wishful thinking, wasn’t it? I know for certain that the Storm King was coming for Equestria sometime soon. He wouldn’t wait forever, would he? He was too impatient to get his greedy hands on magical artifacts that were best forgotten entirely.
Honestly, he reminded me of Tirek. He, too, sought out the magic of others foolishly, selfish greed being the only thing he cared for. I doubt the light of friendship would ever illuminate either of them.
Instead of waiting at the Town Hall in Ponyville that day, Luna, Liz, and I entered the wilderness of the Everfree Forest on hoof. We could have just flown over the canopy of the forest and arrived directly at the castle, but that wouldn’t have helped my nerves any more than calmly walking through the familiar greenery. The fresh air and the scent of wildlife were helping me get rid of my stress immensely, something I feared might change as soon as our eyes gazed upon the destroyed wreck our old castle had been reduced to. Haunted memories were already surfacing at the forefront of my thoughts. I didn’t want to know how bad it would get once we walked through the ruined halls of our past seat of power.
Despite my best efforts, I couldn't keep the tears from coming to my eyes as we walked over the crumbling bridge toward what remained of our once-proud home. The pristine shine of the stone was matted and overgrown by now, looking sad and pathetic. We could have restored it at any time we wanted, but instead, we let it come to this.
It was a truly painful sight to look at. Windows lay broken and shattered on the ground. What had previously been thick and sturdy doors were now rotten through and barely held on to their hinges, crumbling at a mere touch. Furniture was molding, not to mention what some critters had done to some of the decoration. The tapestries hanging from the walls and ceiling were faded and in tatters, while the walls themselves had cracks running through them in multiple places. Nature had, at long last, reclaimed a part of its domain. Nothing was left untouched by the passage of time. Nothing was as it once was and the fault for that belonged to nopony else but us.
Like so many other things, I have to say.
It was unavoidable to make as many mistakes as we have done over the years, being immortal with a (near) infinite lifespan. Some of those mistakes would always stay with us while others would eventually fade into obscurity. To be honest, I think I have forgotten far more of those mistakes than I would ever like to admit to myself.
Maybe, in a few thousand years or so, we might just forget about this day as well. Perhaps by then, all of this will be nothing more than a bad dream to us at best.
The throne room, too, was mostly unrecognizable by now. The petrified Elements still rested at the same spot I had left them, looking like time had never taken its toll on them. Those were the only things left that were still recognizable aside from the thrones, everything else showed only the pure destruction I had wrought on the throne room after I had tried to blast Platinum into oblivion in a fit of fright and panic.
I didn’t even want to go take a look at our old tower, I was sure everything was buried under a thick layer of dust in there. If it hasn’t rotten away, as well, despite the preservation charms we had placed on everything oh-so-long-ago now.
The castle was nothing more than a ghost of Luna’s and my past, a specter that lingered on in the present, refusing to be forgotten. As a matter of fact... I’d prefer for it to stay in the past where it belonged. Living in the past has never done me any good, and should we be successful tonight, the future's looking brighter than ever.
At some point, history deserved to stay history. Some might learn from it, but I’d rather forget the painful parts instead of being reminded of it over and over again.
Not that I ever had a problem forgetting things, I guess. Even the things I prayed I would never forget eventually faded away without me noticing it. But it was literally impossible to not forget things that I have experienced over more than a thousand years by now, wasn’t it?
“To think you would dare show your muzzles here again,” a voice called out behind us and I sighed, knowing who it was that uttered those words. “You ponies and your disregard for nature... disgusting.”
“Aspen,” I sighed, turning around to give the Lord of the Forest an exasperated look. He had that same haughty look in his green eyes I've come to associate with him. The ruler of the deer folk sneered at us from where he stood. The heart-shaped flask over his chest looked just as ridiculous as it always has. “What do you want?”
“I felt you come here, on this day of all days,” he replied, striding forward while giving the stone orbs on the ground a disdainful look. “I don’t understand your fondness of stone. It feels nothing but cold to me.”
“Because living in trees is so much better,” Luna snorted, rolling her eyes. “You night elf wannabe.”
“You wannabe peacock,” he shot back, giving Luna a stern glare.
“You prissy fawn,” Luna said, sticking her tongue out at him. “Little tree hugger, you.”
“You cloud snoozer,” King Aspen replied. Liz and I watched them continue with this for a couple of minutes longer until they burst into laughter and embraced each other tightly.
“How have you been?” Luna asked, letting go of him with a mirthful smile on her muzzle.
“Sufficiently bored out of my mind. You?” Aspen said, shaking Liz’s hoof next before giving me a light hug.
“Sufficiently bored out of our minds,” Luna answered, repeating his words. “You didn’t just come here to tease us, did you?”
“No, I did not,” he replied, shaking his head. “Forces beyond our understanding are moving once again, Warden of the Moon. I hope you have found your champions, for I fear times are changing more than any of us could anticipate. The trees are whispering among themselves about unrest and chaos. You know what happened the last time that transpired. I doubt your little trinkets are going to save our flanks this time around.”
“We are... aware of Discord’s impending return,” I told him, grimacing slightly at the thought of him being free once more. But... “We hope we might convince him to change his ways and help Equis instead of using it as his playground for mischief.”
Aspen gave me an incredulous look. “Have you gone mad?” he asked me before glancing at Luna. “She hasn’t gone mad, has she?”
“No, she has not...” Luna sighed, giving him a thoroughly unamused stare. “Discord isn’t... beyond redemption. He can do good if what we have heard is right. It might be worth a try to give him a chance.”
“And from where did you hear that, exactly?” Aspen inquired, skeptical. “Don’t tell me you have been listening to the breezies again, Princess. They aren’t entirely there, you know.”
“Some would say that about the deer, you know,” Liz snarked, rolling her eyes. “And no, our information didn’t come from the breezies, dumbass. It sometimes helps to listen to time travelers and not outright dismiss them... like, you know, some deer do.”
“Hmph. That they trust you of all beings is a mystery to me,” Aspen snorted while giving her a look full of disdain. “Changelings are always high on love, aren’t they? Little addicts you are...”
“Shut your muzzle or I will,” Liz threatened, snarling at him only for Aspen to let out a huff. “You need to come down from whatever weeds you inhaled the smoke of, yourself.”
“Can we stop with this before one of you starts throwing around magic?” I groused, giving both of them an annoyed frown. “We only have until sundown left, I’d rather not spend the last few quiet hours we have on petty squabbling between us.”
Liz grumbled with a pout. “He started it,” she said like a petulant foal, and as soon as she said that, I grabbed her ear in my magic, tugging at it harshly. “Ow! Ow, ow ow, Summer! Ow! Stop, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean it! Ow!”
“I don’t care who started it, both of you continued it,” I growled, letting go of her ear while giving Aspen an angry glare. “And you, stop antagonizing my wife.”
“Fine,” he shrugged, not even looking apologetic as he turned to leave. “I hope you get through this, Summer. As much as I want you ponies out of my forest, I don’t want to see you dead.”
“It’s not your forest, you senile Bambi, but... thank you, Aspen,” I said, taking the olive branch he offered us despite still feeling a little bit angry at him for being a... well, a jerk was too much of an exaggeration with him. I know he doesn’t actually mean those things (most of the time, that is), he was just... a little bit arrogant (or a lot, really). “For what it is worth... you’re still a wannabe night elf ripoff.”
“I don’t even know what those are,” he grumbled. “You keep mentioning them but never explain anything about them, you featherbrained, over-glorified throne warmer.”
Before I could think of a witty comeback, he was already gone. I didn’t expect him to stay and help us against Platinum, anyway. If it didn’t concern him, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to help out, preferring to stay far away from the matters of the other races.
He wasn’t really that much of a fighter, anyway, but... it couldn’t have hurt to have had his support in this fight. He was exceptionally good at nature magic, he would have been a great help as a healer if nothing else.
“I wish I could have seen this place during its prime,” Liz said after the silence had dragged on for long enough, making me hum sadly. I would have loved to show her around. Alas, it was too late for that now. “Seeing it in memory balls isn’t the same as seeing it right before your eyes...”
“There are many memories here we could have shown you,” Luna replied, giving the rubble all around us a mournful gaze. “But they won’t ever bring back those times. Not if we don’t travel through time to do so and you know our opinion about that. We have already caused too many problems with prophetic magic, and... well, I’d rather not cause any more paradoxes if we can avoid them.”
“Believe me, I’d rather not use that type of magic, either,” Liz said, grimacing. “I’m sorry that you had to leave all of this behind, Lulu. You and Summer lost so much here, I can’t ever empathize with that.”
“You don’t have to be sorry about that, Liz,” I smiled, nuzzling her softly. “Your support is more than enough comfort. Besides... we have gained a lot more by moving away from here. Not everything is as bad as it could have been. Had we never met you, for example... I don’t even want to imagine what would have been different then...”
“Well... I’d be less holey, for one," she said with a silly smirk, making me groan and Luna roll her eyes. We really do have to keep her far away from Tia, don't we? "But I think it suits me, doesn’t it? Whatever you think 'might' have happened had things gone differently, I prefer it like this. You don’t have to feel any guilt over making me go all cheesy, so... thanks, Sunflower. I keep telling you this, don’t I?” Liz smiled back at me, happy to be here with us. I couldn't even be mad at her for those atrocious puns, seeing that I wasn't totally depressed anymore over a few bad memories from the past. It didn’t erase all of our mixed feelings, but it helped to have her here with us as we waited for the fateful moment we had all been waiting for for so long.
I hope Tia won’t be too mad to see our old home in this state. For her, it would be like waking up from a long slumber. In just one instant, everything would be different, wouldn’t it? The last time she had seen the castle, it looked nothing like this. It would be jarring to see it so completely changed. Nothing would be like it was anymore. For her... Canterlot won’t feel like home, and I’m so very sorry about that.
It won’t be the only thing that has changed so drastically for her, either. There are so many different things that were completely different back then, living standards chief among them. I fear she might feel completely lost in this day and age.
