//------------------------------// // A new Beginning // Story: TiM: Best of Intentions, Worst of Results // by Twidashforever //------------------------------// Canterlot Three months later… The royal funeral just ended. It was a massive public display, put on for the general populous of Equestria. While the real bodies were laid to rest months ago, this was an opportunity for the common ponies to pay their final respects to Celestia, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Dayspring Gleam. As well as all those that lost their lives in the recent conflicts. Over two thousand ponies had died in those wars, and that wasn’t even counting the griffins or the dragons that had died. Luna declared that the funeral would be held the day after the palace was rebuilt. The palace was the first building rebuilt in all of Canterlot. It was a mark of the love the ponies had for their leaders that everypony wanted to help. Luna had to admit, they did a good job. While it would never be the one Celestia built, it was still a monument to peace and harmony. Everything Celestia stood for. As such, Luna christened it: Celestia’s Palace. As the last two ponies outside, Luna turned to her fellow princess and spoke. “Shimmering Night, we believe it's time to hold court.” “Are you sure, Luna? It's been a trying day after all.” “We are. We wish to do something upbeat to relieve the gloom. Besides, we are under the impression that Princess Aurora finally made it back.” “Yes, she arrived earlier today.” “Wonderful, go and fetch her, we have something we wish to tell her.” Luna gestured to the nearest royal guard, who immediately took off after Aurora. “Come Night, we shall await your sister in the throne room.” ………… Aurora Flash felt like she was walking into the center of an ambush. Ponies on every side of the room were staring at her. If it weren't for the smiles on Princess Luna and Night’s face, she would have flown out the nearest window. “Princess Aurora Flash, welcome back from Warclaw. Before we begin let me ask, have you been to visit Rainbow and Twilight yet?” “No, not yet. Night’s letters filled me in on what happen though. Sorry I couldn’t get back sooner, it took a while for my wing to heal.” “Very well, let us began; we shall keep this brief.” Night snickered at that, Luna kept everything brief. Glaring at Shimmering Night’s giggling, Luna had a better thought. “Princess Shimmering Night, do you wish to do the honors?” “I would love to.” Shimmering night jumped off her throne and walked up to her sister, who stuck out her tongue playfully at the alicorn. “Princess Aurora Flash, by the authority of the ruling body of Equestria. We hereby dub you: Royal Ambassador to Warclaw.” Aurora’s jaw dropped at that. “What?” “Tis’ not something you want?” Luna asked. “No, it’s not that, I just wasn't expecting it, that’s all.” Memories of all the times she spent with Icarus came back to the mare. She thought about all the time they would have together now. “So tis’ good news then, come take a seat, we wish to talk more after a few items of business.” Aurora sit down and watched Princess Luna and her sister work. She had to admit, Night was a natural when it came to leading. Although, Aurora did notice one thing about Night; every few minutes she would glance over to her right. As if she was expecting somepony to be there. It was small, most ponies would not even notice. Aurora did. Night missed having her husband by her side. Even if she hated Bright Dawn, Night still missed the companionship his presence brought. Just as they were about to finish, a three-pony squad of Wonderbolts came through the window. For the past three months the Wonderbolts were tasked to find any and all escapees from Tartarus. They were getting very good at their job. Anything they found was immediately reported to the princesses and handled with due speed. The only downside was that their new duties left them no time for any performances. Luna shot up out of her seat at their arrival. “What did you find?” She asked. The squad leader gave his report with a sharp salute. “Princess Luna, Princess Night. A Tartarus escapee has been located near Appleloosa. We have him under surveillance now.” “Who is it?” Ataxia walked out of the crowd. Over the past few months she learned how to transform herself from pony to dragacorn at will. Right now, she needed the dragacorn. All the ponies in court ran out the door at the sight of a pony transforming into a half dragon in front of them. For her part, Luna simply laughed. They would get used to it, or not, she really didn’t bucking care. “We believe it to be