The seapony unties her saddlebags, placing the hoof sized artifact inside of it before tying the bags up again. “What other artifacts are here, Cheery Star?” She asks the unicorn laying on the ocean floor across from her.
“…The only one left is in the hands of the main council member. I was told to sell off all the others as we had to have some source of income to survive,” she says in a defeated tone.
“That’s unfortunate for Lucien, his main reason for coming here was the same. Sell artifacts for money. Doesn’t matter though, the four council members will answer for their crimes all the same.” Posada then turns to Lucien, “If you don’t want to continue with me and Skystar I understand. We should be able to handle everything from here on out so it’s no worries.”
He shakes his head, “Might as well see this out until the end. Not like I’m out anything by sticking around. Plus I want to see how you’ll deal with the council, should be interesting,” he grins.
“Very well, we appreciate you sticking around. That only leaves Cheery Star, then…” Posada turns her gaze to the defeated unicorn. Still laying on the sea floor in shame, her horn torn apart.
“I have nothing to offer you. And nowhere else to go. I’ll stay here until someone or something finishes me off. I’m worthless now…”
Lucien then swims over to the unicorn, extending his fin to her, “You can come with us. Posada and Skystar might not be sticking around for much longer, but I can at least bring you to a town on the surface. The ocean is no place for a unicorn.”
The pony looks up to the staff wielding seapony, a glint in his eyes. She extends her hoof and is helped up, not saying a word.
“I’ll take that as acceptance. Thank you, Cheery.”
She doesn’t reply, her pride hurts, she only looks at him with a defeated look in her eyes.
Posada looks on and smiles. “She has a long way to go, but at least she seems willing to accept help. I hope she hangs on,” she thinks to herself.
“I guess it’s time to finish this, then. We’re almost home, Sky.”
***
The four creatures re-enter the halls of the cult palace. Posada leads the way, her eyes only focused on the doors at the end of the long hallway. She stops right in front of the grand doors to the council before turning to Skystar, swimming over and giving her a hug and whispering in her ear, “I love you,” before letting go of the embrace and giving her partner a smooch on the cheek. “I’m not planning on anything bad happening in there, but just in case,” she says, smiling at Skystar.
“I know, I love you too. Let’s finish this, for us, and for Cheery.”
Posada nods her head in reply. Turning to the door in front of the group she slams her side into it, swinging open the door in a quick and loud fashion.
“So, the unicorn filly failed,” the head of the council speaks out as soon as he sees the seapony. “Trusting her as our sole agent was a mistake. An unavoidable once given our circumstances but I see now that one cannot put all their faith into one little pony.”
Cheery Star walks in behind Posada, standing alongside Skystar and Lucien.
The main council member immediately spots her, a barely visible glint of light reflects from his eyes as he stares her down. “I see… So you cut the horn off the unicorn. Clever. But I’m afraid she’ll be wishing you killed her once we’re done here. There is no mercy for traitors.”
“No. There’s no mercy for tyrants like you four. In my timeline I defeated an evil that festered on our continent for hundreds of years. A cult much like your own, but far grander in size and power. I will do the same here.” Posada then reaches her fin into saddlebag, grabbing the Trident’s Paw she put in it earlier. “But unlike then I won’t let my anger get the best of me. I’m sending the four of you hundreds of years back in time, back before even Nightmare Moon was banished.”
Her three companions watch on stoically as she wields the Trident’s Paw.
“You even managed to steal the artifact from the unicorn, you certainly are impressive, Posada,” the central council member replies. “How lucky for us that we held on to an artifact of our own,” the council member reaches under the desk, grabbing the artifact.
Before he can even pop his head back up Posada activates the Trident’s Paw, a blue flash fills the room followed by a blue aura surrounding her fin and the artifact. “This is justice for all the creatures you’ve hurt and killed.” Blue light fills the council room, she squeezes her fin and four transparent beams of blue light hit each of the council members. It engulfs their bodies and in one quick flash erases all traces of their being. Their chairs now sitting empty, with the artifact the main council member was holding transported back in time alongside them. The blue glow to the Trident’s Paw slowly fades as the artifact deactivates. The room going dark once again.
Posada looks behind her to see the reactions of the other three. Both Lucien and Skystar look awestruck while Cheery Star seems… relieved, with her eyes tearing up somewhat.
“…And that’s how you destroy a cult!” Posada cheekily says. “Not my first, but hopefully it’ll be my last!”
Skystar swims over and hugs her partner, speaking softly into her ear as does so, “I knew you could do it, hun. I’m proud of you for handling it that way.” They let go of each other, and Posada swims over to Cheery Star to check on her.
“I can’t imagine the emotions you’re feeling, Cheery. I’m not going to act like I know what you’re going through, because I don’t. But we’re all rooting for you, we really are. And we’re here if you need to talk about anything.”
The unicorn simply nods her head in response. Posada gives her a hug as well and then swims back over to Skystar.
“So… did you actually send them back to the pre-Nightmare-Moon era?” Skystar asks her partner.
Posada scratches the back of her head, “Honestly I’m not really sure,” she giggles slightly. “It’s not like the artifact has a dial to select what you want. I assumed it just went off what the wielder was trying to will it to do. Which if that’s the case then yeah, they’re long gone.”
Skystar looks a bit uneasy but laughs it off, “Well they’re out of our hair now at least. Considering they relied on a single unicorn to do their dirty work I don’t think they’re going to be having a good time.”