Even the standard of technology was far more complex now than what she might be familiar with from Earth. I know I had a difficult time adjusting to how quickly technology seemed to have advanced in the past years. Our understanding of magic had progressed quite a lot, as well, opening up possibilities we would have never known were possible a thousand years ago (the field of sex magic alone has grown by huge lengths due to no small part of Liz’s hive and... well... Luna’s and my ‘recent’ drunken escapade).
And then, there’s the change in how our ponies view us. Or how things were generally different between how ponies treated us (and we them) in comparison to how everything is done now. We aren’t the absolute authority about everything anymore, there are rules even we can’t break on a mere whim. Some of the nobles were still complaining about the court reform but those were thankfully few and far between by now.
Oh, dear... I have no idea how Tia was going to react to Twilight and Sunset (or even Cadance). Twilight doesn’t even remember her from her past life, I know that alone will break her heart, won’t it? It's perhaps for the best to just... not mention it to her, as cold as that sounded to me.
Aside from my worry of telling Tia about Twilight, Cadance had rather grown cold of the idea of me letting Tia survive on purpose instead of sacrificing her so that I wouldn’t have to die. I don’t know how my little petal would react if I don’t make it out of this alive as I dearly hoped I would. I feel sorry for Tia because of how distant our daughter had grown from her. She didn’t deserve to go through that.
I hope Cadance will at least reconcile with her mother eventually should I not make it, after all. I don’t want her to blame Tia for my death. If anything, she should blame me.
Alas, there still was the very real risk of me dying as September had told me I would. As in, dying dying. It was such a novel idea, thinking about what would happen to me should I actually die. Would everything be well and truly over or would something come afterward? It was one of those mysteries that I could only speculate about, and this time around, I wasn’t so certain reincarnation might save my hide again. Well... remembering my reincarnation, at any rate.
Obviously, I had no intention to let any of that happen. I clung to my hope that my plan would work as I had envisioned it. Platinum would ‘slay’ me, unknowing of how an alicorn would enter hibernation instead, gloat for a few minutes like the narcissistic wretch that she was, and then... well, then my daughters would have hopefully restored the Elements of Harmony in time for them to use 'em against her.
Something told me it wouldn’t be that easy. Something told me that I have forgotten to think of something very important. It was simply too easy, wasn’t it?
Luna fidgeted next to me. “Are you ready?” she asked me in a whisper, feeling the same urge to act on our purpose as I did. The last rays of sunlight seemed almost like an ill omen as we couldn’t draw this out any longer, the time to stall had long since passed. I gave my sister a nervous nod, biting back the fearful whinny that tried to force itself out of me. I... I didn’t want to be here... I don't want to die.
My sun whispered back a few reassuring emotions, giving me all the strength it could as she disappeared below the horizon with her sister. And on the opposite end of the horizon, the moon rose. The dark blotches of the pony head on it seemed to almost darken to a pitch-black and dread started to well up within me.
I could feel the stolen and perverted power of my sister break the chains holding her to the moon right as the stars themselves aligned perfectly to weaken the seal.
“You know...” Liz whispered, buzzing her wings nervously. “I really want to have sex for one last time now...”
“Concentrate, Cuddlebug,” Luna snorted, giving her a mirthful look. “You can have all the sex in the world after we survive this.”
“I’ll so put you in those maid outfits after this...” Liz mumbled, shifting anxiously next to us. I wasn’t any better off, watching the shadows around us darken ominously. Not even the light of our magic pierced this unnatural fog of malice.
Laughter rang out all around us, sounding warped and cruel. “Oh, how I have longed for this day...”
Mist seeped out of the blackness surrounding us and from it emerged the one pony my heart cried out to annihilate utterly. Platinum grinned back at us with crazed eyes, the gaze in them unfocused and seemingly not there. There was a deeply unsettling hunger in her posture, sharp and jagged teeth glistened with saliva as her tongue ran over them.
I have no idea what was the matter with her, but I wouldn’t let that stop me from ending her madness. “Hello, Platinum,” I said, snarling. “It’s a shame to see you again. You aren’t going to make this easy for us by surrendering immediately, would you?”
“Silence, you pitiful worm!” she spat back. “Is this how you greet your superior? You should bow down to me!”
I grunted as a heavy aura tried to force us to make us do exactly what she wanted us to do, but I was having none of it. This ends now.
“Tch..!” Platinum snorted, blocking my strike against her as I appeared before her. Despite her unfocused gaze, I had the uneasy feeling that she stared right into my soul. And yet, it didn’t seem like Platinum was the one doing it. What was going on? “To think you would dare oppose me. Me! You aren’t even worthy of gazing upon my magnificence!” She brushed a hoof through one of her pale white locks in a haughty, arrogant way, but for some reason, it unnerved me even more. Her movements were off. As if they were deliberately acted out.
I scowled darkly at her. “We will never bow to the likes of you, witch,” I told her, teleporting away in the blink of an eye. “You will die on this day, all alone without anypony there to mourn you, just like you deserve.”
“Oh, I think not,” she smiled crookedly back, disappearing in a flash of pink and blue fire before she appeared right in front of me. “I have a nation to take back from you filthy heathens. I will rid myself of your presence once and for all. All shall serve me in the end and none of you will be able to stop me from getting what I want. Nay, what I truly deserve!”
“I’m sorry, Celestia,” I whispered and watched as Luna’s sword brutally pierced Platinum’s neck. “Your nightmare will end, I promise you.”
“Grrah!” Platinum snorted, growling as she ripped herself free from the weapon stuck in her neck as my sister appeared beside her. “You disgusting little mongrels...”
I watched horrified as a maw replaced the wound, a twitching eye gazing back at us from within. Platinum made to strike at me with her magic, but I was quick enough to teleport away... only to find her right in front of me again. Liz created a portal directly underneath me, saving me from the blast that cleanly tore through the stone of our old castle like it was made out of nothing more than butter.
Platinum huffed. “It’s such a pity that didn’t kill you,” she remarked, turning around with a crazed look in her eyes. Her voice sounded different, and not just because of the wound in her neck. “A hole through your skull would have looked positively marvelous on you, ‘sister’.”
My sister growled before shooting a barrage of arcane missiles after her. “You don’t get to call us your sister, witch,” she said, closing in on her while striking out at her in a masterful display of swordplay. Alas, Platinum avoided each hit by teleporting away, laughing maniacally.
“I truly, truly hate to give this news to you ungrateful wretches, but... your sister is no more,” Platinum cackled. “Ever since I took her body, she has been making way for me! She is gone! Ah hah hah hah!”
“Lies!” I screamed, enraged. I rapidly teleported around her, firing solar lances at her from every possible angle. “Die, Platinum!”
My very core raged, burning hotter than ever as I scorched the despicable cockroach into nothing more than a black husk. I huffed, snorting out flames as I was overwhelmed by the primal need to set things on fire. The smell... it was simply divine as I continued with my assault, turning the center of our throne room into a molten pool of lava.
I laughed as I saw the pathetic lump of coal try to claw her way out of the goopy substance, kicking her with all my might again and again. The wall behind our thrones gave way as I drove her through it, cackling in delight as I finally... finally had that punching bag I needed so damn fucking much.
Fuck... this felt good. Nay, this was invigorating, even! Glee was spreading throughout my whole being as I mangled that cockroach over and over again. The only thing on my mind was to let out this venomous hatred that had built up over the years because of this damn ugly toad.
Hah! To think I feared that pitiful worm so much! By the twin suns, she wasn’t even trying! She took everything I threw at her and couldn’t retaliate at all as I never let up on my assault on her. Celestia’s sword cut through mangled flesh, again and again, chipping away at her body until it was entirely unrecognizable.
Ngh! Burn. She needs... to... burn! Blue flames heeded my call, coming to my aid as I was about to erase her from existence utterly. Let. Me. Devour. Her. Soul!
“...sister,” the lump of coal croaked and my eyes widened, panic gripping my heart. I...
“...Tia?” I whispered, fearful. Oh, no, no, no! What have I done?! I stumbled back fearfully, reverting back from Fallen Star to Summer Sol in the process. I almost... I almost k-killed my own sister in my seething rage. I... I didn’t realize, I was... I was completely overwhelmed by this need to let out this rage. I didn’t realize that the mangled body in front of me was my own sister, having been blinded by my hatred for the imposter that stole her from me. I... “I’m so sorry, Tia! I... I lost control, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to, you have to believe me! P-please, forgive me... I’m so very sorry, I...”
“As you should be!”
My breath left me as I blinked and looked down, shocked. A tentacle had snapped off my horn and another grabbed me around my throat. Before I could register what exactly had just happened, I was already flying through the ruins of our old castle, crashing through one wall after another.
“I have had enough of this farce..." Platinum growled, her voice beginning to distort as it turned darker and deeper. "It’s time that this charade ends, beginning with this weak shell! I am the hunger that feasts endlessly, I am the nightmare that lusts for eternal torment, I am the one with a thousand maws! Gaze upon my true appearance and cower before my might!” the thing inside her screeched. Her flesh was restoring itself, only... there were ‘additions’ to her now. Eyes, maws, tentacles... the former princess looked absolutely grotesque as she shambled through the gap in the wall after me.
Liz was standing protectively before me while my Moon was trying to heal my most grievous wounds, but... with my horn gone, I was a ticking time bomb. It was only a matter of time until I would explode and nothing they could do on such short notice would prevent that from happening. Healing a broken horn was a very difficult process and required a lot of time and very powerful magic to do so. Time we did not have.
Then... the maws opened and ‘spoke’. What came out, though, was nothing but maddened gibberish. “Iilth qi mah'shar fhn oorql Xal'Krzsh!”
The 'words' this monster spoke were like jagged spears, entering our minds in a crazed whisper of terror, pain, and despair. I grunted in agony, trying to stop myself from hearing them by trying to clamp my hooves over my ears, but they kept coming. Relentless. Unending. Like a battering ram, they bashed their way in, completely unavoidable. “Ak'agthshi ma uhnish, ak'uq shg'cul vwahuhn! H'iwn iggksh Phquathi gag OOU KAAXTH SHUUL!”
