//------------------------------// // Prologe // Story: The Pale Prince // by Dark_Knight //------------------------------// The last thing Death remembered was falling into the Well of Souls to resurrect Humanity by sacrificing the souls of his fallen brothers, the Nephilim. Suddenly, the Pale Rider sees a bright light from under his eyelids, causing him to open them out of curiosity. What he saw would of made his heart stop if he still had his body. It was a being of pure light, brighter than any sun on any world that Death had ever been to, it's brightness eclipsing even the glory of the White City itself. Yet, at the same time, the light was warm and inviting, allowing anyone in its' vicinity the ability to look at it directly without burning their eyes out of their sockets. It also felt as if it was nothing, yet everything, nowhere, yet at the same time everywhere, nobody, and everybody. "It is an honour to finally meet you, Death." instead of the usual mirth or venomous tone that came with addressing the Horseman by his name, the voice spoke with respect, compassion, and the strangest of all to Death, love, its' voice was like a roaring lion's, yet like the purrs of a cat at the same time. It didn't take long for Death to figure out what, or rather, Whom, was talking to him. "Creator...", the Rider said, just above a whisper. He then proceeded to bow to The Creator, before remembering that he no longer possessed a body, exposing the pale green orb that was his soul. "There is no need to bow," He said with a good natured chuckle, "if anything, I should be the one bowing to YOU." Death was stunned, for lack of a better term seeing as he had no eyes to widen nor jaw to drop, "Wha-what do you mean? I have done nothing in my retched cursed existence except-" "I would hardly call the protection and Resurrection of My greatest creation 'nothing', Death," The Creator interrupted, the Nephillim could literally feel the emotions The Creator was feeling, and gratitude was the most notable, "you could have let your brothers and sisters have Eden, but instead you along with your brothers War and Strife, as well as your sister Fury, consulted the Council that I created millennia ago and received the power to stop the Nephillim from slaughtering my Angels, and protected the Grove. "You could have let My Council condemn War, I would have stopped them from doing so Myself, and let Humanity rot in the Well of Souls, but instead you went against the direct orders of the Charred Council, restored the Makers' Realm and Lostlight to their former glory, and stopped Absolom from perverting all the worlds that I created, and eventually sacrificing yourself and the souls of your brothers to re-sew the seeds of Man. And for that, My child, you have My deepest gratitude, and reward you for all the good you have done." Death was speechless, he never thought of it like that, he always believed that by slaughtering the Nephillim had damned his soul to the Abyss. He then registered the Creator's last statement, "Wait, what 'reward'." "A new chance, you see, My Little Sister has been down for the past few millennia because Her daughters had a falling out because one of them believed that no one loved her hard work and creations, which in turn caused her to become a monster, and threaten to take over the land, forcing her sister to banish her for 1,000 years. "The sister who was banished is now free of whatever was corrupting her, but now she believes that she is to be damned for eternity and not even you can convince her otherwise. But," the Creator added, "you can prevent the whole incident." Death was now intrigued, "What would you have me do?" "Nothing to difficult," the Creator answered, "I am just going to send you to My Sisters' realm a few months prior to her child's 'fall from Grace', and not only will you have the reward you deserve, but also will have saved an innocent being from making the biggest mistake of her life." Death pondered this for a moment, a new life? Free of the burdens and sins of the past? But there was one thing, "What of my brother, War?" The Creator was more than happy to answer, "Do not worry, while you have been on your quest to resurrect My Children, your brother has been freeing the ruins of Earth from Lucifer's clutches, his time has not come yet, but when it does, he shall join you, as will Strife and Fury." Satisfied with that answer, the Pale Rider finally made a decision, "Very well, I accept Your gift and will gladly run this errand for Your Sister." If the Creator had a mouth, its' smile would've rivaled a certain pink pony, "You have my most sincere of thanks, Death, I shan't keep you longer than I have," as He said this, Death's sight started to darken and become blurry, "oh, and one more thing," the Creator hastily added, "I'm sending Despair to join you, no point for the Rider to be without his Steed, and you may want to learn some walking lessons from him." And with that, Death's vision became black. **** It was a quiet night at the Castle of the Two Sisters, home to the recently crowned Princess Celestia: Ruler of the Day, and Princess Luna: Ruler of the Night. The only sounds were that of guards patrolling the halls and grounds of the castle. What no one could hear behind a series of complex soundproofing spells and wards in the bedchambers of Princess Luna was the sound of sobbing. "Why d-doesn't a-anypony love m-my night?" Luna asked herself. Her sobbing was cut off as she felt something falling from her night sky, too small for an asteroid, yet too large for a comet, and was chalk-full of magic. Wiping her tears from her face, the Princess of the Night went to her balcony to get a look at what was intruding on her creation. What she saw would remain burned in her memories for eons to come. It was some kind of meteor-like projectile, glowing a faint purple hue, burning through the friction in the air strait towards the castle. Luna dove under her bed as the meteor speed past her window and crashed into the courtyard. "Great, Tia is most certainly going to blame me for not taking better care of my night," Luna said to herself before adding, "more like HER night, the way she acts about it and seems to claim anything that is remotely my own.", she got out from under her bed flew off from the balcony to where she saw the surprisingly small, smoking crater and her Night Guard beginning to surround it, preparing for anything to come out of that crater. Little do they know the very fabric of reality has just been changed forever.