Tirek.” “Tirek? How big is he?” Luna asked, a worried expression on her face at that name. “No bigger than an earth pony.” Luna smiled at that news. “Very well, we shall leave at once. Come Ataxia, let us vanquish this foe once and for all.” “Luna wait!” “Yes Night, what is it?” “Let me go with Ataxia on this on.” “Night, Tirek is no ordinary foe.” “I know, I read the reports, I know what to do. It’s just that I need to stretch my wings, sort of speak, and you did take the last three after all.” Luna thought about this for a while. “Very well Night, we shall let you take this one. But if you do not get back in a day we shall have to inform Princess Dash.” “Understood.” Night knew what that meant. They had vowed to each other to leave Rainbow and Twilight alone until they were ready. For the two princesses, they considered it a sin to involve them with anything that they did not volunteer for. That meant failure was not an option. Luna watched as Ataxia and Night took off, led by the Wonderbolt squad to deal with this newly identified threat. “Will they be ok?” Luna turned to Aurora. “They will be fine, dear Aurora. Tirek is a serious threat, but those two are no slouches. We would say he is in for a world of hurt.” Looking at the mare, Luna was reminded of what she wanted to ask her. “So, when will you tell Rainbow?” “Is it that obvious?” Aurora held a hoof to the source of her skittishness: Her stomach and the foal growing there. “Not yet Aurora, but you cannot hide if for much longer.” “I know, I was just hoping that things would get better first. It doesn’t seem right to have good news at a time like this. Besides, she doesn’t even know about me and Icarus yet.” “Times like this are the best times to have such news. You know how Rainbow is with her family, she will welcome this news.” “I’ll think about it.” Aurora was not that sure Rainbow would take the news as well as Luna said. ………………………….. Ponyville By royal decree Spike and Rarity were put in charge of the rebuilding of Ponyville. While everypony expected Rarity to design every aspect of the town from the ground up, for the past three months her only focus was on Twilight and Rainbow’s house. For Spike, every single detail was exactly how he remembered it. However, His wife fully disagreed. “That’s not where the couch was. It was two inches the other way.” “Rarity, It doesn't matter, I don’t think they will mind if its two inches off.” “I mind. That's what matters.” “Yes dear.” Spike did the heavy lifting. With Twilight out of the picture, Night and Luna figured out how to transform him back into his pony form, something he was eternally grateful for. However, his wife seemed to be utterly convinced that Rainbow and Twilight would never get back together if their house was not back exactly the way it was. “No Spike; I said two inches, that’s three.” “Rarity, they're not even back together yet.” The glare she gave him told him to shut up better than any words ever could. “I know Spike, but I also know in my heart that they will be back together. When that happens. They will need a place to stay and I want this to be perfect for them. Now move it back one inch the other way.” “Yes dear.” ……………………………. Crystal Palace As Commander Firestar promised, every single day she would wake up, turn and face the prince in her bed and call him an Idiot. His only reply was a kiss on her lips. While it was not the most pleasant experience to kiss somepony who had yet to brush their teeth, she learned to enjoy it after a while. For Radiant, he found himself helping her with a lot of normal daily activities. She could not stand on her legs. The damage had yet to fully heal. Although many offered, Firestar would not let anyone else help her and neither would Radiant. He loved every second of it. Much to the annoyance of several ponies, Cloudsdale was relocated above the Crystal Empire. Any request to relocate it was meant by an immediate ‘hell no’ from the current commander’s office. Only one pony ever sought to push the issue. No one has seen him since. When questioned, Firestar’s reply was that he would ‘eventually’ come back. Nopony has asked further in that regard. It was easy for anypony to see how much Radiant and Firestar loved each other; many wondered when they would tie the knot. After the sixteenth time somepony asked, Firestar declared a press conference and let everypony know that they would get married when she could bucking walk down the aisle on her own. It was something that all the doctors say is impossible. It was something that occurred three months later. ……………… Night River At the western edge of Equestria's