//------------------------------// // Chapter 93-A New Reason to Celebrate // Story: Transformers: The Requiem // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance shared a long, well-earned kiss while standing beneath their home. The crowd of Crystal Ponies cheered even louder for their rulers, watching with teary eyes and wide smiles as the two continued on, embracing each other with all the love they could offer. They both broke the kiss in unison, their foreheads pressed to one another with small smiles growing on their lips. The snowstorm picked up, covering the two lovers in its cold. They didn’t care. The crowd of Crystal Ponies didn’t care. All they cared for was their victory that they could share together as one powerful force. “You ready?” Shining asked, his eyes staring into his wife’s. Cadance nodded, kissing his snout. “Ready.” On cue, Shining Armor turned to his left, nodding only once to the lone guard standing beneath the castle. Flash Sentry nodded back, turning around and revealing the Crystal Heart from the rags that concealed it. Its light shined in the snowstorm, causing the crowd to go berserk. Flash walked over and placed the glowing relic back in its place. As soon as he brought his hoof back, the ground erupted into a rainbow of lights, all forming together around the base of the Heart. The relic shined even brighter, causing Flash to back off and the two rulers to watch with smiles as the Heart shot its magic straight into the castle. Once the love and joy from the Crystal Ponies filled the relic, the Crystal Castle erupted, sending its lights throughout the land. The shield fell over the Crystal Empire as the lights soared across the snowy landscape, but it didn’t stop there. The crowd of Crystal Ponies followed the lights streaking across the night sky, watching it flow through the air and out of the Frozen North. The celebration began right after the lights were out of sight. All throughout the night, the Crystal Empire began festivities that would forever be remembered within the walls of the glorious metropolis. It was a victory for the Crystal Ponies, for peace had returned to their home and to their lives. But most of all…it was a victory for their world, and that was definitely worth celebrating. The trickling brook flowed cautiously through the Everfree Forest’s edge, creating peaceful melodies from nature’s goodwill. Lightning bugs and crickets danced across the fields just outside the dark forest, the crickets’ chirping, adding to the music of the night. Fish swam freely down the stream, catching insects whenever they would come up and out of their peaceful home. The fish darted away once a figure appeared by the stream’s edge, his hooves nearly touching the water. The stallion sighed heavily, taking a seat by the stream. He listened to the current of water, the small waves smacking against stones covered in moss that breathed life throughout the small ecosystem. The stallion paid no heed to the bristling wonderland sitting right in front of him. His attention was quickly captured elsewhere. An array of neon lights decorated the night sky, forcing the lone, hooded stallion to look up from his seated position. He watched the lights paint Luna’s sky, giving the stallion the assurance that the Crystal Heart had returned to its rightful home. The stallion looked around. The coast was definitely clear. He sighed, pulling down his hood to reveal his unicorn horn jutting out from his forehead, his light blue mane, and tan colored coat. He stared down into the water’s edge, seeing his own reflection, seeing himself. Brimstone. The unicorn narrowed his eyes, frowning as his reflection did the same. He mumbled something incoherent, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a certain item that had been a bigger burden to him than the trek to the Everfree, remaining hidden from the world, and becoming just another homeless pony. He pulled out a shiny, metal badge, inspecting the large “AAA” adorned on the front cover. It was all he had left, all he had to remember the past he once was proud of. Since the fall of the Alliance of Alien Activity and the birth of the Alliance, Brimstone knew for a fact that that past he once knew was long gone, and a future living alongside tyranny was coming sooner than he realized. He was smart to have run away from it all, the war that is. Most would call him a coward for betraying the cause…but how could they? They had all betrayed the cause before any of them knew it. Brimstone was no coward. He served his duty alongside the AAA and what it stood for, but not for the Alliance and what it wanted. He ran away from all the false truths that were promised to him, to all the evils the Alliance had committed against their own race, and to the identity he thought he once knew. None would agree with him, but he was proud of himself. And yes…he prayed to Celestia that she would be proud of him. His wife… Like the very few out there just like him, Brimstone was hated, despised, and rejected by the rest of the world. They were rightfully so. Brimstone couldn’t bear to think of the atrocities they committed, or what he stood by and witnessed. Like Noctune…he just wanted to change the world. Unlike Noctune…he wanted to change it for the better. Without a second thought, Brimstone chucked his badge into the river. The shiny, metal object sank underneath the dark waves, disappearing in the current. Brimstone reached back and pulled his hood back over his head, his unicorn horn concealed. As he turned to leave the Everfree, the stallion took one last look at the neon lights and the city that sat beneath it. He sighed once more. Canterlot never looked so beautiful, definitely better without a starship hanging over it. In the dark hood, the stallion smiled, a small tear riding down his cheek. He faced the forgotten path ahead of him. He didn’t know how long it would take, but he would do it. The journey of a thousand miles always began with that single step. Brimstone stepped forward, one step closer to redemption.