Era 1
Flames on the Wind
By Total Bovine and Doctor Asylum
1 - Proudly, They Left.
The party was great. The dancing, the cake, and the music was a lot to enjoy, a bit too much to enjoy. The sky blue pegasus stallion was nearly puking in the corner, he could feel the cake in his stomach nagging at him. He had eaten too much.
“Troposphere, eating too much again?” A figure of around the same stature chuckled.
“Ugh... I don’t feel so great...” Troposphere’s hunched body shuddered.
“Figures.” The charcoal-colored unicorn stallion sighed. “You always do this at parties.”
“What?!” Troposphere whipped his head towards him. The charcoal unicorn’s flaming mane faintly illuminated Troposphere’s face. “Not all parties!”
“I’m afraid that’s a complete lie, and you know it.”
“Sunspot, just stop right there.”
The charcoal unicorn chuckled in response. “I came over here to say Luna’s been looking for you.”
“Oh, what? Really?” Troposphere asked.
“It’s your sister.” Sunspot replied. “Why is this surprising to you?”
“Well, I figured...” Troposphere trailed off. He sighed and worked his way towards Luna, leaning on the pale yellow wall for support. It was a fairly simple house, despite housing the King and Queen. They didn’t necessarily want a very... elaborate castle. It almost had a country and old-timey feel to it, with mahogany floorboards and log walls on the outside. The inside walls were all simply for insulation.
“Oh there you are! I’ve been looking for you.”
“That’s what I heard.” Troposphere replied with a smile, falsely indicating that he was not having a stomach ache.
“...Let me guess. You ate too much again.”
“...Yup.” Troposphere said.
“Well anyway. I kinda wanted to talk to you about... well...”
“What?”
“...Can I stay at your heaven castle once we move out?” Troposphere nearly did a backflip.
“What?? Why??”
“Me and Celestia aren’t on the best terms right now, and... well... you’re my big bro.”
“...So is Sunspot. Your point being...?”
“Well, he offered, but he said I’d have to be condemning people in the eight realms of chaos because it’s that time of year, and I really don’t want to do that.”
“Oh.” Troposphere thought for a moment. “Sure.” Luna walked up to Troposphere and affectionately planted her head in his chest..
“Thanks, Troposphere.” Luna grinned.
“No problem.” Troposphere replied, warmly smiling.
“...Are you scared about leaving?” Luna asked. Troposphere looked down at her, her starry mane wrapping around his shoulder.
“Well, I’m prepared at least... I mean, it’s still kind of nerve-racking to be in control of an entire realm.” Troposphere’s eyes widened in sync with the last two words. “But, I guess in the end, it’ll be alright.”
“...I guess.” Luna sighed. “Just kinda scary.”
“Yeah.” Troposphere replied. He looked at Sunspot. “...Imagine how Sunspot feels in this situation.” Luna thought for a moment. “He’s the oldest out of the four of us, and we usually depended on him to help us out when we needed him. Now not only is he in charge of his own respected realm, but... we’re going to be the ones needing his help on top of that.”
“Yeah.” Luna stepped back and got her head off of Troposphere’s chest. She walked over to a familiar white mare with a sparkling golden mane similar to Luna’s. Troposphere slightly frowned. Would it really be an entire hundred years before he saw his own mom again? He followed Luna to the mare. Meanwhile, a large black alicorn stallion with a fur pattern that looked like a window to space talked to Sunspot, Celestia a little bit behind them. The stars even moved with you as you would examine it.
“This must be tough for you, Sunspot.” The galactic stallion said.
“I suppose so.” Sunspot replied, his mane flickering as he tapped his hoof on the ground in thought. “It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, though.”
“What makes you say that?” Sunspot’s hoof tapped faster.
“It’s just because, well, I’ve already had experience in everything, and--”
“Your hoof is tapping rather fast.” Sunspot forced himself to stop tapping his hoof. “You shouldn’t be ashamed of being nervous.” Sunspot sighed.
“Yeah.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, you have one of the toughest jobs out of the four of you. It’s completely natural to be nervous in this situation.” Sunspot sighed again, his hoof starting to tap the ground rapidly once again. “Sunspot, you’ve already practiced. I believe you can do this.”
“...Thanks, dad.” Sunspot slightly smiled.
“...You can call me Nebula if you want.” His father replied. Sunspot hesitated.
