Epilogue: Visiting a Friend
He didn’t know how long it had been since the last time. It could’ve been weeks, most likely months. Seeing her always made him feel so horrible though, but at the same time she made him feel relieved too. The Canterlot garden was immaculate and beautiful like always. Everything trimmed and pruned and tamed in perfect order. Solaris stepped into another part of the garden where stone statues sprang up like wildflowers. Ponies and creatures in all shapes, sizes, and poses, but he wasn’t there for them. At the center of this stone garden stood a figure on a pedestal, laughing merrily for the rest of eternity. Eris stood and cackled at him, but for some reason he never found it malicious, in some way it just looked like her old self, before the Gala, before the war, before everything. She was just herself in that stone prison. “Hello, Eris,” he said softly.
There was no response, of course, there never would be. “I’ve been doing well or maybe I haven’t,” he continued. “I don’t know if you heard or noticed, but Artemis isn’t around anymore. He…”
Solaris trailed off and sighed. “We got into a fight and he won’t be coming back for a while,” he continued.
This was hard, harder than the last time, but he had to say it, he had to tell someone even though they couldn’t say anything back. He inhaled deeply and puffed out the exhale through his cheeks and mouth. The hardest part was not breaking down in front of her. It wouldn’t have been the first time though. Ever since she was turned to stone things had slowly gone down to Tartarus first it was her uprising, then Umbra’s tyranny was brought to an end, and then Artemis who felt unappreciated and oppressed by Solaris had risen up as well and threatened to plunge Equestria into eternal darkness. Solaris had tried his best to convince his brother that his role wasn’t a minor one and that Solaris needed him more desperately now more than ever. It was all for naught. Artemis didn’t listen or didn’t want to listen and Solaris was forced to use the Elements of Harmony on his own brother and he sent him away to spend a thousand years on his beloved moon. A tear escaped and rolled down his cheek. “My own brother, Eris,” he said, his voice husky and full of hopelessness. “I couldn’t even save my own brother.”
Finally hot, flowing rivers of tears rushed down his cheeks and all of his trials and woes came bursting out of him. “I miss you, Eris,” he sobbed. “Ever since you left, everything…”
He choked and whined pitifully. He was a pathetic excuse for ruler, a brother, and a friend. Everything that he touched was bound for disaster and ruin. Now he was completely alone in the world. The only one he could talk to now was trapped in stone. “Ever since you left everything went wrong,” he continued. “Umbra tyrannized an entire city and race, we defeated her, but she made the entire city disappear and then my brother… I don’t know what went wrong, he didn’t feel like anyone appreciated what he did and I was too blind to see it until it was too late.”
Eris stood there as always, laughing, almost mocking him now. “Please Eris,” Solaris whispered. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”
He laid down and buried his face in his hooves and wept in front of a statue that would never return any sympathy or kindness to him again. “I’m so sorry Eris!” he cried.
He remained that way for hours and still wouldn’t leave for a few more afterward. However, he was now the only Prince of Equestria and though he didn’t want them he had obligations and duties that required his attention. He reluctantly turned away from the statue and didn’t look back.