From everywhere around us, the lumps of flesh that I had severed from her rose from the ground as tentacles whipped around, maws and eyes all over them. Blinking. Gnashing. Hungering.
Grotesque images flooded my mind, trying to drown me in misery and anguish. False pictures of a world submerged in darkness, ruled over by an eldritch horror with Platinum’s disfigured face. Monsters made of flesh and carapace, driving my little ponies insane with their presence alone.
Worst of all were the images of Luna, Liz, and myself as her pets, equally corrupted and malformed as she was. Her... disease... spread and went out of control until it infected the whole universe. And from there, others of its kind would follow. It would be the rise of an Empire of Madness.
“Gul'kafh an'shel. Yoq'al shn ky ywaq nuul,” they whispered, a cacophony of horrible noises all around us. “Ywaq maq oou... ywaq maq ssaggh. Ywaq ma shg'fhn.”
“Stop!” I cried, shaking my head in a futile effort to shut out the whispers. All the while, her monstrous form shambled closer to us, deforming further with every step that she took.
The pain of those whispers was even more paralyzing than the pain of having lost my horn. Or the bones that it shattered after it had grabbed and thrown me around like a rag doll.
“Ruby, they are here!” a shout from outside reached my ears and my heart stopped. No, no, no, no! This wasn’t the right time! Not yet! “Mom!”
Cadance... you have to get out of here! None of us even remotely stood a chance against this... this abomination. I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize... I should have never led any of you here. I failed you. All of you.
There is no hope left...
“W-what is this?” Fluttershy’s voice stuttered as they looked at what had happened here, staring horrified at the monster that had replaced Platinum.
“The Elements! They are right there!” Twilight shouted right as the Devourer turned around, hunger in its thousand eyes. Unending, unquenchable, inextinguishable, starving hunger. The hunger for innocent souls...
And its gaze was directed at my daughters and their friends...
“Run! Flee, Twilight!” I screamed, fighting through the pain to draw the attention of the monstrosity back to me, volatile solar lances striking it everywhere I saw an eye twitch erratically around. It hurt so much, using my magic like this, but I bore the pain and spinning vision gladly if it meant I could buy my daughters and their friends enough time to escape. The beast screeched and the tentacles whipped around furiously, attempting to strike my wives and me. “Get away from here as l-long... as you... ngh... still can!”
“Ilith qi'uothk shn'ma yeh'glu Shath'Yar! H'IWN IILTH!” the Devourer roared, driving me almost into the ground as the sheer madness behind the message tried to tear my mind apart. “Qam oou iilth ez i awtgsshu amun on'ma!“
“Silence, you foul beast!” Luna roared back, her coat turning black as she let her rage overtake her. “Thy end shall bring about peace eternal!”
I watched as Nightmare’s scythe struck uselessly against the being in front of us and all her attempts to hurt it with her magic only seemed to enrage it more. Liz was already at the side of our daughters and their friends, fending off the tentacles that tried to go after them. The tentacles made the weapons of Ruby’s team and her friends look like simple toys, no more effective than toothpicks.
This was absolute madness. By the twin suns, this wasn’t how I thought it would go. Platinum wouldn’t willingly turn into such a...
Oh. Oh! I have been such a fool. I've been utterly foolish. Ugh. How could I have been so stupid?!
Platinum had never been alone (even before she possessed my twin and took her away from me). There was always something there with her, whispering false truths to her, manipulating her... driving her mad.
It was the Devourer, using her as nothing more than a marionette. It fed on her hatred for us, infecting her mind like a disease. And it has done so for a very long time, hasn’t it? It was obvious when it had taken root in her, wasn’t it?
After the fire... Platinum wasn’t the same mare that had tried her petty schemes to regain the throne. The Platinum that took my sister against her will was beyond redemption. It was the Platinum that had allowed the remnants of the Devourer in.
The old Platinum was dead as soon as she had turned to it for its powers. She had only been a vessel for the monstrosity that stood before us now. She was used as a mere host, incubating the sleeping horror that lay in waiting for the right moment.
And it was this moment right here. This was the moment that the Devourer had waited so patiently for to get its chance to taint this world, this very universe, once again. All this time, it has waited for the perfect opportunity to sate its insatiable hunger once more, growing and gaining strength by siphoning it away from the mad alicorn.
What about Tia, though? Was... was Tia truly gone as well? A victim of Platinum and the Devourer? That... that couldn’t be true. It couldn’t.
“UULL lwhuk H'IWN!” the thing screeched, wiggling around in what I could only guess was excitement. “Iilth ma paf'qi'ag sk'halahs!“
Everything felt so numb all of a sudden. Everything felt like it was so far away. Distant. Unfriendly.
Everything seemed so... dark.
Cold.
Pointless.
“Naza bul rexil qalic ul',” it said with a low growl and I got the impression that it was... looking down on us. Like insects. Pests to be squashed. “Og h'iwn Og vormos Hoq sshoq'meg thoq wotH'gl.”
Memories of my wife flashed before my eyes. Her smile. Her laughter. Her moans. The subtle twitch of her wings. The twinkle in her gorgeous eyes. Would I never get to see her again..? Was she... lost?
“Sk'magg yawifk hoq,” it... laughed. The Devourer laughed, howling with its thousand maws as it delighted at the futile effort of my wives, friends, and family. I was frozen, watching everything play out as a little seething feeling started to well up within me. “Sk'shgn eqnizz hoq.”
This feeling... it wanted to come out of me, annihilate everything around me in nothing but pure agony. Celestia couldn’t be dead. My twin cannot be dead.
“Sk'uuyat guulphg hoq,” the Devourer said, mocking me. The damn thing was mocking me. “Sk'yahf qi'plahf PH'MAGG!”
I knew what it said. It seemed so clear to me now. It was mocking me, claiming that my agony was giving it strength. That my soul would know eternal torment.
It was right. This agony was too much. It tried to reach out to me with its ugly, disgusting, vicious, filthy appendages, but each and every one of them crumbled to dust as my very being burned in torment.
“Die,” I whispered, my voice completely monotone. It took her from me. Platinum, the Devourer, whatever this wretched thing wanted to call itself, it would die.
My body acted on my command and all of my life force joined my magic as I released my last, ultimate act of sacrifice, enacting my last will. It would suffer for everything that it had done to my beloved. To this world. To this universe.
I’m so sorry, Luna. I’m sorry that it had to come down to this, after all. I can’t let you die as well. Please... don’t hate me for this. I love you, my beautiful Moon.
I’m sorry, my daughters. I wish I didn’t have to leave you, but I can’t allow this thing to continue to exist any longer.
I’m sorry, Liz, my lovely succubus. Don’t despair without me, dear. I love you so very much, you know? You and Luna. You both kept me sane for so very long. Please... molest Luna for me, instead, will you?
I’m sorry. I am so very sorry. I love you. All of you.
Everything turned white.
Truly, I never thought I would sacrifice myself as Hope and her siblings had done. I never thought I would die, trying to save my loved ones from an abomination that had lingered in the mortal realm for far too long.
Now, I sit here, in a shadowy world of nothingness, cold and empty of life. There was nothing I could do but sit here on my old broken throne in the destroyed throne room (even more so now, after what happened during the last few moments of my life), waiting for something to happen.
This is the realm of the dead, then? The Shadowlands? I always thought it wouldn’t look so dreary, but I guess it looked exactly as its name implied. Dark. Gloomy. A shadow of the living world.
There was no Grimreaper waiting for me here, much to my surprise. I would have expected some sort of entity to be there to help me ‘move on’, even though that was the last thing on my mind. How could I, after all? If I have to, I would wait an eternity for Luna to join me. I don’t want to move on without her.
I should have known. The one thing I missed to account for was the influence the Devourer had over Platinum. I should have known that it would use her for its rebirth.
Now, here I am, contemplating what is going to happen next. If there even is something... anything... that's supposed to happen from this point onward, that is.
I closed my eyes. Might as well just sleep until I can reunite with my loved ones... “Your time is not over yet, young one,” a voice called out to me and I blinked, looking up. There in front of me was Sunset, taller than I ever was in life. She was an alicorn, although... her coat shimmered like crystal and a halo was hovering over her head.
“Sunset..?” I asked, shaking my head in denial. “No, no, no, no..! This... you weren’t supposed to...”
“No, Summer,” she shook her head, lifting my head up with a hoof so that I was looking up at her. On her muzzle was a kind and bright smile. “I am not your daughter, dear.”
“...Hope,” I whispered in disbelief. “But... I thought that you...”
“That we abandoned you?” she replied. “No. We couldn’t ever do that to you. Not to you...”
“But...” I mumbled, confused.
“A thousand years ago, when you used our physical forms by yourself, we heard a distorted cry for help,” Hope explained, giving me a sad look. “All we could do was to let you use our powers, unable to guide them in any form. We tried to reach out to you, but you felt so distant, dear. We realized too late that you were using the Elements on your lonesome, full of grief..."—she turned her head to the side, unable to look me in the eyes as she bit her lip—" I’m sorry, Summer. I wish we could have granted you the help you sought. The help that you deserved.”
“It was my fault, after all,” I whispered, feeling hollow. “I was a bad sister, wasn’t I?”
Hope shook her head, turning back to me with that insistent look a parent gave their child when they were needlessly blaming themselves. It looked slightly off-putting on the face of my daughter. “Oh, child. You never were,” she said, stroking my mane softly as tears came to my eyes. Even the dead could cry, huh? She hugged me comfortingly. “You tried, but against this darkness? I would have been surprised had you managed what we couldn’t. Using that much power requires more control than you alone could have managed. Don’t blame yourself for something like that.”
Right. “Do you know if...” I started, looking up at her with a haunted gaze. I left the question on the tip of my tongue, too afraid to ask whether or not I managed to hurt it.
