//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: The Brightest Shine // by Cozy Mark IV //------------------------------// The Brightest Shine Written and read by Cozy Mark IV & Jan. McNeville Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan-made work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro. Please support the official release Epilogue The palace was dark, shadows lurking in the corners and making even a slow trot treacherous on the uneven floor. They said the king could see in the darkness as in daylight, but the conditions of the palace were no longer foremost on the page's mind as he made for the royal chambers bearing the message. They were coming! Throughout all the death and deceit, through all the purges and torture they had kept their distance, but now that the king had seized the moon, they could ignore him no longer. It had started with yet another round up, ponies being put into chains, but this time, they were made to walk in endless circles about the palace, weaving through a complex pattern etched with strange runes set in the crystal pavement. All those forced into the march felt their strength being used to guide some powerful flow of energy, and the entire palace hummed with power, though to what end they could not at first discern. Only as the eclipse began, blocking nearly half of the sun did they finally understand. Sombra had seized the moon and was holding it in front of the sun, somehow tracking it wherever it flitted across the sky. Several times those in chains had felt an enormously powerful force try to break their hold, wrenching at their bodies in the process, but the efforts had been for not. The king's grip had held. Now, as the slaves continued their endless circles, a huge ring of dust was growing around the moon, fanning ever outward as dust and rock was pulled from the surface and sent into orbit around it, blocking out more and more of the suns rays. The last several days had already been colder than any could remember in the month of May, and nearly every Ep in the city, himself included, had been praying that the Princesses of the southern utopia would save them from the king's madness. He hadn't counted on being the one who had to deliver the bad news to the king. As he rounded a final corner, two distant voices became audible from the closed door of the kings chambers. “You can't keep doing this! If the sun doesn't shine the crops won't grow and we'll all starve!” A deep and ominous laugh interrupted the first, frightened voice. “You know better than most how little that will soon matter. In a few weeks the north will be a frozen wasteland, and the southerners will have run out of firewood and be burning their food to heat their homes! You predicted I couldn't hold the moon with my slaves.” he heard the king spit, “None of you fools even knew of the Lagrangian points! The Princesses can not understand how I can hold the moon against their will and gravity at once; I know that I need only fight them to win.” The second voice sounded even more scared now, “You've underestimated them! They're pure of heart! They can stop you!” The king's evil laugh made the page's skin crawl as he eased up to the door, peeking through a crack, only to see the king standing alone in the spartan room... “Just as you are? When was the last time your brother and sister slept in an unlocked place?” his voice hissed as the king jabbed a hoof down to the royal dungeons. “And besides... even if I cannot coerce them, there is always the other way...” As the page watched in alarm, the king slowly removed a shoe and placed his hoof back on the floor while the other voice gasped as though in pain. A cold blue light spread from the king's hoof, rapidly radiating out into the walls and down the corridor the page hid in, his hair standing on end as the crystal walls themselves seemed to howl out mournfully in some ancient tongue. “It won't work! They won't fall for your trick!” The pages eyes went wide as he realized the voice was coming from the king himself! His green eyes had turned to a normal white color as the voice spoke, but the change was short lived. The king's eyes flashed green again as he chuckled, “While Celestia may not have, it seems you have too much faith in Princess Luna. Wresting her moon from her seems to have shaken her confidence, and she was only too happy to accept the enchanted blue crystal armor the kind smith crafted for her.” The kings eyes flickered between green and white as he laughed and the other voice cried, “NO! Luna has ruled over an entire country for decades! She's no fool, and she won't be tricked into serving you!” This only made the king laugh harder, a sickly smile settling on his features, “Oh really? How many 'ponies' know the real reason for all this? Those fools still think I'm trying to shade out the world so my armies can take it over. They assume that if they lose, they need only submit to the Great King Sombra, and he will restore the light.” The page was actively turning to run back down the corridor when a last glance back showed the room to be suddenly empty. He whipped around and just about collided with the huge gray and black stallion towering over him. “You have seen how the call of the crystal can wear a pony down, eating into their sanity as it twists their reason and motives to match its own.” The page's eyes were wide in terror as he realized the barehoofed king wasn't speaking to him... Bare hoofed? A quick glance down showed the cold blue light flickering outward from his hooves like a run away fire spreading from four small sparks, and in seconds, the entire corridor was ablaze in blue light, the howling of the crystal deafening in his mind. As all thoughts beyond terror flitted away, the king looked directly at the page and asked simply; “What do you want?” As he fumbled for an answer, the page found his mind filling with a cold, inexplicable anger. The two ponies stood still in the corridor for several seconds as the blue light danced and flickered around them, but when the page finally raised his head to answer, there was no longer any fear in his eyes. The king smiled as the lowly Ep page stood, all four hooves planted on the howling blue crystal and looked straight into his eyes. “What. Do. You. Want?” Sombra asked. The answer that came was delivered with all the conviction of a true zealot. “I want... The night... To last... Forever!”