//------------------------------// // The War's End. // Story: A Lost Soul Returns: The King of Monsters // by Dark Star the Crazed //------------------------------// I know indeed what evil I intend to do, but stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury, fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils. ~ Euripides. Fang and Twilight looked at all the ponies gathered. Cadence, Shining Armor, Luna, The Elements, their coltfriends, Trixie, and Soul. "I'm sure you’re wondering why we decided to bring you all here." There was a unanimous nod. "Well... Both Fang and I believe that it is time for this war to end. So we are going to lay siege to Canterlot in one week." "Nopony will be harmed. My guards have received the order of only capture and detain. I myself have personally made sure that the more... Violent guards cannot follow us... In other words I sent them to go and kill a dragon." Spike raised a hoof. "Spike this dragon has to die. It eats griffons, ponies and everything in between." The dragon lowered his hoof. "Now. I have a plan but it will involve all of us." Fang pulled out a scroll and threw it onto the table everypony was sitting at. It unrolled and covered the whole table. The scroll was blank until an image of Vul Dief faded into existence on it. "According to Soul, Trixie, and Luna this is the arch demon that kidnapped Sunset and told Celestia she could only get her back if she went to war. The Thieving Monkey, Vul Dief." The image changed to the same creature but with his right arm replaced with vines and his left looked like a tree trunk. "He has power over plants and is able to change his body into them as he pleases." Twilight broke into the explanation at this point. "He acts like a child but is very intelligent and deceptive. He is the kind of being that would shake your hoof and stab you in the back at the same time. He is not a strong demon by any means but he is very acrobatic. Fang believes that Vul can be reformed. That is why we brought you all here. We want you all to help us stop both Vul and this war. You don't have to help but we would really appreciate it." The ponies all looked at one another and nodded. Luna looked at Fang. "What do we have to do?" Fang smiled at the ponies and began to explain his plan. "Soul you can detect demon auras because you are a Shade. You will seek out Vul and help me fight him." Soul got a serious look on his face and nodded. "Luna, you Cadence and Shining protect Celestia and Sunset from Vul when he tries to fight back." The three royals nodded. "Thunder, Acid, North, Spike, Jekyll, Trixie, Protect the elements at any cost. They are the most important piece of the plan because they are able to seal Vul's powers. I will have my guards train you to fight if you want." The six ponies mentioned nodded. "If all goes well then one week from today this pointless war will be over." One week later. Celestia, Sunset, and Mord were looking out the windows of the throne room. They watched as the Equestrian guards began to fall to the Transylmaneian army. There was a loud bang outside the throne room door. "I have a bird... His name is Ronnie." Celestia looked to the door with a raised eyebrow. That was one of her personal guards. "...Well tell Ronnie you got knocked the buck out." That was Fang's voice. The door slammed open to revel Fang, the Element's, their coltfriends, Trixie, Soul, Luna, Shining Armor, and Cadence. Celestia blinked at them and her eyes focused on Twilight. "Twilight... I'm sorry but... My daughter is the most important thing in the world to me… I had to get her back no matter what the cost… I don’t consider you a traitor…" Twilight just smiled. "Apology accepted but... You should have just told us that Sunset had been kidnapped. We would have helped you find her immediately." Soul walked up to Fang and whispered into his ear before pointing at a potted plant in the corner. They both slowly drew their swords and walked towards it. Luna, Cadence, and Armor walked over to Celestia and Sunset and blocked the way between them and the plant. The elements faced it and their coltfriends and Trixie got ready to fight. Fang raised his sword and prepared to strike the plant. He swung and the plant fell over. He had missed completely. "How did you know where I was!?" Soul struck the pot and it shattered before the plant took the form of Vul. The demonic monkey looked at Soul before slapping his forehead. "I forgot that Shades can see demonic auras! Oh well!" His right arm turned into a tree trunk and he tried to slam it into Souls side but was blocked by the shade's shield. A sword went through the demons chest and was quickly pulled out. Soul tackled the demons legs while he was distracted and Fang grabbed his arms. "Get your hooves off of me!" Vul's eyes went wide as he saw that he was now facing the Elements of Harmony. "Oh buck..." The monkey began to struggle and shake. Soul tightened his grip on the monkey's legs "Now! Blast him now! Before he throws us off and gets away!" Twilight looked at Fang with nervous eyes. "You'll get hit too! I-I can’t blast the two of you!" Fang gave her a small smile. "Twilight... We'll be fine. But I can't say the same for this world if Vul gets away!" Twilight looked at her fiancé and the look on her face turned from one of fear into one of trust and anger. "If you get frozen in stone again… I will kill you!" Fang just let out a chuckle and Twilight sighed. "Alright girls let’s do this!" The elements nodded and focused their energy into the elements that they wore around their necks began to glow. This time however Twilight's crown did not glow. The other elements began to fire small beams of light into Twilight's crown. The archdemon that Soul and Fang were holding began to freak out and started to throw himself around trying to get the two stallions off of him. Twilight opened her eyes and a rainbow colored beam shot from the jewel on her crown it headed straight at the archdemon. "No! No no no no no! No!!! I don't want to be weak again!!! I don't want to be the freak that everypony picks on again!!! NO!!!!!" The beam struck him, where his heart would be, and he began to glow green. Slowly the demon's body turned into leaves starting with the head. Soon the entire demon had become naught but leaves and fell to the ground. Except there was a strange thump. "Fang! Soul! Are you ok?" Twilight ran over to her fiancé and hugged him. She smiled when he hugged back. Twilight looked up and quickly received a kiss from him. Soul walked over to Trixie and smiled, he quickly received a kiss from the azure mare which he quickly returned. There was a groan and the leaves began to shift getting the attention of everypony in the room. Suddenly the head of a young, red, earth pony, colt, with a