“No, dear,” she frowned. “Your death curse has stalled it, though. Long enough for the new bearers to reawaken us.”
“Oh...” I mumbled, resting my head against her chest again. “Will they succeed?”
Hope hummed. “With saving your sister? Yes. They will,” she said with a subtle nod. “My siblings and I are granting them the power they need to free her from the grasp of that abomination and restore her as best as we can to full health. But I fear it won’t be enough to defeat the Devourer as well. It will need more than our own dwindling strength.”
“I see...” I sighed. After all of this... it ends with the return of the worst monster this universe has ever seen, weakened as it might be. It won’t stay like this forever, though. Sooner rather than later, it will complete what it had started, won’t it? The end of the universe... defiling everything I held dear to my heart.
“Do not lose hope, dear,” she said, nudging me gently. “We will bestow the new Bearers with the remaining vestiges of our power. That should be enough for them to imprison the beast once more.”
“When will it end, though?” I asked, despair clouding my mind heavily. This cycle can’t be allowed to be repeated forever and ever. It had to find an end at some point... preferably now rather than later before it grew too strong again. “Can’t you do anything?”
“No,” Hope sighed, shaking her head sadly. “A long time ago, we failed to rid ourselves of this darkness we had so carelessly brought into this world..."—she let go of me, a pained and ashamed look in her eyes—" I think now would be the right time for you to learn the truth, dear.”
“What..?” I whispered. Horror didn't even describe how I was feeling right now. “You brought this thing here?!”
“Not intentionally,” she answered and our surroundings began to change. “We don’t have too much time left here, I can’t keep the kyrian away from taking your soul to the Arbiter in Oribos forever. We will have to do this as quickly as we can.”
Before my eyes, an illusion of a shining city appeared with ponies of all kinds walking every which way, completely disregarding us as we stood in the middle of the street. The road was made with a mixture of pure white marble plates and what looked like gold at the sides, leading up to a bridge that connected the rest of the city with the massive castle right in the center of this veritable mega-metropolis.
This city... nay, this utopia... it was absolutely gigantic. Water flowed serenely through little river-like funnels through the streets, and on the rooftops, there were crystals and flowers of all kinds, adding a rainbow of color to the majestic sight of this city.
And even in the sky, the city continued on. Pegasi and thestrals alike were flying to and fro between cloud structures and what appeared like ponies with butterfly wings could be seen as well, going about their day with joy on their muzzles.
“Where is this..?” I asked, watching in awe as a tall kirin with leathery wings walked past us, and another pony variant I had never seen before surfaced from one of the rivers around us, reminding me of the kelpies living in the more tropical parts of Equis. They looked a bit more dolphin-like, but those weren’t the only ponies living in the watery parts of the city. There were some kelpies present as well, as were their cousins, the... well... kelpies.
There had been some rather lengthy debates about whether or not to rename the kelpies living in the sea and oceans into ‘sea-kelpies’, but obviously, both variants of kelpies insisted they had the name first. One version was more or less what a seahorse in big looked like while the other was a partially water-elemental pony version (they could actually turn into ice and steam, as well).
If it were up to me, I would have named the second variant ‘aqua ponies’ (it actually fit way better and was, by far, a cuter name for their species in my opinion).
This was easily the largest city I have ever seen, surpassing Canterlot by... I can’t even tell. We could probably fit Canterlot in here about seven or eight times and our capital wasn’t exactly small. This mega-city was probably even larger than any city I remember from Earth, too.
“This was the Kingdom of Concordia,” Hope replied, a mournful look in her eyes. “It was here that the darkness first took root.”
“What happened to it?” I whispered fearfully, watching as a chariot passed through us like we weren’t even there. Typical for an illusion. Hope really was on a wholly different level than I with her spellcasting, wasn't she? This looked so real, I had to remind myself we weren't actually here.
“Once upon a time, we sought to leave a legacy behind. A legacy that would replace us as we planned to depart this world after having lived for a very long time,” Hope began and our surroundings changed to the middle of an expansive throne room. “We decided to create an heir... through magic.”
In the middle of the throne room was a raised platform surrounded by one of those water funnels I had seen earlier. A fine, red carpet led up to it and flowers decorated the edge while on it stood several thrones facing the middle. Each one of them had a unique style that embodied the alicorn domains of their respective pony. And currently, those seven alicorns stood in front of them, a beam of magic connecting in the middle of it as they poured their mana into a massive spell.
I gave the Hope in the memory a startled look, seeing that she was looking exactly like she did now. “Are those... are those your real...” I tried to ask, but my words failed me. Was my daughter... I don’t understand. It seemed so utterly impossible to me, but... maybe...
Hope shook her head, a tiny smile on her muzzle. “No, dear. We appear here like this because, as we bond our powers to the new Bearers, we will slowly... disappear. Not in the way you are thinking of right now, but the world won’t remember us in a meaningful way. Our time has come to an end, dear. We are, at last, allowed to find rest.”
“Oh...” I said, not knowing what to say to that. It was sad, knowing this would be the last time I would be able to talk with her. I felt mildly angry that they were, once again, abandoning us, but... I couldn’t really hold it against them. Not being able to move on... that alone must have been punishment enough for them, right? They watched over the world for so long, they had given it everything they had... everything but the last remnants of their power. Until now.
Even if they had brought the Devourer here by mistake, I couldn’t be mad at them after all that they had gone through. And it wasn’t like they weren’t trying to fix their mistakes.
Hope frowned as the group of seven finished their spell. A bright-glowing orb remained, pulsing with a heartbeat. A moment later, it started to fade away, leaving behind a newborn filly. “We didn’t know it at the time, but...” she said, sounding so incredibly sad. “Our daughter was born ill. Slowly, her health would deteriorate and her death was inevitable by the time she reached the age of twelve.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, watching the little filly in front of us open her eyes for the first time. A golden and an icy blue eye squinted up at the group of thoroughly exhausted mares. Her mane was of a deep purple color, sparkling with power, and her coat was of a whitish-gray color, having the same crystalline appearance as her mothers. The interesting thing about her, though, was that she already had a Cutie Mark.
“You don’t have to be sorry, dear,” Hope replied, giving me a warm smile. “We did manage to save the soul of Solar Eclipse. Not in the way any of us would have expected, though.”
My eyes wandered back to the Cutie Mark on the little filly’s flanks before I looked back up at Hope. “Am I... are we...”
“The same pony?" Hope finished my sentence and I nodded my head shyly. My Maybe-Mother shook her head softly. "No. You aren’t quite the same, dear,” she told me while draping a wing over my back. “You and your sisters are your own ponies. And besides, too much time has passed by now. Your souls have grown past the little seedling that Solar Eclipse’s soul had been. Try not to linger on it too much, dear.”
Right. Okay, yeah, I... I nodded, simply letting it sink in. It certainly was a tough pill to swallow, wasn't it? And a hell of a lot depressing, too. I leaned into the embrace with Hope. Compared to her, I felt almost tiny... “What happened to her? Or to us, I guess...”
My mother from another time sighed. “As she grew older and increasingly weaker, Magic found out what was ailing her,” she said with a dark frown. The scene in front of us changed once more to that of Memory-Hope sitting next to little Eclipse’s bed, slowly stroking her mane as she slumbered while drenched in sweat. The young teenager was clearly in pain. “Something during our spell went wrong. Very wrong. Terribly so.”
“Her soul is hosting a parasite, Hope,” Magic said as she appeared in the doorway of their daughter’s bedroom. “If we hope to save her, we need to get rid of it. Now.”
Memory-Hope had a haunted look in her eyes as she turned to look at her sister. “It would kill her as well, wouldn’t it?” she asked, though it was clear to me she already knew the answer to that. “You know it would kill her.”
Memory-Magic snarled. “But we have to do something!” she hissed, stomping her hoof angrily. Her angry outburst woke up their daughter in the process, making her wilt. “I’m not going to lose her, Hope. I... I can’t."
“Mom..?” Eclipse asked weakly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Is everything okay?”
Memory-Hope gave her a wobbly smile while the real one looked on with nostalgic eyes. “Everything is fine, dear,” she whispered. “I’m sorry that we woke you up.”
“It’s okay,” Eclipse said, smiling tiredly. “You don’t have to fight with each other because I’m dying. I don’t want you to hate each other...”
“We don’t hate each other, Eclipse,” Memory-Hope told her gently, placing a loving kiss just below her horn. “Now, try to get some more sleep, okay? Mommy will be here when you wake up again. I have to go talk with my sister for a little bit.”
“That was the last day that she woke up,” Hope said, drawing my attention away from the frozen image of her daughter trying to go back to sleep. “Magic had convinced us to take her to the farthest reaches of the universe to cast the parasite out into the Void where it came from in the hopes of saving her soul from the monster that infected her. We only just barely saved her soul from tearing apart into a thousand pieces...”
“Instead, it tore into three,” I muttered, looking down forlornly. “And a monster was unleashed upon the universe.”
“Had we known what the consequences of our actions would have been...” Hope began with a sigh, biting her lip thoughtfully. “I suppose we wouldn’t be having this conversation now, would we?”
I smiled hesitantly. “It was a mistake, but... you couldn’t have known,” I said, embracing the taller mare awkwardly. “Yep. This is still weird.”
Hope giggled. “You have no idea,” she mused. “The loss of Eclipse affected us in ways we could have never expected. Magic took it the hardest, shutting away all of her emotions. She still feels guilty about what she has done to you, even if she doesn’t show it.”
“I have no idea how I should feel about all of this,” I said, fidgeting anxiously. “I mean... this is difficult to put into words. I’m going to miss you, even though... well, the things that happened and... stuff. From what I’ve seen, you would have made a great mother to... us? Her? Had the Devourer not been, we could have been family...”
“Do not linger on possibilities, my dear little Sun,” she smiled, booping me on the muzzle as I gave her a look. Usually, that term of endearment was reserved for my daughter. “Now, then... the world still needs you. Your sister is waiting for you, Summer. I hope you might find a solution to the Devourer even without us there to guide you.”