“With everything taken care of now I’m guessing you guys are going to be heading back soon,” Lucien says to both Skystar and Posada.
“Yeah. We had some good times here, some great memories too, but I miss home. I miss everyone else. I am… a little nervous to see if anything’s changed since we’ve been gone for almost a month. But I have faith in the government I built. We had contingency plans in place, so I’m sure everything’s fine,” Posada smiles.
Skystar’s ears perk up, “On the topic of plans! What are your plans for after this, Lucien?”
“Take as much valuable shit as I can from here and haul it back to Stonefall with Cheery Star’s help. After that… who knows, just depends on what Cheery is thinking and feeling. I want to make sure she isn’t left out to dry with no one else to depend on.”
“Ah! That sounds like a good idea. I know you’ll help get Cheery Star started on the right path.”
Lucien nods, “Thank you. It’ll take time but we’ll figure it out, I’m sure of it.”
“Let’s head out of this dump and into some better lighting before we head out, I don’t want our last memories together to be spent in this dingy place,” Posada says, ushering her companions out of the council room and palace and back outside.
Outside, the day seems to be winding down. With the setting Sun casting relaxing orange sunrays shining under the sea.
“Me and Skystar thank you for everything, Lucien. We wouldn’t be going home right now if it wasn’t for you and your help.”
“Of course. This expedition won’t be a total loss for me, obviously. I’m glad I was able to help you two, and hopefully help Cheery in the future.”
The three companions exchange hugs and goodbyes. Cheery simply watches from behind Lucien, not interested in giving goodbye hugs. Once everything’s been said, Posada grabs the Trident’s Paw once again. The now familiar blue glow emanates from the artifact and on to Posada’s fin. Posada exchanges one last nod with Lucien and Cheery before the artifact fully activates, flashing blue light once more as the two seaponies are transported through time once more. Lucien and Cheery Star now looking at the empty space left behind.
***
…
…
…
“It’s all black again, huh. This is just like when we first got teleported back in time…”
“I feel better going back. I made things right. I helped out a poor unicorn and ended another cult. That feels good. I didn’t even let my temper get the best of me.”
“Although it’s probably still my fault we get sent back in time… There’s no doubt that fusion test gave those cult weirdos some sort of opening.”
“But I fixed it. I still wonder what that whole Doria figure was really about… I guess he was just a fake deity the cult used to control their followers…”
Posada feels a sudden warmth wash over her. Her body getting heavier as she regains feeling once again. She slowly opens her eyes and stares up at a plain white ceiling. The feeling of tile under her body as she slowly shifts herself up in seapony form. Looking around she instantly recognizes the room. The Revolutionary Hippogriffia flag, the photo of Caramel Marks on the wall, the enormous fish tank by the desk, even Skystar, collapsed on the floor in a comedic pose. Yes, this was her office. She was officially back. And the first thing she was going to do was make sure Skystar wakes up! Well, right after she transforms back to her hippogriff form.
One uneventful transformation later and she slides over to Skystar, lightly waking her up much like when they were first transported back to the 6th century. Skystar lets out a yawn and opens her eyes, smiling as Posada watches over her.
“Hello, love,” she says while smiling.
“Hi, Sky. Welcome back to our Hippogriffia.”
“Oh? Wait, where did we end up this time?”
“My office! I could tell instantly. It’s kind of hard to mistake with the giant tank of water I have.”
“And there’s no one else here, huh? I… think that’s a good sign? I’m not sure.”
Skystar then gets up, transforming into her hippogriff form as well as she checks out the office. “Yeah it’s definitely your office. We’ll have to search the building and see if we come across anyone. That’s gonna be fun…”
“I can’t wait to see how everyone reacts. Not only to us suddenly being back but the whole story. Oh, I can hardly wait to tell it!” Posada prances in excitement. “Also, I still have the Trident’s Paw. It came along with us, I guess since I was holding it. I don’t think anyone else should know about it besides us. The less people that know about it the better, we don’t need more time-travel shenanigans.”
“That sounds best. We’ll just say it got left in the past or destroyed while we were using it. Maybe we can pass it down as a family heirloom without anyone knowing what it really is,” she smirks.
“What, pass it down to like one your cousins or something?”
Skystar rolls her eyes, “To our future family, you doofus.”
Posada blushes and giggles, “Ohhh. I uh, didn’t think of that.”
“Gosh, you’re so silly Possy. I love it. Anyway, are we going to go hunt down our friends or what?”
“Yeah! Let’s go see who we can find. I think we’ll probably hold off on telling the whole story until we have an audience, what do you think?”
The two lovers exit out of the office and go on their way, gabbing about how various creatures will react, how the country will react. They feel at ease, finally at home in Revolutionary Hippogriffia after almost a month. And at home for the first time as a couple. Things returned to normal once Posada and Skystar made their presence known. Starry Eyes had taken over the role as Secretary during Posada’s absence just as outlined. And she gladly handed the reins back over to Posada once finding out she was safe and sound.
The journey as a whole would go on to have a long lasting impact on both creatures. Posada truly taking to heart the idea of being more open about her feelings and thoughts. As well as continuing to work on her anger issues alongside Skystar. Skystar herself learned to become less anxious about being abandoned, helped along tremendously by her partner’s constant reassurance.
After retiring many years later, Posada and Skystar went on to buy a small cabin in the countryside of Hippogriffia, near McClaw. A vacation spot for the two of them, in the faithful town they first started their time traveling journey in.