grey mane, and green eyes popped out of the leaves. He stood up and revealed a monkey's tail. He looked down at himself. "No... No! I won't be the freak of nature that everypony wants to pick on again!" He looked at them all. He finally stopped looking when he saw Celestia. He got up and ran at her, only to be stopped when Luna stepped on his tail. "Kill me!" Celestia blinked and looked at the little colt. "Why? You’re just a little colt. You’re harmless now. I don't need to kill you." Sunset smiled at her mother and nodded. "But I kidnapped your daughter! I made your student hate you! I made your sister betray you! Don't you want me to die for that!?" The little colt went wide eyed when Celestia shook her head. "I won't stay like this! I won't live as the freak with the monkey's tail again!" He turned around and bit Luna's leg causing her to release his tail. "I can't live like this again!" He quickly turned and ran. Not towards the door. Towards the window. Sunset looked at the little colt and chased after him. She knew what he was about to do. Vul jumped into the window and bounced off. He got up and charged again, this time he broke through it. All of the ponies stared as he fell three stories down to the ground. A loud thump was heard revealing that he had hit the earth. Sunset flew out the window and down to the ground where Vul landed. She looked at him and saw him twitch. He had survived. Sunset picked him up and flew back into the throne room. "He's alive! W-we need to save him! I don't care what he did to me! He’s just a colt!" "Why?" The voice was that of the colt in Sunset's legs. "Why do you want to save me? Just drop me out of the window so I'll die... Please... I'm begging you..." Tears began to fall from his eyes. "I just want to die... I don't want to be a freak anymore..." "I'm not going to let you kill yourself. It won't solve anything." Sunset walked out of the room and towards the castle clinic. She had the doctors put splints and casts on his legs because he had broken all of them but one. They put him in a wheel chair and Sunset began to take him back to the throne room. "You know Vul, I tried to kill myself once because I thought my mother hated me. But I was wrong. She loves me enough to start a war. I want to help you get over your depression like my mom did with me." She reentered the throne room with Vul in the chair and saw that everypony was talking to each other. "What is going on?" "We are trying out what to do with Vul. He is by all definitions just a colt. As such he is too young for prison but we can't put him in an orphanage due to the fact that he is still dangerous. Even if he is a powerless colt now." The ponies all nodded in agreement with Celestia, except Sunset. "Then let him stay here in the castle with us." Celestia blinked and looked at her daughter in shock. "I'll take care of him. I-I want to help him. He isn't evil, he's just depressed and angry. Just like I was when I tried to kill myself. I want to help him get better like you did with me mom." "Sunset... Are you sure about this?" Sunset smiled and nodded. Celestia looked at Vul. "What about you? Are you alright with this?" "... It's the best option I have at the moment... I mean I can barely move my neck and three of my legs are broken. It's not like I can go anywhere even if I tried." The demon turned colt sighed at his luck. "Very well. Sunset I am here by placing Vul in your custody. You will be responsible for taking care of him as if you were his... Mother." Celestia twitched. That had been very hard to say. Sunset smiled at her mother then down at the little colt. "I understand mother. I'll do my best." The colt blinked and looked up at her. Then to his surprise she gave him a small kiss on the forehead which caused him to blush. She then looked up and smiled at everypony. "So what's new with everypony?" "Well... I and my daughter reunited a week ago..." Celestia blinked at her sister. She then ran up, grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her. "What!? You have a daughter!? Why did you never tell me!?" Luna looked at the ground. "Because I thought you would be ashamed that Dream wasn't the child of a noble..." Celestia just sighed. She then looked towards Twilight and Fang as they were kissing. Sunset walked over to Twilight and Fang. "So Twilight what's new with you?" Twilight smiled at Fang and looked back to Sunset and Celestia. "We're getting married!" Celestia froze in her tracks. "WHAT!?" Celestia looked at Twilight and Fang causing them to cringe. "I mean congratulations. I'm sorry for my outburst there. It's just a little surprising... I mean you have only known each other for about a year. Fang please follow me for a second." Fang got up and walked over to Celestia. She teleported them to the gardens and knocked him down. "If you break her heart I will kill you! Do you understand Fang? She is like a second daughter to me. Do I make myself clear Fang?" Fang smiled. "Crystal..." Celestia smiled and teleported them both back to the throne room. Sunset and Twilight were talking. "I'm happy for you Twilight." "Your parents took the fact that we are engaged better... I wonder how she will take it when you get pregnant..." Twilight blushed at Fangs words before she placed a hoof on her stomach and began smiling at the idea of a filly or colt of their own. "Well... We'll have to wait for the wedding night before we even try Fang." Fang smiled at her. "I know... I'm just wondering about the future. Now negotiations about the territory that I gained in the war... I will-" Celestia raised a hoof and cut him off. "You can keep it... If you do it means that I will have less work to do and have more time to spend with my family... Besides you won it fair and square so it rightly belongs to Transylmaneia. After all..." Celestia smiled. "You did win the war." Sunset, Armor, Cadence, Luna, Sunset, and Mord all nodded in agreement. "Yeah... I guess we did..." Fang smiled and wrapped a wing around Twilight before kissing her. "Well love. I guess our kingdom just grew." Twilight smiled and kissed him back. Everypony smiled at the couple and went to their own respective colt friends. "So Luna... When am I going to meet this niece of mine?" Celestia looked at Luna and smiled. "Tomorrow... When we come back to the castle. Oh by the way... She looks like Nightmare Moon but she is not. She is my daughter and her name is Dream. Ok?" Celestia nodded. "Now... How about we all have lunch?" There was a massive growl from everypony's stomachs and they all nodded. Luna just giggled in response. The war was over and everything was back to normal. For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world, and, although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won. ~ Lucille Maud Montgomery.