“You deserve the respect of being called dad.” Sunspot replied. Nebula smiled.
“You know, when you were a toddler, that would be the opposite of that you’d do.” Sunspot laughed at Nebula’s remark. “You’ve changed a lot since then.”
“I know. I didn’t understand responsibility back then.” Sunspot frowned. “...Now I do. Completely.”
“You’ll do fine, Sunspot. I believe that wholeheartedly.” Nebula replied. “I’m going to go talk to your mother for a second.”
“Alright.” Nebula walked over to the white mare with a sparkling, golden mane, who was talking to Troposphere and Luna.
“Ether, do you have a second?” Nebula asked.
“Oh, of course.” The mare replied. They stepped into another room and they began to converse. Sunspot turned and noticed Celestia sitting down in a corner of the room. He walked over.
“Something wrong?” Sunspot asked. Celestia sighed a shaky sigh.
“I’m really nervous.” Sunspot noticed she was slightly quaking. Sunspot hesitated.
“...Aren’t we all?” Sunspot said. Celestia looked up at him. “Come on. This is the last time we’ll be able to see our parents in literally a hundred years. Let’s take advantage of the time, eh?” Sunspot smiled. Celestia got up.
“Alright... I guess you have a point. I’ve talked to them a lot but I suppose more talking won’t hurt.” Celestia shyly smiled.
“You’ll do fine. You were all better than I was at my job.” Sunspot said, his eyebrows slightly raising. “It’s like you were born to do it.”
“...Well, technically we were.” Celestia walked past Sunspot, and he followed. “That was part of it, right?”
“Well, yeah, of course.” Sunspot replied. “They definitely needed help, but...” Sunspot trailed off. “I didn’t do well compared to you guys.”
“That’s just because you have the toughest job.” Celestia replied. “You shouldn’t be ashamed that you don’t do well when it’s difficult in the first place.” Sunspot paused.
“No. It’s not the fact it’s difficult. It’s the fact that I’m too much of a coward to be able to do it with no regrets.” Sunspot replied. “Condemning the people who have done the worst things imaginable... who would’ve known how much emotional strength you’d have to possess.”
“You’ll get better with it over time.” Celestia said. “I know it.”
“...Thanks, sis.” Celestia chuckled briefly.
“You’re welcome.”
“Children, come here.” Ether called. Sunspot, Troposphere, Luna, and Celestia all came over at her call. “It’s time for your immortalization.” They all exchanged excited glances with each other. Troposphere and Luna were both grinning madly, but the same didn’t apply with Sunspot and Celestia. In fact, they appeared to be nervously excited about the idea. Ether and Nebula’s eyes glew white from the amount of magic they were gathering in order to perform this. White beams shot out of their horns into their foreheads, and Troposphere’s eyes slightly widened for a minute.
“...Whoah, hey!” Troposphere grinned. “I feel a lot healthier!”
“Yes, that’s a side effect to being immortal.” Ether warmly smiled. “Inability to become sick.”
“...Awesome.” Luna grinned, and looked at Troposphere. “This is just awesome.” Celestia and Sunspot exchanged glances, and began to smirk, too.
“This is...” Celestia said. “...Definitely different.”
“Definitely better.” Sunspot laughed for a second. “I’ve never felt more alive.”
“Well, you’ll get used to it soon enough.” Nebula smiled. “We have to go now.” The four went from excited expressions to solemn ones.
“...Why do you have to leave?” Luna asked. There was a silence between everypony that seemed to last hours. Ether and Nebula looked surprised. Ether sighed, her eyebrows curling up in concern.
“Sweetie,” Ether sat down in front of Luna and put a hoof on her shoulder. “we have other things we need to do. I’m sorry, but it’s... it’s a lot of work. That’s why we’re counting on you four.”
“...Wait.” Sunspot thought for a moment. “...How will we be able to traverse through realms? Especially Troposphere; he has no magic he can use.” Sunspot looked over at Nebula. “...Will we ever be able to see each other again?” They all looked at each other, almost terrified.
“I’ve made an artifact.” Nebula said. “It’s large, and in a cave with a secret door beyond the Everfree forest.” Nebula raised an eyebrow and grinned at Ether. “I just made that name up. You like it?”
“It’s... pretty original, eheh.” Ether replied, partially sarcastically.
“Anyway. It’s that forest you met the shadows in, Sunspot.” Sunspot’s jaw dropped.