“But..." I began, suddenly feeling very nervous and reluctant to part ways with her. "How am I going to return? I used all of my remaining life force to try and kill that monster,” I asked, uncertain.
Instead of telling me outright, Hope smiled mischievously. “You used up all of your life force, that much is true. But there is something else that you have, don’t you? After all... your soul is still here,” she pointed out, giving me a hint. Then she smirked, opening her wings wide. “The denizens of the Shadowlands are... peculiar beings. They use the energy of deceased souls to bring about life, in a way." I let out a 'Huh' and she continued. "I told you that the Machinery of Death was far more complex than you could ever imagine, didn't I? This might leave you weakened for a while, but I’m sure you will recover. Goodbye... my daughter.”
Before I could say anything to her, she left me sitting in the throne room of my castle. A pony seemingly made of stars awaited her with a knowing look, her limb outstretched in an invitation. Hope took it and they disappeared, the doors closing on their own.
Okay. Yeah, alright, I... I think I might have figured out how to return to the living world. Only one problem left: I currently lacked a body to return to.
Ah, I'll figure it out as I go. I better go now before that mystery pony returns for me. I channeled a bit of magic into my ethereal body, and then, my world turned white once more.
The scene that greeted my eyes was simply breathtaking to behold. It was also a very, very terrifying sight, as well. Sunset, Twilight, and their friends were floating in the air, magic blazing in their eyes and transparent wings flickering in and out of reality as their newfound power struggled to manifest itself as they surrounded the fiend with a raging rainbow of a tornado. Their power bound the monster with ethereal chains, and beneath it, Celestia’s still form rested on the torn ground.
I looked down at myself and noticed that I wasn’t yet truly... alive, being nothing more than a specter at the moment. As suspected, I mused to myself while my sun tried to reach out to me. Alas, the Red Sun wasn’t entirely successful with her attempts.
“...Summer?”
I turned around as I heard that haunted whisper and saw Lulu, looking utterly, emotionally broken. Her eyes seemed almost... dead. That little spark of life in her got stronger as I gave her an apologetic smile for having caused her so much grief and heartache. I felt miserable for having done this to her. I shouldn’t have done this, sacrificing myself in my own grief. I knew that perfectly well, but... it bought them enough time to reawaken the Elements.
“I’m sorry, sister,” I said, my voice coming out in a strange, ghostly quality. Echo-y, I suppose, would be the best description. “I truly am.”
“What is going on? How... how did you...” Luna stuttered, reaching out a hoof towards me, only for her to phase through me as she tried to touch me. “Are you... are you truly dead?”
I shook my head. “No...” I told her. I smiled gently, trying to reassure her as best as I could. I wasn’t entirely certain how I could ‘return’ to life, just yet, seeing that I wasn't able to affect the physical realm like this.
But... maybe...
The soul is the linking piece, isn’t it? And, if I just... hmm. Maybe I could return, after all. I just need to reach out to my sun and make a connection with her again. A proper connection, not this blind searching for me. If I do it right, I could regain my body from the ashes with the help of my sun. Just like a phoenix.
That's easier said than done, though. My connection to the Red Sun was spotty at best and it didn’t help that she was currently on the other side of the planet. I don’t think we could wait until sunrise for me to try this, so... we have to get a little bit creative here. Preferably now rather than later, the Devourer was still trying to break free of its chains.
I frowned as I gazed upon the abomination hanging in the middle of the throne room like a sorry sack of meat. A disgusting, disfigured, repulsive sack of meat. I doubt anything alive on this planet would willingly sink its fangs into that atrocity of a monster.
This... disease... was at fault for the death of billions. Nay, billions upon billions. It has to die. Today. So many innocent souls could finally rest easy with it gone. They deserved to be avenged.
Solar Eclipse deserved to be avenged. We deserved to be avenged for everything it had done to us. To Tia. To Luna and me. To our unfortunate, original self.
It is high time we purged it from existence once and for all.
“Luna,” I began, giving her a sideways glance as I frowned up at the Devourer’s twitching madness in each of its thousand, gaping eyes. “I need you to raise the suns.”
“But...” she hesitated, following my gaze. “What would that accomplish? Even with the boost in power, I can’t kill that thing on my own.”
“You won’t have to kill it alone,” I said. “I’ll be here to help, won’t I?”
“Summer, you are dead,” Luna deadpanned. “You don’t have a body to... well, do anything, really. How do you propose we change that, huh?”
I smiled mysteriously. “Trust me,” I told her, watching her fidget for a moment in uncertainty. I hummed. “I have faith in you, Lulu. Have Cadance create a shield around her and her sisters, okay? This will get... hot.”
Luna grimaced at my atrocious attempt to be funny. “Now is not the time for puns,” she reprimanded me and I shrugged. It hadn’t been the time to die, either, but I did, anyway. At least I had a (somewhat vague) plan to change that. “Whatever it is you’re going to do, I hope it works.”
“I hope so, too,” I replied, starting to feel nervous. I have never come back to life like this, I wasn’t certain it would work. Theoretically, it should. Remaking my body would definitely leave me weakened for quite a while, possibly for several centuries, but... during the process of reviving, I could probably use the boost of energy from the eclipse to temporarily enter a state of empowerment that might just be enough to weaken the Devourer for Luna and Liz to slay it for good.
Cadance was quick to help out with our plan, creating a barrier between us and the Devourer of Life and Death while dragging Tia out of the rubble underneath that abomination.
Luna frowned, her muzzle set in a stony mask of concentration. “Ready when you are, Sunny,” she said while powering up her horn to force the suns back into the sky where they currently didn’t belong. I’m sure we would cause quite a stir among our little ponies with that, but this was sadly a necessity. I gave her a nod, but before she could act, the fiend tried to lash out with a sizzling tentacle to stop her from doing anything.
“Ul basha krix!” it snarled back at us in a pathetic and petulant way. I snorted, glaring balefully at it. “En'othk uulg'shuul. Mh'za uulwi skshgn kar.”
“You are not superior,” I spat, watching with satisfaction as Liz beat the tentacle back with a ferocity I wouldn’t want to be at the wrong end of. “Nor do you know anything about death. No, you just consume everything in your greed. Let the Eclipse of the Royal Sisters be the witness to your end, parasite.”
The red and yellow suns joined the moon in the sky for a monumental occasion that had not been seen since the fall of Discord. Luna’s mane was billowing around in a storm as power flooded her being to the very core, the very castle was starting to shake as her body couldn’t contain all of it. With eyes shining brightly, her weapon blazed with energy, and with each cut she made, the wounds of the monster before us finally refused to heal.
Hmph. Nothing was truly immortal, even an eldritch horror could be slain. At the rate Luna was going, though... it would take far too long. She couldn’t do it all on her own. But she didn’t need to.
I smiled, feeling the connection to my sun reestablish itself fully, and with a little push of magic, the air around me ignited into an inferno.
I know of one thing that could and would annihilate that thing utterly. I have to go Supernova, even if that means taking the risk of being unable to return to my senses. To put an end to this monster, I have to become one myself. I needed the extra power I could bring to bear if I wanted to slay that fiend. And to do that, I couldn't hold back.
It's time to break the shackles.
The ground underneath me began to glow hotly as my impending return to life heated it up to the point of melting. I kept feeding that flame within me more fuel, and before I knew it, it was the only thing on my mind. To fan that flame into a maelstrom of destruction. To let the fire burn everything to ash until even that was melted away into nothingness. I was nothing more than an instinct-driven monster hell-bent on unleashing the apocalypse.
A goopy hoof reached out of the quickly growing pool of lava, hardening as I dragged myself out of my ‘ashes’ like a very angry, powerful, and quite annoyed phoenix that was probably way too close to going utterly, batshit insane.
“Hul bala miz rilakich...” the Devourer muttered, struggling fearfully against its restraints as I opened my eyes for the first time with my ‘new’ body. The panicking sounds were music to my goopy heart. As was the terror in each of its mad eyes reflected once it realized that its end was very much inevitable now. I licked my fangs hungrily, salivating at the thought of getting a taste of its wretched soul.
I shuddered with excitement as I found its essence nestled deep within it with my eyes, almost like a heat signature. I launched myself at it with a single flap of my obsidian wings. At long last... those pesky morals of mine won’t hold me back anymore from doing this. It was time to feast.
"Burn..." I growled. It was the only word I was capable of understanding and I was so incredibly hungry for this delectable blob of fleshy mystery meat. Nothing would stop me from reaching its rotten core. Not even this abhorrent coldness I felt around me. There was only one way to rectify that, and that was to heat my surroundings up to a few million degrees in order to feel comfortable again.
Ah, my dear fleshy blob of sizzling, charred black comfort food, you love this as much as I do, don’t you? You love it when something destroys your soul, don’t you? Mhh... I suppose you won’t love it as much as I do, though. 'Tis such a pity...
“Shgla'yos plahf mh'naus...” my crispy food plaything whimpered, trying to shake me off. I cackled even more, finding it delightful that it would try to dissuade me from doing this. My playmate was being difficult with me, how rude. It should share with me, right? It smelled of defiled souls and I was meant to cleanse this taint. It wouldn't do for it to get uppity with me now, it wasn't allowed to keep them all to itself, after all. It was only fair to give it its just punishment for trying to deny me my prize. Its core was almost exposed, just a little bit longer. Nothing would deter me. Not even its mad gibberish that made sense all of a sudden.
Who was it to tell me that I would start craving the taste of souls from now on? I was made to purge this world of all darkness, starting with this sorry excuse for a meal. And then... then I would see to making this place adequately warm.
"Burn..."
A pointy thingy severed the beast in half and a small, insignificant part of my mind recognized it as a stabby-stab tool called a 'sword'. It even provoked a sense of familiarity in me, but I ignored it in favor of biting down on my sizzling meat food plaything, savoring its taste. With each bite, I tore its wretched existence into pieces.