newest river, Bright Dawn flew to exhaustion yet again. Every single day he would repeat this pattern, flying as fast and as far as he could to escape his inner demons. It never worked. They stalked his dream with impunity these past few weeks. He was trying to kill himself. Purposely flying into mountains and rivers. Every time it made the situation worse, not better. It would force him into the dreamscape, where that ‘thing’ waited for him. His dreams were infinitely worse than the time he spent under the care of the Shadowbeings. The ‘thing’ in them mocked his failure. It mocked his role in bringing back Twilight Sparkle to this world. It laughed at his attempted failures at suicide, promising that it would never let him succeed at killing himself. Unlike before, there was no voice that pulled him back. There was no soft whisper that would cause him to avoid going over the edge. His wife was gone. No, not gone, worse. She hated him. Her voice did not come in the middle of the night to save him, and tonight, he needed that more than anything else. For tonight the truth of it all was shown to him. It showed him his time under the care of Twilight Night’s minions. The wound in his side was not a simple cut. The Shadowbeings opened him up and implanted a stone into the stallion. They cloaked it in a magic shield that hid it from examination. Slowly, it corrupted him, causing him to blame another for all the pain he suffered. It knew he would fail: It wanted him weak. It wanted him isolated. It wanted him alone. Through simple suggestions, it achieved all of these things and nopony suspected the truth. Bright Dawn screamed in agony as the revenant was released from the stone hidden inside of him. The revenant devoured his soul whole. Its power warped around the pegasus, turning him dark as night. The being that used to be known as Bright Dawn cocked its head; in a devilish voice it spoke. “So, the master got himself killed. Interesting.” With a glance south it continued. “Hmm… One of my siblings is still around. I guess it would be rude of me to not say hello.” The revenant shot straight up into the air and took off to the south. Its laughter was heard several towns away. “Mortals are so easy to corrupt.” …………………… Flying Lessons “I don’t know about this, Rainbow. This just doesn’t feel natural to me.” “I told you Twi. That’s because you weren't born with wings. You have to work twice as hard at it to get it down.” “I think my magic instructors would disagree on what I should be spending my time on.” “Buck-em, trust me Twi, I’m right.” “I know you think that.” Twilight struggled to simply stay in the air at this point. “Twi, I told you, you really got to flap them hard!” Twilight felt the end of her endurance catch up to her. Despite Rainbow’s training this was the end for her right now. She could fly no farther without taking a break. So she set down on the first cloud she saw. “Sorry Rainbow, I just need to rest for a minute.” “Ok Twi, but just a minute.” Rainbow flew over to Twilight, disappointed that her muscle memory seemed to have left in her wings. She could walk and talk just fine, magic seemed to be coming back to her without much issue, but it was as if somepony had hit the reset button with her flying skills. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Twilight start to shiver on the cloud. Without thinking about it, Rainbow landed right next to Twilight and wrapped a wing around her. Twilight started blushing at the unexpected contact. “Rainbow?” Rainbow looked at her before realizing were her wing was. “Oh, sorry Twi.” She immediately removed the errant wing. “Actually, I'm a little cold, can you leave it?” “Of course.” Rainbow rewrapped the wing around Twilight. Fear that this moment would come to an unwanted end coursed through her spine. As soon as the wing returned, Twilight sighed in contentment. “Thanks Rainbow.” She lay her head down on the cloud, while enjoying the warmth from the wing and Rainbow’s body heat. Rainbow stayed in that position, too many memories came flooding back to the mare. This was an event she never wanted to end. “I don’t know why Rainbow, but this just feels right to me.” Twilight shut her eyes, drifting off to sleep. As Twilight fell asleep, Rainbow rested her head against Twilight’s, Taking in a deep breath, full of the sent of the mare she so missed, Rainbow added. “You know Twi, this feels right to me too.” Rainbow’s last sight before falling asleep was of the reflection and refraction of light in the water droplets in the sky, which formed a gorgeous rainbow that appeared right above them. Night/Ataxia vs. Tierk