“Beyond there?! It’s huge!” Sunspot exclaimed.
“The delusion of memory makes it seem bigger, because you were smaller back then.” Nebula replied. “It’s not that big at all. It’s just wide.”
“If the need arises, I can always fly you there, Sunspot.” Troposphere laughed.
“I can teleport, you know.” Sunspot squinted.
“Inside the cave appears to be stars along the wall. That’s where you can connect that I made it.” Nebula said. “It’s mine. I made it.”
“...Yep.” Celestia replied. “Please, continue.”
“Inside there is the Rainbow Quartz. You have to put your hoof on it and close your eyes to enter. I placed similar ones in the aether and underworld, and they are used as a matter of teleportation between them. You guys will always be closeby.” Nebula grinned. “Also, you’ll need these nice necklaces to use as keys. You’ll have to put it on your hoof and touch the thing with it in order to utilize the Rainbow Quartz properly.” Nebula handed them out to each of them, and they inspected it.
“Hey, they all have our strikingly handsome marks on it.” Sunspot observed. Nebula burst into laughter, and it almost shook the house. “I don’t care how hard you laugh, I refuse to call it a cutie mark!!”
“You were always the one seeking how to be as manly as possible.” Nebula chuckled. “Yes, they have your strikingly hand--” Nebula chuckled, interrupting himself. “Oh my head, I can’t even say it myself! It’s a wonder you can say that with a straight face, Sunspot.”
“It’s a wonder you ponies can say cutie mark with a straight face! It’s a slap in the face to the masculine side of society!!” Sunspot yelled, making the others start to laugh as well. “Oh, don’t you even start!”
“Jeez, calm down, Sunspot. It’s just a term we’ve gotten used to.” Troposphere said.
“Ohoho trust me, there are gonna be some name changes down in the underworld soon.” Sunspot’s eyes slightly widened. “Once I’m in control, cutie mark is going out the window.”
“What about all the ladies?” Luna asked, fluttering her eyelids. Sunspot froze up.
“...Stop making points. It’s not okay.” Sunspot scowled.
“Well anyway, it’s really fun to talk to you guys, but... we still have to go.” Ether frowned. The four frowned again. “We love you, so much. We could never be more proud to be the parents of you.” Ether warmly smiled as Nebula and her suddenly vanished into a small puff of smoke. The four solemnly exchanged glances with each other.
“...They’re gone.” Troposphere sighed, Luna leaning into him. “...Time to go to that Rainbow Quartz thing he mentioned. We don’t want to just sit here and whine about them being gone forever, right?” Luna, Celestia, and Sunspot raised an eyebrow at Troposphere’s sudden behavioral change. “Let’s go.” Troposphere said, opening the front door of the house and walking down the hill it sat on top of. They all followed.
It was a long walk before they were even remotely close to the forest. Sunspot was leading for them, since he knew where it was. They were silent. Celestia looked at Troposphere, who was just staring straight ahead, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Troposphere?” Celestia broke the silence.
“What.” He replied. His harsh tone surprised Celestia.
“Are you alright?” Troposphere’s face released tension. He looked solemn.
“...No.” Troposphere sighed.
“Remember what you said to me?” Luna asked, smiling. “In the end, it’ll be alright?” Troposphere smirked.
“...You’re right. Can’t stop straying from thinking positively.” Troposphere grinned, triumphantly. “I think this’ll be fun.” They finally arrived at the end of the forest after a few more minutes, and emerged to see floating islands with golden/orange, shimmering water raining down from them as if it were in the twilight.
“...Wow.” Celestia said. “It’s beautiful.”
“That forest was creepy, but then you get rewarded with... this.” Luna smiled.
“...Twilight falls.” Sunspot turned around. “That’s what you guys should call it. Twilight falls.” Luna and Celestia exchanged glances.
“Yeah.” Celestia smiled. “I like that name.” They walked into the cave, and saw an ‘x’ mark. Sunspot pushed it in, and a door opened. The ‘x’ disappeared shortly after. They walked into the starry cave and saw the Rainbow Quartz. Each of them took off their necklaces and put it well onto their hooves, putting them up against the Rainbow Quartz and closing their eyes.
“Good luck, guys.” Cloud said, and him, Celestia, and Luna went in. Sunspot vanished, mysteriously.
Sunspot went missing for three hundred years.