At long last, I had my revenge and it tasted... kinda disappointing, really. I huffed, dissatisfied. I would have expected a rush of... something, to be honest. Joy? Pleasure? Delight? I wasn’t sure.
Haah. You truly are a disappointment, crispy black, burning flesh food thing. What should I do with this disappointment now? You were supposed to make me feel better, you stupid pile of comfort food! Now I had nothing to ignore this detestable cold with anymore. You fucking piece of coal excrement.
Hmph. All I felt was frustration and disappointment. This moment... I wish it could have been better, greater, grander, more glorious, but... it felt like something was missing. Now that the deed was practically over and done with, I remembered one crucial detail: I didn’t get the satisfaction of reducing the former meat sack's host to a lifeless husk. I'm sure that's what was missing from this right now. All those years, I had been waiting to defeat that cockroach, only to find out that I missed that opportunity. That this thing had beaten me to it, used her like a sad, disposable toy... it irked me.
“Za uul og nuq i fssh zz oou iiyoq ez oou gul'kafh anagg. Y'za noq mah... Y'za noq ormz...” it gurgled pathetically. “Uulwi ifis halahs gag erh'ongg w'ssh.”
Pah! It hardly mattered anymore. What do I care that the pathetic meat blob flesh thing's host was gone? There's more of where that came from, I'm sure. I erased its existence once and for all, I could do so with anything else I desired. There was enough food to fuel the fire burning inside of me for hundreds of years to come.
Yes. In the end, everything would... "Burn."
The parting words did feel ominous, though. I don’t know what it actually meant with ‘its death being inconsequential’. Perhaps it realized what a sad, sorry excuse of a food meat flesh plaything it was. But despite that, dread started to rear its ugly head within me as I heard it say that it wasn’t the first to rise and that it wouldn’t be the last. I would have to continue my hunt, then. Until all the food playthings were purged from this world and any others I might come across. And yet, I felt a heavy reluctance to do so, for some reason.
Why was I feeling such strange things? I was a predator, nothing more, nothing less. It should be all I desire, and yet... there was something holding me back. The broken shackles around me felt cold and I didn't like that one bit. Everything has to burn. Only when it was warm enough could I melt through them. They have to go so that I can be free.
"Ngh..." I moaned, shaking my head. Something deep within me protested against my instincts to burn and told me there were more important things to focus on. Like meat flesh bag's last message that it would ‘blight’ this land for the rest of eternity. It reminded me of a different place that was even colder than this one. Panda something or another. Remnant? I... why does it feel so important?
<Hunters>, my mind provided and I tilted my head to the side. Like predators? Or... no. Hunters as in hunters and huntresses fighting monsters. It felt familiar, like the pointy thing from before. The sword that looked blue and silver belonged to somepony important? I...
<Luna>, my mind whispered, desperate. Who was that now? I snorted. I don't need any lesser predators calling themselves hunters and huntresses. I don't need a 'Luna', I only need to... "Burn."
A sharp pain pierced my mind and I recoiled as something deep within me protested against that thought. <Liz>, it cried out. <Luna>, it begged. And all I felt was a deep discomfort. Everything was so cold, maybe it would help if I were to...
<No!> I gasped, blinking deliriously. What is going on with me? I am Supernova, not... <Summer!> my mind protested. Feelings overwhelmed me for a moment and I staggered back, stunned. Absentmindedly, I noticed that there were other ponies around me, watching me in concern. <Friends!>
Friends? Not prey. But... the meat flash plaything said more of its kind would defile... my friends? Such a strange word. Or concept? It's a concept, isn't it? Something you have that is... <Important!>
Right. Important. But... if similar meat flesh abominations were to defile them... wouldn't it be better to burn this world to ash? I wouldn’t have to worry about friend things then, would I? Meat flesh bag things can't desecrate my friend playthings if there are friends to defile in the first place...
<No!> my mind rebuffed me and I cried out. My mind hurt. Everything hurt. These pony friend playthings said things but I was too distracted to hear them properly. My vision shifted around me and I screwed my eyes shut, huffing in ragged pants. I was... I was... <Summer>...
I fought against the urge to burn everything and I felt myself think clearly again for a moment. It was a difficult and troublesome fight, but I recognized my wife as she cautiously came closer to me. She looked concerned.
<Burn...>
N-no! I shook my head, trying to dislodge that thought from the forefront of my mind. I can’t do that. I don’t want that! But the thought kept coming back. <Burn>, my treacherous mind whispered. <Burn everything!>
It sounded absolutely divine, bringing about the end of the world. I could finally live as I am supposed to, be the destroyer that my heart longed for. I could finish the cycle and... ngh! No! No, damnit. I am not this... this monster.
“Summer?” Luna asked, hesitantly touching my shoulder. The coldness of her aura hurt so damn much. What was meant as a comforting gesture only took away my blissful warmth. I wanted it to... <Go away!> This world... it needs to burn. Everything... needs... to burn...
Ngh! No! I... “Luna...” I said, struggling against the agonizing desire to annihilate everything around me so that it wouldn’t be so damn cold anymore. This coldness... it was driving me insane. Please, I... <I don’t want to feel so cold.> I don’t want... anything... to feel cold... ever again. “I... L-Luna, I want y-you... t-to... burn with me. Feel the warmth... embrace... you...”
Luna stepped back from me, watching me in horror as I snorted out flames from my nostrils like a mad animal. “Sunny, this isn’t funny,” she said as I felt nothing but the primal need to incinerate everything in my sight. Starting with not-friends. “Come on, snap out of it! I know you can do it, my Sun. You don’t have to do this! I know you don’t truly want to do any of this. Summer, my beloved Sun... come back to me. Allow me to soothe your pain, dear. Don’t let it control you.”
“I...” I snorted, throwing my head from side to side, only to feel the need to scorch everything overwhelm me once more. My... <Daughters!>... they were noticing that something wasn’t quite right with me, I wish they didn’t have to see me like this. To see the monster in me try to wreak havoc on this world.
“Summer... please...”
I growled, snorting wildly as these primal urges were just far too powerful. It was all I could do, holding on against these wrathful emotions. It was by far the most dire thing I had to endure. I was desperately clutching at my remaining sanity to not give in. But it was a losing battle at this point, wasn’t it? Maybe... maybe it was easier to just... <Give in.> It would be so... easy... wouldn’t it? To let go of my restraints, my ‘pesky’ morals...
It’s just one little apocalypse, everything I could ever want, right?
<Continue the cycle,> my rage whispered oh-so-sweetly. <Let it begin from anew...> And it sounded oh-so-wonderful right now. “I... am... ngh! I... I am Supernova! I am the Wrath of the Red Sun, and I will... urgh... I-I... Argh! I-I w-will..."—I reared up before stomping my rapidly cooling obsidian hooves back down on the ground—" No! I will not let this rage control me! I will not. Harm. This. World!”
The last look Hope had given me flashed before my eyes. It was... filled with so much love, with understanding... and hope. I can’t ruin everything she sought to protect. That I sought to protect. With my beloved Moon.
If I bring destruction to this world, it will be on my terms!
I won’t destroy what I love because I got weak! I will not usher in the apocalypse as long as there are ponies depending on me! I will not end this world! Even if I have to live for millions of years, I will not bring about the destruction of this world until I am absolutely certain that I won’t harm any innocent living being by doing so! Only when this world is an empty husk and this solar system devoid of all life shall I let the Summer Sun consume everything in her path, but until that day... I am a Princess of Equestria and the Archon of the Red Sun. I shall not fail my duty to my little ponies!
The halo above my head shimmered back into existence, shining brighter and more radiant than it did before. The broken pieces of it mended themselves together while the smoke of my mane stopped emerging from the molten cracks on my head and neck. Sunlight replaced the smoke, glowing serenely in a golden-red color. Lastly, my obsidian body cooled down enough to solidify entirely. Slowly, the cracks disappeared while the color changed from black to pearly white as the shackles around my legs turned into golden bracers.
It is time to let go of my hatred once and for all. The cycle has been broken and I will not allow it to taint my body any longer. I am not Supernova, Annihilator of Equis. I will not continue what the Devourer started. And I shall certainly not. Hurt. My. Wife.
I am the Serene Sunlight that shines through even the darkest storm.
“Summer?” Luna asked, giving me a hopeful look. “Are you... okay?”
“I am, thanks to you,” I smiled, my voice ‘twinkling’, for lack of a better word. I could feel my boost in power dwindling rapidly. I don’t think I can stay like this for much longer. Before I return to normal, though, I should probably return the suns to their proper position while I still have the power to do so. “There is much I have to tell you, sister. But first... let us deal with... all of this before worrying about anything else, okay?”
My sister relaxed immediately at my reassurance. “I’m glad you are back, Sunny,” she whispered. Luna hugged me fiercely as tears of joy came to her eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“I hope one day you might forgive me for scaring you so, sister,” I whispered, barely audible as I simply enjoyed the embrace for all that it was worth. I hummed, reaching out to the misplaced suns in the sky before guiding them back over the horizon.
As soon as they were gone, though, so was my new crystalline body. Not a moment after that, I had a very distraught daughter in my arms as she tried her best to squeeze the living daylights out of me. I smiled ruefully down at her while a piercing stab of shame and agony went through my heart at the sight of her distress. “It’s okay, Cadance. I’m here... I’m here...”
My daughter hit me with a dirty golden shoe over the chest. “Never do that again, you jerk,” she blubbered out, pawing weakly at me. “You fucking promised me, you... you fluffy bunny.”
“I’m sorry, Rose Petal,” I sighed, taking the hits without complaint. I deserved each and every one of them (and then some). “I’m not infallible, dear. I got weak and I..."—I stopped myself before I could come up with an excuse for my stupid actions—" there are no apologies that could make this better. All I can do is tell you that I’m sorry and that I won’t do it again.”
“You better,” she weakly threatened me, sniffling as her strikes slowly petered out. “You’re supposed to become a granny, you fucking flying penguin.”
My heart skipped a beat as I gave her a surprised gaze. I was at a loss for words. There’s no way that she is...
“Don’t tell Ruby, yet,” Cadance whispered, snuggling herself against me as I enveloped her in my (quite twitchy) wings while I tried to calm my erratically beating heart down from that shock. “I suppose now is a good time to marry, huh?”
“Of course,” I smiled, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. I gave Lulu a look as she and Liz were quietly talking to each other, nervous and ecstatic to share the news with my wives. I was this close to squeeing—nay, shouting—out to the world that I was going to become a grandmother. This was... a strangely surrealistic feeling. “You know that you are technically breaking the law, right?”
“Eh, we aren’t actually related by blood,” Cadance shrugged, making me snort. “Besides, she didn’t reincarnate like me, our DNA isn’t truly the same.”
“Dear, you are the same ponies,” I pointed out, booping her muzzle as she pouted back at me. Silly pony. “That’s close enough to incest that I’m obligated to punish you for that.”
“Don’t start being a hypocrite now, Mom,” Cadance grumbled, poking me petulantly with a hoof. “Besides, I’m the Alicorn of Love, this is my own field we are talking about here. I have all the authority to overrule you and make an exception for me.”
“That’s not how it works,” I told her, beginning to glare at her. “We aren’t above the law, Cadance. As a princess, you are supposed to uphold order, you can’t just...”
“Mom, shut up and just be happy, okay? Let me be selfish for once in my damn life,” Cadance grunted, using her magic to tug at my ear harshly. I let out a surprised yelp, trying to not let out a moan as she marehandled me at the one spot I was the weakest at. “Seriously, get that stick out of your plot for once. You are no better than me in that regard, and on top of that, I know how I can make sure my foal stays safe. We’ve had twenty years of medical and magical research into this area, it’s not the end of the world. Stop pretending it actually is, Mom.”
“Alright,” I sighed, rubbing her back apologetically. “I don’t want you to make any hasty decisions, dear. You will have to answer to the council about what you have done, though, and I hope that they will believe you about Ruby not being related to you in any way. I’d rather not have to come up with a sufficient punishment for both of you if they decide your ‘argument’ isn’t enough. I can’t save you from everything, as much as I want to.”
“And I don’t need you to save me from everything,” she told me, giving me a smile. “It’s okay, I can take care of myself. You know I can, Mom.”
“I do,” I nodded hesitantly, noticing that Twilight, Sunset, and her friends were slowly awakening from their magic-exhaustion-induced slumber. “I do, Cadance. You are going to quickly notice, though, that this is something that is said far easier than you are willing to act upon it with your own foal, petal. And, for your sake... I hope you won’t have to see your child grow old and die.”
A horrified look entered my daughter’s eyes as I told her that. She only now realized the true weight of what it meant to be immortal for all intents and purposes. I had told her so many times over, but until now, she had always rolled her eyes at me. She never took my words seriously because she found her eternal partner so early on in her new life. Not once did she think that my words could mean more than finding a life-long partner.
She was surrounded by immortals. It was easily forgotten that it wasn’t actually the norm. Even her sisters will become alicorns in time once their powers stabilize themselves in them and their friends. She completely forgot that her own foal was more than likely going to be a mortal. I pray she might find a way to change that. I was already running out of ideas on how to ‘force’ an ascension and I don’t think it would be a good idea to sacrifice the Crystal Heart for that purpose.
Perhaps she might get lucky and be blessed with an alicorn foal, as unlikely as that possibility was. It would solve so many problems, wouldn’t it?
My eyes wandered over to all of the assembled ponies as they got their bearings together, glad to have survived this day against all odds. Of course, most of Sunset’s and Twilight’s friends were admiring their new jewelry and the glowing, ghostly wings that refused to fade away entirely (or the horns, for that matter).
Not one of them noticed the pink-haired mare wake up, looking at her hooves in confusion, and eventually, realization. Luna and Liz motioned for me to go to her, most likely wanting Tia to see her twin first.
I was... nervous. This was one of those moments where you have no idea how to act, where you have a thousand words floating through your head but your mouth couldn’t utter a single one of them. I wanted to hug her so fiercely, but I was afraid that she was going to be overwhelmed. I wanted to apologize to her so damn much, but I had no idea how to convey to her how deeply I had failed her and how I could never truly earn her forgiveness for that.
In the end, I settled for a smile as she turned her head to search for the ones that had saved her. “Hey...”
“...Summer?” Tia whispered, looking so very frail. It hurt my heart to see her so weak and insecure and confused. The various conversations around us slowly died down as they noticed the ‘new’ addition to the group of ponies in the thoroughly destroyed throne room. “Is that... truly you? I'm not dreaming this, am I?”
“Yes, Tia,” I said, slowly reaching out a hoof to cup her cheek softly. Tears were streaming down from her eyes, and absentmindedly, I noticed I was tearing up, as well. “I missed you so much, my beloved. I tried to find ways to free you from your imprisonment, but... I’m sorry I failed you so much, Tia.”
“Summer, you...” Tia began, but the rest of her words were broken by sobs to the degree that they were entirely unintelligible. She threw herself at me with sorrowful mumbles, sobbing into my coat heavily. “...I-I-I’m s-s-so s-sorry, Summy! I... I...” She hiccuped and started bawling her eyes out. She looked so vulnerable right now. Almost like a foal...
“Tia, hey...” I hushed her gently, stroking her mane as I noticed just how small she was, in comparison to Luna and me. “Whatever are you apologizing for?”
“I hurt you so much!” Celestia cried into my fur, desperately clutching at me as if she was afraid I would let her go. Oh, sister... “I abandoned you when I... when I..."—she sobbed in anguish—" Please, forgive me! I-I’m so s-sorry!”
"Hey..."—I soothed her—“ it’s okay,” I told her, giving her a simple kiss filled with love. “You don’t have to ask for my forgiveness. I don’t blame you for anything, Tia. Luna and I... we are the ones that need to earn yours for... for failing to save you from Platinum.”
Tia stayed silent, crying until no more tears came. Although as Luna came into her view, there was a renewed rush of tears that seemingly hadn’t been spent already.
My beautiful Moon hugged Celestia so that my twin was right in between us. “Summer is right, Tia,” she whispered gently. “You have nothing to ask forgiveness for. We should have tried harder, searched for you with more zeal... and we failed you. You only acted on fear, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Tia nodded slightly, reluctantly accepting our words with a sigh. “So... you brought all of these ponies here for me, huh?”
“Not for you, sister,” Luna snorted. “If you haven’t noticed, on the ground there lies the corpse of an eldritch horror. Platinum... I don’t know how much of the fight you witnessed, but... that wasn’t Platinum that returned with you from the moon.”
“And the bug lady?” Celestia asked, giving Liz a look as she stood awkwardly off to the side, waiting for us to call her over to meet our sister. My pervert of a twin had that kind of look in her eyes. “Say... is she taken, yet? She looks kinda hot.”
I sighed, rolling my eyes. For some reason, I didn't expect that reaction at all. I had at least hoped for any pervy comments to be voiced after we were back in Canterlot, not as soon as she laid eyes upon Liz. “No, Liz isn’t... well, in a way she is, but in the sense that she already belongs to us.”
Celestia gave me a look, smirking slightly. “So... when did that happen?” she asked. “Because I can’t for the life of me believe that you got over your phobia of insects that recently.”
“I, uh...” I blushed, nudging Luna helplessly. My sister rolled her eyes at me as I (once again) chickened out of explaining the rather awkward happenstance behind adding Liz to our herd.
“Five years or so after your involuntary vacation to the moon began,” Luna answered. Then, she motioned for Chrysalis to come over with a wave of her hoof. “Tia, this is our wife, Chrysalis. Cuddlebug, meet Celestia, pervert extraordinaire.”
Liz smirked in mischief. “Pervert extraordinaire, huh?” she remarked, giving Tia an appraising look. “Girl, we’re going to have a lot of fun together. You’re going to love seeing those two in a maid outfit for a year straight.”
“Oh, fuck yes,” Tia bit her lip, blushing brightly. “How come they... I’m already in love with you, Chryssie. I have no idea how you managed to blackmail them into that but thank the suns you did." Then, she wilted, whispering to herself, "Too bad I can’t molest them openly...”
Of course, Liz being the pervy succubus that she is, heard every word. “Funny that you say that,” she grinned mischievously and my muzzle turned ashen. “What would you say if I were to tell you...”
“Liz, I swear, one more word,” I threatened, glaring hotly at her as she was about to open a can of worms that I’d rather not have infesting the mind of my sister with raunchy and degenerate thoughts. “I’mma stuff you into that volcano...”
“Oh, relax, Sunflower,” Liz said, rolling her eyes theatrically. “I was just gonna ask her if she wanted to fuck you up your tight cunt on the throne while everypony watches and listens to your whorish moans.”
“Scratch the volcano,” I seethed, lunging at her as she ran around cackling her flanks off. “I’mma send you to the sun! Stay still so that I can mutilate you enough so that you won’t put up a fight later!”
“Ah ha ha ha! You are so easy to tease! Oh, the look on your face!” Liz snickered even as I caught her, causing us to roll around on the floor, getting us thoroughly dirty in the process. “Come on, Sunflower! You know you want it, too~.”
“I’ll kill you. This time for sure,” I growled only for my idiotic wife to interrupt me by pressing her lips to mine lustily. The sizzling rage within me calmed down considerably as I was unable to stay mad at my stupid succubus bug pony. “Fuck... you...”
“Oh, yes please,” Liz murmured against me with a smile. “Right here~?”
I huffed. “No, Liz,” I glared weakly at her. “You are insufferable...”
“Aww, you love me,” she giggled back. “Your tail certainly approves, dear. Come on, turn around a little bit so your sister can see how horny you are for me.”
“I’m in doubt whether I truly love you anymore,” I pouted, desperately trying to force my tail down after she riled me up so friggin’ much. Flipping flying penguins, she really knows how to push all of my buttons and I hated her for it. Me, too, for that matter. I can’t believe she was making me this horny. I was, quite frankly, disgusted at myself for allowing her to get me to this point while others could see my... well, 'arousal', I suppose. More like flashing everypony, my traitorous mind pointed out.
“You know I can see that excited twitch in your wings every time I propose taking you right in front of our subjects, right?” Liz grinned and I shook my head in denial, trying to come up with some plausible explanation that could... Oh, who am I kidding? It did make me excited for some reason. “I know you enjoyed that little romp in the closet with Luna in Hogwarts, even though you tried to be mad at me and Cadance for ‘making’ you do it.”
“It was embarrassing!” I muttered, poking her angrily. “You have no idea how... how...”
“Exciting it was?” Liz proposed and I glared at her for trying to put words into my mouth. Even though they were pretty much true...
“Liz, for the love of every flying penguin out there, stop trying to make me into an exhibitionist,” I scowled, trying to tell her in no uncertain terms that I was most certainly not amused by her constant shenanigans. “You can do whatever you want with..."—I stopped myself before I could finish that sentence—" okay, no. Don’t do whatever you want with Celestia. I just know you will cause some obscene scandal by..."—I struggled for words, frustrated—" by being yourself, damnit!”
“Aww, so I can’t fuck her up the cunt on your throne, either?” she asked and I groaned, feeling like I was talking against a brick wall with her. Why do I even try? “You really are a prude, sometimes.”
“No, I am not,” I said. “You are just a degenerate succubus bug pony hybrid that doesn’t know when she is going too far.”
“So... are you still going to send me to the sun?” Liz asked, standing up from me before helping me back on my hooves, as well. “Because you’re going to wear those outfits no matter what.”
“I hate you,” I sighed, resigning myself to being the laughingstock of the whole world for the next year. I should have proposed for Cadance to give us that punishment instead of my damn sexy succubus of a wife.
Although... a little part in the back of my mind muttered very unhelpful words that it would be kinda sexy to do it on my throne with my wives. I really don’t want to entertain this thought, though. I really don’t, but... damnit. It made my marehood ache with need and the image simply refused to get out of my head. Knowing my luck, I will be horny all the way back to Canterlot and it will drive me mad with lust by that point.
Haah. Just how I thought this day would go... not. Yay for me, right?
Now, if Celestia wouldn’t also encourage Liz to make Luna and me into their degenerate playthings, everything would be perfect. I knew those two were a very bad match-up from the beginning. To be honest, though? I’m just glad to have my twin back. I don’t really care that they would get up to the most degenerate shenanigans one could imagine, I would rather deal with that instead of having lost her for good.
Thankfully, Luna was able to explain to Tia that Cadance was our daughter before she was about to get any ideas, so that's at least something I don’t have to worry about anymore.
Of course, all of that was quickly ruined by Tia finding out that incest was more or less ‘legal’ now and that she didn’t have to hide her feelings for us from anypony anymore. Even worse was the fact that she learned about how this change came to be, finding out that Luna and I had become parents during her absence.
It’s going to be a very long time until she stops teasing me about that, won’t it? As my daughter would say: Fluffy. Bunnies.
While all of that was more or less ‘good’, I was a little bit worried about how Tia was behaving. She was a lot more reserved, almost shy even about meeting our extended family. I could understand that everypony here was a stranger to her, but... it felt like she was purposefully keeping herself close to Luna or me (or Liz, but only because they have a common bond in their pervertedness, whispering hushedly to each other about all the things they could get up to). Whether that was because of a sense of fear that she wouldn’t get accepted by them anymore due to her involuntary possession or something else entirely... I couldn't say.
The most worrying thing, though, was the sheer pain in her eyes as we treated her like she has never done anything wrong, blaming Platinum for everything instead of her. I hope she might forgive herself for having run off from us because I couldn’t stand seeing her be so... depressed about it. She shouldn’t blame herself so much, it was almost like she thought that she was solely at fault for everything Platinum has done while in her body.
I... I had naively thought everything would go back to how it was before she was banished, that she wouldn’t blame herself like that because she wasn’t at fault for anything at all, but... apparently, I thought wrong. Tia was... she was deeply damaged by what happened to her. Even more so than what her human father had done to her, she was changed on a fundamental level by her experience with Platinum.
It was understandable, I mused in sorrow. Going through something like that... it changes ponies in ways that I could never truly understand. Not without having gone through something similar myself. All I could do to help her heal those wounds was to be there for her and let her sort through those feelings while being as supportive as I could be. I doubt she would actually accept the help from a professional psychologist, as much as I hoped she would. Maybe Liz might help, she was great with those types of things even though she pretended that that wasn’t the case most of the time.
I mean, her thing literally is empathy, who else could be better suited to help my twin than her? They were already forming a bond of friendship far faster than I would have expected. Liz could help Tia in ways I could not simply because she wasn’t related to her. She might get Tia talking about things that my sister wouldn’t want to talk about with me, as much as it pains me to admit that to myself.
Tia always has had difficulties dealing with her personal feelings. She usually completely avoids talking about them with Luna or me until one of us confronts her about it. And this time... I fear her escape into pervertedness will not help her deal with the trauma of having been used by Platinum in such a horrible way.
Ponies usually don't feel safe after somepony broke into their home, even if rationally they know that it is unlikely to happen again (if they aren’t stupid and leave the door wide open for burglars and so on in the first place, that is). I can’t imagine how it must feel for Tia to feel like her own body wasn’t safe anymore, to fear that it might happen again if she wasn’t careful enough. Platinum was no more, but... a constant specter of her would remain and haunt her for quite some time. I dearly hope she won’t shut us out, refusing to accept our help.
I’m ashamed to say that I felt like it was better for her to not know what happened to our little Star. It would devastate her to learn that Twilight... that her little Star saw nothing more than a stranger in her, an aunt at best. I’m sure Twilight would try, but she was twenty now and never had any interaction with Tia in any way. It would take a lot for her to start seeing Celestia as her mother as well.
Knowing Twilight, though? She was a very awkward mare in regard to social interactions, despite having grown a lot in that area with her group of friends. But that’s the thing... she had a lot of time to get used to her quite unique group of friends. In comparison to that, she only had heard a few stories of Celestia here and there. My little Star would have to spend a lot of time around Celestia for her to get comfortable around her and I fear it is only going to stay as being friends between the two of them.
Sunset might just be the one that is going to form a stronger bond of friendship with my twin sister than Twilight. But... that will be a challenge in itself, won’t it? Sunset was very headstrong when she wanted to be and that’s one thing that won’t go over well with Celestia. My twin is perhaps even more headstrong than my little Sun and it might just cause more fights between them than I’d like to admit. Their personalities might clash a little bit too much.
Alas, that's for Future-Summer to figure out. Right now, I'd rather make sure everypony gets home. Tia needs her rest, unused to being in control of her body for the first time in a thousand years and I imagine everypony else had a pretty eventful day, too. There was only one problem: not everypony felt like coming back to Canterlot.
As we left the castle and came closer to the quaint little town of Ponyville, my daughters asked me one thing I knew would happen at one point, but... I had hoped that it might not come at all, or at least after Cadance decided to do so first.
“You want to stay in Ponyville?” I asked, feeling a little bit worried. I’ve never truly prepared myself for this moment, have I? I always delayed thinking about it so that I wouldn’t have to come to terms with this very possibility. But ever since that day their future versions traveled back in time, I knew it would coincide with my twin's return. “What about helping Yu’la with Spike? Or... or your training, Sunset? Or... uh... or your studying, Twilight? You don’t, uh... you...”
“Hey, it’s okay, Mom,” Sunset whispered gently, trying to calm me down as I searched for any and all arguments that might change their minds. I don’t want to let them go. “It’s not like we are going to live in another country, right? Besides, we can call each other over our scrolls whenever we want. I’m at a point where I don’t need a lot of guidance anymore and... I kinda wanna live with Fluttershy. Yu’la told me that she thinks that this is the ideal location to raise her whelpling and Fluttershy gets along really well with her, so I thought that maybe now would be a good time to... uh... move out. You know how much I hate Canterlot’s stuffiness, Mom.”
I stopped walking for a moment as I looked down dejectedly. “Oh...” I hummed. “I guess... that’s okay. I..." I sighed and bit my lip. Trying to force them to stay wouldn't do anypony any good, right? Alright, then. "Promise that you will write and call us regularly?”
Twilight nodded next to her sister. “We promise,” she told me with a smile. “I want to figure out how the Elements of Harmony work. I have this strange feeling that I will only find out if I stay here with our friends. And... I promise we will come by to visit on a regular basis, too. We’ve got an aunt to get to know, after all!”
“Right...” I muttered. That's not exactly how I wanted it to happen, but maybe this would be for the best. Lest I overload Tia with too much family all at once. Small steps, I told myself. They will get to know each other at their own pace, I'd rather not force them to treat her as somepony they don't view her as. That changed nothing of how I felt, though. I was sad to see them spread their wings and leave the nest (now far more literally than before).
This day should have been happier. By all means, the future should have looked so much brighter from this day onward. In the end, all it did feel like was depressing. Tia was finally home, but until she actually feels at home, this won’t be the reunion I had hoped it would be.
It’s going to take time, isn’t it? It always does. I’m happy that I have her back, and in time, Tia will learn to live with herself free of guilt and fear. I’m going to make sure she feels loved and welcomed in this day and age (even if I have to do so in a friggin’ maid outfit).
And I’m going to get used to Sunset and Twilight not living in the castle with us anymore. Or Yu’la and little Spike, for that matter. I have to admit, Ponyville is by far a better environment to raise a whelpling in than the capital. I’m going to miss them, though.
Truly... the stars shined oh-so-brightly this day...
I have to admit, though... things were starting to look brighter from this point onwards. Tia was back and that was all that mattered to me, the Storm King be damned. I won’t let anything get in between our happiness again.
I’m Summer Sol of Equestria and this... this is not the end of my story. It’s only the beginning.